Family Pics

The other day I was looking for a nice family picture to print out and send with Caeden to school. We take lots of family shots...... I should have a good one saved somewhere, right? As I scrolled through all my pictures from this last summer I started to realize that in every picture Tanner is pulling some kind of grotesque face. I thought it would be funny to compile a little mini-album of all his mischevious looks.

Seriously. Every single one of these was cropped from an attempt at a good family photo. When we send out Christmas cards this year and our family picture doesn't look Kodak worthy.....it's not for lack of trying!

What happens in Vegas.....um, follows us home.

My oldest brother, married his long-time girlfriend in Las Vegas on Thursday Sept. 7th. We traveled down there to see his wedding and take a mini family vacation at the same time. I've never been to Vegas with kids, it was an interesting experience! They LOVED the M&M factory and Rainforest Cafe. We also took them to the Bellagio fountains, the Mirage volcano show, the T.I. Pirate show, and the Freemont Street Experience. The kids had so much fun, but they were so worn out by the end of the trip. I'm glad the boys are so young, I would have been a lot more worried about having an older son in a place like Las Vegas. Thankfully my boys are so innocent they didn't understand any of the more adult aspects of the city. Caeden thought the slot machines were nothing more than adult arcades (we had to take him to a "kids arcade" at Excalibur cause he was feeling bad that he didn't get to play any of the games). And when Tanner picked up a card off the street that had a naughty picture on it he tried to hand it to me saying "It has a mommy on it, it's a card for mommies.".

The wedding was beautiful and we're so happy for Uncle Don. I loved being able to spend time with my family.....I can't remember the last time we were all together. Weston got to even meet his Aunt Tonya for the very first time.

On the ride home the boys were absolute monsters. They were over-tired and fought, screamed and whined most of the way. Tanner decided to punch Caeden in the face and as a result Caeden had a gusher of a bloody nose. We were in the middle of nowhere and only had a small handful of Kleenex....the solution? A diaper. He was so mad when we took a picture of it! Now I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

Weston

My baby is 6 months old. He needs to stop growing!

There's a good chance he might be the last baby for our family. I find myself wishing that there was someway to bottle up all his precious babiness: the sweet baby smell, soft skin, giggles, chubby thighs, spit bubbles, fun splashy bathtime, cuddles, sleepy sounds, funny baby faces......all of it.

I'm not ready for this to be my final time experiencing all of this and I'm trying to make sure I enjoy every bit of him. How can this magical time in his sweet life evoke such happiness and sadness from me at the same time? Sometimes I hold him close and just feel a pang in my heart at how fast his babyhood is going. He's my sweet Weston, my little Guber.......

Monkey See Monkey Do

When you're the only female in a housefull of boys the art of imitation can sometimes be hilarious. I've caught my boys wearing my bras around the house, putting makeup on, wearing jewelry, prancing around in my high heels, even "stuffing" their shirts because their male assests were sadly lacking. I blush to write it, but I've even been asked why my wee-wee is gone and why do I have "two bums".

I tried telling Tanner it was time to come into the kitchen to eat. He said he couldn't come, he was busy. I walked into the front room and this is what I found......

Of course. He was "feeding" his baby!

What do I do?

I had a conversation with Caeden today that just broke my heart. He was sitting at the table and I was cooking, I figured it was a good time to find out how things are going for him at school.
Me: "Are you enjoying 1st grade?"
Caeden: "Yep, I like my teacher."
Me: "Who do you play with at recess?"
Caeden: "No one."
Me: "Don't you play with Josh?"
Caeden: "He likes Caleb better than me."
Me: "What about that kid named Ammon you talked about when school first started?"
Caeden: "He only plays with Alex. I just play Pokemon by myself on the playground. I don't have any friends. I wish Aaron would leave his new school and come back to be in 1st grade with me." And then he starts to cry.

And his mommy tears up herself. What do I do? Where is that elusive Perfect Mommy Handbook that has the chapter that tells me exactly how to deal with this situation? Caeden is very social, he's friendly, not shy, he always seems to be nice to everyone, he likes the same things the other boys his age do: Pokemon, Transformers, Star Wars, he doesn't smell, I send him to school in nice clothes. Why doesn't he have any friends? My heart is just aching for him. When we first moved out here he made a First Friend (his term) right away. For two years he and James played all the time. They got along great and even when James moved an hour south we still kept in touch and visited when we could. This last summer James moved to Washington. Caeden was very sad, but handled it better than I expected because he had made another First Friend in kindergarten. Aaron lived just a block away and since we carpooled with his mom he and Caeden played at each others houses 4-5 times a week. Well, as luck would have it, Aaron's family decided to move to California and he wasn't able to join Caeden in 1st grade this year.

The mommy-bear in me gets angry that the other boys in his class don't see how lonely he is and make an effort to include him. But rationally I know that kids that age just don't have that kind of empathy and they can unintentionally be cruel. Do I hope this blows over? The school year has just started he has plenty of time to make friends. Do I talk to his teacher....see if she notices anything, or has suggestions? Do I just give him lots of extra love and play time with me when he gets home and hope that it makes up for it? Or, do I just back out of the situation all together and let him handle it.....after all he needs to learn to deal with an imperfect world, right?

He's outside jumping on the trampoline right now and has already forgotten our conversation. His mommy, on the other hand, is going to be sending lots of prayers up on his behalf tonight and then she'll toss and turn half the night worrying about him.

Tanner's First Day of Pre-school!

Tanner finally got to start Pre-school today. He has been so excited! He can't wait to be BIG like Caeden and in his little world this is a HUGE step up. He looked so handsome and grown up with his little Marvel Superheroes backpack. He's 1 of 3 boys in a class that has 9 girls....good thing his cousin Kaylin has introduced him to the finer points of playing Princess! He'll be more than willing to fill the role of Knight Protector or Handsome Prince.

No, I didn't get emotional over sending him. I may sound like a horrible mother, but the whole 2-3 hours that he's gone isn't a big deal. In fact (sssh, don't tell him I said this) it's a nice break. My house is semi-quiet, there's no fights to break up, I got to pull out the jogging stroller and go for a run with Weston, I ate brownies at 10am and didn't have to explain myself or hide in my bedroom. I think I could get used to it!