Shadow Dancing...



Easter 2012

 My handsome little men!

 Logan, left. Austin, right.

 Mommy and Austin

Mommy and Logan

Mason and Lory 

Evan

 Easter egg hunt!

 Look at that egg WAY up there!

Austin, will you help me get it?

Teamwork!! 

 Daddy and the boys!

It was beautiful weather!  Evan was home (and Amanda, but she somehow escaped my camera..boo!).  Nonnie hosted us two days in a row.  It was a fantastic weekend (aside from Mommy being sick for 3.5 days). 

The boys wrote the Easter bunny the ight before and asked for some pretty major items.  We tried explaining that the Easter bunny doesn't quite work like Santa.  ;-) However, they were quite disappointed the next morning - not ungrateful, just disappointed.  They each asked a few times if we were the ones that go out and buy the stuff.  And I tried to avoid flat out lying, but I do really want them to keep that magical hope alive.  I feel like they've only just kinda "grasped" the whole concept and I do want to give them a few more magical moments before it's all shattered by some 5th grader on the bus! 

 ;-)

Up to it, Again!

Either I'm getting older or maybe it's more "tireder" -

Austin is still up to his old tricks, but I seem to be finding less humor in them!

;-)

I have documented some rather good ones and have enough for a post.

So, enjoy!

~~~

Said randomly one day, in the middle of doing nothing,

Austin: "Mom, when you die, can I have your Ipad? Oh, wait - or are you gonna have it with you, probably on your belly?  Well - if you don't take it, can I have it?  I know, don't tell me - first Mason gets it, then Evan, then Logan and then me.  Right?" 

(We have never talked about "leaving things" and I have no idea how he grasps the whole concept.  And I never got a word in, I just thought the whole thing was rather funny!)

~~~

Numbers! Numbers!  Austin memorizes all sorts of numbers - he knew his home phone number in no time.  He was all excited because he got a five digit lunch number at school.  Both boys love to tell me their bus number, their room number, etc. 

I did get a little concerned one day, however; when he started telling me EVERYONE else's lunch numbers!  I made him double pinky promise that he would never-ever try to use any of his friends' numbers at the lunch counter! 

~~~~

Party time!

Austin came home from school one Friday talking about how he was going to have a party.

Told me who he was inviting, etc.

He bugged me about all night.

I tried to explain to him that these things had to be organized.

He responded that he HAD organized it!

Later that weekend, I checked messages,

(Even though we have a home phone, I never answer it and rarely check messages!)

There was a message left on Friday from a rather distraught mother.

Her child was insisting there was a party at Austin's that night that he had been invited to.

The kid had (been forced to) memorize our home phone number.

The child was so insistent that the mother thought she had missed something and her child just would not be consoled, so she embarrassingly called the number hoping to get clarity on the situation.

(After I stopped laughing,) I had a discussion with Austin about organizing parties and forcing kids to memorize his phone number.

Any else seeing some FUN teenage years in our future??

~~~

New lingo.

Austin now tells us he has a "Safety Tattle!" 

Apparently if someone (him) is in danger - you are allowed to do a Safety Tattle.

~~~~

And lastly, I would like to document/record some of my recent Facebook status updates:

As a mother, I try to never miss a teaching opportunity! Austin, "Mom, you look Japanese." Huh? "With that thing on your head.".Me: "Austin, the culture you are referring to is 'Indian' and that thing on my head is a zit, not a traditional bindi worn as a Hindu symbol of marriage and prosperity."

~~~

Just talked to Nonnie - she's at home with the twins. She just "caught" Austin trying to ride his bicycle down the slide in the backyard! ;-) Poor Nonnie - she's going to have a heart attack watching these boys! Then, she sent me this picture - they buried their "Rocks" and created tombstones for them! ...they've only been home from school for 45 minutes!

~~~~

Parent teacher conferences today. Both boys are doing well...but Austin's teacher looked so serious when she told us that she thinks he may be a little challenged with organization. I thought Gary and I were gonna fall out of our 12inch chairs from laughing so hard! That's kinda like saying the ocean may have some water in it!

~~~~

Yellow Belts!

I know what you're thinking -

WHY we would arm these boys with MORE fight knowledge?

;-)

But - I was thinking along the lines of them learning some self-discipline - ya know, that sort of stuff.

Anyway, Austin and Logan's grandparents and us paired up to give the boys karate uniforms and 6 weeks of lessons as our Christmas gift.

Needless to say, the gifts were a HUGE hit!

And...there was some self-discipline learned in there.

Somewhere!

Mid-February, they tested for their yellow belts.

Logan is the boy closest to us.

And Austin is the one further away.

Austin getting his certificate and belt.

Logan

My attempts to get better pictures after:

Not the best photos, the lighting sucked.  - but the memories of a wonderful adventure are there!
Next stop, baseball!

Mummies!

We recently went to the local museum and learned all about mummies!  Boy - I got a slight taste of what the teachers must go through on a daily basis!  I'm glad my boys like learning, but my oh my - the questions were non-stop!  ;-)

Our "old" neighbors, Sean and Ryan completed out the foursome on this trip!

 Sean (he's HUGE), Ryan,

Austin and Logan

Austin is in the red, Logan front and grey.

This picture cracks me up...and freaks me out! 

I just interviewed the

boys to see if they could

"add" to this post so that it's not just pictures!

Logan says, "We were REALLY freaked at first!"

and then he sang the Backyardigans song: "What's so fun about Ancient Egypt..."

He continued, "The symbols on their tombs means special stuff.  And I learned that they got wrapped in cloth. And that one of the mummies at the museum had a bowl stuck to his head where the oils had dried!  And afterward, me and Austin got scared of the Mummies because we had nightmares."

[..although, I don't think Austin really did!]

And after all of that, I asked Austin what he wanted to say about the day at the museum and he said,

 "We didn't have ANY snacks!!"

Tru dat, my little man. Tru dat!

;-)

But, we did have outside play time!

I think this is our second "cultural" experience in 5 years.  This time, nobody yelled at us like they did here!