Goodbyes, Projects, Graduations & Armpit Hair

My parents left yesterday morning and, yes, I miss them already. Saying goodbye was kind of hard. The below pictures are of a trip to the park with Grandpa, who is kind of a big kid himself.

Isaac is now fearless and climbs to the top of EVERYTHING.

























Before my parents left, Dad helped me (ie. did all the hard work & let me do the fun painting part) with the below project. If you can't tell, it's an art board to hang the kids' projects from, without having to use an ugly old cork board, or have tape all over the place. It's a great replacement for the ugly school-room posters I'd had up, which were mainly there to cover up holes in the wall....even though I pretended that they were there for educational purposes. Now, thanks to my Daddy, I have a dining room/school room wall that I LOVE!!!! 

Earlier in the week, the younger boys graduated from Pioneer Club. Micah had to miss it because he was recovering from a teeny tiny little surgery, which he would be very embarrassed about, if I elaborated much beyond that. It was a no big deal thing & he's doing great. Jarod helps teach at Pioneer Club & he also had to miss the graduation ceremony to do school work. It's the last week of school and, since we do charter school curriculum at home, there are state requirements which we are desperately trying to meet by next Friday. That's a bit stressful, but it's almost over. Next weekend, we go camping! First trip of the season & I can't wait!!!

An extremely important highlight/milestone of the week.....Jarod discovered an armpit hair & wanted it documented. So here it is....not that it's actually visible. But, the "man hormones", as we fondly call them around here, have definitely hit boy #2. If the invisible armpit hair doesn't prove it to ya, then the stench and mood swings will. Awwww....isn't it so cute how proud he is?

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was terrific. I woke up and found little homemade cards & gifts, from the boys, waiting for me on the kitchen counter. My good-lovin' man brought me flowers & a card with the sweetest words inside. I was able to guilt all the boys into posing with me for a Mother's Day picture. It was wonderful that I could spend Mother's Day with my own Mama this year. We all went to church together, to Costco for lunch and a little shopping, and then home for a peaceful afternoon full of sunshine. The boys played in the back yard in our state-of-the-art swimming pool. Seth even played outside with his little brothers. It does my heart good on the rare occasions that he does this. Now that he's almost (gulp) sixteen, it's a rarity.....which is natural, I know. But I just love it when I hear the laughter and yells of ALL of my boys, coming from the back yard. Seth even built his brothers a sturdy tree-swing, which he was very proud of. Justin made some delicious, homemade fried chicken and biscuits for dinner. The little boys said, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy" about two-hundred times apiece, throughout the day, and gave me bazillions of hugs & kisses. I enjoyed time with my parents. It was truly a perfect day.

Our Special Easter

Our Easter weekend looked like a pretty typical Easter weekend, with egg-dying, opening Easter baskets, going to church....

.....but with a few very special exceptions. The first exception being the great idea below, which I stole from a dear friend. Keep in mind, I had to adjust some of the steps to fit our family's...um...needs.

Step one: On Good Friday, build a tomb out of boxes.

Step two: Let the kids play in it for a while. I know, it sounds slightly morbid. Fortunately, they know this story has a happy ending. Don't worry, I don't let my kids play in tombs very often.

Step three: Roll up some stuffed animals (in the shape of Jesus) in a white sheet and put "Jesus" in the tomb.

Step four: "Roll" a HUUUUGE stone (i.e., draw a stone with a sharpie on paper & tape it over the hole) in front of the tomb, sealing it for the rest of the weekend.

Step five: Have fun dying eggs & doing fun stuff all day Saturday. 

Step six: Try to keep cats from leaping onto the weak-paper-roof of the tomb.

Step seven: Rescue, from the grave, cats.....who have leaped (i.e., may possibly have been thrown, by certain angelic boys) into said weak-paper-roof, and onto the resting, stuffed-animal-Jesus.

Step eight: Put the sweet, angelic, kitty-throwing boys to bed Saturday night, tomb & seal still miraculously in tact.

Step nine: After said angels are sleeping, roll away the HUUUUGE stone (i.e., tear the paper & tape off of the entrance), throw stuffed animals on the floor in the living room, put sheet back into linen closet, and watch TV with hubby while filling Easter baskets.

Step ten: Sunday morning, show kids the empty tomb, ask them where Jesus is (and try not to laugh when Gideon says, dead-pan,"He's over there by the couch."), read them the Resurrection story, and celebrate that Jesus is alive & that he loves them!!!

Step eleven: Let kids open their baskets.

Step twelve: Turn tomb into a play-fort.....which is not sealed in case flying-kitties need to escape.

Goofy kids enjoyed their Easter morning loot: stuffed animals, KJV New Testament Bibles, Bible-story-books & candy....all from the dollar store....cuz I'm just that cheap. I must add that Seth was such a very good sport. He tried to tell me (being that he is almost sixteen years old) that he did not need an Easter basket. But he played along very sweetly, which is good because I only have 2 years left, give or take, to share Easter with him still living at home. And I plan to give him a basket both of those years.

The next special Easter-thing we did was go to Grandma's house for an Easter-dinner-birthday-party. Of course, she cooked a delicious meal (Rara made a delicious banana cream pie), and gave Jarod & I some awesome birthday gifts. She was even kind enough to provide a rock wall for the boys to climb during the Easter-dinner-birthday-party.

The most special "Easter thing" that happened was at church in the evening. Justin baptized Micah John into Jesus Christ. I am one proud and happy mama & wife. I'm so thankful that my children are coming to understand the deep love that God has for them, and that they want to say "yes" to Jesus. Of course, all of our local family was there for the event, including Cousins Abi & Yaya.

 This was the most civilized Easter picture I could get of them all together. Please excuse the scary eyes. 

From our family to yours, hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!! God bless!!!

I also want to tell my sister, Gloria, who's birthday was on Easter, "Happy birthday, sis!!! I love you & miss you."

PS. No kitty-cats were injured in the making of this blog post.

Birthday Grimaces & Doughnut-Cakes

April 4th was my birthday and April 5th was Jarod's. Last year, I wrote a sufficiently long and sappy blog post about our almost-shared birthdays, about how I was in labor with Jarod on my birthday, about how much I love him & all that good stuff. (Read here: http://boycra-z.blogspot.com/2011/04/almost-shared-birthday.html to refresh your memory.) So, this year, I'm posting some pics & calling it good.

These are the gorgeous flowers my man spoiled me with. He also bought me a gift, and took me out to dinner. Aunties Rara & Memmy babysat the boys. It was a lovely evening.

This is the birthday kiss that Jarod allowed me to give him, with only a small grimace. He loves me!!!! 

The boys spoiled me with sweet, homemade birthday cards. (Except for Seth, who did, however, post, "Happy Birthday, Mom!" on my Facebook wall. Seth acknowledging me on Facebook is HUGE....so that was almost as good as a card.) Gideon's card was the largest.

This is the handsome, 12-yr-old birthday boy, whom I adore with all my heart.

I was also spoiled with hugs & kisses & snuggles. I don't think any mama ever felt more special or blessed.

Yes, that is a stack of doughnuts. I was too lazy to make a cake....and too cheap to buy one. I also forgot a #12 birthday candle (if they even sell those?)....so I had to use a votive instead.

But the boys loved it, so I win!

Guess I did something right.

With this many brothers, there's always a party! Coming soon (may or may not blog it): on-going birthday celebrations with the extended family party & a friend-sleep-over for Jarod.

The end

Birthday Visit

Auntie Melanie & Auntie Jubilee came to visit a couple weeks ago. We celebrated Isaac's birthday, as well as Grandma's, Auntie Deborah's & little Cousin Aiden's (he just turned one year old!) birthdays.

Little Cousin Aiden giving Jarod some love!

Seth & Aiden

Auntie Jubee & Cousin Aiden getting ready to blow out candles

Boy cousin wrestle time!!!!

Auntie Melanie holding Birthday Boy Aiden & Birthday Girl Deborah holding Birthday Boy Isaac

Cousin snuggles

One of Grandma's big tough Newfoundlands hiding from the horrible scary noise of kids blowing into some little party party favor thingies. The horror.