Eight.

Eight.  Eight.  Eight.  Zachary is 8.  Eight always sounds so big and pivotal but then they turn the next age and it seems big too...but 8 just is.  He's 8 and he's great.  My smart, fun, wild, happy go lucky boy.  

So much to say about this boy.  Zachary is and always has been full of life and energy and happy.  At 8 he fills up a room with his life.  He loves to have fun and loves to play but all at the same time can be so very big and serious when he really needs to be.  He is a whiz at school and why we are so surprised by that is beyond me...I mean we knew he was a smart cookie but maybe because of his silly and goofy we didn't see how much.  He is a busy dude, always moving.  At 8 he loves to play outside with friends and loves to play video games.  Computer games, wii games, DS games...and even board games he just loves games.  He loves to read and will breeze thru chapter books in a night (oh how I know how that is....a good book must be finished instantly!) if we aren't paying attention and forget to tell him to turn out the light.  He's profound and mature.  

He is a lover and knows how to turn on the charm.  His teachers love him, the girls love him, and his fun makes other love him.  At school he is quiet and serious and rarely gets in trouble but at home he is a tornado in a room.   Our Zachario is so many things rolled into one awesome little boy.   Happy, silly, serious, thinker, watcher, observer, funny guy, party man, motivated, hard worker, handsome, awesome.  Watching him grow and twist and turn thru life is amazing and seeing him develop into the boy he is and the man he will be is even better.   I can't believe he's 8 and I can't believe we have such a fun spirited awesome little guy to call ours and I am so forever thankful that we do.  He adds the spice we need and the reminder to be silly and have fun.   Happy 8th Birthday Zachary, Zman, Zachario...we love you more than you know.   

Missing.

A few days ago I was watching pictures scroll thru on the digital picture frame we have in our living room...pictures that have been on the frame for a great while now and really need to be updated--which is totally not my point--as I watched the pictures of Jakeb as a preschooler and Zachary as a toddler and Gavin as a tiny baby I realized for the first time that I miss that. I miss the busyness of 3 little ones and the fun of dragging them around to various actitivies. I didn't appreciate it all at the time--I suppose we never do. But now as they are older and {sassier} and much more independent--I do miss it. I have Nolan (who is sleeping right next to me on the bed) but this is the first time in many years that I have a baby and no toddler to keep up with as well and as crazy as it sounds to say I miss that. I have said it before but I don't miss the big boys as babies as much as I miss them as toddlers and little tiny tikes. I miss their curiousity and little voices. I think I relisheed in their babyhood so very much and squeezed every lost drop of that time that I could. And while I do miss that stage I don't miss it quite as much. They really aren't that much older and on one hand they are easier and more fun but on the other it's harder. Jakeb and Zachary are big kids really--I know Zachary is only 7 (almost 8!) but he has always been "older" so while he's young he still is more of a big kid than a little. Which means that they need me less (yay!--boo!) and also they are rowdier and sassier and just more. Though also they are helpful and independent and did I say HELPFUL?! Because that is fabulous. I can talk with them and have big kid conversations and we can just hang out. So they are great at this age too but I miss their little squeaky voices and their innocence. Definitely the innocence and the wonder..I miss that. Gavin is going on 6 but is still my little buddy and that makes me happy. They all make me happy--and soon enough I will miss 9 and 7 and 5.

A Birthday Weekend

So here are a few shots from Zman's birthday weekend. His birthday was low key this year--in that he didn't have a party but we made it awesome...in fact he announced it was the best birthday EVER. Awesome!

Getting ready to open his presents from us

One of his requests for his birthday was breakfast in bed--specifically homemade waffles.

On his birthday we headed to the GA aquarium--which was awesome and his favorite thing

On Sunday we went to Helen, GA with Grandma, Uncle Bryan, and Blanca and her girls.

The following weekend he had 2 of his friends from class spend the night and I took a few pictures but don't want to post them since I don't know how their parents would feel about that..

Seven

Zachary is seven. My cuddly chunky boy. Who really isn't so chunky anymore. A first grader and a smart one at that. He's my dimple face cutie patootie and I can't believe he's 7. Seven years ago I was absolutely smitten with my brand new giant boy and video taping his sleeping face. Zachary is so many things and one awesome dude. He's fun, funny, silly, happy, genuine, feisty, kind hearted, generous, wild, loud, giggly, and rocks the cool factor accidently. We absolutely love the way he lights up a room and can bring out the fun wherever he goes. He is playful and crazy and it's so neat watching him grow, play, and learn. He is nuts about his brothers and will do anything for both of them. Watching him become a big brother again will be fantastic I know. He will be unsure at first but so careful and caring. We tell him quite often that he will be wearing a helmet soon if he doesn't protect that head of his. He's been to the nurse twice this year for head injuries. He is doing AMAZING at school. Checking out 4th grade level reading books and breezing thru tests. He catches on to new ideas quick and with little effort.

At 7 he is roughly 48-49lbs and 49 inches tall. He is playing soccer and wants to play football in the summer. He races thru the pool like a fish and can cross the monkey bars with ease. He loves to jump, throw, bounce. His newest accomplishment is learning to Pogo stick....which is amazing to me as I have NEVER been able to do it. And Zman is bouncing like a pro all over the place. Seriously he's good. He can be crazy shy in front of people still but once he gets to know you he warms up to his wild man self. He's one all around fantastic little person and I am one lucky mom!

Snowy Snowness

We have a little stream that runs through our back yard and this is what it looks like right now

Our backyard is downhill from the front so we have stairs that go down from the driveway to the back yard--under the snow.

We are "snowed" in here in the suburbs of Atlanta. For real. Now Robert did make it out of the hood to head to work for the first time this week. But we haven't had our MAIL delivered in 2 days. On the news last night they showed a clip of a person ice skating on a major highway. What?! Yes ice skating and the night before that? Skiing. Not kidding.

The city was undoubtedly not prepared for such precipitation. And while maybe they should have heeded the weatherman's warnings, things like this happen every decade or so--therefore I am not surprised at their lack of response. The kids are more than pleased. As a result they will likely get over a month of Christmas break. They missed last week as a result of the flu and now it's Wednesday and I don't see school going back tomorrow. Friday maybe, and no school Monday for the holiday.

Our road looked like this last night

Going back is going to be hard! We have all been sleeping in and getting up lazily. The kids aren't much for cold weather and wet snow so outside time has been very little. We did all get out last night for over an hour and had a blast. Poor Gavin and Jakeb just can't do the cold-even with 3 pairs of pants, heavy duty socks and boots, hats, and gloves.

this was Zachary's favorite thing to do--dive into the snow/ice. And pretend to be stuck.

this is what is on top of the snow--sheets of ICE.

Maddie girl thought the snow was AWESOME.

Zachary totally nailed Robert with a snowball as he jumped.

These 3

Have grown. Like A lot.

(photo courtesy of McDougal Photography-circa 2006)

(photo courtesy of Lisa Slate Photography circo-2010)

Punky Punkin Punk

I have never called my kiddo's Punkin....instead I have shortened it to Punky, one time I shortened it to Punk and giggled because that just wouldn't work. Punky barely does. Right now they are often referred to as "Z", "J-baby", and "Boog" which is not short for booger....in my head it's a variation of bug but to ensure that it is properly pronounced I imagine one must spell it "boog". All of this to say that we went to the Pumpkin Apple Farm a couple weeks ago. Grandpa tagged along and it was decided this was the best Pumpkin Apple Farm we have ever been to

ETA: So after posting I usually do a once over of the finished product on the blog and I am cracking up at my unintentional arrangement of photos...As I finish up that this is the "bestPumpkin Apple Farm we have ever been to..." I follow it with a "Moonshine" sign. A) no pun intended and B) no moonshine was had or purchased.

And there is one other activity that Z and Boog did while the were at the farm that certainly deserves it's very own post....something that most definitely shows off their matching daredevil tendencies. Any ideas what that was!? A hint: They shot up like rockets!

From behind the bus.

This past week was field trip central at the boys school. Wednesday I loaded my happy self into the caravan of cars following the big yellow bus down 10 lanes of traffic, thru Atlanta traffic at rush hour for a day of exploring at Zoo Atlanta. Now folks any city at rush hour pretty much blows, Atlanta however is known for traffic. This day was no different and we were left with 5 seconds to run thru the zoo and meet for lunch. Not really but it sure went by fast. And for the record Atlanta traffic isn't that bad it's just that 10-12 lanes of slow moving traffic is a bit more daunting that 4-6. Anyway...It was good times hanging out with 6 and 7 year old monkeys and Zachary seemed to have a grand ole' time. The highlight was holding the map and finding the god forsaken KOMODO DRAGON, because omg we asked to see it like 14356342 times....and do you know what 6 and 7 year old boys do when they do finally see the Komodo Dragon behind the glass laying on concrete not moving? Exactly...shrug and walk off. Cool. But overall the trip was cool, just getting to hang out with my boy and his peeps is fun so yeah. The kids are cute and they say things like "yeah my mom is on a diet" and "well my dad couldn't come because he didn't have enough money...or maybe he just didn't want to". I mean that alone is worth the trip and the $8.50. Yet makes me wonder what Zachary says when I am not around, I just won't think about that. Good times with my Zman even if he talks smack about me behind my back. I still love to kick it with him and his buddies.

Jakeb's class had a trip to Amicalola Falls State Park. Same idea...parents in their cars following the bus...however this was down windy roads in the fall sans traffic. Which is basically right up my ally. So the drive was nice. And despite already having gone to the park, I was looking forward to checking out the 3rd graders and see just what being 8 and 9 is all about in 2010. Pretty much the same just lots more usage of the word "Dude" than I recall. And I learned quite a bit about O'possum's and how surprisingly snugly they are when they aren't smashed into the blacktop. Granted I didn't get to hold one but park lady held and cuddled that little Petunia possum like she was a itty bitty baby and it wasn't that weird really. Did you know that don't really hang upside down and sleep in the tree's? And that if they didn't turn into roadkill or get eaten by like every other animal in the happy forest they could potentially have 40,000 descendants from one possum. No that's not a typo. Wow. So 3rd graders are interesting. It seems that they start maturing emotionally a bit more about this age and some are jumping into this progression already and some...not so much. Mine being one of them. I overheard the discussion of the usage of Mom vs. Mommy. Apparently in 3rd grade "Mommy" is not cool, "Mom" cool. So when Jakeb proceeded to call me "Mommy" 47 times at lunch I wanted to educate him on the cool factor...but his pals didn't notice, so I resisted the urge to rescue him from his sure fate of forever being exiled for referring to me as Mommy. But dang that sucks, because in 3rd grade groups and coolness starts and that is just no fun. However the field trip was fun and Jakeb had a good time and we jetted out of there early and fully educated on possum's and proper parental namage. And again it was good to kick it with my 8 year old and his buds. Who for the record are just as mature as Jakeb---and still rock the air light saber complete with sound effects and fully prepared fighting moves. Little boys for a little while longer, be still my heart. I did ask Jakeb if he thought he should call me Mom now instead of Mommy....and he thought probably he should, so he and Zachary said that a few times until we decided it sounded weird. So I am Mommy for just a little while longer.

Hard Hat for his head and my heart

Zman is going to be forced into a hard hat from here on out.

Robert took the day off so that we could get some tasks done that are required of us for the adoption--ie psychological analysis and FBI fingerprinting.

After we finished everything up we snagged Gavin from our friend that watched him today and decided to kill some time cruising around for just a bit before we had to get home for Jakeb and Zachary. 5 minutes into that decision we get a phone call from a very panicked 1st grade teacher that told us we need to come get Zachary at school right now...after I picked up my heart off the floor--because let's face it Zachary is a boy and a boy who gets hurt frequently and keeps my heart racing--I learned from his teacher that he slid down the slide (upside down--of course) and hit his head on a rock. Said rock punctured his head and left him with blood nearly spurting from his noggin and his teacher with a panic attack (not really but almost). He apparently walked up to her nonchalantly telling her he got hurt with blood running down his face. Never shed a tear. We rushed up to the school and found him cleaned up as best they could and with pink hair and splotchy polka dot clothes. Now everyone tells you head wounds bleed a lot but still when you see it, it's pretty dang scary. Kiddo is a-ok and milking it as much as he can...announcing periodically that he sure is feeling dizzy still. Thank you nurse for giving him that idea. The jumping and running around leads me to believe the dizziness is uh...all in his head. We did make a precautionary trip the ped's office just for a double check that stitches were not needed. Given the standard list of things to watch for for a concussion which I should just have painted on my kitchen wall as a daily reference at the rate we're going.

Twenty nine

Today my younger brother turns 29. His last year in his 20's...crazy! Happy Birthday to my little brother, Bert Gee--who is really named Robert much like my husband, weird I know. Oddly enough as well my brother was called Bobby when he was a little boy and my husband, Robert, was called Bob. He may hurt me for letting that out, haha. Anyway Happy Happy Fantastic Birthday Day to my wittle bruva.

This weekend Robert's parents came down for a visit. We had a super nice time just hanging out. Yesterday we watched the boys soccer games. Which by the way they both are loving. Zachary's team lost 1-0, but this was their first loose so they were pretty indifferent about that...they are a pretty awesome little team though! And Jakeb's team has struggled A LOT, yesterdays game was their SIXTH game and they have only scored 1 goal up until yesterday where they scored FIVE and won. Everyone was so incredibly excited, it was awesome. And Jakey boy played his heart out--he did awesome and seems to finally be getting the concept of the game. They both are doing amazing but this is Jakeb's first time playing so he's behind a bit on his comfort level.

After soccer we hit up a few consignment/antique stores around--we have TONS of them here in ATL area. I didn't buy anything but certainly found things I liked--just nothing I had to have. I have specific peices of furniture I am wanting and am focused on that right now. We are working on furnishing the dining room and sunroom--all we lack is a love seat and a sideboard/buffet thingy in the dining room. It's coming together FINALLY. I am on the hunt for the perfect shelf/cabinet for the kitchen and found bar stools today. It's looking good up in here.

Some pics from the boys first soccer games...Jakeb is the one in the middle with his back to the camer running away--number 7
That's Zachary and his coach...he's number 8