Our week in pictures

David's teacher called Thursday night and told me that David had been chosen as one of the weekly World Class Students.  His name would be announced at the conclusion of the school's Friday assembly.  Arriving early Brett, Evan and I camped out in the multipurpose room with our fully loaded stroller to enjoy the spectacle.  As luck would have it Chad's class and another second grade class opened the assembly with a rousing number about synonyms and antonyms. So I got to see both my boys in action.  And I finally got to hear the pledge to the Texas flag ("Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.").  Gotta love the Lone Star State.  Brett particularly enjoyed singing the Hokey Pokey with all the kids.  I captured that on video - Brett trying to figure out which arm and leg to put in!

Our World Class Student on the stage looking a bit nervous...

Chad's class waiting to perform

Happy Evan (5 1/2 mo.) in his jumperoo

Brett waiting for the assembly to start - holding the flashlight he carried around all day.

Brett's "Bear" impression - that is Bear from "Man vs. Wild."  My kids are obsessed.  Yesterday they put together an entire show called "Kids vs. Wild."  I'm pretty sure they could take "the Wild!"

Our Snow day

You will notice that Snow is capitalized.  That is because I refer not to the white fluffy stuff but to my dear cousin Snow who lives a few hours south of us in Austin, Texas.  On Saturday morning she drove up to visit us for the week-end.  Knowing how much the boys love their own cousins I told them that while growing up Snow was my special "best" cousin.  We used to visit each other every summer and to this day there are three things that still remind me of those fun and carefree vacations:  the intro music from the soap opera Days of Our Lives ("Like sands through the hourglass so are the days of our lives..."), Fruity Pebbles cereal (not that our health nut mother's ever let us eat it; but we spent one summer together with our Philadelphia grandparents and rocked the sugar cereal!), and any 80's hair band (Bon Jovi, Guns'N Roses and especially Skid Row).  As we grew up our paths diverged but have surreptitiously crossed again in the great state of Texas.  

The boys are old enough to appreciate the concept of Fresh Blood.  Someone who has not heard the latest knock-knock joke one hundred times, someone who still thinks playing crack-the-egg on the trampoline is a novelty, someone who is not trying to multitask while playing Guitar Hero.  So between playing with the boys and holding Evan we miraculously managed to get caught up in the past five year of each other's lives.  When she left this afternoon both Scott and I felt truly blessed by what we shared.  Once again living apart from family we realize how much visits from loved ones lift our spirits.  I am not sure if I should let this secret out of the bag but Snow is also a top-notch baby sitter.  Scott and I took advantage of her presence to go to the movies on Saturday night - we saw Taken which was the perfect action/thriller type movie.  

Snow and the boys - she's got in all under control!

This week the boys enjoyed fun Valentine's Day parties at school.  I helped out with the craft activities in David's classroom on Friday afternoon.  It was a great chance to get to know some of the moms and dads of his classmates.  David's best friend in the class is a boy named Aaron and boy, I can see that those two combined give their teacher a run for her money - they could not sit still or keep their hands off each other.  Hopefully it was the excess sugar and they are not normally that obnoxious!  Everything is definitely bigger in Texas; the kids actually decorated ginormous sugar cookies with gobs of frosting and sprinkles - Arnold would not have approved!  It was like a clip from a childhood obesity documentary - supersize me anyone?? 

     

Rub-a-dub-dub

Four boys in the tub!

The Zone

Friday found me in the zone.  And shockingly it was not the "zone" of nutrition and exercise.  Rather it was the Lego zone.  Chad brings home a color coded behavior chart each day.  A few weeks ago he excitedly brought home his first highly elusive purple which represents a GREAT day.  Knowing how much Chad is motivated by a reward system I challenged him to bring home 20 purples upon which he would earn something very special.  Friday was Day 20 so when Chad came home from school I was excited to show him the Lego Star Wars set he earned.  Turns out it was a bit too complicated for him to put together by himself and I, being quite the Lego fiend back in the day, immediately offered my assistance.  An hour later I was left wondering where the time had gone!  It was 6:15 pm and, while nary an item was on the table for dinner, our Naboo Starfighter looked awesome!  I really do find myself scoping out Lego sets at Target and Walmart.  So I wonder if I had girls would I scope out Barbie Dolls?

the finished product

On Monday I took cookies to school for David's birthday.  Thanks to Ah-nold in California kids are no longer allowed to bring yummy treats for their birthdays.  Instead you are left to choose other fun options such as a pencil or sugar free popsicles.  WooHoo!!  Clearly going overboard to compensate for prior treat deprivation I brought bags of homemade heart shaped sugar cookies sprinkled with red sugar crystals and large chocolate chip cookies made with Valentine's M'nMs.  Oh and little bags of mini M'nMs.   I am sure the parents were loving me that day!  Saturday afternoon we took a few of David's friends to Gatti Town - an overpriced Chuck E. Cheese-esque place - here in Frisco.  While Scott and I rolled our eyes quite a few times the boys seemed to enjoy themselves playing endless games of skee ball and it was fun getting to know a few of David's friends from school.  He also invited a friend from his church class.  Jackson has an absolutely delightful personality and I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of him.  So David's 2009 birthday is officially OVER.

The Birthday Boy eating his cake.

The gang at Gatti Town

In other news:  Evan was 5 months on Thursday but is really not doing anything new.  Except sleeping through the night which is probably of interest only to me!  But I did bust out the Jumperoo which he seems to LOVE already.  Except when the boys (i.e., Brett) try to bounce the heck out of him.     

Birthday Boy!

David waited impatiently ALL week to open these Legos from Grandma!

Hard at work!

Happy Birthday David - love your little brother Evan!

David's 6th Birthday dinner:  scrambled eggs, Hawaiian rolls w/honey butter,  fruit salad and ice cream for dessert!

I love birthdays.  This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me as I unabashedly love my own birthday.  But I really love my boys' birthdays; from the planning to the presents to the party.  And I must confess that David's birthday is my particular favorite.  He is the only winter birthday in our family and I like having something to look forward to after the holidays.  By the time February 1st rolls around I am ready to get my party on!

David has grown up a lot this year.  He started kindergarten and learned how to read.  He made his first "best friend" (Landon Telford) with whom he had special play dates in California.  He discovered a passion for legos and with his excellent fine motor skills spends hours following the detailed instructions for which even his mother and father have no patience.  We have discovered this year that David is the jokester of the family.  He loves to hear new jokes, compulsively re-tell old jokes and make up his own.  At six his favorite color is blue, his favorite foods are scrambled eggs and toast, grilled cheese and Reese's peanut butter cups. In other words don't waste your money on a Michelin three star restaurant when a Sonic kid's meal will suffice!  He is, like his mother and namesake grandfather, a creature of routine.  Don't rock the boat folks! 

Most importantly we have learned a lot more about what motivates David this year.  He is, perhaps, our most private and complex child.  We know that he values one-on-one time with either Scott or myself and try to use this as a reward for good behavior.  I have also noticed that with heaps of positive reinforcement he is much more apt to listen and help around the house.  The minute I go negative he tunes me out.  This has been a difficult adjustment as the past year has been challenging for our family and I have not always had the energy or patience to be the kind of mother he needs.  In fact over the past couple of months I had two very distinct dreams about David that caused me to reflect very seriously.  I believe that this coupled with his growing maturity will make for a wonderful sixth year for our beloved David!