How Could I Forget?

I find it a bit interesting that I forgot one important milestone of this summer in my little catch-up session. EJ (for those of you who forgot what EJ stands for, that would be my "Endorphin Junkie" husband) had a big event occur this August. He turned 40! Forty years old! The big 4-0. Although I had thoughts of embarrassment, surprise and grand occasions, we decided to just go with a party at home with one small surprise. After all, I turn 40 later so I don't want any birthday backfire! So here you are, EJ at his 40th birthday bash.

This is EJ on the Surf Board. It was his little birthday surprise. Think electronic bull in the shape of a surfboard. It's crazy what you can rent out there! Fun for kids, fun for adults, but really just fun for kids. The birthday boy took a ride or two as did all the members of his department. The rest of the adult birthday crowd didn't have enough beer I suppose. Hmmm, we'll get them next time. Regardless of the lack of adult surfing, we had a grand old time and were happy to have a number of friends to celebrate the beginning of EJ's next decade with us.

Potpourri

I honestly don't know where to start. Funniest stories? Scariest stories? Just plain fun stories? It's been a while and so much has been happening that this can just be the potpourri of blog entries.

Well, let's leave out major details of the scariest. In short, a few ultrasounds, multiple blood tests and a CT scan found that I have cysts and a few kidney stones. My daily intake of water has increased significantly in an attempt to hold them at bay. This Thanksgiving, I'll be thankful for my health!

Funniest? Well, Roo is always good for a laugh. We had a photographer/friend take family photos of us in October. You can see them on her blog at http://www.cracklephotographyblog.com/. What she didn't dare post was the picture of Roo releiving himself during the photo session in the field. Other than that little laugh and a generally uncooperative Roo, we had a good time documenting these years in G-man and Roo's lives. It certainly showed their personalities and one of the other postings on her blog gave me a new iPod song...what do you think? It's constantly stuck in my head these days! Thanks Crackle! (By the way, you will have to press the play button in the upper right hand corner of my blog to hear the song if you didn't already figure that out. Song's gone now but if you want to hear it, it's called What About Everything by Carbon Leaf).

Since Roo always seems to get the funny blog moments...I thought I'd give G-man a moment in the spotlight. THE big question was asked the other night. Of course EJ was out of town so I got to tackle the birds and the bees on my own. Not that I'm complaining. I don't mind being in control of these topics but it's still an awkward conversation. It went along pretty innocently until the long pause before realizing that one bodily substance had to get to the other. How does it actually GET there anyway Mom? At the moment of realization he was mortified and hid his head under his pillow like a ostrich in a hole. After checking in with him to see how he was handling his newly discovered knowledge, he reassured me that he has no further questions and wished he hadn't asked.

And for just plain fun...EJ had a round of cyclocross racing this fall to finish off his first season with Five Valley Velo. He had a great season of road and cyclocross racing with a few place finishes. Here's a picture of my hottie hubby at one of his cyclocross races. I do have to admit that cyclists are hot! I'm glad I have one!

As for me, aside from the revolving door of doctor appointments and tests, I hope to do well in an upcoming half marathon even though my training has been sporadic. Finish I will, PR...not likely.

So that's the update for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday and anyone who knows me well knows it's all about the leftovers! This year, I'm looking forward to squash and turkey pizza! YUM!

Proud Mama

The other night while I was away, being tortured at "Body Boot Camp" (some insane idea care of one of my typically sweet neighbors), EJ had this interaction with Roo. I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of this transaction (which was mainly hysterical laughter).

Roo: "Dad, how do you spell we?"

EJ: (assuming that he is talking about the game system) "Well, you spell it W-I-I or you can spell it W-E depending on what your saying."

Roo then disappeared into his room. For a while. In the meantime, EJ is reading with G-man in preparation for bed. Eventually, Roo reappears with a notebook in hand containing the above phonetically spelled words. I must say that we are loving Kindergarten and the fact that Roo is figuring out sounds it is a wonderful thing to watch, especially since he is actually interested in trying to spell out words (unlike his brother, no offense G-man).

At this point I will remind you of Roo's scrappiness which we love but can also lead to unpredictable behavior. So imagine the scene as Roo presented his hard work to his dad and his brother. Needless to say, it didn't take long for G-man to figure out what Roo had been working so hard to spell and knowing him like he does, EJ wasn't far behind. Within seconds they had erupted into laughter, Roo to the point that he was on the floor. This is about where I entered the scene and was quickly enlightened to the "homework" my sweet 5 year old had completed. I'm sorry to say that I couldn't contain my giggles either and so the beat goes on and we feed the fire of our potty mouthed child.

BTW, you've hopefully decoded his phonetic spelling by now...feel free to take a guess. Maybe I'll let you know if you're right.

May the Force Be With You

I like Star Wars. I do. I've seen 4 out of 6 of the series and as a child I saw the three originals in the theatre. EJ and I even went to the re-release of Episode IV in 1997. Growing up my brother had all the cool toys. All the ships, fighters and characters. I had to be Princess Leia, always. I wanted to be her. I wanted her dress and bagel bun hair and to be captured then saved by Luke and Han. It was all really cool and we had fun with it but it's not the kind of thing that consumes my thoughts every waking minute. I don't really care all that much about Clones, or even what they are. I don't really know the names of all the characters or what their purpose is. Again, I don't really care and I'm not all that worried about the fact that I haven't yet seen Episodes II and III. I've planned on seeing them someday.

Apparently, that someday is coming very soon. My boys are obsessed with Star Wars. It started about a year ago when they decided to be Jedi Knights for Halloween. It was cute, they had glowing light sabers and played in character for months afterward. Then over the year we allowed them to watch Episode IV, the obsession grew. Then Episode VI (yes we skipped V). The obsession grew more. Until finally the viewing of Episode V was allowed. In the last month they have checked Episode I and II off the list and have passed EJ's and my viewing experience. The only remaining episode is III. It is THE Episode. Although haven't seen it, I can summarize the story pretty well at this point. The main point being that Anakin Skywalker transforms into Darth Vadar. Big stuff! But we won't let him watch it until we've seen it first.

Now, when this movie was released in 2005, G-man was at the sweet age of 5, attending Kindergarten and still fairly naive to the more intense PG-13 movies. However, many of his friends were allowed to see the movie in the theatre upon release. Although G-man knew about it, it wasn't troublesome to keep him away. This decision was strengthened after his friend's parents informed me that seeing it was a big mistake! At the time it was the right decision and I have stood by it now for 3 years. So here I am with an obsessed 8 year old boy, who as far as I can tell is the only one of his friends still not allowed to see Revenge of the Sith because 3 years ago it was too scary for a 5 year old.

Then there is our current 5 year old Kindergartener who tends to fall into the category of, "Okay, you can watch it because your brother is." Roo has had to wait a much more minimal amount of time to see movies than his brother. He is equally obsessed and adamant about wanting to see this movie. At this point, I suspect this sweet 5 year old will be the one filling in all his friends about Anakin's transformation to the dark side and giving their parents a headache as they beg to watch Episode III.

I leave you now with G-man quizzing his current play date as to which Episodes he has seen and trying to talk him into watching one now...on a beautifully sunny fall day.

A Rooism

Roo is charming, yes it's true. He's continually charming those around him with his wit, brown eyes, and as a friend says...scrappiness. So for those of you who don't see him on a daily basis, here's a dose of Roo.

This conversation occured during G-man's baseball game between the coach and Roo and was relayed to us after the game by the coach.

Roo: Hey coach, see that pink thing down there by your foot?

Coach: Uh, yeah, that little pink thing down there?

Roo: Yeah, that pink thing by your foot. Could you pick that up for me? I dropped it.

Coach: Sure what is it?

Roo: My gum.