Tooth Missing!

I love this look! Nothing says childhood like your two front teeth missing, right?

We were in Oregon visiting my sister and her family over spring break when Robert lost his 6th tooth. He didn't want me to pull it even though it was hanging by a thread. He wanted me to wait until that upcoming Saturday "because it's Dad's birthday". I don't know why we had to wait 'til Mike's birthday. But it was important to Robert that we wait. So I respectfully waited. And waited. Honestly, it was driving me nuts. The tooth NEEDED to come out!

Fortunately the torture ended that evening. Robert was wrestling around with his cousin, Henry. I think the tooth bothered Henry as much as it did me because Henry starting tickling Rob and while he was laughing with his mouth wide open, Henry reached in and flicked Rob's tooth and that's all it took. Robert's tooth flew out of his mouth and Yay!!! It was all over.

Of course, the Tooth Fairy came that night and, once again, all was well in the world.




The Cousins:

Oliver

Carly and Lillian Putting Make-Up On Each Other

Thomas

Hyrum

The Three Amigos: Thomas, Robert & Hyrum

Sorry. No pics of Henry. But just imagine Oliver 10 years older. They look EXACTLY alike :)

Robert

Today's Robert's birthday. He's 7. ..... I can't believe he's 7. It just seems like moments ago when Mike was driving me to the hospital the 2nd time (the first time was a false alarm).

I remember watching everyone rushing around when the time had come for me to push. I couldn't feel anything because I had the epidural so it was quite humorous watching everyone rushing around. But then it hit me -- the reality of my life never being the same. No more just me and Mike. No more just MY time. No more... sleep! Life was never going to be the same and that terrified me. And still I truly had no idea just how much my life was going to change.

My sweet baby entered the world October 28, 2002. He was 9 lbs 6oz, 21 1/2 inches long and as healthy as a horse. All the other babies in the maternity ward were sickly and had to stay in the hospital for weeks, but not Rob. He was ready to go home the next day. Such a stud right from the get go!

Today he's 67 lbs and 4'3" tall. Can you believe that? I was watching him walk across the playground to his classroom today and noticed that he's already got a little strut to his walk and thought "What happened to my baby??? It's like he bypassed his youth and headed straight into adolescence!"

But the best thing I love about my son is that he's a better person than me. He has a heart of gold and he's a stronger person than I could ever be. And even though I was terrified for him to come into my life, he definately changed my life for good.

Happy Birthday, Robert!

Olympic Day

Opening ceremonies consisted of a parade (below) and lighting of the torch (above). Very cool!

Rob's class was Team Egypt.

Robert had Olympic Day at school. And for weeks the kids were practicing for their events. Robert was in 3 events: Broad Jump, Relay Race and Ball Throw. I was a little worried about the relay race because, let's face it, he's not a very face runner. So I asked him how he felt about all his events. He said that he was okay with all the events except for the relay race because he always came in last. No matter how hard he tried he always came in last. Needless to say, it broke my heart. So being the athlete that I am (hahahahahahahahaha!), I gave him a few pointers.

1. Don't forget to breathe.

I asked him to run for me so I could see how he was running. The little stinker was holding his breath at the start. No wonder he was coming in last!


2. No matter what you do, don't worry where everyone else is in the race. You just worry about you and handing off the baton. Just focus on handing off the baton.


3. Run as fast as you can the whole way. Don't stop until you hand off the baton!


I was so nervous the day of the games. After all, I really didn't want my little boy to come in last. But just in case, I was preparing myself and what I would say if he did. But Robert was as cool as a cucumber.


His first event was the ball throw. He got up and threw the ball and did fantastic. The next event was the broad jump. He didn't do bad on that either. Finally, it was time for the relay race. He was the middle leg which I knew was good strategizing on the coaches part. The gun goes off and they're off. Robert's team mate was in the lead when he handed off to Robert. Robert took off as fast as he could go. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, "Go Baby Go! Go Baby Go! Woo!" He kept running as hard as he could. The other racers were gaining on him. I'm still screaming, "Go Rob!!!! Go Baby!!!!". He's nearing the hand off. I'm screaming like crazy 'cuz the other racers are on him and Bam! he hands off the baton just ahead of the other racers and his teammate takes off. I'm jumping up and down screaming. I didn't really care how the race ended I was just so proud of my little boy. It was obvious that he ran his little heart out.


Honestly, I don't think any of my pointers really helped him (except for maybe the breathing part). But, I should have known that he would have done just fine. After all, that little boy works best under pressure. This isn't the first time I witnessed this. He's prooved me wrong before. And although his team didn't win he put his whole heart and soul into his part of the race. And I couldn't have been prouder.

Certificate of Achievement

About a week ago we got a letter from Robert's teacher saying that he was getting an award of achievement in scholar. That's all it said. We were also asked to keep it a surprise which was not easy to do since I wanted to pump my son full of questions on what exactly this meant. After all, how many kids were receiving this award? And what does "scholar" mean? Does that mean an award in academics? So patiently we waited.

Tuesday, May 12th was the big day for the Awards Ceremony. I got there just in the nick of time. Mike showed up by the skin of his teeth also. Anyway, after a lovely number presented by the music department, Robert's Kindergarten class was the first to be presented. I was somewhat expecting everyone in his class to be getting something, you know, being politically correct so as not to hurt any one's feelings and all. But when Rob's teacher, Mrs. McCaslin got up and said that these were her students whom she believed to have excelled above and beyond, my heart began to swell with pride and my eyes began to fill with tears. Robert was the only one to have received an award in the category of scholar in his class. He excelled in both Science and Social Studies. What a guy!

Kids and money

Robert: "Hey, Mom!" Could you put some money in my homework folder?"

Me: "Sure, Son. How much do you need?"

Robert: " One or twenty dollars. "

Happy Birthday Robert!!!!!

"On October 28, 2002 the news spread far and wide, "Did you hear?" the creatures said. "A baby boy arrived!"

And our lives have never been the same since. He has brought us more joy and happiness than anything in this world has ever offered. He has my eyes and his daddy's personality. He's full of happiness and a desire to always do right. He is powerful and smart. He loves life. And he is a gift to us that we will never be able to match and we are honored to be his parents.

Happy Birthday, My BooBaLoo!!!

First Day of Kindergarten

It wasn't so bad. Robert woke up early, got dressed, did his hair and was ready to go by 6:30 AM! Crazy kid. Of course, I wasn't even near ready, but managed to roll out of bed by 7 and get a few things done like get dress, make the beds and eat breakfast (Robert, of course, had already eaten breakfast). We did manage to get in scripture study before leaving by 8. So all and all the first day of having a schedule went pretty good.

We stopped by the office to pick up Mike so he could be a part of this momentus occasion and headed off to school. Robert was too pre-occupied to think about anything else. He didn't want to talk about anything because he was too jacked up to get to school.

Once we got there we headed straight to class and he immediately sat down with a group of boys who were playing some kind of flashcard game. My son. Not a shy bone in his body. We were able to snap a couple of pics before he shooed me off. But then that was that. I was expecting a little more emotion, but nothing. He just couldn't wait to get me out of there. I did manage to sneak in a kiss and a "Remember who you are" but I don't think he noticed any of it. Although, his eagerness certainly did make the transition go easier so it wasn't as hard as I expected. However, I have to say that it sure is quiet around here without him.

Summer's Over

It's official. Summer is over. Robert starts school tomorrow. I'm really sad . We have had so much fun this summer and now it's over. But Robert is so excited! He's so excited to be staying the whole day with his friends and to learn how to read and write. And because he's so excited I can't help but be excited for him (allbeit, reluctantly). I'm just going to miss him.

I asked Robert what his favorite part of the summer was and he said, "Hanging out at the beach with the boys."

I don't blame him. It's been a blast!!!!

Pull Your Pants Up!

Mike was gone over Tuesday night and Wednesday so I decided to take the kids down to visit Robyn again. The plan was to leave Tuesday night and stay over night so that we could leave early Wednesday morning in order to find parking easily. So we left around 8:30pm and got there around 9:20p. Traffic was a breeze. The kids were so excited. Carly wore her soft velvety pink pajamas just for the occasion. It was her first "slumber party" although she was sorely disappointed that it wasn't outside (I have no idea where she got the idea that a slumber party is supposed to be outside. hmmmm....).

We woke up early to Andrew's laughing and giggling (he's such a happy little guy) and ate a delicious breakfast of cereal. We made our lunch and loaded up for the beach. We had to make one stop at Wal-Mart for essentials (chips, salsa, Oreos and black licorice). Traffic was good so we made great time. Once we got there I was a little worried we had already missed the window of opportunity for great parking. Even though, we got there around 10:30ish the place was already packed. But thanks to Robyn's little prayer (and I really do believe that) we found a great spot within minutes of arriving. We unloaded all our loot, found a great spot and camped out for another gorgeous day at the beach.

I had to add more coins to the parking meter so I had to head back to the car. Robyn was more than happy to keep an eye on the kids so off I went. Mission accomplished I headed back to our beach site and low and behold I see my son running towards me with tears in his eyes and his swim trunks down around his ankles! I couldn't imagine what this could be about nor did I give it a moments thought, afterall, the only thing I could think about was my son's penis out in the open for the whole world to see! The poor kid was just screaming about his legs burning as I was frantically trying to pull up his shorts. And all I kept saying back to him was, "That's okay. Just pull your pants up!"

What seemed like FOREVER, I finally got his shorts up and managed to calm him down enough to get a more accurate assessment of what was burning his legs. I was happy not to find any jellyfish stings or sea anemone quills so we headed off to the shower to rinse off. On the way to the shower I asked him if he had peed in the ocean. He said "Uh-huh" most timidly. It was then that I knew that his skin was probably really dry and sensitive from all the fun in the sun (pool & ocean) and his pee probably burned his legs. Mystery solved. The fresh water from the shower cooled everything down and we were set for the rest of the day. And what a gorgeous fun day it was!

After all the hoopla, I couldn't help cracking up and wishing so bad that I had gotten a picture of my son running across the sand with his pants down around his ankles!