We're alive...

We'll see if I can be better at this in 2012 than I was last year. Photo taken on 12.30.11 in Mesa, AZ, and Zach got all of his hair chopped off a week later. Happy new year everyone!!

Its here...

That's right. Ski season is here. If you're willing to work for it. Ryan went backcountry skiing today in the La Platas and was so excited to have his first ski day fall in October this year.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Preschool rules.

Sam had his first day of preschool today and we've been getting him ready by telling him that he has to keep his potty-mouth in check. When Zach was four, I was mortified by the children who said things like Sam says. Now I realize that they probably had three older brothers teaching them things to say that sound a little bit comical coming out of a four year old's mouth.

This morning, I drove Taylor and Clay to school and Ryan stayed home with Sam and got him breakfast. While he was eating, Ryan discussed how Sam needs to go to school and use good words. He said, "You can't use bad words at school, Sam." About five minutes later, Sam said something about a poopy diaperhead. Ryan said, "Remember, we just talked about not using naughty words." And Sam's rebuttal was, "You said at school, Dad."

I picked Sam up from preschool and on the way home he was telling me about how they made a list of Preschool Safety Rules. He told me that he raised his hand and when he was called on, said, "Don't mock your brothers while you're pushing them." I laughed and he said, "Mom, Miss Melanie didn't think it was funny." Poor Miss Melanie and poor Sam. I see a long year in the time out chair ahead.

This one...

... used to tell me I was his best friend. Now he tells me he wants to go live with Grandma and Grandpa.

... used to say "I love you". Now he says, "I don't love you"

... used to use markers to make me pictures. Now he uses them for body art and coloring his brother's dresser.

... used to want to hang out at home. Now he constantly asks for play dates at his friends' homes.

... is in some kind of phase, still funny and sometimes sweet, but maybe he just hit his teenage attitude eight years too soon.

The wait is over!

Zach and I have been looking forward to this...

I didn't get it at midnight like Zach and I used to with the Harry Potter books, but I was at the bookstore on day one. Hope it's as good as I want it to be.

Back to School!

From the exclamation point in the title, you might think I'm excited to have my kids back in school today, right? Well, kind of, yes.

We had a great summer together. The boys went to lots of camps, spent time apart while one or another was at grandma's house, we went on our big adventure that we do every summer to Oregon. I loved having my boys around. Then over the past week I started to feel a little bit differently. They started bickering - a lot. And it all came to a head last night when Sam threw a Wii remote because he and Taylor were having a difference of opinion about what to watch. The remote hit the TV, and I lost it.

It also didn't help that they looked like this for most of the summer. For whatever reason, grooming habits go right out the window when they think that no one's looking, but I still had to look...

Everyone got a fresh haircut on Friday, and today I made them line up outside for the conciliatory first day of school picture. Nevermind that I forgot to make them lunches on the first day of school, I have the picture. Sam still has a couple of weeks before preschool starts, but he wasn't going to miss out. He couldn't look at the camera, though, because there was an audience waiting at the end of the driveway.

Clay's buddies all arrived just as I lined up the boys outside. Of course they were all hooting and hollering throughout the process of getting one decent picture (there wasn't ONE decent picture) and so I took revenge as they scurried like rats away from me as I turned the camera on them.

Clay's going into sixth grade which is middle school here. He's super excited to go, just like Zach was when he went into middle school. Zach's going into eighth grade and dreading it, but secretly just a little happy because it's the last year of middle school.

I'm not too nerdy yet for Taylor, going into second grade. He let me walk him to school and into his classroom. He let me help him put away his school supplies in his desk. He even let me give him a hug before I left. Sweetest kid ever!

Hoping for a fantastic 2010-11 school year!

Friday the thirteenth.

Let's just start with a sigh, and I better remind myself that there are still hours and hours of this day to go.

Signs of a bad Friday the 13th for me include all of the following. All of which actually happened.

* My car started sluggishly today and I immediately noticed all of my radio presets had gone away, so I knew there was a battery problem. I had a church activity to get to, however, and I just drove it and decided that if I had to walk home, it wouldn't be the end of the world. And it started again when it was time to go, not as easily as usual, but it got me home.

* I had to go to the grocery store. It's desperate when I run out of milk, and Albertson's had cereal on sale, so I went farther from home than normal to shop. Ryan advised me to drive his Land Cruiser instead of my car, and told me where I could find the spare key. He didn't want me to get stranded.

* I got stranded. When I got back in the car, with Sam and Taylor, a bag full of frozen things and two gallons of milk, plus a whole lot more, the key wouldn't go into the ignition all the way. I tried for fifteen minutes, over and over, and it wouldn't go in. Of course I called Ryan to find out if there was a trick and he said, "Try and turn the key over." Sheesh, like I hadn't already tried that. I called everyone I knew (that wouldn't be horribly inconvenienced) to see if someone could get me home. I would have walked, but it was two miles that would have felt like twelve with Sam, Taylor, two gallons of milk and the bag full of frozen items. Finally, Taylor said, "I see Lauren's mom! Ask her." Lauren's a girl who was in his class at school last year, and she lives in the same general vicinity, but I don't know Lauren's mom very well, so it was a little mortifying, but I asked. She wasn't headed home, but she said, "I hope someone would do the same for me if I was stuck." So we made it home.

* I opened the garage door to get my stuff in the freezer, and Taylor was walking through with one of the gallons of milk when he dropped it, the lid burst off and milk flew all over the garage. I immediately imagined the stench of rotting milk in the heat and got the hose and a mop. I decided I needed to capture a picture of the carnage in order to make myself smile instead of bursting into tears, so I ran in to grab the camera while Taylor was mopping. The camera was gone.

* Half an hour later I got Ryan on the phone after searching my house to find my camera for that long only to find out he had taken it with him to the hospital today. Relieved to say the least!

* I got back into my own slow-to-start car and went to Clay's class at the children's museum where they were showing what they'd learned this week in his "Let's get cellular" class. He tried to isolate DNA from my cheeks and show it to me, but it didn't work. I cursed him, too. While I was there, I realized that I'd forgotten to change my milk-splashed clothes before I ran out again, and the stench of rancidness was now stuck to me. Then Taylor, Sam and I headed out again to make sure Taylor got to piano lessons on time.

* We were stood up. No piano lessons today.

I am sorry there is no picture to accompany my whining. By the way, it was a bad hair day to boot. Hope yours has been better than mine!