6 Little Monkeys

Saturday we finally had Ezra's birthday party.

As is my norm,

we did not get invitations out.

I just talked to his friends' moms at school.

And made a couple phone calls.

Ezra wanted a monkey party.

That doesn't at all lend itself to craziness.

                             
Jobe was included.
Because Ezra's friends all love him.
And there would have been many tears if he wasn't.
Many.

We played Monkey in the Middle.
Barrel of Monkeys.
Did a little monkey word game.
Made a monkey stick puppet.
And, well, acted like monkeys.

Ezra didn't want cake.
A relief for this mommy.

So for dessert.
I slit a banana (with the peel on).
Stuffed it with marshmallows and chocolate chips.
Wrapped it in foil.
And heated it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Then added a little ice cream on the side.

Let me tell you.
It was De.Lish.
And so easy.

Then we headed over to the monkey bars at school.

The best part about the day:
Ezra's best friend (and his family)
made the hour drive here.

They were so glad to be together again.

It was a noisy party.

But, man, boys are fun.

Another 8th

This 8th is for Ezra.

He's had a big last few days.

August 15: first day of second grade.
Always exciting in elementary school.
After that it's not so cool to be excited about school.

August 16: first lost tooth.
He had been waiting so long.

Our hygienist pulled it out at his teeth cleaning.
He was one happy little boy.

August 17: (here's where the 8th comes in) birthday.

He's smiling funny.
He wants everyone to see his missing tooth.

We took treats to school.
Waffle cookies, of course.

And guess what happened at school?
He lost another tooth.
2 teeth in 2 days.
So very exciting.
For him.

He opened his presents when he got home.

So happy to get a fishing pole from his siblings.

Then we were off to Oklahoma for the weekend.
Ezra thought it was great we were staying in a hotel.
On his birthday.

We ate supper at Pops near Oklahoma City.

My dad had heard about it from a friend.
And wanted to take the kiddos there.

They have over 600 different bottled pops.
Some weird flavors: bacon, pb&j, buffalo wings.
I stayed away from those.
It was hard to choose.
And the food was ok.
Just hamburgers and stuff.
Definitely worth the trip though.
The kids loved it.

Since we were gone over the weekend,
we waited until last night
to put Ez's 2nd lost tooth in his pillow.

Then, the tooth fairy forgot to come last night.
Oops.
Bad mommy.

I told him she must have been confused
about which night we were coming home.
Good recovery, mommy.

Hope I remember tonight.

8th

Today was Brookie's turn.
First day of school for my girl.

Her outfit came in the mail yesterday afternoon.
Whew.

Like my boys,
she, too, insists on growing.

After we took the little boys to school yesterday,
she asked what we would be doing.
Ryan and I told her we were planning to do a little painting.

Her reply:
This is the worst last day of summer ever!

After we picked Jobie up and took them out to eat,
we ran a little errand.
We took Brookie to get her first phone.

Later on facebook she wrote:
Best last day of summer ever!
Finally got my first phone!

Funny how her tune changed.

She's so excited.
Even though her phone has no data plan.
But she does have unlimited texting.
Only because it comes with our plan.
That and the fact that I couldn't live without it.
Ha!

This morning before school.
I thought to myself.
I'm going to be ok today.

(Oh, Jobie.
Must you always?)

I gave Jobie a hug at his classroom door.
And watched from the hall for a bit.
He kept looking back at me.
So finally I waved.
He waved back.
I was still doing great.

Then...
He put his head down on his desk.
And cried.

Was not expecting that.

The teachers were busy with other students.
So, against my better judgement, I went to him.
He immediately hugged me and said:
Mommy, I want to stay with you!

I told him (thru my own tears):
Baby, you can't.
You have to stay at school.
And mommy has to leave.

At this point his teacher came over.
I sat him back in his seat.
Gave him one last hug and kiss.
Patted his teacher on the shoulder.
Walked out of the classroom.
And cried the whole way home.
And maybe for an hour or so after.

Not fun.
But tomorrow will be better.
We have our plan down.
Wish I would have had a plan for today.

Tomorrow we will be all smiles.

K, 2nd & 7th

My boys.
All growing up so quickly.

First day of school for 2012.
First day of school for my baby.

It was an emotional day for me.
A shocking admission, I'm sure...ha!

(I'm telling Ezra to please stop swatting my bottom.
Sometimes he just gets so excited.
He can't control himself.)

We had walked almost half way to school
When I finally said:
Jobie, aren't you going to hold my hand?

Then, just before we got to the doors he said:
Mommy, can we quit holding hands now?

 But at least he let us get another pic or two.

We dropped Ezzie off in his room first.

Then walking through the halls to Jobie's room,

he grabbed my hand once again.

Before I was ready, we were at his classroom door.

He found his seat.

And sat down.

Ready to start his day.

And I managed to keep my brave face on.
Until I walked out of his classroom.

Ryan took the day off.
To comfort me.
Some comfort he is.
He says things to make me cry more.
Like: well, how does it feel to have your very last baby in school?
And: didn't he look so cute?
Then he tries to hug me.
Which will only makes me cry more.

Meany.

Brookie doesn't start until tomorrow.
So I had 2 people home with me today.

Tomorrow.
I'll be walking home by myself.
Tomorrow.
Might be harder than today.

I'm so proud of Jobie.
(Just a few short months ago,
he was insisting he did not want to go to school.)
And I really am looking forward to the ability to
1) visit the restroom uninterrupted
2) make phone calls uninterrupted
3) grab my bag and run out of the house
    without searching for little people socks and shoes

But, man, is the house going to seem quiet.

Until...
I find an amazing station on Pandora.
Crank up the music.
And sing as loudly as I want.
Uninterrupted.

Dishwasher Wars Solved

We have dishwasher problems.
Oh, the dishwasher works just fine.

The problem comes when it's time to unload it.

Me: Brookie, unload the dishwasher.
Brookie: But I did it last time.
Why do I always have to do it?

Or...
Me: Jakie, unload the dishwasher.
Jakie: But I did it last time.
Why do I always have to do it?

Or...
Me: Little boys, unload the dishwasher.
Little Boys: But we did it last time.
Why do we always have to do it?

Actually, Ezzie might say that.
But Jobie will just melt into a puddle on the floor.
Wailing about the unfairness of it all.
Can you say baby of the family?

Here's my solution.

I bought some little buttons on clearance after Valentine's Day.

I just knew I would need them someday.
And...they were only 49 cents.
For 8 of them.
Who doesn't love a bargain.

I cut out a circle from one of those freebie magnets.
(I'm sure it was a magnet advertising something very important.)
And glued it to the back of the button.

I let each kiddo pick out their button.
Jake-basketball
Ezra-football
Jobe-rocket
Brookelynn-butterfly

It's their turn to unload the dishwasher
when their magnet is on top.
Ezra and Jobe share the job for now.
It's Jake's turn today.

After they unload the dishwasher,
it's their responsibility to move their magnet to the bottom.
If they don't, they have get to unload it the next time, too.

Let me tell you.
This has revolutionized my life.
Well, maybe that's going a little too far.
But it really has made things easier.
I always know whose turn it is.
And if they argue.
All I have to do is point at the magnets.

I find it all very wonderful and amazing.

Brookie finds it all very childish.
Teenagers...

The Car, Paint and a Coupon

I really want to show you the house.
But the doors aren't painted yet.
And I don't want to show it until it's ALL done.
Because I'm super excited about the doors.
And I can't paint the doors yet.
Because I have a $5 off coupon for the paint.
In my husband's car.
That's at a repair shop.
In the city where he works.
40 minutes away.

His car got stuck in park the other day.
Not in the park.
In park.
Odd.

One of the repair dude guys said:
This happens to these cars once in their lifetime.
What?
So I'm thinking Chrysler should pay for it, right?
Oh, well.

So, yeah, back to my original topic.
I don't have the paint for my doors.
I know it's just $5.
But $5 is $5.
Profound.

So, hopefully tomorrow.
Maybe.

Alrighty.

I'm going to try to soak up this weekend.

This last weekend.

Before my baby becomes a school boy.

Summer

So much time has gone by that I hardly know where to begin.

Nearly every day I say to myself:
I'm going to blog today.
Just one picture.
Just one sentence.

Then another day goes by.
And I've done nothing.
Well, actually... I've done tons.
Just no blogging.

So here's an attempt to catch-up on our summer.

There's been lots of sports.

There's been a good-bye.

Ezra's best friend.

Whose mom is one of my best friends.

There's been a visit from Lara.

And her brother.

And her best friend.

There's been a wedding.

With a gorgeous venue.

A gorgeous bride (my cousin).

And an adorable, but petrified, little boy.

There's been a vacation.

With maybe some teenage drama.

Maybe some irritated parents.

Maybe some whiny kids.

Maybe a lot of sweat.

But, in the end, a whole lot of fun.

There's been time on the farm.

Grandpa bought Jake work boots.

And he now drives a tractor.

How did that happen?

There's been a new baby cousin.

Zeeke Nevada.

Just born yesterday.
Jake refused to hold him.
So did Jobe.

There's been scraping and painting.

We finally gave up.

And hired some help.

I'm loving the new look!

I'll show you the finished product soon.

There's been imitating a giraffe.

And.

Apparently.

There's been plenty of holding our wee-wee.

In public places.

At the zoo.

At the Alamo.

Nice.

At least he appears to be embarrassed by it.

And at least he didn't do it at the wedding.

Ha!

So, there's our summer.

Kinda'.

I'm exhausted.

And we still have school supplies to buy.

Which is more exhausting than anything else we've done.

Bleh!

Not looking forward to school this year.

One week from today.

My baby starts school.

There will be weeping.