Fat Tuesday...Lent...Spring weather

Fat Tuesday was a fun day for Lucas & Logan at school. Lots of fun activities, beads, and masks. Had I finalized my Lenten sacrifice a little sooner than Wednesday morning it would have been more fun for me as well as I would have been shoving candy in my face hand over fist but since I procrastinated my Tuesday wasn't that fat or really any fatter than normal!

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This year I decided to try to get the boys a little more involved in the Lent concept. While they are still too young to feel the Catholic guilt to make a Lenten sacrifice and stick to it to the end, I thought that Logan & Lucas could pick something a just try. I guess I'm not very good explaining it as I keep answering the "Why" question over and over. Here's our sacrifice and status:

Lucas ** Being Naughty at school ** 1st day not so successful

Logan ** Milk; Killing Lucas;??-needs a real idea ** Lucas is still living

Steve ** Night snacking ** Still in it

Shannon ** Candy ** Still in it - gum is not candy!

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Yesterday was fabulous weather. Just needed a little more sun. We played out side on the "playground". I think I have a nearly 3 year old that is out growing the baby swing. As you can tell we haven't gotten all of our burning done from the ice storm of '09. Front yard is done now it's time for the back. I'd like to say Steve will get it done this weekend but we all know this weekend is all about the birthday girl and I'm not sure how burning has anything to do with Shannon-palooza. Maybe if we had some marshmallows and beers....

Houston

Logan and I took a mini vacation to Houston, just the two of us. We left last Thursday and returned home on Sunday. The method of transportation...airplane (did you really think I would drive that all by myself? NEVER!). That was the first time for my little man with it came a range of emotions. Nerves, panic, fear, excitement...and anyone who had traveled lately will relate to the impatience. Our flight was delayed seconds after printing the boarding passes. We were able to switch to a direct flight and give up our seats to Dallas to two ladies desperate to figure out how to recover their travel plans to Hawaii. That was our good deed of the day. It turned into several hours in an airport but was better in the end. With just a short wait in the Houston airport we greeted Kasey and Em as they exited the jet bridge from their flight. The rental car was quite an adventure. Now as most of you know I try to avoid driving as much as can and I live in a relatively small town. Not that I can't drive I just prefer not to. I can't gawk and talk when I'm driving. So it only makes sense that I was the driver all over Houston and not the city girl. I would like to say I conquered that big city pretty well. I only got lost twice but I blame it all on the psychotic Garmin girl I like to call "Garma". That crazy broad took me on a wild goose chase to Sonic and Gymboree. As my old boss used to say, "You're not lost is you end up at your destination." Using that logic, I guess we didn't get lost. My faithful back seat drivers and frequent critics enjoyed my adventurous driving that most certainly did not include hitting a temporary stop sign, running a red light late at night, or driving down a side walk. Absolutely none of that happened! Nana & Papa, Uncle Jamey and Julia joined us in Houston as well. We were able to spend a ton of time with Charlie and Henry (oh, and Uncle Jeff and Aunt Allie as well!). I only had to remind Logan 5000 a few times that we were in Houston to see his cousins not swim in a hotel pool. Don't worry he was able to make both happen and swim everyday. I asked him if he missed his brothers. His response was, "Naw, sometime I just need a break from them. They're kind of annoying." Well I missed them and they missed us.

We went to the Children's museum in addition to the main events of Henry's birthday party and the walk to support It's Might Heart in the fight against CHD. Henry had a blast at his party. All the kid wanted was cake, pates (plates) and poons (spoons)! Easy enough to make him happy! Henry really liked Logan. Not as much as he liked Julia, but he did love him some Logan. The walk was amazing and was very well done. There were 3-4 bounce houses, craft booths, games, face & hair painting, free fish, and more for after the walk. Several hundred people participated in the walk. A bunch of teams took the lead from team Henry last year and sported team shirts this year. Team Henry may not have been the biggest team there but Team Henry lead the way in raising $$. Sweet victory for Team Henry! While I am on Team Henry everyday, it was a real honor to be a part of Team Henry that day!

Both mom and kiddo had a great time together. I look forward to future trips with him and my other fellas.

Here is a video of Henry's fun time and a bunch of pictures we took:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Band practice on Valentine's day

Our Valentines day this year was a blast. We didn't celebrate in the traditional sense...cards, flowers, dinner, etc. Instead we had a family celebration...more like several families. We had Meredith & Connor plus The Boyles:Bob, Ann, Sydney & Nolan. We grilled out burgers and had cocktails. When this group gets together we always make something. This time it was cookies on a stick which turned out to be cookies with a stick baked in one of the pieces with the other pieces held together with frosting and sprinkles. In no way was anyone able to hold a stick to eat the cookie. Did anyone care...absolutely not. They all had fun making them, decorating them and eating them which was pretty much the objective. The highlight of the night was playing Rockband. Guitar was tough but between Sydney and Steve (absolutely not Bob or Meredith) the "band" was able to make it through several sets. Ann & Meredith (with several little assistants) rocked the drums while I cleaned house on the vocals with several duets...not about quality just timing. Pretty sure after a few more practices you'll be able to watch the "band" at Georges. Once during the evening I did shout into the mic, "I'd like to thank my mom" just for you Frost!

I'd like to think that this was something we could do with this group again and again but the Boyles are moving...BOO! I guess that's life in NWA. Hope everyone had a HaPpY VaLeNtInEs DaY!

Over in a Flash

Just like that the Flash's basketball season is over. And to be honest I'm glad about that. Logan had a pretty good time playing and he did develop his game some, but 6 6-minute periods of 1st & 2nd graders can be painful to watch. Hopefully we will play again next year and I'll probably help coach but I'm not sure if we will play in the Upwards league again. Not a big fan of having 1st & 2nd graders on the same team. The smaller, less experienced kids just don't get to touch the ball enough and build their confidence. The 2nd graders dominate the game. That can be discouraging to the some of the kids.

But my conservative kid got out there and played a game he had never played before with kids he didn't know and he had some fun doing it. We all know Logan's just in it for the uniform and the shoes but whatever it takes to get him to try new things...

Now it's on to soccer!

Kale's bedtime stall tactic #36

Well after bedtime, I'm sitting on the couch feeding my blog addiction and I see out of the corner of my eye the tippy top of a little blond head. Naturally I would assume it's a Lucas sneaking up on me to get his 45th glass of milk for the night. But Kale's MO recently is to quietly sneak out of bed to do whatever he chooses. So I slowly peak over the edge of the couch to find out what my little visitor needs. In my stern loving mom voice I ask what the heck he is doing out of bed. Kale responds, "Would you like me to potty in my pants or in my bed?" Absolutely neither I tell him. Kale firmly tells me, "Well then you will need to take me potty! Then you will have to 'nuggle me again."

Anything to stall bedtime!

Crafty

In cased you have forgotten I am just a little crafty. I broke out the sewing machine and whipped up 4 more tooth fairy pillows. Well they're not quite finished but they will be by the time we make our way to Houston. While they're not perfect I like to say they're made with love and that they have character. They will house a lost tooth perfectly and keep it safe until the tooth fairy trades it out for loads of cash for my precious nieces and nephews.

Names

Today I flew home from NJ. My flight was early which meant in order to shower, drive to the Newark airport, dump the rental and grab a bite to eat before the flight it meant I was up at 3:00 am CST. For this girl that is freakin' early! So mid day I was draggin A and called it a day at the office and surprised the boys by picking them up from school. Lucas was so excited he nearly ran out of his coat right in the middle of the street. Today was also Dining with Dad day which equates to the bookfair. Aw a good day...so in the car I began the inquisition into how their day was which turned into this conversation:

Log: I don't like me name anymore.
M: Why? I picked that name out just for you and I love it.
Log: I just don't like it anymore. I want to be called Paul.
M: Why Paul?
Log: I just like it so you and Dad and Lucas & Kale start calling me Paul. Okay?
M: Well I'll really try to Paul but I've been calling you Logan for such a long time I might mess it up sometimes. It kind of makes me sad too because I really like Logan.
Log: Well how about this deal. At school I'll still be Logan and at home I'll be Paul.
M: I'll do my best. Do you want to maybe switch to your middle name?
Log: Nope my nickname is Paul. I just don't like Logan anymore.
Lucas: I don't like my name anymore either.
K: Me either.
Lucas: My new nickname is Lightning Thunder.
K: My new nickname is Paul Josh Zach.
M: Hmmmm...how about we just use our real names? Please?

Hours later I tell Steve all of this and he calls Paul, Lightning Thunder, & Paul Josh Zach in for dinner and Lucas has already changed his name to Lightning Fire.

Hoping this fad is short lived. Jorge, Beto & worker baby lasted for quite some time. Of course uncle Zach no longer goes by Joey J so there is hope.

Busted!

In our house you never really know what your going to find one of the pip squeaks doing. Today both Kale and Lucas got busted doing something they weren't supposed to which is not unusual but it got caught on camera.

Lucas wanted to put up the tent. Why ask for help when you can just snake your way up the piles of clutter in the way... the tent did not get put up.

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Kale is boycotting going to bed. The ice storm has thrown him off the routine. He usually doesn't throw a big fit about it he will just get out of bed and you'll find him playing or he just grabs his stuff and comes down stairs and will announce the he's not going to go to bed. Tonight he took it upon himself to read.