Smirk

Once again its time to participate in an I Heart Faces weekly photo challenge! This weeks theme is "smirk" and as I was looking through the pictures I had, I came across this one of Little Girl hanging out in the back of Grandpas truck. This smirk is a pretty familiar sight..since most the time I take any pictures of her its either this or her tongue wagging wildly out of her mouth! Come to think of it, all the pictures of The Boy look about the same as well! He has a great smirky smile!  I love this picture though because baby girl is in the background giving a great smirk as well, but the paci hides it. We're working on the whole pacifier situation! :)

Anywho, here it is! Enjoy and then head over to I Heart Faces to check out even more silly smirks!

Dojo-Kun

This year we opted out of soccer for The Boy. Last season was so miserable and rainy that we didn't want to experience it all over again, plus we needed to try something new. He had been begging us to let him take karate for soooo long, so when I saw that our city's parks and rec. was offering a beginners class we didn't even hesitate to sign him up.

On the very first day you could tell that he was so nervous...he wouldn't take his hands out of his pockets! But he did awesome and absolutely loved every minute! His teacher wasn't at all what we expected. I don't know how many enemies he could defeat weighing only 80 pounds or so, but once he started to shout out commands...I could tell he wasn't one to be messed with. He's like the highest level black belt you can ever become, or something like that. :)

When they were done his teacher told everyone to practice everything they had learned 200 times before the next session and The Boy took that to heart, he was quite devastated when he didn't think he had practiced enough. He thought for sure his teacher wouldn't let them learn anything else until they had mastered the first three blocks! But, they got to do kicks today...which was the highlight of The Boys like entire life so far!

I might be slightly biased here, but I think he is one of the best students in the class. He listens to every word and tries so hard to do every move just right. I think this is going to do a lot for his self-esteem! Here are some cute pics of them learning at Dojo-Kun (he is in the orange shirt!) :

Wild Squirrels

I was driving along yesterday with my two girls and Little Girl excitedly pointed out the window to a squirrel she saw running around in the grass. Here is the conversation that followed:

LG: Mom, is that a squirrel I see running out there?
Me: Probably. They do live out in the wild.
LG: hmmm, I know everything there is to know about wild squirrels....
Me: Oh really? Like what?
LG: Well....I don't really want to tell you. It might be too scary.

Good thing she didn't tell me, I would have hated to end up having nightmares ..... :)

First days

Today marked a pretty big milestone in The Boys life. (other than his 7th birthday of course!) It was his first day of first grade. He has been pretty nervous the last few weeks wondering if he was going to get lost or who would show him where to go.

"How do I know when to go to lunch? Who will get me from recess? I am going to be gone all day? But I will miss you!"

Like I said in my last post, our guy is pretty sensitive and the thought of being away from his mommy brought a few tears. But Monday night we went to meet your teacher night and after that he felt a lot better. It helped to see his classroom and the desk with his name on it. I think actually coming face to face with his teacher and seeing how nice she was went a long way to quell his fears.

By this morning he looked pretty excited, if not tired! Poor guy..its been a while since we have been up this early! I could tell he was still slightly nervous, but once we got to the school and he got to play on the playground with a few of his friends before the bell he looked pretty confident. :) He even mustered up the courage to raise his hand in line and tell the teacher he has some school supplies in his backpack! I was impressed.

I was surprised to see so few parents there for the first day. I was one of about five who were hanging around the playground waiting for the kids to line up to go in. While I was sitting on the bench taking pictures of The Boy and his sisters running around, I started to see a bunch of kids running and crying, grabbing their heads.  I figured they had just bonked each other or something. I noticed more and more crying and thought, "wow, thats an unusually high volume of upset kids..weird." Then one kid started screaming bloody murder and grabbing his ankle. I guess I happened to be the only adult around that they could see (rude parents leaving their kids to brave the first day alone.. except for all those who have to work of course!) :) so they all came running to me, one right after another screaming. Apparently over the summer a few wasps had moved into the playground and didn't like all those kids swinging and sliding all over their homes! I had to shove a bunch off of those poor kids and those wounds were pretty big. :( We found the playground aid and I would say at least ten kids went to the office with stings! Pretty traumatizing first day for them.

Fortunately none of my kids were victims of the attack and The Boy made it safely to his class room!


Good Job buddy, we are so proud of you!

Seven

The 22nd of August marked the 7th birthday of my oldest child, The Boy. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown and how big he has gotten! I remember right after Little Girl was born how huge he looked to me and the realization of the fact that he would never be little again. He would continue to get bigger and bigger and eventually he would leave. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried for a good long time. :) I partially blame that episode on post-pregnancy hormones and lack of sleep, but for the most part the feelings were genuine. It still amazes me to this day how huge he is and how young I feel to have such a old kid! But what an awesome kid he is! So in honor of this occasion here are 7 things I love about my little boy:

1. He is always willing to help me with anything. In fact he asks me often if there is anything I need him to do!

2. He is extremely kind and patient with his younger siblings and with younger kids in general. I have people telling me all the time how great he is with their kids. He a pretty mellow guy.

3. He is super smart and loves numbers. He can memorize most anything he finds interesting and continually tells me all the things he has learned in school. He also picks up things pretty fast and it isn't very long before he has things down perfectly. ( like a new video game, or rules to a board game.)

4. He very independent and wants to do things for himself. He always asks, "can I do it?" and I have to be better at letting him! :)

5. He's extremely sensitive and cares about the feelings of others. He is also very obedient and loves his family and Heavenly Father. He often tells me that he had prayed for something in the middle of the night, whether it be that he felt sick and wanted to feel better or he was scared and asked for comfort.  I wish I had half the faith he does.

6. Hes a very good artist and loves to draw. He has great imagination and the details in his pictures always blow me away!

7. He loves his mommy and daddy very much and constantly tells them out of the blue: "mommy? or Daddy? I love you!"

What A great kid!! I love you buddy!

We had his party on Saturday and here are a few highlights:

Soda rocket blasters

Ooblick

Mentos and Diet Coke (which didn't go so well, we'll have to try that one again!)

And lots of friends, presents and cake!

It was a pretty awesome day!