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Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Moose Can Move!

Enjoy! Back soon with some random updates...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Ten on Tuesday

1. I can hardly believe it, but the boys are done with AWANAs for the year and had their awards program last week. I was feeling a bit under the weather (i.e. I could barely talk), so we sat in the balcony. That's a long way of me saying, the pictures aren't the best. BUT, the boys worked hard this year and I was super proud of them!
Jarron
Bryce
Jackson

2. I was especially proud of this guy. My nephew Blaze earned his first book award. What makes this such a big deal? He did it in half the time of everyone else! He didn't start regularly coming to Sparks until January-ish, so the fact that he got through the book so quickly is pretty awesome.

3. I won this adorable custom shirt for Moosey. Being the 4th of four boys, he's on the receiving end of a lot of hand me downs. Kind of fun to have something personalized just for him. (If you are interested I won the shirt from Magical Memories, Jessica is awesome to work with!)

4. Speaking of the Moose, is it just me or is he looking more like Chuck every day?
Of course, no one can say that this guy isn't my little man. Cracks me up how one son can be a blue eyed blonde and the other a brown eyed brunette.

5. Jackson and Moosey are best buddies and this weekend at Kings Island, Moosey got to ride his first rides with Jackson. He calls him Jack-Jack, which is very,very cute to hear. Anytime, Jackson rode without him, Moosey would desperately yell out "Jack-Jack! Jack-Jack!"
 (Nope, can't tell this kid was excited to finally get to ride big boy rides, can you?)

6. I swear that I try to take pictures of all of my boys, not just the two little guys but this is what I usually get from my efforts to get a decent shot of the twins. Nine year olds are a joy.

7. The twins have an overnight field trip to the zoo this week. Chuck is a chaperone. They are ridiculously excited about it. So it will be just me and the littles for one night.
To clarify-it is just me and the boys-Linus will NOT be joining us! :)

8. My way of helping with the field trip was to offer to wash all of the shirts Jarron and his classmates (and a few of Bryce's) tie-dyed for the trip. Clearly, a rookie parenting mistake. You see, you have to wash the shirts twice, once with rubber bands on and once with rubber bands off. And they are soaking wet when you get them, so you can't just throw them all in one load. We ended up with 3 loads (times two=6 loads of laundry, just for the shirts). Which wasn't a big deal. The hard part were those stinking rubber bands. I have no idea how long I spent in the laundry room taking off rubber bands but it felt like HOURS. If I never see another rubber band again, it will be too soon. (Side note-Mrs D & Miss D: Jarron and Bryce did help with this task; for about 5 minutes and then got distracted making rubber band balls. I think they should have to clean chalkboards or something to make up for it. Do you guys even have chalkboards anymore? :>)

9. Because I don't have enough hobbies and things to do, I decided to refinish an antique desk. This desk has been in my mom's family for years and was my desk as a teenager. I have so many memories of sitting at that desk writing stories and doing homework. I'm excited to have it in my scrapbook room. But it needs a lot of work. A lot. It has probably 6 coats of stain/varnish that needs to come off before you get to the wood. But the wood, once you get there, is stunning. It's going to be amazing when I am done with it. I will definitely share pictures of the finished product. In the meantime, here are the before shots.

10. The garden that Chuck and the kiddos planted is already starting to sprout-I'm pretty surprised that seeds grow that fast. Clearly, I am a city girl. I'll post some pics of the garden next week. I plan on planting some tomatoes and possibly some strawberries this weekend.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Ten on Thursday

1. Chuck and the boys have a fun little project they are working on this summer-a garden plot for our backyard. They have spent the last week or so getting the plot ready and got all the seeds in the ground this week. I am looking forward to a summer full of peas, peppers, onions, watermelons and more!
Getting the ground ready for the garden...
Our little gardeners.
Blaze lending a hand with the planting.

2. Last week, I did something I haven't done in about 12 years. Something I likely won't be doing for another 12 years or for that matter, ever again. I rode a roller coaster! (I know!) I'm still not sure what possessed me to do it, other than trying to prove to the boys that I wasn't a scaredy cat. I felt very brave walking through the line with the twins to Flight Deck.
"Let's ride in the front car" they said.
Sure! And then as we mounted the final set of stairs, the fear hit me.
"Um, how about we ride in the middle car?" I said.
"Okay, Mom, we can do that, you aren't scared are you?" said Bryce.
"Maybe just a little. Maybe I'll just wait for you guys." I said.
"If you don't get on the coaster, Mom, you have have to sit in the box" said Jarron.
(They have this little box/cage thing that kids who aren't tall enough to ride have to sit while waiting for their parents.)
So I got on the coaster. And I screamed loudly the entire 32 seconds. It was terrifying. I won't be doing it again any time soon. Chuck said he knew right away when it was our turn to ride, he and the little boys could hear me screaming. Awesome.
This is Chuck and the boys riding Flight Deck, they were not screaming in terror.

3. The twins have not inherited my fear of heights or roller coasters, in fact, they've ridden pretty much every coaster at Kings Island that they are tall enough to ride. Bryce even rode Diamondback last week. I have a feeling Chuck and the boys will be spending a lot of time together this summer, waiting in line to ride the big rides.
Chuck and the boys on the Vortex.

4. Meanwhile, the Moose, Jackson and I are content to hang out in Planet Snoopy. (And when the weather gets warm enough-Boomerang Bay.) Jackson and I do venture over to the other side of the park to ride the Scrambler but other than that, these kind of rides are more our speed...

5. I love this picture of Jackson and Chuck-this one is getting framed for my desk at work.

6. Looks like Moose isn't the only kid I know who falls asleep eating. Must run in the family, because Keats did it this week too. We Sawyers like our sleep!
(He's holding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!)

7. I may or may not have voted mulitple times for Lee DeWyze on American Idol via text message this week. Either way, I think he is by far the best singer on the show and I'm pretty sure he'll be in the final two.

8. The Moose loves oranges. Loves them. The only problem? He calls them "purples". I'm not sure why-I've tried to change his mind but he insists that they are "purples". He calls grapes, "bobbles". Such a funny little man.
 Moose and his "purples"

9. I overheard this conversation tonight while the boys were playing "Civilazation" on XBOX.
Jarron: "Bryce, go fight the Barbarians"
Jackson: "Is that the place with the elephants and clowns and stuff"
Jarron: "Um no, that's the circus"
Jackson: "What's Barbarians?"
Jarron: "They are mean guys that fight and have clubs with spikes on them!"
Bryce: "Yeah, they are super evil!"
Jackson: "Hmmmnnn...that doesn't sound like nearly as much fun as the circus. I think I'll stick with the clowns."

10. I was reminded this week how lucky I am to have such kind, thoughtful, amazing friends and family in my life. I feel so very blessed to have each of you in my life-thank you so much!