Alan, Alan, Alan!

Alan turned eight years old in November. He celebrated his eighth birthday with a party with kids from school and church. The kids were invited to attend super secret spy training in the form of a decodable message. At the spy training the kids became experts in the arts of tripwire evasion, master of disguises, bomb diffusing, decoding, and target training.

Having 10 little boys in our house for two hours was CRAZY! But I think everyone had a lot of fun.

Halloween

Overall a great Halloween with too much candy and lots of fun. Hope you all enjoyed yours! Jar luminaries from here

Apothecary idea and labels from Here

I don't know why I saved my chaps from a girls camp outfit but I'm glad I did. It came in handy. Our lovely wall was John's idea. We had multiple paint colors on our wall as we were trying to decide what color to do. We ended up using our samples and leftover paint to create Halloween decor.

Next week I've got a lot of painting to do . . .

Mome

This picture is a year old. I picked this up at a garage sale last year to hang in my laundry room, for our purses backpacks etc. (Note that after a year the backpacks still end up on the floor 2 feet from the hook). As soon as it was hung Alan took it upon himself to label each of our hooks. I was so in love with mine that I had to take a picture so I would always remember how he used to spell my name.

I never could correct him because whenever he would write "mome" it was so heartfelt and it meant the world to me. One day a few months later he was reading a book and after a moment sounded out the word mommy. "Is THAT how you spell it?" He asked. Oh how my heart broke that day. I knew that the days of Mome were gone. In fact I'm rarely even Mommy now. Most of the time it is a simple "Mom."
But always I will love Mome.

One Down, Ten Thousand To Go

I found this little bench a few years ago at a garage sale. It was in a little better condition then and I was enamored immediately dreaming of quaint scenes in my backyard with my kids sitting on the bench drinking lemonade. Whatever. I apparently forgot that I have two boys who I am not sure have ever sat on the bench even once. The only thing it was used for was to scoot it against the fence so they could stand on it and spy on the neighbors.

However in my kitchen I have a large, no huge, decorative shelf and it is mostly empty. I decided to repaint it to match the kitchen. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Now I just have to get the ladder out and hoist it up on the shelf. Ha Ha! Who am I kidding? I'm not going to do it. I'll wait for my husband Mr. Muscles to do it. Now on to the other million projects that I have.

While I was taking an after picture of the bench I realised that I never took and after picture of this little thing ( I really don' t know what to call it). I also got this at a garage sale but for free!

The lady was asking 50 cents but she didn't have change for the dollar that I had so she gave it to me for free. I don't even know for sure if I want to keep it. I just wanted to try out a painting technique and what better to do it on then something free!

Remember

Today Alan asked me why we put our flag up. I've never really explained to him what happened nine years ago. Seven years old is so young to have to think about the terrible things that happened that day. I want to protect him forever from the terrible things in this world. I would rather him not know evil that great exists.

I explained to him the tragedy that happened as I struggled to keep my voice even. Trying to not terrify my child I explained to him the tragedy and heroism of that day. And why war is being fought today. Why we need to remember and honor those that died that day. As I finished Alan said "I wish I were this age when that happened." To which I immediately thought 'Thank goodness he was not alive and did not have to experience that.'

Alan continued on "Then maybe I could have done something to help"

"Except ye . . . become as little children"

MATTHEW 18:3

Life's Big Decisions

Though Alan would love to go alone I walk my kids to the bus stop every morning. Not only do I walk them there but as I see the bus coming I make sure to get a goodbye hug and kiss from Alan and Hyrum. Alan would never think on his own to give me a hug and and kiss but he has no problem doing it. It has however become a stressful event for Hyrum.

You see, as a kindergartner there isn't much more important than being the first one on the bus. At first I called the kids over to me to give me a hug but then Hyrum just blew me a hug. Like you might blow a kiss but with a hug. So I then had to start chasing the kids down. The other day as I was giving the kids hugs and kisses Hyrum had the look of indecision on his face. You could tell he was contemplating a HUGE decision. He looked at me, looked at the bus gave me the quickest of hugs and ran off for the bus.

Hyrum is a smart kid though. So the next day as soon as we got to the bus stop he looks at me and says "Mom, I'm going to give you your hug and kiss now so I don't have to do it when the bus comes."

I guess I should just be glad that I'm still getting hugs and kisses.