Eye of the Tiger

When my hip, fun sister in law got married in November, I expected a fantastic party and she exceeded all expectations. First and foremost, Jen was a genuine, beautiful bride. From her gorgeous hair and dress to the orange Tom's on her feet, she was a model bride in every way possible.

It was also a FUN party. Between catching up with extended family members, enjoying the delish food and drink and dancing with my super-fab sister while watching our husbands knock back beer after beer, I thought the party simply could not be topped.

Until the DJ played Eye of the Tiger.

 Eye of the Tiger is James' favorite song - a song he "requested" his Aunt Jenny and Uncle Nick play at their wedding via their wedding website. Years ago, James saw a hokey, homemade rendition of Thomas the Train set to the song on YouTube and rocked out to the song. Since then, it's been blasted at the house, been sung off-tune before basketball games and played in the car on the way to school. I often watch him from the rearview mirror as he closes his eyes and bounces his head in time with the beat of the song.

To say the kid likes himself some Rocky music is an understatement.

James' music request was more of a joke than anything, after all  Eye of the Tiger isn't exactly dancing music, right? I quickly learned otherwise. On a night that is supposed to be reserved for the whims and wishes of the bride, Jen thoughtfully asked the DJ to play the song for her nephew. When the first few beats of the song blasted from the speakers, James dropped what he was doing at the table, looked up at me with his eyes wide as saucers and exclaimed, "IT'S EYE OF THE TIGER!!!!!!"

After such enthusiasm, it didn't take much to convince him to break it down together on the dance floor. Sans a few good sports, we had the floor to ourselves. Like part of his routine, James closed his eyes, bopped his head and smiled with delight. And then we danced our hearts out, holding hands, singing the lyrics and twirling each other until we both got dizzy.

It was a moment I will treasure forever. Thank you, Jen.

The boys dancing earlier in the evening with Oma, Aunt Amy and Mommy. They  liked getting "twirled."

Love Note

James came down with some sort of virus last week and I kept him home from school. Jonathan was pretty bummed out about having to go to school by himself, so James and I told him we would pack him a lunchbox full of his favorite things.

With our "fun lunch" mission nearly complete, I left the kitchen to get Jonathan dressed and ready for school. When I returned to zip up his lunchbox, I saw this:

A note (complete with sticker) from his brother. I smiled thinking about how Jonathan was going to get more than just edible treats in his lunchbox that day.
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"Star Student"

Each of the boys have had their turn being their classroom's "Star Student." They were so excited to decorate their posters and pick out photographs to include.

Jonathan:
I am 5 years old.
My favorite animal is a cat.
My favorite color is blue.
My favorite food is spaghetti.

Legoland is my favorite place.
My favorite thing to do is play basketball.
When I grow up I want to be in the army.
If I had one wish I would wish that I could be Spiderman.

James
I am 5 years old.
My favorite animals is a snake.
My favorite colors are red and purple.
Lighthouses are my favorite places. (The kid's been to DISNEYLAND and lighthouses are his favorite places.)
My favorite thing to do is swim and ride my bike.
When I grow up I want to be a train engineer.
If I had one wish, I would wish I could be Ironman.

Avengers Assembled

True to form, the boys chose to be Avengers for Halloween. Big surprise coming from two boys who live and breathe superheros. ;)

At school, the kids were asked to dress as their favorite storybook character and bring in the book to present to the class. Each child needed to tell their friends the story including the beginning, middle and an end before embarking on a parade around the school.

As any mom of multiples would likely tell you, we try our best to keep things even-Steven around here.
Because I am "co-homeroom mom" in James' classroom and Jonathan had a slew of helpers for the party, I told him I would be helping in James' classroom for the party but promised I would chaperon his class for their field trip to the farm in two weeks. With 10 minutes left in the school day, Jonathan's teacher brought him into James' room, pulled me aside and told me he was feeling sad I wasn't in his classroom that day and let me know she told him he could hang out with me in James' room the rest of the day. Of course, I rushed him back into his classroom and participated in as many "party activities" I could cram in to the last few moments of the day. :( I felt awful! I guess I need to figure out a better plan before their holiday party next month!

I Hope They Are Always This Enthusiastic About Voting

While we haven't discussed politics with the boys or anything, they are learning about what it means to vote and what an election is in school so I really wanted to include them in the process somehow. As luck would have it, I was a TOTAL procrastinator and waited until Election Day to turn in our early ballots.

My laziness was rewarded, however, with an unexpected civics lesson, or so I thought. After dropping our dog off at the vet this morning, we had about 15 minutes to spare before I needed to take the boys to school. I was already planning on taking our early ballots to our assigned polling location, but happened to see one down the street from the vet's office. Guess what the polling place was?

A fire station. A five year old's version of heaven.

The boys practically jumped out of the car and nearly inside. The little old ladies working the polls were quite surprised to see such enthusiastic pint-sized voters racing to their lines. Taken with their eagerness, one of the women gave the boys "I Voted Today" stickers, which they proudly slapped onto their t-shirts.

After arriving at school and leaving them at the Kindergarten gate, I heard one of them tell their friend, "Guess what, Jude! We got to go to the fire station this morning!"

So much for our civics lesson!

The Big Hole

A few weeks ago, we took the boys up to the Grand Canyon. It was one of those, "you need to actually go there to see how cool it is, but we don't need to stay too long" type of trips. Had we gone without the boys, Dan and I likely would have hiked or biked parts of the canyon, but a leisurely walk around was fine with us.

Coincidentally, days before, I finished writing a website for a client of mine about the Grand Canyon so I got to annoy my family with things like, "Actually, Jonathan, that is not a blue jay. It is a pinyon jay." and "would you like me to tell you about all the rock layers and how they formed?" Had the boys been a little older, I am quite sure there would have been eye-rolling.

The quote of the day came from James as he stared longingly toward the bottom of the canyon, "I really wish I could throw something down there."

What I'm Learning in Kindergarten

Photo credit

I've been volunteering once a week in the boys' classrooms for the last few months and have had a lot of fun. Mostly, a lot of laughs as I've come to realize I'm not the best volunteer in the world. And oh yeah...Kindergarten teachers deserve to be paid more. A lot more.

Here are a few mental notes I've made to myself over the past few months:

• Never (again) leave home without 2-3 Ibuprofen in your pocket.
• Always accept the gloves from the Kindergarten Monitor when helping out in the cafeteria.
• Remember to shave your legs. Not only will the kiddos want to hang all over you while you are reading a story, they will ask why your legs are so "spikey."
• Germ-X is a necessary ally.
• Avoid shooting an accusatory look at your son when a girl comes out of the restroom and says, "Teacher! There's pee all over the floor!"
• When asked to make photocopies of packets for the kids, don't get distracted chit-chatting in the workroom. You WILL screw up the copy job and there aren't enough recycle bins to hide your mistake.