Are You 6!

Happy Birthday Miles and Liam...amazing, you're 6 now.

We opted to skip bringing treats to class (figure after Halloween that's a good thing. Instead, I enjoyed reading books in their separate kindergarten classes followed by birthday wishes song. Liam chose Snow by PD Eastman and Miles chose an Eric Carle book, Mixed-up Chameleon. We ended the day with dinner and cake and Grandma and Grandpa's. Celebrations not over yet, soon to come is a pump it up party.

Soccer Stars

My three soccer stars. Despite the time and commitment it takes to keep up with their soccer schedules, I'm grateful we made the decision to have them play soccer this year. They really enjoy playing and we equally enjoy watching them play.

Underwear Hat

Kids do the craziest things. Let's start with...at what age do they decide it's time to close the door to go potty, that it's no longer socially acceptable to take a dump while the rest of your family occasionally wanders in an out. But even crazy is when you casually walk by and find your kid has his underwear on his head, really!?

Super Goggles

We have a new super hero in the house. He's a great helper and especially loves coming to the gardening rescue. He's always there to give a helping hand. He's quite a caring individual. Just the perfect superhero to have by my side......
Super Goggles

Liam's Lego Nightmare

Liam had a bad dream, this is what he said the following morning,
"I had a really bad dream. A bunch of girls broke all my legos and then they weren't playing with them very nicely."
Arghhh, this was the bad dream that I was woken up at 2:30am for!

Not a Shred

I'm really trying hard not to interfere with my boys disagreements in hopes that they'll learn to work things out on their own. I don't step in unless it gets out of hand. So this weekend, Liam and Aidan were having a disagreement about the rules of a game they were playing. As I listened from another room, I had to muffle my laughter when the discussion turned to this...

Liam - "Aidan your name is butt man"

Aidan - "No it's not. You're really upsetting me, I don't have a shred of joy left in me! "

So when did my 5 yr old start calling people butt man and where did he learn this? And really Aidan not a "shred of joy" left in you? Wow that's deep, especially for a 7 yr old.

What's Your Last Name?

A conversation between Liam(5 yrs old) and Aidan (7 yrs old) at the dinner table last night was amusing but left me questioning

Liam : Do you know what they call me at school ( he's in preschool)? They call me Liam R-

Aidan: Yeah R- is your last name.

Liam: Yeah, Aidan what's your last name?

Aidan: My name is R- too, this whole family's last name is R-

Liam (somewhat surprised): Oh yeah, your last name is R- too.

Ummm, hello, knock, knock, anyone upstairs there. How is it that he doesn't know our family's last name is R- ? So we had a discussion about how we all had a different first and middle name but how we all had the same last name. Lets hope he gets it now.

Superhero Cakes for my Super Heroes

Miles and Liam asked for Spiderman and Batman cakes for their 5th birthday party. This is what I made. That Wilton ball cake pan sure has come in handy...no I haven't made a soccer ball or basketball but I've made an angry bird and now Spiderman. As for Batman can you see where I got my inspiration from? Yup! Liam's shirt. They sure were thrilled!

Mr. Sparkles

Every year we add a new item to the Halloween decor. In the past I've let the kids pick it out but this year was different. In late September the boys and I were taking a walk past a newly decorated store window, all ready for the Halloween season, when Liam gasped and had to show us all the cool skeleton in the window. He especially liked how it sparkled. That's my boy, if it sparkles and shimmers or thumps to the beat of club music he so loves it. So we all stopped and admired it, everyone agreed it was really "cool" (Aidan's latest attempt at using slang). We continued on to our destination ( which was donut holes at the donut shop, shhhh!) and all was forgotten. I went back later that day to buy this beloved skeleton, brought him home and safely hid him. When it was time to decorate our home for Halloween, I pulled out that skeleton and Liam once again gasped, announcing "Sparkles!" So this years addition is now, "Mr. Sparkles"....so hauntingly adorable.

Bopping With Bones

As the boys get older, it's really fun getting to know them more as they form more opinions, likes, dislikes, and interests. Liam has always been the most flexible, of the bunch. I just discovered a couple more tidbits about Liam that surprised me. Liam is a club music loving, bones player

My peanut has never been a big game board player. He'll join in when we're all playing but he'll usually fizzle out halfway through. Fizzle out doesn't mean he just fades away to do something else. Most often, he'll try to out an out end the game, either with disruption or coercion, in attempts to gain his brothers interest in something else. It never works, it usually ends with moaning and groaning about something being boring before he moves on. I love games, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to think soon Liam wouldn't be joining us at all for family game night ( I look forward to the days when we're playing scrabble or pictionary instead of zingo and sorry).

To my surprise while cleaning out some of Aidan's old things, we came across a Diego Dominoes set that Liam showed interest in. He wanted to know how to play then proceeded to play for a full half an hour (he would have played longer) before we had to quit to start dinner. Yay, we found a game he likes. We'll definitely have to add dominoes to the family game night repertoire. Liam likes to play him some bones!


He also loves him some club music. He's all about the pop rock with catchy lyrics. Put on some Katy Perry and you'll see a head bopping smile on his face. So there should be no surprise (but I was) when he asked for some music in the car and the only station I could find was some classic rock playing ACDC's TNT, that he asked "Why's that man yelling on the radio? I want to listen to some music." I explained to him this was music and he adamantly with pure confidence said "No it's not". Yes Liam, it might not be your club bopping tunes but others would call this music.

I'm envisioning our next game night now, us playing dominoes while bopping away to the beat of some Bieber or Gaga. Wonderful!

Castle Fun

Miles and Liam loved this birthday gift they got from friends. We set it up on the front porch and they were entertained with some crafty make believe fun for quite awhile. They discussed what colors things should be and went at it. They loved getting inside it and playing, first they were knights, then they were wizards. This was just cardboard with a picture on it and markers. I love how some of the simplest things are so much fun.

Happy Birthday Boys

4 yrs ago today these two cuties joined us in this crazy world. I adore them, most of the time that is. Lately, they have really just become all boy. It's all about race cars, baseball, and robots...and neither one of them thinks pink is cool anymore. Is this what happens when boys turn 4? I don't remember Aidan going through any of this.

Contraband Takes All Forms

I'm not sure how it happened or when it actually happened. I have been fairly vigilant about not introducing the boys to any movies or images of guns or weapons not even superheroes of any sort...and we absolutely do not have any toy guns in our home. Yet, the contraband makes it's way into our home in forms of a twig, finger, or a cleverly eaten grilled cheese sandwich (yes I know this is hard to believe but the photo tells all). It really is mostly Liam who plays this. I think I first saw him pick up a twig and make the shooting sounds soon after preschool which by the way this is only his 3rd week at preschool. I guess on the positive side of this, Liam is demonstrating a great sense of imagination and artistic ability to be able to manipulate objects and create something out of something, even if it is a gun.

And They Turned 3

So hard to believe Miles and Liam turned 3 today. Although sadly we had to cancel their birthday party this weekend due to illness, we were able to have a small family celebration today with grandma and grandpa. Since the boys love Japanese food we thought it appropriate to take them to Sushi House. They got to enjoy their favorites, tonkatsu and tamago nigiri.


Following dinner we came home and enjoyed 2 birthday cakes, a chocolate eruption for Liam and a Chantilly for Miles, perfectly paired to their likes.



They were both so excited to blow out their candles. After cake of course came presents...a bulldozer and wheel loader from grandma and grandpa and jammies from mom and dad.

Soccer Comes To An End

Friday was the boys last soccer class for the season. They really enjoyed going and did really well. Especially Miles, he was great at following directions and participating in all the exercises. This was surprising because I really expected Liam to do better since he's so sporty. Turns out Liam wasn't always interested in following along with the activities but wanted to do his own thing and pick and choose what looked like fun. Despite that, I think they both got a lot out of going, they got to participate in a group activity, follow directions, focus attention, and got physical exercise. Although I thought the class was great for them, I've decided not to sign them up again since they'll be starting preschool in November. I think they'll be pretty busy with preschool and will be getting plenty of physical exercise at their play-based preschool that has a great play area. I'm also planning on swim classes for them in November when they turn 3. So with preschool and swim class, I didn't want to overwhelm them with too much additional scheduled activity. I'm sure we'll be coming back to soccer class sometime in the future.

Soccer Time

Miles and Liam had there first soccer class. Surprisingly, they really enjoyed themselves and participated to the best of their ability. It was a parent interactive class for beginners. Parents helped with redirecting their kids and retrieving balls. There was about 10 kids in the 2.5 - 3yrs old range. I know sounds crazy but it was all pretty organized thanks to the great instructor. Today's lesson was about getting comfortable with the ball and making a goal. Liam is able to manage the ball really well, Miles on the other hand....well what can I say, needs work.

Nap Time

These days Miles and Liam have been refusing to take naps. Despite all sorts of attempts to get them to go down for a nap it just doesn't happen. At times despite all their protesting, naps get the best of them and I find them like this, Liam passed out in a sitting position with a toy in hand.

Kids Do The Strangest Things

I took Liam to the ophthalmologist this morning (he's got a bit of a lazy eye mostly when he's tired, nothing to worry about according to the Dr.) and on his way out, he picked out this orange beaded necklace from the prize box. It's one of those MardiGras type of necklaces. So he's worn it around his ears the entire rest of the day. I showed him how to wear it as a necklace, or bracelet, but no, he insisted on the ear wear. We went through Target that way, to my doctor's appointment, and through dinner. He just looked so strange....who knows maybe he'll start a new trend (wink)!

5 Miles and Someone Gets Comfy

I did a 5 mile hike today...I can't believe it. Lots of inclines and rough terrain, the makings for an incredibly sore body tomorrow. The truth is it was meant to be a 2.5 mile hike but my hiking guide took us on a wrong turn adding 2.5 miles of mostly uphill terrain to the hike. So I was forced into it but now I'm feeling pretty good about it. I think I'll soak in an Epsom salt bath now, and maybe later make myself comfy on the couch once Liam gives up the spot.


Liam has taken to hanging out on the couch with this new favorite blanket of his. He props himself up with pillows, with no help from us and pulls the covers over himself and just hangs out watching the motions of the rest of us around him. It's hilarious to see him there just kicking it and also probably the calmest you'll ever see him. Because, when he's not in this position, he's the wildest of the bunch, loud laughing, and lots of running and jumping. I guess, that's what makes him laying on the couch so humorous to us because it's so out of character for him.

He Sure Loves His Crown

Liam made this crown (he says hat) last week and is still wearing it. He absolutely loves it. When I called it his crown, he corrected me "It's my hat". Tonight he insisted on sleeping with it, so I have a feeling that will be the end of it.
** The goose egg you see on his forehead, was from a fall/face plant in the hallway over the weekend, poor guy.