Cooties

Last week after school I asked Nathan what he did and he said he played "fight" with the boys during recess.

I brought it up again today....it went like this.

"Nathan, did you play fight with your friends at school?"

"You mean with the bugs?"

"Bugs?"

"Yeah, we were gonna play fight with the bugs, but we decided not to. Instead we threw the bugs at the girls, cuz boys don't like girls and I don't either."

*laughing and a high five with Nathan* "You don't?"

"No, I don't like to play with them, so we tried to scare them with the bugs."

"Did you scare them?"

"No. They just looked at us. I had the bugs in the dogs mouth (a puppet) and I was doing this (thrusts hand towards me) but they weren't scared."

"Did they scream?"

"No. Just nothing."

"Do you chase the girls?"

"No, they don't run away from us."

*more laughter* "Do they have cooties?"

"Cooties? What's that?"

"uh....bugs."

*gives me a 'you're dumb' look* "noooo....."

I tried to explain, but I didn't do a very good job. lol

Apparently this generation of girls is more enlightened than mine was...but the boys...they're exactly the same as they were 22 years ago when I was in kindergarten.

Just about the sweetest baby ever!

She sat perfectly still and just smiled and smiled! My own kids don't know what it means to sit still! Here she is with her mom and sister.



This one is my favorite, I think. I love so many out of this shoot!

Aria's first performance!

The night that I went into labor with Aria, I was at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. (I didn't go into labor there, it was a couple hours after I got home.) While we were there she was especially active whenever I was listening to music. She has always loved music, and I believe her name (which means beautiful melody) fits her well.

So yesterday was the primary program at church and she sang a solo! She did so good, especially considering she's been covered in hives for a week and she has a nasty cold.

So here it is...age 3 and her first performance!



The Lyrics:

I have a friend called Jesus
Tender is his love.
I know that he's my savior
Loving me from above.

I know that he loves me.
I have faith that he is real.

Because I have a friend called Jesus
Tender is his love.
I know that he's my savior
Loving me from above.

Written by Lana Osmun

One nice thing about moving...

Nathan went from a primary class of almost all girls to a class full of boys! Our first sunday here he went on and on about one in particular.

Here is Nathan's friend and his family!

Click the image to see it bigger and better quality!







I love pictures like this. When a picture invokes emotion it makes it real and this one cracks.me.up.

I took these almost a month ago...

and it's just about time for this month's pictures, but here's my Mama Model at 26 weeks? I think that's right...


This one is my favorite.

THIS is why cell phone cameras were invented

TMI ahead...read at your own risk.

If you're a mom with young children and you've ever taken them all shopping, then you know that you inevitably have to take them all into the bathroom at the same time. You also know that if said bathroom does not have a little seat for the baby and you were using a cart that you can't take into the restroom because it has unpaid merchandise in it....then you have to somehow take care of business without letting go of the baby.

And that is precisely when the other 2 will decide to play with the toilet seat covers.

And that is when a cell phone camera comes in handy.

Then there's the time that you're driving and suddenly your kid has an owie and he wants to show it to you....so you risk an accident to take a picture over your shoulder.

Hehe. Cell phone cameras are fun.

I don't know if it's because he's intelligent or because he's my kid...

But somehow Nathan (age 5) has discovered sarcasm.

We had this conversation this morning.

Me: *held out a banana* Nathan, do you want this?
Nathan: Yes
Me: *hand it to him*
Nathan: What? Am I supposed to snuggle it or something?
Me: *puzzled look* No..eat it.
Nathan: Well, I can't open it.

That's when I realized he was being sarcastic. Little stinker.

Jami wins!

Gabe LOOOOVES football.

The little race car that moves by itself, the dog and the toaster when it pops up all reduce him to tears.

But football? We took him to my brother's High School football game and he was enthralled! He was so happy and excited for the whole thing! He was more into the game than Nathan or Aria and most of the people sitting around us were watching him more than the game!

By the way, my brother's team lost.

Oh, and Jami wins a cyber high five! *clap* (I'm being too lazy to post a picture of brownies right now)

Speaking of Gabe...

Remember name that bootie?

Well, Gabe is now the ripe old age of 10 1/2 months and I am in SOOO much trouble. Seriously.

Look.

He's just too cute to be upset with for long, though.

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong!

Ok...a game.

You know how to play. Three of these items
provoke this response from Gabe.














The other one causes extreme happiness and excitement. He screams and jumps up and down and claps his hands and points and laughs. It's just about the cutest thing ever.

Winner gets a cyber prize!

Nathan being....Nathan

I don't often get pictures of Nathan being Nathan without him noticing me and changing what he's doing or getting embarassed. But today, I caught one!

This is Nathan just doing something Nathan-ish. Totally calm and laid back, no big deal whatsoever...but rather strange.

Like eating pizza, on the table, looking out the window, on an upside-down cup.

You get a sneak peak at my new kitchen too. Walls are done, but there's still some more to finish before I'll post the real before and afters!

I survived!

Starting with his back to school haircut...we had a date and went to his Auntie's salon for this one.











Such a handsome boy. And lovin' that face, Auntie Rae!







We went to orientation and got his first bit of homework. His teacher gave us a paper doll cut out that we were supposed to decorate to look like Nathan. So Nathan drew his favorite t-shirt on the doll. (his xbox t-shirt...which has really seen better days. Hey, Marissa, if you read this, wanna pick a new one up for me?) Then Dave told him to draw pants on, to which Nathan responded by looking down at himself and making the observation "but...I don't have pants on, just undies!" So...he drew undies on. Then Dave convinced him to pretend like he had pants on and draw some of those on too.

The finished product.

At first I was a little worried. Because when we got to school, several of the other kids were holding their dolls and they were "perfect." The clothes were cut out of construction paper, they were holding purses and their was hair made out of everything from yarn to perfectly curled yellow ribbon (a cute little girl, with blonde, curly hair). I saw buttons and glitter and all sorts of things. But...I decided Nathan's was better because he did it himself. There's no way all those other kids did theirs without a lot of help. Plus....it turns out Nathan's wasn't the worst one. (Does that make me a bad mom? lol)

So, we waited for teacher to show up and off he went to school! But first he informed me that he's a little bit scared when I'm there, but he's not scared at all when he's there by himself. I'm not sure what that means. I don't want to think about it very hard.

Anyway...my sweet boy on his first day of Kindergarten! Doesn't he look all grown up? *sniff*

Oh, I forgot to add...after all the kids went inside I was standing there with the other moms and I had the strangest sensation. I was looking at them and thinking, they look like Moms. Do I look like them? Am I really old enough for this? It was odd.

Musings of a Moving-on (and Melodramatic) Mother

Tonight was the last night of my life as I've known it for the last 5 years and 2 1/2 months. I've been a mom of babies, a mom of toddlers and pre-schoolers, but tonight I tucked in my pre-schooler for the last time.

Tonight for Family Home Evening he received his first "beginning of the school year Fathers Blessing." Tonight in his bedtime prayers he prayed to "do good in school." Yes, it's official. I am the Mom of a Kindergartner.

Everything is about to change. Homework, PTG (Apparently it's not PTA anymore), routines, carpools, volunteering, book orders...the list goes on and on.

Every day I'll be dropping my baby off at the big school. Pre-school is one thing. Everyone there is 4 and under. But Kindergarteners? They go to school with every age up to 11! He's going to encounter all those things that we don't want our kids to have to deal with. Bullies, peer pressure, hurt feelings, making and losing friends...

But he's going to learn lessons that I couldn't teach him on my own. He's going to learn to stand up for himself and others, to be kind, to deal with dissapointment and to work well with others. He's going to grow up. And I can't stop it.

I'm a whole bundle of nerves and excitement. I don't even know what to feel. He's going to do great and it's going to be fine but it's a big milestone for us!

So, wish me luck. Tomorrow I drop my baby off at school for the very first time.

They're just....weird

Kids. They really are.

For example:

Rhyming. Aria loves to rhyme. The most common phrase that exits her mouth currently is "nuh-uh, puh-uh" (means no, in case that was unclear). The letter P is her favorite rhyming letter. She'll say "Mo-om! I want to sit on your lap, pit on your fat!" or "Let's watch a movie, pawtch a poovie." or "No it wouldn't, fro it couldn't!" (she just said that as I was typing this) or the conversation her and Nathan had the other day.

Aria: Nathan! Time for lunch, pime for punch!
Nathan: What?
Aria: Time for lunch, pime for punch!
Nathan: What!?
Aria: Time for lunch, pime for punch!
Nathan: WHAT?!
Aria: TIME.FOR.LUNCH.
Nathan: Oh.

Then there's Nathan. The world is his toilet. He'll drop his drawers just about anywhere when he needs to pee. Usually, he'll find a semi private location. Behind a tree, or in some tall grass. But the other day he went running into the backyard and then disappeared. I found him in the front yard peeing in my rose bushes. With his pants around his ankles. We're still working on the proper urinating in public technique.

One of my favorite weird kid things, however, is naming inanimate objects. One of their best-loved playthings in our house is Big Grumpy. Aria named him and he is now solely referred to as Big Grumpy. I can often find them playing swords with Big Grumpy, sitting in Big Grumpy and hiding under Big Grumpy.

What is he, you ask?

A laundry basket. A collapsible, compartmentalized laundry basket with removeable support sticks.

See? Weird.