Drowning...

Over Memorial Day, our family headed to the beach. We packed snacks, buckets & shovels, towels, chairs and all the items needed for a day of sand & surf.

There was a time where being at the beach was 100% hands on. Our kids were little and had to be watched every second.

This time however, Ben & I sat in chairs and watched them play in the water, build sandcastles, lie on towels reading magazines. I was able to take pictures, look at a scrapbook magazine and sit and talk with Ben. Keeping a very "lazy eye" on my kids.

Ivan has no fear. Never has. He scares me. Sometimes I hold my breath just waiting to see what he will do.

 The Pacific Ocean is anything but warm, and yet he stayed in the whole 3 hours we were there.

The tide was coming in, and he would get swept up in the waves. He popped right up and did it again and again. He would scare me as he got knocked off his feet, repeatedly. I would  hold my breath as I waited for his head to pop up out of the water. I was sure that one good wipe out and he would be in the sand for the rest of the day.

But he showed me. He kept on smiling, laughing and playing. Followed by going back in. Never staying down. Never giving up.

For the past few weeks, I have felt like I am drowning. In basic day to day Mommy tasks, in keeping up with schedules, meals, church callings, in keeping up with my coupons, blogging. My life. Being a wife. Being me.

My lack of organization does not help in the slightest.

I have been tired. I have been stressed. I have been handling things as best as I can.

And yet I still feel like I have been knocked down and am having a problem getting up. And when I do, my smile is nowhere to be seen.

So, today I am going to take a cue from Ivan. To get back up when  I am knocked down. Not only to get back up, but to do it with a smile on my face.

No more letting life sweep me off my feet. Bring it on world.

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...