Listen here, Little Miss.

One of the perks of having boys is that by and large we've been exempt from friendship dramas that can dust-up in even the youngest of social circles. In a combined four years of preschool and one year of elementary school, to my knowledge my boys have never really experienced friendship drama (that drama can be so major when you're a young girl though!). They've never really expressed hurt feelings over who's best friends with who, who sat by who, or who paid more attention to someone else. I honestly don't think boys even notice those things. Both boys make friends pretty easily, treat others kindly and know how strongly we feel about treating others the way you want to be treated. (That's not to say they've never had hurt feelings. That has primarily come in the form of snubbed greetings by other children they thought were their friends. That hurts them immensely, but I can't make other children acknowledge mine, and some parents don't encourage their children to acknowledge them either. We're working on appropriate ways to handle that kind of rejection.)

Anyway, Aiden was not so lucky to avoid the drama today and it went down right in front of me! Since Aiden attends Kindergarten with a ridiculously lopsided 18 girls and only 4 boys (I'm so not over that for him) some of that just can't be avoided. He has the option of three other boys to play with (and they're spread all around the room) or making friends with the girls. Fortunately there are a few girls who don't mind playing with boys (and those that mind a lot- he asked one little girl to come over for a playdate at the Valentine's party and she turned right to her mom and said, "I don't want to have a playdate with him." It's mean. And hurtful.). Anyway, he likes Brea though, and has since the first day of school. She's spunky, she keeps up with the boys and apparently they're in love. ;)

So as I waited for Aiden to run to the van at Kindergarten pick-up today, I heard a little girl's voice yelling after him and it wasn't all that nice, "Aiden, WAIT!" "Aiden WAIT!!" "Aiden, WAAAIT!!!"  I thought maybe this little girl was trying to flag him down to give him a birthday party invitation or something, but...NO. She followed him to our van and wagged her little finger at him while I sat there, mouth agape, "Aiden, you're not allowed to sit by Brea at circle everyday, because she needs to sit by her friends too." 

Can you imagine? It takes some serious guts, or lack-of-smarts to march up to someone's van and tell them where they can and can't sit in their Kindergarten circle time, RIGHT in front of their mom. Aiden just nodded. He didn't really have the words to deal with what she was saying and frankly she wasn't interested in a response.  Hopefully he has the words now though and hopefully he'll continue to sit by whomever he pleases. As long as he's being nice to everyone and listening to the teacher, then where he sits is his business. Do you hear that, Little Miss? This Mama has spoken.  :)

Project Life 2012

For me there was no question that I would work on another Project Life album this year. I've absolutely loved working on these albums the past 2 years and I've been so proud of the results from them at the very end. Not to say that it's been easy, but for me, it's easy in that I enjoy working on it, it's never a chore. It's easy for me to sit down at night and update a few pictures/words at a time rather than try to go back and document something weeks, months or years after it's happened. I'm 100% okay with very little embellishing, keeping things simple and letting the designers of Project Life do all of the hard stuff. I simply take pictures of the things we do, slide the pics into the pockets and take a few moments to journal my thoughts.  

I ordered the Clementine album and Core Kit to document our family in 2012 and I love it.   

I also ordered the Cobalt kit for updating my kids' albums (their sports pictures, school pics, Church performances, etc.). I'll share more on that later.

For now, here's a quick glimpse at some of our 2012 pages....

Todd's birthday, which I never blogged about (I'm a horrible blogger), has been completely documented and tucked away into my PL album and ultimately that's more important to me. 

I've included lots of the kids' schoolwork/artwork and bits of memorabilia from the many things going on in our lives. I've been pouring a lot of time and energy into helping pass a Levy that our community will vote on March 6th, so there are lots of things tucked into this album from the various planning meetings, Board of Education meetings, emails and such that have taken up most of my time in January and February. I'm pretty sure my kids will have NO doubt about how passionately I support their right to a great education (and the 15,000 other students in our community) and that I'm willing to put my time and energy into that for them. I see this as an opportunity to show my kids what really matters to our family. And I realize I'm totally off the subject, but this pretty much permeates every thought and conversation I have lately. You should try living with me. :)   

 Oh, and one more thing ....This is the only album I plan to do in 2012. I plan to put all of our memories for the year in this album. I don't foresee myself doing any additional, full-page, traditional scrapbook pages. If I get the urge, I can always change my mind, but going into it I'm planning to keep it simple and contained within this framework. 

Projects

Our home is always a work-in-progress and January has been GREAT for wrapping up projects that we put on hold over the holidays. 

The pictures aren't great (I'm incredibly impatient with my camera), but will at least show you that we're moving right along.... 

Todd painted and rehung the book wall. I'm in love with it! It's exactly what I wanted. I purposely chose not to place books on the top shelf, but rather placed letters and artwork from the boys. My fear was that if there were books on the top row that Garrett wanted and couldn't reach he would climb the shelves to get what he wanted. He can hook those toes around anything. When he gets a little taller, we can make the switch. :)  

 Before paint: 

After paint: 

Todd built the laundry stand we've wanted ever since we moved our laundry room to the basement and converted our old laundry room to a make-shift home office. I love it! It gives me plenty of space for three big laundry baskets (I wish I could say that the laundry never spills over, but that wouldn't be true) and raises the front loaders off of the basement floor.
This was the inspiration. 

I've been looking for artwork for the boys' room for quite some time. They have a fairly large wall that used to hold their bookshelf, but now that we've finished the book-wall and have all of our books on the landing we needed something else for that space. Enter the Lego table. 

Previously the Legos were in the playroom.
Bad idea. Legos were everywhere.
Now they are fairly contained to the bedroom and not mixed in with the 742 other toys in the playroom. 

Anyway, I needed artwork above that space and Etsy.com was the answer. 

The collage of art isn't complete, but we've got a good start. I wanted it to reflect all of their interests right now, so I combined their love of airplanes, dinosaurs, Legos and Superheroes.
I'm waiting on a Robot print to be delivered. 

I love that it's bright, fun, eclectic and boyish. It just fits. (Again, there is a piece missing; I'll take photos again when it's all done). 

That's it for now!

:)

January

January started with a whirl-wind, fun-filled trip to St. Louis to visit Todd's family. We stayed with Todd's sister and brother-in-law and their 4 children. All 6 of our kids had a blast together. We didn't hear much from the kids (unless of course they were hungry); they were too busy shooting Nerf guns, playing Wii, air-hockey, hula-hooping and who knows what else to be bothered with us. :)

We also spent a day at one of Todd's brother's houses. 

All together there were 8 kiddos together for the day, 

7 of them actually agreed to be in this photo....

 On New Year's Eve we went to see the Arch. We had visited once before when we were actually residents of St. Louis (almost FIVE years ago now!). Aiden was only a year old then and Garrett wasn't even thought of yet. 

That was then....

This is now....

The view from the top is always amazing and as the kids get older their observations change, their memories change and, well, it's just fun to be with them. :)

 What wasn't so fun (even for Todd and nothing bothers him) was that we were up in the Arch on a VERY windy day- crazy windy and you could feel it!
The Arch swayed and lurched in the wind, and that's just not really my thing. :)

 We tried to gather the kids at the base of the Arch for a photo, but the wind made that nearly impossible. 

Away from the base and during a lull in the wind, my sister-in-law managed to get a great family shot for us though. 

We had a really good time on NYE and have decided that it's really "Garrett's holiday". It's the one holiday where acting loud and crazy and running around with your pants off is not only okay, it's encouraged. 

Or maybe that's just how Garrett interprets it. Either way, it just fits him. 

The adults played games, ate LOTS of food and had a really good time. 

The kids did too....

 They played, watched movies, drank sparkling cider and got to stay up until midnight. 

Which they loved....

Good stuff and that's only the beginning of January. 

Next up...Todd's Birthday. :)

The 2nd Half of December

I'm picking up where I left off with the 2nd half of December, because we're cruising quickly through January already and time sure isn't slowing down! 

On December 17th, we celebrated Aiden's 6th birthday at Dave & Buster's. It was the one and only place he wanted to go, because as much as I'd like to deny it, he is a video-game loving kid. In almost every photo I have of him at D&B his eyes are squinted and starting off at some bling-blingy thing. 

Case in point....

"Here's your smile, Mom. "

Miraculously I got a smile from Garrett though! 

We had a really fun, ear-splitting good time and although I would like to say that Aiden's birthday party was about this... 

 and this....

The truth is, it was all about this... 

 And this....

And because he really is an awesome kid, I'm so okay with that. :) 

Shortly after Aiden's birthday he had to have some dental work done that required anesthesia. Yeah, it stunk, but he came through it with only one complaint- the shot they gave him in his arm. I'm just relieved it went so well and that it's OVER. 

Later that same morning, Garrett stole the show and my heart at his Preschool Christmas program. 

He performed and sang and had a really good time up there.   

 

 I'm very proud of how well he's doing at preschool and happy that he loves it so much.  

Christmas Eve garnered one of my most favorite memories ever. 

 

 I hope I never forget the memory of my 2 boys performing so beautifully during their Christmas program at Church. 

Aiden had a speaking part in the program that he knocked out of the park with poise, confidence and CHARM. 

 And Garrett rocked a Wiseman costume like I'm pretty sure no one ever has before. 

After that smashing performance we got all ready for Santa and his reindeer... 

 And woke up to all good things on Christmas morning. 

 One of the things that I love MOST about Garrett is his unabashed enthusiasm for...Everything. 

But especially boxes that are wrapped in paper. 

It matters not what is inside that box, just that he gets to tear through the paper. 

I want to bottle that kind of enthusiasm. :)

 One of the things I love most about Aiden? 

His confidence in knowing he's a rock star. 

Wouldn't it be great to wake up every day and just know that you rocked? 

We had our traditional breakfast brunch- a casserole that I make the night before, pop in the oven as soon as we wake up and eat when it comes out of the oven (also happens to be the same time we're done unwrapping presents). It works for us and we love it. 

We did a low-key lunch this year (this recipe) that was delicious and got the job done, because while we do enjoy eating and cooking (sometimes)....

On Christmas day, we would much rather do this...

and this...

than spend the day in the kitchen. 

 The only negative to Christmas day? 

Poor Garrett had a terrible cough that seemed to come from nowhere and just wouldn't let up. 

 He spent an exhausting part of his day coughing and coughing. 

It only lasted about a day, but it's no fun to be sick on Christmas. 

 Our December wrap-up wouldn't be complete without blogging about our awesome trip to St. Louis for New Year's Eve, but that deserves a post all it's own (and I have to hit publish on what I've shared so far or it's never gonna happen).
So..NYE- details to come! ;)