Geocache-Survival-Tool Man Party

So our little man is a complex man....he is interested in everything and wants to know how things work. As a toddler he would ask me how things were made...and we would mentally build a house step by step...or a motorcycle....and that desire has only increased as he has gotten older. He now takes things apart just to see how they work and is always asking for more tools. Grandma started giving him cool plastic tools when he was 3 and he has acquired more every year but last year we switched to real tools...and for his 8th birthday we thought it was fitting to give him a manly tool party.

As always, we all worked on the cake together as a family...that makes is taste extra yummy when its filled with love! Even though we pretested the cake flavor 2 weeks ago I switched it up a little and made a 2 layer lemon & french vanilla cake. I am LOVING the turbo steamer and will probably never bake a cake the normal way again. The steam fluffs up the cake and makes it so moist and airy that you really can't beat that...PLUS you don't have to use the veg. oil so its healthier....so we started the cake on Saturday, steamed both kinds and made our homemade lemon cream cheese icing on Sunday. All the boys helped me make and TEST the frosting and Noah was in charge of adding the sugar...and Lucas made the color...and Eli helped lick the bowl...and spatula....and it turned out amazing! And delicious!

Lucas is my little chef...we work in the kitchen together all the time...and he had a ball changing the color of his icing till we found the perfect hue...almost like his shirt.

Beautiful color don't you think?

You should have see the espresso machine and coffee pot after Noah made the icing....I think Eli is waiting till he can safely test it again...it might need more sugar....

Here is the final cake...

Here is a good shot of one piece...with lemon on the bottom, french vanilla on the top and lemon cream cheese icing everywhere....such a YUMMY cake! I still have some left if any one wants to come over! :)

We invited our "under neighbors" as Lucas calls them, to our little family party and they really enjoyed helping Lucas with his gifts...

Here is the tool box that he got...

Notice anything new in the background??

He got a cool compass that we used that afternoon while geocaching...He wears it around his neck and tells us which direction we are driving in....very helpful :)

He only asked for Nerf guns this year because he wanted to fight against his brothers who already have one...so they had a nice little war with all the kids after the gifts and cake...there were bullets flying everywhere!

After opening lots of little tools (screwdrivers, pliers, measuring tape, bungy cords, hammer, funnel, and carabeaners) he had one final big present...

And I love his face as the reality of what it is soaks into his brain...

This was the best deal of the century! I found this for ONE DOLLAR at our local Restore! I was soo excited when I found it and later spent an hour laying out the tools and tracing their outline on the peg board...

The girls were also excited to help him put the tools away.

And here is our EIGHT year old with his favorite gift of the year...his very own, official, work bench with his very own tools! He could hardly wait to use his new tools and after this photo he immediately took apart an old nerf gun to see how it works! lol. 

After the gifts, cake and nerf fight we took everyone out for some west bottoms geocaching...and didn't find a thing...but had a good time anyway. We had a great family day and ended with a yummy dinner out at an old favorite restaurant. Lucas is such an amazing little man and I just LOVE watching him learn, mature and grow. He makes our life exciting and full of laughter and I can't imagine life without him. Happy Birthday Lucas!

Eight Is Great!

Today is a great day to be EIGHT...and to celebrate Lucas' BIRTHDAY we took him to breakfast this morning at Dunkin Donuts. We just can't believe that our little man is EIGHT!!! EIGHT!!!!! When did that happen? I remember when he turned 7 and how he still promised to be our baby...and to let us hold him and hug him...but this year is different. This year Lucas came to us a few weeks ago to tell us that he heard something at school that got him thinking. The teacher was talking about giving away something that was important to you and that made him think of, Blue...his blanket...that he has had since before he was  1.5...He said he wants us to put it away, out of his reach so he can't get to it...and that made me and daddy sad...he really is quite the little man. 

He is hilarious, kind and so so smart. He pays particular attention to the details of everything and likes to take everything apart to see how it works...he LOVES tools, motorcycles, cooking and helping me in the kitchen. He makes us laugh so much but he knows how to give a good snuggle too! He is ALL boy but sweet and sensitive too...we just love the young man he is becoming and can't spend enough time with him! Last week he asked Scott if we were having spaghetti for dinner and when daddy said nooooo....Lucas said, "ah, well, spaghettabout it" Who comes up with that stuff? 

We had him close his eyes so we could put an 8 on his little donut...here he hasn't seen it yet...

Ahhh, now he sees it....How many 8's do you see in the box?

Daddy and I whispered the Happy Birthday song to him and he danced and grooved to the music...and then he blew out the candle that we didn't light...

We gave him one present at breakfast...a boys survival type guide so that he could become, "the best at everything" and the first thing he read up on was how to wrestle a crocodile...with plans to practice on spring break in Florida. He read many of them to us and really loved the book. He really is good at so many things he has a hard time deciding what he wants to be when he grows up...

And in keeping with our tradition, another bad early morning shot...do we look tired or what?

Another satisfied customer....

And I had to sneak in one more shot with my baby before I took him to school...

Lucas, we are so proud of you and love you very much! Happy Birthday!!

The Reception

So Monday was the big day for mom and we got there early with some samples of her artwork. Kasey, the therapist who nominated her, wanted us to bring some of her pottery and paintings because that is one of the things they loved about mom. She became their resident artist and they loved her creativity and spunk. She said that some patients go down in history as being one of the famous ones....the kind that get talked about long after they are gone....the kind who only have a first name...like Madonna, Cher and Mary Ann...

The reception was held in their new rehab facility...

There was a nursing newspaper there who interviewed mom, her home health nurse and me for an article they are publishing in their October edition. When I get a copy of it I will post it here for you to read. It was sort of like a family reunion! We had some dear friends who could make it and then we got to see all of moms favorite nurses, aides, therapists and even some doctors who took care of her in the last year. I was so touched that the aides came down from 3E to give her hugs and tell her they missed her. They really are a great group of people and I actually miss seeing them! It was sort of like camp, where you pick up right where you left off...and it was a very nice honor for them to give mom.

Here is the woman of the hour...and I worked really hard on her hair! She lost all of her hair while in the hospital and now that it is growing out we are experimenting with new styles. I managed to put it up in a little bun with a ribbon barret and cute little curls. It was different to see her hair, "poofier" than it has ever been but it was cute.

This is mom with one of her therapists, Kasey, who nominated her...

This is the director of the rehab facility giving mom her award and gift. We also had appearances by the COO of OMC and someone from the Olathe Mayor's office who used to be the Mayor...cant rem his name...

This is Kasey giving the epic tale of mom's hospital stay and her progress. Her first day of therapy was in the ICU when they had to pull her up and sit her up on the bed...and then the dates that she began to walk and progress. She also mentioned that on June 18, 2009 they called us to the hospital to say our goodbyes because they didn't think she would make it thru her 2nd pacemaker surgery the next day (my birthday!) but Kasey said mom wasn't having any of that because that next day after her surgery she extubated herself and kept right on fighting for her life!

Here she is with her certificate and gift...

Some of our favorite staff at OMC...

More of our favorite people coming to give mom a hug.

It was very touching for Kasey and the girls to nominate mom for this little honor because it meant so much to her. My mom has never fought for anything as hard as she has fought for her life and it meant a lot to be recognized for that hard work. She is a creative, spunky artist who will keep on fighting till she makes a full recovery. *On a side note- I wish I had thought of having someone take a photo of mom, Scott and me but I forgot.... :( Maybe next year when she gets Citizen of the Year! :)

Patient of the Year

My mom got a call on September 2nd from one of her favorite physical therapists at Olathe Medical Center. Every year the PT's choose one patient as their Patient Of The Year and guess who they picked?? Yep....I took a few photos (of course) while Kasey was giving her the good news. She was very touched by their sweet gesture and is looking forward to the celebration.

YOU ARE ALL INVITED to join us at her special reception on MONDAY, Sep. 20th from 3-4 pm at Olathe Medical Center. We will be in building ONE, suite 151. Hope to see you there!

Randomness....

This past weekend I felt like I didn't get to see my boys very much. They were only home a few hours on friday before I had to get ready for work and then they were asleep when I got home at 1am. I got up before any of them on Sat. and worked at the coffeehouse from 8-1 and then came home to spend some time with them before my second job of the day. I was soo tired but instead of napping I decided to make a cake. Lucas' birthday is coming up in less than 2 weeks and I wanted to try a old recipe that I hadn't made in years. My mom got me this cool, handy dandy turbo steamer in 2002 and I pulled it out to bake a cake on top of the stove. Instead of using oil you can use fruit juice or in this case Peach Nectar and it bakes the cake with steam. The result is a fluffy, moist, delicious cake...that only lasted a few hours. It was yummy! I made a strawberry cream cheese icing and then a little coconut to finish it off....YUM! It was so worth not getting my nap! And then I cuddled on the couch with Eli and Noah and dosed while they played their games...did I mention that Aslan also managed to get a piece of cake? Yep, he did.

On Sunday, Scott took us to the Nelson Atkins Museum to see the unveiling of the face of their 2500 year old Egyptian Mummy, Ka-i-nefer. A team of forensic artists from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a local cardiologist and the Nelson-Atkins curator worked together to scientifically analyse the physical characteristics of the mummy and created his "face". We saw CAT scans, xrays and all sorts of medical images before they showed us how they reconstructed his face in software that is only available to law enforcement. It was very interesting...

And here is the FACE of Ka-i-nefer...

This is a sweet little moment between Grandma and Noah...Noah had been sitting on my lap at the dinner table while we talked about life stuff...and when he got up Eli took his place so Grandma offered her little lap...and when he sat down she snuggled right up to him. Poor grandma has really had a hard time lately with allergies so her eyes are a little puffy and you can see the bruise on her left arm from her fall a few weeks ago...but she is still working hard.

And this is a photo of the sunrise from our bedroom window this morning...the puppies got me up at 4am to go outside and then this was when Scott was leaving for school...The sky was bright pink and purple and beautiful...

So, how's that for random? :)

I'm Not Your Average Person

So, last week the circus rolled into town....on the train track near our loft...and we were SOOO excited to see their train cars! We heard that they walked the elephants up the 12th st bridge so when my hubby saw the cars being pulled up the bridge we jumped in our truck to follow....did I mention it was midnight?

This was my first photo of the trip...you can see what a great job I did of catching the circus truck and not the shiny construction barriers...and my sweet hubby who indulges me when I want to chase elephants...

Ahhh, now you can see what we saw for the first 10 minutes of our adventure...The Greatest Show On Earth!

We followed the truck downtown until it stopped at the Sprint Center...

And of course I walk around the area at 12:30 in the morning taking photos of the trailers...

The street in front of the Sprint Center was FULL of trailers but no animals... :(

We heard that the Elephants would be arriving on Tuesday night and that the trainers would be getting them up at 4am to bathe and walk up the 12th street bridge to the Sprint Center. I was SOO excited about this that I set my alarm for 4 am (after going to bed at 1am). I wanted to get photos of the elephants on the bridge and when I got up at 4...there were no elephants...so I set my alarm for another 15 minutes and got up again...and no elephants...and set my alarm again for 15 minutes....and no elephants...and I did this for the next 2 hours and NOT ONCE did I ever catch the elephants....I was sooo sad!

While I was telling Lucas about the Circus train and how they were finally in town, he said, "MOM! They say that is the GREATEST show on EARTH!" And his PURE JOY is exactly what I felt when I heard the elephants were going to be walking by my window....oh how I wish I had seen it!

Pretty Severe Consequences

I stumbled onto a new blog today and was just blown away by the stories of parental alienation and the court outcomes for those custodial parents who interfered. These excerpts are from 2000 but I will include the link if you want to read it all.

Parental Alienation by Joel R. Brandes

NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL, March 26, 2000

Parental Alienation was recently described as a situation where one parent intentionally attempts to alienate his or her child from the other parent, by poisoning his mind, and usually succeeds....Its primary manifestation is the child's unjustified campaign of denigration against a parent. It results from the combination of a programming (brainwashing) parent's indoctrinations and the child's own contributions to the vilification of the parent.


...We believe that inducing parental alienation in a child is a form of child abuse, which should be punishable as abuse under the Family Court Act. Moreover, a parent who alienates a child against the other parent should be denied visitation with all of his or her children until the child is no longer alienated against the target parent.

...Parental alienation has been recognized in New York custody cases since the 1980s, when it was held that a custodial parent's interference with the relationship between a child and a noncustodial parent is "an act so inconsistent with the best interests of the child as to per se raise a strong probability that the offending party is unfit to act as a custodial parent."

...The Family Court acknowledged that New York cases have not discussed PAS as a theory, but have discussed the issue in terms of whether the child has been programmed to disfavor the noncustodial parent, thus warranting a change in custody. 

...The court accepted the testimony of the mental health professionals to the extent that they indicated that the mother alienated the children from the father. It found that the children would have no relationship with the father if left in the custody of their mother, and that they would continue to be psychologically damaged if they remained living with her. Their negative view of their father was out of all proportion to reality. The court found that the mother had succeeded in causing parental alienation of the children from their father, such that they not only wished to cease having frequent and regular visitation, but actually desired to have nothing to do with him. It awarded sole custody to him and suspended her right to visitation.

The court did not specifically base its decision on a finding of PAS. Instead, it relied on the case law, which requires the custodial parent to nurture the child's relationship with the noncustodial parent, and ensures access by the noncustodial parent,(10) pointing out that interfering with the child's "relationship with the noncustodial parent, has been said to be so inconsistent with the child's best interest as to per se raise a strong probability of unfitness."(11) 


Wow....

Coffee, Ghosts & Labor Day Weekend

Now that I have 3 part-time jobs, life tends to be a little more complicated (is that possible?) and weekends are exhausting. But even though I worked a crazy weekend schedule, our family still managed to have a great Labor Day together. One of my part time jobs is working for my landlord...at one of the Haunted Houses...and that started the last weekend of August. I get to dress up as a Southern Belle and scan tickets at the door...I get to be sweet, southern and even sassy when needed. While I don't have a good pic of my outfit yet, you can get the idea here...

Every night when I come home (and the kids are still awake) they come running to the door to see me. My makeup has to be really dark so it can be seen while in the dark foyer and Lucas thinks the dark lipstick is super girly. I kissed his cheek a few times so he could have the lip print and he just giggled...

On friday I worked as a Southern Belle from 6:30pm-12:30am, came home to eat dinner, in bed by 2 and up at 7:15 to get to my second part time job at a local coffeehouse. Noah came with me and read his book while I worked hard from 8am-1:30 pm. Once I got home I helped mom at our pottery/jewelry booth in the WB till 4 when we packed it up and moved it back upstairs. After a quick nap I got ready and back to the Beast by 6:30 and worked till 12:30 am again. I ate dinner, got to bed and back up at 7am to open the coffeehouse for the Sunday rush. I worked till noon and then rushed home to help get our picnic stuff ready for the park.

We went to one of our favorite parks (where the dog beach is) and had a fantastic picnic. Somehow I forgot to take pics of all the yummy food but I did get one of Eli enjoying the grilled corn. My hubby is a fantastic cook!

The kids explored the little creek and found a water fall and a whole "kingdom" to rule.

Eli became the Water Ruler and he and Lucas pronounced me the "Water Princess"...and because I take my duties seriously I went to the waterfall to look over my kingdom.

Lucas was the Guard and they "allowed" the forest king (Noah) to join them at their palace.

Aren't they cute? Even with those fake smiles? :)

We had such a beautiful Kingdom to rule.

And then, as the Water Princess was cleaning up the remnants of lunch, a fight broke out between rulers...

Don't worry, the Guard is only faking it...

Oh Uh....you better run Guard...

The highlight of our day was taking 2 canoes out on the lake and rowing to the other side...only it was soooooo windy that we had a very hard time getting there. I took Eli and Lucas with me and Scott took Noah. I left the camera in the car because Eli thought we were going to tip for sure and I didn't want to chance it. When we first got in our boat Lucas was in the front but because it was so windy I had them switch out so Eli could do the paddling. Lucas wasn't sure he liked boats...BEFORE we got in the boats he told me how much he loved them...and once we WERE IN the boat he said he likes boats but he didn't like to be IN one...When we made our way across the lake I spotted some mussels and the boys were so excited to find some treasures. I had Lucas get out of the boat and walk along the edge so he could dig up our treasure. He was so excited! He yelled out to Scott and Noah that we had found the "bestest of the bestest thing ever. It was awesomer than awesome!" We collected 9 open shells, explored a little more and then let Lucas take us home. Once he was in control and paddling, he decided that he loved boats again and with the wind at our back we got back to the dock in no time.

These are our treasures. Eli cleaned them up and the boys want me to make jewelry out of them. I love it that they are very happy with the little things in life. They don't need to have a lot of "things", they just need our time and attention.

We had such a great day and I LOVE spending time with my boys!