mini bowling = mini heart attack

recently, benny went to his first "big boy birthday party."

his friend, Emory, turned four and had a party at a local place that combines an arcade, restaurant, and mini-bowling alley. 

precious. 

sort of. 

in theory. 

because the whole enterprise, being made of really little lanes, and rather tiny pins and bowling balls was really cute. 

until benny picked up a bowling ball. 

and turned around and made this face. 

and i realized, oh crud. 

someone just gave benny savarese a bowling ball.

who's the kid who insists on placing his face inside the bowling ball return?

mine. 

clearly.

making mommy proud.  

as a parent, "someone else's child preparing to throw bowling ball at your child" really isn't an image you ever want to see. 

but, "your child doing victory dance?"

totally worth it. 

missing something? ben probably ate it.

benjamin's stomach is a black hole.
literally. 
i'm fairly certain he consumes more in an hour than a member of the Ohio State football team takes in all day. 
and by fairly certain i mean not at all certain. 
i haven't really spent any one-on-one time with the football team.
but, you get the point. 


the kid can eat. 


yesterday he shoveled in a rather impressive dinner, ate his 2 Girl Scout cookies for desert, and then came back for a string cheese followed by a fruit snack within the hour. 
he made his way back over to me after his second post-dinner-and-dessert snack. 
he leaned over with a concerned look on his face. 
"i think my dinner got stuck in my throat, mommy."
i briefly wondered if he was in physical pain before he clarified, "because i feel like i'm still empty in my tummy."


donations welcome. 

the moral of the story...

this weekend, we watched Thor for our saturday night movie with the boys. 
this involves moving our lounge chair over next to the couch, and all four of us piling in a small space together. 
and lot of popcorn. 
sweet for the boys. 
salty for mom. 


anyway, we were watching Thor. 
at one point, his hammer, or Mjolnir, is stuck in the ground. 
his father, Odin, has stated that it can only go to the person who is worthy of it/ready for it/i forget exactly what the parameter was. 
think Merlin, but a hammer. 
anyway, Thor makes his way to the hammer and goes to pull it out of the ground. 
no such luck. 


benny was really confused as to why Thor couldn't pick up his hammer. 
bern suggested, "maybe he needs to be a little more good inside."
anth, completely serious, "maybe he needs to work out a little more."


yep, anth.
that's it. 
the point of the Thor movie is to push the wellness agenda in America. 

fail photo 55 - sleep talking

today i have been wandering about campus, playing host to a lovely person who is interviewing to serve as a Hall Director here at OSU next year.
mainly, this looks like me walking her around to interviews, making sure she gets fed, and making lots of small talk along the way.
and trying to give people the "5 minute warning" in the least awkward way possible.

in the middle of this, i had a few minutes to stop and check email.
an email from ben's classroom caught my eye.
whenever i see an email from benny's daycare teachers, i check that first.
typically, ben has injured himself.

today, that was not the case. . .

i love these little gems (about our little gem) from school.
apparently benny has not only been blessed with my sometimes feisty spirit, but also my love of a little taskiness.

of this i am confident...

. . . i am raising boys who will shut the door when they enter a single-person restroom.

instead of, perhaps, someday being college students who leave the door 3/4 open.
while piddling.
in a restroom that opens to a public hallway.
a hallway, in fact, of offices.
perhaps i should mention. . . said restroom is DIRECTLY across from a person's office.
in which they are sitting.
at their desk.
facing said open restroom door.

i guess the good thing is that, today, i was not the person sitting in the office the whole time.
(officially and forevermore this office shall be known as the "room with a view.")
the not-so-good thing is that i was the one who walked into the seemingly-open-but-definitely-in-use restroom.

there are days when i wonder if, during the mayhem and madness of our lives, i am doing my best to raise these amazing boys of ours.
and then something like this happens.
and i know that, if nothing else, i taught them to shut the restroom door.
little victories.

(not actually a) Fail Photo of Me #54

did you really think i was going to post a tragic picture of myself?
if you did, you are just silly.
i have far too many to choose from to spend my time on that. . .
if you really wanted a fail photo, here you go:

(this was legitimately how anth smiled for a while there. . . thankfully this sorted itself out eventually.)

anyway.
now you have a Friday Fail Photo.
bonus prize: you get a story, too.
here's how it goes:

recently, i walked in to the Kroger near benny's day care.
i grabbed a few items, including a bottle of wine.
at the register, the cashier asked to see my ID.
he glanced at the date on the card, and instantly exclaimed, "OH MY GOD!"
it was a visceral response.
i thought maybe a spider had crawled onto his hand from the way he was looking at it.
(don't ask. it's just the first thing that came to mind at 5:46 in Kroger.)

he then looked up at me to share, "you TOTALLY don't look as OLD as you ARE."
um.
...thanks?
perhaps?
yes.
i am going to choose to perceive that as a compliment and not a testament to false advertising on my part.

mental note: raise boys not to give backhanded compliments.
or fronthanded insults?
i'm not sure.
just raise more savvy boys.
wait.
not MORE savvy boys.
2 is enough.
just savvier boys.
don't want to start any rumors...

anth's not 6 anymore!!!

so.

anth started baseball practice today. 

on his SEVENTH birthday!!!!! 

cute.

seeing as he is starting baseball, it seemed like a good time to put up a post about his basketball season.

and because we are busy prepping birthday extravaganza fun, this was an easy way to post.

daddy played assistant coach.

precious.

 

anth spent equal parts time chatting and playing.

love this kid.

 

you can almost see the look of shock on his face. . .

and the awesome on-court expressions just keep coming...

anth in action.

i love that bern looks about 9 feet tall here.

and genuinely happy to be back out on the court.

intense.

but totally ready.

the last-game-of-the-season awards.

he was so proud.

:)

his adoring fan.

 

my favorite boys.

ever.

i still remember my little sister's 7th birthday.

mainly because, as i walked into the house after riding the bus home, all 40 pounds of her burst through the garage door to declare, "I'M NOT 6 ANYMORE!"

last night, my mom told anth, "when you wake up in the morning, you won't be six anymore."

dead pan, he responded, "obviously."

a very happiest of birthdays to my serious but sweet birthday boy!