SIX!!

My baby is six! When did that happen? I told him he couldn't grow up...he didn't listen!

I love this boy so much. It has been my tradition to share what I love about the birthday kiddo so here it is, six reasons why I love my 6 year old!!

1. That smile! The cute little cheeks, the bright eyes...his smile lights up any room he is in. I love.love.love it!

2. He still SNUGGLES! While he barely fits on my lap, he will still climb up and cuddle in my lap. Or snuggle for stories. He will also snuggle with any of his siblings... as long as they let him! He is my love bug, for sure!

3. He loves to clean! He really does. I thought he would grow out of his "helper" stage but nope. He calls himself a "professional bed maker" and is always willing to wash a table, mop, sweep or vacuum!

4. He is nice to everyone. Even if he has a friend who annoys him, he is still kind. He will play with anyone and include them in his games. He would spend hours out at the park playing with whoever was out there.

5. He loves anything his brothers do! Legos, Minecraft, Star Wars...and doesn't let them tease him when he wants to watch a "baby show" like Paw Patrol, Jake and the Neverland Pirates...

6. He loves to read, draw and do puzzles.

Happy Birthday sweet six year old! Mom loves you!

Bedtime stories

 My kids have had the very same bedtime routine their WHOLE lives.

It started out when Harmony was a baby and continued until last night.

We do skip on the weekends some times but other than that, it has remained...

Bath, pj''s, teeth and 2-3 stories. Depending on length.

Right now, I have 3 books that I have been reading over and over. And over again. Sometimes I hide them, so that we can read other things. They love them.

These three books are totally and completely 100%  Ivan & Mason approved.

image taken from Google

1.  "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. is an "oldie but a goodie".
After reading Mason's very first report card, and noticing that he needed to do some work on his letters, I purchased it. Again. My first copy of the book, after being read numerous times to my older children, was toast. My second copy, purchased in late January, is headed the same way! We don't just read this book. We recite the alphabet. We sound out the letters. We think of people's names who start with every letter. And at the end, when "a" gets out of bed? I tickle them like crazy on the "boom-boom".

image taken from walmart.com

2. "Goodnight Ipad by Ann Droyd". It is a cute & contemporary parody of the classic book, "Good Night Moon." The boys love this book. They love when the book talks about You Tube and Facebook. They laugh when, after it is announced that it is time to turn all gadgets off, it is the Dad who replies, "do we have ta'?". It is a fun read!

3. "The Book with no Pictures" by BJ Novak. I bought this book for the boys as a Christmas gift, and have pretty much read it every night since. The book really doesn't have pictures, but it is colorful. This book, has the person reading the book, say funny things, sing silly songs and call themselves a monkey. BJ Novak, who was hilarious in "The Office" is just as funny as an author.

So there you have it. Three books that my boys are totally digging right now! What about you? Do you have these books? Do your kids like them as much as mine?

Innocence

This weekend was full of family time. I just soaked it all in.

My older kids, while participating in Easter activities, didn't have quite the same enthusiasm as Mason did.

He has gone from being too young to understand what is going on to being excited about every single part.

He is still so sweet and innocent. This weekend he...

-"dived" Easter eggs (which made him very firsty")
- ran around looking for Easter eggs
-chasing bubbles around the yard and...
-got his groove on

This kid makes me laugh and smile. He drives me a little nutty. He is my not so baby, baby! I am going to enjoy as much of this this time as I possibly can.

Backyard Battles

"Honey, you might want to grab your camera and come here..."

This is what I found my 2 younger boys doing, fighting each other in the backyard with swords, masks, shields...

What can I say?

Boys will be boys. And in an odd way, I love it when they do! When their days include imaginary play and not just holding onto a controller. When they are super hero's, pirates, or knights. I love my boys. I love seeing life through their eyes.

Mommy time

As a mother of five, it is not easy to find alone time.

OK for any Mom that is not easy.

I had the experience of traveling by myself last week. It was soooo nice. I had no one to answer too. I stayed up late. Took naps. Went shopping. Read a book.Did a couple of errands. And I was only gone for a tiny bit.

Of course I missed my little bug-a-boos but seriously, it was nice.

Today I made the mistake of trying to go to the bathroom. By myself. With the door locked.

Mason, my 3 yr old, knocked on the door. "Just a second Mason."

"Mommy, you read me a story?"

"Not yet, I will be out in a bit."

Next thing I know, this gets slipped under the door...

 

Sigh. Alone time? What is that again?!

 

sleepy boy

For awhile now, Mason hasn't been taking a nap. It is annoying to say the least.

6:30---> He wakes up with the rest of the kids
8:00-1:00---> He is a perfectly happy kiddo
1:00-6:00---> very grumpy but totally won't take a nap
7:00---> if he stays still for lnger than 5 minutes he crashes

Then....we throw in day light savings time. Oh my gracious. He is a crabby, worn out boy. He insists,


" I not grumpy, I Mason."

Lets let the pictures speak for themselves shall we...

 

 

Somebody save me!

weekend family update

walking on Stearns Warf in Santa Barbara

It is amazing how life can be boring and yet busy at the same time. Maybe a family of 7 can never have a truly boring life? That is probably it...

Harmony has spent the past week preparing to go to Girls Camp. She is so excited. Being a 2nd year means that they move up from tents to cabins. Harmony listens to music from the minute she wakes up (because it plays all night) until the minute she goes to bed...because yes, her music plays all night. She constantly has her ear phones in her ears. There are no ipods allowed at GC so she is not sure how she will survive the week!

Ethan was pretty bummed that there were no Scouts this week. However he managed to fill his time, as always, with video games. The kids drive us crazy because it seems that is all they want to do. I know it is summer, but I am afraid his brain has turned to mush. He has been having a lot of fun swimming and so at least there is that!

Connor has earned a new nickname..."the Mason whisperer". He can get Mason to do anything. Calm down, go to sleep, stop crying...the kid has the patience of a Saint. I have no idea where he got it from! Connor had a tough week with earning his allowance and then spending his money on something he didn't really want. Life is full of dissapointments and hopefully he learned his lesson!

Ivan is still a Lego building, Wii playing, run around like crazy 7 year old. This past Friday our family made a trip to the zoo & aquarium. Ivan got in big trouble at the aquarium when he ignored me, and ran off to a different section. Many "safety violations" later, he said, "Sorry Mom." Ugh. He scares me. He really enjoyed the aquarium as we haven't been to one since he was little. He loved the new Jellies exhibit.

Mason hasn't let Ben out of his sight. He follows him around everywhere and asks, "what are you doing?". He loves to feel Bens whiskers (when he has them) and plays with his "scratchies". He has turned into a bossy little thing and is constantly telling the older kids to do things. For the most part they just ignore him, but it is pretty cute to see him bossing them around!

Ben is in a word...bored. He has officially checked out of NMCB3 and is now a grad student...although school doesn't start until the end of August. He is filling his time with honey  do lists. Cleaning out his garage, working on the yard and designing and building projects & furniture. He is so talented and built me a gorgeous picnic table. We have all enjoyed eating outside.

Life is good and we are enjoying the somewhat relaxed schedule of the summer.

Jello Jigglers

Connor, my 10 yr old, has been begging for jello jigglers since I don't know how long!

It is one of those things that I see all the time BUT have just never made.

I had a few boxes of Jello and had just planned to use cookie cutters when I found this cute little mold at Wal Mart for $1!What kid doesn't like Phineas and Ferb...or parent for that matter?!

Can you tell who that purple blob is? Dr. Doofenshmirtz!

We made grape (my favorite flavor) and put them in the fridge. I think I made them a little too thick as it was really hard to get them out! Even after placing themold in warm water.

But it didn't stop the kids from eating their favorite characters (: Mason really enjoyed them if you can't tell! lol

" I help you"

He is pretty stinkin' cute...but I don't always want his help. However, when it comes to Mason and his bannana bread, it is all hands on deck...

Weekly Family Update

Because I am no longer keeping up my old blog, "Maries Hectic Life" I have decided to do a nice family re-cap on Sundays so that I can share about the other things going on in our lives...

Harmony- This girl is growing up way too fast. I can't believe she will be a teen, next month :( Where has the time gone? She loves foreign languages, writing, reading, drawing, watching anime...She has so many amazing talents and I am so in aw of her. Is she perfect? No, but she is pretty stinkin' cute. We did a "girly" shopping trip and she has a new favorite store...World Market. How many teenagers have a home goods store as their favorite place to shop?!

Ethan- This kid is video-game obsessed. Seriously. It is hard to drag him away...but this week I did. Tuesday was hot. And I got some bad news. And some friends of ours moved in and we were keeping their kids entertained. So we went to the pool. That night he went swimming for Scouts. Wednesday we went swimming for playgroup. Friday evening, some friends took the 4 older kids swimming. He spent a lot of time in the pool!

Connor- He is just the cutest kid. A Lego maniac. An awesome big brother to Mason. He found himself grounded this week after throwing a fit about having to clean up. The next day however, he was very sweet and helpful. Did he learn his lesson? Only time will tell I guess. He is bummed to be missing Cub Scout camp this week. I had planned to be in OR/WA for the summer and so I didn't sign him up. Hmmm, maybe next year...

Ivan- "Is it Wednesday, Mom?" "Its July, right?" I have been answering these and similiar questions for a few weeks now. Why? Because Ivans favorite show, is coming back for the summer. Lego Ninjago. He has been watching all of the first season episodes over and over and over... Ivan is such a funny kid and just cracks me up. He threw a huge fit about me taking him to Costco vs Sams Club and informed me, " I am assuming you won't be taking me here again." Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or wash his mouth out with soap!

Mason- just turned three! I can't believe how big my baby is getting! He is a typical 3 year old...one minute he is as happy as can be...and the next, he is whiney and pouting. He has turned into a bossy little thing and we have a hard time not cracking up when he tells someone to "go on timeout" or that we are "bad boys/girls". He has been having a ton of fun playing with his friend Brian and having playdates with him. They are so cute playing together!

THREE!

My sweet little Mason is three!

 Technically, since he was born on Guam, and the time zones are different, his birthday would have been yesterday. Good thing I am not very technical.

With my husband being gone, and his return date is still up in the air (but is soooo stinkin' close!) that I am holding off any celebrating. How boring I know. But he is still young enough that he doesn't know the difference anyway.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and his answer was, "candles! presents!" That was it. Makes it easy enough, right?

Luckily I have a gift cupboard full of Little People, Thomas trains, his movies....

I just love my 3 year old. He is busy, funny, snuggly, sweet, messy, bossy...But oh that face (:

Happy Birthday to my little Dennis the Menace!