two week rule

So I've hit my 2 week rule--Daren got home from Mexico two weeks ago today, so I have to hurry and get this out tonight or it will be lost forever!! Daren and a couple of his friends from the fire department take an annual spring trip together. For years they have gone to Las Vegas, but this year they decided to shake things up a bit and go to Mexico. (This is what happened to my car four years ago when they were on their way home from Vegas...totally not their fault;)

Mexico

I don't know much about the trip...only that one morning they got up early to go fishing and these are the pictures Daren sent to me. We communicated through email everyday. It was fun to keep such a detailed account of what we were doing here.

Daren looking pretty tired on the fishing boat so early in the morning. This pelican actually landed on the back of their boat.

The fire-dudes: Kelly, Chris, and Daren. They had a great time. We were glad they made it back home safe and sound, and the boys were thrilled to see their daddy again!

wanna-be-runaways

Ben has been into this thing lately where if he doesn't get his way, he threatens us that he will run away. The other day he left us this note on our bedroom door, and left similar notes on Jake and Will's doors. Then he packed up a few things.

Funny thing is, last night when Ben and I were talking, I was asking him what he was so mad about that he was going to leave for, and neither one of us could remember. The only thing I remember him saying, as he was calming down that day and starting to get his senses about him, "Well, I'm not sure when I'm going to leave. It will either be tomorrow or when I'm 18 or 19 years old. Probably when I'm 18 or 19." Needless to say, he still resides under our roof! He pulled this on me again on Monday night. Once again he was threatening to move out, this time with both his brothers. Ben started packing, while Jake grabbed all his favorite PS3 games. He reluctantly put them back when I explained that over at the park (where they were going to go live) there isn't even a TV, let alone a PS3. It all seemed fun to them until Jake realized what moving out was going to mean--leaving home!! Poor Jake was in tears and his little lower lip was trembling as he said he didn't want to leave anymore. (perhaps it was wanting to play his games that kept him here!!)

A few minutes later, this note showed up for me...from the President. Ben really wanted to know what it said, so I told him if he brushed his teeth and put his p.j.'s on, then I would tell him when he was in his bed. After I told him, Ben said he didn't want to leave anymore, but what could he do--after all this letter was from THE PRESIDENT! I told him that the president wasn't the mom of this family and that he didn't have to go. He was relieved! ;) Ben and I are a lot alike when it comes to "heated discussions." We can both argue to the death, and then once it's over, it's over and life goes on, never holding a grudge. I've always been like that, and it's funny to see that Ben is like that too.

"Mommy's office"

Seriously, how could this have gotten so out of control so quickly?!! This is my next job to tackle--cleaning up my office. It absolutely drives me crazy to walk in here, but because it's the first room after you come through the laundry room, everything gets dumped in here, i.e. lacrosse bag & gear, etc. I hope to have it more orgainized...soon!

Jake made this picture for me a while ago, but it's so cute I had to include it. It's from the book, "The Ugly Pumpkin," which has been a favorite around here for years. "I am the ugly pumpkin, I shouted to the sky, and then it started raining, so I began to cry." Not a bad interpretation I must say!!

in a nutshell

So the past few blogs I've posted have been kind of long ones and have taken lots of time to do. I promised myself that I wouldn't let this get more than 2 weeks behind and I'm pushing that now, so here is our lives the past couple of weeks...in a nutshell.


It looks completely different outside now, but a couple weeks ago this was how beautiful spring looked in our yard. Now most of the blossoms are gone, but it still looks nice.

Two weeks ago yesterday my brother-in-law JD brought their 2 boys, Garrett and Gage, out to our house for a couple of days while Brenda took new baby Sydney to California to show her off to all the family down there. We had a great time!

Gage, age 2, and Garrett, age 4 (almost 5), had fun exploring all over the yard. At that point my garden wasn't planted yet so I let them dig to their hearts content. It's a fun play area for kids--plenty of fertile soil and plenty of worms!!

A real hit was Ben's new remote control monster-buggy. Jake really loves it.

Brenda came home on Tuesday the 5th, which was also her birthday. We made her lots of cupcakes, each and every one of them decorated by the boys!

That Saturday our neighbor and friend, Preston, was doing his eagle scout project at the cemetery close to us. We thought it would be nice to help out, so off we went.

The boys were all gung-ho about it at first...until they started fighting over the same shovel. They had their little gloves on and their little shovels, ready for action.

We stayed for almost 3 hours, and I don't know how much help the boys really were, but it was good for them to get out and get in on the action. The twins didn't mind getting pushed around by Preston throughout the cemetery! When Preston's mom, Jeanna, brought out the Otter Pops, Will had a quiet and sneaky way of finding almost all the green ones in there. Every time I looked over at Will, he had a new green Otter pop!

Finally, all those popsicles took their toll on Will and he couldn't resest lying down for a breather!!

Next was Mother's Day last weekend. Daren got me a couple of beautiful hanging flower baskets and then totally shocked me with tickets to see the Eagles in concert on Saturday night! He took me to see them in concert just before we got married over 14 years ago--they still look old, but dang can they still sing!!! I'm still kicking myself for not taking our picture as we headed out in all our leathers on the motorcycle! It was a blast!! I love being a mom to three of the greatest boys ever, and I love all the mom's, especially my own, who have influenced me to be a better mom.

And I was completely surprised when I got the "Legos Indiana Jones airplane and oil tanker." I let Will play with it all the time, though, because he has been wanting it for the longest time! ;) He sleeps with the box almost every night, and he likes to tell me bedtime stories about Indiana Jones. Yesterday at church he was wearing his Indy jacket and told everyone, "Just call me Professor Jones." He is such a character!!

This past Wednesday was Ben's first day of Cub Scouts!! He had such a blast with all the boys there. He came home from it and read his scout book all night long--I think he is really going to love the scouting program.

On Thursday Jake and Will's friend, Adam, came over for the day because his mom went out of town...to NY, no less! The day started with Will leaving for school just before 8:30am. Adam arrived just about the same time--since Jake had just barely woken up he was in the tub, so Adam thought it would be fun to join him...for the next 2 hours! They had a blast in there; so much laughing and giggling. Silly me forgot to empty the water out of the tub, so when they went in there later, around lunchtime, they thought it would be fun to open the window and throw the toys into the dirt below it. What could be better than that, except to throw buckets of water out onto the toys?!

What a mess!! I'm just sorry I didn't grab my camera soon enough to get a picture of the toys in the mud. After I got over the initial shock of it, I got a big bucket full of water and a couple of sponges so they could clean up. Can you see into the bucket? How clean do you think those really got?!

They returned to the scene of the crime to clean up, and as I was taking pictures I heard Jake say to Adam, "Hey Adam...This is a lot more fun than being bored, isn't it?!" I had to laugh pretty hard at that point!!

They had dumped all the dirty water into more dirt, and thought it would be fun to play in. You just can't keep boys away from dirt, can you?! Needless to say, they ended up back in the tub again, with all their clothes in the washing machine....and this time I remembered to empty the tub. :)

Friday was field day at school, and I was in charge of the "crazy soccer" station. It was a beautiful day, not too hot like last year.

Ben's class was in my second to the last group. He played scorekeeper at first and then went out to play and scored a goal.

And finally, what would be a week without pictures from Ben's lacrosse game?! This week they got to play in the stadium at Juan Diego School. It was totally different for them to play on astro turf rather than regular grass.

I didn't get great pictures because we were looking into the sun (Will actually took the 1st picture here), but photo 2 is Ben in a face-off. This was kind of a rough day for us--Daren had been out of town (to Mexico...post coming soon!) since Tuesday and I don't think any of us had had enough sleep so we were all grouchy! Daren came back last night and it's all good now. So is this really a nutshell?!

happy 8th birthDAYS ben

Our (not so) little boy Ben just turned 8 years old!! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. This is a picture of him in his blessing outfit. This was one of Daren's outfits from when he was a baby--so cute!!!
It seemed as though Ben's birthday celebrations went on...and on...and on some more! When we met with his school teacher a couple weeks ago, she said that his birthday had been totally consuming him at school (the same day we ran into his 1st grade teacher from last year and she immediately came over to tell us how many days were left until his b-day because he had been telling her every time he saw her in the halls! Crazy boy!).

The first day of celebrations was on Saturday, May 2. The day began with another cold and very rainy lacrosse game. Oh, it was actually a double header--they won the first game, lost the second. But all the boys (plus Taylor, the one girl on the team) were real troopers.

Ben is the one on the left, running with the ball in the pocket of his stick. He went on to pass it to another teammate who went on to score. It's pretty sweet to see him learning and loving this game. He was in the next face-off, but I had a terrible angle on it, so this was the best picture I could get.

Later that day...

Ben had a birthday party at Classic Fun Center with a bunch of his neighborhood friends. This was the moment he had been waiting for...for years! Between Daren driving the van and me driving my car with all the seats in it, we were able to shuttle all the kids there. The kids LOVED the ol' custom van that we are in posession of right now. I should have gotten a picture of it.

What I love about Ben is that he is a friend to everyone, it doesn't matter what their age is, or if they are a boy or girl. Ages of the kids ranged from 11-years old down to 4-years old, and every age in between. There are many fun things to do at Classic like party pizza with unlimited drinks;

scooters on the track;

games to play and prizes to be won;

and finally there is the bouncing area and the jungle climbing area. In photo 2 Thomas is doing a flip onto the bouncy thingy (what else do you call it?!).

I have the funniest story about this cake. Ben wanted me to make one, and he wanted it to look like the Spiderwick book. K, I'm no cake designer, but did the best I could in a short amount of time. So we were getting the cake out at the party when this latino woman walked by, saw the cake, and exclaimed with glee, "Oh what a beautiful cake! That is a beautiful cross, are you Catholic?!" It was all I could do to not burst out laughing, but I kindly said no and tried to explain the cake. I don't think she got it though. It was supposed to look like leather straps and a wax seal in the middle, but I can see what she was talking about...

Ben loved his cake, though. He was all smiles that day!!

And then there were the presents! Last year he had a real last minute party with his school friends, and I told them no presents, so Ben was happy to get some this year (he got some last year too!). That's one reason I love to do the movie parties, Halloween parties, etc. at our house. You can just show up without the pressure of bringing a present.

The birthday child gets a spin at the birthday wheel, 60 seconds in the prize cube, and a big ol' card for all the guests to sign.

All in all, I think Ben would say it was one of the best days ever in his life. Classic was a great place to have it at, and I think this picture says it all: cake, pizza, prize tickets and melted ice cream...what more could you want as a kid?

May 3, 2001--7:06am, pushing like crazy to get this little boy out!! 7:15am, Ben was born.

May 3, 2009--7:06am, I'm in a deep sleep when I feel this tap on my arm and Ben saying, "Mom, it's only 9 minutes until my real birthday!!" 7:15am, Ben yelling, "It's my birthday!"

Ben chose his birthday breakfast that morning--Lucky Charms--and then opened his presents. It was another fun-filled day.

This was so cute--Jake gave him some new Harry Potter glasses (to replace the other ones that broke) and Ben was so excited. Ben also got this monster truck/slug bug that is remote control. Pictures coming in the next post...

Grandma Airplane also gave Ben these glasses, but they aren't really play glasses. They were her grandma's glasses, which makes them Ben's great-great-grandmother's glasses. You can tell, too, when you put them on that they aren't play glasses because they are prescription glasses. Ben keeps them in a safe place and thinks they are pretty cool.

We went to church later that afternoon and then Gpa and Gma Train, along with Daren's brothers Dakon and Chad, came over for dinner and festivities. I was so busy I forgot to get the camera out. In Ben's words, "It was a perfect day!"

As if that wasn't enough, Ben took 2 dozen Dunford chocolate donuts to school for his class on Monday. Happy BirthDAYS Ben!! We love you so much!

p.s. Ben missed getting baptized by one day, so for now it's looking like Saturday, June 6 at 1:30pm Ben will be baptized. Consider this your invitation!! ;)