My Favorite Things

The other day we were in the car and Little J started naming off some of his favorite "holidays" which were "Christmas, Easter, my birthday, and summer." He ended by saying, "those are my four favorite things," to which I replied,

"Do you want to know what my favorite things are?"

He answered all exasperated, "I already know what you're going to say - US!"

Then he added (still in that I-already-know-what-you're-going-to-say tone) something I have told them often before but never known if they ever really internalized it,

"And I know that only 3 people in the whole world get to call you Mama - me, Big J, and Little Man."

That's right, Little J, I reserve that title for only the most special.

Weekend Recap

Friday night Big J had a flag football game. The weather has been perfect, so it has been nice to be outside during his practices and games. The boys entertain themselves rolling down hills and playing in piles of dirt, so it is a pretty relaxing time. Big J has never played football before, but I have a feeling he will probably want to do it every year. He really enjoys it. And Friday night he caught the first and only interception for his team...and then proceeded to jump up and down in a kind of victory dance holding the ball high above his head. It was cute.

Then we had a pretty busy Saturday. I ran in a 5k, then Big J had a Tae Kwon Do belt test, then I had a hair appointment - color and cut (it's dark again), and then that evening there was the big Relief Society broadcast and dinner that I went to while JC has his "boyfriends" over to play Xbox. I actually didn't make it to the dinner part and was 15 minutes late to the other part, but at least I tried.

I was a little nervous about this 5k because all week I have had insomnia and so at the times I could have run, I took a nap instead!!! And then Friday morning I woke up and got out of bed and nearly fell over because I had vertigo so bad. I had it until the afternoon. I don't know what the deal was, because that night I slept fine and woke up feeling fine. Maybe I have a brain tumor. Who knows. Anyway - back to the run. It was a beautiful morning and a pretty easy course (i.e. hardly any hills - yea!) and so it was fun to do. My time was about 28 minutes. I haven't looked yet at the official results to see where I fell in my age category.

The half marathon is on October 18th and although I know I am in better shape for it than for the one I did in March, I haven't been very good about doing my long runs. Like I should have done some 9, 10, and 11 mile runs by now and I haven't. I've done a few 8 milers and about twice a week do 5 -6 miles, and then either a shorter or longer run, but I haven't gotten close to that 13 mile mark since March when I ran the last one! And I haven't been very diligent some weeks about running at all. But I know I will finish it, I just don't want to totally suck it up.

Big J did well on his belt test and is now a green belt! We kept telling him to just do his thing and not look at everyone else, because when he doesn't look to check himself with those around him, he does great. When he starts looking at them he second-guesses himself and then gets messed up. So I was really proud of him for just getting out there and doing what he knows. Congrats, Big J!

Happy Birthday, BIG 8-YEARS-OLD J!

Today is Big J's birthday. We celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a Star Wars party. Yes, Little J had a Star Wars party earlier this year, also. I was surprised Big J wanted to do one as well, but he did. We did different things, though, since the weather is always nice on Big J's birthday and we can have his parties in the back yard.

It's amazing what happens when you put on the invitation that those coming can dress as Star Wars characters if they so choose. I could have just made the backyard available and left it at that and I think they would have entertained themselves! But despite the temptation to let it be a free-for-all the whole time, we did have some structure to the event.


The way our schedule has been, we had to do his party right over the lunch hour, so after kids got there we had pizza. Then we had our Jedi "training". First, they had to learn to use the force in order to determine which Star Wars character they were. They each had a sticker on their back with a character and they could only ask yes or no questions to figure out who they were. Next, they had to demonstrate their skills with a light saber and keep the balloon from touching the ground. The team that kept their's up the longest were deemed the true Jedis.

*I love Big J's face in this. He is always cracking up at something (usually himself).

Once they had demonstrated these skills, they then had to prove themselves once more by fighting Darth Vader. Lucky for them it was only Darth Vader's head in the form of a pinata. Unfortunately for us, Big J (the first to go) took a major swipe at it and sliced it open on his second swing and subsequently tore it right open on his third swing, so we had to just kind of put the empty pinata back up and let kids get their turn at beating it down. They had fun anyway.

*Yo, Vato! That strange headpiece is indeed the bandana to cover his eyes.

The pinata was followed by presents and cupcakes and then another round of free play while the parents came to pick up kids.

*I put this picture in purely for the close up on Little J's headdress. He wore the broken pinata on his head for the rest of the party.

*Oh, praise King Big J! Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing in this picture. But he looks cute.

Today I brought up chocolate donuts for him to share with his class and they had him all decked out with a special birthday button and sticker and sung Happy Birthday to him. Other than that, and a bunch of phone calls from family, we did pretty much the usual today. We do have some special gifts we will give him in a few weeks when he is baptized, though.

Big J makes me proud to be his mama. He is a good kid with a good heart and he tries hard to do what's right and to do a good job at whatever he is doing. Happy Birthday, Big J!

My Favorite Non-Words

The boys sometimes make up words. Not purposefully; they think they are using real words, and I guess technically most of them are real words, just not used properly, and no matter how many times I have said it correctly, they still continue to use them. I think it's cute, but I do wonder how long they will go in their life before they realize that no one else uses those words the way they do.

Here are my 2 favorite non-words they use and their definition according to my little men:

Verse - verb - derived from "versus"- meaning to compete against you.

"I want to verse you at Guitar Hero."

Nudgie - noun - combination of "noogie" and "wedgie"- meaning, well, a noogie. "I am going to give you a nudgie!"

There are more, but I can't think of them right now, and those are my favorite. Who knows, stranger words have been added to the dictionary, so maybe one day we'll see these listed as well. Maybe if we all start saying them, we can start a trend!


Up next...pictures from Big J's 8th birthday party!!

The Tell Tale Signs

Do you know how to tell if you live in a house full of little boys? Here is one clue. When you are cleaning up your kitchen at the end of the day, on top of the regular stuff that is probably found in anyone's kitchen (except Maddy's ;-), this is what you will find in sundry places:

6 balls - 1 football, 1 baseball, 2 Nerf gun balls, 1 bouncy ball, and 1 Buzz Lightyear ball

1 baseball glove

1 bag of flag football equipment

2 Star Wars related items - in this case, a Millennium Falcon and a Clone Wars book

2 pairs of shoes - 1 Lightning McQueen, 1 Spiderman

1 camouflage wallet

1 Superman lunchbox

1 Wolverine action figure

1 action guy on a motorcycle

1 lone sock

And a swept up pile of grass and tiny pebbles that you could re-landscape half your yard with

So now you know. I could go into greater detail of other tell tale signs I find around the house, but I will leave it at that. I LOVE MY BOYS!

Homonyms - Kind of...

Little J was playing a game he made up while we were driving in the car. He'd give us clues about a word he was thinking in his head and we'd have to guess the word or phrase. This one cracked me up:

Little J: Ho

Parents: Uh....*thinking of things surely our innocent 5 year old was not thinking* Home, Hole, Hose?

Little J: No. What's on an animal's butt?

Parents: Wha?

Big J: A tail! Hotel!!

Little J: Right!

Your Right to Vote

**This is part of an email I received from my sister, but I know I didn't even know half of this story, so I thought I'd pass it on. Although I've always voted since I was of legal age to do so, I'd somehow always associated the whole suffrage movement with the "Votes for Women!" song off of Mary Poppins. It wasn't quite like that...

IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT OR WHO YOU VOTE FOR.....JUST DO IT!!

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Woodrow Wilson and his cronies tried to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. The doctor refused. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote. History is being made.

Freedom is never free.

(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf )