Joys of raising Boys

Parent Lunch Day

2019-10-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

Working at Jack's school brings some advantages, such as already being there for special events or parent activities! Today was the school district's first ever Parent Lunch Day. We had over 200 parents RSVP! Being the daytime custodian, it was my job to make sure everyone would fit in the cafeteria, and everything would flow well. The 3 lunch periods were extended to accommodate all the people going through the lunch lines, but it went very smoothly! Hooray!

I also got to sit with Jack, his friend, Daniel and his mom, my friend Michelle, during 4th grade lunch!

This was the highlight of my Friday, as the rest of the day was not so great- with Jack getting in trouble in the principal's office, and busy with grocery shopping.

My broken Heart . . . and Mug

2019-10-17T13:29:00.000-06:00

When Alison and I were galivanting around Las Vegas, we found our way to the Beatle's gift shop in The Mirage Hotel. And there I spent an entire hour (if not longer) searching for the absolute perfect treat for myself! Not too expensive, not something that would be used up (like stationary) or wouldn't become too large, small, or get damaged in the wash (like clothes), but something I could still use everyday. I eventually chose a little ceramic travel mug. It was perfect in every way. I could use it everyday, take it wherever I went, use it for hot and cold drinks, it was the perfect size, not obnoxiously wild, just perfect. I knew I would keep and use it forever!

I've used this little mug everyday since buying it!

Until this week, when my slippery lotioned hands accidentally dropped it, while I was cleaning it! My perfect mug had shattered before I could even look down! Ugh! I wasn't too upset until I couldn't find a replacement on Amazon . . . because I had seen pretty much every item in that Beatles store on Amazon. But not this one mug. I spent the next 2 days scouring the internet for it, with no luck. If I hadn't picked this particular mug out, I would have never known it even existed because it cannot be found anywhere! I'm so bummed I broke it, but I decided to keep the pieces to make a fun mosaic at some point.

If you are ever out and about though, and come across this mug, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!

Sleeping on the job

2019-10-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

Sometimes when you're 13, you are simply too tired to finish your dishes without taking a nap mid-job.

Yes, we seriously walked into the kitchen, to find Ronin sleeping on the floor, halfway through his dishes! Bahahahaha!!!

Nobody Puts Cheese In The Corner!

2019-10-14T12:51:00.000-06:00

Did you hear the one about the little boy who wasn't allowed to have late night snacks, got into his mom's block of cheese, nearly got caught so he chucked it into the corner of the Livingroom, between the wall and bookshelf? And then left it there for nearly 2 weeks, lying about it's disappearance the entire time!

I'm here to tell you, the story is oh so true!

Nobody wastes cheese in my house! And nobody puts cheese in the corner!

2019-10-11T14:44:00.003-06:00

I did a thing!

I'm growing my hair out again! And since I've never looked good without bangs, this week I cut my bangs! Here's to the year of Katie-changes-hahaha.

2019-10-09T14:39:00.000-06:00

Hey, snow!

SE Idaho called- It wants it's fall back!

October General Conference

2019-10-07T14:36:00.000-06:00

This is what General Conference looks like in our home:

We usually take a long drive during one of the sessions, but I wasn't feeling great and just wanted to stay home. We also usually hit our favorite pumpkin patch in between Saturday sessions too, but the weekend was exceptionally cold and stormy. I didn't want to venture out there.

We always enjoy the talks given and lessons learned, but usually had a favorite talk, or two, that stands out from the rest. This time it was of course, Elder Uchtdorf's Hobbit talk-hahaha. I love this man so much!

We also look forward to all the changes and excitement President Nelson shares. I can't wait to see what they do for the 200th anniversary conference, in the spring. What a nice, relaxing weekend!

National Taco Day!

2019-10-04T22:00:00.000-06:00

Calvin had a football game to play at for marching band, this evening, in Rexburg. I decided to stay in town for the duration of the game, and play with ALISON, whom I haven't seen since Vegas! Crazy!! This is what we text eachother whenever we miss eachother and want to get together:

We wandered around every single store Rexburg had to offer us on a stormy Friday night, and celebrated National Taco Day at "our" place (Taco Bell)! I miss Alison so much and soak her up as much as possible when we actually get to see eachother.

A couple fun facts- My dark grey t-shirt says, "Life is better with a Katie!" It is pretty much my favorite shirt, ever-hahaha. And that awesome yellow flannel shirt is a size X-SMALL!!! It's the incredible shrinking Katie!! (stuffing her face with tacos!!) I'm down 60lbs, in 10 months, and feel freakin amazing!!

Fall School Carnival

2019-10-03T20:30:00.000-06:00

This evening I had the honor of accompanying Jack and his neighbor/best friend, Daniel, to their school's Fall carnival! It's a short school week this week and next week, which is why the carnival is on a Thursday. Because Daniel and his older brothers have all been homeschooled, this was his very first school carnival too!
Jack is Naruto this Halloween, and Daniel went as a warlock.

After we had used up all our tickets, we ended our outing at Wendy's for Frosties and fries! These two knockleheads had a blast, and kept saying it was the best night, ever-haha. I'm so glad Jack discovered a buddy on our street, and they play so well together!

IT'S OCTOBER!!!

2019-10-01T19:30:00.000-06:00

I've been rather tired and unmotivated lately, but Michael nudged me into doing one of my very favorite yearly activities- Decorating the house for HALLOWEEN! I'm so glad I did! We were a little late this year, but today's October 1st, so what better day to pull out totes and totes of Halloween?!

I love October so dang much, and always will! And I love our Halloween house each year!

2019-09-28T13:49:00.000-06:00

Fun Fact:

Calvin spends at least 2 hours jumping on the trampoline every single day, rain or shine!

He slips his headphones on and basically lives out on the trampoline after school, after dinner, and I hear him bouncing long after I've gone to bed. On the weekends, he'll spend even more time out there, happily bouncing! The tramp is his happy place, for sure. Also, his quad muscles are insane!

The Tall One

2019-09-21T13:41:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness! This kid grew like a weed, over the past year!

Even if he never grows another inch, he'll have the victory of being the tallest person in our house and family-hahaha!

It makes absolute sense that this is quite often how Ronin is found- The poor boy just needs rest for all his growing-haha

Fall Is In The Air!

2019-09-14T13:33:00.000-06:00

It's beginning to look and feel like fall!

We woke up, the other day, to the most glorious fog! I love fog, especially in the fall months because it add just a little more spook to the season.

The day after Labor Day, I decorated our porch in my usual fall accents.

We've all had our very first soothing mug of delicious hot chocolate of fall.

The temperatures have taken a dramatic dip! Within just a couple of days we went from super hot and sweaty days to wind, dark clouds, storms, and rain. Jack and I did a rain dance on the trampoline to celebrate the change of the seasons-hahaha

My ever-growing glass pumpkin collection is now scattered throughout the upstairs too.

Yep, it is definitely FALL!!!

We Survived The 1st Week Of School!

2019-09-08T17:42:00.001-06:00

Even though school started on Wednesday for Ronin, Jack, and I, it sure did feel like a very long week, easing ourselves back into it all-hahaha. So far Jack LOVES, and I can't stress that enough, LOVES both of his teachers!! Then again, so do I, which is why I personally requested them for him! On Friday their classes got together and made "stone soup" and watched Pollyanna. Ronin also seems to be very happy with his classes and school so far. On the first day of school there were a lot of bus issues, after school, and Ronin's bus was an entire hour late picking him up from school! He got out of school at 2:25, and didn't get home until after 4pm! The week was hot (still in the 90's) and exhausting for me, getting back into the swing of things, and by the end of the week, I was too hot, cranky, and done with all of it.

However, Saturday morning I woke up to a magical dense fog with a forecast of thunderstorms and temperatures in the 60's! I'm going to be much, much happier this week!

As I've made the commitment to start blogging again, I've found that the photo hosting website (app) I use, on my phone, to upload and keep my pictures, to use on the blog, has malfunctioned and isn't currently uploading my pictures. So I cannot post current pictures on here right now, until the issues are resolved. My timing is terrible-hahahaha.

New Beginnings

2019-09-04T19:56:00.003-06:00

Summer blog posting has been somewhat of a wash! I took so many pictures and then got behind, and now I'm just overwhelmed trying to play catch-up. I'm still going to fill in the summer months, one post at a time, but I'm starting my family journal-keeping fresh with today, the first day of school for Ronin and Jack. They are beginning a fresh, new year at school, so it's the perfect time, I guess-hahaha.

Let's begin with Calvin:

Calvin started school 2 weeks ago, and absolutely LOVES being a sophomore in high school! He loves his school, loves marching band and is having so much fun with it! His group of friends has expanded, and they are always out together doing something. He's becoming brave, growing into his skin, and is just a cool guy! He likes his classes, except speech (because he hates public speaking), but it was a requirement, so he wanted to get it out of the way first. Smart kid!

Ronin and Jack are now finally back in school too! Ronin is in 8th grade, and Jack is in 4th.

Despite us still "enjoying" the hot summer weather, these two both opted to wear track suits on their first day back. Jack thinks his new teachers are great and nice. In 4th grade here, instead of having just one teacher, they start having a team (2 teachers). His homeroom teacher, whom in this case, teaches math and science, and then the class switches to their social studies/ English teacher. His homeroom teacher is actually the sister of his teacher last year-hahaha.

Ronin is taking weight lifting for PE, this trimester, and may have over worked himself today-hahaha. He's so sore! So far he likes his classes . . .

After a long, boring summer of working, I'm glad to be back on our school year routine. Yesterday a new 3rd grade class was added to the school, so I spent the evening moving storage and furniture out the of needed classroom, and set the classroom up for the new teacher. Today as I started my normal, daily, school year work, I found myself sore and tired, so my first real day back at school was a little half-assed-hahaha. Everything will be back to normal on Monday though (I'm giving myself the rest of this week to readjust-haha).

Feel free to scroll back to see if I've added more summer posts, but be prepared to start seeing many more current stories now. I'm so glad day one of school is over and done. Now we can settle back into regular life-hahaha.

Summer Review: Week 4

2019-06-27T13:24:00.000-06:00

Later this week I'm leaving for a trip of a lifetime (well, for me, anyway, because I don't do this ever). Alison and I are going to Las Vegas for our annual girl's weekend! Last winter I bought Paul McCartney concert tickets on a whim- a once in a lifetime opportunity to see my favorite Beatle perform live! So, that is the main reason for our trip and I am beyond excited!!

But first, here's how the boys spent their 4th week of summer break-

A trip to the nature park, and a long-lasting mighty stick battle throughout the entire park!

We spent the entire day in Rexburg! We hit our favorite candy store, where Ronin found a hilarious Stalin/ Communist soda, and for the rest of the day, turned everything into a communism joke-hahaha.

We hit Ronin's favorite local store- Cal Ranch, where he always tries on cowboy hats and boots. I have to remind him I'm not willing to buy him $200 cowboy boots until his feet stop growing 2 sizes each year-hahaha.

We played around town all day and met Michael for dinner, so he could introduce us to Del Taco, which was delicious!

We also started watching the Women's World Cup!

Summer Review: Week 3

2019-06-22T11:51:00.000-06:00

The boys enjoyed rootbeer floats:

And, I have thrown a stick at Jack and injured his back-hahahaha. I'd like to say it was an accident, but my aim is so bad, I honestly thought I would miss the little turd-haha.

Ronin ran over one of our sprinkler heads, moving the trampoline to mow the lawn. We haven't replaced it yet because the boys moved the tramp over it and are having so much fun with it's strong spray-hahaha.

Calvin made a mighty Robin and Shrek shrine at the DI, and was so proud of himself! It was still standing the next 2 times we visited the DI-hahaha.

Ronin found a hurt bird and tried to help it, before putting it safely on a tree branch,

And last, but not least- we said goodbye to Spike, our little zebra tarantula. He sadly died, so Jack insisted we bury him in the back yard and have a funeral for him.

There you have it, our 3rd week of summer break!

Summer Review: Week 2

2019-06-16T15:04:00.000-06:00

Our 2nd week of summer was pretty mellow and low key. Besides my work and Ronin's school, we pretty much hung out at home and did nothing. I do like to have at least one big outing each week, so on Wednesday we spent the afternoon at Rigby Lake, our local swimming hole.

Swimming at Rigby lake was really the one and only thing we did during our second week of summer-hahaha. Oh yeah, other than this:

Jack's summer workbooks arrived-Bahahaha! He has to complete 1-2 pages out of all 4 everyday, before he's allowed to do anything else.

A Bad Week For The Van

2019-06-10T07:26:00.000-06:00

Look what happened to my windshield this week! I am so mad!! A rock flew out the back of a pickup truck we passed in IF. I could see it fly at us, then POP! This circle is the diameter of the round top to a soda can!

My windshield was so pretty, and now I have a giant circle right in the middle!

As if that wasn't enough damage for the week, as I was leaving my school to drive a block away to pick Ronin up from summer school at his school, I had a tire blow out! I parked at Ronin's school and tried to change it myself, but I wasn't strong enough to budge the lug nuts! Curse my weak, girl arms! I made Michael come from Rexburg to help-hahaha. And he gave Ronin a lesson in changing tires!

I ended up needing a new tire, and spent the afternoon waiting for it to be replaced by very incompetent people-hahaha. I was not happy because my tires are only a year old!

We have some big drives coming up, during our summer travels, so I hope this is the extent of our car tragedies for the summer-hahaha. I can live with a dinged windshield and tire replacement within a couple days of each other. But please nothing else!

Summer Review: Week 1

2019-06-09T07:05:00.000-06:00

We had a fun first week of summer, and so much happed! I can't believe the boys have already been out of school for a week (2 for Calvin)!

This is what we did during summer break, week 1:

We played in Idaho Falls and had some delicious Noodles.

My question is, how can Jack hold and eat with chopsticks perfectly, but can't hold a pencil correctly to save his life?

Because our pool STILL HASN'T ARRIVED, Jack has been playing in the sprinklers.

We've walked around the Idaho Falls river greenbeld. I think it's a 3 mile walk.

We've gone out for ice cream!

I also ordered new pants for Calvin and Ronin, and got all of Jack's back-to-school clothes for fall-hahaha.

I got a phone call the day before summer school was to begin at the middle school, to inform me that Ronin needed to attend. So, Ronin is taking science in summer school all of June, and started this week too. Calvin started babysitting in the mornings for me, Ronin started his weekly lawn care assignments, and I started my summer school cleaning. Even though I'm still getting up at the same time, my new schedule is making me exhausted! I think it's the 8 straight hours of cleaning, rather then how my job is normally broken up during the school year. I get to do something fun in my school, during this summer too, which I'll write about another time . . . . But all in all, our first week of summer has been pretty decent.

Bathroom Redo

2019-06-07T12:20:00.003-06:00

After years of my colorful flower shower curtain and various colorful towels, in May I decided to redo my bathroom. I changed the color scheme to something a bit more mellow and calm, with nautical seafoams, creams, and dark blues. Not my usual colors, but they give my bathroom a whole, new, relaxing vibe. And I bought the shower curtain I've wanted for 3 years-hahaha.

Until the day I replace our stupid jetted tub with a walk-in shower, this shower curtain will stay because it makes me so dang happy-hahaha. Also, it all ties in with our ugly vanity's shell sinks. Someday those will be replaced too. I'm quite happy with how everything looks now!

A Walk Around Rigby Lake

2019-06-01T09:31:00.000-06:00

A few nights ago, we had the loveliest evening, after days of rain. Michael was running late at work, so the boys and I decided to take a lap around Rigby Lake. Ronin brought his metal detector and he and Jack walked along the beach, searching for treasures, while Calvin and I took the dogs for a walk along the path around the lake.

Teddy and Zelda were so excited and happy for their walk! Ronin only found 4 beer cans with his metal detector, and was a little disappointed with his "treasures"-hahahaha. I heard frog croaks from a flooded section of the playground, so I called Jack over to find the frog. That's when Michael texted he was home with dinner, so Jack made a mad dash to the frog water to frantically search, before we had to go back home-hahaha.

We never found the croaking frog, but Jack found frog eggs and did catch the biggest water beetle I've ever seen-hahaha. Then we went home to have the delicious Del Taco Michael brought home from Rexburg.

Last Day of School: round 2

2019-05-31T15:25:00.000-06:00

Today, Friday, May 31st 2019, I stepped out of the school after my early morning cleaning, to this glorious sunrise! I knew it would have be a great day! And a great last day of school for Ronin and Jack.

Rigby schools only had a half-day and we were all home by lunchtime, eating quesadillas and discussing our summer plans, and summer daily rules and routines. I will begin my summer work schedule on Monday- 13 summer weeks of working early mornings so I can be home before lunch everyday. And then back to our school routines. I'm working at the school for one more year, and then I don't know what I will do.

Here are the boys' official last day of school pictures for Ronin, moving onto 8th grade and Jack, moving onto 4th grade:

Jack's class had pajama day, and Ronin just loves that dumb cowboy duster coat!

Once we were fed, after school, the boys were itching to kick off summer break with some grand ideas on how we should spend our afternoon-hahaha. I suggested getting sodas and slurpies and taking a walk around Rigby. Our afternoon was sunny, warm, and beautiful, and our walk was only interrupted by Jack needing to use the bathroom on every street we passed-hahaha.

We were home by 2pm, and by 3, Jack was laying on the kitchen floor complaining about having to play outside-hahahaha. It's summer time sucker- no electronics! Now, Get outside! I told him he couldn't come back inside until dinner. He cried, sulked, then ran out to harass Calvin on the trampoline. I ordered a new, larger pool for this summer, but it still hasn't arrived, and I keep receiving delay notices from the shipping company-lame! But soon enough days will be long and hot, and boys will be playing in the pool.

HAPPY SUMMER BREAK!!!

Stuck Jack

2019-05-29T14:59:00.000-06:00

So, Jack got himself stuck between the first urinal stall and sink in the boys bathroom, this week.

I'll just leave that sentence there for a moment . . .

I was walking down the hall when Mr. Andrus, Jack's teacher called me. I thought he needed a custodian for something, and was bracing myself for whatever barf or blood would be in the computer lab (where Jack's class was). No, no. It was neither of those things, just another Jack situation, I've come to know and expect at school. Mr. Andrus told me Jack was stuck and I asked why I had to be the one to deal with him? He said he had to watch the computer lab-hahaha.

This is what I found when I entered the boys room:

I yelled at Jack and yanked him out as hard as I could, without regard to his body or well being-hahaha. Then sent him back to the computer lab.

I wonder how many times teachers have the luxury of sending the student's mom into the boy's room to save their son from being stuck?!?!

Oh, Jack.
Way to finish the year off strong.

Memorial Weekend

2019-05-28T21:28:00.006-06:00

So, I went to bed Friday night around 7pm, exhausted and feeling a head cold coming on strong. Ronin, Michael, and the other boys were still celebrating Ronin's birthday and having fun together downstairs. And I pretty much was in bed sleeping until Sunday afternoon! Thankfully, I have a wonderful Michael who knows how to keep the boys quiet and entertained during times when I need the extra rest. He even bailed on his friends and their movie plans, to be with me on Monday when I was finally out of bed and feeling better, so we could see the flag display at Freeman Park, my favorite Memorial weekend tradition.

This is what the weekend looked like:

I found some adorable red. white, and blue bunting and decided to decorate our porch for Memorial Day.

We combined Ronin's birthday dinner with our usual Memorial weekend bbq, this year. Michael took Ronin to the store to pick out special birthday meat to grill, along with easy hot dogs and hamburgers, which Michael taught Ronin how to grill on our little grill. We pulled it up onto our covered deck because of all the rain showers, and didn't touch the big grill this time.

Our bbq/Ronin's meat feast was divine! Ronin had picked out steaks, and they turned out absolutely perfect! A huge storm blew over our house about 10 minutes before the meat was finished, which was really fun to watch from inside-hahaha.

Monday we went out for lunch and tried to time our visit to the Memorial Day flag display between rain storms, which was successful, although all our feet got soaked in the grass-hahaha. I was still exhausted and feeling under the weather a bit, and wasn't too thrilled with any of the boys because they were all driving me bonkers . . . including the grown one, so our walk through the flags was shorter than normal. But I love this tradition of ours. I never know if our flag walk should be fun or reverent. Maybe a bit of both?

To be funny, Michael told the boys to say, "Mom's going to have an aneurism!" instead of "Cheese!" Calvin decided to say, "Mom's going to have baby!" That'll never happen! Then Michael took the photo capturing me telling Calvin off-hahahaha! Look at his smirk-hahaha.

After the rain moved back in, we headed home. And I spent the afternoon assembling new mission styled dining chairs (my mother's day present). Maybe it's time to repaint my orange table . . . maybe.

The boys played the rest of their weekend, and are counting down the days of their final week of school! I can't believe Calvin is already on summer break, and Ronin and Jack's will begin in just a few days! Soon enough they will blink and school will be starting back up again. Tis the nature of summer break- it goes by too quickly.