A little tale of a mom and a son....

It all happened on a muggy July afternoon. A mother and son were having our daily "Mommy/Son time". This is where Son gets to choose whatever he wants to do with his Mommy while Sister is sleeping. This particular time, Son chooses Knex - these microscopic little pieces of plastic that you configure together to create something unique and interesting....at least that's the goal. So Son, being highly skilled in this area (definitely inheriting it from his father) proceeds to create a fighter ship fully equipped with 7 guns, rotating pieces, multi-dimensional shape, etc (seen in photo on left). Mother is both impressed and intimidated by it. Mother knows how to make pretty music or dancing, not put together battleships. Mother commences an attempt to at least equal Son's efforts. She puts together a hot air balloon (seen in photo on right). At which point, Son says, "Mom, it's gotta be something interesting like mine. Yours doesn't have an engine. It's gotta have an engine and yours also looks like a sqeaky toy." The moral of the story...when Sons get to be 7, they have high expections for Mother/Son time.....do your homework first.

A Walk Down Memory Lane... I saw this on my friend Laura's blog, and thought it was fun to reminisce a bit, here's a few instructions if you should feel inclined...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Sucka!!!!

I just saw a link for an IQ test and was interested what mine might happen to be nowadays. It says Sharon Stone's is 154....great bait - surely I must be smarter than Sharon Stone, right? I mean, she's blonde....and an actress (great judgement, right?) So I take a deep breath and put on my thinking cap like the teachers say. I try my very best and smoke is coming from my brain and my face is screwed up tightly like a lemon being squeezed to the pulp. I sigh an anxious breath of relief when I am done and hopefully await my either brilliant or you-so-dumb score........and then......a pop up comes on the screen and I need to give them all my information and do a survey and give them my kidney and my first born and then I get a $1,000 gift certificate to Target and then I might get my score. Obviously, I am not smarter than a third grader - or Sharon Stone. Look closely, she's laughing at me.

If you love them, leave them........Remember that Mormon ad about couple missionaries? If you're not Mormon or haven't seen that ad, this blog post is titled, "I wanna talk about me." I'll explain....I have designated this fall to be the months of ME. It's time for me to be 28 (I'm only 28? I feel like I've gone through as much as a 40 year old!)....and have some real adult social time with my girlz! And not be a mommy 24 hours a day 7 days a week (OK, not that bad - Shane does watch them a lot too) But, you know what I mean. I'm not very good at being persistent for myself and my needs ( I try, and then I feel bad or something goes haywire or this or that), so present me with a trophy folks, because I'm going to go have me-time! It's been 9 years of marriage, working 2-3 jobs to help pay for Shane's school, forgoing my degree for his and kids, putting my wants and health on the shelf, etc - which I do not regret one bit. But, saddle up, pack my bags....San Francisco and Washington D.C.....here I come!!!! Wahooooooo. Thanks to all of you who helped me realize I needed to jump on this opportunity to give myself a little of my 20's before they're gone! Can't wait to see my 8th grade buds in Washington D.C. and my high school girlz in San Fran! I can't believe how blessed I am with friends from decades ago who still keep in touch and stay my friend as we've experienced life a continent apart. And a big thanks to my nearby friends who wouldn't let me not go! I am overwhelmed and so incredibly grateful - I hope I can be as good a friend to all you as you are to me.

High School Memories

We gave him a summer buzz and a mohawk in between...then he got to use the buzzers and cut some off himself. Shane taught him how to make this tough look :-) It was so cute - he loved it!

Thunderstorm Buddies....

They got to sleep together in the makeshift guest room during the last thunderstorm. Max was so excited he was on his best behavior. He read to Ellie for 15 minutes which she loves and then I tucked them in and they didn't even play - they were out in 5 minutes. Look closely - he's holding her hand! They slept through the night and in the morning Max said Ellie woke up upset and he put his hand on her head and she went back to sleep. He picks and chooses his moments to be extremely good - glad he chose this one - it was heart-melting. One of those, "Ah, this makes everything worth it moments." Love his little swords there to protect them too :-) That's my Max - a warrior at heart.