Birthday Boys

Saturday was the annual family 5 boy birthday bash.  Between the end of March and the beginning of June, there are 5 boy birthdays in our family.  In order to avoid big family event fatigue, we plan one party for the whole bunch.  This time we met at Occoquan Regional Park near a creek.

Can never go wrong with a creek.

Oh, and trees.  Can't go wrong with trees, either.

And to cap it off, the boys got cash for their birthday presents.  Josh was elated and it took us a while to convince him that counting it on a windy day could end poorly.

Happy Birthday to our crazy, wonderful boys!

Hunting

Saturday morning the local parks and rec threw an enormous Easter Egg hunt on the path close to our house.  We weren't planning on doing one at our house on Easter, so I thought I would take the boys so they wouldn't feel deprived.  Of course, the eggs were mostly filled with chocolate candy, so Josh still felt deprived, but you really, really can't win them all.

If nothing else, being a parent has definitely beaten that one into my head.  

So early that morning we meandered down the to trailhead.  We met up with some buddies.  Meeting up with buddies always makes activities more fun.  It even makes waiting for an activity to start more fun.

First, they divided the kids up by age and organized games for them.  I don't know what Josh and Michael got to do, but Ben and his friends participated in a egg roll.

After all that, the different age groups headed down the path to different areas for their egg hunts.  Each age group area had 500 eggs.  The kids were corralled behind yellow tape and we waited for the signal to go.  My favorite part was watching parents give their 4-year-olds tips different strategies to get the most eggs.  We might need to bring it down a notch, people.  The kid with the most eggs won one of those pre-packaged Easter baskets.  I was secretly rooting for none of my children to win.

And they didn't.  But they had a great time.  I couldn't catch them once they were on the move, but I did get a picture of Ben and J and M while they were counting out their stashes.  Josh and Michael were further down and needed less supervision than this crowd, so I don't have any pics of them.  Averaging about 20 eggs each, they got plenty.

On our way down to get the older boys, Ben spoke with this furry fellow (lady?).  He was more than happy to talk to the bunny and accept a lollipop from him (her?), but he announced to me later that it was NOT the real Easter bunny because he could see a person's eyes in the mouth.  Can't fool this kid.

By the time we found Josh and Michael, we were almost home.  So we meandered back there to empty the eggs (whatever happened to having actual eggs at one of these things?).  It was a sugartastic morning.

Race Day

Going back to Wednesday:

Wednesday night was the race at the high school.  I am not going to lie - had I known what the temperature was going to be that evening, I would have thought twice or maybe even thrice about signing the boys up for this race.

It was chilly.

So chilly that both the boys raced in hoodie sweatshirts and not once complained of being too warm.  At the beginning, I tried to tell Josh to stop running around before the races started so he wouldn't use up all his energy.  Then I realized that was the only way he was going to be able to keep warm.

Who packed up all the winter clothes and coats on Monday??  That would be me.

In any case, I went to this event with two concerns:

1. Josh really, really, really needed not to come in last every time.  A repeat of the pinewood derby was not what I had in mind.  However, the previous week I needed to take him to the doc because of shortness of breath because his allergies were so bad.  Not ideal conditions for a race.

2. Michael had been complaining of severe calf pain for several days.  He seemed to do alright once I could get him moving, but as soon as he stopped being active the pain returned.  Getting him to walk from the car to the track was torture (for me, I mean - and probably for him).  I told him he had to come to the race, but he didn't have to run if he didn't want to.  

It all ended just fine.  (Note: all races were run by gender and grade.)

Josh came in 3rd in the 50m.

Happy boy!

And Michael finally got motivated by the cold to get moving.  He went from hobbling around and groaning in pain to winning the 100m.

It was the only race he wanted to run, but I was good with that.  Another happy boy.

And Josh came in 4th in the 100m, seen here with 1st place friend Jack.  Jack ran all 4 races and came in 1st or 2nd every time - I think the boys might need to train with Jack.

By the time they started racing the 400m, I couldn't feel my fingers.  The boys were done racing, so we headed over to Chik-fil-A and on home for a celebratory dinner with Daddy.  Fun times.

And thanks again to Angie for the pics!

Maniacs

I am raising maniacs.  Or feral animals.  Some days I am not sure which.

Why is that?  At the end of this week, I try to piece together some sort of explanation for the behavior they exhibited this week.

Is Josh's behavior albuterol-induced?  If so, what excuse do the other two have?

Is Michael's behavior fever-induced?  If so, what excuse do the other two have?

Is their behavior sugar-induced?  If so, may heaven have mercy on our souls they have already attended two Easter egg hunts this week (neither of which involved actual eggs, but they did have plenty of candy).  And the schools use sugar as their drug of choice to motivate children, so going back on Monday won't help at all.

I took the children to 5 different places on Saturday (many of which were fun for them) and at each one there was whining, nonstop begging for sugar, wrestling, punching and a variety of other behaviors that were not acceptable at any of these places.  At one point, I stood at the exit of Walmart and yelled at them to keep their hands to themselves.

Cue dirty look from ignorant bystander.

At which point I had to control myself from whipping around staring the lady down and saying, "I know that are thinking that I am that mom.  And maybe I am.  But, before you cast judgement on my fitness to be a parent, let me tell you that I have already asked them nicely more than TEN times to behave.  TEN.  I have tried to separate them and distract them.  I have moved as quickly as I can through an errand I know is likely to bore them.  But if my 9-year-old, 7-year-old and 5-year-old can't behave after being asked TEN times, then I am entitled to make my message louder and way more emphatic.  If you disagree with me, you are welcome to my shopping and errand list and the boys.  Feel free to show me how it is done.  I would love the break."

Wacky Adventure

Time to play catch up!  Going back to Tuesday:

If you are going to have a crazy adventure that is going to involve trudging long distances in the cold, the mud and a torrential downpour with a baby after being attacked by an elderly lady in a motorized wheelchair then you might need some perspective.  Going to the Holocaust Museum in DC will always give you some perspective.  So, on Tuesday my friend and I did it all.

I should probably note that had we taken a good, hard look at the forecast we probably could have avoided the long walk in the cold, mud and rain.  And thereby the lady in the wheelchair as well, but that was incidental and had nothing to do with the weather.

Anyway, rewinding to Tuesday morning:  Meleana and I had planned a trip to the Holocaust museum without (most of) the children.  We both have wanted to go, but we also wanted to actually get something out of the experience other than chasing our respective children around.  Tuesday seemed like a good time to go since Jason would be home.  She packed up baby E and picked me up to drive to the Metro station.  Once in DC and at the museum, we got tickets (timed) for about 4 hours later. 

So, we had time to kill and as we were discussing our options, I made the shocking discovery that Meleana had never seen the cherry blossoms or the Thomas Jefferson monument!!!!!!!  (Sorry to out you on my blog, Meleana!)  Granted, the cherry blossoms were past their peak and TJ was a bit of a walk, but with nothing better to do, we started around the tidal basin.

At the monument is where we met the motorized lady.  She apparently had her wheelchair set for warp speed as she had been zooming around the tidal basin.  A great idea of making good time out in the open.  A very, very bad idea for exiting an elevator right behind a woman who had surgery on her foot 2 1/2 months ago.  As she rammed my foot again and again, I started screaming which unfortunately woke baby E but fortunately cued one of her family members in to the fact that he/she should probably stop the wheelchair.  Really the entire experience was more startling than painful, but I did try to avoid people in wheelchairs for the rest of the day.

After TJ, I had the brilliant idea that we should keep going around the tidal basin and check out the FDR and MLK memorials.  We had time and I had never seen MLK.  We made it as far as FDR when the heavens opened and a deluge poured down on us and baby E in 45 degree weather.  Poor little guy.  I am pretty sure that this is when E decided that his mom and I are freaking idiots.  Poor little guy.

But his mom is wonder woman (and my hero) and we slogged through all the way back to the museum.  Meleana and I were drenched, but she managed  to keep E warm and dry by virtue of a Redskins jacket, blanket and a Battlefield umbrella.  A snack and diaper change later and the world was a better place.

Which is fortunate because we were about to go through the most depressing museum in DC.  Fabulous, but depressing.

And it was a fabulous, if damp, experience.  So grateful to my friend and her baby boy for this wonderful adventure!

Pinewood Derby

Backing up to April 8th: Pinewood Derby time!  We have a couple problems when it comes to the pinewood derby.  First of all, we don't have a garage or similar storage space, so we don't have woodworking tools.  Secondly, Josh, it turns out, is not very interested or invested in working on his car, but on the day of the pinewood derby he is very interested in winning.  

April 7th is when we finished the cars.

You can probably see where this is headed.

Over to the church we headed with the boys and their three cars.  First up were the scout cars.  They cubmaster had them race over and over again in various combinations.  Josh's car lost every time.  It was torturous.  At one point I was wondering if there was some sort of mercy rule that would take his car out of the races.  But, no. 

We had a sad not-so-little-anymore boy.  

But then he won the award for the "Best Paint Job" and the prize was a little Lego kit and peace was restored.

The scouts with their awards and cars:

Our boys with their cars:

And a big thank you to my friend Angie for most of the pics!

Palm Sunday

We kicked off our week of Easter activities with a Palm Sunday play.  We usually do the play a few times to give everyone a chance to play different roles (except for me - I am always the photographer).  Pictured above is the first round starring Josh as the donkey, Ben as Jesus, Michael as the disciple and Jason (not pictured here but he did have a really cool hat) as the owner of the donkey.  We also videotaped the plays and I look forward to many years of looking back and watching them.  Although, to be honest, they may be closer to comedies than historical reenactments.