Memorial Day

The kids and I were down at my moms to celebrate Memorial Day. On Sunday,  we loaded up cars with 8 kids and 5 adults to head out to see the Avenue of Flags at the Dallas cemetery. It takes my breath away every time, and I am always humbled at the tremendous sacrifice made by brave men and women. My dad has a flag flying there, and after pictures with it we always go walk up and visit the gravestones of my dad, grandpa and many others that have gone before us.
Yesterday as we walked through the cemetery telling stories and looking at flowers, Ben was very reflective. He was sad that some gravestones didn't have flowers, and spent a lot of time picking daisies to put on them so that they wouldn't be left out.
Ben and his cousins were following my mom around, taking everything in. As they stood looking at a gravestone, Ben turned to my mom and said, "It's sure gonna be a hard day when we lay you to rest here, Nana."
I'm sure this just warmed her heart. Once again I am putting a disclaimer on my kids- you just never know what they're gonna say at any given time. It's a good thing she has a great sense of humor and loves him a lot..

 Here are a couple pictures we took...

Emma, Ben and Katie

 The Bodine side grandkids by my dad's flag..

Jackson and Ben- best buds

Emma and little Molly Rose

A couple quotes from Kate the great

While walking through Sears last night, we passed a beautiful patio set complete with umbrella and a string of lights. Katie squealed with delight and said, “Oh, mommy, this is where I’m going to have my next birthday party! Please? Can I?”
Do you think Sears would mind if we rented out their patio set next to the escalators? It would make Katie really happy.

Me: “Kate, you need to go brush your teeth.”
Kate: “No thanks, I’m pretty bored of doing that.”

"Thank you God that I'm so pretty."-Katie Hughes


Ben and Katie were busy coloring at the table this morning while I sipped my coffee. This was our conversation:
Ben: “Wow, mom! Look at those eyeballs that Katie drew!”
Me: “I know, she’s getting a lot better- she practices a lot.:
Ben: “No she definitely learned it from me. I’ve pretty much been awesome at art projects my whole entire life.”
Katie (looking at Ben with awe and wonder) : “You are a really good drawer Ben.”
Ben: “Well, I’ve been drawing for 6 years and you’ve only been drawing for 3 years. So you’ll get better too.”
Katie: “Yeah!”
He better cherish these moments when his little sister thinks he’s amazing and can do nothing wrong…

Shades of red

    I’m standing in the checkout line at Fred Meyer on a busy Friday afternoon. People are lined up behind me waiting as the checker rings up our groceries. Katie is sitting on the floor at my feet, complaining that she’s hungry. Ben is standing near the front of the basket singing “I just want to go home now” to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle  Little Star. Emma has been talking non-stop about the characters she likes on Jessie, how much she likes learning about igneous rocks and why Hersheys is her favorite kind of chocolate.
     I’m just trying to concentrate and keep the smile pasted on my face until we get to the car. The day has been LONG. I’m just pulling my wallet out of my purse to pay when Emma gasps and says, while pointing at my nose, “Mom- you have a red spot on your nose! It’s really big- I can’t believe I haven’t noticed it today.”
     I’m pretty sure I saw at least 6 pairs of eyes turn in my direction and stare at my nose. It was like the scene out of a bad movie when all the background noise fades out, and the camera lens zooms in on the main characters face, waiting for a reaction.
    I smiled even bigger and tried to blow it off. “Oh, I don’t know, I’ll look at it in the car, ok?” I said trying to give her a heated stare.
    “But it looks like it hurts, what do you think it is? A huge bug bite?” Emma was definitely concerned, and talking in a not so quiet voice.

    “It’s not a bug bite- it’s FINE,” I whispered, feeling my face turn 4 shades of red. By now everyone was averting there eyes and looking very uncomfortable. I don’t blame them. She started to pick up on my freaky mom eyes but it was too late. 

    And then, at that moment, she realized what it was-and because common sense had already flown the coop, she covered her mouth and yelled, “Oh, it’s a big zit! Sorry mom!”

    So am I. And so was the checker who had lots of them too. I swiped my card as fast as I could and avoided eye contact at all cost. When he handed me the receipt and said the standard, “Have a nice day, ma’am” I couldn’t help but shoot him the evil eye too. “Well,” he said, “at least it’s almost over, right?” 

     That’s true. I pushed my cart filled with groceries, 3 whiney kids, and my big huge ZIT right at of the store. 

Baseball pictures

Ben has had a fun year of baseball, and only has a couple games left! He played Pee-Wee baseball this year, on a coach pitch team. He has improved so much this season..Here's a few pictures and then of course, I have to share a story....

The Friday night before Mother's Day Ben had a game. He struck out his first time up to bat. He shook it off and spent the next few minutes playing right field. When it was almost his turn to bat again, he came over to grab a quick drink of water. I jokingly said, "Hey, why don't you get an awesome hit this time for me for Mothers Day?" He stared me down and then said seriously, "OK, I will." 

He walked back over and when it was his turn, he grabbed the biggest bat he could find. When he walked out to the plate the coach even said, "Ben, that bat is pretty big, maybe you should go get the black and yellow one- it's smaller." He just stood there with a look of determination. The kid wasn't changing his mind. 

The coach pitched the ball to Ben, and I am not kidding you- he cranked that ball into left field, his best hit of the season. Happy Mothers Day to me!  Here he is running to third, pretty happy with his hit, and probably happy that he didn't have to buy me anything!! 

Astoria trip

     We took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Astoria this past weekend. Very good for the soul just to get away even for just a couple days.  The kids were SO excited. They even made up a song on the way there, that went like this - “Astoria, Astoria, the place where all your dreams come true.” They sang it over and over and OVER. Apparently they are easy to please.
     We stayed overnight at a hotel on the Columbia River. The kids were glued to that window whenever we were in the room, watching the boats, sea lions, and runners who were exercising on the walking trail. Ben had brought his binoculars and basically stood perfectly still staring out of those things the whole time. He would make a good lighthouse keeper or undercover spy someday.
     In the morning as we were packing up, Ben was still standing there at his post, binoculars glued to his eyes. All of the sudden he said excitedly “Check out that great booty out there!” Say what? Dave walked over with a look of confusion on his face. “What did you say?” He asked Ben,  probably secretly afraid to know that answer.
     “I see some awesome booties out the window!” Ben exclaimed again, never averting his gaze. Hmmmm…. This could be an interesting conversation. Dave wasn’t sure what to expect when he looked out the window, but much to his relief, there were no beautiful women in sight. Upon closer inspection, he realized Ben was staring out into the river. “What do you see again?” Dave asked. Ben replied, “I see booties, floating out there on the water- green ones!”
     Ahhhhhhh…. Mystery solved- The boy sees Buoys. Not booties.
Big sigh of relief. I have not raised a peeping tom after all, just a boy that loves him some nautical excitement. Thank you Lord…

Pictures of our trip in the next post :)

Astoria Pictures

Dave and Em in front of the Peter Iredale

Miss Kate

Ben doesn't mess around when we go to the beach- he's dirty the WHOLE time..

We even got some swimming in!

Me and Emma

The kiddos at the Astoria Column

View from the top!

Dave and Ben and Indian Head beach

So excited to see starfish!

Totally busted

     While Katie was climbing up into the car today, I snuck a few of her whoppers out of the box- I didn’t think she saw me. I tried to chew quietly as I buckled her into her carseat, so as not to incriminate myself. She was staring intently at me and I was avoiding eye contact at all cost. She finally said in a very serious tone, “Mommy, you are now on my naughty list for sneaking my whoppers.” She was shaking her head in disbelief and clutching her box of whoppers for dear life.
Busted. By a 3 year old.

Flashback

       So I had a flashback today as I sat in the bathroom. I had only been in there 30 seconds or so when I heard a knock on the door- “Mom, are you in there?” They had been watching a cartoon but apparently they heard the sound of the bathroom door close. And they found me- that fast. I was silent because I was mad. Mad that they couldn’t just leave me alone long enough so I could go to the bathroom BY MYSELF. Mad that I no longer had any personal space. Just plain mad.
     They quit yelling and started whispering. “what’s she doing in there?” I heard Ben say. “Why did she lock the door?” Katie whisper-yelled, “I don’t know! Maybe lets yell again!”
      I finally said in a low freaky kind of growling voice, “I am going to the bathroom, leave me ALONE!” Silence. For about 10 seconds. Then a comb was shoved under the bathroom door. Then a quarter. And some pennies. Lots of quiet giggling followed. Then some little fingers pushed a pretty purple bracelet under the door. “For you mom!” she yelled and then ran away laughing.
     That’s when my flashback came- 3 little girls standing at a bathroom door trying to open the lock with the top of a pen cap, while my mom sat on the other side of the door feeling mad. And tired. And frustrated.
Unfortunately for her, we got that door open, and all yelled “Ta-da!” in perfect unison. Mom, for this I am so sorry. For all the countless times we wouldn’t let you go to the bathroom in the early 1980’s I am very sorry. I understand now how you felt and it’s just not cool at all.
     I waited in the bathroom until I was sure they had gone back to their cartoon. But when I opened the door there they were, waiting for me to come out. “Hi mommy!” Katie yelled as she ran to give me a hug. “I need juice.” Ben chimed in, “Did you like the comb I sent you?”
    It’s a good thing I love them with every fiber of my being. And I know you always felt the same. Happy Mothers Day a little early- thanks for putting up with me and my shenanigans. If it makes you feel any better, your grandkids are paying me back big-time. Love you...