Mr. Perfect's Birthday

We had a birthday this week.

Mr. Perfect woke up and told me he wanted a layered cake. 13 layers to be exact. When I asked him why 13, he said he liked the thought of a bakers dozen. What a nut! I came up with a solution he approved of. Yea! He also has been enjoying his Heroica Lego game, so we bought him the rest of the set. He was pleased as punch! And we all have been enjoying the game!

Happy Birthday Mr. Perfect! I am so grateful for your endless imagination and perfectionist tendencies!

5th grade promotion

Today I got to go to Perfect's 5th grade Promotion, and then I signed him out of school and took him to lunch. He wanted Taco Bell. :)

Simulated Congressional Hearing

Today at his school Perfect got to participate in a Simulated Congressional Hearing and he did AWESOME! He and I have been going over his script all week and I knew he'd do well on his presentation but I was really impressed with the question and answer period. There were three guest judges. These are people in the community such as school board members and such, and they ask questions and the kids did super well at presenting their answers. I was particularly proud when a question was asked about whether the constitution would have been different if there had been women there to draft it. The other kids commented on how at the time women weren't educated like men were, but Perfect said Women have brains just like men, the only difference would have been that women would have been able to vote sooner. Whahoo! One of the judges at the feedback part of it totally praised him for that. Yeah, I was a pretty proud Mama. Not only that but at the end the main judge asked the kids if they'd like to point out the adults who helped them, Perfect chimed in immediately with, "I'd like to point out my Mom who worked with me every day on this." Even though they wanted the teachers to be pointed out I was overjoyed. Best Mothers Day Gift!!!

Chores

Yesterday everyone traded chores. This morning we were talking about it at breakfast and Dad asked, "What about milking the cows, and slopping the pigs, and gathering the eggs?"
Mr. Perfect most happily jumped on the bandwagon volunteering, "I'll tame the phoenix!!" Oh I love the way his mind works. Now he is talking about all sorts of mythological animal chores. I hope he keeps his imagination forever!

To illustrate...

Just wanted to share a small story as to why I call Mr. Perfect...Mr. Perfect.

The other day we had pizza. (Okay not so extraordinary.) But the next day there were only two pieces left. One of the older boys came and got a piece and that left one. Mr. Perfect got it out and was just about to take a bite when a little brother came and asked for some, and seconds after him another little brother. So even after being prompted to "Just go eat the piece." he got out a knife and cut it into three parts to share with his little brothers. Once they all had their share he was once again just about to bite into the pizza when... another little brother came in asking for some pizza. YES, once again he took the knife and the tiny little piece in his hand was split in half so he could share with his little brother.

Oh Perfect! If only more people in the world were like you.

Mr. Perfect's BIRTHDAY!

Yesterday my Mr. Perfect turned 10. What a great age. Still eager to please and yet in the stage where he is forming his own opinions and thoughts. It really is fun to talk with him. Of course his favorite thing to talk about is Pokemon.
Grandma Crimson made this awesome Poke-ball cake for him. And YES, there is a Pokemon inside. When I went to cut the cake the knife kind of bounced back up out of the cake. I laughed and said I couldn't do it. Whereupon Mr. Perfect took the knife in an attempt. When he had no better luck than I, Mr. Right took the knife and said something to the effect of, "Let someone who has a totem chip do it." We all had a good laugh at his failure. Then the cake kind of fell apart and revealed a rubber ball type thing with a real Poke-ball inside and inside of that a Pokemon. YEA!
COOLEST CAKE!
We also celebrated Angel's birthday which was the day before. Lots of fun birthdays in July!

Pics from the Promotion

Last weekend we got to see our Mr. Perfect progress in his martial arts class to a green belt. There weren't very many kids promoted. Here is a pic of them waiting for it to start. Look at that cheesy grin on Mr. Perfect. He was VERY happy!

He was the first one called up to receive his certificate and new belt. He set a very good example. I love the bows he exchanged with his instructor.

When everything was said and done....happiness.

A crazy busy day in the Kingdom

Mr. Music lost another tooth. He only has one more baby tooth to lose. He is VERY aware of this and is looking forward to having all of his baby teeth gone. He knows the next step for him is braces, he isn't sure how he feels about those. But he is excited to be growing up. Mr. D.A. for the first time had a friend come over for a sleep over last night. I let him stay up a bit later than usual, but not a ton later. It didn't matter though, he slept most of the afternoon today and even went to sleep on my bed before evening prayers were even said. He LOVED having a friend over and can't wait until the next time we can do it, but it was exhausting!

Mr. Right shaved for the first time today. He has been growing some hair on his lip and asked me a while ago to teach him. So we've been planning and decided today was the day. He was a bit apprehensive, but did a great job. I told him he probably only needs to do it maybe once a week or so for now. But before bed he was already talking about "next week when I shave..." I loved teaching him and he even gave me a voluntary hug and kiss when he was done. YEA!

Today at martial arts class Mr. Perfect was informed that next week he would be promoted from yellow belt to green belt. Whahoo! He is really excited. He also got his hair cut today. He wanted to grow out his hair, but hated having to comb it every day. So, short it is. He looks great either way. Mr. Prince loves the United States. Today while we were doing all of our taxi driving from lessons and such he was listing all of the States in alphabetical order saying what each state was. "Florida- the sunshine state. Missouri-the show me state. etc. etc." I don't know them all and I definitely can't say all of the states in order but he can. Last week during conference this was one of his things. He is making a map of the US state by state. When he found he didn't have room for them all he drew an outline first. See next pic...He discovered it was much easier if he had the outline first and then drew the states in. Boy this kid is good! He loves to play this game with me where he draws half a state and I have to guess what it is. If I get it right he draws the rest, if I don't he gives me hints like..."This was the 12th state." or "This state is one of the eight smallest states. (WHO KNOWS THAT?) Mr. Prince knows it. He loves his United States. And finally my sweet Mr. Super. We dragged him along with us as we taxied kids here and there. This is a pic of him waiting in the van while some of the boys were still in their classes. Boy he is a cutie!

You may call me "good man"

The other day as I was tucking the boys into bed I asked Mr. Perfect if he had read his scriptures. "Yep!"
And said his prayers. "You know it!"
And then I said the fateful words....."Good boy."
"MOOOOOOOOOM!" (That's Mom not moom.) "You can't call me 'good boy' anymore. I'm not a little boy. You may call me 'good man'."
I laughed hard and then exited the room saying something to the effect of, "Oh I am so sorry You're Majesty."

Ahhhh....the joy of warm weather

The last few days have been heavenly. The boys have played outside quite a bit and sometimes even without coats. It's so nice to feel spring coming on.
Here is Mr. Perfect enjoying the warmth! Ahhhhhhhh.

2nd Place!

I have a kind of legacy to live up to. I haven't slept well for a few days, and last night I didn't sleep at all. I kept thinking of letting down my son, my hubby, and my Dad.
Tonight it all came to pass. I am so grateful for those words...everything always comes to pass.

Here is Mr. Perfect's Pinewood Derby car. Pretty cool. He and Dad cut it and sanded it. Papa helped with the wheels and axles, and Mom (me) helped with the paint and weights and actually putting it all together. Wow, it takes a village... This is just as the races were starting. He was SO excited. I tried to talk to him about "What if you don't win?" He said, "My goal is to get in the top three." With the amount of racers I wasn't sure that was going to happen.

Here is a pic of the pack. They are all really good kids. I was surprised not to see any tears this year, but I did see a lot of cheering for each other and congratulations. One kid that hadn't won any heats finally won one and the applause for him just made me happy. And even in the end there was a boy who didn't win any and he was so cool about it. I was really impressed.

Here is a little video of one of the last heats. I love watching Mr. Perfect skip to his seat to watch. He was very happy tonight. Yea 2nd Place!

Perfection can be painful

Today Mr. Perfect got braces, a process he didn't enjoy but didn't mind, he was actually really good. But by this evening he was in real pain. He was crying and I explained to him about how his braces are actually moving his teeth. He understood it, but he also asked, "Why can't I just have straight teeth without braces?" To that I simply shook my head and told him, "Because you're my son, and your genes say you'll have crooked teeth without them. Sorry." He was sorry too. Poor kid. (I told him someday he would be grateful for straightening his teeth, I don't think he believed me.)

Mr Perfect and an object lesson

Today a friend at church gave my boys a Rubik's cube to play with during Sacrament Meeting. (Just as a side note, I love the girl that loaned it to us so much, I wouldn't dream of offending her by telling her we didn't want it for the hour.) However it was quiet and once it was in my boys hands it wasn't going back until the meeting was over.
At one point Mr. Perfect was playing with it and he leaned over to me and said, "You know Mom, this is just like life. We mess up our lives and twist it in all kinds of ways. But then if you give your life to Jesus, he can fix it."
Thanks for the reminder Mr. Perfect. I love you.

Fun in weird ice-snow-stuff

I wanted to give a little glimpse of some of the fun we had today in the stuff that fell from the sky last night. It wasn't snow, it wasn't rain, it wasn't sleet, it wasn't hail. Maybe it was slush. That sounds right about right. We didn't go out into it until it was slush anyway. We were all sopping wet by the time we came in. But it was fun. (And the boys did like getting an extra day off school for it.)
Here is Mr. Perfect trying to do a snow board type thing on the sled. Nice wipe-out. But he sure loved the adventure of doing it.

Mr. Right and Mr. Prince walking back up the hill. That's the hard part of sledding. But I didn't hear one word of complaint. YEA!

Mr. Perfect. One happy camper.

Mr Music even joined us outside. WITHOUT being asked to come . That's almost a miracle! Mr Right, on the other hand, was one of the first ones out and the last ones in.

Mr Right was also so helpful with all of the other boys. They all would ask him to push them, and he obliged them quite a bit. I was really glad to see how much he was willing to do. Mr. Prince is such a cutie.
Mr. Super kept telling me where to go. I wasn't ever in the right place. Mr. Right got the snowboarding thing down pretty well.

Mr Right keeps asking for a snowboard. After watchin him today I am starting to think it's probably a good idea. One of the neighbor boys came to play for a while. He just hopped on with a couple of the boys. Our neighborhood is full of boys. It's great!

And my sweet Mr D.A. is so adorable. Look at that face. Who could possibly resist it?

New Blog for the New Year

With the New Year comes new nick-names. I actually quite look forward to this each year. So, to fill you in on the names for the new year here is some help.

This is Mr. Perfect, he will be 10 this summer. He says his favorite thing is drawing. (I thought for sure he would say Pokemon...but what do I know.) My Mr. Perfect is a perfectionist. He is sensitive to the feelings of others, and always tries to help when someone is in crisis. This is Mr. Prince, he will be turning 8 this year (YEA we have a baptism to look forward to.) and his favorite thing is maps, especially maps of the States, but world maps are almost as cool. This kid is royalty. He is a perfect gentleman and wonderful when everything is going his way, and if it isn't...well let's just say he likes to get his way. This is Mr. D.A. he will be turning 6 this year. His favorite thing is Baby Dog. But really anything soft will do just fine. We have been through a few Baby Dogs, as long as it feels soft to the touch chances are he will love it. We're not sure if the D is for Destroying or Delightful but the A is certainly for Angel. My D.A. is my best helper, and has a larger than life personality.

This is Mr. Music. He will turn 12 years old this year. (Oh my goodness, is that possible?!) His favorite thing....MUSIC! He spends any spare time he has browsing Pandora, ITunes, or Amazon.com's music department. Music is this boys whole life. If he isn't designing his latest CD cover he is listening to, singing, playing, or in some other way performing his music.This is Mr. Super, he will be 4 years old in a few days. His favorite thing is Super-Heroes. But he also loves to jump, loves to play, loves to sing, loves to dance, and loves to laugh. Mr Super is my own personal Super-hero! He loves Super-Heroes and even when he isn't dressed up like one he is a Super Great Kid. This is Mr. Right, he will be 13 in a couple of months. (AAAHHHH I am going to officially have a teenager!! He already eats like one.) He says his favorite thing is video-games. See he's acting like a teenager already. I would rather have him focus on video-games than girls though. This guy is not only my right arm, he is also (very much like his Dad) always right. He loves to make people laugh and is a great example! Me and Dad are part of the family too, but we're not nearly as cute.

So here is your official welcome to 2011