Ode to Andrew on his 15th Birthday!

15 things I love about Andrew:

1)    He makes me laugh.

2)    He is REALLY REALLY becoming quite useful.

3)    He mows the lawn (see #2).

4)    He takes out the garbage (see #2).

5)    He is smart and his grades show it.

6)    He is a hard worker (see #3, #4, #5).

7)    His favorite way of stalling bedtime is chatting with me : )  I pretend it’s annoying,     
       but secretly I love the time together.  Shhhh, don’t tell.

8)    When he is Captain Obvious, it makes me feel smart (see #1).

9)    He is a mini version of his dad, and I sure love his dad.

10)  He's fun to hang out with.

11)  He asks questions and listens (generally) to my explanations.

12)  He reads and watches Harry Potter with me.

13)  He respects the boundaries that I’ve set.

14)  He likes riding roller coasters!!!  (FINALLY!!)

15)  He’s really starting to get it.

In short, I really love this kid!  Happy Birthday Thing 1!

Happy Birthday to Me!

If I leave my daughter alone long enough (and fail to take her shopping), this is what she makes for my birthday.  I LOVE HER!!!

If you would like the REAL captions of the pictures, I'd be happy to share.  However, I think I might like Sophie's better.  She's so clever (and sarcastic).  Must come from her Dad.


And I'm not THAT old . . . yet.

It's been a long week (or so)

M finally turned seven, which is just one year closer to being baptized and becoming a Cub Scout.  Instead of giving him more Legos, we re-gifted him HIS Legos, not only assembled, but on the big conference table for his amusement until Sunday dinner.  It worked out pretty well.  He even scored a visit from Aunt Sheri, Uncle Dave, and Hayden (who spent most of his visit asleep on the floor).

We finished the celebration on Sunday with chocolate cupcakes.

The devastating earthquake in Japan on the day after M’s birthday gave us an opportunity to reflect on our own preparedness (nowhere near enough) and appreciation for the 72 hour kits that we finally assembled on New Year’s Eve.

M has been consumed with how to help Japan, fueled by my own obsession with the news.  I learned the hard way that too much news is really TOO MUCH NEWS for a seven year old.  He is ready to donate all of his birthday money to the Humanitarian Aid line on the tithing slip.  (Yeah, that didn't happen.)  

He has also been trying to be practical in his approach and started designing robots that can help with the recovery.  This is one of my favorites.

He was ready to send his drawings to President Obama for approval.  But he decided to go watch TV and forgot.

The Mom Teaching Moment of the Week came one night when he asked, “Mom, was the earthquake just Mother Nature or Satan?”

How I wished that I could blame it on Satan or divine retribution, but really, how does one explain to a newly seven-year-old that bad things happen to good people and it’s not Satan’s fault?  I think my answer was sufficient for his very tired little spirit.  I explained to him that good people go to heaven, even after bad things happen to them, and that is a good place to be.  He replied, “But what about the people who love them?”  It broke my heart.

M spent his birthday on Amoxicillin, I had finished my bottle by then, and S is working on her very own prescription.  She was lucky, too, since our pharmacy of choice was out.  OUT!  I guess you could say that we have something going around Boise right now : (  

Geoff and I have spent the last week trying to pretend we aren't sick, and are finally feeling better so maybe there is hope.

Meanwhile, Spring is springing and there is still so much to do outside.  Funny how it sneaks up on me every single year.  I really should get wise to it.  Now it's going to have to wait until after spring break.  I'm hoping I don't miss the entire forsythia show while we're gone.  

It can be soooooo pretty.

The Week's Great Parenting Moments

You know the mom moment when you say, “Some day you’ll thank me for this!” 

Why can’t that day be now?  Hopefully they'll be grateful for their piano lessons before they go gray.  More on this later, I'm sure.

*****

Why was I not surprised when M walked through the door wearing a tooth mask that he created to celebrate his first tooth lost at school?  (Bonus:  if you wear it upside down, it kind of look's like the pope's hat!)

*****

When last Saturday night rolled around with a chorus of coughs, I announced to Bishop Dad that we would NOT be going to church the next morning.  

A (the newest sicko) was fine with the idea.  

S struggled with the concept, especially since she just knew that her teacher would be bringing treats.  

And I guess I just didn’t tell M, because when he found me still in bed at 8:45 Sunday morning, he asked, “So who’s going to church, Mom?”  And then asked me every 15 minutes, “What’s going on at church now?”

Because I had a captive audience, I made them all join me in the frigid basement where we watched “The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd” together.  M was convinced that it was rated at least PG - 13 and hid his head in my lap during the intense moments.  

When A and S kept saying, “I just had this lesson!” and M said, “His heart is hard, huh, Mom?” and "That picture's in the church hallway!"  -- my heart grow three sizes.  They kind of get it.

Then I got heady with my power and made them watch “Johnny Lingo.”  During the opening credits, M deemed it the most stupid movie ever (and he would know, being a connoisseur of stupid movies), definitely NOT a church movie, and he went off to play.  A and S stuck with it, thoroughly convinced I was insane to be subjecting them to a 42 year old (Yikes!) BYU production with bad wigs.  At 12:30, I excused them from “church.”  My job was done.

*****

One night M and I were reading “Abraham and the Sacrifice of Isaac” in the Old Testament Stories before bed:

“Abraham had obeyed God.  He was willing to let his son die.  What Abraham did was like what Heavenly Father did.  Heavenly Father was willing to let his son, Jesus Christ, die for us.” 

M related that the cross was kind of like an altar that Jesus was sacrificed on.  Wow.  A six-year old who grasps symbolism.  Who knew?

*****

When discussing how Katy Perry should NOT be on his girlfriend list because a) she’s already married, and b) I don’t think she’d be a good influence on him, M stated, “Yeah, she’d have to fill out a lot of paperwork to get into the church.”  

Duh!

*****

A few chapters later in Old Testament Stories, we find the story of “Joseph in Egypt.”

“Potiphar’s wife also liked Joseph.  She tried to make Joseph kiss her.  Joseph knew this was not right.  Joseph ran away from her.”

Me:  “See, Joseph knew it wasn’t okay to be kissing someone else’s wife.”

M:  “I kiss Lindsey!!” (shocked at himself!)

Me:  “Since she’s your cousin, we’ll say it’s alright.”  (and since he’s probably given Mr. Lindsey a few kisses, too).

*****

And to think, I get to do it all over this week!!

A Galaxy Far Far Away

From the boy who can't sit through Star Wars, and hasn't even made it as far as the, "These aren't the droids you are looking for" Jedi mind trick:

M:  Mom, I'm going to clean up the family room back here and then I'm going to make it Star Wars-y.  Of course, we'll need to order a few things from Amazon.

The night before, he asked me to search Google Images for "invisible spy cars."  Hmmmm.


It should come as no surprise that his older brother has been throwing around the word "epiphany" to describe events such as this:

A:  Mom, I just discovered that the buttons on the keyboard that have two things on them -- the SHIFT key makes them work!

I wonder if he counts the gazillion times he's typed @, !, ", (, ), and : ?


Captain Obvious and his padawan live at my house.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My children . . . 

and their parents would like to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.  Take the occasion today to eat a pink cookie, open a sweet journal . . .

read a sweet card, savor a chocolate, eat mashed pink potatoes . . .

admire a bouquet sent by your admirer, or (as the case may be),

buy yourself your own flowers because your Valentine shops at REI*.

And do it all with the happy thought that you are loved by ME, 

even if you didn't actually get anything FROM me.

Because I do!


*By the way, I totally scored!! Who needs flowers?

HarryPotterLand

Despite the tornado warnings, I spent my Orlando Tuesday at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventures, better known as the home of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.   And I went alone, which was okay because it seemed like every Brazilian was in Orlando that week, so I was actually with thousands of my closest Portuguese-speaking friends.

I've been wanting to go to HarryPotterLand ever since I first saw the preview on The Half-Blood Prince.  They did an excellent job of making you feel like you were walking through a replica of Hogsmeade.  The styrofoam snow on the roof kind of gives it away, although the dark ominous clouds of the day added to the atmosphere.  I hope that the staff do not have to wear their robes and capes during the summer season.

The entry to Hogsmeade

You could stand in line to get a picture of the conductor,
but I chose to just steal this girls' photo op instead.
She's rockin' the fanny pack.

. . .except the train doesn't actually move.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Yummy Displays

Not the cheapest way to buy candy, but definitely yummy.

It would've been cheaper to buy a chocolate Easter bunny and
pretend it was a chocolate frog, but then I wouldn't have the cool box
and the Rowena Ravenclaw trading card.

Hogwarts Castle, home of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

A roller coaster is a roller coaster is a roller coaster, unless you put it in Hogwarts Castle, and then it's an EXPERIENCE.  Most of the fun was in the line through the castle and grounds.  Lots of attention to details.

The whatchmacallit that keeps track of the House Points

Um, I don't think they were really enforcing this rule that day.

Yes, of course, the Sorting Hat talked to me, as did all of the pictures.

I was impressed with the effects and setting, but decided that the Forbidden Journey was the type of "roller coaster" that I did NOT like.  The Dragon Challenge, on the other hand, was TOTALLY AWESOME!!  Two intertwining roller coasters that are FAST.  Those are okay, I guess.  The kind that jerk you around back and forth, up and down are the ones that make me ill.  And the set up to the Dragon challenge was equally cool, with lots of Tri-Wizard tournament banners and tie-ins, including a car crashed into a tree, but I had locked my camera in the locker.  Sigh.

Buckbeak bowed, so I could ride the Flight of the Hippogriff.  Phew.

Random overpriced souvenirs.  I stuck with the candy.

The wicked, snarling Monster Book of Monsters

The Three Broomsticks for lunch

Fish, Chips, and Butter Beer.  Mmmmmm. 

  

No, the Lorax was not in HarryPotterLand,
but he was my fave from Seuss Landing so he's here.

Was it fun?  Yes.  Was it expensive?  Duh.  Was it worth it?  Depends on how big of a Harry Potter fan you are.  I made a point of riding every ride in HarryPotterLand and even threw in a few rides from the rest of the park. I did decide that I would pass on Dr. Doom's Fearfall, The Incredible Hulk Coaster and the Jurassic Park River Adventure(it wasn't THAT warm). 


I could have brought home bottled pumpkin juice (ick), but they didn't have Butter Beer in a bottle (sigh).  I decided that I didn't need something with Gryffindor or Hogwarts on it, and really, who buys the Slytherin stuff?  I didn't need a wand or a robe or a snitch or a sneakoscope, and they didn't have a Marauder's Map, so I brought home a bunch of candy and called it good.  One note:  Any Flavor Beans are NOT just jelly bellies.  I probably spit half of them into the garbage because really, who needs to eat dirt or beef gravy jelly beans?


If you are planning a trip to HarryPotterLand, or just dreaming of one, the website is pretty cool:


http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/