Birthday Week

My actual birthday was pretty lame. Rob was post call, which meant that he wanted to take advantage of a "day off." In his mind, that means WORK! So, we ordered 10,000 pounds of Missouri River Rock--hired the neighborhood boys, and landscaped the yard. Happy Birthday to me, I know. But, my mom made it all better, when she flew in the next day and took me to The Capital Grille! I'd been wanting to go forever, and so that was my birthday present--mom and me downtown eating good food.  We ordered their lettuce wedge salad, french onion soup, au gratin potatoes, lobster mac 'n' cheese, and we each got filet mignons (mom got her sliced with onions and mushrooms). Heavens it was fun! And. . . they brought us free dessert since it was my birthday!

We then headed up to Iowa City for my niece, Mary's, baptisms. Dad flew into Iowa and then drove back with us down to Missouri, where he spent his vacation . . . working! Gotta love these guys! He fixed up our termite wall, fixed a broken faucet, and planted two new trees (since ours couldn't self-pollinate).

And he taught the boys to play checkers.

And as always, lots of stories. He and Robbie studied The Friend for a while, each taking some time to read together. Then I overheard him helping Robbie set goals etc. Always a great example.

Earlier in the week:

My friend Lori took me to get my first pedicure! Divine!

And on St. Patty's day--Ty requested Green Eggs 'n' Ham.

Robbie

Some of these pictures are totally old, but I've got to show them. This was taken right after Christmas; I think every child in America got some kind of rubberband loom (Robbie's was Bandaloom) and went to town making bracelets and necklaces. Robbie seriously went to school like this and KNEW he looked cool! Eventually the teacher had to ban all bracelets since they were such a distraction for all the kids. Can't imagine why. :)

Robbie is like me in almost every way. He thinks like me. His personality is like mine-- his emotion and fears . . . but there is one way that he is NOT like me. Poetry. I got all kinds of awards in elementary school for poetry--oh how I could feel all the emotions . . . I wrote about all things pretty like doves and crystal chandeliers . . . and in my world everything was "glistening". Robbie thinks like a scientist. Facts. This is his best poem of the year. I almost died laughing when I read it, but kept my cool. The kids were supposed to write about pumpkins at Halloween. Robbie's says, "I am a pumkin waiting for some one to pick me and carve me." Deep stuff, I know! Best part: Rob said in all seriousness, "What's wrong with it? It's good." Can't imagine where he gets it! :)

Robbie's teacher, Mr. Andreasen, is fantastic with the kids. He's a photographer and takes all kids of great shots of the students. This is Robbie at Skate Night.

One Saturday, all the kids and their families in the class met up at the school for a sled day. 

More Skate Night . . .

 More sled day . . .

First Day of School: All First Graders

Mr. Andreasen's 1st Grade Class. (Robbie is in light blue in the back row . . . left side.)

Pajama Day (Robbie is the 5th from the right)

I've learned to really love this class. I volunteer every week, so I know all the kids and teacher really well. It's great!

Robbie is doing fantastic in school. Already grade levels ahead in reading, writing, and math. He is a good boy, too, and everyone wants to be his friend. He is playing competitive soccer and baseball right now (it's crazy) and spends most of his freetime playing sports with the older kids in the neighborhood. Last week he scored three goals (soccer) in less than two minutes. He's been recruited by another coach for tournament play down in Overland Park--it's pretty fun stuff!

Ty

Man, I love this kid!!! This is Ty dressed up for Wacky Wednesday at his preschool! He was so excited and definitely looked the part!

 And this is him at his concert . . . always biting his nails when he's nervous. :)

These are his best friends at school because they are "good at sports" like Ty. (Ty, Cameron, Gavin)

Ty likes to be the funny guy. Well, sometimes that means he has to be the butt of the jokes, I guess. While coming back from my soccer game, Ty was in the back with Robbie and their friend Roman. Ty had brought scissors into the car (apparently to open fruit snacks in his future) and thought it would be way funnier to cut his hair instead--totally got big laughs; totally got his hair chopped off! Needless to say, he got a very good talking to about decision making and the dangers of doing something you know is wrong just to get attention from others. Robbie (who sat in the back and laughed) also learned a lesson about being a leader and stepping up when someone is doing something wrong. All in all, I am grateful we learned the lesson with something that can grow back!

Ty is very inventive. He decided talking on the phone was an inefficient way of using your hands, so he created this . . . I  didn't have the heart to tell him about headsets and bluetooths. Yes, he is clever, though.

I forgot to post these earlier. He made Valentines for everyone in our family. So sweet! He has quite an eye for art and loves symmetry.

And, cutest thing:

In preschool, they were learning about the food pyramid. The kids tasted all kinds of "strange" flavors and foods. On the list were sugar-snap peas, edamame, pomegranate juice, tomatoes, Asian pears, Rolo candies, Havarti cheese, pumpernickel bread, broccoli, cucumbers and more . . . a pretty good list. Now I am far from being a perfect mom, but one way that we have excelled is exposing our kids to all kinds of foods (I am proud to say that the last few times we've gone to restaurants, they've ordered milk instead of soda and carrots or apples instead of french fries. I'll never forget when Robbie ordered fish and a salad instead of a burger. :)) Anyway, when I went to go pick Ty up from school, his teacher immediately found me and said, "How do you do it?" She explained how Ty tried and loved everything (except the broccoli which he said was over-cooked--what a classy kid!) and the tomatoes (his one vice). The best part: the kids could choose what their favorite thing was. Pretty much all the kids chose Rolos, duh. Not Ty. He chose edamamme and pomegranate juice! Hilarious! He was the only child who had ever tried half of the stuff and explained to his classmates that pomegranate juice isn't half as good as the seeds! He was the star that day! So proud.

Family Ski Days

What a fantastic ski season!!! We made it to Snow Creek Ski Resort (30 minutes away) five times this year! Rob couldn't have had a better schedule--he was at Children's Mercy Hospital from January through March, so every post-call day, instead of sleeping, Rob made it family fun day! We skied. Took the kids out of school and to the movies or zoo . . . that's what I love about Rob--he always wants to spend his time with us.

But, this post is about skiing! Wow, this season was fun. Ever since I can remember, I've dreamed of playing with all of my kids--at the same time. Parenthood is divisive in some ways--he takes the older ones, while I deal with the younger etc., but this year the dream came true! All five of us were on the mountain at the same time! For the big stuff (yes, Rob took Jimmy on the biggest lifts and most difficult runs), Rob would tie a rope around Jimmy's waist to keep him from flying down the mountain, but on the easy stuff, we all just giggled as we'd zoom behind, with, and past each other.

Robbie is great. We took our 13-year-old neighbor, Dylan, with us a few times, and they would go off skiing together (yes, we're aware that Robbie is 7. He's just cool, so everyone wants to hang out with him. Seriously every teenager in our neighborhood lives at our house. It's nuts. But Dylan is a really good boy--kind of our second son since his dad lives in Columbia and he's an only child.)  Ty was madly in love with the terrain park--with all the jumps, pipes etc. He braved a few tiny ones, and accidentally went off a monster! :) And most improved goes to Jimmy! It was his first season, and he was a superstar! By the end of the day, Jimmy could ski off the lift by himself and go all the way down the small slope without an Edgy-Wedgy (the little contraption that holds the ski tips together)! Amazing!!!  Here he is!