Friday, June 19, 2009

My sweet boy

Jay has this crush on a girl who was in his class. He was talking about her last night so I asked him what it is about her that he likes. He said, "Her pretty face, the way she helps me in school, her curly hair.....oh but sometimes her pretty face makes me nervous."

He is just the sweetest boy I know!

Have some McCrack

So I go into McDonald's with my kids after their last day of school for the year to 'celebrate'. Now, McDonald's is not my favorite place to go for lunch and I often refuse, especially since seeing the documentary Super Size Me. (If you haven't seen it and like McD's, don't see it or you will never want to consume fast food again.) So the boys realized it was a treat. We walk in and the place is packed and there is someone walking around giving away small iced mochas - their new 'McCafe' drink for the summer.

I am not much of a coffee drinker but I did try one of their hot lattes once when I needed a little pick-me-up. My bff, Rhonda, raves about them. This experience was very funny and I won't go into it now but....I threw the thing out after only a few sips because it tasted something like gasoline and according to my kids who were in the car, it smelled much worse.

So as this employee (another rant I could go on but that would make this post super long) offers me a free iced mocha (or 'Frappe' as McD's is calling them), I am thinking I should say no because I don't like McD's coffee drinks but for some reason I say - "Okay, sure, I'll give it a try." I blame it on the whipped cream loaded on top. I'm a sucker for whipped cream.

I think they put some kind of addictive substance in these drinks because it is all I can think about the past couple of weeks. I found some coupons for free ones in the paper and I felt like I struck gold and have used them all up. I heard an ad for these iced coffees on the radio and there was a little disclaimer at the end that said something about not all restaurants are participating and this is for a limited time only. What do you mean a limited time only!!! You cannot take my McCrack away from me! They are like drug dealers who offer you some free stuff to try, knowing that once you try it you'll be hooked. And it worked! I'm hooked! Don't you dare discontinue to offer my "legal, addictive stimulant"* without consulting me first McDude!

My husband is a little worried about me and this whole McCrack....um, I mean McCafe thing. I don't think he has anything to worry about. I could stop at any time I want to. I just don't want to.

*from You've Got Mail

Thursday, May 21, 2009

recent pics of the fam

Here are my boys. They just keep growing. Sam is taller than me now. (that's not saying much!)
James took Jay to see the Lion King again. Jay loves/hates the hyenas. Jay loves to get dressed up in his suit! Don't they look handsome?

Luke is losing his teeth. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast!

Jay has his first baseball game of the season tonight. He is psyched!

Maybe you notice there are no pics of me. That's because I am the designated family photographer. No one else thinks to pick up the camera and take a picture of me. I'll work on that. Actually I have a lot of pictures of Jay and Luke but few of James and Sam. At 14, Sam is not all that keen on having his picture taken.

I used to scrapbook. Its not that I've made a conscious decision not to anymore - I just haven't put any photos in a scrapbook in about 3-4 years now. I also switched to digital this past year and I don't print them either. This is a project I want to work on this summer. I may not take the time to scrapbook but I do want to have the photos printed and in a book for us to enjoy.

I hope you enjoy these!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Could you vote for Susan?



Could you take a minute to vote for Susan? If she gets the most votes she gets a free trip to Hawaii.
Thanks!
Laura

Monday, April 13, 2009

Future writers?

Family Pride - by Luke
There’s my aunt a uncle who teach me spanish.
My omie and opie who teach me to be polite.
My grandparent’s who like golf.
My grammy and pop pop teach me about nature.



Mama Cat - by Sam
I’ve had a lot of experiences with animals, but there is one I’ll never forget. It began in March of 2004. My brothers and I were in our backyard playing tag or something when I came across a small cat, almost tripping over it. The cat was mostly a dull, darkish gray. Its stomach was snowy white, and it had bits of black here and there. It was a tabby, so it had stripes. It was a thin cat, so it looked a little smaller than most cats. My brothers and I stopped whatever we were doing and went over to pet the cat, but the cat hurried away as though I had pulled its tail. However, for the next couple months, I would notice the cat hanging around our house. On one particular day, while I was eating lunch on our back porch with my mother and brothers, the cat leaped up onto the porch and started to nibble on our food. My mother shooed it away.

Two months later, the cat gave birth to only one kitten. I came home from school and found the kitten in a little box in our garage. The kitten was about the size of a mouse (I wasn’t surprised that my mother thought it was a mouse when she first saw it). Its fur was a grayish color, like its mother. Its eyes were barely open, and it continually made these squeaking sounds. I could hold it in one hand and felt its razor-sharp claws digging into the palm of my hand. My father was gone on business at the time, and when he found out about the kitten, he said both the cat and the kitten had better be gone by the time he got home, which was two weeks away.

We started out feeding the cat tuna, but its stomach hated that the way people hate Jerry Springer, so we switched to buying cat food at Meijer. Meanwhile, the kitten could open its eyes complete-ly, and could take millimeter-length steps on my hand. Two weeks passed and we still hadn’t found a home for the cat. The day my father returned was a stormy one. Rain was coming down sideways, thunder was so loud our house shook, and some kind of storm watch or warning was issued every two minutes. And it the midst of all the lousy weather, and the fact that my father’s flight would probably be delayed, we gave the cat away to an old friend. It was so hard to give up the cat and kitten, but we knew they were in good hands.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

And for my birthday....

...my wonderful husband got me an amazing surprise. While we were out to dinner for my birthday, our friend/neighbor came over and hung portraits of the boys that James had taken, unbeknownst to me. They are absolutely beautiful. And I was totally surprised. And the boys were totally excited to be in on the surprise.

I don't have the photos on my computer yet but you can go to www.brettmaxwellphoto.com to see them. Scroll down about halfway to "birthday portraits" and you will see my three handsome men.

Thank you James, Sam, Jay and Luke!

Happy Birthday with Ruff Ruffman!


For Jay's birthday he wanted a "Fetch" party. "Fetch with Ruff Ruffman" is a show on PBS that Jay LOVES! Jay dressed as "Ruff" and we had a few activities that a contestant might participate in on the show.
Like a scavenger hunt....

a science experiment (blowing up a balloon without using your own breath)...

and creating the image of Ruff out of duck tape.

And here are a few of the creations.

The part that touched me the most were the gifts his friends gave him. A few of the kids got him some sensory toys because they know he uses things like that in school. They all know Jay has a kind of autism and really love him and accept him exactly as he is - which is really not hard to do because the boy is so fun! All in all it was a great party - very creative and everyone had a good time - including the birthday boy!