Labor Day at Blue Hole

 On Labor Day we headed down to Wimberly to the Blue Hole, where we caught up with lots of friends. The Blue Hole is beautiful. There's a wonderful grassy area with trees, and then the water is really pretty and shady. The great thing is that they only let a limited amount of people in, so we never felt like it was too crazy.
After just a few minutes of swimming, Lucas was ready to leave because the water was cold. (Yet, sometimes he's perfectly happy to play in freezing cold water until he is blue). We informed him that we didn't just drive an hour and 15 minutes and pay and entrance fee, get our toes wet and leave.
I think the real problem was that he was a bit nervous about trying the rope swing. They have two of them. One that's shorter for kids and one that's big, for adults and brave kids. After much bribing and begging Lucas finally did the rope swing and LOVED it!

 

Evan wanted to do the rope swing and was just too small. Instead, he whined the entire time about wanting to "go in the pool" even when he was already in the water and he just wanted to be swam around to the deeper water. Ben was nice enough to accommodate this request. I, on the other hand didn't get wet past my thighs until the end when I went on the rope swing.

The kids ended up having a great time playing with friends and eating... and eating and eating. It was easy to just sit and relax in the shade because it was so pretty. I'm really glad we went. I've been wanting to go there for years and it made for a perfect Central Texas Labor Day.
On the way home we picked up Lucas's bribe - a Red Box pirate movie. Easy as pie.

  

(And thanks to Marco for being paparazzo for a day and taking some great shots of the kids; although, I managed to take a few... like the last 3, so I'm not a total loser mom)

Lucas is SIX!

 

Today my little baby turned 6! He woke up at 5:15 so he could have a full day of celebrating. Fortunately he didn't come into our room until 6:15. He had a fun morning of opening presents while he ate his breakfast in the living room. He scored some sweet Star Wars legos, some pirate ships, and of course new undies and socks. And a rad plaid shirt because today was school picture day. 

I took him to school and spent the rest of the day getting ready to have friends over for dinner and cake. I finished frosting the cake just in time to only be a few minutes late to deliver cookies to Lucas's classroom, but then a cop wanted to talk to me about the speed limit and stuff, so I was a few more minutes late than I wanted to be.

Anyhow, we eventually got home and made dinner and had a fun night. Lucas requested tacos for dinner, a chocolate cake with strawberries and whipped cream in the middle, as well as streamers and a Happy Birthday sign. He also mentioned that he wanted me to draw pictures of our family having fun. I fully intended to do this, but just didn't get around to it.

We sure love our little Lucas. He's growing into such a funny, bright boy. And he wants everyone to know that he LOVES Indiana Jones. Every day without fail I have to stop him from climbing on my car. He desperately wants to reenact the scene from The Holy Grail when Indie jumps onto the tank. He's so nutty. (PS: It's really hard to get a picture of a wiggly, excited 6 year old...)

The Duke

Guess who is in FIRST grade now? Lucas is officially the youngest kid in 1st grade. He's doing great so far and loves his teacher and his friends. It wasn't too hard adjusting to school because all summer he still woke up at 6:30 or 6:45. Lately Lucas has been back into Indiana Jones. We let him watch The Last Crusade (but not the scary parts) and he loved it. He plays his Indiana Jones video game on Saturdays and plays with his Indiana Jones legos to no end. And he also walks around the house fighting bad guys and pretends to be jumping from vehicle to vehicle like unto the amazing Indiana.

Lately I've been noticing that Lucas is indeed my kid. I always write him off as Ben's kid since he's so smart and everything, but he's totally my kid, too! I've noticed he's sensitive like me. And he worries like me (Mom, is there lots of gas in the car?)... and he's got my same insecurities. Grrrrreat. Sometimes I can hear myself in his voice when we're trying to get him to do something new and I can totally relate, and it breaks my heart just a little bit. 

The thing is, I don't think he's learned it from me, because I really try to be brave in front of him. I think it's just in his blood... So, we need to figure out how to work with that. 

Last night I put Lucas to bed and he wanted me to read, Love You Forever. I knew this was a risky book because it's the kind of book that, although a little ridiculous and creepy at times, makes moms cry as they think about their baby growing up. And Lucas was already exhausted and emotional.

I read the book and put it down and Lucas started crying. Saying he didn't want me to die (at the end of the book the mom is old and sick). I assured him that I wasn't going to die, and that even if I did die, Heavenly Father had a plan for us so that we could be together forever, and that everything would be ok. Then he started worrying about going to college. I told him that college was 12 years away, and he could stay close for college if he wanted, and that he didn't have to go away. He told me I needed to go to college with him, so I asked him what I should study, and he said, "Just be my mom!" We talked about how fun college would be, and how he could make his own schedule and take whatever classes he wanted (he was concerned that there wouldn't be Art, PE or Spanish). Lucky for him there are!

Then, he started talking about getting married, and how he wanted to live with us even when he was married. It just went on and on. Eventually Ben heard the crying and came in and assured him that he could stay with us as long as he wanted. Ben fell asleep while I continued to console Lucas. And finally Lucas also fell asleep while I sang him a song.

The experience was so weird for me because I remember having these exact same thoughts when I was little. I remember the devastation I felt at the thought of losing a parent, and the fear of moving away for college. And I specifically remember being sick with croup and worrying that when I was married and got croup, my husband wouldn't know what to do if I couldn't breathe. Because who could possibly be as loving and smart as your mom and dad? 

Well, the good news is that my parents raised me so that I could successfully be out on my own (thank goodness for cell phones), and I did find a nice, smart man who won't let me die if I get croup. I hope that I can help Lucas overcome these same fears as he grows up. And maybe someday he won't hate pinatas, and he'll be on swim team, or play soccer. And then eventually he'll get a full scholarship to an awesome college, and then meet an awesome girl. That's the plan for now... because he really can't live with us forever. :)

I just wanted to get some recent-ish pics up on the blog. We've been busy around here! Lucas finished Kindergarten last Thursday at 12:15 and ever since then I've been learning to adjust to two kids at home again! Lucas has learned a lot at school this year and made so many great friends. I'm so proud of him for how he's grown and worked so hard. He's still doing great at reading and writing and he also really likes math. Ben started doing long addition with him a month or two ago. And now they're working on memorizing multiplication tables. Ben is so good at challenging Lucas to learn new things. I would never think of doing half this stuff with Lucas, but Ben does, and I'm grateful for that.

Here's a picture from when they had career night at school. Lucas dressed up as a zookeeper. I paid $15 for that vest. I hope we use it again.

 

Ben and I have been looking for fabric to make valances in the kitchen for MONTHS. We finally found one we both like! We made a roller shade, but that's as far as we've gotten. I'd like to make a relaxed roman shade valance for the other two windows, but it seems hard, so instead I haven't done anything...

These two boys are addicted to phone/Kindle games. It's really annoying, but also a saving grace at times. Look how cute they are.

 Evan makes such funny faces. You definitely know when he's upset or happy by looking at that face. You can also tell that he loves blueberries. Other things he loves: the pool, airplanes, trains, cars, an airplane in the pool would be ideal.

 

Ben is beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel for his bike rack sculpture. He's been putting in hours and hours getting details right, sorting gears, cleaning gears, polishing gears. Then there's all the paperwork. It's been driving him insane. BUT, the good news is that he has the gears organized, clean in his trunk to deliver to the guy who is going to build bike rack for him. And hopefully by the end of June this thing will be done or very very close to completion. We'll have to have a party.

 

 

Oh yeah! Remember this awesome poster Ben made? He won an award for it in the Neenah Paper's inaugural Unshow Contest for his "ability to creatively combine paper, design and printing with style!" Congrats Ben!!

The boys and I are off on a magical vacation tomorrow. We're leaving Ben here all alone to finish up last minute bike rack stuff and maybe start writing a book (why should he have any free time?). We'll miss him... but I don't think he'll miss us that much... at least for the first couple days. :)

Days and Nights

A couple weeks ago we bought Lucas a clock - a Darth Vader clock. He is instructed to stay in his room until Vader says it's 7:00.

Ben and I went out tonight so we purposely kept the kids awake all day so they would go to bed early and Clay could have a relaxing night...
Well, Lucas had a meltdown early and was in bed by 6:15. Evan in bed by 6:55. We left at 7:05. Clay called us at 7:30 and told us Lucas was awake reading a book. I told him he could do whatever he wanted with him, so he let him stay up for a while.
Apparently Lucas just came downstairs about 7:15 and plopped on the Lovesac and started reading. He didn't even acknowledge Clay for about 20 minutes.
Then they had some cereal (which might have caused some confusion) and drew pictures and played War. Every time Clay mentioned maybe going back to sleep Lucas would get really confused and explain that he slept until 7:12, and that he could wake up!
Clay tried over and over to explain that Lucas really just had a little nap. He showed him the moon and told him that tomorrow was Sunday and Easter and there would be candy... Still, as Clay was walking Lucas back upstairs at 10:15, Lucas said, "But, if I go to bed now, It will be bed time when I wake up!"

So funny. Oh, and Evan also woke up for Clay to deal with, so the huge stack of work he brought over remained a huge stack. Poor awesome Clay.

BS

Ben had a poster up in the Art Crank poster show. Each poster had to be bike related. Ben designed a cool poster and had it letterpressed, which makes it extra-cool. The posters were sold at the exhibit and then at Mellow Johnny's for a couple weeks. And perhaps from his desk at work, too...

Remember the bike rack? Yeah, from like 2008? Well, that's still going on. Ben has discovered that it is a complete pain in the butt to work with the city and that it's a miracle that anything is ever accomplished. Hopefully things will get started soon...
We were excited for him to make some money off this project in the beginning, but in all honesty, he will probably have to pay a little out of pocket to have it built. You're welcome City of Austin. Enjoy your sculpture. We just want it to be done. Poor Ben has been working so hard.

As for me, even though my blogging frequency has been totally lame, I'm still alive. I've started running a lot more, and actually like it now. I hurt my back several weeks ago and decided to go to a chiropractor. He decided I was totally crooked (almost to the point of scoliosis) due to my psoas muscles needing to be stretched out. So, he did some painful stretches with me, then stuck his hand what seemed like halfway through my abdomen to massage each side. He warned me that other women compared the pain to having contractions. It wasn't that bad, but it was pretty horrible.
Last week we went through the same thing, but he also performed the Graston Technique on my lower back, which basically means he scrapes at your skin hoping to get rid of the underlying scar tissue, etc. It hurt like crazy. And my back is bruised - I look like I've been beaten, but hey, I got my mobility back (hopefully). The good news is that I don't have to go back until I hurt myself again.

I booked a couple jobs recently. A couple weeks ago I did a print job for a cute sub division in San Marcos, called Blanco Vista. I had a fake family and we spent the day capturing about 7 shots. I got to go running with my fake husband, have a picnic by the river, have a birthday party, a BBQ, go to the pool, and have another b-day party at the pool. Everyone was really nice. And the "grandparents" were especially hilarious and inappropriate :). 

I also went back to Golfsmith for another fit modeling session, which is when you try clothes on for the company before they have them produced so they can make changes. I've learned some interesting things going there and learning about the process.

Other than that, I'm pretty boring. I change poopy diapers, cook stuff, and drive to and from school a lot. Ben and I went on a date to see Hunger Games tonight with Scott and Jeana. I thought it was good, Ben thought it was forgettable. Not as bad as those vampire movies some people watch, though.

The Duke

Lucas is getting so big. He's doing great in school and loves his friends and his teacher. We're so proud of him for his hard work reading and writing. Ben has been working with Lucas a lot on counting money and telling time. He's quite the stud.

If you have a conversation with Lucas it will most definitely involve Star Wars. He LOVES Star Wars and would spend all day watching, playing or drawing Star Wars if he could. Personally, I miss the animal stage... When he would recite random animal facts he learned at the zoo. It was great. We went to the zoo once in ABQ and he ran up to an exhibit and said, "Mom! Look it's the klipspringer!!" and the people walking by read the sign and realized that the little kid knew what he was talking about. It was pretty funny. He still loves animals, so I'm hoping to get back into that and possibly have a Star Wars detox this summer...somehow.

(We did go to the "snake farm" over spring break and he thought it was so awesome. At one point he said it was better than Busch Gardens... and that is blasphemy, so we need to go back to Busch Gardens to refresh his memory).

Lucas can manage to sleep in until 7:00 on weekdays, but the second 6:00 hits on Saturday that kid is up and out of bed. It's so annoying! We manage to have him read books in his room for a while until Ben's ready to start playing. But he's still just so noisy. He calls us in to ask if he can wake up, then to ask if he can stop reading, and sometimes during the night when he has a song request. He's a silly kid.
When Lucas reads, he thinks its very important to use proper voice inflection. He also likes to use different voices for different characters. So, sometimes when he's "quietly" reading, it's as if a dramatic reading is going on with 4 different people.

Love this kid.