This and That

We are just finishing up lacrosse season which has consumed our lives but despite it, we've been enjoying the sunny weather and there are lots of other things that fill our time. 

We love our neighbors!  Parker and Spencer were rocking their matching bike helmets as they cruised around the neighborhood.

And here's Henry with our neighbor, Karissa.  She is 3 weeks older than him but speaks in full sentences and basically makes him look very dumb.  It doesn't bother me too much because I've learned through the years that that's just the way it goes when you compare boys and girls.  They sure are cute together!

Spring is absolutely beautiful here.  Check out those azaleas at the church.  We've had a couple friends get baptized so squeezing in baptisms on busy Saturdays has been a fun adventure but these two handled it ok.

 Henry and I got to go to Parker's school on Toy Maker Day.  This guys comes to the school and teaches the kids how to make a boat out of rubber bands and rulers and other household items.  Luckily I've done this a few times with the other kids so it didn't matter that I arrived 20 minutes late from a marketing lunch I had to do for the office.  

 

Henry is in the messy toddler phase that makes me want to pull my hair out.  He pretty much needs a bath after every meal and my kitchen floor needs a good mopping too.  Neither of which happen.

I bought a couple toys for Henry to play with out in the yard because his cute little bike he got for Christmas was stolen!  He obsessed over this lawn mower for a little while and looks like a little old man pushing it around.

Marcus is a SLOB.  An absolute slob.  He used to be ridiculously neat and tidy and then puberty hit and it was like a switch got flipped.  I'm trying to figure out how to flip it back.  Ethan duct taped the floor to mark the area that Marcus is allowed to contaminate.

Ethan is the best big brother around and spends lots of afternoons playing with Henry.  I don't know what I'd do without him as he has fast become my right-hand man the way Marcus used to be until he started high school and pretty much disappeared from our lives :)

Henry is loved!  Look at these two just watching Henry eat his breakfast.

 I took the boys for a mandatory Sunday walk.  Mandatory because they never want to go but once they do, they realize just how much pent up energy they have and forget they never wanted to go in the first place.  They kept leaping and bounding in and out of the tall grass, disappearing from sight and then suddenly popping up again.  Landon and Ethan are back there somewhere.

The sky was so beautiful too.  Unfortunately my camera couldn't focus on the meadow and sky at the same time so superimpose the two shots together and you get an idea of just how beautiful it actually was.

Parker on the 2nd row just left of center

Parker had his kindergarten concert and was so cute.  He kept searching for us in the crowd while I was embarrassing myself with all kinds of waving to get his attention.  Finally I waved Henry around in the aisle and you should've seen Parker's eyes light up when he knew we were there.

Henry doing what he does best!

His latest obsession is dipping graham crackers in milk.  He is very particular about their size and refuses to eat them if they aren't broken into perfect rectangles.

Also, I have no idea why there is a comb and a package of croutons sitting on the counter as if it's totally normal.  I guess we are used to abnormal things in our home.

And this is Ethan getting some serious emergency dental work done, late on a Friday night.  Ethan was out riding his new trick scooter he had just bought with his hard earned money when he fell off a jump and chipped three teeth and shifted one tooth out of its socket.  This was kind of the equivalent to the kid from The Christmas Story who shoots his eye out after he finally gets his beloved Red Ryder Bb gun.  Ethan was terrified to tell Randy.  Randy made a splint in hopes of saving Ethan's tooth and keeping it in place.  He's the man!   (Check out the cool x-ray of Ethan's teeth in the background)

And last but certainly not least, Randy wrecked the Audi.  He wasn't hurt but it was his fault.  Things got really complicated as this was a leased car and we had planned to turn it in and buy something else before our lease was up.  I even had it inspected the week before so we were all set to return the thing on time.  Serves me right for being on top of things for once!  But things worked out.  Sort of.  Randy spent the day at the dealership while I went to SEVEN(!) lacrosse games.  It would've been eight but I couldn't be in two places at once.  

Mom Life

We aren't done yet!
While the rest of the world is winding down the end of the school year with all the end-of-year events and chaos that comes with it, we are still trudging along with too many days left to even being a countdown.  We are at that place where we could desperately use a break from the daily grind.  The boys are sick of eating the same foods in their sack lunches, they're unmotivated to do their jobs without a lot of reminders and nagging from me, bedtimes keep getting pushed back later and later as the sun stays out longer, and homework is getting sloppier with every passing day.  These are all symptoms of burnout and I've grown accustomed to them as they happen every year but unfortunately for us, we've still got over a month left of school.  Ugh.
And I'm feeling some burnout too.  Yesterday morning was a doozy.  Landon refused to cooperate during his piano lesson, setting records for pushing buttons I didn't know I had, thus resulting in me having to "fire him" from piano.  He will now be taking lessons from some poor soul who he will hopefully be more respectful to.   While I was taking a 2-minute shower after suffering through the worst piano lesson ever with Landon, Henry dumped out half a gallon of milk all across the counter and kitchen floor.  Landon and Parker were yelling as they headed out the door for school as I frantically threw some clothes on, changed a soggy, stinky Henry and dashed out the door to pick up the rental car (because Randy wrecked the Audi) leaving a pile of milk-soaked towels on the kitchen floor.  As I thought about my morning it was all I could do not to burst into tears as I thought about all the things I said that I wished I hadn't said, and all the things my kids did or said that they shouldn't have said either.  I really just wanted to crawl back into bed and ignore the world and everyone in it but instead I had to put on a good face and chat with some stranger who drove me from the mechanic to the rental car place.  It was actually therapeutic to chat as if I didn't have a care in the world or five kids who I wanted to put up for adoption.  Since my friend was taking care of Henry I was able to run some quick errands without a toddler in tow and enjoy what actually felt like some much-needed down time.
Being a mom is tough.  It's thankless.  It's unappreciated.  It's never-ending. But it's also fulfilling, miraculous, entertaining, and unpredictable. 

PS. I wrote this post a week ago and forgot to hit publish.  After a much-needed Memorial Day to reboot, we are ready to face the 22 days left of school.  Sort of ready. 

It's Not Summer Yet....

It's 5:300am, and the last day of school.  I'm soaking up my last hour of peace and quiet and catching up on the blog before the chaos in my life increases exponentially.  We've had an unusually calm last few weeks of school.  Typically our lives are packed with all the end-of-year celebrations and school activities but other than a couple choir concerts that happened a few weeks ago, we've had nothing.  It has been weird and enjoyable.  Here's a brief update on each boy....
Henry is doing great!  His stitches haven't dissolved completely but the scar is looking better and better.   Or maybe we are just getting used to it?  Yeah, that's probably it.  I can't tell you how much of my day is spent following this kid around trying to prevent him from hitting his head.  Henry is a climber and he is constantly trying to do things that should require a helmet and a soft landing pad.  Keeping him alive is no small task.  But we love and adore him anyway.

Henry in his new and safe high chair to replace the booster-strapped-to-the-stool-death trap

Henry got his head shaved and looks much better

Thanks to Barb for saving the day with cute hats to hide the scar and cover his bald head because I can't put sunblock on his scar

Shopping at Old Navy meant following him around while he climbed on everything while Marcus tried to find pants to fit his giant quads

Parker has been bored out of his brains waiting for his brothers to get done with school.  He's almost finished his daily reading lesson book and has become a pretty good reader despite his efforts to put off reading lessons with every excuse or temper tantrum you can imagine.

 We had to drop off our Oki friend Aaron in Seattle so we bought a cone at McDonald's so we could score free parking while we went to the City Center.

 Parker takes great care of Henry.  Until he gets tired of him, that is.  Then he just walks away.

Since Parker's backpack hasn't been used, Marcus decided to start using it instead.  After tons of compliments he's decided to use it in high school too. 

Landon has survived 2nd grade and the meanest teacher ever.  Seriously, I think the only reason she has a job is because her students get great test scores.  She seems to hate kids but Landon has endured and only come home from school in tears a couple times.  He finished another season of soccer and is showing some real potential.  If it weren't for him, I'm sure his team would've lost every game.  He's gone to a few Mariner's games with his best friend Luke (Brother from Another Mother) and is now obsessing about baseball.  We will see where that leads....

Landon and Desmond were the only kids on the team to score goals the whole season so the other boys were super grateful

These two play so well together

Landon killing time by playing on his kindle while waiting for the choir concert to get over.

Turning in his last homework packet!!

Ethan has discovered the joys of being a pre-teen and is taking advantage of his newfound freedom by spending endless hours biking around with his friends.  His group of friends have finally figured out if they ride their bikes to meet up instead of waiting for their moms to coordinate rides, they get to spend a whole lot more time together.  Ethan told me he's so glad to have 6th grade over because "I'm tired of trying to not do anything embarrassing at school."  I told him that's what middle school is all about but I'm pretty sure he thinks it only applies to 6th grade.  Ethan finished up a good track season, is still begging me to sign him up for football (jury is still out on this one), his choir class voted him "Most Improved" and he had an awesome solo in the last concert.  Ethan's grown up a lot this year.  He has become an awesome lacrosse player and scored more goals than anyone on the team.  He's a scrapper on the field, fighting for any ball all the while getting pushed around by boys much bigger than he is.  At the end of one of their tournament games, another coach told Ethan he'd love to have him on his team any day.  Hooray for Ethan!

Cutest and toughest mid fielder on the team

Ethan doing the long jump.  He wasn't impressed but I was.

His big 6th grade Hero Palooza service project where he fed the homeless cheeseburgers and did yard work for an elderly couple

Ethan fighting and winning a face off in a lacrosse tournament.  By the way, Marcus and Ethan had tournaments on the same weekend which means I sat through 6 lacrosse games in one day.  Six!  And I still have no idea how to play the game.

Posing after their last choir concert

Choir Boys and Choir Awards!

Marcus has been busy! He finished up his track season by qualifying to compete in the district meet where he took first in long jump (one time he actually jumped over the pit he jumped so far), first in the 100M, and second in the 200M.  He is one fast kid!  He finished up his lax season with a couple long and torturous tournaments and was also selected to play in an All-Stars game where a couple kids from each team are all selected to play together.  He's improved a ton and is definitely MVP on his team.  All the parents cheer him on and know him by name and I still have no clue what's going on.  He comes home from games covered in welts and bruises from all the hits he takes and then goes back out for more the next day.  Marcus went to Disneyland back in May with the 8th grade choir, band, and orchestra members.  He's only been to Tokyo Disney and can barely remember it so this trip was a big deal.  The chaperones and his teacher couldn't get over his excitement at seeing everything for the first time and when he saw Cars Land he actually cried!  (He said he was sweating from his eyes")  When Marcus was little he LOVED Lightning McQueen more than any other boy I know so I thought it was pretty cute that most of his pictures from his trip were all Cars stuff.  He also never sent me a single text the entire 4 days he was gone.  I was so mad!  But proud of him for paying for half of the expensive trip and using his own spending money for meals and such.  I'm confident he was the only kid there who did that.  He was voted "Most Inspirational" in choir and also had a big solo in the last concert.  At the 8th grade end-of-year party, he was voted "Most Athletic."  No surprise there.  The big surprise is that PE was his lowest grade.  Can you believe that?  I'd have words with the PE teacher but since his GPA doesn't matter right now I'll let that battle pass.  Marcus had his 8th grade promotion ceremony yesterday which made me surprisingly emotional.  He's come a long way in the past 3 years, made a ton of friends both with the kids and staff, and has really matured.  I'm sad to see his middle school years end.  As soon as school gets out he is heading off to Youth Conference with our ward for a few days where they are going to some island to zip line and attend workshops, then he's off to EFY the next week.  Throw in a couple camping trips with the scouts and his summer is pretty booked.

Fastest kid in the district!

Lacrosse model!  this pose the photographer made him do cracks me up,

His buds in the All Star game

 Disney!

The middle school gets torn down next week so they had a big party and the kids got to spray paint the school which made for a cool backdrop

Marcus and his lacrosse buds

After the ceremony it was picture taking chaos.  I felt like the paparazzi so I'll only post a couple of the many pictures I took with Marcus and various friends.  Promotion ceremony is a big deal for the girls.  They all had new dresses, shoes, nails done, hair done, the works.  And they all got flowers.  Glad I have a son for this one.