Playing with THE super heroes...

Oliver loves playing super heroes. Loves it. He will dress up in one of his many costumes or cape and mask sets and run through the house (with or without his brothers) on super hero missions.

Yesterday, after church, was no exception, however he had a new set of super heroes with whom he was running his missions. Here are some of the things we overhead Oliver saying on these missions (while running throughout the house):

"Jesus, you with me? It's over here!"

"Come with me Jesus, we gotta keep moving!"

And things like that (those are the two I remember clearly).


He would also stop and talk to God periodically.

"God, are you up there?"

"What are you doing God?"

Again, these are the two I remember the best.

We thought it was cute and funny at the same time, and a little heart warming too. You also have to wonder what exactly it was that they spoke about during Sunday school yesterday (I am so going to ask next week... and maybe sit in... clearly it was some good stuff!). Whatever it was, it's clear that it was very compelling to Oliver as he has a new set of heroes... THE ultimate super heroes actually.

Cookies and Crafts... with EIGHT boys...

The week of Christmas, I had all the six year old neighbor boys come over to decorate cookies and make some gifts for their parents. I figured keeping it to just the six year olds (and the twins of course), would be easy peasy. Um... well... what a nice illusion that was. It's not that it was hard, as much as it was loud and messy and a little chaotic at times. Sometimes I still forget that boys are very different than girls and don't sit still and quietly and neatly decorate cookies and do crafts. Boys and the words: sit, quiet and neat don't even belong in the same sentence.


The first thing they did was decorate gingerbread men and Christmas tree cookies. I have to tell you, I felt like the candy Grinch in his moment of epiphany. As I lined the table with bowls of chocolate chips - regular size AND mini, cinnamon candies, gum drops, M & Ms - regular size AND mini, snowcaps and green frosting, my anti-candy heart grew three sizes that day. Okay, really it raced and wondered what exactly I was thinking sitting large amounts of candies in front of eight young boys... and wondering just how many green smoothies I would need to feed my kids to flush it out of their systems.




In all the chaos that is boys, they all had a lot of fun decorating, comparing and most importantly eating the cookies. I made hot chocolate with marshmallows (the all natural, almost-not-even-worthy-of-the-marshmallow-name kind... hey, I had to draw the line somewhere, right?) for when they ate their cookies, which they loved.

Oliver decorating his gingerbread boy.

Collin doing the ONLY thing he wanted to do the entire time... eat the cookies.

Oliver's first finished cookie masterpiece.

Ethan's cookie... a robot. Another thing I forget, gingerbread men can't just be gingerbread men. Silly mommy.

Jayden's gingerbread man.


Andy's gingerbread man.

Jonathan's gingerbread man and Christmas tree.

Christopher's gingerbread man.

Aiden's gingerbread men.

After the cookies, I broke out a super cool fingerprint art book (Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book) that I had found. They made their dads a fingerprint lion and their moms a notepad with different fingerprint art at the top of each page. It was fun to see the creativity and care that some of them used when making these. Well, not Ethan, he was done. He wanted to play (in all fairness, he also had his six year appt that morning and two shots, one being tetanus which I personally think hurts a lot and feels like you have a baseball in your arm... it was taking its toll). But the other kids... it was cute.

I think the afternoon was a success and everyone agreed that we needed to do it again next year. I think by then I will be ready to do that again... and we will have finally found (and cleaned up) all the candy that was somehow tossed about the first floor of the house during those few hours (seriously, how do boys manage that?!).

Remember us?

Hello family, friends,... blog world. Remember us? Themooressix?

We are still here, but one of us... me... is utterly and completely overwhelmed with increased work priorities and traveling, homework, housework, other commitments and this and that... basically just life but in overdrive. BUT, I am going to find a way to start posting again, after all I haven't even made it to Christmas 2010 yet in our family blog world/my only scrapbook of the kids {GUILT}.

And I miss it. I miss sharing the stories (and I have a lot!). I miss connecting with other mommy bloggers (I also haven't had time to read as many as I had). I am also concerned that the kids will look at the printed book of the blog (another dream of mine I have yet to do {more guilt}) someday, and will wonder what happened to entire months of 2010 and 2011 where I blipped off the face of the earth in blogging terms. Okay, I'm sure they will be fine... but still... where did those months go?! Can I have them back? *sigh*

Here's my random, almost-spring, day-before-St. Patrick's Day resolution (you know, since I clearly missed the New Year's resolution time frame)... I am going to blog at least once a week for the rest of the year... on this blog... about themooressix and their goings on... however exciting or boring it is (I really hope I find my groove again, even I can't stand to read my seriously boring posts!).

Okay. There is it. In writing. Documented.

Next up... Christmas holiday action 2010. :)

Ethan's Celebrate Me Day

At Ethan's kindergarten, the month of December is filled with "Celebrate Me" days where one child a day gets to talk all about themselves... basically.

On Ethan's Celebrate Me day, Steve, Grandma Kathy and I attended. Ethan had to fill a shoebox with things that represented his likes, hobbies, favorite things, etc. He also drew a life size image of himself (with daddy's help).

In Ethan's box were... take a wild guess... Star Wars figures and Star Wars Legos... of course. He also brought with him a photo album that I made of family members for him when he was a baby, some other photos, a trophy from soccer, a plastic pizza piece (to say he loves pizza), shells from FL and the map of the Magic Kingdom. After he went through all that, the class got to ask him questions. It's pretty funny to hear the questions (and repeats) that kindergartners ask!

Here are some photos of his moment in the spotlight...

Grammy Kathy, Steve and Ethan right before the spotlight on Ethan.



After he was done, Ethan along with the kids that sit at his table went out to the hall and cut out the life size drawing of him.

And here is the little ham in front of himself... wearing his goofy smile.

Ethan did a great job, especially since he is so shy. What made me laugh was at one point he was asked a question which he needed to ponder apparently. He crossed his legs, put his finger on his chin, rolled his eyes up a little (to ponder), repeated the question and then said "...hmmmmm, let me think about that..." then answered. Maybe you had to see it, but it was so funny/cute/grown up all at the same time.

Ethan's Sixth Birthday - The Family Party

We had Ethan's family birthday party in mid December; it was, as you might guess, Star Wars themed.

I made a light saber cake for the occasion. Despite my thoughts on just how easy it would be, after all it's just a long thing simple looking thing, it was not easy. I forgot about how cake edges that have been cut do not like icing... or like it so much that it takes huge chunks of cake with it every time you drag the knife of icing across. The remedy? Sending Steve to the store for three more containers of icing *and pronto!*... yep, this baby is one giant slab of green icing, on one little cake. So, yes, it goes against everything I normally stand against with the kids: tons of sugar and food coloring. *Sigh* But you only turn six once.

It's not my best work, as I did not have time for details since I had the icing crisis of 2010, but the birthday boy loved it and that's all that matters.

Here are some photo highlights of the party...

Ethan with his cousin Isaac, whom he adores.

Check out the smile on his face...

Grandma Dee's birthday is right before Ethan's so we always have a dual party. Here is a photo that everyone (who is doing it) hates to have posted... blowing out the candles. Sorry, I love the faces, and have to post those photos!

The birthday people:

Happy boy opening gifts...

Oliver getting some love from Papa, with Aunt Amanda looking on.

Collin helping cousin Samantha rock. He really likes her; it's pretty cute.

The boys putting together a Lego Star Wars ship, with the help of Uncle Kurt.

The cousins, and grandma, playing Star Wars Trouble.

The best photo of all the attempts at a group shot at the very, very end of the night... you know, the best time to try to take a photo, when the kids are tired and coming off a huge sugar high... NOT. If only I would remember such things BEFORE the end of the night (and when the entire family was there). BTW Steve... nice...

The party was a lot of fun and Ethan was very happy to share this day with his family. To our family far away, we wish you could have come too... actually, we just wish you lived closer.

Happy birthday Ethan and Grandma Dee!

Ethan's Sixth Birthday - The Kid Party

As you know, Ethan turned six years old in November (yes, I am still blogging in the past... I may even get to Christmas by February!!). This year we had his birthday on location. Ideally, boy parties should be outside where they can run and jump and be boys, but it's typically either snowing or super cold (or both) on Ethan's birthday, so we just decided to find a big place inside where they could do that (as our house is not really a great an option for that... so we have found). After much debate and consideration, we ended up at a bounce/rock climbing/game place.

Here are the highlights...

Super cute R2D2 cake made by a friend of a friend (thanks Michele!).

The first part of the party was in a game room which had shuffleboard, air hockey, some video games (Wii type really), an air nerf gun (for shooting small balls at a target) and a small rock climbing wall.

Then we moved into the party room where they had cake and ice cream and opened gifts.

I could not get Ethan to just look at me while they were singing happy birthday, he was too intent on the juice.

A happy cake eating birthday boy.

After that, the last half of the party was in the big inflatable room with the giant rock wall. I'll be honest, it was hard to get good photos as there were kids running all over the place at lightening speed. I have a ton of photos from this portion of the party showing blurs of children, literally, blurs. I was really disappointed when I got home and looked at the photos and saw this, especially since I found I had hardly any good ones of the birthday boy himself. Steve reminded me though, that just because there aren't photos, it doesn't mean he didn't have a good time. And he's right, they all had a great time, especially Ethan.

The giant rock wall. The kids had to have harness and an employee supervised. This was a big hit with the kids, however Ethan had no interest.

Oliver and Collin on the slide - notice Oliver going head first (a no no by the way).

My attempt to get a photo of the room. The rock wall was to my left side. There were four inflatables, you can't see them all.

Ethan and Andy coming down the giant slide. One of the few photos of I have of Ethan, as he didn't stand still for one second. I love this photo though, it is of pure joy.

Steve and Collin on the slide at the end of the obstacle course (Steve had to help Collin through it).

Oliver getting some help from David in the obstacle course. Oliver did really well, as you know he thinks he is six years old, but towards the end he was getting really tired.

Andy, Ethan and Jayden... I begged him to sit for one moment so I could get a photo! LOL

The whole happy group.

The party was a success based on the smiles and laughter, as well as some tears when it was time to go.

I asked Ethan on the way home if he had a good time. He said, "I had the best time ever and it was all because of you. Thank you mommy, you are the bestest mommy ever. I love you."

Uh, wow... *warm fuzzy*... I think I got the best gift of all.

The case of the missing muffins...

The scene of the crime:

Two missing applesauce multigrain muffins (okay, you'll notice another half missing from an earlier crime).


Facts:

• Mother reports she heard suspicious, but strangely quiet, clinking and then the thunder of small feet.
• One known felon resides in home, along with known accomplice.
• Trail of crumbs leading to family room.

Case solved:

Accomplice:

Mastermind (hiding behind ottoman):

My future's so bright...

I've got to wear shades...

"Oh no they didn't!"

I almost forgot to share a story from our trip home from vacation. Which, now, makes me laugh... but not so much at the time.

We were at the airport for about two and half hours waiting for our flight. Some of that was just trying to get there early, some of that was a flight delay. The boys did well during this time but started to get really antsy towards the end of this wait. I don't think I need to tell anyone who has small children what happens when you put antsy children in very small quarters where they can't move much and there are a lot of people surrounding them. And so my story begins...

We got on the plane... a very, very hot plane. Found our seats at the back of the plane (Southwest seats families after handicapped and Group A, so to find five seats in a row you are in the back of the plane at that point). Immediately the twins, start asking for the DVD player, as they now knew (going home) that we had one. I start searching for it, knowing that they couldn't even watch it until we took off. The sweat began... I couldn't find it anywhere. I started to panic that I left it at Grandpa and Grandma's house... I started sweating even more as the twins started upping the volume of their inquiry to an angry demand. Finally I found it. Whew!

The next issue, the twins wanted to watch it then and there. Steve thought, incorrectly, that showing them all the movies we had so that they could pick on and thus waste some time would be a good idea. Not so much. Turns out Collin was insistent on Thomas and Oliver wanted Rescue Heroes. At this point it became a tired, wound-up, pinned-in debate between them:

Collin: "Homas! We watch Homas!"
Oliver: "No! I want Rescue Heroes!"
Collin: "Homas!"
Oliver "Rescue Heroes!"
Repeat another 20 times.

We tried to intervene and suggest others and at some point, I am not sure when or how, they both calmed down for a mere millisecond to ask for Scooby Doo. There was no Scooby Doo option. That lead to both scream crying for Scooby Doo.

Collin: "Hooby Doo!"
Oliver: "We want Scooby Doo!"
Repeat 50 times

Yes, it was that bad. I was a pool of sweat at this point. No snacks, drinks, toys or anything could stop it.

So the not-so-helpful male flight attendant goes over to them and says, to two clearly tired, spent, too far gone twin three years olds, "Boys... what seems to be the problem here?" Seriously? Then "Will you please stop crying?" Seriously boy wonder... do you have children? Then, "Lookie, I brought you these coloring books and a colored pencil! Yipee!" People, it was a sheet of paper folded in half with Shamu on it and a colored pencil the same size as the ones by the computers at the library. No, didn't work. Shocker. Ticked them off more actually. Screaming continued.

At this point I heard a passenger mutter "Do you have a Scooby Doo DVD you could give them for the love of ..."

Gulp. Sweat. Sink in seat.

Thankfully, about five minutes after that, the plane took off. At that point we had something real and exciting to show them that actually interested them. They slowly stopped crying as soon as we started moving and altogether stopped when we took off as they were mesmerized looking out the window. At that point, when they became silent for the first time since we sat down five hours... er, I mean, 20 minutes earlier, the ENTIRE back half of the plane broke into loud applause and cheers... including the male fight attendant.

After the thought, "Oh no they didn't", came a lot more sweat. Red face. Sink in seat. Start praying it lasts the entire trip, and that if it doesn't that they don't ban together as a group, open up an emergency exit and throw the twins out.

And luckily the view from the window of the plane and everything getting smaller below excited them. They actually were cute little three year olds again, talking about the sky, sun, clouds and small houses and cars. When they were just starting to loose interest, Steve quickly popped in a DVD (that he picked) and turned it on. They happily affixed their attention to the screen and didn't say another word the rest of the flight. I have never been so grateful... or sweaty.

Lunch with heroes...

Super Heroes that is.

We took the boys to have lunch with Batman and friends the Saturday before Halloween. This event was at the zoo. It was lunch and also a little skit put on by Batman, Robin and the Joker. It was a little, well, cheesy. But the kids seemed to enjoy it.

After the skit, we were able to get photos with Batman and Robin, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. They had a blast! And I got a little treat too... read on...

Batman and Robin:

It cracks me up because we have a couple photos of this and in all Ethan's head is held high... like he is among those of his own stature.


Face caricatures were included and super cute:

Wonder Woman:

I think I have six photos of them with Wonder Women (bless the patient people waiting) because I could not get Collin to stop looking at her lasso... I'm pretty sure that's what he was looking at...

Green Lantern:

Funny story on Green Lantern: Backing up to coming to the lunch - it was kind of a hectic morning and I might have forgot a couple things... little things... you know, like the tickets and um, my zoo pass. No big deal. AUGH! Though time was tight given the extra steps to get in, we still made it in time. As we approached the entrance of the lunch, I was a little panicked about not having the tickets and told the lady that when it was our turn. She told me not to worry, that they had a list, we were on it and to "Enjoy! Green Lantern is for you." I didn't think anything of what she said as my sole mission was getting us in and getting decent seats. However, once Green Lantern came out, after the show... her words repeated in my head. "Uh wow... ohhhh, now I get it... and... W.O.W."

I'm sorry boys, it is clear mommy's head was other places... Oliver's mask is all askew in all the photos (in this one his left eye is completely under the mask and the bottom of the mask is midway through his right eye) and Ethan's bow is in his face... both are things I would always fix before photos... um, when there isn't a ... well just look at him!

And this one was clearly not taken of the kids at all... and I didn't realize I had even done that... consciously at least... honest...

Well... the lady at the entrance did say "Enjoy! Green Lantern is for you".