Upcycle and Map That Birthday

I thought I'd share another fun gift wrap, perfect for those who love to upcycle. I have an old world atlas book I've been pulling pages out of for various projects. Most recently I decided to use a page to wrap a birthday gift. I used a page that had our actual location on it for a little whimsical fun.

A Close Call For The Tooth Fairy

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Recently, the tooth fairy had a really close call that left her frozen in her tracks. The boys had gone to bed, and the tooth fairy wanted to wait a good while to make sure everyone was sound asleep before it was time to do her duties. This multi-tasking tooth fairy got lost somewhere between folding laundry and trying to catch up with some emails, that she almost forgot her most important role. One little boy was sleeping on his tooth that was wrapped up in a vintage hankie waiting for the power of magic, to have that tooth turn into some bounty. So this tooth fairy went to her handy wallet to get her golden dollar coin, recently acquired at a nearby bank, then tip toed into said little boy's bedroom to perform some magic. Tooth fairy reached under the pillow, took hold of the special hankie, replaced the tooth with the golden reward. Just as she was returning the hankie to it's place under the little boy's pillow, little boy's eyes opened wide. Little boy stared at tooth fairy with a glazed stare for what was mere seconds but felt like an eternity, he proceeded to roll over and was back to dreaming about whatever little boys dream about. Tooth fairy quickly scurried out of little boy's room and realized she had been holding her breath for much too long. She let out a giant sigh and counted her lucky stars, that little boy was in REM. Certainly he'll have no recollection of this tooth fairy's visit. phew!

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.

Fire Disturbs Our Easter and Spring Break

It was the day before Easter, Max had taken the boys to the Marine Headlands and I was home prepping for our Easter trip to visit family. I had just finished boiling a dozen eggs for the kids to dye when they got home, was getting ready to bake a cake, and was catching up on some laundry. The windows were open, I smelled smoke which I thought was coming from outside. I looked around our house, ran down to our basement, came back in checked the dryer lint trap but no signs of fire. I called my neighbor to tell her I thought she might have a fire when just at that moment, I saw the flames poke themselves out from under our dryer. I hung up, dialed 911. Just as I was pulling the pin off our fire extinguisher Max walked in the door, grabbed it out of my hand and proceeded to spray the dryer, my neighbor was outside with the boys. There was the loud popping of electricity and the crashing of the motor as it dropped behind the dryer and in less than 2 minutes our entire home was engulfed by a black gray smoke..and that was the end of any Spring Break plans we might have had. Fortunately, the damage was minimal but we had to improvise Easter and spring break plans. Dropping off the boys with friends (love those friends) so we could begin the long tedious process of cleaning up. 6 weeks later, I still don't have a new dryer, I like to say we've taken the eco-friendly approach and I'm in the process of perfecting the line-dry technique as long as the weather allows. Why we don't have a dryer, is complicated, it's about timing and needs so we're waiting. Why I haven't blogged in so long, well I think that answer is obvious. Hopefully, soon I'll have more answers.

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.

First Game For the Rockies

Aidan's first official game of the season. The majority of the players on his team were the same as last year, so it was amazing to see how much they've improved since then. The boys seem more coordinated and clearly have a better handle of the rules of the game. Aidan played pitcher this game. He managed to catch a ball, pass it to first for an out. It was such a smooth play and a proud parent moment. Yes I'm becoming one of those parents on the side line struggling to keep quiet lest be asked to leave.