Two Suits

Just when I thought I couldn't possibly be any more in love with a man in a suit.

I got two little men in suits.

(And a big one)

Stop it right now.

My fluttering heart can't possibly take anymore of this.

Since Jack has been strutting around in his suit,

Bradley decided that it looked pretty manly and cool.

Soooo...now we have two irresistibly charming young men at our house.

Back off ladies, these two are all mine for at least 10 - 15 more years.

First Day of School

Well, it's over. 

The busiest summer of my existence has come to an end.

Kind of bitter sweet.

I love, love, love having the kids home and being able to take a break from the regular routine,

but yet, I love having a routine so I welcome it when it returns.

To start the year off right I asked Jack to pack his lunch.

Independence is a good thing, I say.

But what does a 1st grader think he needs for lunch?

Nice.

I may have stepped in and helped a little.

With a couple of oh, I don't know, maybe a baggie or two.

And maybe swapped the would-be-petrified-by-lunchtime-tortilla

for a PB&J.

Throw in a few carrots (in a baggie??) and we'll call it a lunch.

Now just take out the creepy Addam's Family hand in the corner and it would be perfect.

Here's our guy headed off to 1st grade.

Unbelievable.

You see, my heart breaks just a little bit at the beginning of the school year.

My little people off growing up.

I get a little sentimental.

Until I drop off  "Mr. I've got this."

He reminds me that he's got the situation well under control.

He's ready to lead the way to his classroom and rule the school.

You go, dude.

Just put your bowl in the sink on the way out.

Brooklyn however, embraces my sentimentality (is that a word??)

She's excited for a new year, but is also a teeny bit nervous.

Unlike her brother, she wanted me very close by as she approached her new classroom.

The difference in their body language and expressions in the pictures above tell the whole story.

She will be just fine though - she's got a whole classroom full of friends

and by the look of that stack of books, lots to learn.

I'm positive that by the time I pick her up this afternoon 

she will be bouncing around excited about the upcoming school year.

Our biggest problem this morning happened on the way out.

Poor Bradley couldn't understand why he couldn't go to school with the kids.

If you look closely you can see a big alligator tear running down his cheek.

He starts preschool next week, but he was heartbroken that he wasn't staying at the school today.

If he had had any idea how sad I was feeling for him he could have asked for 

3 banana splits and a pony and I probably would have given it to him.

He settled for a trip to the library and a popsicle.

Here's to a wonderful school year!

Angry birds, Happy Jack

You know, 

sometimes I don't know where the time has gone.

It honestly feels like it was just yesterday 

that the nurse handed me the cutest little fluffy-haired boy.

He came early which brought pure joy to his

very uncomfortable mother.

I had no idea at that time what a breath of life had just joined our family.

But for all he put me through during those "toddler years,"

he has turned into quite a fine young fellow.

And I truly miss that boy when he is gone because he is so full of passion,

spunk, and excitement.

Not to mention he still has a smile that makes me swoon.

Will I ever get over that?

We celebrated in style this year.

Because let's face it.

This guy is worth celebrating!

Brooklyn and Bradley spent hours yesterday preparing some decorations.

And then I lost at least a year of my life staying up way too late decorating.

Because let's be honest,

out of all of my kids,

Jack isn't the one that's gonna let me slide.

Momma's got to bring her game.

Thankfully, we've kept the expectations low.

Streamers.  

"Special" cake.

As long as I've got those, I'm golden.

So after MUCH deliberation,

he decided that he wanted an 

ANGRY BIRDS cake.

Maybe a little weird for a guy who's only played this game a handful of times,

but hey, when the boy decides,

this Mother makes it happen.

Thankfully, he's forgiving when it comes to that "special" cake.

I am clearly an amateur.

We celebrated all day long for this boy.

The guy who is sure that he grew several inches last night...

Should I break it to him that he's probably the size of a boy who just turned 5 rather than 6?

Nah.

There's enough character in there to compensate for that small body.

We sure love this guy.

Being a Mother is an interesting adventure where you often wonder

"Where did this kid come from?!"

That's our Jack.

The guy who has strengths where I am weak,

and who constantly challenges my mothering skills 

by having a brain that is wired completely differently from my own.

But man is he fun to have around.

So, I guess we'll keep him.

STATS

Height:  42 inches
(3rd percentile)

Weight:  43 lbs
(32nd percentile)

Greetings from Visalia

Whew - what a month.

Basically, moving is e.x.h.a.u.s.t.i.n.g!

And sometimes (in retrospect) funny.

I mean, I suppose now that it is over,

having baby cockroaches crawl out of my oven when I turned it on was pretty hilarious.

Oh wait, no it actually wasn't.

Pretty much, it was just gross and creepy.

I was going to put a picture on here to give the full effect,

but they all made me squirm,

so you'll just have to imagine those little antennas...

BUT, the bank did have to buy me a new one because of it, so all is well.

And I am certainly not bitter. 

(Even though we only had a microwave to cook with for a month....but I'm not bitter, remember?)

Besides that, I'm spending lots of time painting the house.

Which it seems I shouldn't do.

Why?

Oy.

That would be my laundry room floor.

And in all honesty, I can't even blame that on anyone but myself - and maybe my ladder.

But for the record, cleaning paint out from under a washer and dryer

 is about as much fun as jabbing a pencil in your eye. 

What is fun though, is turning yourself into a human paintbrush.

Really, what are the chances that he could be running, trip,

 and just happen to fall right into my 5 gallon bucket of paint?

For the love, child.

Really though, I think I might blow this one up because it seriously makes me laugh.

This picture really is worth a thousand words. 

Or at least makes you wonder a few things.

Like why do neither of these boys have pants on?!

I'm still wondering about that one...

And where is their mother?

I was painting, of course -

and taking pictures of my paint-up-to-his-shoulder-pants-less-boy.

And his very guilty looking brother...

All Dave said when he saw both of these pictures is,

"I told you not to paint when the kids are around."

He may have a point.

Jog-A-Thon

I know it's the beginning of the school year -

because the school is holding a bazillion fund raisers.

And now that I have two kids in school...

Dave may have to get a second job.

But, for my small donation, I was thoroughly entertained today.

The annual Jog-A-Thon basically consists of 60 kids (by grade level)

running around barriers in a field. 

They have to run for an allotted amount of time

and each time they pass "GO,"  they collect a Popsicle stick from their teacher.

At the end they count up the sticks and the parents fork out the cash

based on the number of laps the child completes.

Sounds simple enough, right?

You know, like simply non-competitive?

Well, uh, someone forgot to inform Jack.

Was that supposed to be my job?

Here's a recap in pictures.

Jack walks out of his classroom beaming. 

He's seriously bouncing around like a little jumping bean. 

Then just before the race, he flashes me a wink. 

You know, the wink that secretly communicates,

"I've got this race in the bag!"

They line up at the finish line and say "Go!"

And, as I predicted, my slightly competitive son darts out in front of the pack.

This is around the first bend.

As I was watching him I thought to myself,

"Self:  you probably couldn't keep up that pace for 10 minutes."

Maybe I should work on that...

After the race he came strutting over to me saying what else but,

"Mom, I won!" 

"I was the fastest kid!" 

"And I got 9 Popsicle sticks!"

"And nobody got 10!"

And believe it or not, he's been repeating those phrases all day.

I was very proud of him for his hard work, and it was so fun to watch him,

but I'm trying to figure out how to tame that ego.

Even though I am sure the teachers love him bragging about his sweet skills.

You know, the sweet skills that he obviously got from his mother.

Speaking of his mother, here's a strangely crooked shot of his sister running in her own Jog-A-Thon.

She's being all sweet and lovely and non-competitive.

Just like her mother.

First Day of School

I must be getting old. 

Look at these grown up kids!

I can't possibly be old enough to have a second grader!

I had to show a picture of her entire outfit

because she definitely put some time into planning it.

Yesterday at church, her and her friend Mia plotted matching outfits and matching hair.

This is of supreme importance, you know.

One must always match their best friend on the first day of school.

And this adorable little fellow is a new Kindergartner.

I didn't show you his entire outfit because that was a matter of some debate this morning.

Good grief.

The night before I told him to pick out some clothes.

He didn't want to so he told me to do it.

So I did.

Well, when it came time to get dressed this morning, 

he didn't want to wear the "grown up shirt."

The kids might laugh at him!

So he howled and moaned in his Superman underwear all morning until
finally he accepted the consequences of his previous choice

and put on that handsome devil shirt.

Of course, that might be the last time he ever wears it because

you better believe that he picked out his own clothes for tomorrow!

Saturday Chores

Being the responsible mother that I am, I repeatedly beat my head against the wall,

uh, I mean,
lovingly teach my children responsibility
by nurturing them through a list of Saturday chores.

Unfortunately, by requiring them to do their chores, I really can't get all of mine done.

I now completely understand why you hear parents say
that it is easier to do something yourself

than it is to make sure the kids do it.

Last Saturday I assigned Jack the job of cleaning the sliding glass door.

At our house, this is the ever coveted job.

There have been many tears shed over not being "the door cleaning chosen one."

But as I watched,

besides seeing large amounts of Windex sprayed,

I realized that I should no longer wonder why that door never looks clean.

Or why there always seems to be a smudge the size of a human head

complete with a nose and mouth.

(Bradley's face kills me)

And I definitely will stop wondering

WHAT TAKES SO LONG??!!

Do you think there are any super cleaning powers that come with that cape?

Oh, and don't mind the naked baby...Saturday is a special day.

Summer Check-in

Well hello everyone.

I have completely checked out of the blogosphere for the last month.

I've been doing a little house shopping.

Oy.

It started out fun,

but considering I have to drive 50 minutes away every time I want to see a house,

and I've been looking for a month now,

I'm ready to just find one.

Well, not just one - I want the right one.

And for the right price.

Too much to ask?

ANYWAY, besides going crazy trying to find a house,

we've been having a great summer.

I just realized though, that I haven't taken many pictures.

Shame on me.

I do have a couple of goodies though

Here's my baby-cakes showing off her locks.

(She gets those from her mother)

Awesomeness.

The boys have spent hours in the dirt.

Seriously, how can boys be so dirty and gross -

ALL THE TIME?

I feel like I don't even want to put them in my bathtub

because my bathtub may never recover.

And then there's Brooklyn.

Ahhhh Brooklyn.

Now that she's kind of growing up, (sniff)

I'm feeling like I'm peeling back the next layer of parenting.

She's so fun and quirky and talkative.

I don't think her brain or her mouth ever take a break.

No really.

She doesn't stop.

Like ever.

On that note, wish me luck on my 14 hour road trip this weekend.

Dave asked me not to forget to pack the earplugs.

Jack-A-Roni-Balogney

I seriously have to wonder where time goes.

Some days can be so long, but yet time can fly by at the same time. 

Can anyone explain how that works?

Or does anyone else (with kids) ever look around and say,

"How can I possibly have kids this old?"

Seriously people - how does this happen?

Well the most recent display of this madness is that my charming/fireball boy just turned 5.

 Five?!

Unbelievable.

But, we had lots of fun celebrating such a dynamic part of our family.

This boy can really pack a punch.

I'm not kidding you that at one moment he's digging in his heels refusing to do what I ask him to,

and the next he is making me feel like I'm his favorite person ever.

Jack had to wait until dinnertime to really start celebrating because he was waiting for his grandparents.

To my amazement - he was very patient and just enjoyed the fact that his birthday had FINALLY come.

That had been one long countdown.

But when the grandparents showed up, the party began

complete with a Lightning McQueen pinata (a G & G Bowen tradition)

and a sweet dinosaur cake.
I had a lot of fun making this cake because it was so easy and absolutely thrilled the boy.

Although there was a problem.

We bought the dinosaurs about 2 weeks before his birthday and told him he couldn't open them because they were for his cake.

Then the day before (the day before!) his birthday

Bradley makes that package of dinosaurs disappear.

That stinker.

So, we ended up having to buy the extra $20 box of dinosaurs just for the cake.

(Do you know how hard it is to find dinosaurs?)

I may or may not have been bitter.

And of course, those dirty rotten dinosaurs showed up the very next day. 

Bradley had stuffed them into one of the cupboards in the desk.

Dah!  I thought I had looked EVERYWHERE!

Well, even if I do now have a surplus of dinosaurs at my house,

I loved celebrating my sweet boy!

Lying

I've got a little problem at my house.

Actually, make that two.

Problem A: Lying

Problem B: "bathroom laziness"

Combine those two?

Oy.

I do have to give Jack a little credit though - he is very entertaining with his cleverly fabricated stories.

I mean I've heard all the little ones like,

"No Mom, I didn't push Bradley - he just ran into the wall himself."

Or, "Uh, yes Mother, of course I put my laundry in the drawer."

But today he really thought up a goody.

He came in from the backyard with wet pants (again...sigh).

Before I even noticed he said,

"Mom, um, today at school (3 hours earlier) the teachers turned on the water and my pants got wet."

[Insert lifted eyebrow from Mother (me).]

"And Mom, their water smells like pee."

What's a mother to say to that?

Gosh he's funny.

So what do you mothers do to turn the tides on those little white lies?

Spring Break, Part 2

Because the grandparents love us (and spoil us)
they treated us all to a day at the happiest place on Earth.

I knew about this trip for several months before
and I have to tell you that it was giving me anxiety.

Remember all those stories about Bradley getting lost?

In my mind I was calculating what Bradley plus Disneyland might produce.

And seriously, it gave me a fright.

BUT, I am proud to announce that he did awesome.

He didn't wander, he didn't hide and most importantly, we didn't lose him.

That's right - go ahead and give me a few 'Super Mom' points for that one.

The kids did great and we had a blast!

Stopping for lunch

Tinkerbell's line was like 3,000 times shorter than the princess'.

The only D-land celebs that really matter at our house. 
I know they aren't smiling,
but I want all of you to give proper appreciation for this picture. 
You have no idea what it took to get them to look at me. 
All the 'other' kids would walk up there and happily pose for a picture. 
The Bowen kids however, walked in there and had to look in Mater's mouth,
look for door handles,  try to climb on the hood ,
circle each cars entire perimeter and then give McQueen a loving squeeze. 
This is true love, my friends. 
I think those 2 minutes with McQueen made Bradley's entire life.

My sweet, sweet Babe.  She did not want to miss a thing.  
But she did just tell me that "It's a Small World" was her favorite.

Bradley enjoyed himself, but he wasn't too sure of the rides. 

I think he preferred to people watch and look for pre-chewed wads of gum. 

I asked him what his favorite ride was, but he couldn't tell me.

He did however, tell me what his least favorite was:

 Yes, for some reason the Carousel absolutely terrified him.

We tried to sit him on one of those evil horses which made him kick and scream in fear.

Weird.

But really, look at the closest horse in the picture.

It is a little creepy.

Hark!  Is that a smile?

I'm pretty sure he only smiled because he was trying to swoon me

into buying him that Woody Hat.

Nice try, partner.

Can you see my phone number "tattooed" on his right arm?

You gotta do what ya gotta do.

This trip was a new experience for Jack.  He has finally grown enough to ride the 40" rides.

Some of which can be a bit scary.

Have you been to Disneyland?

They have a ride called "Tower of Terror."

Basically they take you up 13 stories in an elevator

and then let you free-fall to the bottom.

Jack decided that he wanted to ride.

Suit yourself.

So the rest of the fam took him up while I sat with the little ones.

I was prepared with my camera because I was sure

he would be bawling when he came out.

But I was wrong.

They all came out busting up with laughter.

Apparently Jack was quite a scene on that ride.

His knuckles were white and his eyes were as big as baseballs.

Can you see him?

That teeny weeny fellow in the back.

This is a picture of a picture so the quality isn't great, but priceless none the less.

Such a concerned look on that little face.

Seriously though, does he look like he's big enough to be on that ride?

I held a small interview with him when he got off and he said he would like to go on the ride again.

Although as he walked away I noticed that his pants were wet.

I think that ride may have been a little too scary.

What an unpleasant surprise for the person who got the seat after him!

Brooklyn sporting 3D glasses for the Toy Story ride.

Brooklyn is the perfect age for Disneyland. 

She can ride everything (except to her dismay,  the BIG roller coaster)

and she loves it ALL.

The Fam

Um, are those really all our kids.

We look awesome with kids hanging everywhere.

Like it's all we can do to hang on to all of them...

Three cheers for a successful trip to Disneyland

and a HUGE thanks to Grammy & Gramps for taking us

and for helping us corral our small army.

Rotten Mouth

You know, I grew up spending a lot of time in the dentist chair.

Not my favorite place to be.

And the most frustrating part is that no matter how much I brushed and flossed,

I ended up back in the chair with a drill in my face.  

Well, I have now decided that there is something worse than being drilled on by a dentist:

being the one who actually has to pay for all that drilling. 

And knowing your genes are to blame.

Sure enough, those deep groove/pathetic enamel genes have been passed to the next generation.

Thereby costing me a small fortune.

And he's not even five!

I'm telling you that I have given fluoride,

brushed and flossed the teeth in that mouth like my life depended on it.

And for what?

1 (more) crown and 2 (more) cavities.

Sigh.

Dave is definitely in the wrong field.

Disclaimer:  If you are reading this and you are a dentist, or married to a dentist - I harbor no hard feelings.  :)

So let's still be friends (and relatives), OK Andrea?

Spring has Sprung

Just 2 posts ago I showed a picture of the boys playing in the pile of "snow."

Well, I am happy to announce that Mother Nature has shaped up

and given us the weather I've been waiting for!

Hello sunshine and warm weather!

These two spent a fair part of Saturday splashing around in that freezing cold water.

They were loving it.

I know it's going to be blazing hot, but I can't wait for summer.

I've been doin' a little dance every day

that I wake up to see the sun shining through the windows.

And Jack did a little dance when I told him that he could start wearing shorts to school.

Given the option, he will always choose shorts with cowboy boots.

Dashing.

Snow

This is for all of my cold weather relatives.

You know, the ones who think I've gone soft.
(Which may or may not be true...)

The other day we were walking to school and stumbled upon a small pile of snow.

I honestly don't know where it came from, but there it was.

I said to the kids, "Look at that guys!"

They walked over to inspect it and Jack gives me his raised eyebrow look and says,

"Mom, what is that?!"

Oh come on, Jack! 
We can't show our faces to the relatives if you can't even recognize a small pile of snow.

Good grief.

Since then though, he has wanted nothing more than to spend some time in real snow.

But since his lame sauce parents haven't taken him to the mountains,

Mother Nature granted his wish...kind of.

Would you look at that?!

Real live "snow" in my very own backyard.

Actually, it's just a little pile of hail that gushed out of the gutter,

but you've got to take what you can get, right?

The boys had a great time touching it and driving their trucks through it

Well, for a minute or two until it melted.

But at least now he will recognize it, right?

A Kid: Week 8

You've missed me, right?

I took a jaunt to Idaho.

Brrr.

Met my new brother in law.

Nice.

Remembered why I love flying.

Blah.

Caught a cold.

Yuck.

Spent 2 days with a stuffy head.

Booo!

But, I am on the mend, so I am getting reacquainted with the blog.

Hello Blog.

It's been too long.

Here's my kid picture for the week.

Jack's classy outfit got some serious attention at Target.

Uh-huh, he was turning some heads with his matchless sense of style.

(Which he gets from me, of course.)

But he's a trend-setting kind of guy.

So you might all want to buy your boots, shorts, jackets, and hats soon.

Anybody who's anybody can rock them together.

And have no shame struttin' their stuff with the people.

Multi-tasking

I'm not gonna lie.

It sometimes takes an act of Congress to get Jack to do me a favor.

But when he does, he is able to do it while simultaneously

taking care of his own business.

Pretty impressive, I'd say.

That'll be $8.25, Mam.

I'm thinking that Jack and the public library don't mix.

A visit about 2 years ago resulted in me (8 months pregnant)

running across the library with Jack in my arms bleeding and crying.

He ended up with 2 stitches in his forehead. 

I told him at least 3,000 times not to run in the library...

After that, most attempts at library storytime left me frustrated

watching the other kids listen and sing,

while Jack insisted on figuring out how the miniature computer worked.

Most recently though I bravely took all 4 monsters to collect a few new bedtime stories.

(You can only read the same books so many times, you know)

My 10 minute experience sounded something like this,

"Bradley get back here." 

"Yes Brooklyn, you can get that book." 

"Bradley get down." 

"Do you want this one Jack?" 

"Where's Bradley?" 

"Quiet down, guys." 

"Don't touch that Bradley." 

"That one is way too long." 

"No running Bradley." 

"You can each pick 1 more."

"Bradley?"

"Whew - let's get out of here."

It felt kinda like an 8 mile run.

Not that I would know.

Anyway, I left that place with some pretty exciting reading material.

Like, "Citrus Growing in California"

I was pretty excited about the idea of Dave reading that book.

But Jack apparently felt differently.

Look at that frown.

Obviously Jack has no love for agricultural publications.

Ya, well, I have no love for paying for library materials

that have been defaced by my children.

A Kid: Week 4

Dynamic Duo

I relish this picture.

But honestly I think the reason I do is because I want to savor it.

Very vividly in my mind's eye, instead of seeing innocent little boys 

running around in Superman capes,

I can see teenage boys jumping off the roof onto the trampoline,

hitting golf balls through the window,

or shaving the cat.

Sigh.

Gotta love those boys.

A Kid: Week 3

Boy Feet

What is it with boys?

Seriously, they can be so grody.

Remember that song?

Little Boys are made of...

greasy grimy gopher guts,

mutilated monkey meat,

dirty, turdy birdy feet.

By the looks of things, that's not far off.

There's probably some of each of those things right on those very feet.

How about we take a swipe from that foot and see what grows in a petri dish?

My hypothesis is that it will be something 

that will likely get up and walk right out of that dish in a day or two.

Live and active cultures, you know.

Kind of like what is in your yogurt.

Mmmmm...

For the record, these are Jack's real live feet.

The Prayer

We had the missionaries over for dinner a couple of weeks ago.

And I am afraid to report that apparently the missionaries need to spend a few extra days at the MTC.

They're missing a few key skills.

We were sitting down to dinner and Dave asked one of the Elders to pray.

He accepted and waited until the kids were reverent.

Well apparently he waited a little too long because Jack opened one eye

gave the Elder a nudge and said,

"It starts, Dear Heavenly Father."

I guess he'll make one good missionary!

(I hope I'll be forgiven for my muffling my laughter through that entire prayer)