Close enough

It may not be ponytails or pink sparkly dresses but it is still pretty cute....

Back to Reality

And they're off!

We've got to remind Carson not to slouch when standing next to his "little brother"

3rd grader Carson

And the proud bus riding Kindergartner Spencer.

He could at least pretend that he's sad to be leaving me....

And my little buddy Jamison. He and I have hosted playgroup at our house this week which has made the transition from summer to reality a little easier. He still gets on his backpack every morning and asks to "go bus too". And in just a blink of an eye it WILL be his turn.

The days are long and the years are short.

Nearing the end

All day I've been trying to ignore the fact that this is officially the last week of summer vacation. In all honesty I can say I loved having these three at home the last few months. Let's be clear, I didn't say I loved every minute with them. I'm just talking about the summer overall. The school year is so rushed with homework, sports, and evening meetings and there never seems to be enough time. But summer is different. It's kind of like the weekend getaway with your husband. You look at him over a quiet dinner and think "oh, yeah I do like you!" These slow days of summer remind me I do love my boys, and they can take 2 hours to clean their room if they want to.

This summer we did things differently. There was no swim lessons or sports camps. Instead we made a list in June of all the important things we needed to get done this summer and went about checking them off. By important I mean sleeping in a tent, picking berries, going to a Mariners game, swimming in the lake, borrowing stacks of books from the library, roasting marshmallows, sleepover and Grandma and Grandpa's, riding bikes to the park, picnics. You know all the things there never seems to be enough time for September through May. I'm already brainstorming adventures to add to next summer's "to do" list.

Obsessed

Harry Potter has taken over our house, big time! Carson has had his nose in a book nonstop the last week. And this is is 2nd time reading them. When I say "them" I mean books 1 and 2. Because he has mean, cruel parents who won't let him read all the books or see all the movies yet. He'll tell anyone who will listen how deprived he is. We made a deal he could read the 3rd book in 3rd grade, the 4th book in 4th grade and so on. Suddenly school cannot start soon enough for this soon to be 3rd grader.

And it's not just Carson, "soon to be Kindergartner" Spencer is in on the craze as well. He's a pretty good Dr. Seuss kind of reader, but he won't let that stop him. I caught him on my bedroom floor with Book 7 opened trying to sound out some words. This made me laugh and made Carson livid to see Spencer got his hands on the "Deathly Hallows" before he did. I tried to tell Spencer he needed to find some books closer to his reading level. So he made himself comfortable on the couch with Book 1 and painstakingly sounded out each word in Chapter 1 for an hour. After dinner and soccer practice he was right back at it. The funny thing is he knows just enough words and (has seen the movie) to be comprehend what he is reading. If you ask me that is some serious dedication! Who am I to stop him?

Adventure

He's got an adventurous spirit.

He doesn't let fences (and then modified fences),

locks (and then more locks) stand in the way of his big ideas.

Keeping him safe is my full time job.

If you build it, they will come

Occasionally Nick and I have great ideas. Believe it or not the "rope lock" turned out to be one of them. We now have a toddler who both and naps and sleeps at night in his own bed less than 2 weeks after taking down the crib. I'm glad after 5 years as scoutmaster those knot tying merit badges are coming in handy! It is still a little awkward to explain it to a babysitter, so we are not completely out of the woods on that one. So moving on to genius idea #2 for the month...Lego birthday party. For Carson's 8th birthday party we thought it would be fun to let the boys build race cars and then test drive them down a track.

Let's be clear on this, my idea for a track looked more like a piece of plywood propped up at an angle on the side of the deck. Nick's idea was a 21 foot race track that looked like this (keep in mind this was the "finished at the last minute" version). Guess it's obvious who's genius ideas are more genius.

Here are the boys finding just the right pieces to build their cars. How and when did Carson get such a collection of Lego's that 8 boys could build with them at the same time?

Don't they look bored?

Boy and parent heaven! They had a blast and we sat around and ate pizza while the party ran itself. Fortunately that track will be making an encore appearance at Spencer's party in a few weeks. And maybe again in March when Jamison turns 3. . . .

Eight

Carson turned 8 this last week and was baptized on Saturday. Where does the time go?

We love this boy for so many reasons....

He is the most fantastic big brother any two boys could ever ask for.

He's smart, creative and has a great imagination.

Thanks for 8 happy years Carson as I still figure out this mom thing.