The christening....

Buddy really wanted to get Shane a hammock for his birthday....

Ummmm, I'm pretty sure Buddy really wanted to get Buddy a hammock for Shane's birthday! So all in all a super fantastic, relaxing, day!

Topping....

Tonight was pack night for cub scouts.....

So that's our excitement for the day. Just kidding, it was Shane's birthday so we tried to recreate some old memories...

Nailed it (well, if nailing it means had a fun time goofing off, which is totally what I mean). So all in all a super fantastic, happy birthday Shane, day!

Party on....

Since we had a ton of leftovers from the party last night, we decided to go for round 2 of birthday party celebration. It was awesome, this time I even remembered the pinata....

And the churros decided to make it up to me for not even mixing correctly yesterday,  by not only turning out, but also forming themselves into a nice heart shape to make me seem a little more awesome than I already am....

In other news, in celebration of Shane's birth tomorrow, Buddy and I started to talk about our own birth stories. This is how he said he felt during the birthing process....

I told him to magnify that about a million times and we'd be on the same level of how we felt about him coming out. We had a fantastic time and I almost think we should have parties every day! Of course, we may still yet, cause we still have a TON of leftovers! Nothing wrong with celebrating a birthday for a whole week....of course our waist lines may disagree! So all in all a super fantastic, party on, not partied out, day!

Party animals....

Sometimes thing sound so much better in my head. Kind of like, I should  throw my husband a huge birthday party after I only sleep for 3 hours!  Oh, and I should totally plan lots of cooking....including weird things that I've never made before (on my aforementioned 3 hours of sleep)!

Yep, definitely a great idea. Buddy LOVED the party,  mostly because we put Christmas lights out on the lanai(maybe his next birthday I'll just put lights up and call it good?)  Buddy loved the party so much he made signs for everything, labeling water, salsa, and even where to put your shoes (what a helper because there is nothing worse than showing up to a party and not knowing where to put your shoes). Another reason Buddy  loved  this party so much (other than the fantastic signage), there were way more kids there than adults, but I guess that's what happens when you have family parties since most families are bigger than ours. The dulce de leche cake turned out to be amazingly good, unfortunately the homemade horchata.....not so much. Well, at least Shane knows I tried! So all in all a super fantastic, sticking with premade from now on, day!

Boys...

Buddy is finally over his cooties, which means I let him call to see if Tyler could come and play with him. It appears he could....

I'm just not sure what they were playing! On the walk home we got to see an ambulance stop at a house right in front of us. The boys were more than excited, so we sat and waited and watched the whole thing. Then Buddy had me tell Tyler about the time I was working for AirMed and got a call to go on a scene flight to pick up a pregnant lady involved in a really bad car crash.....turns out the car crash wasn't that bad, better yet, the lady turned out to be a definitely not pregnant man! Errrrm, I have nothing else to add to that story! So all in all a super fantastic, boys will be boys, day!

All Hail the Diarrhea King.....

Is it just me, or does my kid have an unusual penchant for getting diarrhea? Makes sense though, I mean if I were diarrhea, I'd cling to the Buddy too! So what does 3 days of solitary confinement get you....

One of these! Who knew? Almost makes you almost want to get sick....well, if your a boy and into Legos ! OK, the diarrhea didn't get him that awesome Tie Fighter...aunt Martha and a huge sale at Target did. It's amazing what happens when aunt Martha comes to visit! Although I will say this, Buddy is going to be the best husband ever, he's a trained watcher for any accidents (you know what I'm saying, and so do the shorts that I ruined while shopping at Costco)! In other news, Shane is off tomorrow so I'm hoping for a beach day! I think he owes me....after all I am throwing him a birthday party on Monday (only 13 years to get my act together for that one, no biggie). So all in all a super fantastic, Masters of the Lego and Master of the Potty, day!

Heating up, then cooling down, with a few kisses in between.....

This morning it was freezing (relatively speaking), so Buddy made himself a blanket igloo....

Smart boy I've got there, he's got a portable heater under there, an iPhone and more orange juice than any kid should ever consume in one sitting! He warmed himself up so well, that he had to take a little time out  to cool himself down...

Errrmmm.....Moving on, in other news, we ventured outside for a little bit, cause we're awesome like that to share the cooties with the world, of course Buddy was more interested in sharing his cooties with me....

Or he was just trying to get the swing all to himself....

Hmmmm, I think I just answered my own pondering question. In other news, I found out yesterday that my brother John is running for City Council in Provo, Utah. Which is kinda of cool, but then again, it's my brother so it also makes me giggle, cause seriously unfortunately for him, he's related to me! Heeheee, in my defense, I've already taken steps to make a donation to make up for that tiny little detail! Oh well, every good politician has an embarrassing family member! So all in all a super fantastic, sicking it up over here, day!!!

Always the gentleman....

This morning I arrived home from work, excited to hit the sack, and was warmly greeted by this snot nosed kid.....

Shane left for work with the boy being "babysat" by the television until I got home. Of course, being the fine parent that he is, Shane told Buddy if he got scared he could go to the neighbor's house.....yep, we are striving for a whole new level of awesome parenting over here! Perhaps we should write a book? Anyway, Buddy and I watched TV WAY TOO MUCH today!  This evening, one of my friends needed me to watch her kids for a little bit, and since her kids were sick too, we just had a sickie party for all! When she came to pick them up, my little boy was the most perfect gentleman (not that I'm enormously biased or anything). She's 35 weeks pregnant and was also joining in on the sickie party. Buddy got her a drink, gave her tissues when she was sniffling and then even took her a trash can so she could throw her tissues away (without me even asking)! I was impressed, then I was wondering why he doesn't do that for me! Just kidding, I was really impressed about how thoughtful he was! Now I'm going to find him a top hat and  monocle to complete his ensemble....and a mustache, but that goes without saying! So all in all a super fantastic, sickin' it up, day!

HEY MOM!!!!!

Hey mom, does this lunch box and thermos look familiar?

If not, I may have to question your mothering skills!With all the cool stuff I had when I was a kid being fashionable again, it almost makes me wish I held onto more stuff. Then I watch an episode of hoarders and I'm over it! Why live with the stench of dead animals rotting under boxes of junk, when you can just pay someone $10.00 to do it for you? $10.00 well spent I say! So all in all  a super fantastic, loving Garfield, day!

Buckets of awesome....

Since we were all home together for once today, we celebrated by doing a whole bunch of nothing.....I mean a whole bunch of nothing that turned out to be awesome....

In other news, I'm throwing Shane a birthday party next Monday and his mom was kind enough to supply me with more awesomeness....

And that's only the beginning.....because it's awesome to be embarrassed on your birthday, errrr, well that's the price you pay when you are a member of this family. After all, the family motto is: if someone in the group isn't embarrassed, then you're not having enough fun! So all in all a super fantastic, awesomely boring, day!

Counting on awesome!!!

One frog to hold...

Two frogs to love....

Three frogs are awesome, so you build a pyramid....just because....

In other news to our awesome frog collection (the collection that stayed where it was found that is), we made our Valentine's compliments of a little thing I like to call photo shop....

I bought little stick on mustaches to tape on for that extra pizazz. I really need to get some better fonts, but not horrible for being free, plus Buddy really likes them, so I'll call it a win! I know I'm a little early, but this month is super busy with an ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) class, BLS (basic life support)class, putting together a VT handout for all the RS peeps, my work is sending me to Oahu to work in a NICU for 3 days, and I'm planning a snowball fight for my Faith in God girls. Somehow I'm still finding lots of time to procrastinate studying my ACLS manual though, there is always time for that unfortunately! So all in all a super fantastic, counting it out, day!

Eating our words....

I woke up to this pleasant sight this morning...

Which quickly turned into a request for me to join him in some Lego mania. I complied, but obviously not well enough. After I finished creating my masterpiece, Buddy told me that his friend that was over yesterday did a much better job! Not one to be shown up by an 8 year old, I quickly had my boy eating his words....

Then later on he kicked my butt in checkers....

Still not sure how that happened, but I read an article about how during the first year of menopause your brain gets really foggy. I'm not a doctor, but I could play one on TV, so I'm totally diagnosing myself with a case of the menopausal stupids! In other news, Buddy is at a birthday party for one of his classmates and I left him.....without me......by himself at the party. Of course he was telling me I could go, but I'm just wondering if it will be awkward when I go to parties and stay with him when he's in high school AND in college? (Truthfully, I didn't know the mom very well hosting the party, but one of the other moms I do know and trust was there and staying, which is the only reason I'm not currently embarrassing him in front of his friends)  So all in all a super fantastic, getting stuffed, day!

Audio?

Today when I picked up Buddy from school, we decided to stop by the school library and pick up some books to read for the weekend. Whilst I was perusing the Hardy Boy series, Buddy got distracted by the audio book section (well, I'm not sure if it really counts a section since they only had 5 audio books). He picked a book with  the "manliest" sounding title, since they were all missing their descriptions on the back. Thank goodness the librarian is a softy for my boy and let him check it out since they are usually off limits for second graders! Buddy began his enjoyment of the audio world immediately in the parking lot....

Then he enjoyed it on my countertop....

Then he enjoyed it once again while stealing my BLS (CPR) manual that I was reading....

He finished the whole book today, although I wouldn't ask for a book report any time soon because all I got out of him was that it was good, about a Manta and a 16 year old diver. Perhaps that's all you really need to know?  In other news, Buddy's school did a peace walk for Martin Luther King, Jr. day....

When I asked him about that, he at least knew that Martin Luther King, Jr.  gave some speeches and he got shot. Hmmmm, perhaps I need to rethink my above statement about the book if that's all my boy can come up with on Martin Luther King! So all in all a super fantastic, hearing it, day!

Warmth....

Every night Buddy tries to sneak into our bed......at around 5:00 am every morning he makes it there! I let Buddy watch a TV show this afternoon and he decided to pick a "baby show". He told me he liked to watch "baby" shows sometimes(this one was Francis....I'm not sure, but maybe she was a beaver.....or a skunk, I couldn't quite tell) so he can critique them (hmmmm, cynical at the ripe old age of 8, my how I've trained him). Anyway, back to my story, Francis,  the unknown 4 legged animal kept sneaking out of bed because she was afraid. I mentioned to Buddy that she was just like him! Buddy got offended! Just so we all know, he has declared he isn't afraid to sleep alone, he just likes to cuddle my warm body. I am now currently shopping for a heated dummy to place in his bed for him to cuddle with! So all in all a super fantastic, warming up, day!

Prepping for greatness....

Is it awkward, or just plain awesome that I still brush Buddy's teeth at night?...

Maybe he'll marry a dental hygienist and his childhood oral care won't be so questionable? Just one more thing to add to the list of how I'm ruining my kid, one task at a time! So all in all a super fantastic, brushing up, day!

Lazy mothering of the 21st century....

I worked last night, which means I am a bundle of energy today! I think I might have overexerted my pointer finger from capturing Buddy in our little game of picture tag....

By the way, I totally rule that game! Seriously, what did I ever do without my iPhone....I shudder to think of all the face to face contact I'd actually have to engage in! Just kidding, I totally documented the face to face contact I got today (if only for me to reminisce about it when he's a teenager and no longer giving me hugs)...

Just pretend my hair doesn't look like a gross mess, cause that's what I'm doing to allow myself to post this! So all in all a super fantastic, playing without leaving the comfort of the couch, day!

A boy and his "Turd".....

Here's a picture of a boy and his turd.....

Oh wait, I didn't capture the infamous "turd" in this picture... Let me try that again....

There's Turd!!!!  The turtle's nickname is turd, which is quite appropriate considering I clean is tank about every 3 days! What, you didn't think I'd show you my boy and a real turd did you, oh wait, don't answer that! In other news, when I woke up from my afternoon preparation for my night shift tonight the boy was kind enough to pose with me....

Then he kindly pointed out where I'm starting to get wrinkles...

We decided the one on my cheeks don't count because they're from smiling. Excellent point I do believe, now I'm thinking the ones around me eyes shouldn't count, because they're from seeing, which is kind of the same thing! So all in all a super fantastic, love my boy, even if he loves a turd (in all forms), day!

The cycle....(also known as how to wear your kid out in 598 steps)

Ready....set....

Go....

Repeat....

Don't forget to repeat as many times as humanly possible, and to make sure to take a pho break to keep your strength up....

Seriously, I needed to keep my strength up after the major picture taking workout I had this afternoon. Who knew that pushing a button could burn sooooo many calories (oh wait, that's only in my wishful thinking dream). In other news, I'm exhausted, but Buddy's cute.....so I think it evens things out! So all in all a super fantastic, sharing my tricks, day!

A shining example...

Today I tried to be a better mother. We smelled financial success...

Practiced our spelling...

 (As you can see, we are quite proficient at spelling our favorite word). Then we touched a disease riddled bird....

(I'm only assuming the diseased riddled ones are the only ones that let you touch them, but maybe that's me).
Of course I can't forget my mothering awesomeness of letting him blow his whistle as loudly as possible on a train....

(I'm guarantee the other passengers were impressed)
And the piece de la resistance.....taking a free boat ride around a resort, for the sole purpose of entertainment, just because we could....

Yep, I have mad mothering skills, so utterly impressive. In other news, I'm working tonight. Geez, if I keep this rate of working up, the doctors may actually learn my name....and I'm not sure that that is a good thing!!!!! (In my defense we have traveling doctors here so  they cycle through quite frequently). So all in all a super fantastic, using my mothering for the powers of good, day!