Luke's Birthday

Okay I am only a month late in posting about this, but better late than never I suppose.

Birthdays around here are very important. At least Lucas' birthday is. He starts planning the whole affair about 8 months before the blessed event. And this year it has always been about Legos. He is one kid with very big ideas and gradniose plans but luckily one who also listens to reason about how we cannot afford to buy every kid attending his own Star Wars lego ship or have a Lego robotics competition. He scaled down his plans JUST a bit.
If we had the party at our house I told him he could invite 2 kids. :) So we decided on the church gym and we got 2 hours of twelve crazy 10 year old boys with enough room to run around and be twelve crazy 10 year old boys. I had this GREAT idea of getting some black lights and playing games in the dark light, like dodge ball with Aaron white, rolled up socks and stomping on white balloons tied to everyone's ankle. But my black lights weren't strong enough (Dang, that Target!) So we played football, regular dodge ball and freeze tag. And the hit of the day were these foot long glow-stick swords I found at the dollar sword. Each kid got one, we turned off all the lights and they played light sabors for 45 minutes. Gotta love it when a plan comes together. Ot at least part of you plan.

Has anyone used fondant before? I promised Luke a Lego cake and found pictures of some on the internet and the cutest ones used fondant. So, I said what the heck. I'll try something I've never done before. Turned out just okay (it looked better at home with softer lighting. Okay, a lot darker lighting) but did look like a lego, tasted good and Lucas liked it, so I call it a success.

I didn't get any pictures of the games (no idea why), but fun was had by all!

Ion Crushers

Basketball season is officially over and like another mother of the team I say, "This is the first time I am actually sad a sport is over." Aaron decided to coach Lucas' team this year and did a fabulous job. Almost all the boys were friends, neighbors and kids from the ward so we had a great group. But also most of the kids had never played on a basketball team before so the season started out a little rough with the Crushers getting thoroughly crushed. But by the end of the season it was like they were a different team and were beating the teams they lost to at the start and came together as really a great group. I'm sure largely due to the great (and cute) coach. :)

Jeff, the father of Luke's best friend and a good friend of ours, was a fabulous assistant coach.



I was amazed at how well Lucas did and how last week he even swished two free throws!

I have realized something about myself. I am actually quite a "yeller" when it comes to my son's games. And I have never been a "yeller." E-ver. I hardly laugh out loud at the movies, let alone shout at any sports events. But I guess when it comes to Lucas, I just let it fly. Feels good.

Jonah had a frustrating time not being able to play too so we spent most of the games out in the hallway watching from the window. If he can just be patient for a few more years...


THE ION CRUSHERS!



Our cute...I mean, intimidating and menacing Crusher.

A few highlights from the week

I wonder how many memories our children will really have? Will they truly remember the moment? Or will they just remember seeing a video of it? I have quite a few videos of when I was a drama-filled child, narrating commercials, giving tours of our kitchen cabinets and giving a lengthy synopsis of my then-current dreams such as "discovering Jupiter or something." How much do I remember about myself then or do I remember it because there is a record? Either way, that record now lets me see how much the 10 year me looks and acts like the 10 year old Lucas. I love that we have such a wonderful record that can help our boys make a connection to their mother. Not so different from their craziness. In this digital age, we have a wonderful record of our kid's lives and that they, and their kids, can relive the joys (mostly) we feel right now during the throws of childhood. I guess that's a reason I started to blog. 1. Share pics with the grandparents. 2. What a great family history!


Cotton has decided Jonah has now graduated to regular play. The dog would never tug-of-war with him before, but now both of them LOVE playing! This is just one time out of 20 that have happened this week.




Jonah has finally taken his first steps!! Yea! And oh-no. We thought he was a terror crawling and getting into everything, now this just raises his accessibility another foot or so. He's already getting into the garbage, pulling things off the tables and flinging himself head first into the bathtub.




We label this the"Diabolical Laugh." Mwa-ah!

Jonah may not know what he is saying but he sure understands when he's being asked a question .

These are all of Jonah this week. I'll be posting some with Lucas (to be fair :) and you can all be serenaded with "Star Wars" themes on the piano and silly jokes that are only funny to the 10 year old boy that made them up.

One of those days...

I had a "down" day last week.

We had just gotten back from a wonderful weekend with friends and family and now here it was a rainy Monday, surrounded by piles of dirty laundry, nursing a hangover from too little sleep and too much sugar, soothing a grumpy baby with a cold and entertaining crabby 10 year old who had his first sleep over and had still not recovered.

I wanted to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over tight.

It was a day I could just not find the energy to pick up all the tupperware and books and toilet paper Jonah had scattered everywhere yet again.

It became one of those pajama days.

Not a whole lot of laundry was done and not even one dish was washed but it became a day where we hung out together. We all read books, watched movies and talked.

That night after Jonah was asleep and Aaron was reading to Lucas, I sat down to read a few blogs. I came across this quote that just reminded me why I do what I do each day.

“A house does not have to be perfect to be a home of joy, a child does not have to behave perfectly to love and be loved, and every moment of life does not have to be perfect to be of value. Too often, I realize, we fail to see the glorious reality of the simple joy that abounds in the seemingly mundane routine of day-to-day living. Instead, we tend to idolize the past, idealize the future, and devalue the present…. What better way to show our appreciation to Heavenly Father for what we have than to embrace our lives, albeit “ordinary” and “unexciting,” with joy?”

Winnie Dalley from the March 1998 Ensign entitled “Seize the Joy.”

Anyway, it made me feel better and made me smile.

But if inspirational words aren't your thing, perusing this website helps me as well.

You gotta love the internet

Where else would I get this last minute idea to make a hot dog cake with fries (made out of twinkies, pound cake and colored frosting) for Lucas' cubscout pack meeting?

Gross looking? Yes.
Perfect for cubscouts? You better believe it!

2nd Attempt

Well, here's my second try at the word-art thingy for some of best friends who used to live here. I LOVE the color and the words. I used Seattle landmarks, places our friends lived and inside jokes. But as before, I learned new things I will do differently. I found out I like latex paint more than acrylic. The texture is better. And I will use colored plastic for the lettering instead if clear because it will be infinitely easier to see and I can space the words better and not wait until it's already painted to see how it will actually turn out. I would have changed a few font sizes around on this one. Yes, I know. I give my friends and family my prototypes as I figure this out. By the time I get to making my own, I'll have the process perfected. :)

"Hey Lucas! It's your birthday!"

Aaron called me yesterday right at 10:35am to remind me that we've been parents for exactly a decade. How could it be so long? How could our baby now be closer to leaving for a mission than the day he was born? I remember my mother saying on her 40th birthday that she doesn't feel that old, she doesn't feel any different than she did when she was 25. I didn't get it back then as a teenager, but boy I am living it now. Aren't only old people supposed to have 10 year olds? Life moves fast. Hopefully we grow with our children, maturing and learning right along with them. I'm just thankful for the years I have left with this sweet and creative boy who will still crawl into my lap to cuddle. (Don't tell him I told you. :)

Lucas is kind and thoughtful and amazingly creative, passionate (that's a nice way to put it right?) and sensitive. He cares about others and is aware of how they might feel. He's a thinker, always coming up with new ideas and new characters for a book. He loves "cow" (as in steak), basketball and his dad. Lucas is a fun big brother and makes us all smile everyday.

The first week we moved to Seattle. Lucas was one and a half.

Amanda and Geoff's wedding in his "spy suit."
First day of kindergarten.
Man-time Mariners game.
Family portrait.
Our power ranger.
<>Happy 10th birthday, son! We couldn't imagine life without you and your wonderful self. We love you, kiddo! Infinity plus 2!

Random Lucas comments

On the morning of President's Day, Lucas came into our room and asked: Is Fred Meyer going to be open today?

Me: Yes, as far as I know.
Lucas: Oh. Well, I was watching the news and it said that a few of the markets would be closed today.
:)
----------
Later that day we decided to go to Greenlake and enjoy the rare sunshine we had. On the way Lucas says, "You know... the sun's out, it's beautiful...it kind feels like a Krispy Kreme day, don't you think...I'm just saying...you know." So subtle and unassuming. :)

I have to admit I agreed with him. On our way back we stopped by and he got a chocolate glazed with sprinkles and I got a pop. That's Chicago for "soda." (I love carbonation. I crave it. I don't have it every day but I would if studies didn't say it rots your teeth and eats rust off nails. If you believe market research studies:)

-------------
Last week we had some troubles with Lucas' Saturday chores. Basically he didn't want to do them and because of his oh-so-fun behavior he got put into his room for a time out. Well, because he was super upset for being in time out he decided to make another oh-so-smart move. I wasn't going to share it, but what the heck. He climbed out his window and was going to "take a walk." He got as far as the front yard and came right back to the front door and rang the door bell. He felt terrible and knew he was in trouble. We "talked" and since he had never done anything like this before, I wasn't sure what to do. (Aaron wasn't home.) He looked at me and said, "I think I will feel better if I am grounded from the Wii for a week." So we did. We never had to remind him and he never complained. Man, if discipline could always be this easy, teenager-hood would be a snap!