A Birthday Paw-ty!!

Our family was invited to a birthday paw -ty last weekend. Moose's friend Esther turned 10!

Esther got a HUGE peanut butter and chocolate bone from her "mom and dad."

We all got to wear party hats...

Sam's party hat dug into his skin...they were definitely NOT one size fits all!

This is Esther with her parents...aren't they just the cutest couple!!

Esther had had enough with the photos and decided to go ahead and start snacking!

 

Jack gave Esther our gift...

We gave her a cookie that said, "Happy Birthday!"

We never got the chance to take a picture of the cookie!

Of course, Jack wanted to get up close to check out the huge bone...but he never expected that he would have competition!!

A Mom of Boys...

Right now...
These two keep life interesting.
I cherish the "brother" relationship they have with each other.
They are loud and wrestle.
They both wear their hearts on their sleeves.
They both cry at movies.
Jack cries when the commericial for shelter dogs is on TV.
Sam is trying to grow up, but still wants to be a little boy.
They both have a great sense of humor.
They can fight like cats and dogs.
At times, Sam needs to put up"Keep Out" signs on his bedroom door.
At times, Sam needs to read those signs to Jack, because Jack ignores them.
Sam loves to have "sleep-overs" in jack's room.
The last sleep over lasted 4 weeks.
Jack threw him out the other night.
Now Moose sleeps with Sam.
Jack dances during the credits at movies. (at home and in the theaters)
Sam rolls his eyes when he does this.
Sam likes to try new things...and then asks Jack if he wants to try "that" new thing, too.
Jack will say, "YEA!" Then Sam tells Jack to go first!
Jack takes a cold hot dog in his sack lunch everyday. (yuck!)
They both love Legos.
Sam displays his Lego creations.
Jack takes his creations apart and makes new creations.
They both love to read.
They crack each other up.
It's fun to be a mom of these two boys!

I was doing important computer surfing the other night and came across a wonderful post about being a mom of boys.  As the postee explains, there are lots of "lists" about being a mom of girls or a dad of girls, but very few "lists" about being a mom of boys.  That is why the author created this touching list.  You can veiw it here.

(number 15 brought tears to my eyes.  Sam is number 55 in football and the boy in the picture reminds me of Sam! *sniff*)

Project Life title Page...

My Project Life album has been going very well and I am proud to say that I am currently caught up! I had forgotten how much fun it is to put an album like this together!

This is the title page for my album.  I am going about scrappin' this project a bit different from last year.  Last year, i stuck to the "rules" or guidelines. This year, I am trying to look at each square as a mini scrapbook page.  Mini, so not much is needed for each square. Notice, I have used my "Polaroid" camera a bit! Love the photos it takes. I may go back and add a few more embellishment as I seee needed! (maybe some twine!)

 

I ordered the journaling cards through amazon.  The other embellishments are from Amy Tangerine.  I must say the gray Thickers (the letters) are my favorite at this time!  I am loving gray right now...in scrapbooking!!

Look what we got.

Look what got delivered to our house the other day. yea.

Sam loves this thing.  He got on it and RAN a mile. 
Then he got on it the next day and RAN another mile. 
He said, "Mom, I just ran a mile on the treadmill."
Me:" Oh. Does that include your warm-up and cool-down. (which I know are very important to any workout.)"
Sam" Nope, I just got on and RAN a mile!
Me: Seriously?
Sam: Yep!  I've done that three days in a row now and my time just keeps getting better.
Me: that is AWESOME buddy!
(Inside I am really saying, how rude.)

Jack enjoys the thing, too (how rude).  Someone needs to be right beside him though..he likes to stop and stand on the thing and get thrown into the wall.  Or we put the emergency strap on him and he will just pull it for the hell of it.


At the time I wrote this post this is how often the treadmill had been used:
Sam - three times
Jack - three times
Jason - 0 times, but has gone to the gym the last three days
Me - 0 and no gym visits.


What's a big bummer is that this large black work-out item is right across from my scrapbooking desk...just looming over me.  This just MIGHT cut into some of my important scrap work.  OR i will have to bring my scrap work upstairs...

Scrappin" and the Family..

 I have been working on some of my scrap projects that i need to get caught up on. One of the "biggies" was to get the boys school books for THIS year, caught up.  We had a crop at the store the other day and I was able to complete this mission.

I worked on Sam's fourth grade book. It has all the papers and projects he has done or created this year.  He really enjoyed looking through it. *sigh* I now have second grade completed and 4th grade caught up.  Still need to do his kindergarten, first grade and third grade...hmmmm...OH! and add 4th grade photos to this one!

I also was able to get Jack's kindergarten book caught up. Jack loved looking at his book, too. His needs photos added throughout the book and I need to figure out a way to store his larger art work.  I did make photo copies of some of his art, which worked out quite well.  He does have his 3 year old preschool book completed and half of his 4 year old preschool. (uh oh.  I just remembered that I don't have those books done for Sam...UGH!!) 

and Moosie May...when I am busy at my desk "creating" she lays on her blanket by me and naps.  *sigh* I plan on doing a mini book for her with all her different casts from her surgery. I think she will enjoy looking back at that time. :)
I have big plans for lots of books!!

I Like This...

Some Snow Fun...

With "all this snow" the boys have been able to head out after school and blow off some steam!

How can Jack be tan in the middle of the winter?

Moose is lovin' the snow and cold, too.  When the boys head out...so does she!

I am not a fan of the cold or snow...so I am taking these photos from inside the house.  Jack is waving at me.

 

 

"OK, i have had enough snow.  Can i come in now. Please."

The "pain" of snow is that I have to wipe off Moose's feet each time she comes in. 
Boy that girl can pack some snow in her paws!! She is so good about it though...she come in, sits down and put up her paw.
Now if the boys could be trained that easily!!

Italy Smash Book...

If you are not familiar with the Smash book, watch this video. If you are familiar with the smash book, you can still watch the video because it does have a catchy tune and is super fun to watch!!

After watching the video and seeing different posts about the Smash book, i couldn't wait to get my hands on one...or two...or three. I have started my own smash book, but have never completed it (imagine that!) so for Christmas I decided to put one together for my mom who is going to Italy this spring.

 I used the International book due to all the fun travel pages!

My hope is that my mom will take pictures of her and my dad while on the trip.  Most of the pictures we see of their trips are of sites and my dad taking pictures of the sites...no mom. 

To remind her of some different ideas to take photos of, I included post-it notes with ideas on them. (like little lists!!)

I also included loads of journaling cards and journaling spaces.  She does a great job of writing things down!!

I used a mix of October Afternoon Boarding Pass Collection and Amy Tangerine Decorative Tags.

Lots of layering!!

 

There are also pages to include the food that they will encounter in Italy!

Loads of pockets for memorobila.

 

I cut out descriptions of their planned days (they are going on a group tour)  from a tour magazine and included them throughout the album. 

I can't wait to see the memories my mom fills the album with!
It was so fun to put this together (took only 2 days!) I think I will "Smash" our Chicago trip from June!!

The 10th Tooth...

Sam lost his 10th tooth. The story contains blood, chunks and drama.  And of course, no Jason...

Here's the story:
Sam chomped on an cookie and put his fingers in his mouth to check his loose tooth because when he "chomped" he hit the loose tooth.  He pulled out his fingers and they were bloody...oh hell, I thought.  One thing I cannot handle is loose teeth.  Jason always deals with the teeth (and vomit and sickness and...) and he was out of town.

Sam runs to the bathroom (which jack was using at the time!)
"SAM!! I am in here!!!" Jack yells. 
"But JACK...I AM BLEEDING!!"
I remain in the kitchen...taking deep breaths. In reality, I want to run through the house screaming and put a pillow over my head so I can't hear what I know is coming...the dreadful (at times) "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!!"
So I choose to hold my breath, knelt on the floor and Tebowed.

Then I hear, "OOOHHHH!!"
I found out later this first "call out" was from Sam opening his mouth and seeing his tooth hanging there...by the dreadful and stomach turning...thread. "LET ME SEE LET ME SEE!" I can hear Jack requesting.
Deep breathing on my part.

Again, I hear, "OOHHHHH!"
oh hell.
Then, there it was, "MMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!"
Oh hell.  In my head I am already giving myself a pep talk..I can do this I can do this. I CAN do this!  Just pull it with a Kleenex real fast.  Real fast in a fast tugging motion... maybe I can call someone to do it..NO...MOM UP!!

Then Sam came around the corner. His face was red (means his is about to panic..I wonder where he gets that from?) BUT...he has the tooth in his hand!! (inside "yippie!!!")
 Unfortunately, his face and hands were all bloody.
 "Mom, I only pulled half my tooth out!"
Oh great.

Finally I got my "mom-ness" to kick in (the tooth was already out..my job was over!).  I gave him a glass of water to rinse out his mouth, took his tooth and put it in a cup of water. Told him to put a Kleenex in the tooth hole and keep it there until it stops bleeding. I washed his face and hands.  Finally I looked in his mouth... 

See the little tooth on the far right side?  That is the NEW tooth..that was what he thought was the other half of his tooth.

I looked in the glass with his tooth (just to double check that it was all there) and reassured he had gotten the entire tooth out.  He went on to share in EXTREME detail how he pulled his tooth because it was just hanging there by a thread.  Well, I guess the thread was connected pretty well, which caused the "immense" bleeding.  We checked out his tooth and there was a chunk of gum (not the kind you eat) stuck to the tooth. (gag reflex)
 "OH WOW...Jack look at this!"
"Cooooool!"

Deep breaths, I told myself...don't want to go down. Deep breaths...can't pass out...

The next day we had a dentist appointment and they found FOUR loose teeth in BOTH boys! Seriously!!
 It's a good thing that Jason doesn't travel much this month!!

A Hockey game...

Why did I take a picture of a hockey game on my TV??

Because I know this texter anywhere!!!

Yep, it's Jason! Last week he went tot he St. Louis Blues vs. the Vancouver Canucks hockey game while he in St. Louis. He had seats right between the two teams.  St. Louis is the only team that has seats between the teams...he was in 6th heaven. (we must save 7th heaven for a vikings event.)
He was actually texting me at home.  It was funny because when he was done texting, my phone went "ding!" Sam yells, "He just texted US!!!"

Here he is watching a fight that broke out...

I think he is thinking, "That's not very good sportsmanship!"

Basketball for Sam...

Sam's basketball season has also begun.It was a bit more "calm" than Jack's, but still a lot of fun to watch!

Sam doing some guarding...

Dribbling the ball...his form is a bit more advanced than Jack's.

Sam will go to a new school next year due to the ankney school boundaries changing.  This will be his FOURTH school that he has attended in elementary.  A positive about this, is that Sam knows a lot of different kids.  Here he is guarding one of his friends from another school. It's funny, because they will be "pairing" up on the line before tip off and Sam will be saying, "Hey, Mark! Hey, Luke!"

 

Going after the ball...One time he went after the ball and lowered his should into the guy a bit.  We reminded him after the game that he can't use his football moves in basketball!! He also ran into a kid when running back down the court and looked over to him and said, "Oh, sorry!"

Sam just stole this ball..how exciting!!

He shoots...and scores...(I think.)

So intense! Then he probably apologized after getting the ball!!  That's my boy!
Sam is enjoying basketball..i think because he has only one practice and one game a week.  Unlike football!!