Shark's teeth hunting

Tobin went to a birthday party for one of his best friends a couple of weekends ago! He had a great time and I was able to get these pictures and email from Tobin's friend's mom.

Ladies - the boys had a great time this weekend. While they did not get
a lot of sleep, they did have a lot of fun. They all found teeth and we
could have stayed on the beach all day long.


If you enlarge one of the pictures, you will see that the boys have the same shirt on. Birthday mom was able to order them online and the boys loved them.

Tobin skateboarding on his friend's ramp the day before going sharks teeth hunting.

T's first overnight with Church Youth

Tobin's tells his story about his adventure on the local river during a youth retreat:















Great story, huh!!




My story about the youth overnight as told to me:

Our ward had a youth overnight recently and it was sooo easy to let T go. He, and the rest of the youth, had to get into boats and row out to an island that is in the middle of the river for a cookout/campout. They had a blast and a lot of fun.

The Young Women's leader said that of all the youth there, T was the only one who said thank-you to the person's whose property we were on. I do find that hard to believe. The other incident that they shared with us was also great about T. There was one young man who was struggling to swim across the river. Tobin saw this and threw the football he had been asked to carry across the river and went to swim closer to this young man. They heard him say, "You can do it. You just need to do it a little further. I'm right here. Let's go." One of the leaders saw this and just thought Tobin was a great friend to stay with him.

So, while I don't know any of the details, like what they ate for dinner, why they were swimming instead of in boats, what activities they did, I feel like I know enough.

And Tobin...he told me nothing of this. And nothing of the trip. What's a mom to do?

Noah: my musician???

Who would have thunk it?? Noah, my musician? Noah actually wants to continue his clarinet playing into next year which floors me. Noah played two songs during his concert: "chips and salsa" which Noah loved, loved practicing at home and another song I can't remember. The thing that is funny to me is that when I asked Noah how he liked playing at the concert, he answered with a big movement that he "loved it!" with a whole lot of enthusiasm in his voice, yet go back again and look at his pictures-- he looks miserable. He told me that was his look of intense concentration.

Some cute photos

Brenna at her school talent show with her girlfriends. They had a great time.

Brenna receiving her "medal" at the end of gymnastics.

Why is his Mouth Wide Shut?

This post is going to be about my middle child; I call him my Secret boy. You know about the "middle child syndrome?" Well, my mother is a huge fan (sorry mom) of the syndrome. She feels herself to be a product of it, even though her younger sister is 8 years younger than she is, I mean that's like being in another family, right? (I'm really sorry Mom). Anyway, when I was pregnant with my wild child, Brenna, my mom used to say if Brenna were a boy, she would really hold a special place for Noah in her heart. I know she does..hold Noah in her heart. The whole point of this is that I think NOah's personality "helps" create that middle child syndrome in our family. He has always been my quiet one. Tobin talks a lot and Brenna moves a lot. Noah floats under the radar. In some ways he isn't that high maintenance; he can easily entertain himself. In fact, I would venture that if you were to look back at my posts, he would be the one least written about.

Noah's reality comes to me often times through moms who have been at the school volunteering. I hate the question, "Did Noah tell you what happened today at school?" In my heart, I quickly have this great conversation with Noah, where he has told me everything. I am his confidante. He shares his fears, hopes and dreams. And then in an instant, I'm brought back, to say, "No, he didn't tell me. Why? What hapened?"

Today was no different!!! When they walked in the door, I asked Noah how his day was. "Fine, he replied." Any further attempt to talk to him landed on deaf ears. He was much more interested in his snack and his time to play. Fast forward to swim team practice, time I get to connect with Moms in the neighborhood. And one of the first questions was....you guessed it..."Did Noah tell you what happened today?"

So, what happened...they had a 4th grade picnic today where they were going to eat lunch and have a water balloon fight. My two friends were in charge of this and had asked last week for parents to volunteer to fill the ballooons. All of the 4th grade was so excited. Until today....a parent called to say, she didn't want her child to get wet and didn't think they should do the water balloons.

Ok, seriously, what 4th grader wouldn't want to get wet?? So, our principal made the decision to cancel that part of the picnic. Because of one child, 99 other ones didn't get to have their fun, water balloon party!! Why couldn't the principal have said, "I will make a note to have your child's teacher pull your child aside during the balloon toss. Thanks." But, no, he had to give in and say, "ok, no water balloon toss." Our 4th graders were devastated. They wanted the water balloon games!!!

But, do you think Noah told me any of this? This not a one time incident, but rather a pattern. The one thing I think is that what Noah doesn't say in words, he says in his cuddles. He is absolutely the cuddliest child I know. Tonight, when I was putting him in bed he needed to go brush his teeth, but before he headed to the bathroom, he headed to me for a hug. He leaned in soooo tight and said, "I don't ever want to leave this spot." I mean at that moment, my heart exploded.

Maybe I don't need both.

Brenna's in the Middle

Brenna's reading class had their play performances last week. Do you remember the post from Snow White with Brenna's friend, where I talked parts with you? I thought that Brenna's friend was the perfect Snow White and thought at the VERY least Brenna would make a great Goldilocks!!! But she chose to be a billy goat-Bill in the Middle goat. She's been so excited and I can't believe the emails that have come and gone between the moms of the billy goats to arrange for costumes. So, here is my little Brenna, Bill in the middle gruff.

Memorial Day weekend

How nice it is to have 3 days off of school!! We love, love, love long weekends. Friday afternoon at 3:00 was my favorite time--I was home from school, my feet up with a drink in hand, relaxing, waiting for Brenna to come home with her friend, Noah to come home from his patrol post, and Tobin to wander in with who only knew what on his agenda!

Friday night was an impromptu dinner with friends. We made it kid friendly and did the local diner (which I hate, but wasn't going to say so), but the company more than made up for it. We ate outside and had a lovely time, talking, laughing and watching the children. Yes, they outnumbered the adults, even counting Tobin who was helping us keep an eye on the younger ones. AFter dinnner, the kids dispersed around the restaurant.

Saturday, we spent the day celebrating Tobin's friend's bar mitzvah. It was a lovely service in the morning, with a kiddush luncheon afterwards. The family was sooo happy. The party that night was fantastic and my description will not do it justice! Tobin was embarassed that his Mom and Dad would dance. Alone, together, on the floor, in a group, it didn't matter. He was embarassed! Welcome to teenagehood.

Sunday was another fun day. We had dinner at a friend's house along with 4 other families, went to see Night at the Museum II, and then came back to our house for dessert! It was really fun.

Monday was our day of rest. Noah went to King's Dominion for Mormon day with friends, Brenna played with her friend, who had spent the night and Tobin played golf with Andy. I got to scrapbook after what seemed like months of not doing it!!

These pictures are of Brenna and her friend climbing the "magnificient Magnolia." They had so much fun climbing for an hour and a half. They said they were monkeys, Chester and Nim, they made rooms for themselves, they made a trampoline of one set of branches and they made a spa. These are the only pictures of our weeekend and once again, my boys are absent. They are growing up and were with friends.