JJ gets 'Romantic'

JJ had a 'writing prompt' at school the day before Valentine's Day. He had to pick out a handful of the sweetart heart candies with short sayings on them....then construct a story. His teacher suggested that maybe they try and be 'romantic'. So here is what he came up with (the sweetart words I will note in italics). Part 1: Talking to a girl: You are my true love, sweetheart. You are my favorite girl. Will you marry me? Say Yes. Come on, Wink Wink! Doy you like me? Part 2: Talking to Dad: Dad, why won;t you let me marry her? I love her! You told me, Dream Big! I did dad. Part 3: Finding a wife: I found her at the pond. I asked her to dinner. She was so dreamy. We got married. Since that day, we have been happy. I said, hug me BABE! My dad says every day, High Five! We all lived happily every after! So, what do you think.....has he got MAJOR or ZERO Mojo?????

Happy Valentines Day

We had a fun Valentines Dinner, complete with heart shaped pizzas and yummy red velvet cupcakes. Although, the pizzas ended up looking a lot more like Ohio than hearts! Each family member wrote out reasons why they loved each other. Some highlights: Mickey to Minnie: You are not a Communist Billy to Minnie: You do not let minecraft take over our lives JJ to Billy: You introduced me to prepping Minnie to Billy: You picked out J-Wow! Such wonderful reasons, don't you think!

A State of Mind

Its Friday....and the boys were especially 'squirrely' this morning. Must have been all the sugar from V-day last night. Here is a highlight from each boy's sate of mind: From Billy: We were discussing the perfectness of J-Wow and how lucky we are to have her. Billy said she has the exact amount of wrestling and fighting in her for him, Mickey and JJ.....but also cuddly enough for me. He then said she also has the perfect amount of watch dog in her to keep us safe. To which I replied, 'Sometimes its too much watch dog (I am pretty sure the neighbors hate her because she incessantly barks at them). Billy's reply....."Mom, you will be happy about that when doomsday comes! From JJ: This winter has been very mild....yet that has not stopped the kids from getting out of school for 'weather' or at the very least multiple 2 hour delays. It has become a running joke that they never go to school.....if it is too sunny, it might blind them and thus, early release! I do not think between the delays and scheduled days off and early releases and our vacation that they have been to school a full week since October! So, today, facing almost a full week (scheduled early release on Tuesday), JJ was especially dreading a FULL DAY and asked me in all seriousness if there was a chance they could get out early today. When I said No....it is going to be 50 and sunny, he then wondered (again in all seriousness) if I would call in a bomb threat to school!

Our ten Comandments....

The boys do a daily devotional each morning. Yesterday is was on the 10 Commandments. After reading them, JJ decided he wanted to do a set for our house, and for those people who visit us. Billy quickly got on board with the idea, and this is what they spouted out (in no particular order): 1) Know what Mine Craft is.....and like it! 2) Visitors have to like to Doomsday Prep. 3) Be in Boy Scouts (or Girl Scouts) or at least like them! 4) Have a pocket knife. 5) Don't mess up our room (to which I scoffed, how much messier could it get?) 6) Treat our pets like people. 7) It would be nice if you bring us presents 8) You must know the words to the song 'Wheels on the Bus' 9) You like to dance to Gangnam Style! 10) Don't steal from us!

Pinewood Derby

As has been the case with each of the Pinewood Derby's the boys have participated in, the have chosen to focus on function over form. And their cars always make it to the winner's bracket. But fall short of the finals:( This year, Billy painted his car all black...with a silver streak and put the numbers 007 on it as a nod to James Bond. JJ's car was 'on fire' a la Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. A book series he is obsessed with!!! And here is all of Pack 42 with their cars. We did not have a winner in our house, but it was a really fun night!

Meet Camo

Yes, we are now (proud?) owners of a toad. Billy the habitat through a door prize drawing at the istem night at school. It contained a coupon for a 'free' tadpole. But, the shipping and handling on the 'tadpole' was $9.98...and the Camo was $4.98 at Petco. At the time, it seemed like a wise choice. Camo eats live crickets and meal worms...the later of which we keep in the fridge. On the bright side, at least he did not win a snake habitat!

In school news.....

Billy got Straight A's for the second 9 weeks!!!! Way to go. We are proud of our smart 4th grader!

JJ does not receive grades yet, but his report card was also awesome (except for that pesky handwriting!) Here is a sampling of a story he wrote right after our Disney trip that earned the following quote from his teacher: 'Wow, what an adventure!" "There were two astronauts. Their names were Pooh and Mickey. They got to Mars in no time. Meanwhile, there was a monster named Hercules on Mars. They went to fight Hercules. They fighted until they were fighted out! They threw Hercules off Mars that night. Pooh and Mickey got in the rocket and went home. They lived happily ever after."

The Disney Cruise

We had so much fun on the Disney Cruise...and a three night stay at Disney World upon our return. For sure, a trip to remember! Some highlights from the cruise:

-The Aqua Duck -The Shows on the ship -The towel animals in our rooms -BINGO -Fishextenders -Watching the NCAA National Championship on the Jumbotron! -JJ hitting a putt putt ball over the edge of the ship! -Billy discovering snorkeling on Castaway Key -Billy completing the Castaway Key 5K -JJ scaring babies in the elevator with his Kraken costume!

From Disney World: -California Grill!! -Rock N Roller coaster for Billy! -Mission Space for JJ -The new Fantasyland Expansion -Breakfast with Eeyore (and all of the other 100 Acre Woods friends)

We know he loves Eeyore, but when interviewed for the Golden Mickey's, he denied his devotion:(

Of course, we could go on and on and on about our memories....but ultimately it was just the great fun with had with each other and the fact that we could share such a trip with Mom Mom and Nana and Pop! So, we will just leave this post with one more MAGICAL shot because it is so cute.....and magical sums up our vacation!