First day of school

 

Easy to please

Me: Tiger, what do you want for your birthday?

Tiger: A new Star Wars Lego set, presents, and stuff.

First day vs. last day

 First day thumbs-up. This year was a rough one.

 End of the school year "just ready to be done" smiles. Goodbye 5th and 1st grades.

P.S. Bring my baby's baby face back. He seems to have lost the last little bits of it this year.

 Plus, it wouldn't be the last day of school if I didn't have some kids slathered up with sunscreen and wearing a tie-dyed shirt. My Woo was particularly bugged with her shirt this year. Unfortunately she was stuck with the colors of blue and black. "I look like a big bruise," she said.

 He started the year so full of hope and excitement.

 Now he's older and wiser. Adios 7th grade.

Mother's Day 2014

My annual picture so that the kids know what I look like if I die.

My youngest

Okay kids, just a couple of shots for Mother's Day.

Perfect.

Polite

After kindly snuggling me for a few minutes in bed this morning Tiger said, "If you'll excuse me, I need to watch TV now."

Easter

We had a lovely Easter this year. The weather turned out to be beautiful and we were all able to be together. It couldn't have been nicer.

Three Easter kids

Easter brothers

My teenager. He's pretty fun these days.

My girl. She continues to delight me.

My little man. He continues to have me wrapped around his finger.

We had an Easter egg hunt over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Each of the kids had their eggs hid in an age appropriate manner. I believe that Sparky's were so well hidden that there are still a couple of them missing.

This little man needed a bit of help and so dad was more than willing to help his boy.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Scott surveying the scene.

One golden egg found

Counting eggs.

Little love birds and expert egg hiders.

Uncle Scott gives this day a thumbs-up.

Counting and emptying eggs.

You're never too old for bubbles.

His signature look

This kid cracks me up.

The time I tried to teach my little man how to ride a bike

The weather is finally starting to warm up and we are playing outside every chance we get. One night last week was particularly nice and so I thought it would be a good time to try to teach my little man how to ride a bike. We tried to teach him last year, but he was definitely not ready and we didn't get very far. However, this year I am determined. The boy needs to ride especially if we are going to be able to ride as a family. However, he's seriously lacking in the balance and confidence department, but he is making huge strides and I am confident that in the near future he will be riding like a pro. 

 

Ready for the maiden voyage.

 I don't know who was working harder. Me, as I tried desperately to run without dying, or Tiger as he tried so hard to balance, pedal, and steer at the same time.

Getting pumped to try again as he is handed off to dad.

 Still working on that balance. He keeps forgetting that he needs to continue to pedal in order to stay upright.

 Now he's just plain tired and the ability to balance has really gone out the window.

It is possible that I thought I was going to have a heart attack after running down the street with that kid. Running is the worst and I am seriously out of shape.

 Big hugs from his favorite brother. Tiger didn't master the bike on this night, but we made huge strides in his confidence and conquering his fears. Rock on little man!

Missing teeth

It happened a couple of weeks ago, but my little man finally lost his other tooth. It was getting ugly there for a while. Nothing we did could get that tooth out. We pushed and pulled and bribed the boy, but that tooth was not coming out. Finally, it happened one day at school while he was eating lunch. Pop, out it came and he was thrilled and ready to cash in on our promised bribes. So, after documenting the now missing tooth my boy and I headed to Krispy Kreme for a donut and then off to 5 Below for a cheap toy. He was so excited and proud of himself. I hope the rest of his teeth aren't this difficult because there are still a lot that need to come out.

This also marks the end of my boy having a "little boy" face. So sad. Once those big gnarly adult teeth start coming in I can no longer pretend that he is my baby and he will have entered the awkward phase. Sigh.

Early to bed

Every night when I go to bed I think about how great it would be to wake up early and exercise or whatever. You know, just get a good start to the day and then I set my alarm accordingly. However, every morning when my alarm goes off I wonder what on earth I was thinking and then I roll back over and go back to sleep for a bit. I have been doing this for quite a long time now. At this point I need to just accept the fact that I was not meant to get up early as it goes against all of my natural instincts.

He's his own man

Not too long ago Tiger celebrated his 100th day of school this year. The kids were encouraged to dress up as 100 year old little people and the day was dedicated to the number 100. Very cute. I thought for sure that my little man would totally get into this since he loves to dress up so much, and I was right. Just not about him wanting to dress up like a 100 year old man. He wanted to dress up, but on his terms and he knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted to wear his white shirt because he likes to pretend that it is his lab coat and Flint Lockwood from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs wears a lab coat. He also wanted me to draw a mustache and goatee on him because that's what Tony Stark has on his face. So there you have it. Instead of a 100 year old man, he was just a slightly older man. I'm sure no one at school got it and his teacher probably wondered what was going on, but my boy was happy and looking pretty dapper too. He then continued to have me draw that mustache and goatee on through the weekend, but I drew the line when it came to church. Goofy kid.

Thankful

Since I haven't been feeling a lot of gratitude these days I have made a goal to write down 5 things that I am thankful for every day for the next 4 weeks and since I am too tired to get out of bed to find a pen to write with I thought that I would just post today's 5 here on my blog. So, here we go:

1. Sunshine

2. Delightful non-freezing temperatures today

3. Ice cold tap water thanks to the freezing cold temperatures of winter

4. Electric blankets

5. Bed

Tooth

Last week this boy lost a tooth. His front teeth have been so loose for so long, but unfortunately he is scared to death to loose teeth and so I thought they would never come out. Luckily, when he was outside playing in the snow he accidentally hit himself in the face with a little plastic shovel and his tooth popped out into the snow. He handled it quite well, actually. In fact, he was quite proud of himself. Now, if only we could get the other one out then all would be well because it has turned into quite the nasty snaggle tooth. I'll spare you a picture of that.

Snow

Snow is the theme for this winter. Snow and cold. Today I will focus on the snow because that is what my kids love and what brings them joy. The fact that most days have been too cold to play in the snow has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season. However, there have been a few times when the temperatures and the snow actually worked together and they were able to go out and play. Here's an example:

 Getting ready for some serious play. This is after my boy had already spent an hour shoveling driveways.

 

 The snow was so light and fluffy. The kids thought it was super fun to just shove their faces in the snow because it wouldn't stick. We finally had to tell them to stop. You know, because of the possible breathing in of too much carbon monoxide and passing out and whatnot.

 

 Just laying down in the snow wasn't nearly as much fun.

 

But throwing snow is fun. 

 

 Of course the problem with dry snow is that it doesn't stick together which means that it doesn't make a very good snowball which means that the anticipation of getting hit with snow is much greater than possibly of actually getting hit with snow.

Attempting to sled down the shoveled snow pile in the front yard. It didn't really work, but each kid gave it a try.

This kid would not stop eating the snow no matter how many times we told him to stop. "I can taste the butter" he would say. No my son, that is not butter, that is dirt and it is nasty.

 Pure joy.

 Hip hooray for playing in the snow.

Winter

Winter is getting to me. Actually, it has probably been getting to me for awhile now, I just haven't been willing to admit it. That is my excuse for not blogging much these days. I haven't been feeling jovial, or funny, or like sharing anything positive and I really try not to whine or complain too much publicly. That special forum is a treat reserved for my love. He is one lucky guy. Anyway my head is a jumble of crazy these days which is super fun, but it chases away the desire to blog. However, I will push that aside and share a few pictures from life the last little while.

We try to spend Friday nights as a family doing something fun or just staying home and watching a movie. A couple of weeks ago Tiger requested that we go to Cabelas for our "party Friday night". We love to meander through Cabelas. The boys dream of camping and fishing and hunting and the girl and I pretend that we care as much as they do. Plus, we like to look at all of the dead stuffed animals.

Trying on sunglasses and giving me his "cool" look.

 Sheriff Tiger and his trusty dog.

 Two boys warming themselves by the fire after braving the sub-zero temperatures in the parking lot.

 We have had a lot of snow this winter, but sadly none of it has been any good for making snowmen or snowballs. However, as the snow melted Tiger discovered that it had finally become wet enough to stick together to make a snowman. As he put in the snowman's left arm he said, "That is the best arm I could have ever found." His winter is now complete.

 I have been trying to find ways to keep myself busy, or more accurately I have been trying to be less lazy as I hole up in my house this winter. So, I have started crocheting hats again. They're easy and fast and I can pound them out while I am sitting around and watching TV. As I was walking through the store the other day I came across this yarn and it screamed "Woo" at me. I knew that my girl needed a hat made from this yarn because these colors represent her personality perfectly. My favorite is that she requested a pom-pom for the top of the hat. She is seriously so fun.