Is it legal?

Brandon and Jacob decided on Saturday to build us a fire pit.  We have wanted one for a long time and never had a place to put one.  We got rid of our broken hot tub in the fall and now we have the perfect spot!  They were very creative, for my kids, and worked on the area for a long time.  Brandon was then determined to light a fire even though it was raining.  Umbrella and all.  Every night they have gone out and lit a fire, which lasts about a minute before the rain/snow gets to it.  Tonight, is the night for dry weather!!!!

I am not really sure if this is legal or not.

But at any rate, he is very proud of himself!

A new era

I feel like I have a teenager already.  He isn’t quite 12, but his new look makes him older to me!

Before.

After.

He was so excited to get them on and even more excited to get back to school and show his friends.  By bedtime last night, the excitement was over.

Crazy Night

Jonah has been sleeping consistently through the night for about 6-9 months.  I don’t remember exactly, I just know that it is heavenly.  Occasionally he will start whimpering in his sleep (which means he has to go to the bathroom) or need his blankets put back on him (because he cant??????) or just whatever.  So last night I was fast asleep and sooooo tired (recovering from an unplanned 11 mile run on Saturday).  At 12:30 I hear him whimpering and think to myself, do I want to get up and take him to the bathroom or clean him up when he wets the bed?  I decided to get up.  Took care of that and back to sleep I went.  Around 2:00 I hear Jacob coughing up his lungs, at 2:45 I decide to spend 5 minutes getting out the nebulizer and get him a breathing treatment started.  2:54 Jonah is crying, I go in and he says, “I can’t sweep, that is too loud turn it off”.  I tell him Jacob has to finish his breathing treatment and to go back to sleep.   He then says, “get in your bed”.  Yes, I am trying to do that.  3:35 Jonah calling and calling and calling for me.  I go in and he says, “I am having cwazy sweep”.  Yes you are, I say, now go back to sleep.  And 4:30 crying again, at this point I bring him to my room and let him sleep on the floor, the whole time him telling me “to get in bed and go to sleep”.  I did go back to sleep until my alarm went off at 6:20, then off running.

If only I could do this today.

La Caille

It is tradition at our elementary school for the 6th graders to go to La Caille to eat.  One of the teachers is friends with the owner and gets a good rate for the kids and parents who want to come.  I opted to go with him, it would have been a waste for Bryan to join us.   Well last night was the long awaited time for Brandon to go.  He was so excited.  He talked about it for days and asked me every few minutes if I was excited as well.  He rode the bus out after school with his classmates and I rode with a friend.  We met there and the excitement began.

They had about 180 people in our party, so it was a little chaotic finding a table.  After trying several times to fit at a table with his friends we opted for a table that we would at least enjoy ourselves.   All girls, one Dad and Brandon.  Pretty much how his life has been so he wasn’t too upset.  It was great for me because I got to sit by my friend Kimi and thoroughly enjoy myself.

O.K. here we go.  First course, appetizer.

Escargot.  Brandon deciding if he could do it.

He sure did and I did as well.

I believe he snapped this right as it had entered my mouth.  Really if you didn’t know what you were eating it was just a mushy thing with lots of garlic.

Next up, pineapple sorbet to cleanse the palate.  That was tasty.

Salad and rolls.

I tried to take a picture of everything Brandon ate, he didn’t appreciate it too much.

Brandon had salmon and I had chicken.  Both were pretty dang good.

And then flaming bananas foster.  Tasted great until we got some of the rum, then it was just too strong for pretty much everyone (except for my friend Jenny who said it tasted just like the eggnog she grew up drinking at her grandparents).

It was super fun to watch so it made it worth it.

There I got another one of him eating!

The rain had slowed to a drizzle by the end so we were able to walk around the grounds a little bit.  We walked amongst peacocks, bunnies, geese, duck and probably other things as well.  It was beautiful and definitely a nice night out doing something different.

Great time for Brando and I.

(Although for the 60 bucks we paid I could have enjoyed myself much more at Nick Cash’s restaurant)

Lakers Fan

Somewhere in my parenting of Jonah I have failed.  He was an obedient Jazz loving son and then one day he loved the Lakers.  This may have started with his 10 year old cousin giving him an I love the Lakers shirt, but really I just think he liked that he recognized their logo and jerseys.   A year ago I got a video of him saying he hates the Lakers and now he thinks they are his team.  He likes to run and slide on the basketball court, we asked him why and his reply was, “because that is how the Yakers shoot the ball”???????

Last Monday night we went up to the church to play basketball, a very frequent family night activity.  When we walked into the gym there were some college age boys playing at one end of the gym.  One of the boys had a UVU jersey on with the number 24 on the back.  Jonah whispered to Bryan, “Dad those are my teamers, there is Kobe Bryant.”  When the boys started to leave he said, “Bye Kobe”.  In his little mind anyone with the numbers 24 on their jersey is Kobe, he thinks my Milsap jersey is Kobe.  Anyways the poor kid is going to grow up thinking that one spring Monday night he met Kobe Bryant at our ward building!

Hooray

It is that wonderful and marvelous time of year.  School is winding down!  I know I am done with the school year when I start letting my kids stay outside playing until after the usual 8:30 bedtime.  I know I am done when I don’t really care if they wake up on time, hence this morning I was convincing both of them to get out of bed at 8:08.  I cheered when Brandon left this morning prepared to give his FINAL book presentation (although I now see he left one of his props on the counter).  Those monthly book presentations for BOTH boys have been too much!  I don’t care about homework anymore, if it gets done great, if not oh well.  Nights should be spent at the ball park, not doing homework.

I love beyond words that the temperature is supposed to reach 74 today.  I just might cry thinking about it.  I have big plans for today, trying to rake up the rest of my front yard and……………..if all goes well this is where you will find me and my book this afternoon!

Dinner time

Unless someone is coming over to eat, I never make dinner on Sundays.  Most Sundays we are going somewhere or people are coming here and I spend the whole afternoon cooking, so when those things aren’t happening we just have whatever.  Yesterday Brandon and Jacob decided that they didn’t want to get stuck eating whatever they could come up with so they told me they were making dinner and for me to leave the kitchen area.  I gladly left them to it.  They made homemade belgium waffles, pancakes and buttermilk syrup.  It was so cute.  Everything tasted great and I didn’t make them serve a fruit or vegetable, very rare for me.  They did a great job and I am very proud of them.

Busy boys.

Jacob worked hard as the actual cooker.

And Jonah helped by taste testing.