Full-Fledged

Today it happened. My first-born became a teenager.

Casey's air-soft cake- complete with edible BB's

I don't know who planned this, but I now have a teenager AND a two-year old in the house. Quite possibly the worst predicament yet. ;)

This day seemed so far away for so long. But here it is. I am the mom of a TEENAGER! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

My teenager when he turned 1...seems like yesterday.

The last 13 years have been quite a ride. Here are 13 things I love about Casey:

1. He came out with eyes wide open....and he has been observant ever since! I have always said he would be a great spy....he can listen in on conversations like no body's business (pun intended.)

...when he entered this world....

2. He is absolutely full of personality. He is definitely one-of-a-kind! As a toddler, when he'd get especially rambunctious, my father-in-law would comment that he'd much rather have a kid like that than one with no personality. How true that is! Casey is full of it!

3. This boy is confident, and persistent. He does not give up easily- a quality that makes him a good salesman. He has come home many times with gifts people have given him because he somehow persuaded them he needed it.

4. He is a fabulous missionary. When he was baptized, he went door to door preaching to our friends of other faiths. He even delivered his first Book of Mormon to his friend across the street. He looks forward to, and goes Home Teaching with his dad every month.


5. Casey is sensitive and has a very giving heart. I have received numerous phone calls from people telling me of the kind deeds he has done.


6. Casey has a great imagination. Something I admire in him. Most boys his age have lost that capability.

This was his get-up for over 2 years. EVERY day. He really believed he was a firefighter.

7. I love his laugh (as evil as it is sometimes!)

8. He loves his family. Especially his dad.

9. He loves to read. I love that he loves to read, because I don't.

10. He's active- always on the move. Skateboarding, rollerblading, biking, you name it.

Check out that Ollie...his mom would be proud....

11. Casey is well-rounded. I don't know many kids that enjoy as many things as Casey does.

Daddy's little helper

12. Casey loves to learn. He doesn't necessarily love school, but he loves to learn. As a punishment once, I had to take away his encyclopedias. He thrives on new knowledge. Since he was little, he has enjoyed watching documentaries.

13. He puts up with an imperfect mom. Thanks, Casey!

I love you. Happy Birthday, son!

A full-fledged teenager.

Happy Birthday, Randy!

I haven't posted in a few days because we have just been having too much fun...

Friday was Randy's birthday. My day was pretty busy. I had a lot of things I needed to do. After getting the kids off to school, I made his fudge. A great big pan of it to stick candles in. He is not a big cake guy, so I usually do something else- like a pie, or chocolate chip cookies, or fudge. One of Randy's presents (the best one, in my opinion) hasn't arrived yet. I got looking at what I had for him and it was pretty sad, so I wanted to go shopping. But Hannah needed to be at school at noon, and she didn't' wake up until 10. So, I didn't have time go before school. No big deal, I had some things at the school I needed to do. I had wanted to take Randy out for lunch, but it just wasn't going to happen...maybe another day. After getting home from school, I had less than one hour before I needed to turn around and pick up Casey for a physical. (He wants to be a Navy Sea Cadet. It's kind of like a Jr., Jr. ROTC.) I did a little straightening, and I was off to get Casey and take him to the doctor. Casey hasn't made a performance like that since first grade when I took him to get an immunization. They are both good stories, so indulge me a minute and I'll tell them...

2003: I arrived at the school to pick up my darling son, only to find that the teacher didn't know where he was. You see, I made the mistake of telling him where we were going. Never again, I learned. I finally located him...in the boy's bathroom, hiding in a locked stall. I'll spare you the details of how I removed him from the stall....I then dragged him, kicking and screaming, all the way to the car. I opened the van door to shove him in there and he immediately did a spread eagle. His arms and legs were now pressed against the outside of the vehicle. As I would free one appendage, he would immediately fling it back out. After a good work-out, I finally got him in the car and slammed the door as quickly as I could. He cried the whole way there. I once again dragged him into the building, kicking and screaming. He repeated the spread eagle routine as I tried to hold open the office door. It was sure a good thing I didn't have other little kids with me. Or did I? It doesn't even matter at this point. Nobody could focus on anyone but Casey. Once inside, the nurses, yes, more than one- helped me get him into the room...and hold him. I held him (so there are three of us total, holding him) on the chair, my arms tightly wrapped around his torso and my legs crossed over his. He was screaming and squirming hysterically. The nurse pulled down his pants as best she could and stuck the needle into his leg. He didn't even notice. When she announced she was done and asked him if it hurt, he thought for a second...after the performance he gave, he couldn't possibly give it all up now and admit that it wasn't a big deal. So he stood up and instantly fell to the floor, "My leg! I can't use it! It doesn't work anymore!" He limped and dragged his leg behind him the whole way out of the office. That was a proud day, let me tell you....

So, here we are, five years later...He's matured so much since then...

As we were driving away from the school, I asked, "Do you have clean underwear on?"

Casey: "Why do I need clean underwear?"

Me: (Uh...because it's good hygiene...) "You are going to have a physical."

Casey: "What do they do at a physical?"

Me: "Trust me, you want clean underwear."

Silence.

Me: "Casey- do you need to go home and change first?"

Casey: "I don't have any underwear."

You know, I'm not so sure making him do his own laundry is a good idea. He really doesn't care if he has clean clothes or not...

Me: "I guess you'll have to wear some of Tyler's"

Nathan: "He can wear some of mine!"

Me: "Thanks, Nathan, can he wear your Thomas underwear?"

Casey: "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Me: "How about Lighting McQueen?"

Nathan: "No, those ones are too small for him."

Casey ran into the house to change, and we left for the doctor. The whole way there, he was complaining about the impending embarrassment.

Once inside the doctor's office, he made it known to everyone there that he was not happy about what was going to happen. The nurse took him back to the examination room and apparently informed him to put on the lovely paper gown. She left, and he cracked the door open.

Casey: (loud enough for everyone to hear) "Do I have to take off my underwear?"

Nurse: (silence....pure disbelief, I'm sure)

Me: (from the waiting area..)"Casey, be a man."

I got a sympathetic look from the lady sitting next to me.

Casey: (cracking the door open again.) "Do I have to do this?"

Me: "Only if you want to be a Sea Cadet."

Casey: "I never said I wanted to do it." (Whatever! This is his DREAM!)

Me: "Or if you want to go to Scout Camp."

Casey: "UGH!"

He put on quite a show for the doctor as well. Unfortunately, the doctor was amused by his performance, which only made it worse. All I can say is, it's a good thing Casey's not a girl.

After the excitement at the doctor's office, we headed to the store, and then home for last minute birthday preparations.

We had a fun time playing the Wii and watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3. We had pizza, and fudge and ice cream and Randy opened his presents.

Saturday, I had a list of things to do and Randy was dying to build another snow fort with all the snow we got. This time, he buried his Jeep, and then backed it out to make it extra big. There were some very confused people driving by!

Deja Vu

So today started out as any other. I had high hopes of what I would accomplish. You see, tomorrow is Hailey's birthday. I have certain things I do for each person's birthday, and they usually require a day of errands and other preparations at home. Well, Hailey's birthday is a little more complicated. Throw into it, that fact that Christmas is in 11 days. So, not only do I have birthday errands and preparations- but Christmas, as well. So I had a long list of things to do today, and I had plans to start around 10:00 (meaning out the door by 10:00.) That is until Nathan pulled one of his "split my head open and take me to the Insta Care" routines. Yep. Right around 9:00 AM, just as I was about to get into a much-needed shower, he came to me crying. There wasn't much blood, but his chin was definitely gaping. I was still determined to get my things done, and I didn't know how they would react if I took him back four weeks to the day since the last set of stitches. So, I decided I would just use a butterfly bandage. That lasted about two seconds. That kid won't leave a Bandaid on. So, I hopped in the shower, woke Hannah up, and took her and Emma to my friend's house. Luckily, the doctor was able to glue it closed and so far it has held- that is pretty good. Once again, he was a model patient and the doctor and nurses commented on how good he was. Yes, nurses. They brought two in for reinforcements- probably figuring we would have to sit on him. But Nathan is a veteran. He just laid there. In fact, at first, he was so giggly, that anytime I tried to touch him, he would start snorting and laughing hysterically. Only Nathan. What will I do with him?.....