(making it by the skin of my teeth) Friday Fotos

It will just barely be Friday still by the time I get this up.....but it's going up nonetheless!

Here's what we've been up to this week:

Ethan got to be student of the month this month. Both my boys having received this honor in their first two months of school---well let's just say I'm a proud mama! I won't show you the picture of Ethan with his certificate because it has his school name all over it, and there's only so much you want creepy Google guy to know about your children! BUT--here's a picture of Liam eating breakfast in the *cafetirium* after the presentation.

Elena and family came for a visit this week. So happy to have them here! Don't James and Kate look like twins? They'll have beautiful dark-eyed, dark-haired babies one day......the day Kate demands James marry her cuz SHE'S THE BOSS :)!

My Ethan turned *9* this week. Oh where does the time go? I couldn't ask for a better kid--funny, sensitive, and a genuine peacemaker. He makes me happy every day! I took him and a few friends out for pizza and games, then back here for a little cake and present action:


He and his friend utilized every blanket and pillow in the house to build this monstrous fort in the family room:
They tried to sleep in it, but it caved in on them sometime around 11 so they had to retreat to the bedroom! Glad I got a picture of it anyway !

Finally--more baking to Flamenco music this week! I made oatmeal cream pies:

Quick! Run for the gym! You just gained 5 pounds looking at the picture! :)

*****Now I'm using my alter ego "The Famous Jennifer P." to call out a favor from y'all. Do you hear this music? Is it not fabulous? Catchy, sweet, not a bad word to be found. I love it! It's from my friend Jon's band, The Arrogants. They broke up a few years back to focus on their families---another reason to love them! He's been blogging since January with sparse comments. I'm certain he doesn't do it for the comment lovin', but isn't it fun to have your comments go crazy-- even just for a day? So pop by after you read this and tell him hello. No---tell him "The Famous Jennifer P. " sent you. He'll get a kick out of that! Thank you---you know you're all my favorites :) .******

~~~Happy Weekending!~~~

i'll be expecting my parade any day now

I was cleaning out papers from my Ethan's backpack, when I ran across a worksheet with "What Makes a Hero?" on the top. On it, he had to go through and circle whether or not he agreed or disagreed with a list of statements describing a potential hero. He wrote:

A hero is brave and strong---agree.

A hero is caring and thoughtful---agree.

A hero is selfish---disagree.

A hero is never frightened---agree.

A hero makes mistakes--disagree circled, then erased and agree circled instead.

A hero is never silly---again, first agree circled, then changed, disagree.

A hero is dishonest---disagree.

A hero puts others before himself or herself---agree.

A hero stands up for himself or herself---agree.

A hero never gets angry---agree.

As I finished reading, I thought "that's great how my little guy has such a firm grasp on heroic traits", and I almost threw the worksheet away. But then I turned it over.....

The other side was called "My Hero". I'm putting his answers exactly as they're written in all their 8-year-old splendor:

If you could pick one person who you would consider to be your hero, who would it be?---my mom.

What qualities does this person possess that makes him or her special?---nice to othr peple.

In what way would you like to be similar to this person?---I want to be as nice as her.

How would you have to change?---triy hardr.

I bet you can guess that I am never, ever, ever going to throw this away! I may even have it framed and/or archived. What more could a mom ask for than to have her children admire her? My heart is smiling just reading over his sweet answers again.

Now if only I could use my super power of "nice" to turn the earth back on its axis or leap tall buildings in a single bound or maybe turn cheesecake into a low calorie, nutritious snack.....

and thank you Ethan. I'll try and stay worthy of being your hero forever and ever!

brothers day

I bet you didn't know that today was a major holiday, did you?

Well, at least it is around here.

My kids love to make up reasons to have fun(!)---from birthday parties for their stuffed animals to celebration dinners for any old thing and all sorts of made up holidays. Two years ago they deemed June 19 to officially be Brothers Day. I thought it was a cute idea-- so I wrote it down on the calendar...and it has been celebrated ever since!

If you want to celebrate "Brothers Day" at your house---here's how my boys say to do it:

*First, make sure you have brothers.

*Next, make sure that you treat all your brothers really nice and give them lots of hugs.

*Extra computer time and no chores (I told them it was one or the other....)

* You have to dance to the brothers' favorite song (playing now).

*Brothers pick what to have for dinner (tonight it was tacos)

*You have to have dessert!

*The big brothers get to stay up and watch a movie with Mom (this time we saw Seven Brides for Seven Brothers---guess who picked that :) ).

***I think next year we'll add "airing of grievances" and "feats of strength".....

Everybody make a wish!

HAPPY BROTHERS DAY!!!

stuff i've been doing....

Believe it or not, I have been doing fun, constructive,happy things with my days. Things that involve much less drama than concussions, old boyfriends, and buckets of crazy. Some of them are more bittersweet than others, but it's all good.....

The first Saturday in May, I participated in the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure". I signed up to run with my niece just as I was getting over the rheumatic fever. Walking was still painful then, and I really wanted a goal to work toward. I've always been very active--taking step aerobics, using the elliptical machine, walking at a 15 incline on the treadmill---but I've never been a runner. I trained really hard to be able to run at least some of this 5K. Turns out it was sooooooo crowded that we couldn't have ran if we wanted to! Ah well!!! Brittany, my niece, made it fun! She thought we had a great "conversation" during our speed walk. Sweet, sweet Brittany--conversation involves TWO people, and really what we had was me having a case of the verbal diarrhea that seems to so easily inflict me since this divorce. I'm sure if there had been any traffic, my non-stop jabbering would have made you run out into it! (That's just me trying to be funny again--except that it's sadly true too :)!). Thank you so much though Brittany. The whole thing would have been a bore without you! And thank you Heavenly Father for my ability not only to be able to walk again, but maybe even to run!

There's not a picture of it, but I got to wear an "in memory of my mom" sign on my back. The small cell cancer in her eyes, brain, lungs and liver that finally killed her was a result of metastasized breast cancer. It was neat to see women who had survived this disease all around us, and others running "in memory" as well. Very powerful.

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Happy Birthday James! I love a kid turning 2! I COULD have had a fancy-schmancy kind of party, but why bother? All he cared about was blowing out these candles over and over and over again! What a sweetie! He also sang the birthday song to himself throughout the day. "Happy Boo-day du me.... " Love this boy ;)!

Liam, of course, had to give him a little help!

He got a gallon of chocolate milk (I call it his 'kiddie coffee' since it's what he always asks for first thing in the morning!) and books for presents. Again-- he was as thrilled with it all as a teenager would have been getting a new car! And yes, that is Brad holding him. Difficult on my heart to do these "family" things--but I'll keep doing them because I know it is still such a blessing to my children to have us be able to get along and be together.

AND FINALLY........

Since the boys will be attending public school for the very first time in the fall, we decided we'd check things out and attend the ****school carnival*****:

Do you guys remember these things being so crowded when you were little? It was like being at Disneyland or something---lines for EVERYTHING!
Zane helping Liam at the golf game. He won a kazoo!
Ethan and his friend after a visit to the face painting booth.
Ice cream was a big hit. It was still nearly 95 degrees that evening! Kind of wish I'd had some wet wipes with me afterwards though.....
All in all we had a really fun time. We only lost Liam once.

I found a nice lady willing to take a picture of all of us. We have far too few of these, and I want my kiddos to remember that I really was there!(says the invisible woman :) ). And if by chance you happen to click to enlarge it, I look horrid. 4 hours of sleep a night and too much stress has not been kind to my poor face---but the smile is genuine, I promise. Look at these sweeties I'm with. How could it not be?!

Thanks again for putting up with the randomness! Have a great day! (and by the way, is it just me or is this new Natasha Bedingfield song not incredibly catchy?! I gotta pocket, gotta pocket full of sunshine.....)

*update: Wednesday night: How many rounds of Guitar Hero do you think David Cook had to play to be able to jam along with ZZ? Has anyone else passed that level :)?!

what a warm day brings....

It looks like a caveman with a piece of chalk visited our back porch! That would be the work of Liam.....
He sure does love to draw in an absTracT manner!
What a creative little soul ;)!
And James has drug out every ball.
Ethan is sporting a pair of my old sunglasses and feeling pretty cool (never mind that they have my prescription in them and will probably ruin his eyes.....)

the sandbox is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
Liam peeking in on his friend Emma. Thank goodness for knotholes at eye level!
Pretty yellow flowers.......
Not so pretty yellow flowers..... (this is the neighbors yard, by the way!)

And red shoes. How can you not be happy when you're wearing red shoes?!

what does a warm day bring around your house?

back to life

I'm still dealing with a lot. I have paperwork and forms and applications up to my eyeballs, and enough phone calls to make that I should probably hire myself a secretary. As the daughter of a widow, I have always had an emergency "back up life plan" formulated in my mind, just in case--but having it there, and actually executing it have turned out to be two totally different things. I'm trying to make sure I only spend three hours a day on the business of re-inventing my life, and the rest trying to live and appreciate it.

I spent all Saturday morning working in my yard. Nothing like hard work to keep the mind occupied! I figured out how to "cold start" the lawnmower all by myself by moving the turtle/rabbit thingie. I also got the weed eater started on the first pull and fixed the line several times when it broke. I pulled all the weeds and re-seeded the bare patches of grass. And finally ran the leaf blower to clean the driveway and sidewalks. I had 8796 steps on my pedometer when I was done. Not bad, eh?!



Then my good (but blog-less) friend Heidi and I went to go see this:

Yes--when I have my pick of movies, I go see a documentary. I loved it though. Ben Stein just makes anything good. I know we all remember him as the teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but he was actually a speech writer for President Nixon before starting down the acting path. Crazy! Anyway, I'm sure this won't be in theatres for too long, but I recommend seeing it if and when you can.

Saturday evening, the boys and I went to our next door neighbors, Chris and Michelle's, for a barbecue. A great use of a (finally!!!) warm day. There were 4 or 5 other families there and about 13 3,4, and 5 year olds. Very loud, but fun too. A lot of Guitar Hero was played-- with all the little ones 'busting a move' to "Slow Ride". It was HILARIOUS! Chris is a master on the barbecue and made these amazing hamburgers flavored with some kind of secret seasoning he won't reveal. I actually ate a whole one-- which I think is the most food I've eaten in two weeks. Even after we came back home, Liam and James continued to talk to all the kids through the knot holes in our fence. I think they also managed to push a few of the toys from the sandbox through the holes as well. Too cute!

Today before church, I packed up a quick lunch and we drove clear across town to picnic at a park in the foothills. As I watched the boys pair up on either end of the seesaw, and watched them help each other to go down the slide, and saw their precious faces just beaming in the Spring sunshine-- I could have kicked myself for not bringing the camera. But I took lots of pictures in my mind, and though those aren't the kind that you get to appreciate--they work just fine for me :).

So there I am trying to get on with this new chapter in my life-- and so grateful I have good friends and four beautiful boy faces to brighten up each day just a little. And I have even found myself smiling for 10 and 15 minutes at a stretch with no thoughts as to the difficulties that still lie ahead--just the blessings that are in front of me for the moment. And I think that's a good start!

(this is obviously an older photo of the boys and I, but I've always thought we looked just like angels in it! I figured I'd throw it up here so you had a little something more than google images to look at... and so that I could appreciate it throughout the day too ;)! ).

hello sunshine!

Typical of an Idaho Spring, we went from low 50's with a cold breeze, to high 70's and blue skies everywhere---in one day. Never seems to be much middle ground around here!

But unpredictable or not--a warm day should be enjoyed to the fullest! I see water. I see rocks. Hmmmm.....wonder what's going to happen?

My boys sure do love throwing rocks in the river (or the canal, or a puddle, or in James's case--the hot tub!)
Looks like I forgot to rotate this picture, and I'm too lazy to go back and do it now--but I think it's so cute the way James follows Zane around. He has no clue that he's not every bit as big and capable!

This doesn't look dangerous at all, does it?!

I sure do love these guys!

*And in other news--your friendly movie critic (me!) says I was actually entertained by Alvin and the Chipmunks, but I turned off both "No Reservations" and "Nancy Drew" before the ending and don't even care!

Have a great week~!

so much to smile about

Aaaaah.....every day life. If you've ever read the quotes in my sidebar, you'll see that one of my favorites is "Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day". I am so grateful to have the gift to find something to smile about each day. Here are just a few things from Saturday that made my heart sing:



How can seeing flowers NOT make a girl happy? So glad to have some color back in my flower beds!

And the neighbor's flower beds...... (*and I just had to throw this one in because I really feel that no one's lawn should look this good at the beginning of a still cold April ! I have a term for people like this.....lawn nazis! :) )................
What Mom doesn't love to wake up to the sound of "Mooooooom!" being called from a crib by a little voice; and find a fresh faced, messy-haired baby waiting for you. Such a happy thing!
How wonderful to catch a peaceful moment of your two strong-willed children playing contentedly together.....or at least side by side:
I affectionately call Zane's good friend Kody "The Jolly Green Giant". There are only a few weeks between he and Zane, but Kody really does look like a 10 year old giant compared to my boy! The side by side shoe comparison says it all.....

But size difference and all, I am so happy my children have good friends!

And oh how happy Liam made me by showing obedience! The kids know that they're not suppose to have food on the carpet, so they have invented their own makeshift TV tray if they're hungry-- but still interested in watching what's going on in the family room (in this case, an exciting game of Lego Star Wars for the wii....) Good boy Liam!
What made you smile today?


*Just a reminder too--it's Tuesday and Zane has some great stuff waiting on the Zane Times blog! Invited readers, have a look!

let's go fly a kite

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What would a windy Spring day be without a kite?

Fred Meyer was running a sale on kites--2 for $5.00. Lucky us!

Look at them soar!~ (No powerlines or trees nearby, of course!)

Liam got to fly a kite.......

Zane and Ethan got to fly a kite (and look how great they're sharing!)......................

James got to fly a kite .......and nearly let it go. Good thing Dad was hanging on with his finger.

Then James decided he'd rather play ball anyway!.............

I love the look of sheer joy and amazement on all my kids faces in these pictures.

This day was so memorable, that little Liam has mentioned he was thankful for it in every one of his prayers since. Such a good reminder that it takes so little to make kids of all ages happy.

So, go check out your local Fred Meyer, or whatever store might be nearby, for a great sale of your own..... and GO FLY A KITE!!!