Winter in ATX

Yesterday was be-au-ti-ful!!!!!!

After I picked Eli up for school he asked if we could go to the park to ride skateboards.  Um, yes we can! It was the most beautiful day! We packed up our skateboards and helmets and I dropped them all off at the park (Blaine too) and went and picked up some burgers and came back. We spent the afternoon riding and having a little picnic at the park.

It was so much fun to watch the boys ride around, stop off for a bite, and keep on going! My heart is so full.

Dear Eli

Dear Eli,

I have known you for 2,555 days and I love you more with each passing day as I kiss you good night and watch you walk downstairs at the very crack of dawn with sleepiness still in your eyes every morning.
I don't have a perfect memory, but I remember vividly the moment you entered this world. Wow--did you rock our world.  You are still pushing boundaries, pushing buttons and are as stubborn as can be. But you are silly, smart, so lovable, goofy and totally, 100% amazing.

It is amazing to me that you are 7 and that I have been a mom for 7 years. It has flown by.  I know I will continue to say this year after year, but it is amazing to watch you grow up. To watch the person that you are becoming, to see the things that you are interested in and gravitate to.  To watch you make friends and become a good friend to others. I love that we can look at each other when something is funny or ridiculous that one of your brothers says or does and know what we are both thinking.  You have a great sense of humor. And although sometimes you are too serious or are more intense than the situation really requires, you are passionate and loving.


I've noticed you growing up a lot more lately...you now want me to drop you off at the drop off line at school so you can walk in by your self without me (tear). You have a strong preference in the clothes you wear and what you think is and isn't cool (long socks and soccer clothes only).  You know what you want. That is a good thing.

At 7 years old, Pokemon has made a big come back at our house.  You knew right away that for your birthday, instead of having a big party, your wanted only your three favorite friends to come over for Pokemon battles and Minecraft playing.  Trust me, I was impressed/thrilled that this is what you wanted to do. You did not waiver once.  So that is what we did.  Ty, Jonah and Andrew (and their siblings) came over last night for your party.  You did not want a cake, so I had some Pokemon cookies made for you and had a little card case filled with new Pokemon cards made for each of your friends. I am pretty sure it was all that you had imagined and you had a blast based on watching you that night.

At 7 years old, you have lost 5 teeth. And I must mention the two front teeth that you let dangle out of your head for a week because you were terrified to pull them or mess with them.  I had to look away when you would talk to me because they would just hang and twist about.  You are doing wonderful in 1st grade. Although you hate, hate doing homework and its a struggle almost every night. Almost every time you go to the library you check out some kind of ocean or ocean animal book.  You love learning about fish and things in the ocean.  You are still waking up before the crack of dawn.  You get crazy grumpy when you are hungry and have started to acknowledge when this grumpiness is coming on and can try and correct it before it gets bad. Big step.  You still are not the best eater, but are more willing to try different things.  You love hamburgers, pizza, steamed broccoli, kale chips, waffles with peanut butter, Everything Pretzels, apples, challah with butter and Oreos.
I love that I can see both your father and me in you.  I love your thoughtfulness, but we could still use a little work on being a bit more sensitive when it comes to your brothers. You and Owen really have such a special bond and you are very sweet to Cash and do your best to help him. You have an intuitive grasp on modern technology which is amazing and also terrifying.  I will come home in the mornings to find you on my computer researching different Pokemon cards, or watching Minecraft videos and find various things you have put in my Amazon cart.

So, my darling 7 year old, I celebrate you. I celebrate your hugs and kisses, your sense of humor, your clever problem solving skills, your spirit, your joy, your love of your family and all the tiny little things that make up YOU.  I get glimpses of the fine young man I know you will become and the future with you is so darn exciting!

Enjoy being 7!

Love you too much,
Mom

1 night vs. 8 nights

We have come to realize that opening one present every night of Hanukkah is total joke in our house.  There is a lot of pressure to get 8 really good gifts for three kids! You know, if you get to open a bunch of presents all at once, even if you don't like something, you have all these other things to make up for it, or a bunch of little things add up to be something good----this doesn't happen when you just open ONE (and then have all these other presents just starring at you!).  Plus, we also do stockings and one big present on Christmas morning. On top of that, it is inevitable that someone will be disappointed in the one gift they chose that night, and compare it to their brothers and say they got something better. And then, we get into the whole conversation of "can I just open one more?!?!?" which will then throw us off for the rest of the days and everyone else will also want to open just one more present. Then someone starts crying because we say no. Then I am irritated and feeling like I am raising spoiled brats.  Then the night is not fun anymore, and I tell Blaine I am cancelling Hanukkah indefinitely. It happens.

We gave it a good college try the first night just to see how it panned our this year. We actually went to our cousins house for the first night and did our annual cousins gift exchange and Latkepalooza party.

No one was thrilled with their gift, but it all seemed to be OK.  Until we got home. Then......

Just as suspected. It all started.

I was so frustrated that I honestly wanted to cancel Hanukkah all together.  They were acting like spoiled little kids. Not the kind of boys we are trying to raise.

So Blaine and I made the decision that we were going to wait until the 3rd night and just have one big-open all your presents-night of Hanukkah and continue to light the menorah every night .  Ethan and Rachel came over, we had dinner, lit the menorah and had a present-fest. It was a lot of fun! My mom had knee surgery the week before. We normally would go over there and do a big night with them and my grandmother, but this year it just wasn't going to happen like it has in the past.  But we did have plans to celebrate with them one night later in the week.

Success!!!!

We still had really nice evenings of dinner and lighting the candles together the rest of the week, and of course, there was still Christmas to look forward to!

Jumping Into They New Year

New Years day, I woke up and snuggled on the couch with the boys before I went for an amazing 8 mile run in the neighborhood and then came home to hang out with my family on the first day of 2016.

A few weeks back, I had asked Owen if he wanted to do The Polar Bear Plunge with me at Barton Springs this year.  I asked all the boys, but figured Owen would be the only one actually up to it when the time came.  He has also been needing a little extra attention lately and has been extra emotional so I thought it would be a fun thing for just him and me to do together.

I have always wanted to do the plunge but for one reason or another it just never happened.  I also have a better relationship with Barton Springs now.  For anyone who knows me, they know I am always cold and hate to be cold.  So jumping in Barton Springs seems like something I would hate!  But all summer long, we park there in the morning and start and finish our runs there so we can jump in at the end.  It has become something I absolutely love and look forward to during those hot, humid, hard runs!  We have been doing this for years, but just recently I started to really appreciate how wonderful it really is, not to mention how good it feels to start the day off this way!

Owen and I started to get ready to go, but one by one everyone else said they wanted to come.  So the 5 of us got in the car with dry warm clothes, lots of blankets and hot coffee and drove down there. There were a ton of people!

We found a good little spot and started to get ready. Owen started to re-think his decision and wanted me to go first.

So off I went....

Yeah...it was cold. But honestly, it was warmer in the water than it was outside. After a few seconds of catching my breath, it felt pretty darn good and Owen was ready to make the plunge.

It was seriously the best way to start off the new year.  Jump right in and get ready. I am totally hooked and doing it every year!  We changed into dry clothes, cuddled up in our blankets, got warm donuts and coffee and headed home.

Cheers to a happy and healthy 2016!!!