Sunday, February 26, 2017

February 2017! It's ending!!

We have had a really fun couple of weeks. The boys, Jax particularly, love to use the camera function on my phone. This is one of 30 exactly the same pictures I found the other day. Cute little goober.
 Justin's groin has really healed nicely and he is playing at least once a week at the indoor soccer arena. It's always nice when his games are before the kids bedtime, because then we can go watch! It is so fun to watch him play, he is still so talented.
 
 Valentines happend fairly uneventfully, I had a training at Orangtheroy so my kids were watched by some friends and my mom. Here are the only pictures from the day. The kids, Jax particularly, at so much candy. I think Jax may have eaten almost ALL his candy in one day...
  

Cal wanted a picture in his batman robe! Always stylin'! 
This is also his "cheese!" face. Some of his "cheese!" faces turn out better then others...
  
Case in point: He was trying so hard to say "cheese!" The second picture is immediately after. :)
This was a funny night. We were babysitting Natasha's kids and my kids had earned screen time, so that is exactly what everyone did...!! I looked around and chuckled because EVERYONE was on a screen!! I took pictures of all the humans in all the rooms. It was pretty funny!
  
 
 Rod had his Kindergarten program and it was SO CUTE!! They were all little chickens from the book Wolf and Chicken Stew. They had worked so hard on the program and it showed. It was very fun to watch.
  
 
My cute little chicken!!
I just thought this was cute. Rod's good friend Makayla has a lot of energy (what 5 yr old doesn't...but this one particularly. :)) and I was waiting to invite her over until the weather was nice and they could play outside. But he just kept begging so I had her over one day and they did play outside, but they also played inside. And they played so well. I was floored. They were so good and never woke Cal up from his nap. It blew my mind. It was so cute to watch them play, they are so different and just play so marvelously! I was so struck, I took pictures. I loved every second of it.

  
And then there was a TROLL party for Eli at my moms. The kids were all in troll heaven!! So much fun with such fun people!! It was just too great a time.
  
 There was also a piñata!! Oh, the happy faces!!
   
I didn't get a picture of Rod, but he was there too. :) Everyone got a turn!
  
There was so much candy and sugar at this party the kids didn't even pick up all the piñata candy. A bit of it was just left on the grass! I've never seen that before!!
 Our present to Eli was a total success. It's Guy Diamond's naked glitter self atop a cupcake that sings tirelessly. Guy Diamond dances and takes every child to their happy place; especially Eli. So that was really fun. Also, note Hazels cute face! 
 
AND I just want to say, when Clarissa brought out Eli's "Troll Cake", it was one of the cutest scenes EVER! Eli started literally, SCREAMING, with pure intense joy! Screaming. It was seriously the highlight of my day. I honestly dream of my kids screaming with joy over something I was responsible for...I didn't know kids actually did that! It was the best.
AND PORTER!!!!! He try's to come off like I'm not his favorite--but I know, I know deep, deep, DEEP down, in his chubby gut, I am.
   
And THIS was fun. For Steve's birthday the brother and sisters all went to the Escape Key. (HUGE thanks to mom for watching all the kids!! And Debbie for being willing!!)
Basically they set this room up like a evil mad scientist was creating a virus turning people to zombies or something. So they lock you in his dark "Lab" with no lights, and you just have to figure out how to get out! The door is chained with 4 different chains and a keypad lock. There are camera's for the person running it to watch you and help you out through typing clues that shows up on a tv in the room. It was so much fun, seriously. And it was so cool to see how everyone reacted and the different ways people think and question. There were a few times where the already jumpy people of the group created quite a screaming scene when they were startled with one thing or another--it was so great. I just loved being there with all the people I love so much!! REALLY missed Chanel, Arianne and Carter though...:(
 We played The Great Dal-moody (sp?) later for Steve's birthday. And Justin and I somehow wound up as Scum and Super Scum!! What are the odds!?! Thanks Arianne for the nasty looking underwear wearing requirement...! :)
 
 So remember that weird bubble over Rod's dead tooth?? (Spoiler Alert-it was super infected!!) It had been almost 2 weeks and Rod wasn't wanting me to pull it--two weeks was the deadline the dentist gave us to when the tooth needed to be out by.  The tooth was creating really stressful situations for Rod and for me--when we were together. I finally didn't care how much it would cost I just wanted that ugly, gross, pesky tooth out of his mouth for good--especially because it might be infected! He was begging me to take him to the Dentist, so I caved. He just wanted to be numb, and he knew they would make it not hurt. In hindsight I'm so glad I took him in, it really was probably really hurtful when I tried to pull and wiggle it. The tooth was not budging for me and the dentist was even surprised how wiggly it seemed, but how stuck it actually was. Also, I have THE BEST PEDIATRIC DENTIST EVER. Just amazing. So he does his stuff, numbs Rod up, and pulls the tooth. (I have a picture of it, it is a gnarly, nasty tooth!) THEN he gets this little tool that looks like a tiny spoon and starts scraping out the inside of the tooth cavity; he was getting out bloody puss!!  I was freaking out! But it was so gratifying to watch..! I was SO glad the dentist took care of the whole thing--what if the tooth had come out at home and all that went into Rods mouth?!? Or what if it never came out because it was so infected and then it turned toxic or something. I really wasn't sure it was infected so it just blew my mind that there really was crud just sitting in there. Darn tooth!
 
  
Also, please note the balloon sheath for Rod's balloon sword. The whole set up is SO Rod. That was definitely a highlight. I have a REALLY great video of Rod play fighting with his balloon sword, by himself, with amazing slow motion and sound effects. I love him.
 
 My mom gave all the grandkids a little box of chocolates for Valentines. Jax ate all the chocolates in one sitting. Here is photo proof. Jax has an amazing, uncanny ability to consume copious amounts of sugar and junk without any side effects. It's a curse. And he mostly doesn't care for any normal "food," like nothing tastes very good to him. He eats to live. Candy and junk are his only things that give him pleasure. This might have something to do with him only really ever eating about 4 different things--he has texture issues and an overactive gag-reflex. So though we make him try things, he only try's a few bites and really stuggles the whole time with gagging/throwing up. Even after he ate this entire box of chocolate, he was immediately asking my mom for some of the other chocolate she had on the counter. He is amazing.
Also, Calvin was wearing Rods little red purse SO CUTE and then when I got out my camera he threw it on the floor and stared at me. I think he wanted a reaction. Geeze, he has a cute face. I love that picture. 
Calvin talks in a high pitch, (screams and whines in a high pitch as well,) and is really talking so much more then he used to--he is usually very polite. He will say the funniest things; and the sweetest things. I'm trying to decide if he is going to be a talker (like Rod,) or the silent type, (Jax).  I think he reminds me a little bit of both. But he is still VERY MUCH his own person--doing things I have never seen out of either of my other two. He still can't (won't?) feed himself. And he seems to be more lovey and affectionate--that is SO the best. Also, he still has both his front teeth! So maybe he does things a little different from my other two.
 Calvin was LOVIN on my mom when she was done babysitting him on Friday. This doesn't happen super often so I grabbed my phone for a picture. You can't quite tell from the pictures but he was just going to town, he machine gun kissed her for a solid 30 second...!
 And I LOVE my Roddy!! He loves to have bandana's or headbands around his head, it makes him feel (and look!) like a ninja! You can see all the space he has where his front teeth used to be!! I love his new smile!

 Despite Rod's (seemingly) big space for his front teeth--I've seen the x-rays. His front teeth that are coming in are TWICE THE SIZE OF THE SPACE. Gigantic. AND that is not counting the teeth right next to the two front ones that are so huge as well and pushing in on those front ones. All I can say for this kid is that he is 'agonna need dental work...!!