First Day of School 2013

The night before school starts is always a little emotional for me.  I think ahead of all the challenges and opportunities my kids will face, their triumphs and temptations, and I mourn the passing of lazy, summer days.

 We prepared backpacks, stuffed them with the necessary supplies.  Then we talked together about how great school is, how much they can learn (most of which is accompanied by groans from Caleb and Dallin) and Mitch gave each of them a Father's blessing.  In case you're wondering why none of the boys have shirts on, it's hot here in August, and our kids think this means that summer pajamas consist of a pair of comfy shorts.

On the morning of the first day of school I asked for a photo.  

I know that many kids are excited for school to start.  Can you tell that is not the case in my house? With the exception of Brandt, this photo accurately captures my boys' attitude about the matter.

But Brandt was excited. It was his first day of preschool and, with his new backpack, he was ready to conquer the world.

The other boys weren't quite so sure, but they did finally smile for my pictures.  

Here's Adam on his first day of 1st grade.

Dallin's first day of 3rd grade.

Caleb's first day of 6th grade (his last in elementary school)!

We walked to school together.

After finding some decorative trash along the way, Mitch offered to come into Caleb's classroom and meet all his new friends.

Caleb declined.

Once we dropped off the older boys we walked Brandt to preschool, not far away.

He was excited to see his new teacher.

And despite previous frowns, everyone had a good first day of school and I'd say things are off to a good start.

Kid Quotes

You know I love to catch my kids' quotes.  Here are some recent favorites from over the summer.

A Brave Plan
After hearing horror stories from a scoutmaster about the obstacle course "of death," Dallin turned to his friend Broc and said,
"Okay, let's just try to run the best that we can and try not to get hurt, or die or anything."

Epic
Brandt turned to me while playing Angry Birds and said,
"Mom!  I just did something so epic."
"You did?" I replied.
"Yeah. You should have seen it.  It was really epic."

Like a Boss
Caleb:
"One time I was catching grapes [with my mouth] and it was so boss..."

Lofty
After searching it out on the globe together Dallin looked at me and, as if revealing a great secret, said,
"Mom, did you know when I'm grown up I am going to climb to the top of Mount Everest?"

Like I Didn't Know
Brandt, in exasperation:
"Mom, didn't you know I know everything?

A Disturbing Pattern
Adam asked,
"Why does everyone try to trick Mom?"

Drawbacks
Caleb told Dallin,
"I'm so glad I'm not a cowboy when all they ate was bacon and beans."

Trump
During a minor argument with Adam, Brandt stated smugly,
"I'm cuter than all of you guys."

Mom's Cookies
Dallin told me,
"Mom, just so you know, it's impossible to get tired of your cookies."

Predictable Endings

I was putting things away in the kitchen when Dallin, who is eight years old, paused at the counter.

"Mom, how come you always know how books and movies are going to end?" he asked.

"What do you  mean, Dallin?" I asked.

"Like you always know that the good guy will win."  He talked about the protagonist in the book I'm reading aloud to him at bedtime, and how he had known all along he would overcome his obstacles. "It's always like that," he said.

"Are you saying that because you know that in real life, things don't always work out like we think?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.  "I wish there were more books and movies like that."

We talked about how most people like to have happy endings, but that there are some books and movies without happy endings (which he plans to read/watch).

"Besides," I said.  "In the great story of humankind, we do know the ending already.  When all of this is over, we know that good will win over evil."

"I know," he said, and then he ran off to play.

Hairy Little Monsters

Adam's new little friend from school has been wanting to have a playdate with Adam for awhile now.  His mom and I finally coordinated our schedules so we could meet up at the park yesterday after school.  The kids played on the playground while the friend's mom told me how much her son admired Adam and wants to emulate him.  Then she said,

"He doesn't want to comb his hair because he says,
  'Adam doesn't comb his hair so I don't want to comb my hair either.'"

She had just told me she was a hair stylist. Haha!

So I'm not so good at styling my boys' hair.  Actually my solution to the problem is usually to cut their hair off when it gets too long to look good without combing.  And, it's time to do that again.  But I still think they look adorable, my little monsters.

Dallin's Baptism

Last Saturday was a special day for this little boy.  Only he's not so little any more.  In fact, I could hardly believe it when this big day came and went.

It was the day of Dallin's baptism.  He was so excited.  He was excited to become the newest member of our church, and excited for friends and family to come celebrate with us.

His dad baptized him the same way Jesus was baptized, only Dallin might have actually preferred a river to the font.

Congratulations, Dallin!  We love you, and are proud of you.

Crazy Hair Day

Today is Crazy Hair Day at the elementary school.

The kids normally have short, short hair and in the past we haven't really participated in Crazy Hair Day beyond a few gelled spikes.

This time the kids were determined (and they have a bit more hair to work with).

Dallin dearly wanted to dye his hair, but since he has blonde hair, and his baptism is tomorrow morning, I convinced him that may not be a wise choice.  He had to settle for spikes and pick-up-sticks.

He was alright with that.

Since we didn't plan ahead beyond bedtime last night, I didn't have hair dye (and was too lazy for a nocturnal run to the store) we ground up our last bits of blue chalkboard chalk and used it to color Caleb's spikes.  He decided they made a good sea for his little tropical friend.

Adam's interested in aliens right now so I thought it would be fun for him to sport some "alien eyes" among his locks.

He agreed.

What am I doing with my own hair for crazy hair day, you ask?  I'm thinking a ponytail sounds good right about now.  Sheesh. I have new respect for the daily morning routine of moms of little girls with long hair.

First Day of School 2011

Yesterday was the first day of school.  I always have mixed feelings on the first day.  I am excited for all the new things my kids will learn, the friends they'll make.  I know they need the structure.  And yet I miss them.  

Copying is Weird

Dallin: Do you know what's weird that friends do sometimes?
Me: What?
Dallin: They copy each other.
Me: Mmmhmm
Dallin: Like one person says, "I like pears."  And the other person says, "I don't."  And the first person says, "Oh, actually I don't either."
Me: Did that happen today at school, Dallin?
Dallin: Yeah.  At school my friend said, "I like bacon."  And I said, "I don't."  And then he said, "Oh, actually I don't like bacon."  Then some other friends said, "What?  Bacon?  We love bacon!"
Me: What did your friend say then?
Dallin: He said, "I don't." but he actually does.

Haircuts

 These boys were so shaggy, and they badly needed a haircut.  Here they are before and after.

Before

After

You can see how thrilled they are -  that their mom made them sit for an itchy haircut, and as if that wasn't enough, she then made them sit for the camera.  They look ornery but handsome.  Don't you agree?

Reduce, Reuse, Replay?

I walked around the backyard the other day trying to locate Dallin and Adam.  I couldn't see them anywhere.  I began to hear their muffled voices and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw the lid to the recycle bin move.  I had discovered them, yes, inside a trash bin.

Among other things, they were tearing out pictures of toys from advertising mailers and collecting them in a large can.  Robots, remote-control cars, stuffed animals, action figures.  They played with these things for two days, like paper dolls for boys.

This is Adam's expression when I told him that he must get out of the recycle bin and that no, he wasn't allowed to play there in the future.

So in the interest of saving the planet don't buy your children toys to play with, simply let them play in the rubbish.  You'll be amazed at how much fun they'll have.

Rain on a Sun-day?

Adam said to me a few weeks ago, "I'm wearing shorts today because it's Sunday, and it's always sunny on Sunday."
This morning as the kids gathered for breakfast, the air was chilly and the skies were grey and threatening rain.  Adam came downstairs in shorts, and I sent him back upstairs to change into something warmer.  Dallin remarked, "Today is, like, the first Sunday that hasn't been sunny."

Dallin's Tooth

Does Dallin's smile look any different to you?  

No, you can't see it.

Here, I'll show you.

Dallin bit into an apple yesterday and lost his first tooth!  He promptly dropped it down the drain while trying to rinse it off.  Not to worry though, he left a note for the tooth fairy explaining things.  The tooth fairy is forgiving that way.

Wii-strictions

The problem

My boys love the Wii.  A lot.  So much that in recent weeks they were often circumventing my 1-hour-a-day rule and spending too much time like this:

Meanwhile, we're enjoying the best weather of the whole year - gorgeous sunny days, blue skies, temperatures in the 70s.  This is what we look forward to the whole sweaty summer, and these boys were spending it in front of a screen!  

The crackdown

Mitch came up with the idea that they can't play during the daytime.  So if they have free time while the sun's up, they're much more likely to wander outside and jump on the tramp, shoot baskets, or swing.  I've got to tell you, those first few days under the new rule were pretty hard.  You could say the boys, especially one and I won't mention any names, were having Wii-thdrawls (that was a bad one, sorry).  But now it's understood, and the rule isn't questioned much and I'm happy to say that it's working out pretty well.

Navel Assumptions

Dallin: Adam and Eve didn't have belly buttons.
Me: These thoughts are deep.

A Good Exercise

"Is this a good exercise?" Dallin asked as he lifted his body off the chair under him with his hands and balanced for a few seconds.
"Yes.  It is a good exercise," I said.
"I'm not surprised," Dallin responded, "It hurts."

Run! Run!

 Mitch ran his first half-marathon last month!  I am so proud of him for accomplishing this goal!   Brandt is proud too.  I ran the 5k and felt good about my time.

A week or two later Dallin participated in his first 1-mile fun run.  He really ran hard.  Caleb also showed great effort in the 5k and they both finished with good times.  It was neat that Grandpa Tom got to be involved too.

 

Recent Quotes

Caleb
Disappointed, we piled back into the van after discovering the tennis courts were already in use.  Caleb said, "We just came here for nothing."
Mitch said, "It's not like you guys were doing anything.  You were watching TV. "
Caleb replied, "We were wasting our time in a better way."

Dallin
A girl passed by on the sidewalk outside the van.  Dallin gasped.  "It's a girl!"
He knocked on the window and the girl turned at the sound.
"She likes me," Dallin said.

Adam
"Ooo, Christmas trees for sale!" I said as we passed a brightly-lit lot on the corner.
"Outstanding!" Adam declared.  "We can get one of those for Christmas!"

Brandt
"I... [insert the word 'love' here]... cookie!"

Fall Sports

We've been pretty busy with sports this fall.  Dallin played machine-pitch baseball and Caleb played flag football.  Between practices and games for these two, we had sports six nights of the week!  Not only that, but Mitch was the coach for Caleb's team.  Here are a few pictures.  The boys have had a lot of fun and learned some new skills.  Dallin was awarded the Most Improved Player award.  Caleb will play in tournament game tomorrow.  As for Mitch, I think he enjoyed his coaching experience and spending that extra time with Caleb.

Quote of the Day

We were listening to music and Adam was singing along.  Annoyed, Dallin called out, "Stop singing!  It sounds better when only they're singing."

Dallin's Robot Birthday Party

I love birthday parties!  This one was really fun.  There are so many possibilities with robots.  Here are some of the things we did.

These were the invitations.  The information was printed and rolled up inside.

The robot centerpiece is made from cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, aluminum foil...you get the idea.

These felt robots were simple to make and added a lot of atmosphere.

Party food:

Mitch and I built D6 out of cardboard boxes and stationed him outside the front door.  And with a carefully placed walkie talkie and D6's remote-activated-leaf-blower arm, we had a lot of fun "greeting" the kids as they arrived.

For our first activity the kids decorated a robot body.  We utilized a lot of spray paint and a lot of, well...trash...to prepare this activity.

In this picture above they did a game called Around the World (okay, I just stole the name from the song I played while they did this).  Basically it's like a cake walk where they walk around the circle of robot images stand still when the music stops and when their image is drawn out they get a prize (candy buttons on their robot body).

This is called Can-Do Robots by familyfun, and the kids got really got creative putting their hardware on their can-robot heads (there's a completed example on the right side of the table).

They had to move a bunch of "robot components" in an assembly line fashion without moving their feet.  I called this one Conveyor Belt.  Brandt got into this one.  It was so cute.

Each team was blindfolded and had to listen to their robot controller to sort out the components into red and blue piles.  Then they tore off the blindfolds and assembled their robots as quickly as possible.  I gave them these photos to reference.

We did a game called Robot Rescue where they had to use the robotic arm to rescue the robots from the doorknobs and place them in the "decontamination unit."

We had a really close nuts-and-bolts relay race.  Dallin's team won by the skin of their teeth.

Update: I've had some questions about the relay race so I've added some details.  My husband had a bunch of large bolts with wing-nuts in the garage that we used.  I recommend wing-nuts so the kids have something more to grab with their little fingers but regular ones would do.  I broke the kids into two teams and at the opposite end of the yard I placed two bowls (one per team) containing one bolt and wing nut for each kid.  You can even thrown in some nuts of the wrong size in there to throw them off.  The kids line up single file and at GO! the first person in line on each team runs as quickly as they can to their bowl, screws the nut completely on the bolt, and then carries it (as fast as they can) back over the starting line.  As soon as they return, the next person in line runs to the bowl to screw a nut on a bolt and carry it back, and so on.  The first team whose last player crosses the finish line with his completed nut/bolt wins!  

We also did a Robot Freeze Dance to this cute song, and when I stopped the music they had to stand still, and if they moved they were out.  Dallin loved this!  It turned out to be his favorite activity of all.

Then we did cake and presents.

Birthday cake.

And I gotta say, D6 looked even cooler at night.

We discovered he's also very useful for spooking teenagers in the neighborhood.

All in all it was a lot of work, but Dallin loved it, which is what really matters.