The Force always Prevails!

Sam turned five (AAHH!! He's growing up) and chose a Star Wars theme for his first "friends" party (we've always just done family parties). He had been a Jedi for Halloween because he reveres his friend Brayden who let him borrow the costume, but he hadn't seen the movies. I guess a light saber is enough reason to want to have a Star Wars party, right? I tried to talk him into other party ideas, but Star Wars he wanted and Star Wars he got. He asked me as I was explaining some of the activities I had planned what Star Wars' younger brother's name was. Hmmmm.....I decided I'd better let him watch some of the movie, at least, so he would get the games. All of the activities were training to become a Patowan. I learned a lot of vocab as I did my homework to do this right. It's not like anyone knew what was going on, but it's the principal of it, you know? And I had a lot of fun with the details. Here's the sign that greeted them.

That's supposed to be Yoda in case you can't tell--I'm quite artistically challenged and almost had to draw a grid like in middle-school art class to get this right. Then there were the games. We did Pin the X-Wing Starfighter on the Death Star (blindfolded using only the power of the force), Yoda-Vader (red-saber, green saber), and of course an obstacle course involving a meteor shower (one mom throwing rice), ducking under a lava flow (cellophane), and avoiding the dark side (Chris and Lucy with a light saber). If they completed their training, they got a classy homemade light saber (pool noodles and dowels make for a very safe and inexpensive version of the original). Then, thanks to a friend in the ward andy my bro-in-law, there was a disturbance in the force and Darth arrived to take on the newly trained warriors. Only one kid cried when he showed up. Yeah, it was totally intense. When they got over their fear, they went a little postal on him, but luckily only one kid had a real plastic light saber. The rest were pretty soft. Jason was a good sport. The best line happened when he came out and invited each kid to fight him individually using their new moves (I ripped this off from Disneyland's Jedi Training show). He called his son Luke, Sam's cousin, up and said what he'd been trying to find the opportunity to say since he was born "Luke, I am your father!"

Yoda's green, I know, but I was going to do Darth and it was too hard (see the three Darths in the middle? It looks like a nun with a mouth guard). All of these ideas were online--what did mothers do before the internet?

A birthday tribute--Sam is so grown up. He loves preschool, his new friends there, and looks forward to getting homework in kindergarten (we'll see how long I can milk that one!). He likes fixing things, working on puzzles with Dad, and learning new things. He thinks he could drive if I let him try (thanks Grandpa!). He told me that one day he's going to marry Lucy and they'll have Ben as a baby and I said, "Yep--I can't wait!" I keep thinking I don't want him to grow up, but I love every step of the way. Happy birthday Sam! We love you so much!

Lotsa Turtles

I'm always trying to take the kids exciting places and to do educational things with them. We've gone to Sea World, museums, zoos, spent hours driving, packed a million PB&J's... And then a few weeks ago I found a gem of a place literally across the street from where I live! We walked through our neighbor and Sam's buddy Logan's backyard (they have access to the gardens) to the coolest little turtle pond in the heart of the UCR Botanic Gardens. We chose the hottest day of the year so far, but that meant all of the turtles were out sunning. The kids counted turtles (19!) and then ooh'ed and aah'ed at the koi and other fish. After the turtles, we wandered through the beautiful foliage trying to get hit with sprinklers and stay in the shade. We've been here for 5 years and only visited the gardens once before, and then without really exploring much. It proves that you don't need to go much further than your own backyard to enjoy the beauty of the earth!

Updates

I actually updated the kids blogs. Please take a look (the links are on the right)!

Lying to my children and Counting my Blessings

Sam really wanted to know if the Easter Bunny was human or not. I'm not hugely attached to the idea that my kids need to believe in the Easter Bunny, but at the same time I'm not ready to admit that it's all a hoax. He didn't press that much. In fact, when he found a sippy cup (shown above as my decoy while taking Ben's picture) in his easter basket that he had seen in the closet, he accepted my explanation that some of the stuff in his basket came from me and some of it came from the Easter Bunny. He'll figure it out soon enough, right? Let the children enjoy a bit of fantasy while it lasts. Here's the best shot I got of Easter clothes--I know it's washed out, but I thought it kind of looked like a perfume add or something.

We had magical weather on Easter Sunday, making our traditional dinner with Jason, Beth, and Nellie as perfect as it could be. We are so blessed to have family we love close by! (Don't ever move Jason and Beth! We'd be forced to follow you!).

Otherwise, our family is elbow deep in mulch and compost working on our garden. I worked at a garden center for a few months in college and managed to learn nothing, so Chris takes care of most of it. I figure I'll be in charge of harvesting and cooking/canning (if I get that ambitious). The kids and I help water every afternoon, which usually turns into a big mud-fest, and then a big cry-fest as I hose them off and drag them to the bath. Ben eats dirt like it's keeping him alive. I wonder if that kid's missing some nutrients in his diet or something, which is very unlikely seeing as how he eats more than the other two kids combined. But we love being outdoors right now and plan to enjoy the cool weather while it lasts.

Barney Butter, Wedding Bells, and Birthday Candles

My friend Sarah and I ran The Great Race of Agoura Hills last weekend. They have a great after-race party and had one vendor called Barney Butter. I told the woman manning it that that was my last name and she thought I was really cool (I've always thought Barney was a winning last name!) and gave me a shirt. It might not have made up for all of Chris' sacrifices for him to allow me to go to the race (we stayed in Agoura Hills the night before), but it is a pretty cool shirt. Check out barneybutter.com for more details. And yes, it's a gluten-free product and tastes great. I had a blast racing--thanks Sarah for the great trip and for always keeping track of me in the crowd!

Chris and I got away without kids for three whole days! Chris' old roommate finally (I'm kidding Pope!) joined the happily wedded masses and we got to attend. It's our second trip to Oakland for a wedding. Last year we went for his other roomate who finally got married (I'm not kidding, Trever). We reminisced, reconnected, and ate a lot of really good food. I felt like an adult eating tapas and traveling with a small purse. Chris and I basked in the quietude of a car without kids in it. If only Chris hadn't gotten the slide whistle from the wedding favor basket (the bride and groom gave out little games because they had gotten to know each other playing games)--it would really have been quiet the whole way home! And upon returning to the homestead, I seriously felt rejuvenated and prepared to better meet the challenges of the day-to-day. I spent the next three days playing a lot, cleaning a lot less, and generally enjoying my 3 blessings a bit more than before the trip. Thank you to Amy and Mom for holding down the fort. The kids had the time of their lives getting spoiled by Grandma. Ben clung to Aunt Amy (who he wouldn't stop clinging to when we got home-we confused him thoroughly about who his mom really is).

Lastly, we celebrated some birthdays this month. Lucy turned 3, Ben turned 1, his cousin Tommy turned 1 also, and my brothe Jaeson came out and had a birthday too! Look at the kids' personal blogs for more birthday party pictures soon, but I did want to include a couple of pictures from when my brother's family visited. We loved getting to know cousins Carter and Simon and having a house full of boys! And Sarah cooked some delicious mexican food. We miss you guys already! The picture of Carter demonstrates my favorite habit of his--if you ask him something he's unsure about, he'll decline respectfully with his hands forward saying "No thanks,"...and then some excuse. In this picture, I said "Smile Carter and Lucy!" And he said "No thanks, I can't really smile right now." The other two are pictures of Lucy and Ben on their birthdays.

Indulgent Grandmotherly Post

I'll preface this post by admitting that this will contain nothing but silly stories, cute pictures, and possibly boring information unless you think my kids are as cute as I do, and I'm not so close-minded as to think that that includes everyone (or even more than like 5 people). My kids are amazing, but you know what I mean. So here goes:

Lucy is SO independent. Whenever I try to help her with something, she shuts me down with an emphatic "I do it mysels!" I told her I'd paint her fingernails, but of course she had to do it herself. I figured I could just remove it after, right? I hovered while she painted her fingers. I tried to have her show it off, but this pic is the best I could get of her beautiful very berry manicure. Funny story: One night at the dinner table we heard a weird noise. Chris turned into ninja mode and got real intense listening and looking around. "What is that sound?" He kept saying. I heard it too, but wasn't as interested as him. "It's me, Dad!" Says Lucy. We just ignored her. "It sounds like a cat, but it sounds like it's in this room!" Sam was getting scared now. Chris kept investigating. He opened the window, walked into the next room, had us all pause and listen for awhile. This whole time, Lucy keeps saying "It's me, Dad, it's me!" Finally I look at her and notice the sound happens whenever she took a deep breath. She had been sick and was wheezing through her nose in the most cat-like way imaginable. So she had been telling the truth all along! And we didn't have a cat hiding in the kitchen after all.
We got TWO inches of rain over the last couple of days. I love it! The kids think holding an umbrella is a special privelege since it only happens once every couple of months. Ben splatted around aimlessly in the rain and loved it.

Ben likes combing his hair, wiping his head with baby wipes, and putting glasses on. I think he just discovered that he has hair, and it's all he thinks about. That and how he can get his hands on anything edible. Sam started preschool a few weeks ago. He goes every day and it's weird having him be a real pre-student and that means I've had to be a real pre-responsible mom! It's preparing both of us for the real deal when he starts kindergarten this fall. Did I just say that? Is he really going to kindergarten? Oi--he's growing up so fast! But he has made lots of friends at preschool and seems to like it. Only once so far has he tried to goldbrick it. He kept saying he had a headache as we were trying to get out the door. I reminded him that his good friend Carter had invited him over after school and if he felt sick he couldn't go. "Oh, it feels better already!" One more cute Sam story: We were eating a lemon meringue pie together. He started eating and said "Wow, this sure is rich!" I took a bite and agreed, "You're right Sam. This is rich!" Sam-"I don't think I can even eat it all!" Pause.....Sam-"This pie isn't even poor!" "Yeah, Sam, it's not poor at all!" Sam-"How did it get so much richness in it?" I didn't have an answer for that one.

Chris organized a little wrestlemania Barney style. It's a bit long. You get a good shot of Ben's tubby belly about second 42. Man, that kid can eat! And Nellie--there's some good moments of Lucy laughing from her toes, as you say.

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Supermom can't even open the mac n cheese box

This week I thought about the expectations I, and moms in general, set for themselves. I had trained for months to run a race that happened last week, but I got sick and, although I had hopes of kicking it in time, I couldn't race. I learned some things about myself. 1) I don't always listen to my body. 2) My body will shut down if I don't listen to it. 3) Optimism helps healing much better than wallowing about being sick.

And with the lessons comes some changes, hopefully. I hope to 1) Listen to my body and know when to take it easy (like running 5 miles before going to the doctor should have triggered that something was wrong with me). 2) Face unexpected trials with a more positive attitude, and 3)There will always be another race.

I thought about the unexpected trials others have gone through and feel embarrassed to say that this qualified as a trial for me--maybe it's better labeled a disappointment. I suppose I'm used to my kids causing changes to my plans all the time. I expect that. This was different. This time it was all me and I didn't like that. I thought I could will myself to overcome my weakness. But the flesh is weak, and believe it or not, that's all us moms are (although we must have an extra tough gene somewhere--just not a superhuman gene).

On a lighter note, how about those mac and cheese boxes? I have never successfully opened a box of mac and cheese by pushing in that half circle on the corner. It just hurts my thumb and dents the cardboard. Sometimes it rips a little hole in it, but it's so small it would take you all day to shake the noodles out. I usually just rip the whole top off the box. Please share any techniques that work for you. Maybe I'll make that Sam's first science experiment--inventing an easy to open mac and cheese box. I guess I've had more time to ponder these mysteries of the universe since I haven't been running the last few weeks.

So I admit my failures in this post. Failure to meet a trial with greater optimism. Failure to patiently open the noodles. Not failures altogether, but learning experiences. Chances to grow and be humbled. They are all around us.