My Reasons

My Reasons

This Is Where It All Begins

This Is Where It All Begins

Sunday, March 12, 2017

night out at the movies

Our family doesn't go to movies very often.  It is hard to justify the cost of movies now, especially when we can wait a while for it to come out in Redbox, and watch the movie in the comfort of our home, with our pillows, blankets, and treats.

Last weekend though, cabin fever was threatening to wipe out every last thread of sanity we had left, and we decided to go to a movie.

Lego Batman.

The kids were THRILLED!

They each got their own little kids popcorn box thing too, and it was as if they had won the lottery.

The movie was actually really funny and entertaining, and Molly almost sat through the whole thing.

It felt good to get out with the family and just do something fun.

The best part was when we were walking out of the theater after the movie and Luke turned to me with his cute little blue eyes and white blonde hair and said, "mom, that was the best movie ever in my life."

Good times.
I have this really cute little secretary type desk/table in the family room.

I saw it at the sore a few years ago, and save up my money for it.  It is so cute, and it is the style I like.  It is very much a big piece in our family room that I like to display and cover with cute family pictures.  I NEVER intended to use it for what it was actually made for.  Nope, just strictly decoration.  That is me for ya.

As with pretty much everything that I buy to look at, and not to use (like our décor pillows on the couches), my children quickly show me that things are to be used, not just admired.  I beg to differ, but I am completely outnumbered!

Basically, William has claimed one drawer, and Luke has claimed the other.  The cram, and I mean CRAM all of their "special" things into this one drawer, and somehow expect no one else to ever open the drawer, or get into their stuff.

They have also claimed the desk part of the desk now, so the thing is completely FULL of "special" clutter.

If you know me, even a tiny bit, you know that I despise clutter.  I hate it.  Oh, I loathe it.
But that's a post for another day.

So, my cute little secretary desk has been hijacked, to the fullest.

The killer is that these items that the boys have stuffed into my "desk that was only to be seen not used," have the same rules for their toys that they placed in the desk by breaking the very same rule of mine.

ooohhhh, deep.

Molly knows that she is not allowed to get into these special drawers with the boys special stuff in them, and she is really good about it...when the boys are home.

The second we get back from dropping Luke off at the bus though, this is what happens. Every.Single.Day.



Molly pulls the drawers open


 
oh the clutter!!!!
 Molly then takes each item out, one by one, and lines them all up on her trampoline.
She will continue to go through each and every item in William's drawer, and then move on to Luke's.

She is very careful with everything, but oh the joy and the thrill she gets!!!  If the boys only knew!

Sometimes, she invites her little buddy Beckham over, and they relish in the victory together.
About 10 minutes before it is time to go get the kids from the bus stop, I will tell Mary that we are going to get in the car.

She immediately, and in a complete panic and rush, will start putting everything back in the drawers.
 

Somehow she knows exactly what things go into what drawer.  She even knows where the items were in each drawer!  It is amazing and so hilarious!

She then closes each drawer.

She will do a quick walk around to make absolute sure she put everything away.

Then we get in the car, pick up the boys, Molly flashes her sweet little smile, gives her cute little hugs to her brothers, and the day goes on.

Molly and the boys will play the rest of the day, without Molly so much as even glancing at the drawers.

Oh...if they only knew.

sunday shenanigans

I don't know if I was more amazed that this was the first time a wall has been dented by a kid's head in our house, or with the fact that Luke still knew his name after the fact.

Boys!

Sunday!

What is the deal!?!




sammy boy turns 10

On Feb. 20th, my big eyed, big cheeked, soft hearted, fun loving Sammy Boy hit the double digits.  He turned 10.

I don't know how it happened, but it did.  Time is such a crazy thing.  For real.

Since it was an even number Birthday, Sam got to have a Birthday Party.

And boy, did he ever have a Birthday Party.

Sam really wanted to have his party at Nickel City. 
I had never been there before, but Sam had, and he loved it.
It is an arcade where the tokens only cost a Nickel.

So, I called the place, and reserved a party room, and purchased the party package.

Sam was more excited for his Birthday than he was for Christmas Day this year.  It was so cute!

To top it off, grandma JoJo and grandpa Lonnie came by to visit for a few days, so they were able to be there as well.  Pretty awesome surprise!

We piled all of Sam's friends and our families into three separate cars and blasted down the Canyon to Nickel City.

It did not disappoint!

It is definitely a dream come true place for a 10 year old.  In fact, all of my kids loved it.

I was a little weirded out with the whole arcade, creepy, dirty vibe of the place, but that did not deter Sam or his friends one bit!

Shae Bennett, Ethan Hubbard, Trey Cherry, Sam, Jace Phillips, Blake Sweat, Luke, William, Mary, Molly

Everybody got 40 tokens to play games with, and you could also earn tickets from the games.  With the tickets, you can purchase prizes at the end.

Since Sam was the Birthday boy, he got to spin this big wheel, and earn a ton of tickets!  He was thrilled!
creepy, just so creepy.  Glad Sam had fun though!

the Birthday wheel
Sam and his friends were also able to play a lazer tag game.  William was able to join in on that one.  That was by far the highlight!!!  It was actually so cool!  Mary played too, and kept on talking about how much fun it was.

The best part of the whole evening was watching Sam.  He was grinning not stop, the entire night.  His face was so lit up. 

That, more than anything, is what a Birthday is all about.  Sam felt loved, special, happy, excited, and worth all of the attention he was getting.

We ended up being there for hours! 

Luke kept playing one game over and over again, and he finally hit the jackpot!  He was giggling and giggling and giggling as the tickets kept coming out.  It was adorable!

Sam opened his presents in the party room, where we also sang to him and had his cake (dirt and worms).

It was a busy, high energy day, but it was worth every minute of it.

Sam is turning into such a great kid.  He is very kind and caring to his friends and to his siblings.  He loves to play.  He would play all day with his friends if we let him.
He is really into scouting, RC cars, nerf guns, slime and soccer.
His best friend is Blake Sweat, but he has a huge group of boys that he plays with all the time.  He is a great friend.
I love my Sammy Boy so much.  He is something special, and he has so much to offer the world.

Happy 10th Sam!

valentines day

Valentines Day was a fun one this year for us.
The boys all had Valentine parties at school, so they were excited! 
I made them red heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, and put chocolates under their plates. 
I also had to tease the boys a little and get them all squirmy and grossed out by asking them about girls they wanted to give Valentines to.  It was great.
In the end, I just made them all ask me to be their Valentine, and sent them on their way.

William at his class party

Sam with his homemade valentine box
Mary's school didn't do any sort of Valentine parties or anything, but I guess the thing to do now, for her age group, is to ask someone to be your Valentine.  It is kind of code for "I like you."

All week long Mary was telling me the low down on which boys were asking which girls to be their Valentines, and who was crushing on who.  It was very entertaining, in a Saved By The Bell sort of way.

I asked Mary if there was a boy out there that she was wishing would ask her to be their Valentine.  She told me that she just like Jett still, a neighborhood boy, but that he was way too cool and kind of shy to ever do something like that. 

She wasn't sad or anything, just matter of fact.

The day before Valentines day, when Mary walked in the door after school, she had a crazy look on her face.  I couldn't tell if she was ready to laugh, cry, scream, faint, throw up, or what.

She then told me that on the way home from the bus stop, Jett had built up the courage to ask Mary to be his Valentine.  That was the look...Mary was, dare I say....flustered and little bit flattered.
The actual story is totally adorable, and pretty hilarious. 

I guess Jett normally walks with Mary until he gets to his house.  On this day though, he passed his house and kept walking with Mary.  He then slowed down and started breathing really heavily.  Mary said she asked him if he was ok.  She said he looked like he was going to hyperventilate or pass out.  Oh, the poor boy!
 He then stopped walking, so Mary stopped too.
He then took in a huge breath, and slouched his shoulders and hung his head down. Basically like a deflated balloon.
Then, he mustered up all of the 12 year old courage he could, squared up his shoulders, lifted his head, and very quickly asked Mary to be his Valentine.

Mary said "sure," Jett said, "cool, " and then he turned and immediately walked home and shut the door.

That poor boy probably slid down that door into a huge relieved puddle on the floor after that.

ha!!

Young love!

It's the cutest.

Mary and I spent that evening picking out a gift for Jett.  It couldn't be "too lovey", red, have hearts on it, say anything about love, and it had to be cool and casual.  Good grief.  That is REALLY hard to find on Valentines Day.

We finally picked out a really cool insulated mug, a coke, and a candy bar.

On Valentines day, Jett texted Mary and said he would bring her gift over later.  He was too embarrassed to bring it to school.  Mary was thrilled, because she was finding every excuse she could think of not to bring his gift to school either.  What the?!?!?
gummy bracelets for her friends...and Jett's gift in the bag.

After school, Jett came over, with another friend, and basically threw Mary's gift to her.  She just slammed his gift quickly into his hands as well.  They quickly set the gifts aside, and went right on hanging out as if nothing had just happened.

It was astounding to watch...and hilarious.  I was cool though.  I kept a straight face, and didn't say a word.  It was so great to watch though.

Oh, the awkwardness of it all.

I gave Ben chocolates, he gave me chocolates and flowers.
The boys came home with hoards of chalky nasty candy hearts, and enough fun dip to keep them sugar crazed for the duration of the week.
Mary was love struck, in a weird,cute 12 year old way,
and Molly was oblivious to it all, and just happy to have suckers for days.

It was a day well spent.