When your 8-year-old hijacks the crossword puzzle...

This happened at my parents' house.



Hard to tell that it's Jacob's handwriting and not my dad's. But rest assured that my dad knows that "poop" could not be a logical answer for the clue "sorts." Surprised but not surprised that Jacob took the time to find a space to write his favorite word.
P.S. I didn't know if it was Jacob or Mason who did this since they both have gutter minds. But when I asked them, Mason genuinely had no idea what a crossword puzzle was and Jacob wouldn't look me in the eye. Guilty! And if you take a look around 54 across you will see that Jacob has cryptically written his name. Double guilty. And all the more reason to clean up your house before my kids come over!

That's a Wrap!

After a week of festivities, picnics, and other activities, we have officially said goodbye to the school year!






The boys at field day. I had the luxury of working the jump rope station with a great friend where we neglected the kids and gossiped way too much for two straight hours. You get what you pay for...
Jacob with buddy Logan. And Mason with BFFs Zachary and Cooper.






Mason's first grade picnic. I was stationed at the chalk center where I proceeded to outline bodies with chalk for 90 minutes. Way more fun than drawing flowers and rainbows. The sidewalk mimicked a very colorful crime scene by the time 100 kids passed through my spot. Here is Mason and another friend Mikey. And then he and Lillian. How adorable are they?!












And then the last day of school marked with the annual bike ride. These kids love it!
Jacob and best friend Braden. And Mason and yet another BFF: Brody. That kid has no problems in the friend department. And has legit written a book called "My BFFs." All characters featured in this post.
*side note: One might think that the wind is doing crazy things to Mason's hair. But, sigh, it's just some serious bed head for the last day of school...

And now summer is here.

Unofficially Summer

With only 3 hours and 40 minutes left of school set to take place tomorrow, we pretended this weekend was summer.



We sat outside and anticipated a rain storm that finally happened about one hour into sitting under an umbrella! We learned that people stare at people who have open umbrellas when it's not raining. And we also learned that we shouldn't care what other people think.



We had a fire pit and made funny faces. This is Mason's "excited for summer" face. That must be my "shit is about to get real" face.



Let's just call this the "remember what Jacob looked like before he had braces" face. Adorable for now. I can say that because he's my kid and, sadly, those once were my teeth...



This is Camryn. She is a raging hormonal teenager trapped in a tot body. I have no idea what she was crabbing about. Probably because I laughed when I shouldn't have. True story.


So then I took this picture of me fake crying and her real crying, which made her real cry even harder. The only cure for this was immediate s'mores intervention.


Turns out that graham crackers make the world right for this psychotic beast.



Sticky treats all around. And, yes, I did eat all of the leftovers that weren't stuck to their grubby faces and hands. More than you would think.



We had an extra day of fun today that we burned on a solid 15-minute slip and slide adventure. Hose water is cold. I should hope they remember this next time they are dying for outdoor water activities.

And now the bar has been set for summer. Here we go...

Run through sprinklers. Check.

Just getting a head start on the bucket list.

Round one of preschool complete!

Today Camryn "graduated" from preschool. The class had a cute little ceremony and party to celebrate. And for the girl who couldn't care less about school unless it was her snack day, summer vacation will be a welcome change!

Our Summer Bucket List

With summer vacation just days away {shudder} our family came up with a bucket list of things we would like to do.



Mason thought we should also include take a plane trip and go to Disneyland on our list. Sadly, this wasn't our "Independently Wealthy Bucket List." Until then, we will stick to dancing in the rain and rolling down hills...

Boys. Sigh.

Because my boys always have their minds in the gutter. Mason wrote this "riddle" at school today:



The answer is poop. If you couldn't tell from the clues, the turd at the bottom of the paper provides a visual.

And then the other day Jacob overheard the newscasters reporting on politician Anthony Weiner's sexcapades. Said the reporter: An emotional Weiner sat in court today...
And then said Jacob: Emotional wiener? What the heck is an emotional wiener?

I would like to think that Camryn will be the break I need from all of this, but she likes to purposely fart on people. So there's that.

Eyes rolling.

Spelling Whiz

When your first grader can spell bigger words than you.



Metamorphosis? What?!

Me and My Girl

I had the pleasure of spending this beautiful day with my beautiful girl.
We had a Mother's Day brunch at school where I was gifted this crafty little bear.



Then we played away the afternoon at the park where I went down more slides in an hour than I have in the last 10 years combined. And I learned that static shocks make Camryn a very nervous laugher!


And we finished it off with a dolly play session. I didn't realize these dolls had so much to say and do. Like hours worth of conversations...


A day in the life of a 4-year-old!

Another last first.

It took 4+ years and more than one attempt, but Camryn finally had her first official dentist visit. I don't know all of the details since Caleb took the kids, but I do know there was a lot of giggling from this little lady.






No cavities and a bag full of goodies later and this chick was out the door. And I believe since Caleb was the part of that winning combo, he just signed himself up for lifelong dentist visit duty!

Oy.

You know it's time to redirect your parenting when your kid pulls this shirt out of her drawer and announces that "I want to wear this because it has SpongeBob's house all over it!"



Not just a pineapple anymore.

Another day, another birthday.

Yesterday was my birthday. And the more of those I have, the more I realize that birthdays are not all they were once cracked up to be. So on my birthday--after I finished with running kids to sports, helping kids with homework, and cooking kids meals--I opted to skip the traditional birthday cake and instead went out for dessert fondue where I could dip cake in chocolate. Genius. It was the kids first fondue experience, and they wasted no time jumping--or should I say dipping--right in. They devoured the dessert tray faster than a lion attacking its prey. But with the same sloppiness as a lion attacking its prey. I'm sure the restaurant employees were relieved that we were there only for dessert--and that dessert only lasted five minutes for us. And our waitress--perhaps the hero of the day--presented me with this special birthday platter.



Just trying to smooth things over after Mason very clearly and loudly announced to the restaurant people that "My mom is 36 today." So much for living my lie of forever 27.
Thanks to my parents for coming along on our fondue adventure. Nothing like three very active children in a restaurant to make you appreciate being old and childless. I'm sure they are already coming up with excuses for why they can't come with us next year...

A sign of the times.

Walking in to the boys' school for an evening event, Jacob was reading to me what the gym teachers had written on the sidewalk leading up to the school. Beginning with #1. Or as Jacob saw it: Hashtag 1.
My, how things have changed!