OUCH

Well it was bound to happen, Oscar broke a bone.

Oscar plays basketball weekly on Tuesday nights over at the church with his buddies. He usually comes home with some kind of minor injury and most of the time they are self inflicted. His major injury (so far) was a twisted ankle awhile back. I didn't think anything was wrong after this week's gathering, until Wednesday afternoon. I was talking to Oscar on the phone and he says "By the way I just wanted you to know I broke my finger"! What in the world? He kept trying to sugarcoat it, but I made him tell me what happened. He said he was stupid. He went up for a shot at the basket and missed, so he punched the floor. Yah what genius I know, must be a man thing.

He waited until the next morning to get it looked at, another man thing. He had an x-ray done and sure enough it was his hand that was broken, just behind the last joint in his pinky. So he needs a cast.

Here is what his hand looked like before the cast.



Kip is one of Oscar's best friends and thankfully he was able to put a cast on Oscar. Here he is during the process.



Kip told him it was going to be a pink cast, which Oscar was okay with (would have been a great conversation starter), but it was orange. He chose orange because he will be going hunting to South Africa in 4 1/2 weeks. The cast stays on for 6 weeks. It is on his right hand, his trigger hand, so I'm not sure how that is going to turn out?



Here they are BFF's (Best Friend Forever) hehehehe J/K. Here are the two buddies!



Thanks Kip and X-ray friend.

Preschool Graduation

5/22/08

Today was the last day for Parker at preschool, GRADUATION DAY. It was so fun to see all the kids in his class with great big smiles on their faces. The graduation ceremony is usally held outside but since it was a bit chilly today, it was indoors. We (the parents) were all crammed in their little room like sardines.

Here is Mason playing with some sort of nerf gun Daddy brought him while we are waiting for the ceremony to start.

Here is Mason, Molly, and Kip all squished together.

Parker had his famous big smile ready for me to take his picture. They sang some songs which I thought were very cute, I couldn't stop smiling.

Then they were called out individually with their graduation caps to receive their 'diploma'.

Parker had a great time this year. He liked carpooling with his friends and learning at school. He is very ready for kindergarten. I tell him it is after summer when you get to play outside in the water and have picnics. But I really think if he had his choice he would just skip it and go right to kindergarten. But I'm sure he'll change his mind once he remembers what summers are all about.

Here are the three buddies again. They are going to have great memories in kindergarten too.

Family Night - Working Together

5/19/08

We were all outside helping each other all over the yard. We had to split up responsiblities in order to get our chores completed. This was our list

Plant flowers

Ready last flower bed to plant flowers

Replant onions (1st batch died)

Mow the lawn

Put up volleyball net (for us, and for a scout activity the next day)

While Oscar mowed the rest of the grass with Mason, the rest of us played some volleyball (if you could call it that). It was Lil O and Zachary on a team and me and Parker as a team, so basically it was 2 against 1. We made up our own rules and had a lot of laughs. We even tagged Oscar with the ball as he came through on the lawn mower, yep he was mowing around us.

AFV Contestant?

5/18/08

I love these pictures!! Too bad it's not video, I could send it into America's Funniest Videos. Oscar has always hated changing the 'poopy' diapers. He will do everything else without complaining (most of the time) even getting up in the middle of the night. But he always hates this part of being a daddy. I really don't understand because he can 'gut' an animal on the mountain side, but for some reason baby poop makes him want to throw up!!

This was the first time he actually had a mask on! Way to funny. I had to take a couple of pictures, but not all of them turned out. I was laughing so much the camera kept moving and making blurry pictures. This is why Oscar has the 'are you done yet' look on his face.

Love ya babe!!

Having Fun With Water

5/18/08
Oscar, Zachary, and Parker love to play with guns, swords, lightsabers, water, anything outside. So with all the warm weather we have been having they decided to have a squirt gun fight. It was funny watching them run all over the yard 'getting' each other.

5th Grade Cramming Sessions

For the past couple of weeks this is how I find Oscar.



He is cramming for final AR (Accelerated Reader) points. He wanted to break the school record of 743 points. He has been in the lead all year, but now has someone about 100 points behind him. This had made him nervous, so he is cramming to get as many points as possible, and to make sure he is first.





When he first came home and told us about the girl (yes it is a girl) who is trying to catch up he had a plan. This plan would have him reading more than anything else, the only break times would be for sleeping and eating. I told him that was a pretty hefty goal, but we would support him if that was what he wanted. I asked him "So, do you want me to be the mean mom that makes sure you read. Or do you want me to let you play and not read if you don't feel like it?" He answered "The mean mom" I said "Okay so when I say you need to be reading you're not going to get upset?" He said "Yes". So from then on that is what he has been doing, READING. I have only had to remind him a couple of times that I am the 'mean mom' and he starts his reading again.





As of today 5/22/08 he has 801 points and has exactly one week of reading left. If he stays in the lead he will win 1st place in the 5th grade and the school. He will also hold the school record in points, and will have been the only student to win 1st place in each grade (he has won each year since the 1st grade) Keep up the awesome work Lil O

End of Soccer Season

5/17/08

Oscar and Zachary ended their soccer season today. Here they are with the awards of recognition.

They both had two games each and started bright and early with Oscar's 1st game starting at 7:30 am. Daddy had to get all the kids out the door by himself since Mommy was up in Cascade with a group of girls for a bookclub retreat. It was so wet that everyone stayed in the car and watched Oscar's game. He won and he was excited. Oscar's team either tied or won all their games this season. They had a good coach and they worked well together as a team.

Daddy coached Zachary's team this season. The boys on his team were all good, fun boys, but they were definetly there to have a good time. I know it was frustrating to Zachary who is very competive he wanted to win, or at least not get slaughtered. Daddy was okay with it until most of the boys gave up halfway through the games. Sadly they did not win any of their games. But the boys did get better about playing their positions, learning soccer techniques, and working together as a team. I think they (Daddy and Zachary) are both happy the season is done and Zachary is looking forward to next season and moving up a division to U10.

After all the crazy games, we had a crazy BBQ at the house for the team. We handed out trophies, t-shirts, and medals which the boys were so proud to have. We had hotdogs and somehow a water fight broke out with squirt guns and hoses, Daddy lost. It was very funny to watch, and thankfully the parents didn't get soaked.

Window Biz

5/10/08
Oscar (Lil O) and Zachary have started a window cleaning business, but they just have one client for right now. They are cleaning the windows at Daddy's new office, inside and out. They went today for the first time and it took about 2 hours to complete the job. They had to stop by Walmart and pick up a few supplies to make the job easier. Here are a few pictures of the boys hard at work.

When they got home I headed off to a baby shower and Lil O came up with a marketing tool to figure out how they should get paid. Here is a clip Daddy took of him explaining his thought process, very interesting.



Daddy sent this clip to the head boss at his office for his opinion. He responded by saying the windows looked great and that he would need and invoice from Oscar and Zachary so he could pay them for their services. Great Job boys!! Keep up the good work.

Preschool Field Trip

5/15/08
Parker went on a preschool field trip today to a park right across the street from the big airplane (Lakeview Park). He had a great time. They got to play and then later on they had a picnic lunch. He had such a great time, I had a hard time getting him to leave, as well as, Kelly Dittrich, and McKenna Dribnak. They were hiding from me inside the twisty slide! I had to laugh at McKenna, after she saw me she tried to hide behind the fireman pole. I think she really thought I couldn't see her. hehehehe :)

Here are the three buddies standing still for 'just a sec' so I could take their picture.






When these three get together it is very entertaining to watch and just listen to their little conversations. While driving in the car to and from preschool they have two favorite subjects to discuss, and amazingly they are talked about equally. The first one is religion or Jesus himself. McKenna and Parker had a face to face arguement two inches from each others faces. Parker "Jesus is the King!" McKenna "No, Jesus is Special!" Too cute! I didn't see this directly, but Jessica did and I can see it vividly in my mind. Way to go you two keep your testimonies strong. The other subject of choice is of all things, 'farting'. I have to say this was Parker's doing, he started talking about it one day and had the girls giggling and wanting more, so needless to say it has stuck! Good Grief. I can't wait to see them in Kindergarten in the fall. Parker is very excited to go.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. I know I appreciate and love my mother dearly!! Thanks mom for all you do, wish you were closer. To my wonderful younger sister, a Big Big Happy Mother's Day to you to! You are such a strong women and a great mother, your children absolutely adore you. You do very well with them even if you think you don't. Just remember that all of us go through the same things. Same stuff different family. :)

Today I got to sleep in, take a long shower, and I got to choose my favorite cereal for breakfast! During breakfast my boys gave me their presents they had made me. I don't know about you, but I love these thoughtful gifts. Lil O gave me a flower made out of tissue paper and a black and brown weaved flower holder. He also wrote me a card with this poem (he had help from Daddy, Zachary and Parker):

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Please flush the toilet,

After you poo.

Love,

Your Funny Son

All I could do was smile and shake my head. Yes all the boys were laughing hysterically. Love you too boys!! That's my boys. :) Zachary gave me a framed picture of himself with pressed flowers around the border, it was great. He gave me a sweet card that said "I Love You Mom" Parker was grinning from ear to ear when I got to his present. He had made a small picture frame out of small jigsaw puzzle pieces with a magnet on the back. I loved it! Now I have to take a picture of my boys to put in it.

Oscar sweetly told me he had tried to get me a mother's day gift but all the ideas he had sounded corny to him so he didn't get anything. He knew I wanted some flowers to plant outside by the trees, but he couldn't find any he liked. He told me we could go together on Monday and pick out the ones I liked. He also had to add that he contributed to breakfast that morning by making the money that paid for the food. hehehehehe He is always making jokes! :)

Oscar was also wonderful this morning. He helped me get Parker and Mason ready so I wasn't so stressed to get to church on time. So here is kind of a corny picture of me trying to get in the truck to go to church.

At church the primary children sang "Mother I Love You" during sacrament. I LOVED it!!! Parker was so excited to sing he kept asking me "Is it time to sing now?" He wanted to stand where he could see me too. So when it was time to go up, Parker walks up with Lil O and Zachary. He was trying to find a place right in right and not making much progress, when along comes Sister Tripple and takes his hand and pulls him up to the front. There is his big beautiful proud beaming grin again. I just about cried I was so happy! He sang the best he could and never stopped smiling. I had to laugh though because Zachary was trying to hide behind the other kids, and Oscar had the look on his face like he didn't want to forget the words. But whenever I could make eye contact with them, they would smile back. They all did a great job, and made me feel very loved. Later in Relief Society we were served by the Bishopric with cheesecake, YUMMY!!! And after church was done Oscar and Zachary gave me another sweet gift, they are plaques that say "LAUGH OFTEN".

After church we went over to my mother-in-laws house for dinner. It was a great day!! Thanks to Oscar, Oscar (Lil O), Zachary, Parker, and Mason for a great day. Love you all!!

Sound Sleeper

Oscar has been known to just fall asleep when he has had too much. This usually occurs on Wednesday evenings, since he had too much fun on Tuesday night playing basketball, watching movies, eating junk food, and man gossiping! :) Hehehehehe (sorry honey but it's true).

Last week I came out from putting Mason and Parker to bed and found Oscar on the floor spread eagle, sound asleep. This is usually normal for our family so I just went about finishing up a few things before going to bed and just let him sleep.

Little Oscar needed some doctoring done to his hand from a previous soccer injury. He had fallen into a goat head patch and received a lot of those pesky slivers/stickers in his hand. So we were in the bathroom (master bathroom in the back of the house) pulling out stickers and Lil O says "What's that?" We listen but I can't hear anything unusual, so we go back to picking them out. Lil O says it again "Listen Mom, what is that noise?" I still have no idea what he is talking about. He says "It that dad snoring?" I listen harder and sure enough "Yep I guess it is" I guess I am too use to this sound.

So Oscar goes out to the living room and comes back just giggling like he heard the best joke of all time (probably because he is tired). He says "Dad is snoring so loud!" So of course we both go back out and he is snoring all right. We go to turn on the camecorder, but the battery is dead. RATS! So we grabbed the camera instead and this is what we saw.




We love you Daddy!! We know you were just really tired. After we humiliated him with pictures and a little bit more giggling, I sent Lil O off to bed and woke Oscar to go to bed. Drama over until next Wednesday night. *wink*

We Did It

We finally got our garden in! It has taken longer this spring than normal since we have had such crazy weather. I still am not all that confident with the weather reports so I put milk jugs over my plants to protect them.

We planted red potatoes, green peppers, jalapenos peppers, green beans, carrots, walla walla onions, and two different varieties of tomatoes early girl and fantastic. I'm excited and I hope they all make it, last year our garden wasn't producing very well. This year we added some nutrients to the soil and did more prep work. We are going to plant cantelope behind the fruit trees and hope it helps keep some of the weeds down. Also we are taking advantage of Grandma's house just down the road and planting pumpkins, corn, and watermelon.

The boys are very excited. Parker and Mason really wanted to help plant, but were more satisfied digging and piling dirt in places other than the garden. It was funny to watch them, although I don't think Dad was happy about it.

For awhile all the boys were playing in the Tahoe in the garage. But after being locked out, the alarm going off and Zachary burning his finger on the lighter, they were banned from the truck. I felt so sorry for Zachary, he didn't know what it was, and boy does he have a perfect little circle on the top of his thumb. I sure hope it gets better fast, it's on his right thumb and he thinks he won't be able to write (I think he'll be fine). We doctored him up and sent him to bed, we'll see how he is in the morning.

May Cub Scout Pack Meeting

While Oscar, Mason, and I were away at the Middle School, Oscar had Zachary and Parker at Pack Meeting. They had a great time learing about habitat from a Fish and Game Wildlife Biologist. Oscar and I had picked up some free seedling trees on Arbor day a week ago and planned on passing them out at pack meeting. When Andy (biologist) heard that, he said he would bring some pots and dirt for the boys to plant them in. Andy said he wanted to teach the boys how to take care of the seedlings inside until the fall when it would be the best time to plant them outdoors. I thought that was great!

Here is Andy talking. Wow the scouts are really paying attention!

Here are the scouts planting their trees,

And here are the proud parents of a seedling pine tree with Andy their mentor. Don't they all look so happy? Oscar also challenged all the scouts that if they could keep their tree alive until this time next year, he would give them $5.00!! Wow you're on!

Oscar said Andy did a great job and everyone had a fun time.

He's Growing Up Too Fast

Last night Oscar, Mason, and I went to East Valley Middle School. They were holding an open house for all incoming 6th graders in the fall. Wait a minute!! I'm okay with Oscar being a 6th grader, but MIDDLE SCHOOL, I wasn't ready for that, that means he's growing up (too fast). When I was in 6th grade I was still in Elementary and was on top of the food chain, I didn't know what to expect.


I was trying to cope with two different things 1) Oscar is going to a new school, a middle school, where he is one of the younger ones, and 2) I only have 6 more years left with my baby (yes I can still remember him as one). I wasn't ready for this. When they are born and put into your arms for the first time, you never dream they will be leaving you eventually. All of a sudden this is to much a realilty for me. So after I got a hold of myself, I tried to listen to what the principle was saying, and I have to say the staff did a great job. We were able to tour the school, ask any questions, and talk to the teachers. I left there feeling a little better about the school, but I think my anxiety acts are still going to come, especially the older Oscar gets. Some have said (like my mother) it gets easier as each child comes along, I don't think this will be the case for me.


Anyway Oscar is extrememly excited for the fall! He will be able to participate in a gifted and talented class each day, instead of once a week, and he will be able to be in classes the actually teach at the grade level he is learning at. For example if he doing math at an 8th grade level he will be able to be in a class that teaches 8th grade math (still I am nervous, he is excited!) I'm glad he is happy, and I hope it stays that way once he starts in the fall. He is also looking forward to a bigger libray, participating in Cross Country and Track. Good luck Oscar, I know you'll do great!! You'll just have to be patient with your mother. Love you.

What a Trooper

Oscar was part of the 4th and 5th grade track meet held on Monday at Columbia High again this year. They compete with Endeavor, Snake River, Ronald Reagan, and Greenhurst Elementary schools. Oscar is more of a long distance runner than a sprinter, so he qualified for the 600 meter run. He has been looking forward to this day for a very long time. He has been practicing and talking all about it.

Now the not so good part. Sunday he was playing with his brothers outside in the backyard (taking advantage of the beautiful weather) with no shoes on and stepped on something sharp. So the bottom of his right foot was hurting to walk on. We doctored him up and sent him to school the next day hoping he would be okay by the time the track meet started. The bottom of his foot was okay, but he came home and told me he almost twisted his ankle playing soccer, and someone had kicked his leg as well, all on his right leg!!! I felt so bad for him, I should have told him to take it easy at school that day. Track meet time comes and he is feeling okay, his event is always the last one so he would have plenty of time to stretch and relax. BUT aparently some kids didn't show up for the running long jump so Oscar and a few other teammates were asked to fill in. When I saw Oscar lining up to jump I was really confused because he talked about this. After he landed the first time all I could think was I hope he doesn't hurt his ankle (he had to jump 3 times)

At last his event comes up. I am so thankful because I was tired of chasing Mason and Parker out of the isle, in the bleachers, and keeping tabs on all three of them. My neck was still a little soar and my back was hurting from sitting in the bleachers. Oscar had come to watch Oscar but he was always over talking to somebody else he knew (marketing he says). They line up and start running, by the time Oscar has made it 200 meters I could tell something was weird. He was running slower than normal, at first I thought he was just pacing himself, but he continued to slip back and back. In the home stretch he looked like he was giving it his all, but when the race was over I could tell he was disappointed.

When he had made his way back to us in the bleachers, sure enough he was LIMPING. I really felt sorry for him. He told us his ankle had started acting up on him around the first turn in his run. I was sad for him, but I was also totally amazed that he kept running. I know I would have just stopped! What a trooper, he finished the race! Two days later his ankle is well, but his back calf hurts where he was kicked. Maybe by the weekend he'll be all ready to go for soccer!