CKZCJ

Tonight the CJ asked to watch a movie and since he had a stellar preformance on his long addition homework and brushed his teeth I figured it was ok. I would’ve never suspected what movies he’d bring to me that he wanted to watch. As a matter of fact I had almost posted all these DVD’s to ebay to auction them off. Last time we saw these guys was last summer at a concert in San Antonio and I thought he had outgrown them. I was apparently wrong. He brought me a bunch of different Wiggles DVD’s, a lot of the original ones which are old school CGI. So now I’ve got giggly wiggly songs stuck in my head and proof that he really hasn’t outgrown those four guys from Australia singing and dancing in front of a green screen.

Seven years old….

Six years old….

It’s almost hard to wrap my mind around how old they are and how much they are growing out of being my little boys into these independent little men like beings. We celebrated their birthday with their friends the weekend before at the inflatable party zone. We had sixteen crazy, loud, sweaty, hungry, and thirsty 5-7 year olds running around having a blast! Afterwards Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tommy, Aunt Morgan, and Mr. SweetCheeks joined us for BBQ in Lockhart before heading back home.

We had planned to take the boys out to a dinning of their choice but our AC had gone out the Friday before and our guy was coming out to fix it so we ordered pizza at home and sat out on the porch (where it was much cooler) and ate dinner. After pizza the boys were more than excited to open their gifts. Their current infatuation is robots, and not Transfomer type either, real old fashion toy robots. That was the theme for their party and I managed to find some cool wrapping paper for their gifts. It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone, usually for me their birthdays represent the beginning of a busy few months for us. They are still getting used to answering 6 and 7 to the “how old are you” question!

Both boys are doing so well at school! Zach has just adapted so well to his new school and has even gotten over having to wear a uniform. He loves his sweater (it’s been cool enough to actually wear it) and thinks it makes him look so handsome. CaseyJ’s reading and writing are so awesome and getting better each week. Zach has joined Cub Scouts (he’s actually a Tiger Scout) and both boys are playing flag football. I think we are finally settling into a routine even though someone completely forgot to pick up his youngest son today. He however caught no grief for it. However if mom is not the first person in line to pick up her youngest boy she totally gets reemed for it. Oh yeah, I’m shark bait around here sometimes.

first flag football game, little brother is catching up…

Seven years ago today not two hours after I had fallen asleep I woke up to my water breaking. I was so stinking nervous! The bag was packed and we made the drive to San Antonio without incident (apparently not many folks are out around 1am on the loop 1604). Z Man hung in there (literally) for 25 more hours before making his appearance.

Six years ago today after celebrating the Z’s first birthday I woke up around 7am to some fairly regular contractions. After a phone call to the OB we were packing up our one year old on his birthday and headed toward San Antonio again. Yep, exactly one year later I was in a very similar delivery room with much of the very same nurses and staff from the year before. CaseyJ only waited 6 hours before making his laid back and easy entrance into our world.

I browsed through pictures of them the days they were born, their first summers, the first time they saw each other, chubby cheeks and sausage roll arms. Sleepy nap time hair-dos, bright blue eyes, covered in pudding pictures. Sometimes I really miss the little boys they used to be.

Those little boys have grown into big boys now and while some of the cuteness is gone they always do something each and everyday that makes me smile and brings joy to my heart. I know that they will grow up to be good boys and close brothers and they will never be able to forget each others birthday, well that is unless they somehow forget their own birthday!

To the two most awesome boys whom I cannot imagine my life without Happy Birthday Guys!!

It’s baaa-ack! School is now in session. Hopefull we’ll al be able to settle into a routine by the end of this week or the next. CaseyJ is full swing into homework each day and reading, Z Man has yet to find his homework challenging but I have no doubt it will be, he has much more responsibilty that comes with first grade. Feels like a bit more work for mom too and the getting up an hour earlier is getting old already. Z Man seems to have adjusted to a more rigid scheduled just fine, and is just happy as can be when I pick him up each day. He and his daddy went to their first Cub Scout meeting the other night and he’s going to be a Tiger Scout (CaseyJ has decided to sit this out for a year). Football practice started (flag football) and they have their birthday party coming up in two days already!

Things I’ll miss about summer:

• The boys always wore crocs or flip-flops so now my white laundry loads have doubled with all these socks they keep insisting on wearing.
• Not getting up at 6am.
• Trips to the library and our Thursday arts and crafts day.
• Watching the boys swim and have fun in the water.

Things I won’t miss about summer:

• Dirty, grimy feet from those crocs and flip-flops.
• Sweaty, smelly little boys.
• The boys waking up at 6am when I wanted to sleep until AT LEAST 7am.
• The heat, did I say the HEAT!
• Washing a lot of swimming towels on an almost daily basis.

That’s the number of miles away from home we are. After a slighty wild hair this morning, instead of heading East back towards Texas we turned left and headed East towards Arizona. Ultimately with the Grand Canyon in mind. I’ve been without wifi of any kind really, especially while we were in Durango, but I’ve been keeping my notes so that I can retell the story here. Tomorrow will be another sight filled day (Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and parts of Route 66). I haven’t had a lot of time to sort through and process the photos either, except for a handful. We’ll end up in Albuquerque tomorrow late afternoon I suspect and then a stop in Texas around Abilene before making it home on Sunday. Until I get caught up here are some photos –

The boys have soccer practice on Thursdays with games on Saturdays from now until the first weekend in May. This week was Z Man’s first practice becuase he was sick last week. When we walked up to the field two separate parents asked if the boys were both mine then both asked, “how old is he?” Pointing to Z Man. “He’s six, just turned six in September.” “Wow, really” “Yeah, his brother’s only a year younger.” “He’s pretty tall.” Then I get this one. “Is your husband tall?” You know because I’m so short and all. “No, not really, but my dad’s tall and their uncles are tall…” I think I am going to start carrying around his birth certificate as proof. If you watch him for just a second though he certainly has the coordination of a six year old. A little goofy, smart and knows what’s going on, but a little like this guy over there (remember this cartoon?) ->

The boys partnered up and worked together pretty well, during scrimmage they only wanted to pass to each other and we talked about the rest of the team being involved too. I am so excited to watch Casey J actually play in the game. He just has a new sense of confidence. He was even telling his brother how not to kick the  ball. After practice we were talking about how fast Casey J was and we gave him the nickname of  “El Tornado” because he’s so fast and the Z Man decided his was “Hulkman” becuase he was strong. It’ll be fun to see how they work and grow together this year. I hope.