Frustration!

So, I thought I'd be a good mom and register Justin for EFY this summer. He and his cousin have been planning on going together as soon as both of them were old enough. Two weeks ago was the early registration period. You could get online and request sessions any time during the week and then they would do a random selection process to place all the applicants. So, I waited patiently for 2 hours to get onto the registration page. I filled it all out and linked him to his cousin. When I hit the final processing button, I, of course, get an error page and it boots me out. So later in the day, I again patiently wait my turn "in line" to REQUEST sessions--not even actually register him! 2 hours later I finally get on and the process does go through. Then I had to wait 2 weeks to see if his request had been filled for one of the sessions we wanted. Unfortunately, his request was denied!!!!! The e-mail actually says they are able to place 90% of their applicants in one of their requested sessions. Apparently we are just in the losing 10%. So, starting today, all of the rejects get a "2nd chance" to sign up for any available spots. When I got on today, of course, there are no spots available at the school we wanted--unless he wanted to miss the last week of 8th grade to attend. So basically 5 hours of my life have been wasted, and there wasn't a darn thing I could have done differently. It's the luck of the draw. I'm not sure how I feel about the random selection. On the one hand, it does seem to be a fair way to do it. On the other, I'm sure I absolutely sent in my "request" before others who are now securely registered for the spot we wanted! Ugh!! I am totally frustrated! On top of that, next week I get the joy of trying all over again to get him into a local session. This time I'm sure is just first come, first served. Wish me luck!!!

A Salute to Infancy

I guess it all started when Eric was three months old, and he came with mom and dad on a trip to Texas. For ease of packing, I only brought along 2 small receiving blankets--you know, the waffle looking kind. Anyway, I started throwing one over the top of him in his infant seat everywhere we went, to keep the noise, cold, and germs out (or so I deluded myself to think that a thin receiving blanket could do all that!) Anyway, he apparently got really attached to those blankets, and ever since, we could never go anywhere without one. I think I must have had at least 10 of those blankets when Eric was born, probably all dating back to the birth of Justin 10 years earlier. By the time Eric was 2, I was down to 4 of them. In the last year, we could only find 2. He ALWAYS had to sleep with them, and often dragged them around with him. Finally, a couple of months ago, Paul told him this one final blanket needed to be thrown away since it had holes in it and multiple stains that wouldn't come out! It was a sad morning when Eric finally agreed to drop blankie in the garbage. He gave it a final salute before turning sadly away. So for a while there, we thought our little soon to be 4 year old had been broken of his "Linus" status. Miraculously, a few weeks ago when cleaning the basement, he unearthed the one remaining blanket that has been lost for some time. (See what cleaning brings? Pretty sure I'm done with that from now on!) He was overjoyed--running up the stairs shouting that he had found his white blankie!!! So, we are back to having a "Linus" in the house until this blanket either disintegrates, or is secretly taken by daddy. (Maybe that is what happened to the other 8 that were lost!)

While we are on the subject of my favorite 4 year old, I realized with all the craziness of the holidays, I kind of skipped over Eric's birthday last month! Poor kid--it's sure to happen more than once in his life with a Dec. 21st birthday! Unbelievably, he turned 4 on the 21st! It's hard to imagine he is growing up so fast! He is such a smart little cookie! He is also very black and white--you always know what he likes or dislikes. He's completely bossy and pretty much a control freak--apparently the less desirable genes got passed right along with the ones that made him so completely adorable! (Good thing the later genes came with the less desirable ones, or he might not have made it this far!)

Things Eric loves:

Preschool and play dates with his buddy Tysen

Playing the Wii

Current favorite movie--Walle

Candy and chocolate

Frozen waffles--thank you Tysen

Mickey Mouse

Thomas the Tank Engine

Reading with mom

Being with his brothers

Playing games with Grandma

Snuggling with daddy

Here he is after about 4 different attempts to blow out the candles. Notice only one is out, and no they are not trick candles! Maybe some of my "special needs" genes got passed along too! Bless his heart! Good thing he's cute!

Reality Check

Happy Birthday to me! As I continue to get older, I am not sure how I feel about that. Paul summed it up this way--every birthday is just another year closer to death. Exactly why do we celebrate that? This, of course, was after I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday this year since it is going to be one of those new decade birthdays which always seems like more of a big deal to me! Anyway....here is the reality check that actually cracks me up, even though it confirms that I am no longer as young and hip as I constantly try to think that I am. Last night as we were walking out to the parking lot of the temple, there was a younger couple talking behind us. The girl was going on and on about wanting to go back to Europe. She was telling her husband that she wanted to go soon, not when she was 40 or something, so he was just going to have to figure it out. Then as a final blow, she said, "I'm not waiting until I'm OLD to travel again!" ......And there you have it. Straight from the mouth of babes (and they never lie)--40 is "old"! Now, I'm not quite "old" yet, but I will be fairly soon. Wow. I don't know how this has happened. It seems like just yesterday I was as loud and obnoxious as she is. Okay, I know what my dear friends are thinking...I'm still as loud and obnoxious as she is, but now I can add old the that list! Happy birthday to me!

Snow Buddies

We have had so much snow since Christmas, I'm already ready for spring...but I'm sure I've already mentioned that! The Saturday after Christmas, we decided to take advantage of all the snow and our own convenient snow hill at the park by our house to try out Eric's new 2-man snow tube. He LOVED it! He would squeal all the way down the hill! Everyone took turns going down with him.

Then he got brave and wanted to try Jordan's one man tube. I wasn't so sure about sending him by himself, but off he went. He REALLY squealed all the way down the hill this time, and at the bottom, he hopped off, stuck his thumb up in the air, and yelled, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

Here are a few shots of the other boys hitting the slope and riding the tube train down the hill.

Towards the end of our sledding excursion, I looked over at Eric, and he was laying on the ground making a snow angel. It was so cute. I have no idea where he even learned to do it since you all know I wasn't laying in the snow teaching him!!

What a great afternoon--even if my face almost froze solid! It absolutely reminded me how fun it was to just be a kid!

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve brought several firsts with our family. Justin and his friends, Brett and Victoria, are finally old enough to go to the New Year's Eve dance at the church. They were all very excited.....well, okay, Victoria was very excited and the boys were skeptical! However, they all had a great time hanging out together in their own little comfort zone. Maybe next year they will branch out a little and meet and dance with some new people!

The rest of us went to a little party with a few friends. While there we found out who could and couldn't sing along to some of the classics from the 80's--Duran Duran, Madonna, Men At Work....etc. We discovered that although Paul and Dan were not the best at Dance Dance Revolution, they could do a pretty mean imitation of Madonna's Material Girl and other equally embarrassing and hilarious 80's tunes.

After watching Dad take the mic, Jordan and Tyler decided it would be okay to try it themselves upstairs where the kids had their own karaoke party going on with Disney's Sing It. They chose to rock out with the Jonas Brothers.

All in all, a great time was had by all, though I'm not sure how long it will take Sydney to get over the fact that she got beat by Paul singing their "Material Girl" duet! Practice, practice, practice, Sydney...there's always next year! Happy 2009, everyone!