My little boy's growing up

I can't believe he is in kindergarten and I can't believe he looks like a little boy and not a baby.  Every day is better than the last because I have those to look back on too.  They make today wonderful.  I wouldn't change who he is, although I would change some of his behaviors!  He is 5 and that is normal.  He is doing well in school, making friends and learning lots.

Only 13 more years of these shots.  It seems so long and yet so short, 5 have already flown by.

Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!  Claysen was ready to go "tweet, tweeting" all day, never mind the costume, he wanted to go. 

His costume, "A Lady Killer."

Bumblebee and Optimus Prime from Transformers

 We just took the boys around our small neighborhood.  Only 4 houses handed out candy and Nana and Maga gave them each a little Halloween treat.  Nice for Rusty and I that it was short and sweet and not so much candy to regulate later.

The Loot!!!

Relaxing fun

We've been trying to enjoy the fleeting warm days around here.  I always marvel at how in the fall 60 degrees seems so cold and in the spring 60 degrees seems so hot!  Doesn't seem to phase my kids.  They would wear shorts all the time. 

Callen has a kids cook book that was mine when I was little.  He wanted to make something one day with his mini baking pans.  So he looked through it several times and then decided on making bubbles.  So we did.

My boys... I love to see their bond, friendship and love for each other.  They also fight, but this moment was pretty precious to me.  After bath, one more minute of TV before off to read books.

Finally paying off and bragging about it!

Since I am a mother I think I have earned the right to brag about my kids, right?  Dare you to tell me no!

Callen came home today with this:

And to brag about Claysen, we have a little whistle, it is strictly an outside toy.  When he plays with the whistles at Maga's it is the same rule.  Well today, he got it all by himself and he went outside without being told.  Truthfully, I didn't know he had it until I heard him whistling outside. 

So proud that all that time I spend "yelling the rules" at them that it is paying off and showing through!!!

Soccer Mom!

People seem to say that, Soccer Mom, as if it is a bad word or a bad thing to be.  Mini-van, passle of screaming kids, hours in the car, you know that Soccer Mom.  Well I am begining to feel like that Mom, only I don't have the mini-Van and not a passle of kids, just my two.  I'll admit they do scream in the car and about the only thing that stops them from screaming is me screaming back at them.  Go figure! 

The thing is, I really like being a Soccer Mom.  I love to have the freedom to go where I am needed, when I am needed and not have to worry about the confines of a work schedule.  My only limitation is Claysen's nap schedule, which he is pretty good at being flexible at if need be. 

The result of quitting my job in August has been a lot less stress, a lot more happiness and pride.  I always thought I was proud of my job and didn't think I would leave it.  I had it sooo good, but this job is soo soo much better.  I am the boss and the employee.  I used to think of cooking dinner as a chore I had to do, now it feels a little more like an opportunity to impress my three fellas.  A place to succeed and improve myself.  It doesn't have the same measureable bar that my job did, but the satisfaction of doing good work is so much greater.  I feel so proud to be able to provide in a way I couldn't before.  Letting go of the stress and schedule of work as opened up so much for me at home.  I have only begun to scratch the surface of what I want to acheive at home.  The picture looks a lot different, and a lot more colorful.

 I am proud to be a stay at home Soccer Mom!  This is amazing, I am loving all of it!

Bounce!

Wednesday a friend of ours had a unexpected day off and called to invite us to go to an indoor playground with them and their kids.  Their little boy is about 6 months younger than Claysen.  I loved being able to drop what I had planned and go with them.  We went to Bounce!, an indoor playground with only bounce houses.  You know, those inflatable slides, castles, etc. you can rent for your backyard for a party or something.  The boys loved it!  They were both red and sweating and out of breath for about 2 hours.  Best five bucks I've spent in a long time.  Thanks Ty and Shelly!  We will be going back. 

Another feature they have at Bounce! is a velcro wall.  Ty put the boys in the velcro suits and stuck them on the wall.  It was pretty funny.

Cheap fun!

Mini vacation/business trip

One of the may things I am excited about this fall is the ability to accompany Rusty on short business trips with the kids.  We got to do just that this last weekend.  Rusty suggested that we go so the boys could stay in a hotel (they've been asking to do so for months) and swim in the pool.  Can you guess the exciting place we went?  Burns, Oregon.  It is almost as plain jane as you can get.  But we were together as a family and enjoying something away from home.  The boys and I got up in the morning with Rusty and went out to the ranch.  We saw 3 coyotes, 5 deer and 3 antelope while we were there, in addition to the 198 steers and the four trucks to haul them.  Callen and Claysen had their sorting sticks out and were "helping" as much as they could.  Claysen was very interesting in the loading chute and the truck, so I held him up so he could see the drive closing and opening the different compartments of the trailer.  We got done early enough in the morning to swim again before check out time.  The boys had a ton of fun eating in restaurants and staying in the hotel.  Callen missed one day of school to go, but we both think it is worth it.