Believe

Today the boys went to see Santa. N was stoked. B and J not so much. I think B is still on the fence about whether or not the jolly fat guy is real, but he went and put in his wish "just incase". J was hilarious. Spent the whole morning coming up to me and asking if "Santa would be ok with me asking for ______" (insert what ever ultra expensive electronic gift you can think of here). He finally decided to just ask for a suprise. N wrote Santa a letter. I think he was assuming that Santas memory is as bad as mine is and he was worried that he might forget what N wanted. He had a great time reading the letter to Santa and listening to Santa tell him how proud he was of him for working so hard at being a good boy. Nothing makes that kid smile bigger then hearing how proud someone is of him.

Murphy's Law for Moms

I have wanted to take the boys to get a new picture done of all 4 of them for some time now. FINALLY yesterday I booked the appointment and at almost the exact same moment, we were once again, hit by Murphy's Law for Moms

Murphy's Law for Moms states that anything that can go wrong that would prevent you from capturing the perfectness that is your little angels, will go wrong. Sometimes its a random mud puddle that they "just couldn't go around" on the way into the photo studio. Sometimes its the hot dog that "just exploded" all over their brothers clean white shirt. And sometimes its a carpet that was just begging to be laid upon despite the fact that the Mom was so busy organizing everything to get the pictures done, that she didn't have time to vacuum up all the fur, fuzz and crumbs that are now stuck in their hair. But more often than not, when Murphy's Law for Mom kicks in, it usually means that someone is going to get hurt. And not in a discrete, hide it under the clothes way. It more than likely will be a BIG HUGE totally obvious wound of some kind that is IMPOSSIBLE to hide from the glaring eye of a camera lens.

That is what happened to us yesterday. Almost at the exact time that I was booking the appointment for 10:30 am next Saturday, (and wondering how the heck I was going to drag a teenager out of bed before noon, much less have him cheerful and presentable), my precious, perfect baby boy N was falling and hitting his eye off the playground equipment at his school. Of course, as is the norm for school injuries, there was no first aid performed, and when I went to pick him up, he had an eye that was so swollen closed that he said he was having trouble seeing.

And so now we wait, and hope and pray. Wait for the swelling to go down. Hope that when it finally does he is not left with bruising that will make him look like hes wearing purple eye shadow. And pray that none of the other kids get hit by Mr Murphy. Don't get me wrong, I know that its coming; but maybe, just maybe, this time, it wont happen until AFTER the pictures are taken.....wish us luck!

The Eyes Have It

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and I believe it, 100%. When I look into the eyes of any of the boys at any given moment, I can tell how they are feeling, what they are planning, and sometimes even exactly what they are thinking.

J is my scientific mind. He is always thinking about how things work, or how he can make them work better. He is the what if boy. He devours books almost daily. He will literally read anything that has print, from a cereal box, to a newspaper to an Occupational Bio mechanics text book. (I kid you not. He found the book while searching the shelves at the local thrift store and begged me to buy it for him.) There is never a trip out just the 2 of us that I don't answer a myriad of questions. Most of them are hypothetical and a lot of them are down right crazy, but I answer just the same because I LOVE that his brain is always on, that he loves to learn new things and that he is quickly becoming a walking book of useless knowledge just like his Momma. He is going to do great things with his life. I just know it!

B is my emotional/ passionate boy. He feels things deeply and is affected by everything that is going on around him. He's a lover AND a fighter and you never know which you're going to get from him from one moment to the next. He thrives on peace and harmony and HATES chaos. (Well, except for the chaos that is his room....that he seems to LOVE!) I sometimes refer to him as my little chihuahua with something to prove but I really think that if he had his way, the only thing he would do is bring about peace and harmony. Granted he is usually the first to attack, the first to fly off the handle and scream and yell but I think he is still trying to figure out his place in the world, where he fits in and just who he is. Yelling is just his way of being heard, because this boy wants to make sure that you know exactly how hes feeling, good or bad, and he'll do what ever it takes to make sure you hear him. I honestly believe that between 8 and 10 is the hardest time to be a little boy. He feels like hes old enough to run with the big boys, but he's still got some growing up to do before that can happen. Soon enough little man. Momma doesn't want you to grow up just yet.

N is my empathetic spirit. He cares about all living things and will do what ever he can to help. I remember last December when we were doing a good deed a day for the entire month, and he was so into it. And the idea has stuck. There are more times than I could tell you here, that he has done something completely random and then turned to me and said "I just did a good deed Momma!" This little boy makes me so proud! He will help people, animals, bugs, plants, you name it, he will do whatever he can to make sure that they get what they need. Even a simple trip to the grocery store turns into an opportunity to help. Just last week he was crawling around on the floor in the produce department retrieving all of the "runaway fruit and veggies", under the tables that the produce clerk couldn't reach. He came home a little dustier than when we left but I also know that the world was a better place. Even if it was just for that moment in time, when my little boy proved to all who saw what he did, that even the smallest gestures can make a big difference in someones day.

C is the joker. His mission in life it seems is to make people laugh. He is Mr Feelgood. His sense of humor is one of a kind, and I never know what to expect from him next. Sometimes this quality is to his detriment; like in school, where making people smile seems to come before getting good grades but how can I, in all good conscience, stop my son from wanting to make people happy? It may take him a little longer than the norm to graduate, but he will. Of that I have no doubt. And if he can make the world a little brighter in the process, leave an impression on even just one person who was having a bad day, then I'd say that he got the complete high school experience and then some. In a society that more and more seems to be self-serving and self absorbed, I am glad that my son has the ability to look outside of himself and cares about others. The world needs more people like him, for sure!

So there you have it. My boys in a nutshell. All of them completely different. Yet they are also the same because I have no doubt that they are all destined to do great things in this world, so long as they follow their hearts.

Leaves and Nuts

I had fully intended to write this post last night but, as frequently seems to happen, I took a horizontal position on the couch and never made it back up. Its a good thing I had the title saved into drafts, so at least its dated properly.

We had a fairly busy day today. Shortly after breakfast we headed off to the store to grab some peanut butter that was on sale. A peanut butter sale is always worth an extra trip out. Especially considering that my kids will eat peanut butter by the spoonful if they get the chance. I mean that literally, by the way. There have been a couple of times when J and B have made it down to the kitchen before anyone else (one time was the pair of them teaming up and raiding the kitchen in the middle of the night), and they will grab tablespoons and dig right in. I will find the spoons and the counter covered in peanut butter and the jar with huge divots out of it bigger than the ones Tiger Woods leaves trying to win the Masters. Peanut butter on sale = GOOD!

After pb shopping we raked and bagged the leaves, and of course had some fall fun. N was so excited. He just kept saying he wasn't going to help but that he would jump in them as soon as the piles were ready. So raking the yard turned into double the work but it was so funny to see him prepare for his dives like he was some Olympic springboard diver. He would stand there with his hands together, knees bent, looking like he was about to do a double twisting, inverted pike, and then flop into the pile with a HUGE grin on his face. I'll bet he would have done that for hours if I would have let him.

J had his first ever sleep over at a friends house. He was super pumped, and had his bag packed before breakfast. He did pretty good packing on his own too, well, except for forgetting his pj's, his tooth brush, and his sleeping bag. He got the essentials in though. Halloween candy, a book and his Baa Baa. Even at 12 he still finds comfort in the little blue sheep that my Mom and sister bought him when he was born. It just reinforces what I'm always telling them, no matter how old they are, they are always my babies.

B really enjoyed the fact that J was away tonight. Its not often that he gets to spend alone time with me, so once N was in bed, we snuggled up on the couch and watched TV for an hour. I feel bad sometimes that he seems to get the short end of the stick as far as individual time, so this was a really nice treat for both of us.

C was, well, C was pretty much MIA all day, except for feeding time. A typical day in the life of a 17 year old....out at a buddies all day (he slept over the night before) and then home just in time to eat dinner, change and head to work (the dreaded 6:30 to 2 am shift). I can tell I have a 4th boy in the house by all the missing food and the toxic waste dump that is his room, but most days, I barely seem him it seems. At least we have our weekly date to watch Modern Family together on Wednesday nights. Gives an old woman something to look forward to.

Of course because of our adventures with leaves, and N & J's hour of playing with the slugs in the garden, YUCK!!!, baths were in order tonight. N really enjoys his bath and part of that I think is the alone time with me. He will talk and talk, and I LOVE to hear whats going to come out of his mouth next. This time he asked if I could draw him a picture of the human body and write down all the proper names of body parts so that he would know what they were called. I told him that I'm not that great of a drawer, (I never really developed my skill past the stick figure stage), but that if he wanted to know what something was called, he just had to ask. So of course, being a 5 year old boy, he asked what the proper name for "nuts" was. After I caught my breath from laughing, I told him it was testicles, a pretty big word for a little guy to say at first, I soon came to realize. He now will tell anyone that he wants to try and impress, that boys have tentacles and girls do not.

I always knew that there was something fishy about boys.

Feeling My Way Around

I've decided that I want to try out the world of blogging. The main goal being to document from day 1 to day 365 a year in the life of my 4 crazy boys. I'm not sure if my goals are too lofty, if I'm biting off more than I can chew for someone just starting out, but I love my boys and I love to write, (or at least I used to before the extent of my writing was reduced to shopping list, permission forms, cheques to pay bills and early dismissal excuses), so I figured, what the heck, I'm going to give this a shot.

The plan for now is to dabble a bit here and there, and kind of feel my way around. See what works, what doesnt and kind of wing it for a while. And with any luck, by the time my "big project" starts in (GULP) 54 days, I'll know what I'm doing and produce something worth reading.

And so the journey begins. Its going to be bumpy, and I'll be the first to admit, most likely a little bit foggy at times, but a journey that I am hoping you will enjoy sharing with me. Here we go!