Randomness

What's the deal with this picture? Well if you go to my eighth post, EVER, it's named, "13". That's how many "buddies" Boston had on his bed. I think it got up to 20 at one point! When I got these new comforters, he decided that he no longer wanted his buddies, because it would be much easier to make his bed without them. Also, he was turning 8 and didn't need them anymore. Ethan quickly followed suite! It was a bitter sweet day for Mom! I Hate stuffed animals, but was sad to see him grow out of, yet, another boyish thing! Why doesn't she do this at church?? I had to take a picture, though. She never sleeps like this, anywhere!!! She slept through our whole dinner, but woke up just in time for the ice cream!

The other day, I'm walking with Ethan in the Walmart parking lot, and he sees a car that looks like our Navigator, and he says, "Look, there is Dad!" I told him that it wasn't, because the driver was a girl. Then the conversation went like this.

Ethan: "Did you know that most of the girls come here?"

Mom: "Oh, yeah?"

Ethan: "But not the boys, because they don't like to shop a lot. (short pause) They like to watch sports"

Another use for the Ipod

So sweet and proper......

and here's a look behind the scenes! Guess she ran out of books!

Boston's First Pack Meeting

Boston had his first pack meeting last night. While I was upstairs, watching him put on his uniform, I started to get teary. I'm always overly sensitive when it comes to watching my babies hit milestones. As he was putting on each piece of his uniform, I kept flashing back to times when he was little, and thinking how fast he has grown and how proud I am to be his Mother. Then in the middle of me bawling, Boston looks over and says, "Mom! Are you crying?" I couldn't deny it, and then he asked why. I told him it was because he was growing up too fast! He said, "I knew that's what you were going to say!" At least he knows me. These shots are way blurry because I couldn't get him to sit still for a second he was so excited, and the person taking the shots with me in them....well....they were trying their best and I am grateful for them!

Boston got his Bobcat badge.

I was busy trying to get this pic, and didn't realize they were calling me up. I didn't know anything about the Mother's pins! LOL Boston did good!

Didn't poke me at all! It was weird to get the pin! That's stuff old Mom's get!

My Little Makeup Artist!

Whenever Sophia is quite I know she is doing one of two things; Pooping or getting into something. This day she was quite for way to long. Hey, gotta give her props for knowing that mascara is used for the eyes! When I found her she said, "Mom, look. Pretty eyes!"

Boston's 8th!

Boston was so excited for his 8th birthday, that he asked me to give him Benadryl so he could go to sleep. LOL Boston started his morning off, waking up with a door filled with crepe paper streamers.

When he came downstairs, I gave him a light up pin that said, "It's my 8th birthday". He thought that was cool! I then cooked his favorite breakfast (besides LIFE cereal); french toast on the special plate, of course. He was worried that he wouldn't be getting the special plate, because he usually has a bowl of cereal in the morning, and he would be having lunch at school, and we wouldn't be using it at his birthday party because it might get broken. This kid thinks everything through!

Boston had a good day at school. I showed up for lunch, and after his class was done eating, we went out to the playground where we all sang to him and celebrated with ice cream sandwiches. Soon after, Boston's class had to do a skit during the school assembly. Boston borrowed Ben's Halloween costume, and hammed it up during his part. He was excited to do that, and wasn't afraid to be goofy in front of the whole school. I love that about him.

After school, Boston had his party. This year he wanted a Sports party. He was very picky about who he invited, because he wanted them to be good at sports, and when I mentioned friends that didn't go to his school, he was afraid they would not feel comfortable. I was afraid that he was going to have a low turn out, because if you just invite athletic boys, you run the risk that they might have football games, or practices for other sports. Well my fears were confirmed. Only 4 boys showed up. Typically his parties are bigger; usually around 10-12 boys. The first part of his party was a tether ball championship, so he didn't really notice much. Then when I told him it was time to go to the park for the soccer and kickball championship, he said we couldn't go, because everyone wasn't here yet. I told him this was it and he needed to go get his shoes on. The other boys went out front and I went to get Boston, only to find him in the mudroom crying. My heart was breaking for him! I was trying to comfort him, and also was feeling a bit angry at all those Mom's who never RSVP'd. Not that that would have made a difference, but at least I could have told Boston, and maybe we could have done something different, like Castle and Coasters or something. Anyway, he tried to make the best of it, and I did catch him having fun.

Boston's Football Snickers Icecream Cake

When they all left, I was cleaning up and I saw his pin and asked him if he wanted to save it. He started crying again and said that "Eight isn't great", and he didn't want it. It took a lot to cheer him up, and make him realize what a great day he did have, and that he gets to celebrate it again when he is baptized. Ben and I left on our date, and after getting 5 minutes down the road, decided to take him with us. He thought that was pretty cool....his favorite candy and a movie, with Mom and Dad, and no one else!

Boston's Baptism Photo's

Wow! I can't believe that Boston is going to be eight on Friday. He has grown up so much in just the past year. His testimony and understanding of the Gospel is flourishing, and his prayers never cease to amaze me. He is SO excited to get baptized. Here is Boston's baptism announcement and some other photos that I loved! What a handsome boy!

I asked Boston to pick his favorite for the announcement. This is the photo he picked. I obviously overrode it, but love how he isn't self conscious about his gaping smile, or anything else for that matter!

little entrepreneur's

After soccer games, on Halloween day, we did some kid swapping with the Lorenzana's; Boston for Maya. Ethan was the odd man out, since he really wasn't going to be hanging out with Sophia, who slept most of the time anyway. The girls decided they wanted to do a lemonade stand, but didn't want Ethan to tag along. The next thing I know, Ethan is filling a pitcher with water, and is making a sign. Of course, I can't read it since he is just learning to spell, so I ask him what he is doing and he says, "Mom, I'm going to sell water!" How nice of him to not sell lemonade and give the girls some competition. I'm then thinking, "Good luck with that!". Then I see Ethan coming downstairs with random things like a whistle, marbles, etc. Basically things he pulled out of his junk drawer. My first inclination was to stop him from a train wreck (or at least I perceived would be one). Then I decided not to squash the innovative entrepreneur in him and let him go for it. (It definitely is a step up from copying money like last week!) I had something that took my attention away from him for a minute, and when I went to check on him, I found him outside at the opposite corner of the girls, just sitting on the ground with his pitcher of water, cups, and a bag full of his random collection of things. I quickly grabbed Ben and told him to bring him a chair. He patiently sat there waiting for customers for over an hour! He never moved, and just waited for someone to pick him over the girls.

This is what the girls lemonade stand looked like.

I LOVED that it didn't intimidate him from doing his own thing. He was a bit sad when he was comparing all the people that stopped at their stand, to the people that came to him. It was hard to tell him that he should be grateful that people took pity on him enough to actually pay him for water! He ended up with 6 dollars! (Ethan has been asking if he could do a lemonade stand every day since!)

My heart was so full of gratitude for all those people who saw a little boy who was trying hard and bought his water. I saw a quote once (in one of those feel good coffee table books) that said, "Always stop at a kids lemonade stand". I have always stuck by that, and now I see why it is so important, more than ever! On a side note, Maya and Aubrie raked in 21 dollars. One customer gave them a 10! Again, what generosity in such hard economic times!!!

HAPPY Halloween

This year, we got to celebrate Halloween twice, because we finally had a year that Trunk or Treat and Halloween weren't on the same day. Hallelujah! Like I said earlier, I told the kids I wasn't buying them anything for their costumes this year. Boston was lucky enough to borrow a skeleton costume, Aubrie used her owned clothes to be a 80's chick, and Sophia wore the same costume as she did last year (since all she did was sit in the stroller the whole time). Ben and I had actually decided that we would buy Ethan a costume since Kindergarten does a costume parade around the school, but we couldn't find him the costume he wanted. He wanted to be a mummy, and Ben looked EVERYWHERE, and couldn't find one. Ethan switched his costume for everything he went to. He wore his Karate costume to school, his Darth Vader costume to a friends Halloween/Birthday party and the Trunk-or-Treat, and for Halloween, he just wore all brown and a cape and said he was Ob 1 Kenobi!

Here are some pics from Ethan's Fall Festival!

The kids had fun at their school Halloween, excuse me..."Fall" parties . (I hate that they just cant say Halloween, Christmas, etc! Lame!) After school, Ethan went to a classmates party, where they had a jumper, and a little train that drove them around the neighborhood. While he was there I ran to Party City to get a few props for Ben and I! I always wear the same thing, cat ears (yeah, big surprise), and decided I needed a tail and a collar once and for all. While there, the kids picked this out for Ben. He was a good sport and wore it. It was fun to see him with hair.

The Trunk-or -Treat was amazing this year. They had it outside a the Pavilion/green area. They had such fun games for the little ones, and did a Fear Factor thing for the teens. They also had plenty of food, and a Haunted House. The kids had a great time. Besides Sophia, I didn't' see any of them for most of it, as they were running around with all their friends.

Halloween started off with a morning of soccer games. Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing, while the kids played with friends. Later that evening we had dinner and carved pumpkins. The boys were quickly grossed out, especially Boston. Sophia thought it was funny for awhile, and Aubrie ended up doing all the carving!

We just went trick or treating around our section of the neighborhood, which is PLENTY! Sophia had a GREAT time, and everyone thought she was the cutest thing. I think the boots totally sold the costume! Sophia was funny though. She had to get in and out of the wagon between each house. That kind of slowed us down a bit. By the last 4 or 5 houses, she was DONE and didn't want to go to any more doors.

When we got home she fell asleep on Ben within minutes. Once we got her down and the kids in their PJ's, it was time for the scary movie we had promised the kids. I decided that SIGNS would be the least harmful because it could NEVER happen, there were only a few scary parts, and it had a good message about faith. The kids loved the movie, and Boston got the award for being scared the most. He screamed like a girl and flew to my side during the kids birthday party part. After the movie, we offered up hide and go seek in the dark, but oddly enough we didn't have any takers!:) Ben and I had already prepared for a long night of probable nightmares, but the kids did really well. Aubrie was the only one who woke up and she went right back to sleep. They keep asking to watch it again, and talk about their favorite parts over and over!

Overall I would have to say that this was the best Halloween we have had with the kids. It is weird to think they are getting old enough to be in control of their own candy rationing, watch scary movies, and leave our sides at Halloween parties to run off with friends! What age do you let them go trick or treating by themselves these days? (I know I went at 6....isn't that CRAZY?) I'm not sure I'll be ready for that...EVER!