Mail

In the mail today, I got this envelope. From my daughters HIGH SCHOOL

 High school?!  Seriously?! Am I ever going to get used to this? I don't see how...

Gentlemen wanted

Having 4 boys, I have so many things that I want them to be. The most important? To be gentlemen!

To hold doors.
To carry groceries in.
To help elderly ladies cross the street.
To take the garbage out.
To be men.

Some days, when all I hear them talk about are video games, burps & farts, I think my work is lost on them. They are, after all just boys. And we all know that boys will be boys.

But then, you get that little glimmer of hope.

I attended a field trip with Ivan today. The parking was a nightmare and so we were parked out in the middle of nowhere. As we were walking back to the car, I tripped on a piece of raised sidewalk.

I went down. I was on the ground when I heard, "Mom, Mom are you ok?" Ivan, who had been running ahead, came back and helped me up.

He gave me a hug and kiss and asked again if I was ok. My palms were scratched and bloody, my knee was killing me (still is actually!) and because I was wearing sandals, my toe was scratched and bloody.

He helped me up. Then took my purse and carried it for me. I got an extra hug and kiss out of him and he got in his seat.

I realize that I am his mother, and maybe he wouldn't have done that for just anyone. But I choose to believe that he will. That all those lessons are making a difference.

I love that kid. Sigh.

22 days

Burnout. Serious burn out.

We are sooo ready for school to be out. Today marks one month until school is out. When you don't count weekends, that is only 22 days of school left.

TWENTY TWO!!!!

Yesterday we had a little mini heat wave. My kids came home from school "sweaty hot" and begged to please, please, please go to the pool. Since we had no kid activities going on...I gave in.

I hung out pool side, chatting with my friend while the kids splashed around. Soaking up sun and reading a magazine.

It was a great trial run for the summer. I now have a list of things that I have 22 days to purchase...

*a new rash guard for Ivan (his was almost see through! lol) and for Connor
*new swim trunks for Ivan (he is growing so fast)
*2 new pairs of goggles (major fights over the pairs we have)
*more dive sticks/pool toys (hello $1 store)
*new pool noodles (no idea where ours have gone...)
* a couple of new pairs of flip flops

Are you ready for summer?  I am so excited to not have to buy any swim diapers this year!!!! But other than that  I have my summer list ready. The beach/pool bag is gonna get a great work out this summer!

***No pressure, but I am hosting a 31 party. I have fallen in love with these products. So if you need something to put all your pool/beach gear in, you can check out some awesome products here

growing up...

My son Ethan turned 12.

To some people, that may not be the biggest of birthdays. No longer a little guy. Not quite a teenager.

But when you are LDS (also known as Mormon)it is. In our church, from 18 months -3 years old you attend Nursery. From 3-12 you are in Primary. And after you turn twelve, girls start going to Young Womens and the boys, start going to Young Mens, and are ordained and recieve the priesthood.

I know it is confusing to those who aren't in our religion but it is a pretty big deal.There are quite a few things that he has to do and learn in order to be worthy. It is the beginning of his journey into man hood and I am so excited. I just can't believe it is already here.

Knowing that he would be "graduating" primary, and being ordained, Ben & I decided to get him a new church outfit.

What 12 year old boy doesn't love to turn off video games and accompany his Mom to pick out some pants & a tie?! LOL, he was not excited to say the least.

As we were driving, I asked him if he had any idea what size waist he had. He said no, and so I told him he would have to try the pants on. You should have seen his face! You would think I asked him to dig a ditch the way he reacted!!

We went in to Ross, and he made a bee line straight to the Mens section. We made a guess at his size, and he was off to the dressing room before I could grab the next size up, just in case. He was literally out in 2 minutes and said they were good. I told him he still needed to get a tie and shoes.

Basically it was the same process for the other two items. I think he was in the store for a grand total of 5 minutes. By the way, he was totally annoyed with me taking pictures of him.

That is the difference between boys and girls I guess!

While I waited for him to try the pants on, I did have to laugh...there were 3 men sitting in chairs, playing on their phones, while their wives (or girlfriends or...whoever) shopped. Made me laugh.

Sigh. My boy is growing up.

Spring fever

" Hey Mom, did you know that there are only 5 weeks left of school?!"

Uh no, no I didn't. I knew the end of the school year was coming up but didn't realize how soon.

No wonder life around here has turned into spending hours at the park, sleeping in later than usual, sucking back otter pops and trying to avoid homework like the plague.

It has been hard to concentrate on...well anything!

Who wants to spend time inside when the weather is perfect, you have awesome neighbors to sit and chat with, and of course letting the kids burn off a ton of energy at the park.

I love spring...and am looking forward to summer!!

Goody bags---> big kid style

Our family has a policy of having a friend party only every other year. It helps to keep the birthday madness at bay...kind of.

Seriously, a trampoline is good for kids of ALL ages!

Well this year it was Ethans turn to have a friend party. What do you do with a bunch of tweens?! I was out of my element.

The entertainment was figured out fast by my son...video games and jumping on the trampoline. Easy enough. There was a major "Just Dance" off and I loved it! The kids were so fun!!

Cute boys gettin' down!

I wanted to send the kids home with something BUT was at a loss. Besides candy, what do you give tweens? Something fun but not a budget buster. Here is what I ended up with:

It was an Angry Birds themed party so...

Angry Birds graham crackers (these were $4.69 yikes! and were part of a B3G1F at Target. Some of the items in the deal were juice boxes so I got those for the party)



I found Angry Bird popsicles (otter pop type) in the $1 section! It was perfect and was a nice big filler :)

These Light Saber suckers were on clearance for $1.22 each. Normally these puppies are around $4 each! Score!

A fake mustache (.25 at Party Express)

Glasses and nose (.35 each at Party Express)

Rubiks cube (.25 each at Party Express)

The buckets themselves were .99 each. I know I could use bags for much cheaper, but I just like to use something that can be reused over and over. I always love it when my kids bring things home that I can re-use some how.

I made chalk board labels (easy shmeazy!) and added each childs name. The best thing about using chalk? If you spell a childs name wrong, you can just erase it and re-write it! Not that I would know anything about that...

 

Everything was a hit and the kids loved all the items. I was able to fill those buckets for pretty cheap. Honestly I don't know what I was worried about.

Next up, a birthday party for 5 (3 & 4 years) old boys...

12 reasons...

Today is a double celebration at our house! It may be Cinco de Mayo but my favorite thing to celebrate is my oldest sons birthday! For a long time, he would tell people that he was part Mexican because his birthday is Cinco de Mayo.

Ethan is such a sweet boy, and I can't believe that he is already 12. He has turned into a young man and is no longer my little guy. With all of my kids, I find myself wrestling between wanting them to stay little and wanting to see who they will become. As I am sure all Moms feel!

Here are 12 reasons why I love my 12 year old...

1. He is a good big brother.
2. He is very empathetic.
3. He is a self starter. Many mornings he is up, dressed and showered before 6:30.
4. He works hard.
5. He is creative and comes up with fun games for the boys to play with.
6. He is friends with everyone.
7. He is patient when I need help with technology.
8. He always wears shorts. Every single day. No matter what I say about the weather.
9. He is protective of his Mother
10. He can drink a whole jug of oj by himself...and very often does.
11. He is well behaved (at least for the most part)
12. He likes to play Words with Friends with me

What can I say, he is just an awesome kid. Happy Birthday Ethan!

baking soda

** I recieved a blog kit from Smiley 360 to help facilitate my review. This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are 100% my own. **

Recently I was asked the question, "In what ways do you use baking soda?" I felt a little sheepish when my answer was..."to bake?"

I racked my brain and the only times I can remember using baking soda, other than baking was, to put it in my fridge to keep it fresh. Thats it.

Oh my. Did you know there are hundreds of uses for baking soda? From cleaners, to freshening areas, teeth, carpet freshners...

With my blog kit, I recieved this book, "Household Uses for Baking Soda" with over 100 uses. These are some of  my favorite tips:

**use it to mop your floors
**wash crayon off of walls
**use it in the washer to help your detergent
**easily cleans out your microwave
**sprinkle some in shoes so they don't stink

...and so much more! Baking soda is inexpensive and isn't harsh like other cleaners.

Right now, you can head over to Arm & Hammer and print off coupons. Simply click on the link and click on the savings tab. Each coupon can be printed twice. For more info you can also go here

Do you use baking soda for cleaners? Tooth paste? Or...baking? I would love to know what you use baking soda for...