another word

Ah. Noah. My little Noah. I love him to death.

Lately, Chris and I have noticed a growth pattern. It's not height or weight. It's more of a sensory gain. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that I have a particularly sensitive nose. There are certain odors that really bother me. For example- My nose is one reason we have no pets. I also can not stand the smell of my kids after they come inside. That outside smell mixed with sweat and hair and stuff makes me wince.

Well, I think Noah has inherited my sense of smell. Lately, we have had a lot of loud conversations, mostly one sided.

Noah: "Ceily's room smells like holy crap!"

Noah: "I can't ride on the bus. The seats smell like crap!"

Noah: "I can't sleep in the same room with Eddie, he smells like crap!"

Noah: "EEEWWWW! Your mouth smells like crap!"

Noah: "Mom! Lana's bum smells like crap!"
Me: "Well, don't put your nose near Lana's bum then."

Noah: "This car smells like crap!"

Notice anything else about my darling Noah?

Tomorrow's Lesson: SYNONYMS

words

Yesterday I was so excited. Lana and Ceily both had parties to attend. Chris was out of town. I was anticipating a fun night with my two boys. Eddie and Noah decided they wanted to go to Friday's (or as Noah continued to call it Sunday's all night long.) I wasn't too excited about that choice, but they were in charge. Eddie had invited a friend along and we were all in the car laughing and enjoying the time.

We got to Friday's and the parking lot was packed. I spotted a couple walking to their car. I turned my blinkers on and waited. For about 5 minutes. After the car backs out and leaves, immediately another car takes my spot! I couldn't believe it. I honked my horn. He ignored me. I honked my horn longer. He didn't even glance my way and then I became another person. Out of my mouth...a swear word. "A%$@*#$!!!!" And I said it quite loudly.

What? Did I really say that? I look over at Eddie and he's looking at me with huge, startled, shocked, sad eyes. "Eddie, I am so sorry! I should not have said that. I apologize. I am really sorry." Eddie just continued to look at me. Noah in the back seat pipes up and says, "I'm going to tell my teachers. Mrs. May AND Miss Tina." I turn to the friend in the back seat and repeat my apologies and he says, "You should hear my mom and dad."

We never made it to Friday's. I just drove pass the stolen parking place and drove to another eating location. It was closed. So we went to a pizza place. I was telling my friend the parking space incident as we waited for our pizza. Noah was sitting next to me and he said: "Now she's never going to let me play with Gavin anymore because of what you said, and I am really going to tell my teachers."

Do you ever feel like you just want to swear at your kids sometimes?

About 5 weeks ago I signed up for a photography class. Just a continuing education class. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR SLR or UNLEASING THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL OF YOUR SLR, something like that. It's been interesting.

I've been trying to experiment. I feel like I now take horrible pictures. Not one picture seems to turn out the way I want it to. My continuing education class seems to be ruining my unbridled artisitc abilities with too much information. What's that saying? Less is more? That's how I feel right now.

Yesterday I took my camera out of my bag, after attending a class the previous night. I had a piece of artwork Eddie had done I wanted to put on this here blog.

My camera would not take a picture.

So, here is a picture of Noah in October of 2006. We were camping that weekend. That weekend my camera was working. That weekend I knew nothing new about SLR's.


I love him googolplex

the tale of the pine wood derby

Months ago, maybe 2, the announcement was made...to a bunch of 9 year old boys, that the pinewood derby was coming up. Each boy was handed a box with a block of wood, four black plastic wheels, some nails, a paper with instructions and some stickers. My boy, Eddie, brought this box home.

The box was immediately placed in the cupboard. For a very long time. There was some talk about design. Some words exchange between father and son about look and color. There was even a week or two when Eddie could have taken his block of wood to pack meetings and had the opportunity to work on his design. But, who does that? Who uses time wisely? Who takes advantage of adults willing to help? Not this 9 year old. No sir-ree.

Monday comes. The Monday before the race. The race is scheduled for Wednesday night at 7pm. That's three days. Has any work commenced? This is a logical question, of course. I asked this question myself. "We'll be fine." Those were the words Chris told me.

Eddie was almost convinced by his father, I think this was on Sunday, to just put wheels on the rectangular shaped wood piece and call it good. Almost. Eddie decided he wanted to design a shoe car. And that's what happened. Chris' church shoes were brought downstairs and placed upon the kitchen table. Eddie than drew an outline of a shoe onto the wood. And then the block of wood continued to sit, untouched.

But, you know what? Things always work out. The shoe was cut. The shape emerged. The sanding proceeded and progressed. Tuesday night Chris travels to the store to get the paint. White paint. White appliance paint. Eddie sprays the wooden shoe and it's placed into the garage to dry.

It is now Wednesday morning and the shoe isn't quite dry yet. It's actually very sticky. So...I take to placing the hair dryer on the shoe for the entire day. From 8am until 5pm, the hairdryer blows hot air onto the shoe, non stop. And it works. The shoe is dry. The wheels get put on. My brother Conwey is in town for the day, and we decide to go to dinner before the derby.

This is where the tale gets interesting. We sit at the table, with Conwey next to Eddie. On the specials board at the restaurant is the fried grouper sandwich. Ahh, yea. Eddie is in heaven. He sits there and enjoys his delicious sandwich, a huge smile on his face. Dinner is done and we make it to the Church on time. There are a few test runs of all the cars. Conwey is nervous for Eddie. It's a dad thing I think. He's making sure no one touches Eddie's car. He's giving Eddie sound advice. He makes Eddie stop running his car.

And then the gun sounds and the cars are off. Run after run, Eddie's car reigns supreme. He's the fastest shoe in town. He did it! He won the pinewood derby! And I think he was happy. He didn't seem too excited. I was able to capture one picture of his admiring eyes looking down at his certificate, proclaiming him the winner.

And I think it was the fried grouper sandwich that sealed the deal. And Uncle Conwey of course. So, next year, we'll procrastinate, we'll use sticky paint, we'll race to Boulevard Diner for dinner, order the fried grouper sandwich, Conwey will have flown into town to lend support...and then we'll lose.

That's what we have learned in all the years of Pinewood history. Every boy and every dad will tell their own tales of victory and loss. It really doesn't matter what you do. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But it was fun building the memories.

Yeah Eddie!

valentine happenings

Valentine's Day has come and gone. Eddie has turned one year older. And a lot seemed to have happened on this 14th day of February.

Chris and I were alone at the beginning. Actually, we weren't completely alone. Chris' sister was with us. Chris and Suzanne ran a half marathon. I invited myself to tag along. We traveled to Myrtle Beach, had dinner, got to the hotel and they made me go to sleep around 10:30pm. Marathon runners are not too fun the night before. I couldn't sleep. Chris and I were in a double bed. Together. We usually sleep luxuriously together in a king size. It's bliss. I usually can turn my head and not smell his breath as he breathes. That isn't possible in a double bed. I had to cover my face with a pillow. Sigh.

The night before the race I didn't want to move because I didn't want to wake the boring runners. And then as I lie, wide awake at 3:30 in the morning, I remember I had turned the volume off of the iphone that Chris had set to wake them up. I lie there, with visions of one runner shooting up out of bed and it's 6:45am...too late to run the race. So, I woke Chris up. He had to turn the volume up. If I had gotten out of bed, I would have woken him up anyway asking him how to turn the volume back on. This way I didn't have to get out of bed. So, finally the alarm goes off at 5:15am. I had just fallen back to sleep, dreaming of late runners. Sigh.

After we woke, the on time runners took off, and I was alone. Until the clock read 7:25am. Chris had mentioned he would be passing by our motel around 7:30 or so. I had my camera ready to go. I'm standing outside, waiting for the elevator on the 7th floor, and I'm pretty sure I see the top of Chris' head pass by! Dang it! I try to take a picture of the head shot, but it won't work. I think maybe it's not his head. I hope it wasn't his head. Sigh.

Now it's about 8am, and I'm watching all the runners run by. I'm thinking that maybe Chris is a bit slower than he wanted to be. I'm looking down at my camera, trying to figure out why it won't take any pictures. And I'm sitting there, looking down, thinking of all the fun and loud things I'm going to shout as the runners I know personally, pass by. "Hey, can you hold this for me?", I hear. I look up and it's Suzanne. She passes me her power gel so she won't have to carry it as she runs. "Did you see Chris?", she asks. "Umm, no. I was hoping he hadn't passed by. I do think I saw his head though." "He definitely was ahead of me." she said. "Darn. I missed him." I said. And then she runs off into the herd and I think that if she hadn't had the extra package of gel, I would have missed her too. Sigh.

After the race, we come home. All the children greet us. Chris' parents were willing to watch them as we were gone. Me to Noah- "Did you like the book I got for you for Valentines?" "No, not at first I didn't. I really wanted a Bakugan and you didn't get me one. But then I did." he replied. "Lana, did you like the Junie B. Jones I got you for Valentines?" I asked. "Well, actually, I had one already. You already gave me that one." she said. Sigh.

The runners needed major naps, and the grandparents needed a major break, so I decided to take the kids to a movie. "Hey, let's get ready and I'll take you to a movie." I say. "No thanks, I prefer to stay home." replied Ceily. Eddie and Lana and Noah came with me. I made Eddie cry on the way there. He said I was being mean to him on his birthday. Sigh.

We came home. The camera is still not taking pictures. I hand it to Chris to see if he can figure out the problem. He did. (I had forgotten the memory card. Sigh.) Eddie got his presents. A bike and an air soft gun. Money. itunes gift card. And a package of practical jokes from Grandma. Fake blood. Fake poop. Fake throw-up.

We all went to dinner. Came home, had cake. Eddie got a fake bloody nose as he put the fake safty pin through it. He then got a fake bloody finger. We then tried to put all the kids to bed. It was a circus.

And then I'm in bed, finally, and I hear Eddie scream extremely loud, "NOAH JUST THREW UP ON ME!!!" I just stayed in bed. I wasn't going to fall for it. Remember? He had received fake throw-up as a gift. I completely ignored the screams. Until Noah came through my bedroom door, yelling, "I HAVE TO THROW UP! I COULDN'T HOLD IT!" He runs to the bathroom and finishes retching cake for real. Yes, he had really thrown-up. All over the bed. All over the extremely shaggy shag rug. All over his brother's bed. I do a load of laundry. Sigh.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines.
We Love You.
xoxox

daily art 60

HEART
by eddie

Happy Birthday Sierra!
Love you. xoxo

daily art 59

VALENTINE DRESS
by lana

love note from lana...

If I had $100, I would buy a kiss from Joe Jonas.
Because Joe Jonas is hot.

sing choir of angels...

...ceily made her bed today.

before school.

without being asked.
*love note to ceily*
{i love you ceily,
more, more, more
than you know,
and not just because you made your bed
i loved you way before
xoxo}

This was the first day without the training wheels. Things were going pretty well.
Excited anticipation. A bit nervous. But, reassured with Dad's hands.
The helmet is a bit big, but it serves its purpose: looking cool and slipping off.

I'm thinking we have a long way to go.

Last week...

...Ceily and Noah were STARS.

Noah was the "Terrific Kid"at school. He was recognized and given a certificate, a pat on the back, a picture and most important of all, a coupon for free ice cream. He's quite proud. Chris, Ceily and I traveled to school, very early in the morning, took lots of pictures, gave lots of hugs and kisses, and took more pictures.

Ceily was also recognized as a star student. Her homeroom teacher sent an email for all parents to arrive early so a seat could be had.

didn't get there early enough

We reminded Ceily of her A B Honor Roll ceremony and she immediately responded; "You're not coming are you?" We immediately responded back; "Of course we are. We'll be there front and center, with a big banner saying:

YOU ROCK CEILY!
WE LOVE YOU!
MOM AND DAD XOXO.
Just look for us. If you don't see us, we'll shout real loud so you can find us."

Chris made it to the school. He took some pictures and wondered why Ceily was being honored because she received a C this quarter. Ceily also wondered. As they called her name to walk on stage, she told her friends; "I got a C. I got a C in math. Why are they calling me up?"

But the best news of all...As I drove home with Ceily after picking her up from school, she asked nonchalantly of course, if we saw her today get her certificate. "I didn't see you, were you there?", she asked. I told her that yes, her father was there, he even took pictures.
And then I smiled because she does care.