Jo Cool Mama

Sammy brought in the New Year with his feline pal, Chester…

Sammy has his chewed stained pillow that he loves and his his kitty - jam jams and a remote control close by - Sammy’s a true little dude.

Happy New Year!
May 2009 be just as crazy and exciting!

We took our Boyz and my niece to see Santa the Sunday of Christmas week and they were so cute! Samma wanted to dress up in his PJ’s that made him look like the boy from the Polar Express movie and my niece dressed up in her pretty Christmas dress. Baby Jack, we figured, would not want Santa holding him, as many children don’t - freaky old man in a large bright suit…we figured right! My niece went up first, sat on Santa’s lap and they talked for a little bit, the elves took the picture, they talked a little more, then Santa handed her a candy cane and that was that.

Samma went up next and he had a lot to say to old Saint Nick! He even brought his Polar Express sleigh bell that adults cannot hear *wink*. Santa asked Samma what he wanted for Christmas and Sam said, “Ghost Ship.” Their picture took like five tries because Samma was looking every direction except at the camera helper elf. Then the one they “got” really wasn’t that great, but they were having issues…

Anyhow - after Santa we walked over to this sandwich place for a bite to eat before heading back home. We were all sitting and eating when Samma asked his cousin what she told Santa she wanted for Christmas. My niece answered in a low soft voice, “That I want to be with my daddy.” Sammy, not at all understanding the importance or the pain behind what she had just asked for, says, “What? I didn’t hear you.” My niece was starting to cry and did not want to repeat the answer, so I jumped in and diverted the topic of conversation.

After we we got back to my mother’s house (where my niece lives with her) I sent a text to my brother and told him what his daughter asked Santa for. He was already feeling badly because he had wanted to come up from Vegas to be with her, but couldn’t get the time off either of his two jobs to make it happen. After my sister-in-law (my niece’s step mother) thought about it and realized just how depressed my brother was over the situation, dove in and together they devised a plan to get him up here in time for Christmas morning. She searched the airlines for last minute flights out of Vegas and into Reno, but was unable to find one for Christmas Eve! Finally, they decided he would rent a car in Vegas and drive up to Carson City (where my mother lives), and fly home on Christmas day. No one but my brother and his wife, and Scott and I knew about the plan… It was going to be the best gift ever if everything worked out. The weather was a major player in the plan not working as the entire state of Nevada was on storm watch! We were all excited and holding our breath the entire day! My brother didn’t even get home until after midnight from work and wasn’t able to leave the house until after noon Christmas Eve! I was texting my sister-in-law frantically all morning and when he finally was able to get out there was a peace that came with the idea that he was on the road. He was now in motion of coming, the plan was in play and this was going to be the best Christmas surprise we have ever pulled off!

Christmas Eve we packed the Boyz and gifts into the car, picked up a friend on the way and headed to my mother’s for dinner. We were in the middle of opening gifts when I got a call from my brother announcing he was in town - an hour earlier than I had expected him arriving! I grabbed my friend (who was now part of the plan) and we dashed outside to meet him in the street. I had grabbed a large bow off one of the gifts and was able to sneak it out without anyone catching on. I cannot express into words what I felt when I saw his rental car turn the corner and pull up in front of us, but as Sammy would say, “It was a Christmas miracle!” I ran in and gathered everyone into the kitchen while my friend “found a man walking around outside looking for a girl named Keirra.” I got my niece up close to the door and I asked her, “Tell me again what you told Santa what you wanted for Christmas.” and again she said with a cocked head and a question in her voice, “That I wanted to see my daddy…?” At that exact moment the back door opened and my friend popped in and she said, “Ummm, I found his man outside.”  and in walked my brother… My niece ran to her father with a giant hug, my mother burst into tears, I fought back tears as did my friend who was witness to the best gift a daddy could give his little girl at Christmas!

What else can I say? It was sad that he had to leave so soon, and I know all my niece wants in her life is her daddy and that wish is not far from becoming a reality. Every princess gets a happy ending - right?

Sammy’s been in a tumbling class for a little over two years and he loves going! Although, we have had issues with how often the class gets a new instructor. We started out with a lady who was by all means awesome! She was forced to quit because she was holding down two jobs and had five kids at home - very understandable why she needed to stop this tumbling position and be home with her family. The next teacher was not as awesome but she was totally willing to work with the kids and make it a nice experence for them. She was forced to quit because she got some freaky kind of laryngitis and the doctors pretty much said if she didn’t stop this job where her voice was being stressed, she would lose her voice forever! Not good, and totally understandable why she had to go. Then we got another lady who was pretty good with the kids, but her time with the class was cut short when she suffered a violent death in her family! Another perfectly good reason to quit and totally understandable! That’s where the problems really started… The company was trying to fill the position with a sub until the one lady with a death in the family felt like returning to work. They were sticking teenage girls with a bunch of toddlers and wanting them to teach them! Sam was acting out one night (not bad, just goofing around) and the little teen in charge of the class decided to punish him and hold him out of the castle (the last really fun thing all the kids look forward to) for five minutes! He was four and five minutes was a lifetime to him! I stood up and told the little teenaged girl that I was not okay with that and the fact that he’s only four-years-old with a five minute time out being forced to watch the other kids play on the castle was not fair! I used the word “torture” to express how strongly I felt. The girl’s eyes grew with fear like a deer in the headlights as I went off. I told her to bring him to me and we were going to leave! I did go back because Sammy begged to go and we never saw teenage girl again… happily. After teenage girl the company found a mother who was willing to teach the class. All the parents were relieved at this and ready for someone to come in and get these kids back on improving their skill. The lady was nice and after awhile got better, but in the beginning she wanted me to go out and help with Sam. The kids were not listening - and can you blame them? They have a different instructor every week! I did not want to go out and help - really, I am tired and I don’t want to pay for a class I have to go help out with. I had done it in the past and I was just done with it. So, I switched classes to a morning class because Sam’s very first teacher was teaching a morning class during the summer - and we went back to her amazing skill with the kids. Then school started and we needed to switch back to an evening class and back to the mom instructor. Although, she had improved during our summer months away from her and we started to really like her… Then she was forced to quit! Come on! Again, it was totally understandable because they weren’t paying her enough to live. Once again it was a different instructor every week and again Sam and other kids were acting out. They hired a young lady who clearly was annoyed with the young children right off. Our first class with new girl and Sam cuts in line - who cares, he’s five (I even asked his teacher what she thought and she said the same thing - he’s five, it’s not important) - the boy starts crying as if Sam had punched him in the face! New girl marches over to Sam, grabs him by the arm, marches him back to crying boy and proceeds to explain why you don’t cut in line. Meanwhile Sam is having a fit because new girl won’t let go of his arm. Sammy hates being held - but what kid likes being held by the arm in an angry way? Annoyed, new girl sat Sam out because he wasn’t listening. I shot up, rushed out, picked up Sam, took him into the bathroom and said, “Let’s go! Mommy is very upset at your new teacher.” Sammy was crying and he kept saying, “No Mommy, don’t be mad at her! I am sorry for cutting in line!” I allowed him to return to class and watched new girl carefully - because one more grab and we are done! She had no right to grab him in that fashion! The next week went okay, but the following week we arrived late and when I took Sam out to his class new girl rolled her eyes at the sight of Sam! Sam was having a good time and she wasn’t touching him - so I continued to allow Sam to go if he wanted to. Then a couple of weeks ago new girl pushed me over the edge! Sammy was acting out (still cannot blame him and he wasn’t the only one) and the crybaby from the line cut had bonked heads with another kid and was crying (surprise). While the instructor was looking at his head a bunch of kids started playing and goofing around - pretty normal if you ask me. Sam was hiding under a half moon mat and freaked new girl out so much that when she found him she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out to me! I got up and bit my tongue because what I wanted to say was not good in the company of the small children or their parents. My adrenaline was pumping and I simply shook my head and motioned for her to give him to me. She was trying to explain why and offer her meaningless, “I am really sorry, but…” True sorry is not followed with “but.” I finally said, “Just give him to me!” Poor little Sammy was upset and freaking out as we went up to the front desk to tell them that we are not coming back and that we are done. I kept telling Sammy that I was not mad or upset with him, but I think it was hard for the poor little fella to understand that. I complained to the front desk lady and then the owner overheard me and I complained to her as well. I know a few other parents who are not happy with the new girl either, and I hope that they say something, because when people are working with your children they need to be right for the job. New girl is not warm and loving, nor is she happy and bubbly - it is loud and clear she hates her job with the little guys and she needs to be either fired or removed from the job of working with the small children. The front desk lady asked if I could do her class on Saturday mornings and I told her we would try it out… We went on Saturday morning and the front desk lady redeemed our faith in good teaching at tumbling. She was patient, kind, smiley and energitic. Not once did she yell at Sam or grab him and when Sam and other children strayed a little she gently brought them back. That’s the way it should be done - you should never go and have to be on mama bear alert when your child is involved in an activity.

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!