Castle building

Tattoo Boy

The boys got a bunch of temporary tattoos for Valentine's Day. The big boys enjoy them, and are currently wearing 2 or 3 apiece, but Everett is in LOVE with them. He had on 6 for his doctor's appointment yesterday (a checkup, that was easy as could be), and he came home and put on at least a half dozen more. He looks so cute I of course had to take pictures!

In addition to all the tattoo-wearing, the boys have been busy playing with Spencer's new birthday presents. The first thing to be put together was his lego loader, followed the next day by his castle-building kit. Last night he spent a good hour at the Discovery Store's website trying to decide what to spend his gift certificate. He ultimately decided on a remote control helicopter.

Mike and I have both been called to jury duty, which has prompted lots of questions about what that means and how the system works. Last night I gave them an illustration using Everett as a defendant, the two of them and myself as the jury, Mike as the judge, and our pets as witnesses. It made them laugh, and gave them a good understanding at the same time.

Spencer

Ten years ago today, I met my first beautiful baby boy. An entire decade! I will never forget the way I felt the moment he was born… looking at that perfect little face, the tiny little body that had yet to grow into its own skin, the full head of black hair.. oh that hair. He was truly the most amazing creature I’d ever seen. My life changed that day, and all the clichés I’d read about in books were about to come true. Nothing I’d done up to that point (and nothing I’ve done since) even held a candle to the importance of bringing up my children.

The past ten years with Spencer have been indescribable. He is growing into a boy that I not only (obviously) love with every ounce of my being, but also admire. Spencer loves life. He lives in the moment, he makes friends wherever he goes, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He is pure and kind and never afraid to be exactly who he is. A kid who loves his family and his friends above all else, and a kid who wants everyone around him to be as happy as he is.

Happy 10th birthday Spencer!! We love you a million, billion, zillion.

Party party party

Spencer's 10th birthday party was yesterday, and the whole thing went off without a hitch! Spencer was beside himself with excitement for the past several weeks, and he wasn't disappointed.

It was a gorgeous day for a party, and the weather made us thankful - again - that we live in Arizona, where even the February birthday parties can be outside.

There were 12 kids all together, both old friends and new. They started out by jumping (and sliding, and climbing and wrestling and laughing) in the bouncy house, stopping only long enough to re-hydrate and rest their legs. The house started to tip a couple of times when things got a bit wild, but it only proved to make everyone laugh, pile out to re-group, and start jumping again. Spencer gave them all tours of our new house, and was proud to show off his room, his toys, and his remote control vehicles. He was a wonderful and gracious host, making sure he paid attention to everyone.

He got a lot of neat gifts, and was genuinely surprised that we'd actually gotten him something that he hadn't known about. The present-opening gave me one of my proudest moments of the day, when one of the other mothers commented on how attentive and appreciative he was as he opened them... asking who they were from, reading all the cards... instead of a flurry of ripping and setting aside.

Several of the kids tried out Spencer's new playstation game, they met the rats, they snacked as they wandered in and out of the house.

Spencer chose cupcakes instead of cake, which gave us the chance to make two kinds - confetti for the kids, and good old yellow with chocolate frosting for anyone who wanted something a little less sweet. The candles kept blowing out, and prompted a second chorus of "Happy Birthday" so they could be re-lit.

We did the pinata at the end, and Mike and I agreed that it was the best pinata experience we've ever had. It broke open in increments, raining small bits of candy each time, so everyone had a chance to both hit and to get plenty of candy. The boys' friend Clayton was the last one up to bat, and predictably creamed it, splitting it completely open, and littering the patio with candies. The kids scrambled to fill up their treat bags, and a few of the boys continued to hit the pinata, even as it lay on the ground, just for fun.

Everyone stayed around 3 hours, and Sandi, Mitch and the kids stayed later to join us for some grilled burgers for dinner. Everett and Anabelle were finally able to get some uninterupted jumping time in the bouncy house, after being a little freaked out by the high activity of the older kids. It was a good day, a fun day, a tiring day. Spencer went to sleep with a smile on his face, and for a special treat camped out on the living room floor with Daddy.


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New parks, new friends, new valentines

Friday we checked out both a new park and a new homeschool group. I was nervous, Spencer wasn't sure if he wanted to go, and we nearly backed out at the last minute. I'm so glad we didn't!

The park is right down the street, and it is a GREAT park. The boys made instant best friends, as they usually do, and were quickly wrapped up in games of tag and hide-and-go-seek. I wasn't sure if it was the right group for me at first - and quite honestly I'm still not - but the boys loved it and made a unanimous decision that they wanted to go back. We signed up for both the group and for their Valentine's Party for this Friday. It's a very active group, with lots of families and lots of activities, so I'm sure it will give us more than enough opportunities to keep ourselves busy this spring.

Recent Developments

Very often I'm thinking of interesting or cute or funny things that the boys have been doing, and mentally preparing in my head how I'll share about them. Then a day will pass, then another, then another.... then the moment has passed. And it occurred to me that one of the reasons while the little things never get around to the point of sharing is that I like to share them accompanied by pictures. I do take pictures nearly daily, but actually putting them on a blog means hooking up the camera, downloading, transferring, etc, etc, etc. And that's more work than a few quickly typed sentences. So, in a flash of brilliance, I reminded myself that YES, I can actually post a blog without pictures every once in awhile, if it means another blog gets posted that otherwise never would have come to be.

Now, after that lengthy introduction -

Spencer and Paxton have both been learning about atoms and molecules. They've been playing with marbles, measuring and estimating and calculating. Paxton has been playing with a game maker program on the computer, and he's learning how to use my Paint Shop program. And Everett... Everett is just busy making me laugh.

Tomorrow, weather and health permitting, we're checking out a new homeschool group. The season for hanging out at home seems to be coming to an end.