STORM! 18May2012

Season opener

Atlas

Shrugged

Da boyz

Keeping cool in Williams following Ashlee's high school graduation.

A sunny Mother's Day

This was not an easy shot to get.

i couldn't stop smiling.

I just played wordfeud with my sons. So awesome.

Oh, yeah, and I officially have a teenager

Alex is 13 today.
HOLY CRAPOLA!

Musings on having boys:

I eagerly await the day when my boys grow more hairs on their chins than I do.
Le sigh.

Happy Easter!

No sleep till...!

That's alotta Mr. Pibb!

My strawberry!

Post 3D Lorax meal

Mom-imposed Techno-no-no Week

This was imposed by me in an effort to reconnect and re-engage with my boys, as well as show them that we don't need all that technology to have a good time.  The rules were simple: 7 consecutive days of no technology and a day gets tacked onto the end if any of us use technology (except music).  Also, it was a good excuse to play Seattle tourists.

Things the kids and I did during our Techno-no-no Week (11Feb2012-17Feb2012):

(in no particular order other than what popped into my head as I was writing this)

• Visited the Seattle Aquarium
• Visited the Woodland Park Zoo
• Visited the EMP (Experience Music Project and Sci-Fi Museum)
• Visited the Space Needle 2x (1x during the day and 1x at night)
• Discovered a totally awesome skate shop called The Black Market in Seattle (near the elephant car wash)
• Chatted with the really nice guys at The Black Market
• Met a cute dog named Pizza at The Black Market
• Received several free stickers proclaiming our fondness for The Black Market
• Visited the library and checked out a bunch of books
• Read a poopload of books, magazines, graphic novels, and comic books
• Listened to music in the car
• Bought the kids each a personal CD player
• Showed them Chas.' CD books and the contents therein with permission to listen to everything
• Lounged (me) and swam (kids) at the Y
• Perused a really cool antique store
• Frequented numerous gift shops
• Rode a carousel
• Ate at Dick's in Seattle (lots of giggling there)
• Perused book stores
• Looked up words in the dictionary
• Shared space and chilled
• Did I mention we read a bunch and listened to lots of music?

Things the kids and I did NOT do during our Technno-no-no Week:

• Watch TV
• Play online computer games
• Watch YouTube videos on the computer
• Look up random stuff on the computer
• Play on the Xbox 360
• Play on the Wii
• Play on the SuperNES
• Play with Nintendo 3DSs
• Play games on my Kindle Fire
• Watch videos (Netflix or Amazon Prime) on my Kindle Fire
• Look up random stuff on my Kindle Fire
• Play games on my phone
• Look up random stuff on my phone
• Read blogs at work (me, obviously)

The week was not without challenges, but overall, we had a great time.

Star Wars

Oh boy.

Almost 13 years later...

I am here with my sons.  Chas. and I saw this movie the first time around in 1999.  We left Alex with his first babysitter, Sandra while we went to the movie.  Doesn't seem that long ago. 

Dude

Alex read "The Tell-Tale Heart" and liked it.  I remember my first Edgar Allen Poe story: "The Black Cat."  Creepy and totally cool.  He says he's not quite ready for Stephen King.  He read Andromeda Strain and liked it and now wants to read more Michael Crichton.

My heart swells with pride and I know Chas. would have been pleased as well.

Snow day!

3DS at The Keg: Henry edition

Notice the fancy shirt

3DS at The Keg: Alex edition

Notice the fancy shirt and Giants necklace

elusive vs. lucid dream

Me:  *hollering* why do i hear yammering?! go to bed!
Alex:  i was telling henry about my elusive dream.
Me:  your what?  you guys need to be sleeping.
Alex:  my elusive dream.   you know, when you can control your dream.
Me:  LUCID dream.  you mean lucid dream.  l-u-c-i-d.  elusive is when something is hard to find.
Alex:  oh.  i thought it was elusive.  lucid.  you know what it is?  you've had one?
Me:  yes.  they're pretty sweet.  now, go to bed!
Alex:  i'm going to have a mental picture of a *bionicle, and when i see one in my dream, i will know i'm having a dream and then i can control the dream.
Me:  ok, but go to bed!
Henry:  i had a lucid dream once where i was floating above the ground facing down but then i fell.
Me:  Umm, ok.  love you guys.
Alex:  (bionicle, bionicle)




it is exchanges such as this that keeps me from murderlizing them.
they are also adorable when they sleep.
especially when alex talks nonsense when i take his glasses and henry snores and sleeps with his eyes open. they are going to make two lucky girls very happy.





*see comments below for the definition

Henry's bridge-the big 5th-grader

Friday, 30Sep2011, was a big day for me:
Not only did I witness Alex getting his braces put on, but I also was present for the exciting bridge breaking ceremony in Henry's class.