A Week of Love!

We made it through the week of single parenting and are very happy to have Benjy home. I was without my true valentine for the 14th but there was still plenty of love to go around here at home. Here are a few snapshots of my handsome guys on Valentine's day.

Hudson saying "good morning" to Daddy in Mexico.

Huds and Reece checking out the

valentine's day loot from school.

Pierce and Chase

We sugared up on love milkshakes

with extra whipped cream and red sprinkles!

Hudson was thrilled!

Chase thought it was a race to finish it off first :)

And Pierce! Below are pics of our "cookie

hugs and kisses" game. The game pieces began to get

eaten before we actually had a winner!

Some candy treats and loving valentine's words

to each of them from their Mommy.

The brown box was full of deliciously chocolate dipped fruit,

a surprise delivery to me from Benjy. Mmmmmm!

I love my handsome crew with all of my heart.

Be My Valentine

I have a house full of boys. No question there. But...... they are the sweetest boys around.

I gave them the option: buy or make their own valentine's day cards. They all yelled "make!" Whooo hooooo! (see, they are sweet to me.... because of course I am going to love homemade creativity more than commercialized Disney premade stuff - no offense, if that is the direction your family went :)

So they potato stamped blue and white hearts on to lightly colored feminine colored papers (I would not admit to them they were pink and purple - we went with a rose and lilac description to avoid a "grrroooooossssssssssssss" and "nooo wayyyyy" revolt! even then, there were several close moments)

I loved this part about it all: the elementary teachers specifically asked that the kids sign their own names and gave them the option to address them to specific classmates, or to go generic. Reece's wheels began turning and he said out loud, but to himself: it will take up more time delivering them if I have to search for every person.... "I want to label mine" he replied :) Smart cookie!

Chase also chose to list each friends' name on the front. He took great care to make cool swirly heart shapes on each little card.

But preschool Pierce was told very specifically to NOT address the valentine's card to his classmates. I assume it makes it less chaotic to hand them out - I understand that. But Pierce went about things in his own, extremely sweet way. As he was folding and sealing each one with a sticker this morning at the breakfast table, these were his comments:
* "I want the star sticker for Sydney because her favorite song is "twinkle twinkle little star and she sings it all the time" :)
* "Austin loves snakes. the snake sticker for him" :)
* "Miss Sue loves songs so the one with music notes on it" :)
* "Jackson is so cool so I am gonna give him this sticker that says "c-o-o-l"" :)
* "Miss Marilyn gets the one with teacher things like books and apples" :)
* "Maya likes stars so I will give her this one" :)

Isn't that so sweet. He was denied the chance to print each name but he personalized each one in an even more special way. And, yes, he assured me this afternoon that each one got the one with their special sticker on it.

Sweet, sweet boys!

I gotta get working on a special Valentine for each of them...

A 1st Graders Angle At History

This post is dedicated to the educators in our family who will surely enjoy this journal entry that Chase brought home to us recently. Each Friday he brings home his Family Journal - a letter written to us that summarizes something he learned that week at school. Follow his thoughts through to the last page - I had to hold back my laugh when I read through it the first time. So cute! Hope you enjoy!

Ready Or Not.....

We got this paper from the boys' school... for our Piersen Benjamin!



How can this be?! Although I know how ready this little guy is to be a full time big school boy, I sure will miss having him around.

Pierce, on the other hand has zero doubt about his excitement level to begin this leap into the next life stage!

Yesterday we had a parent/teacher conference with his beloved preschool teacher, Miss Marilyn. She gave him glowing reviews in every area - reassuring us of how kind and hard working he is. A good listener, an eager helper, diligent at coloring his best, and so on. He has his letters down, can count past 35, gets a little mixed up with the rectangle and oval shapes, but the most startling thing Miss Marilyn shared with us was this: she recently asked each of the students in her class what they would like to be when they grow up.

Pierce looked at her with his confident little grin and said: "I wanna be a rock star!"

We all got a good laugh out of that one!

The Sounds of Monday Morning

It is Monday after a busy weekend but the sounds coming from my living room sound nothing like a tired family.

Benjy is off to work. The big boys are at school.

Here is what I am hearing in the other room...

Hudson: "c'mon Piewsen, let's wessle"

Piersen: "okay, okay....wooooooooooo...total smackdown!!!"

I hear a few "kind of" rough interactions so I peek around the corner to see Hudson running full throddle towards Pierce - who simply sticks his leg straight out in the air as Hudson slams into it and onto his back"

Me: "guys, you need to be careful. Pierce take it easy on him"

Hudson (very quickly): "I'n okay Mommy, I'n okay"

Me: "Are you sure?"

Hudson: "uh huh. I'n sure. I'n sure. let's wesssssllllleeee Piewce!"

What can I say?

Hope your Monday has as much energy and gritty desire to take on the world :)

A Pea Or Two On My Shoulder

Boys never cease to amaze me.

They are crazy and creative. Wild and then cuddly. Seriously sentimental and then hilarious.

With 4 of them, there really is a rare chance of experiencing boredom.

Hudson brought me an unusual first time experience this week. I am learning that this little one is not following suit to the older 3 in many ways. He is quite the little character!

We had spaghetti and meatsauce and peas for lunch on Monday. I glanced over at him and he had his finger up his nose - really, nothing out of the ordinary in a house full of boys.

Much later that evening, I picked him up and was tickling him when he sneezed. Out flew a green pea onto my shoulder. It surprised me and was a little gross all at the same time - but did create some laughter.

Fast forward to the next evening - bedtime routine. I am pulling Hudson out of the bath. He wasn't pleased that swimming time was over so as he flails his head back ...I... catch a glimpse of a bright green object in his nostril. I could not believe it. Seriously. Without a doubt: another pea!

The next string of events caused me and the other 3 boys to try to make him snort like a bull, grunt like a pig, sniff pepper to sneeze again, and so on. Yes, it was some live entertainment! But completely unsuccessful.

I was home alone with the kids - Benjy out of town on business. I was not overly concerned because on one hand, the pea had now been lodged there for the past 36 - 38 hours and everything had been business as usual. But it did cross my mind that strange things may begin to occur if we did not get it out sometime soon.

I decided to do what any modern woman does: consult Google for suggestions :)

You would not believe how many posts popped up to this search: "how to remove a pea from your toddlers nose"! There was even a youtube video demonstration - which ultimately became my source of salvation. Numerous lame suggestions did not convince me - but what we finally did was tackle the mad child, who at this point, was rather irritated that we were all in his face and trying to get up his nose - and after pinning him down in the awkward position that had his head trapped and his arms and legs secured - I simply plugged his other nostril, gave him a CPR breath over his mouth and....2 attempts later.....waahhh laaahhhhh - I had another pea fly onto my shoulder!

As any typical little boy - Hudson - and all of the brothers - wanted to see the bright green evidence and laughed so hard at it all.

I simply dusted off my shoulder and chalked it up to another wild and crazy experience of raising kids (with thanks to google for saving me a copay for such a ridiculous purpose).

A Teaser

I miss my blog.

And I think, by the looks of things, my blog misses me.

Countless moments have passed that I want to record and because I like things in sequence, I have fallen way behind...

But Hudson turned 2 and when I went back to revisit my recorded words, I am reminded of how valuable it is to write.

So, somehow I am going to re-prioritize it into my life.

Without chronology.

To be continued...