Halloween Fun

The boys had a great time at school, enjoy a fun filled day of crafts, parties and a parade. With our recent move and yes still many unpacked boxes, I just didn't have it in me to make costumes. So, we made a trip to Target and each got to pick a costume. Miles was Luigi, Liam Captain America, and Aidan was Harry Potter.

Time to Carve Pumpkins

With Halloween just around the corner and the boys dying with anticipation to carve their pumpkins, we decided we could hold out no longer. It was time to carve. We had ourselves a pumpkin carving get together with our new neighbors. The kids were thrilled and loved their "fire breathing" jack-o-lanterns.

Early Jack-o-lanterns

My boys have been dying to carve their pumpkins. I keep explaining to them, if we carve them now, they'll rot before Halloween. Just when I think they finally get that, they ask again. So I found a great solution to the problem. These pumpkin transfers seem to have done the trick.

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.

Wishes Do Come True....Sometimes

Last school year Aidan said on many occasions that he wished he could walk to school. Each time I so wished I could make that come true for him. On several occasions I dropped him off with the walking school bus so he could join them on the way to school. Clearly this was not the same. But wishes do come true sometimes, this is our walk to school now. The boys, especially Aidan are so thrilled about this great trail that takes a short cut from our house to school. Let's see how they feel about it once winter comes.

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!?

The Problem With Bunk Beds

Up until now I thought, "wow the bunk beds are great, why didn't we do this sooner!?" It made more space and the boys love hanging out in their room much more. So yes, I thought it was the next best thing to bacon....that is up until child on top started to vomit and I realized there was no good way to get him down. He spewed down the side landing on his brother below. We tried to coax him down but his terror of what was happening had him fixed right where he was, while he continued to projectile barf landing on mom and dad on its way to the rug. Not until he was good and empty and we were thoroughly grossed out, was he good and ready to make his way down. There just wasn't a safe way to get him down without his cooperation. Bunk beds....not so great anymore arghhh.

Soccer Mom Begins

My new soccer mom role began this weekend. Aidan had his first soccer game of the season yesterday. He has several school friends on his team so he was excited to play. He hustled out in the field and kicked every chance he got. Now those kicks didn't always land on the ball so thank goodness for those shin guards. The opposing team had several of his school friends as well, this added to the fun.
As soccer mom I stood on the sidelines, cheered on cue while working the moms for a carpool schedule for practices. You see, this is just the first of 3 soccer players in the house. Unless I can help it, I'll be going to 2 practices and 2 games a week (Miles and Liam are on the same team). I'll be living the life of the quintessential soccer mom with my mini van to boot.

Mosaic Roll Call

It took months, but it's finally finished. Through the efforts of several moms, including myself, we completed this mosaic art installation as a school fundraiser. It had been eons since I last made a mosaic so having that skill revived was a bonus for me. The visual beauty that it adds to our school just makes me so proud to have taken part in this project and my kids are just thrilled to see their handprints and names out front of their school.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. The twins were finally starting kindergarten and Aidan was on to 3rd grade. For me that meant finally only one drop off. Yay, now if only they started at the same time that would be best, instead of the 1/2 hour stagger, but then that would be asking for a perfect world, wouldn't it!?

Gross Candies Trap

Some candies are just gross and yet I find myself buying them for my kids. I'm not sure why they gravitate to the gross stuff, but they just can't seem to resist. I like to indulge them every once in a while, so we end up with disgusting things like a hotdog gummy or some awful blue raspberry taffy that sure makes you blue. That much blue dye can't possibly be good for you.

Mustache Miles

Somehow I imagine Miles wearing a mustache when he's older. This is just a glimpse of the future. Let's hope it won't be quite as bushy...

Green Piggy Piñata

We recently went to yet another angry birds bash. The kids just don't seem to ever be bored with this. At this bash, the birthday boy's daddy made this pretty amazing green piggy piñata. Lots of hours went into this masterpiece, which makes it that much harder to watch it get torn apart in mere minutes.

"Wire It Up" It's Summer Camp Time

Yesterday was the first day of summer camp for the boys. They were going to a near by red woods state park to wire it up with "electronic week" at science camp. They were all super excited to go. Just think, Miles and Liam were going to finally have some "big boy" times, doing things Aidan was doing, and no more preschool.On the drive there, Aidan being the big brother that he is (slightly bossy) was giving them the low down about the rules. Seeing how this was going to be big kid activity, it was all taken so very seriously. It brought a smile to my face just listening to them. The good thing was, Miles and Liam had some friends there too, this would certainly help with the transition. Picked them up that afternoon, and they were all smiles, It was a good day!

Lock Down Drill

This week was drill practice at Aidan's school. They did fire drills, earthquake drills, and lock down drills. What, you aren't familiar with lock down drills? Yeah, neither was I until Aidan told us all about them during dinner.

A lock down drill in Aidan's words "you have to close the door and stay away from the windows so that the criminal or robber doesn't see you. You can hide under your desk."

There was no discussion about the criminal possibly being a shooter. I was relieved about this, because frankly, I really wasn't prepared to explain to my boys that during a lock down there would possibly be someone with a gun who may shoot someone.

What I do know, is hearing my kids have to practice lock down drills in elementary school makes me truly sad. What has our society become that my kids innocence has to be tainted in such a manner.

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.

The Scoop on Poop

My kids are just obsessed with a certain bodily function ... As you can probably guess the one that makes you fart and poop. I think it's a boy thing, or that's what I'm trying to convince myself of. You know, make it all feel normal. And to take it a step further, while at the library I came across this book and thought "would you look at that, I can make this obsession educational too". This book was just what I needed and my boys sure got a kick out of it because 1.there's actually a book on the topic and 2.Mom was indulging them in their poop obsession. If your kid is poop obsessed, you might want to check this book out.

The Whoopie Cushion

I certainly don't get the fascination of the whoopie cushion but my boys sure do. What I do get is, I love hearing them just roll with laughter together and this silly thing just seems to bring that out in them.

Ninja Love

Ninjago craze, if you're experiencing this or you know what it means, then I'm sure you'll appreciate these cupcakes. Miles and Liam recently went to a birthday party that had what seemed to be a zillion 4 and 5 yr old Ninjago crazed boys. So when the birthday boy's mom pulled out two towers of these clever ninjas cupcakes, the room was filled with hollers, "Wow!" "Awesome!" "Yay!" and one very happy birthday boy.

Derby Time

This was our first year participating in the cub scouts derby car races and boy was there lots of excitement about it. Miles and Liam got to participate in the siblings race (cub scouts are really good about including the entire family in their events).
They thought this was pretty special and were also given certificates after the races. The number one lesson we took away from this event is, the weight of your car really matters. There is a 5oz. limit that your car can not exceed. But the more your car weighs the faster it goes so trying to get as close to the limit as possible is important. An important lesson for next year.