Super Six/Sick Silas

Silas is 6 now...finally!  He just couldn't stand being five.  He wanted to be 6 like Maddie.  I haven't had the heart to tell him Maddie is 7 now.  Our schedule on Tuesday (actual date of his Birthday) was crazy busy so we celebrated the night before.  On the day of his Birthday I got a call from the school nurse 5 minutes before school let out saying that my Birthday Boy had just barfed.  Ugh! Good thing he was already able to enjoy his cake and presents.

He ripped through his gifts so fast it was a whirlwind of flying paper and bows.

Silas made my life easy by wanting a rainbow chip cake that he wanted to decorate himself.

We love Silas so much and have been so proud of his efforts and advances in school. He's been stubborn about learning and has wanted everything to be on his own terms.  In addition to being stubborn he's very competitive.  On the Meet the Teacher night Silas noticed some kids in his class reading.  He was initially intimidated but quickly decided to get serious about school.  We've been playing flashcard games with his numbers, letters, sounds and sight words everyday after school.  In the last 7 weeks he's gone from knowing about 10 letters (uppercase only) to sounding out and reading his beginner reader books to me every night.  He loves school and has really given his all to do well.  Happy Birthday Silas!

Weekend of Sports

Pre race jitters

 Elias had his 3rd Cross Country meet on Friday.  We've decided that CC is so much nicer to watch than football.  The races last less than 20 minutes and when your child is done racing you can take him home.  Caleb noticed that in general the parents of runners are much thinner than the parents of football players.  Guess we don't fit that requirement but Elias is still thin.  His time at the second meet was better than this one so we won't talk about that (other than to say that his coach had him run 6.5 miles the day before...ummm that's not how you prepare the day before a 2 mile race...hello).

 This was at the beginning of the race when he still had steam.

 Almost done... now he looks winded.

Silas had his first soccer game on Saturday. His team only had one 20 minute practice the Wednesday before so they were not very prepared.  The ages for his team are 3 to 5 so he's the oldest on the team.  Sadly, this is his first time ever in an organized sport. I know GASP!  Last year was a rough year for me which put most extracurricular activities on hold.  Well it didn't matter that it was his first season cuz he rocked it.  The kids all get equal time on the field so when he was out the other team scored like crazy on us.  When he was in he scored like crazy on them.  There are a lot of cry babies on his team which drove him crazy.  Parents were literally shoving crying little kids out to the field so they could stand in one spot and not move.  When Silas came out and was watching the other kids have their turn he said to me. "Why are my teammates just standing there? They're not even trying to get the ball." Even a 5 year old noticed.

 Pregame picture.

Silas throwing the ball in from the sidelines.

Sweaty boy at halftime. It was 90 degrees at 10am.

Pep talk...love the little girl in pink shorts.

Coach's wife spraying the kids down to cool off.

September

Elias got braces...I took a photo with my phone and magically deleted it somehow.  He only has bracket on the uppers for now.  They will be adding the lower ones later. He chose alternating blue colors to show school spirit...GO EAGLES! Elias was originally going to play football this fall but joined the Cross Country team instead.  He's never been a runner so this was a shock for all of us.  He's stuck with it though and showing great improvement.  He ran a 7m30s mile the other day for his personal best.  Caleb had me buy a stop watch so he can challenge to a mile race on Sat. morning.  We'll see how that goes.  Elias tried out for Off Season Basketball and made the team as well.  This was a REAL shock to us but we couldn't be any prouder of him.  He seems to have adjusted really well to Junior High.

Isaac started and quit a YMCA soccer league last week. We signed him up for the 8/9 yr old team.  His first practice was last Wednesday where he was the only older boy and had little teeny girls as young as 5 on his team.  Ummm that's not safe and for sure not ok.  As we walked on the field he got a look of his team.  Sharing the field was a tackle football team with boys about his age.  Yeah, pretty sure playing pansy soccer with the fru fru girls while watching an intense football practice wasn't going to work out.  It's too late to join the football team but he wanted off that soccer team whether or not he had any other sport for a replacement.  I don't blame him.  He's doing awesome in school again this year and has amazing teachers.

Silas began Kindergarten and we all had our fingers crossed that it would work out.  The first 2 days he wasn't buying into the structure and rules but by day 3 he decided he loved it.  He's done really well adjusting to his new life and complains every Saturday when there's no school.  I got a voicemail on Friday from his teacher letting us know how great he's been YAY! Then I got a note yesterday that he "spanked" another boy who'd been naughty to him. He's just a living example that for every action there is an equal or greater reaction.  Maybe Jake won't dump Silas' chips out next time.

Jude's 1st day of preschool.

Blowing out his candles.

Feeling pretty awesome with his weedwacker toy.

Ready for his surgery.

Jude turned 3 and was pretty excited about his Birthday.  I had planned on making his dessert for our Sunday celebration of his Birthday.  At about 8:30 Saturday he told me he needed a race car cake....ut oh...He was expecting a character cake of some kind.  Oops.  Caleb and I put Elias in charge and ran to Kroger and bought a sweet dragon cake that met his needs. While he were singing to him we had to keep lighting his candles.  Guess he didn't know that you're supposed to wait til the end of the song.  Yesterday was finally his inguinal hernia repair surgery.  Luckily we got bumped to the 1st case of the day so we didn't have to keep him fasting for long.  They gave him some medicine that made him tired and amnesic so he wouldn't remember being wheeled away from me.  He was like a wasted, drunk 3 year old. He was hilarious. The best thing he did was hold his hands right in front of his face and turn them back and forth and asked me with very slurred speech, "Mom, why are there no toys in my hands?".  They went in to repair his hernia and explore the opposite side to be sure it looked healthy... Sure enough they found a second hernia as well.  So grateful we waited for a Pediatric Surgeon!  The one we were seeing in Idaho wasn't going to check the opposite side.  He's recovering very well.  He's refusing all pain meds today and is happy and getting around.

Taking Jude on a "choo choo ride". Good thing he won't remember what they were really taking him for.

Snuggling Dad in the recovery room.  He was SO agitated waking up from the anesthesia.  He was angry, screaming and thrashing around for 20 minutes.

I just got back from my weekend in NYC with my bestie Kris and had an amazing time.  We were so proud of ourselves for being in charge of all our own travel without an agency and getting around like pros.  Kris wrote a great post with all her sweet pictures so I'll put the link to her post here for you to check out our trip. http://herewecomevietnam.blogspot.com/2010/09/260-breaking-it-down.html

Crazy Summer

Before Tami and I were married, she showed me a picture of her all dressed up in hunting clothes holding a pistol with a scope.  Without asking much about it, I assumed (and we know what that makes out of you and me) that she enjoyed the outdoors.  After our first September camping trip just over a month and half after being married, I started to ask her questions about her outdoorsiness.  It actually started out as a pretty big argument because we camped when it froze outside.  Anyway, she told me that in the picture all she was really doing was modeling because she didn't really like doing that kind of stuff.

I have to say that I am really proud of Tami right now.  She was completely out of her element this summer but was willing to do it because she knew how much it would mean to the boys.  Instead of just putting up with it for the summer, she actually learned to really like it and ended up having a great time.  The boys got to see and do things that they would never be able to do in the city.  For one, the suburban broke down and we had to get towed into a small town in Eastern Washington.  They didn't know vehicles broke down.  They got to be stranded in the middle of the lake when the boat broke down.  They hauled drinking water from the marina, hauled garbage out to the park, fixed the boat motor, put a new garage door opener on the boat house, lit fires, caught fish, cleaned fish and ate fish, learned to wake board, ski on two and slalom, hauled, split and stacked wood, drove boats, learned to dive, worked at a gun show, went to Silverwood, road fourwheelers, played with cousins and aunts and uncles, went to church at a small branch and most importantly, spent a lot of time with grandparents.

After all the things the boys did, you would expect that they grew the most.  The crazy thing is that Tami seems to have grown more than all of them.  She became very indepedent and helped the boys with just about everything.  Before this summer, she knew boys and the types of things they liked but I think she now understands boys and is willing to do whatever it takes to teach them and challenge them in new areas.  I better post this before she gets a chance to read and then delete this.  We will be posting more pictures soon.

We Must Be Getting Old

Elias turned 12 last week.  Wow do Caleb and I feel old!  The thing he wanted most for his birthday is a .243 hunting rifle.  We were unable to purchase a gun in Idaho because we're not residents here so we owe him one as soon as we get back to Texas. Turning twelve is  monumental on it's own but in addition he was also ordained a Deacon on Sunday.  It took a little work to get all the proper documentation to have him ordained outside of our home ward but thanks to a great Bishop in TX and great Branch President here in ID it all went smoothly.  The Branch President wanted us to do it before church started so that Elias would be able to help support their small group of young men pass the Sacrament.  We thought that sounded like a great idea. So 5 min. before church started Elias went up to sit on the front row and asked what he needed to do.  He was basically told, "your isle is that one" and that was it.  I have to say he did great with basically no instruction.  I guess he actually has been paying attention to how things are done.  I'm sure in a couple weeks when we get back to Houston he'll get a thorough instruction session.  In RS meeting the lesson yesterday was ironically on the Priesthood.  The teacher was an awesome lady who in looks and mannerisms reminded me of Kathy Bates.  She made a comment that for some years now she's been a widow and not had the Priesthood in her home.  She said that there is a marked difference from the time when the Priesthood was there and when it wasn't.  It occurred to me that as Caleb travels (which is frequently) our family has missed that presence in our home as well.  I'm so excited that we'll now have Elias as a Priesthood holder to fill in for Caleb when he's gone.  It won't be long before Isaac is right there too.  We're so proud of Elias and the decisions he's been making.  It's sad to think that he's 12 now and we really only have 6 more years with him before he'll be off on a mission and then to college.  Guess we better make the best of these next few years!

Vacation and Anniversary

I think Tami is just about to the end of her rope at the cabin.  She has learned more things this summer than she ever cared to know about boat motors, snakes, fishing etc.  For some reason, none of those things were ever on her list of things you must learn before you die.  After talking to her on the phone tonight, I can tell that she is pretty frazzled and we may have stayed a little long this year.  She keeps telling me that we only have 2 weeks left at the cabin.  That makes her pretty happy but I could spend every day up there. 

We were on vacation one time over our anniversary.  We were having so much fun in the water that I completely forgot.  Tami didn't forget but she made sure she didn't say a word until I was just about asleep from the crazy day of water sports.  She leaned over and said, "Happy Anniversary!!!"  Those are not excited explanation points, they are mad ones.

This year, I decided I better do something early or else I would forget.  I did get a little coaching from a friend so I can't take all the credit.  Tami won't be able to read this until I get to the cabin with my phone so while she reads, she will find out that I got her two tickets to see Wicked in New York on September 18th.  Happy Anniversary Tami.  I can't believe we have been married for 13 years.

Just Pictures...lots and lots!

I don't have a lot of time to blog so I'm just going to post some pictures.  We're sitting in the burb outside the Indian Reservation IT center stealing some free wireless so I'll update later.