Josh is 9!

Josh has been 9 for like a week now as of today the festivities have ended. His first party was at my mom's house with his cousins (scroll down a few posts). Then we had friends over for dinner & cake on his actual birthday (June 19th).

We even celebrated with a little wildlife. The kids ate dinner out on the deck (& left their plates out there) & since they are kids and their parents were busy enjoying adult beverages and playing cards, no one noticed that an uninvited guest had shown up. Oh man did he enjoy that chocolate cake! We were so surprised to see him there. If you haven't seen our deck, it's two flights of stairs up to our back door. So little man there had to of sniffed the most delicious cookies & cream cake from the forested area, come through the fence & on up a lot of stairs to the deck. He barely flinched when we opened the door he was so busy licking those cute little paws. Raccoons are pretty mean by nature, so I kept my distance inside. My big, burly man went out & scared it away. Sorry about the lack of good photography skills. It was the best I could do given the light, and my fear of the little critter. Now we know who keeps pooping in the backyard. Will was telling the truth, it really wasn't him.

Oh yeah, we were talking about Josh. So today we had the closing ceremonies for his 9Th birthday. He and his buddy Ty had a joint birthday party at the pool.

Justin, Ty, Josh, Kullan & Will

Boyd & Justin- I have a great story to tell about Justin and his mad swimming skills. I'm trying not to let my Attention Deficit Disorder get the best of me, so I'll save it for next time.

Will about one second after he bit that ball and popped it. Oh that boy...

Flying high!

A bunch of boys (and one girl) eating a bunch of pizza!

Swim time!

My handsome 9 year old. (have I mentioned he's smart too? lol- he's just like his dad)

Nine down, nine to go before my baby will be off to college. This is just going way too fast.

Tastes like...

In a weak moment on the juice box aisle at Super Target evil overtook good & I broke down and bought two boxes of Kool-Aid Jammers. I know... they're not 100% juice, but they're darn good. One box was orange for my orange-obsessed small fry & one box of grape because, well, who doesn't like grape?

Apparently a couple of my little friends don't like grape.

So the box of orange disappeared in like 10 minutes and the grape box just sat there for like a week just longing to be enjoyed.

Then yesterday, the boys were thirsty out back playing in the 200 degree heat & I went inside grabbed three grape juice pouches and went back out to the rescue.

Justin took one sip and said, "This tastes like acid! It has acid in it!"

Will followed up with, "Yeah! This tastes like a*s!"

I tried my hardest not to laugh since laughing just encourages three year olds to repeat things over and over, but it was too much. Josh totally caught it too.

I better not buy grape again and like send them to preschool with him. That would be....funny..er...I mean bad.

New Obsession

My sister & I have a new obsession: www.postcardsfromyomomma.com Check it out. People submit stories, e-mails, letters, conversations with their moms. I submitted one. I'll let you know if they publish it. Go to the archives & read ALL of them. It will take days, totally take over your life, make you neglect your kids; but you will laugh your butt off and raise your endorphin levels if you need it... or maybe that's just me.

Nani's House!
In an effort to avoid a week like we had last week, the kids & I packed the car on Monday and headed to my mom's house in Kingwood. Even though Josh still can't swim at least I let Justin & Will swim in Nani's backyard. Josh is being entertained by my sister's son Grant. And I'm being entertained by my sister Heather & my momma. It's a win-win for everyone. (Boyd is out of town for the week for work- so he doesn't care either)

Last night we had an early family birthday party for my almost 9 year old. (how is it possible that I could be old enough to have an almost 9 year old you ask? ...it's a perplexing and complicated question that I simply can't answer. Time, the relativity of it, does it really mean anything? I got carded at HEB (the grocery store) last week BTW.) It's all about how you feel really. Last week I felt everyday of 36. Now I feel about 29. So I was only 20 when I had him. (That is REALLY funny if you knew me at 20- I was so far away from settling down & having kids...) In all seriousness, at this point, I can't remember life before Josh & and can't imagine life without him. (even though he's a punk sometimes & seriously needs a haircut that he doesn't want)

We basically just had cake & ice cream. We are having another little party on Friday (his actual birthday), then a big friend party on the 27th. It just seemed wrong to have party for him on a day that he couldn't eat much or participate. So we've postponed it a week!

Here is the gang with Nani! I have to say, she's gonna kill me, but my momma is 73. She's gorgeous. I can only hope to look that good at her age!

Somebody(me?) forgot to get a candle for the cake.

Whitney - I'm not sure why this picture is on the right. I don't have the time or patience to figure it out!

Justin

cousins!

Can you see where this is going? He's an animal!

After cake & ice cream we headed out back.

Josh was just "floating around." It was so hard for an almost 9 year old boy!

Seriously Glad this Week is O-V-E-R.

Okay, I'm serious. This week has been the worst! Remember back in January when I gave my kids a stern warning about getting sick this year? I should have given them a refresher-lecture early this week.

Saturday was T & A day, but not the fun kind. Tonsil & adenoidectomy day. My poor Josh has had strep throat about 20 times over the last 3 years. The pediatric ENT made the call & forced my hand to get-her done. So my sis Heather & niece Whitney came in town to watch the little boys & be a couple extra pairs of hands.

Josh was very brave. He wasn't nervous at all when he went into surgery, but when he came OUT.... totally different story. They called the waiting room and told us to come into the recovery room, then... they met us in the hall. We could hear him crying. It was an ugly cry.

Once we got to his bed, he started asking, "Wha...hap....pened?" over and over again. Then it became, "Di...I...die?" Which absolutely broke our hearts. Of course I know he was out of sorts from the anesthesia, but it didn't make it any easier to hear.

So we went home and the anti-nausea medicine wore off. I'll stop there and spare you the awful details. I can say because of the quick thinking & moving of my sister, my laptop was spared the worst. Thanks Hey Hey.

So here is maybe the worst part of the deal. He can't go swimming for 3 weeks. The temperature today is going to be 103. Can you feel my pain?

On to Will. This is pretty gross so I'll keep his problem description to a minimum. The doctor thinks he may have a parasite. I have to take stool samples. That's all I'm going to say about that. I'm sure you can imagine my horror and disgust. I must really, really love him.

Poor Justin. He has tonsillitis and bronchitis. He is now on antibiotics too.

I won't mention my sinus infection.

There you have it. I'm ready for good health for all and some summer fun! Hopefully the next post will be of something fabulous that we have done.

Only two weeks and one day until Josh can go swimming.

Recipe for a great first day of SUMMER!

List of ingredients:

One of these...

Lots of this...

A few of these...

This is nice to have too...

Mix the ingredients together on a hot day and throw in a bunch of kids for a great first day of summer vacation!

Audrey,Will, Ross, Justin & Josh

Oh... Good old-fashioned Pop ice are great too!
Will
Ross

Audrey

Justin

The Gang!

No Longer a Third Grader...

Josh is officially a fourth grader! Here he is with his teacher Mrs. Jacobs on the last day of school. Mrs. Jacobs is now retired after 34 years of teaching. She said that her first class of kids is now 41 years old! Now that is dedication!

This is Susana. She is a special friend of Josh's. I think she has a little crush on him. Who could blame her? :)

Time Flies! It was just yesterday he was starting Kindergarten!