Jo Cool Mama

One night, when it was little Sammy’s bed time, his mommy kissed him good night and turned out the light. She left Sammy alone with his night light and creative imagination. Sammy liked to watch the shadows and make up stories to help him fall asleep. Sammy heard his baby brother, Jack giggle and saw a shadow that looked like a dinosaur, so he thought of a time long ago when the dinosaurs ruled the earth and of a little baby caveman with his pet baby dinosaur. Sammy’s eyes grew heavy and were closing as the cave-baby Jack and the dinosaur baby roamed around looking for rocks to chew on when Sammy heard a sound! His eyes popped open and he looked around his room, but didn’t see anything. He lay back down and returned to his story when he heard the sound again! This time he knew it was coming from under his bed! He slowly and carefully lowered his head down to take a peek, but all Sammy saw were two glowing yellow eyes! Sammy jumped up and ran out of his room and down the hall to his mommy and daddy. “Monster! Monster!” He yelled hopping up and down. His mommy and daddy were surprised and didn’t understand at first, but followed Sammy down the hall to his room. Sammy pointed to under his bed, “Monster! Monster!” Mommy turned on the light while Daddy put baby Jack down and got onto his hands and knees to look. Daddy looked at Sammy and smiled, “Look for yourself Sammy.” Daddy said. Sammy, very nervous, knelt down next to his daddy and looked under the bed. Sammy started laughing because what his monster turned out to be was his little kitty cat Chester! “Okay, back to bed you silly boy.” Mommy said, and again tucked Sammy in with a good night kiss. Daddy picked up baby Jack and everyone left Sammy’s room. Sammy went back to his story about the cave-baby and the baby dinosaur. Sammy’s eyes grew heavy and were closing when Sammy head another sound! Sammy sat up and listened. The sound was a scratching noise coming from outside his window! Sammy jumped up, ran out of his room and down the hall to his mommy and daddy. “Monster! Monster!” He yelled jumping up and down. “No Sammy, remember that was only Chester.” Daddy explained. Sammy was far too upset to try to explain and again yelled, “Monster! Monster!” Mommy and Daddy looked at each other, and followed Sammy down the hall. Mommy turned on his light and Sammy pointed to his window, “Monster! Monster!” Daddy again put down baby Jack and peeked out the window and laughed. Daddy picked Sammy up and helped him to see the sound he had heard. Sammy saw his little dog looking up at him with his tail wagging like crazy. “Oh, it’s Baxter digging!” He giggled. “Okay, back to bed you silly boy.” Mommy said again and tucked Sammy in and gave him another good night kiss. This time she sat beside him and said. “I know sometimes sounds can be scary if you don’t know what they are. I know that they may sound like monsters, but there are no such things as monsters. Probably every sound you hear will just something silly, like Chester or Baxter. Listen and think what the sound could be and think about all the silly things it might be. Then, if the sound still scares you Sammy, you can come tell us and we will help you find it. Okay?” Sammy smiled up at his mommy. “Okay mommy.” Mommy gave Sammy another kiss, turned out his light and left him alone with his night light and creative imagination. Sammy decided the story about Jack the baby caveman was not the story he wanted to think about anymore. Sammy lay there and looked around, and then he heard a sound coming from his closet! He sat up and wanted to run out to his mommy and daddy again yelling, “Monster! Monster!” but he remembered what his mommy said to him. Sammy listened and thought of what silly thing it could be. After a few minutes the noise was gone and Sammy had figured Chester had simply gone into his closet to go to sleep. Sammy lie back down and found an interesting looking shadow and made up a story about the friendly monster that lived in his closet. Sammy’s eyes grew heavy and were closing as thoughts of his friend the monster inviting him to go play in monster land played in his mind… Sammy fell asleep.

Jack-a-baby knows how to pose for the camera! He’s showing off his uber cuteness, his new haircut and his sporty personality!

Sammy has a little friend named Molly who is five months younger than him and she is super cute! Big soft brown eyes and curly brown hair. I can see why Sammy fell into agreement when Molly decided they were going to get married. Molly came running up to me while at the park on a play date, and asked me if her and Sammy could get married. It was the cutest thing ever! So, I asked Sammy if he wanted to be Molly’s husband and he said, “Yeah. One time I rode in Connor’s car!” Connor being another friend of his. Molly said they had a baby daughter and it was her little stuffed Green M&M - but Molly called it her M-O-M. I asked Sam about the “daughter” and he said, “Yeah, we have a daughter. One time when we were here before I went out on the baseball field.” Then in the mist of playing Molly comes over to her mother and myself and tells her mother to close her ears because she needs to talk just to me. So I leaned in close and Molly whispers, “I want to get married today. After our play date. Can we?” I was trying so hard not to laugh that I couldn’t say anything. Her mother chimed in (thank goodness) with ideas of going to Vegas so Elvis could preform the ceremony. We were rolling with laughter! Poor little Molly was serious, so I told her sure they could get married after their play date. I checked with Sam who also seemed to be in agreement.

After playing a while Molly comes running over to her mother with Green saying, “Mommy, my daughter’s dirty!” Molly’s mom cleaned Green off and sent them back to play. We rolled with laughter after that too for a while. Molly started calling Sam “Husband” and every time Sam responded without thought to what she was calling him. After a while the park play yard became over run with teenagers so we decided to leave, but we were able to set the kids up for some shots before we left. Molly totally posed for the wedding pictures and Sammy wasn’t too bad about getting in the mood either! He was a great sport when I asked him to give Molly a kiss on the cheek, and complied. Molly reacted perfectly as she wiped the nasty kiss off and ran away…  These kids are so cute together! They play really well together - they just… click.

Sammy & Molly’s Photo Album - Wedding Day…

Molly’s mommy helping her get ready for the pictures. Molly was telling me not to take the picture because she wasn’t ready!

Holding hands… Baby Green smiled too!
Is that not the cutest?!

The grass was very entertaining!

Poor Molly and baby Green, Sammy is a goofy guy!

The happy couple with daughter Green.

Awww… the kiss.

The wipe off of boy germs…

And… it’s over.

My brother Paul lives over 400 miles away in Las Vegas so he’s not able to see his nephews every weekend, or visit regularly. We miss him a lot around here and hope that someday we live closer, but whatever the situation may be we will get together! He is not the most comfortable person around little kids, but he does an amazing job with them - if he knows it or not. It just seems like every time the Boyz see Unca Paul he is cooler than the last. He has pirate tattoos that Sammy really loves and believes his Unca is a cool pirate! We just took a short trip down to Vegas and Sam’s eyes almost burst out of his head when he got to play on Unca Paul’s motorcycle!

My brother is not a show off by any means, but he seems to have all the right things at all the right times for his nephew to enjoy. He let Sam climb all over his motorcycle and wear his helmet. Sam was in Unca heaven! When we had to separate, to go back to the hotel, Sam was so upset and didn’t want Unca Paul to leave. Paul told him about another helmet and goggles he had at home and that later when we visited him at home Sam could try those on… We didn’t stop hearing about the other helmet and goggles until we were at Paul’s house… two days later!

Paul was getting ready to leave for work and he had on nice pants. He put Sammy in all his equipment and let Sam climb all over his bike one more time. Then Sam requested to sit on the bike with Unca Paul - so of course my brother didn’t deny his request. Sammy inadvertently got dirty footprints all over Unca Paul’s thighs! Dang-it! I felt so bad - we had the wipies out and were trying to get the prints off… but we only smudged them around. Paul was cool about it and said he would get dirty at work anyhow. I still felt bad. He told Sammy he could keep his helmet and goggles the rest of the day and give them back to Aunt Angela later. Then he turned on his motorcycle and zoomed off down the street… An awesome exit!

*I Love You* (sign) Double for Unca Paul!

It is a bittersweet moment when your child has yet another birthday. The fact that they are growing so fast is heartbreaking - I feel we cannot spend enough time with them because it will all be gone in a breath. It seems like Sammy was born yesterday and now he’s five! I want to cry just thinking about how fast it all went -and all I want to say is, “Hold on a sec! Can we go back and try that again?” I feel we’ve done a lot of good things in parenting but we made some mistakes (as every parent does) and I would love the chance to fix them. We can’t perform the impossible so we will have to learn from our mistakes and move forward with open hearts.

Sammy had three different birthday parties! Why so complicated? Family needs to have one party all by themselves, and then we decided to have his party with friends at school (weekends are insane and we wanted all Sammy’s friends to have a fair chance to be there). Instead of asking families to come to us - we know how hard that is - we simply went to them. I wish this was totally my idea, but I stole it from other parents who have done the same thing. Then, we had a party for the kids who aren’t in Sammy’s school but are an important part of his little life.

First, we met up with some important folks at a local park for some pizza, cupcakes and hanging out fun!

Next, we met up with some family for a wild and crazy birthday dinner…

Finally, on Sammy’s real birthday we had the school party, took a stroll at Lake Tahoe and topped it off with another family dinner at Hard Rock Cafe!

School party - it was awesome because the teacher took total control of the children. All we had to do was hand out food, cupcakes and gift bags… I loved it! Clean up was a breeze as well! Yay!

Smiles at Lake Tahoe! We just went up for a little walk, because - believe it or not - the day was really pretty chilly and the beach would have been too cold! *burrr*

Jack got a little punchy after dinner at Hard Rock. We didn’t get a good picture of the birthday boy here, but his brother will do as the stand-in.

I want to give my Boyz the world. I have to fight myself to bring life back to reality and say, “No.” a lot more than I would like to. When they cry my heart breaks but when they smile I smile with the pride of a parent who’s brought joy to their child’s life. I hope that I can give them as much as I can to make their experiences as children happy and memorable. I love them with all of my being and I hope that someday they can look at their youth and smile…

A milestone Saturday as Sammy had his first soccer practice. All the boys were grouped together and then split up into teams of 6 or 8. Sammy was teamed with his good pal Connor and a new friend, Wyatt. Wyatt has older brothers who are all about soccer and so he knew just what to do with the ball, whereas Sammy and Connor were a little lost for the most part. Sammy just watched and sort of followed the crowd around the field, and Connor kept playing football by tackling the soccer ball.

It was an intimidating event for most of the newbies out there and there were complaints flying all over. Sammy was complaining that the other kids were running faster than he was and he didn’t want to do it anymore. My response was, “Suck it up, get out there and run!” You cannot teach them it’s okay to quit on the first try and he will learn to give things a try before taking the easy way out. Wyatt was complaining it was too hard, and his mother said (more or less) the same thing I did. Plus, I work with the high school soccer team and Wyatt’s brother is our star Keeper - Wyatt’s mother and I know it needs a little push to get them out there, but once they are there they love every moment of it! After practice we asked Sam what he thought, and he really enjoyed it - all that matters in the end.

It was a moment I’ll never forget and Sammy was so cute in his over-sized shirt and socks. I cannot wait until our next practice in a couple of weeks! Sam needs a lot of practice at home before then - we need to work on physical skill and mental abilities. Believing you can go out there and kick it, no matter your level, is the difference between winners and losers.

I am offically a soccer mom now…

Silly itty bitty hops onto his toy train and wants to go for a ride!

Super uber duber cute!

It was a nice day out and a friend of mine called to see if we wanted to hang at the park for a bit so our kids could play. Sounded like a super idea! We all met up at the park and we chatted in the cool shade while the children played on the playground. We watched people come and go with their children - we even helped one lady leave because she felt like she was going to pass out and needed help getting back to her car. Don’t worry - we made sure she was fine to drive! She lived close and just needed to go and rest, but her two-year-old was being a typical kid who did not want to leave - and that’s when she asked for our help. Poor lady - I hope she’s feeling better! Then there was a mother who was standing next to the swings sucking on her cancer stick - thanks lady! It wasn’t until Sam had asked her to push him on the swing that I saw the cancer burning in her left hand. I’ll give her credit for asking me if it was OK to push Sam on the swing and I had said it was, but I hadn’t yet seen the smoke of doom. Then she got into a swing with her daughter and swung with the stupid white trash cigarette hanging out of her mouth! Not to mention Sam was on the swing next to her!

Anyhow - my friend and I chatted and enjoyed the weather when these two characters walked up to the playground in full metal detecting gear looking like two mega nerds who need a life! Coming to a playground in the middle of the day while children were playing to do what? To find what? At one point the male metal detector had heard something in his extra large headphones and the lady metal detector ran over to see - oh, very exciting! The lady reached into her satchel and pulled out a rod of some kind to examine the ground even further. We watched on and waited to see what the heck they were going to pull out of the densely-packed wood chip floor of the playground. They were so into this one spot at one point that they had put down their big fancy looking metal detectors to focus more attention to the dirt. I wondered aloud how one of the mega nerds would have acted if one of the children would have come up and touched their equipment. I mean, the facts are they’re at a playground where small children play, and small children love to touch large flashy things. It was so beyond inappropriate for them to be there while children were playing! At one point I was sitting on the edge of the playground with Jack when the lady waving her metal detector passed by. I was in her path to the fortune she was about to find there on the playground, and I wondered if she was going to walk right over me or go around. She went around and flashed a friendly smile. They didn’t seem mean or anything of that nature, but people become freaky when they have expensive things around children that want to touch… Sam is that kid! I was totally surprised that he didn’t attack them with his thousand “Why?” questions and investigate their equipment with his idle hands.

My friend had said that once before a different man had come to explore the playground with metal detecting gear and it was during the time small children were running around and having fun… Creepy. Strange people need to know their boundaries and going to a park during playtime is not a place to be! I didn’t bring my camera to the park, *bad parenting - wink* so I used my cameraphone to snap a shot of the lady metal detector in action. The picture isn’t great, but like I said it was a camera phone. And, yes - that’s the lady.

To put the cherry on top - while we were walking to our cars, the children running ahead of us almost ran into a couple of teens macking all over one another! We yelled at the children to stop just before they walked in on mommy and daddy there having a good time. We noticed Jack’s shoe had fallen off when we got back to our cars and my friend had gone back to retrieve it. When she got back to the cars she reported that it was worse! She said they were pretty much having s-e-x. In the park, in the middle of the day?! Give me a break - what is wrong with people? So, we can’t take our children to the playground because we have smoking mothers swinging with their children - the cancer stick just hanging out of her mouth! *class* We have strange folks with high tech equipment scanning the playground for the one thing that’s going to make them rich! We have teens having s-e-x for the whole world to see… Then the lazy asses cannot even bother to clean up after themselves! Smoking mom threw her butt on the ground for a toddler to pick up, high tech nerds digging holes and leaving them and teens just think it’s fine to leave the used condoms in the playground! Nice…

On a lighter note - “cute” is what happens when these two kids get together…

Time flies when you’re having fun - this statement has never been truer than with my children. My itty bitty baby just turned one and I cannot believe how fast these past two years have gone! One second I’m pregnant and the next he’s turning one! Whiplash! Jack has brought us so much more joy than I could ever try to explain. He is awesome and the combination of both boys makes life so much more exciting!

August 6, 2008 -  we hit the beach in Tahoe for some fun in the sun! It was an awesomely sunny day and the water was refreshing from the summer heat. It was Jack’s first trip to a Tahoe beach (I don’t know why we put it off so long) and he loved it!

We were able to meet up with Sam’s little friend and her mother - they had been up there camping and it was their last day there. So, while dad and uncle packed up, mom and daughter came and hung out with us for a few hours! Everything is so much more fun with friends.

August 7, 2008 - Jack’s pool party! A gathering of friends made an evening at the pool a ton of fun! Poor Jack was so tired and did not want to partake in the photo shoot. I tried to get a picture with Jack and each one of his gusts, but the turnout wasn’t too great as Jack was screaming in almost every picture. The party was a lot of fun and I believe everyone had a great time. Even though I forgot the gift bags at home… oops!

August 8, 2008 - Jack’s birth date. I woke up that morning and thought, “Wow, here we are - one year later.” My tiny little infant is a big guy now! His first year was great but I know that every year to follow will be more awesome then the last. I am so proud of my little fella - he is sure a special guy! We had a family BBQ to celebrate his birthday… Lots of fun!

Jack’s first year collage was the party gift for all the grandparents at the BBQ we had… I didn’t forget these gift bags - yay!

*Thanks Grandma!*