And with that... Basketball Season is over...

J was really sad to say goodbye to basketball season.  He loves basketball.  I think that is his favorite sport at this point. 

Well, besides swimming.  He'll take time in the pool whenever.

Around Christmas, I decided to share with J our basketball warm up songs.  The lead song was always Depeche Mode's "I Just Can't Get Enough" followed by Queen's "We Will Rock You."  Can I just say J LOVES these songs?!?!  It is so much fun to share this with him.

On Saturday, as we sat at a rather long 'Thomas', J asked if we could hear it one more time, since today was his last game.

And jam out to it he did... It was awesome.

The good stuff.

The moments I treasure the most now are the ones J will forget as he grows.  They are the moments where he will recall the warm feelings & the love, but the actual moments we are gifted with - he'll never remember.

And it is kind of sad... So I'm capturing it here...

Mr. M had a wonderful trip.  We spent J's nap time catching up.  Matt downloading to me about all he learned.  Changes he wants to make & road maps for us to get there. 

Some changes are family, life changing, some are minor & will be felt very little.

It will be interesting to see how things come together.  See how things work.  See how these changes impact our life.  It is easy to be positive & engaged when we are in the honeymoon phase, so I expect some stumbles, but I have faith in us.  Especially as I said a prayer in regards to these changes in church Sunday AM.

But the moments I wanted to capture here for J is the one of him & Mr. M snuggled up together in pre-nap downtime doing math.  Learning how to count.  I've been trying to teach J to use his fingers, but Mr. M found a rocket ship iPad learning game & made it fun.  J was having a blast.  He kept wanting to do it over & over again.

Sitting outside listening to them.

Yeah, those are the good moments.  Those moments make time-outs & the not-so-fun moments of parenting - perfect.

and I'd be lying if I didn't say, Mr. M taking J to the Jump Zone after nap time so I could have some downtime to pay bills & get dinner ready - yeah, that made him my good stuff!

How neglectful am I?

Seriously?  How long has it been since I've made an appearance around here?  This is a sign of how truly busy & crazy I've been... And it makes me sad. 

Mr. M is at Rancho La Puerta in Baja California, Mexico this week.  He is having, based on our email & text messaging exchanges, a life changing experience.  I'm thrilled for him & cannot wait for his return to truly share all that he has experienced this week.

J & I have had a great week as well.  Thankfully, all the snow that was forecasted has converted to rain.  I'm ready for snow, but this week - I needed the rain. 

We have 2 more ups & daddy returns.  Last summer, I learned giving J a target helps him measure our scheduled nights away from home (or daddy's nights away).  He understands the time perspective so much better this way.  It's comforting for me to watch him do the countdown with me.  We even had two going on... One for how many school days he had till we could sleep in & then 1 more up till daddy comes home.  That is an extra special day because it is his last basketball game.

Speaking of last basketball game, I'm currently in a quandary... Soccer sign-ups end February 3rd.  By the first game, J will be 4, but technically he falls with the 2/3 year olds.  I spoke with the director & he agreed with me, physically J is strong enough to compete with the 4/5's, but his maturity is not consistently there yet.  Some weeks, J shows up to play.  Others... Well, let's just say he shows all the signs of leading the class, because he does lead others fairly well, into the weeds with laughter & silliness.

In other sporting news... Mr. M & I almost dropped our jaws to see the cost of t-ball for J's age.  He just makes the cut-off (turns 4 in February for the April 1 deadline).  I had to fully register him before learning of the cost.  I was shocked when I received the bill at the end for $215 for the season.  After talking it through with some other local moms, I realize this is the normal price.  Due to J's young 4 nature, I am inquiring for more information (when the practices & games will be) before we pay.  We have until Jan 31 to pay or de-register him.

My funny J moment, as I am starting to think about drafting his birthday post, since it will fall right during my busy time...

J has become a little Mr. Jekyll & Hyde.  Especially this week, with Matt being out of town.  Oye.  But it is also so cute...

He will call me into the bathroom because he HAS to tell me something, but then he'll start to actually take care of business in there & get this dark look on his face and say "Geez Mom, can I just get a moment of pride-acy".

Love him!

Changing times...

Wow... Cannot believe I'm getting ready to plan J's birthday party.  How is it time to celebrate his 4th birthday already? 

I seriously still recall making his smash cake, like it was yesterday.

Then I look at him & I am awed... He just realized he is strong/big enough to pull himself up to our counters all on his own.  The joy we've had with that one this past week as we've tried to curtail it.

Mixing old memories with new ones...

Joking about "Pepe LaPue" in the AMs, but actually spending time watching Sid & Super Why.  I love what he learns from watching these shows.  I love watching his mind open to explore...

I do have to say, he cracked me up over the holiday, when he was starting to read words on his terms, but when I pulled out some sight books - he shut right down like I pulled out balls with chains.

I'm trying to think of some new ways to make that more fun for him...
Oh, and I hear snow may be starting to come our way.  I'm not sure if J is excited or dreading it like me... I love to play in snow, but I hate living it in... And from what I hear, it is rain turning to snow, which equals ice at some point.  Sigh.

Speaking of driving... J has gone back to wanting me to walk him in each day.  I love that he needs me like this.  It was so hard for me to let him walk in on his own each day.  Today was a good reminder to stop... Breathe... And walk beside him.  I can be 5 mins late to work.  I could not get those moments back if I had just driven off without stopping for J to call out...

"Mommy wait!!!!  I need one more hug!"

Yes, we all melted...

Gun Season

I guess I missed the memo... This year was the season of guns.

At J's birthday party, Mr. M's friend provided J with his very first gun.

A rather large gun.

And Mommy hid it.  I wasn't really bothered by it so much as he is just 3, and I thought a bit small for such a large gun.  However, upon being left in charge of a broken nose, pink eye infection, snot nosed child - Daddy uncovered such fun and decided it was time for target practice in the form of distraction from not feeling well... And so, the season of guns began.

Santa must have subconsciously known it was the season of guns, as he delivered none to J.  Or in reality decided, she just wasn't all that ready to enjoy guns with flying bullets around a child who had found he was rather good at knocking ornaments out of the tree from across the room.  Even better from up close.  Sigh.

But never fear, the M side got the memo... J received not 1 but 3 guns...

And Mommy admits, Santa may have been a bit rash in her his hesitation.

We have had so much fun, with said guns.. Starting with a bit of a 3 way gun fight at Grandmas.  J was armed with marshmallows & Uncle Jon & Daddy were armed with automatic Nerf guns.  It was no longer safe zone in Grandma's downstairs.

But laughter was abound.

And we have had just as much fun at home.  (Picture above was taken NY's Day while we were cooking the prime rib)

Payton, she has not loved getting shot at around, but when it is marshmallows, she promptly eats the evidence.

This all said, the last gun to arrive was returned to Target in exchange for a gift of J's choice... I thought having 5 guns when was only 3 was more than a bit obnoxious...



Reasons to laugh...

J gives me so many reasons to laugh... And I love that.

I recently read an article where a child expert stated laughter in a child helps to improve self-esteem.  If that is true, J should have zero self esteem issues.  I mean, really - none.

And this morning, upon dropping J off at school, I realized, it is a darn good thing... I'm the mom of a boy.

Seriously.

Could you imagine a girl being offered such snicker worthy meal options as rat tails, puppy poop, or booger burgers?

J responded with hands on hips and a snicker in his face "That's just disgusting Mommy" and then proceeded to tell me a meal option worthy of him.  "Eggs with toast please."

However, even this did not pull J out of his crabby morning attitude entirely... To get those I love life smiles as I was taking him to school I kicked off a silly version of a favorite Barney song...

Can you guess how it went? 

"I love you, you love me"

Stop Mommy!  I'm crabby!  I don't want to go to school today.  It's cold.

Yep bud, I agree, so I'm singing it silly.  Wanna do it with me?

YES!!!!

"We're best friends like friends should be... With a big fat LICK, and a booger from me to you, won't you say you SNOT ME TOO!"

And with that... We sang it over & over again all the way to school... Laughing so hard each & every time... Our days could only go well. 

As I dropped down to give J a hug on the way out the door, he snuggled in & said "I SNOT YOU MOMMY!"

Seriously... Nothing he could have said would have made me smile more...

Back to Reality... 2012 Edition

After 15 days of not working, 15 days of J not going to school, we are all sad today.

Days of sleeping in...

Days of Smiles... Laughter... And just plain Fun...

 Some even spent in Disney...

We are back to reality.  School for him.  Work for me. 

Anybody mention... Reality bites?

So far no tears from J, if we ignore those first expelled upon waking up at 5:25 (everyone deserves to cry just for waking up that early), and we ignore mommy's stealth moves to make today a special day to avoid tears from falling. 

Mommy, well, let's just say it is hard for her today.

Somehow, the tricks that work so well on J, are just not doing it for mommy today.  She misses her snuggles & hugs on the nice warm couch.