Today is Logan's 11th birthday. It's been a pretty good one, from what I can tell. He started the day with a donut cake made by Ed and Haley. Chris and I did our tradition and took lunch to him at school.  We sat and ate with him and his friends, which is always an interesting experience. After school, Logan came home and played outside with Declan for a while. He requested chicken pillows, mashed potatoes, and peas for dinner...kind of a carb overload, but it's a special day. Right? Right. He's asked for mashed potatoes and peas for his birthday dinner pretty much since he could talk. 

His pre-teenishness has been showing itself a lot lately. He is finding more and more enjoyment out of being alone in his room, listening to music and reading. Many days he carries his phone around with him, blaring whatever music he needs to be listening to at the moment. The other night we had a bit of a "disagreement" over something where he ended up getting super emotional and pretty much stomping off to bed because he was tired of dealing with me. I wasn't a fan of his at the moment either, so it kind of worked out.

However, he's still the Logan we know and love. He is always concerned more about others' feelings than his own. He's shy, observant, thoughtful, and amazingly creative. He loves to write and draw, and I love seeing the stuff he produces. He's funny and really great company to have around. 

Because we had lunch with Logan, we also stayed to have lunch with Dex. He was so happy to see us, which of course makes me so happy. The three of us sat on one side of the table and a couple girls from Declan's class sat across from us. They were adorable and pretty great conversationalists for 9-year-olds. 

We were sitting there chatting, and Caleah, one of Logan's friends from way back in Kindergarten was sitting behind us and talking with us a little. Declan leaned forward to the girls at our table, put his hand up and whispered to them, "Don't tell her I said this, but Caleah used to have a crush on my brother!" Oh.my.goodness...the reactions from these girls! It was entirely what you might expect from the 4th grade set. They burst into giggles, covered their faces, and hunched over their lunches. They laughed and laughed and laughed. If I had been watching this scene play out in a movie, I would have thought they were overdoing it. But nope! This was real life, and I couldn't believe how scandalous they found this news to be. Throughout the rest of the lunch, one of the girls kept saying, "I can't believe she had a crush on his brother!" and would have a mini giggle-fit over it. It was pretty awesome.

Throughout our whole time eating lunch with the boys, several of their friends that we've gotten to know over the years came by to say hi and give hugs. It made me so happy. I know it won't be long before it's super uncool to be seen with your parents or your friends' parents, so I'm enjoying it while I can. 

Memories of a Cast

Logan broke his elbow.  Good times.  

Frankly, I think this is just a great image showing Logan's style.  

And here's the shower prep required to keep the cast dry.  We may have gone overboard.

Quotables

"I trusted you, bone!" - Logan, talking to the barbecued rib he was eating.  The meat was so tender and beautifully cooked that it fell off the bone before Logan could take a bite.

"We live on a muddy planet." - Logan, said with a shrug when asked why his hands were so muddy.

"Boys will be boys." - Declan, when asked why he left his dinner dishes on the table instead of taking them to the sink to be washed.

"Things get old, right?  Well, that's what happened to me with deviled eggs...they got old." - Declan, explaining quite matter-of-factly his vote against me making deviled eggs from the dyed Easter eggs in the fridge.  (No explanation regarding his vote against egg salad, though.)

Declan has never been a lover of school; Logan has.  As much as Logan can find excitement in spending time with his friends and learning new things and being a part of the various activities they do, Declan finds dread in having to go five days a week and having to sit still and do what he's told and the unsatisfactory ratio of classroom time to recess time.  However, this year he's been doing so much better dealing with it all and while he's never happy to go to school, he's been doing so much better with just sucking it up and doing the work.  In fact, he's becoming quite the reliable student who seems to find value in getting his work done so it's done rather than putting it off to the last minute (*ahem, Logan*) or just plain forgetting about it and not getting assignments finished (*also ahem, Logan*).

Each month their school gives awards to one outstanding student in each grade based on his/her performance in a specific area.  December is the "Joy of Reading" month and last year Logan won it for second grade.  Logan has always been a reader - so much so that we frequently get complaints from his teachers that he would rather spend his time reading than following the assignments with the class.  His teachers have to take away his books at school because he gets so enthralled in them that he doesn't hear when it's time to put them down and move on.  Declan likes reading okay, but he doesn't love it like Logan does.  I've stopped trying to encourage it so much because he doesn't love it even though he is well above grade level for it.  Some people just don't enjoy reading, I guess.  Weird.

Anyway, as this school year has developed it's become clear that Declan's unlove of reading may be because we've been giving him the wrong things to read.  As it turns out, he is probably taking more after his daddy than I realized when it comes to books, in that he can totally get into non-fiction and doesn't seem to give much of a rip about fiction.  He'll listen excitedly as Logan tells him about whatever fiction books he's been reading, but when given the opportunity to read them himself, Declan always says no thank you and says he doesn't like reading.  But he brings home books from the library that are focused on boring subjects like World War II and how electricity works and he's freaking excited to tell us what he's learned.

As this non-fiction lightbulb was slowly dimming on in my head, we got a letter in the mail.  Declan also won the December "Joy of Reading" award from school for the 2nd grade!  I guess I should have been paying more attention to his context clues in regards to reading, but now that I know what he likes I can help encourage that a bit more and see if he can foster an enjoyment that he's not aware he has.  Our whole family went to see him receive his award in his classroom and learned that whenever he has free time in class, he goes to the books at the back of the room and I guess is stuffing himself full of knowledge about science and technology and history and whatnot.  Totally weird.

Snowball Fight

New Year's Eve brought a small snowstorm that gave us enough accumulation on the ground for a good little snowball fight.  Since we didn't have much snow to speak of last year, it was especially exciting.  AND Daddy and Haley were visiting, so all of us went outside and enjoyed the weather.  I didn't stay out too long since I was still only a week post-surgery, but the day culminated with Daddy, Haley, Logan, and Declan building a small snowman in the front yard.

Chef Declan

For Christmas, Declan got a kids' slow-cooker cookbook from Aunt Andrea and Uncle Matt.  Today I told him he was in charge of dinner.  He whined a bit about it initially, but I sat down with him and we picked out a recipe.  He chose a Mexican casserole kind of deal.  I put an apron on him and all I did was cook the meat  and otherwise play runner.  Declan took the reins, read the recipe and guided me through what he needed.  He put it all together as I did my best to give him tips over his shoulder.  Somewhere in the middle of it, his attitude totally changed as he decided this wasn't so bad!  The last step was to turn the crock pot on low and let it cook for a few hours.  Declan turned to me and said, "Wait.  It just cooks in there?!"  I said yep, he was all done!  He stepped off the chair he was standing on.  "I like being a cooker!  I think I'll just cook dinner every night!"

The Not-Quite-Naked Chef

When it was finally dinner time, we all sat down and enjoyed our meal.  Everyone thanked Declan for cooking such a delicious dinner and he just sat there and beamed, so proud of himself.  Some comments he made while we were eating:

"Actually, I'm getting thanked five times because I thank myself for making it and I thank myself for choosing the recipe!"

"I think I want this for my birthday dinner and I don't even need help making it since I already know how."

"Logan, if you want this for your birthday dinner, you just let me know and I'll cook it for you!"

So, we may have a little chef in the making.  I'm happy it was such a success for him.  He didn't even notice the deviously included green chiles that he would have otherwise zeroed in on and used as an excuse to refuse to eat the whole meal.  

What if?

"What if there was a Beverage Lord of the Rings, and Mount Doom was Mount Dew?" - Logan

Around the House

We made Mummies in a Blanket closer to the Halloween days.  The kids thought they were the *coolest* dinner item ever.

Boys.  Christmas Tree.

Grandma & Grandpa visited from California.  It was lovely.

Boys watching TV: Exhibit A

Boys watching TV: Exhibit B

Chris takes a nap

This is all them.

Declan, the anti-joke

We got on the subject of prank calls and Declan was fake-prank calling us.  He'd hold his hand up to his head, make a ringing noise, then when we answered, he'd just hang up.  I thought I'd show him how a real prank call was done, so I pretended to call him.

Me: *Rrrrring!*
Declan:  Hello?
Me: Is your refrigerator running?
Declan: No.

Pictures

I finally downloaded a heap of pictures from my camera.  Here are some of the results.

Logan wants to be a taxi boat driver when he grows up, thanks to this experience in Boston.

Bostonish.

Grandpa, lookin' fine.

Zoo day with Chris.

Deep Thoughts, by Declan

"I tried to smell the candle, but I burned my nose instead."

"I can't lick my elbow, but I CAN lick my knee!"

Here's how things work in our house:

The boys are in their room.  The door opens and Declan comes walking down the hallway, singing to himself.  Chris walks into the living room and looks down the hallway and says in this exasperated voice, "Why are you naked? Where are your clothes?"  (FYI he wasn't naked, he at least had underwear on.)  Declan says, "I just like it."  Chris says, "Go back into your room and at least put some pants on.  Geez."

I hear Declan walking back down the hallway and as their bedroom door is closing he says to Logan, "I got to eleven steps before they sent me back."

Nine. Fine. Sign. Wine. Line. Shine.

Guess who is 9 today?!  IT'S LOGAN!  And what do you do when your nine year old wants pigs in a blanket, mashed potatoes, and peas for his birthday dinner?  You give him the best damn pigs in blankets, potatoes, and peas ever.

This is my baby.  Except he's not such a baby anymore.  At the doctor's office about a month ago, he weighed in at 98 lbs. and 4'10".  Other things that have changed in nine years: he has more hair that's a lot more blonde and a lot less red, he has bigger teeth, he's a lot better at communicating, he doesn't cry nearly as much or often.

I love this kid.  And I really, really *like* him.  He's good, amusing company to have around.  He's compassionate and a soft, gentle kind of soul.  He's a reader to the core and it's so fun to be able to give him books that we love to read and talk about them with him.  Logan is a fantastic big brother and he generally cares more about making things fair and happy for everyone than making sure he gets what he wants.  Higlet 2 has a tendency to take advantage of that, so part of parenting Logan is also teaching him to be assertive and not allow himself to be walked all over.

Logan is also an absent-minded, disorganized soul.  Today he brought home a paper from school on which the kids were supposed to write something they were going to do to improve themselves.  Logan's said, "I will try to be WAY MORE ORGANIZED."  I looked at him and said that was an excellent goal.  He pointed at the word "try" and said, "Please make a note of that."  I laughed and asked him if he knew Yoda's famous saying - Do or do not.  There is no try.  Logan, in his typically humorous smartassery of late, responded with, "Well I'm not Yoda, so I don't follow that philosophy."  Can't argue with that!

Drama + Comedy

You know those theatrical masks with the faces of drama and comedy?  Sometimes I feel like I'm living with those masks and their names are Declan and Logan.

Drama:
This morning Declan came out of his room dressed for school in a red shirt, orange shorts, and his shoes that have yellow accents on them.  Before I could open my mouth to protest the matching job, he says in his super-dramatic-movie-voice, "Do you, Mother, know what I have named this outfit?"  My mouth hung open and I just shook my head in the negative, as my mind was processing all at once the fact that he named his outfit, the fact that he called me Mother, and the syntax of the question he asked.  "It is called Fire: God of Dragons.  I'm dressed all in warm colors and it's named after a character I made up who is also called Fire: God of Dragons and while I wear these clothes, I be that character."  Well, ok.  Who could ruin that kind of method acting with the petty social norm of colors that do and do not go together in clothing form?

Comedy:
Logan has been sleeping in the spare bedroom lately because it contains the most comfortable bed in the house, and his bed is one of the two most painfully uncomfortable beds in the house.  The bunk beds Logan and Declan have are designed for smaller children and both the boys are quickly outgrowing the "support" these beds provide.  It's been especially uncomfortable for Logan lately, to the point that he has begged to sleep on the couch or the recliner or in our bed or basically anywhere but his own bed.  So we've given him the spare bedroom until we can manage to get them new beds.

Anyway, in the spare bedroom we have the charger for the PlayStation controllers and one of those was charging overnight.  This morning, Chris got up and was making his rounds through the house before hassling the boys out of bed.  As he walked into the living room, the PlayStation turned on and woke the TV up.  He stood there, wondering how the hell.... and watched as the PlayStation signed itself into one of the profiles.  Before Chris could come running to me in terror of the haunted living room, Logan gave himself away with the giggling coming from his room.  He apparently laid in wait until he heard someone walking down the hallway to play his little trick.  He also love to sneak one of our phones away and text the other with messages like I LIKE FARTS and POOPYPOOPYPOOPY.

So yeah...one prankster, one method actor.  I love it.

It's that time of year again...

The boys left for their annual trip to Rhode Island.  They'll be gone five (FIVE!) weeks.  :(  It's eerily quiet in the house.  The good news is at the end of it, Chris and I will go pick them up this time.  I'm looking forward to a little visit out there.

They're Growing Up?

The boys and I were chit-chatting recently and in the midst of our conversation I said I had to pee and I'd be right back.  I stepped into the bathroom and realized there was no toilet paper.  So I turned back around and told the kids I needed to get some.  Logan said, "Why?  You just said you have to pee."  I looked at him and explained that girls use toilet paper when they pee and when they poop.  The kids' eyes got real wide and they burst into laughter.  I heard them laughing all the way down the hallway into my bedroom.  (When I told Ed about this, he said, "I'm glad they know that already because I didn't learn it until - no joke - 1998.")

Tonight, the Logan and Declan had a fun little game of creative name-calling.  They would combine an animal with a body part and sling these fascinating combinations at each other, followed by giggles galore.  "Mr. Elephant Face!" "Mr. Dog Butt!"  "Mrs. Cow Brain!"  Pretty standard 7-8 year old stuff.  Until... "Miss Pussy Lips!"  [insert record scratch]  I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor.  I looked at Chris to see him immediately turn a 180 so he wasn't facing the kids, his face scrunched up in hysterics.  It took a minute of choking back laughter before we could clear the air and request that particular one not be repeated.

Not an hour after, at dinner, Logan was deep in thought.  I asked him what was on his mind.  Some hemming-and-hawing later, he said he had been thinking about how to say bad words in Pig Latin.  Oh-so-helpful Chris: "Like it-shay?"  Logan, excitedly: "Yeah!  That's the one!"

So.  I've talked with Chris and Ed, and between nipply conversation from a few days ago, the hilarious discovery of female toilet paper needs, the ahem cat lips, and sigh swearing in Pig Latin, it's been decided that it's time for the boys to get a talk.  Not just any talk.  The talk.

This should be fun.

Parts is Parts.

One of the things Chris planted in the garden this year is sunflowers.  The other day, he and the boys were out surveying the land as they do sometimes, and Chris was showing them what was planted where.  Somehow they got on the topic of sunflower height and I'm not exactly sure how the conversation went, but I know it ended when Logan measured across his chest and said, "So they'll grow to be about as tall as my boobs."

Chris informed me of this little tidbit as we were going to bed last night.  I asked if Logan was saying it as a joke or if he was being serious.  Chris shrugged and said something along the lines of, "Well, he wasn't smiling."  I suggested we clarify this particular bit of Logan's anatomical confusion so he doesn't go say something to his friends at school about his boobs.  Chris chose tonight with the family gathered around the dinner table as the perfect moment for the discussion.  It went a little something like this:

Chris (totally out of the blue, by the way): You know, boys don't have boobs.  That's really kind of a girl thing.

Logan: What?

Chris: When we were talking about sunflowers and you said they'd grow up to your boobs?  Yeah, boys don't have boobs.

Logan: Well what do they have?

Me: It's just called your chest.

Logan: No, those things on my chest.

Me: Oh.  [Pause.]  Those are nipples.

(As I'm choking the word nipple out, I look over the table to see Declan pulling the neck of his shirt down to show me his nipple, just to clear up what part Logan was asking about.)

Me: Yep.  That's a nipple.

Logan: So the sunflowers will grow to be as high as my nipples.

Chris and Me: Just say chest.

Declan: So how high on me will they grow?

Logan: I guess that depends on what part of you is as tall as my nipples.

At this point, both the boys stand up and do some measuring as Chris and I try to contain our giggling.  We asked them to sit down and finish eating dinner and let's talk about something else, please.

As Declan was sinking back into his seat, he said very quietly, "Nipple."

(In case anyone's wondering, Declan's shoulders are Logan's nipple height.)

7.

Last weekend, Declan turned seven.  He had been counting down the days for weeks and was so excited with the anticipation of it.  Luckily he's still young enough that the reality didn't disappoint.  Chris and I surprised him the day before by taking McDonald's to him at school for lunch.  There's something special about having lunch with the kids at school.  They're still young enough to appreciate our presence and be thrilled to see us.  Their friends think we're supercool (I know!) and they love to talk with us and play silly games until it's time to go to recess.

Having family living out of town means that birthdays and holidays come with lots of love through the mail.  The boys know by now to watch to see what arrives at the house, their eyes extra concerned with who things are addressed to.  My mom mailed a check to Declan this year, something he was not familiar with.  When Chris told him what it was, he looked at it and gasped, "TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS?!" with the excitement and wonder that kids his age can muster.  We corrected him and told him it was actually twenty-five dollars, and he was mildly disappointed at the difference.  He got over it quickly and told me a few minutes later, "That was really, really nice of them!"  We suggested he could spend his $25 buying dinner for the family, but he declined that particular option.

We had a small party in our backyard with a few of his select friends.  They had fun on the trampoline, slip'n'slide, and running around and around the yard.  I made what can only be described as the ugliest cake ever.  Dex wanted a blue cake with orange icing and unfortunately, that's what he got.  He thought it was awesome though, and that's what matters, I guess.

At 7, Declan's personality is pretty much the same as it's always been, just a little more ... something.  Some days I think to myself, "What have I done to deserve this kid?" and some days I think to myself, "What have I done to deserve this kid?!"  He's totally into science, trying to figure out how things work, asking tons of questions, destroying things, etc.  He loves cooking and is always asking to be let loose in the kitchen.  Aunt Andrea let him create a dish totally on his own one day when she was babysitting.  He made some noodles (buttered noodles is, like, his favorite thing ever) and mixed them with garlic, curry, Mountain Dew, cinnamon, and caramel.  I'm told he was quite disappointed when he tasted the concoction.  But it was really fun for him to be able to put his favorite things together and hope for something awesome.  He does that with Legos a lot and I think with better results.

In conclusion, Declan is a land of many contrasts.

Here he is not enjoying some roast beef:

Hanging out in a laundry basket:

Room-cleaning attire:

Cuteness:

Dear Children:

A closed, locked bathroom door is an invitation to leave me alone for a few minutes, not an invitation to try and conduct business with me by shouting your complaints and/or wishes.