August Birthdays

August is a popular month in our family. Not because school starts and the kids are excited to see their friends, not because we parents are excited that school starts and the house is all quiet for most of the day. August is a popular birthday month for us. In our little 5 person family there are 3. If you add in extended family the number balloons to 8. So instead of the single birthday wish, times 3, I thought it would be fun to write out some memories of my darlings that you may or may not have heard.

ERIC- He was my first experience with August Birthdays. One of my favorite funny stories about Eric happened one day when I picked him up from work, it had been a long day and he fell asleep as we drove down the freeway. You know that dream where you're falling and you wake up just before you hit the grount? Well, he had that dream only when he opened his eyes instead of seeing ceiling he saw out the front windshield. This gave the impression that he was still falling and his arms started flailing trying to stop the fall. Its a fun thing to harass him about.
Eric's entire family has a Mickey Mouse addiction, I believe it might be genetic. Poor Eric hadn't been to Disneyland in years, so I decided that since I had a 3-day weekend, we were going on an impromptu vacation. It was the best. The kids didn't know what was going on but they helped me pack up and I rushed Eric home from work under the impression that we had to drive all the way to east Mesa to visit them and back home. He stayed under that impression until we got onto the I-10 going the wrong direction. He told me I was headed the wrong way and I just ignored him. He started to get suspicious at this point and asked where we were going. When I finally confirmed that yes, we were headed to the Happiest Place on Earth, it took him a good 2 hours more to get fully ready for it. Usually he has months to Disney up and anticipate, so that trip took him completely off guard and remains one of my favorite because it got such a great reaction.
THE BOY- My darling boy was a little slow to decide to talk. So we were really excited when he started making sounds that resembled words. One afternoon, we went out to eat and The Boy came with us. He, like his father, is a big fan of motorcycles so he was bothered when I took his toy motorcycle away and put it in my purse so that he could focus on eating. Midway through the meal he points at me and very clearly says "psycho". This was a little unnerving and only worsened when we didn't understand and he got louder and more upset pointing at me and yelling "psycho". It took a minute or two for me to figure out that, much to my relief, he wanted his toy motorcycle returned to him.
Cute, but my very favorite story is something a little more recent. When the Boy was about 7, his dad asked him who the prettiest girl in the world was. He didn't even think about his answer just said "Mom now, but when I get married my wife will be." It is amazing what children learn from their parents, not by what is said but by what is shown.
THE BEAR-This little firecracker already has a few of her own stories on this blog. When Bear was 2 her big sister had a finger sucking problem. I was giving Belle a lecture on how it was bad for her to suck her finger and that no one else sucked theirs. I went through the entire list, mommy doesn't, daddy doesn't, boy doesn't and bear doesn't. Bear had heard this and for some reason decided to come to her sister's rescue and at that moment popped her thumb into her mouth. We are still fighting that battle with her to this day. Her sister stopped not too long after the lecture but Bear's choice seems to have stuck.
Well, I hope my darlings have very Happy Birthdays.

The visit from Omaha

The final visit in our marathon of company was great. My little sister has some really adorable kids. Bug, with the adorable smile, and T-man the mighty cat wrestler (T for short). They arrived late saturday/early sunday (the last one in July) and stayed till wed, (not nearly long enough if you ask me) something about getting Justin back to school and the kids back on a schedule that didn't drive Mommmmy crazy, in short, we're glad we got to spend time with them and hope to do it again soon. All the kids had fun, even the biggest ones. Eric and Justin had nightly golf competitions, there may be some harassment continuing via text (sorry about that Justin). As for the women, we were much more mature. It was wii olympics for us. My arms were sore for 2 days! We shopped a little, even ventured out with the kids (the Boy volunteered to stay home, wonder why? lol) and did a little shoe shopping. The girls really got into it.
Belle was excited cuz all the display shoes were her size and she tried on as many as I would let her. My favorite was this GIANT flip flop. Could they be any cuter?! T sure tried.
How can you not want to pick him up with that look on his face? I think he needs a cookie. He did pretty well with the dogs, and they were understanding enough to give him some space when he wasn't comfortable. Don't worry Mom, we kept a close eye on the dog/child proximity the ENTIRE time. Poor T did get knocked down once, but Sugar (in the picture on top) just gets so excited when Eric gets home from work. The kids went back to school today. It's fun and exciting, mostly cuz they don't have any homework yet. I'll get some more pictures up as soon as I remember that I own a camera, or have my phone on me, and remember to take a picture at the same time.