NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

MORE BLOGGING.  Seriously. I am sick of making photo books. Even ones from snapfish. I want to push a button and print out a book from my blog. The End.

Mom of a 7 Year Old Boy Means...

Being the mom of a boy means...

finding random, hand-made targets throughout the house one night...

on the mantel...

on the paper towel holder...

and on a frame. 

 

You have to be prepared. Love him!

Finally! ;)

Sorry this has taken so long but 7 year-olds don't do too many blog-worthy/cute things. Instead, they make FB-worthy/smart ass comments...but here are some videos!

From Jacob's bday: the mad science lady:

 And a little trick:

And his swim meet. he was a nervous wreck. It was his first one, it was in a different place than where he practices, and there were a million people there. He was actually supposed to participate in 3 races, but he barely made it through this one. He was fine during warm up, but when it came time to actually compete, he was scared to death. So I told him he could just do this one. He was SO PUMPED UP afterward though!! Very proud of himself for finishing something he was scared of! :)

Camping!

So we have really become quite the campers. And by that I mean that I will endure it for a 2-3 day period. Max. I can handle it for that long, but after that I need my own shower. But we really had a great time this past weekend. We met some friends at Edgar Evin State Park for the weekend-it was the first time we had ever camped with anyone in a LONG time since a horrible experience several years ago...but we won't talk about that. This weekend was great!!! It didn't start great, but it got there!! We had the brilliant idea to camp at Fall Creek Falls, which is something we had never done before. We called a MONTH ago to reserve a spot (yes I said a MONTH ago) and found out all the "reservable" spots were taken. But they have 100 first-come-first-serve spots that the lady assured me I would be able to partake of as long as we got there early Friday afternoon. To better ensure this, our family actually left Thursday and the other family was going to come out on Friday. After driving a few hours and setting up an emergency sleeping situation for that night in case it was still storming in the area (thanks Aunt Debbie) we find out that ALL of the spots were TAKEN. WHAT?? Jon had tried calling the day before and that morning to check on this but had never gotten through. So now what? We were almost 3 hours from home (thank goodness we got through to the site before we drove the whole 5 HOURS there), and more people were coming to meet us the next day. It was late in the afternoon and most campsites were closing as we frantically started googling and calling around. So we got a hotel room. I feel the need to state that part of the point of camping is that it is a cheap way to vacation-otherwise, why not stay in a hotel period?? But I digress. We found a hotel with an indoor pool and a hot tub and it was literally 30 steps away from an O'Charleys.  Jacob was thrilled. He did not mind at all that the "camping" trip was starting out this way:

Clearly the boy needed some relaxation time in a hot tub...

So the next morning we were able to find Edgar Evin park and it is GREAT! They had plenty of spots available, located on a lake so there was fishing, and they had a big playground. Plus, the bathhouse was really clean (a personal goal of mine). Here are some highlights:

 This is Jacob's friend Calvin. They have been friends for about 2 years now. They met in Karate out in Oakland and his mom and I became friends also.

Rock climbing and throwing rocks into the lake...

Love this next one..

Playing horseshoes

Playing "Perfection" with Calvin's little sister Jezella...

There were other boys there and a game of football was played (how awesome is that?!)

Some messiness occurred...

 I think I am going to blow this up, frame it, and hang it in his room...is that weird?

Sure, they look all sweet and cute...

...but they are really just gross little boys ;)

Going up to the look out tower...

On top of the tower..

There were free suckers at the bottom of the tower! Again, how awesome is that?!

It was windy...he normally does not sport the "something about mary" hair...

Apparently I totally interrupted his chill time with my darn picture taking...oh son, it will only get worse...

They really contributed to packing up...

Yes, teaching someone to tie his shoes IS that bad...

So here in the Shelby County School district, teachers are not required to teach kids how to tie their shoes.  This is completely ridiculous in my opinion because it seems to me that is a skill that would benefit the teachers more than anyone...or maybe I am just bitter because that meant that I had to do it myself...nahhhhh. But I was determined that Jacob should master this skill before entering 1st grade.  However, the following scenario will further demonstrate my point of how frustrating it is to pass this life lesson on to someone: I actually offered both Hallie and Abigail $MONEY$ to be the one to teach him (I even asked Hallie's boyfriend-I know, I am ashamed, but seriously, what young person isn't hard-up for extra cash???) ....and guess what-none of them even ATTEMPTED to try.  So there you go.  Here is a video of our progress so far (just ignore the alcoholic beverage in the background, haha, just kidding):

Random lego video...because he is so talented...

More Summer Fun...

Exploding our volcano...

Little monkeys...

They made a fort...

Swimming!  Morgan says that the purple in her swimsuit makes her blue eyes "pop"

Mom of an almost 7 Year Old Means...

Being the mom of a boy means...

Being ready at any given moment to be in awe of 

lego building skills...

Walking into the bathroom and finding Lucky Charms (just in case I guess???)...

Having your living room turned into Legoland, even though the boy has a bedroom AND a playroom...

Not needing an IPOD because a lego radio is WAY cooler...

Having your house redecorated by the lego master...

Making sure you have lots of buckets around to mix "ingredients" to make an "experiment" (note the "bucket" moms...if someone in your household drinks coffee, this is how you save money)...

Also having lots of jars around to catch bugs (again, notice the money saving effort-this is a Dole fruit jar)...

Finding new chatchkes throughout your house (that's right, shout out to The Nanny)...

Asking yourself:  does the headless lego man need to freshen his breath??

Realizing you just thought you knew what good reading material was...

I love my boy!!

The Best Day EVER!

We recently got to go to the beach and it was Jacob's first time (at one month shy of turning 7-this was a decision I made a long time ago that turned out to be a good one, just ask my cousin Melissa...) and he had a great time. In fact, each day he proclaimed, "this is the best day ever!"  He loves some waves. I thought he would be wary of the ocean, and although he definitely had his limits as to how far he would go out (which was fine with me) he barely stayed out long enough to build a sand castle. Here are the pics:

 We stopped in Eufala, AL on the way to visit Jon's sister. Her 3 boys are all grown up and moved out, but she still had all of their legos. She asked Jacob as he was getting out of the car if he was having lego withdrawal and he enthusiastically replied "YES!" He was in heaven.

 At  the condo in Florida with Abby and cousin Reed.

 Abby and her cousin Bianca

 Abby with cousins Reed, Bianca, and Elio

 Me with my sister-in-law Judy.

 So I had gotten a pic of Hallie out of my wallet and was totally planning on holding it up during this picture...can't believe I forgot. So disgusting having my mom's memory!!

 Love this one...

 But love this one the best!!! Abby is so good with Jacob. They did not argue the whole trip. Really. Even during the 8 hour car trip.

 Sportin' the shades

 Cousins Conrad and Elio are out in the water.

 Throwing seaweed at me...

 Buried!

 Abby with cousin Conrad who works at our Sonic now. Continuing the family tradition!

 Jacob is out in the ocean with a new friend he met...

The finished product!

 We shared a condo with Jon's brother's family and a friend of his. So we all cozied up in one room. We brought air mattresses for Abby and Jake. It was fun. Luckily, we all have similar sleeping habits: we stay up till about 10 or 11 and get up no later than 8 or 8:30...even Abby.

 Jon and Jacob stayed in one night while the rest of us went out.  They put together a lego set. Truly, everyone was a winner in this situation.

 At a restaurant where the pager was a lobster. Cute.

 Jacob designed this pic...

 Pretending to get eaten by the alligator statue.  Jacob actually tried alligator at this restaurant and liked it!!

Jacob's souvenirs: a giant fake diamond, a mardi-gras type mask, and a wood carved tiki thingy that he said was the lost treasure from Indiana Jones. Whatever...