May P365 Pictures

Hello, Readers.  My May P365 pictures have been uploaded for your viewing pleasure.  Click here to see them! 

He's Unimpressed With The Dentist

I know that kids typically make their first trip to the dentist when they're around three, but I also knew that Chase was not going to cooperate at that tender age, so I held off for about a year.  I finally took him in on Friday, hoping for the best, but expecting a little less.  And can you guess what I got?  A little less, of course.

We began our experience with a wonderful aquatic display that Chase absolutely loved.  So far so good!

Then they called us back.  Chase noticed that the acquatic theme continued on the walls in the form of tasty looking murals.  An attempt was made to lick the mural, but don't worry -- no contact was made.

Then we moved on to X-rays.  He did a great job of sitting and holding that little tab in his teeth, but it took a while for the hygienist to get situated and by the time she finally did, he was done with the sitting and the holding of that thing between his teeth.  So...no X-rays were taken.

Then we moved to the chair.  I had explained this process to Chase several times, but he wanted nothing to do with it.  This is the only picture I was able to take because after this, how shall I say this...my assistance was required.

I won't bore you with the details of what happened next, but lets just say that with a little 'prompting', he was able to have his teeth flossed and painted with flouride.  They didn't use any instruments to clean his little teeth, and I'm sure you can guess why.  As aforementioned, he was having none of it.

But I am happy to report that he is part of the No Cavity Club!  Hooray, Chase!  Clearly I am happier about this than he is.

In all fairness, it took Cole, who is a way more laid back child, a couple of visits to the dentist before he would allow them to fully clean his teeth, (of course, he was only three and Chase is nearly four, but I won't mention that).  And it doesn't help that we ended his visit on a rough note.  There were a bunch of toys on display behind the receptionists' desk, so although Chase got a balloon, he was under the impression that he would be leaving with one of those big toys on display; specifically a Transformer.  So when we left the office without a Transformer, he thought it would be appropriate to let me know how upset he was about this.  This demonstration required two hands, which meant that he let go of the balloon, which then floated way up to the twenty foot tall ceiling, there was no way I could reach it and there was no way I was going back to ask for another one.  Soooooo...that sent Chase into further depths of agony and despair.  Lets just say it was a long and tormented ride home...for both of us. 

I have high hopes that Chase will do better next time. Until then, he remains thoroughly unimpressed with his lack of a balloon, a Transformer, and the dentist.

A Day In Kindergarten

Last Wednesday we got to go to Cole's kindergarten musical, aptly titled A Day In Kindergarten.  IT WAS SO CUTE!  I feel like I've gotten to know the kids this year through volunteering in the classroom, and it was so fun to watch them all sing their little songs.  Cole kept looking at me and smiling; I was a little teary-eyed watching my first born son be so proud of himself! 

We started the evening by finding Cole's personalized program for us - outer space on the front, and flowers on the back.  A little of him, a little of me.

Here are some of Cole's proud spectators.

Unfortuantely, the multi-purpose room isn't lit very well for quality pictures.  I took 23907387 shots, but ended up with a total of zero that were of decent quality.  Here are two pictures that would have been my favorites of the evening, had they turned out okay.

Cole's grand entrance!  You can see by that facial expression that he's proud, but modestly subdued.

And here's a little video for your viewing pleasure...

Post production family photo.

Proud grandparents with Mr. Cole.

Doesn't he look so cute in this outfit? He HATES shirts with buttons (and I do mean HATES), so I had to offer a little post-show incentive to motivate some cooperation. But it was totally worth it in the end. . .he's so handsome and grown up! (He also HATES the shoes he's wearing.)

As kindergarten is coming to a close, I'm really noticing how much Cole has grown up.  Not just physically, but in many other ways as well.  I love watching all the changes, but all you moms out there will know exactly what I mean when I say it makes me a little sad too.  Only a few more weeks, and I'll have a FIRST GRADER.  I truly cannot believe it.  I love you, Mr. Cole!

(By the way, I've posted two more little videos of some of the peformances of the night on Cole's blog.  Here's the link: The Cole Mine)

Chase's Last Day Of Preschool

Last Friday was Chase's last day of preschool.  This was a happy and a sad day for me.  I'm happy that Chase is growing up, but I'm sad that Chase is growing up. 

This is Chase on the first day of preschool, 9/20/09.                            This is Chase on the last day of preschool, 5/21/10.

Chase was super excited to hand-deliver his thank you gifts to Miss Amy and Miss Sara.  Pedicures, because they deserve to kick their feet up...literally!

Miss Amy, Miss Sara, and I tried really hard to get the perfect picture of the three of them.  I think the following montage will describe his preschool career better than any words I could choose:

Finally...this was as close to perfect as we could get!

It's been an interesting phenomenon having our preschool teachers also be our friends, especially when my most challenging and passionate child happens to be their student.  Thank you to Miss Amy and Miss Sara for always being so encouraging, even when Chase had a rough day.  I appreciate it so much!  I could always tell what kind of day Chase had by Miss Sara's facial expressions at the front door.  If she gave me a sad face, I knew we were in trouble.  But if I got a happy face, I knew we had a great day.  I'm pretty sure that both Miss Amy and Miss Sara were just as happy as to tell me about Chase's good days as I was to hear about them!

We celebrated the last day with a school picnic...

...And some exploring with our friends.

Daddy was able to join us!

Another reason this day was a little sad for me was that it was our last day at Joyful Noise Christian Preschool.  We had to find a preschool closer to home to coincide with Horizon's schedule next year.  Having been a Joyful Noise parent for three years now, I am going to miss it TREMENDOUSLY. 

Next stop. . .Sunshine Mountain!  I hope they're ready for us.  Until then...

We love you, Chase Ryan Boyd! Everything about you, and everything that makes you who you are. You are so special to us, and we are so very, very proud of you! 

My Fear Amuses Cole

Three summers ago, Cole, Chase, and I were at the park when Cole and I got simultaneously stung by bees.  It was very terrible.  Since that time, I haven't been that fond of bees.  Especially big ones flying around in my house.  So when I had to catch one today, I felt really afraid and apparently I acted accordingly.  Cole thought it was just hilarious and wanted to blog about it.  Well, that was the least excited I'd felt about Cole's blog.  But as promised to Cole and my readers, I will post this story about it because it's HIS blog, and that's what he wants.  (And he apologizes for the hiccups during the first half of his tale.)

Here is the link: A Story About A Wasp

Three Girls, Three Boys, One Slide

The Edwards girls came over this afternoon.  Can I just say how fun it is to have girls over!  They arrived in their prestine, pretty, girly, white clothes and I thought, oh dear, they most likely won't be going home from the Boyd house looking quite so clean.  They actually did though, which makes me wonder why my boys can't manage to stay clean.  Just another one of the many mysteries surrounding boy(d) children, I guess.

The kids made a human train going down the slide, and of course, Cole wanted to make a blog out of it.  (I just LOVE that!)  So voila, here you go, friends!  (You'll notice Addison is absent from the human train slide.  She was more interested in swinging.)

A Story About Choo Choo Trains Down The Slide

Snow Cones, Friends, And A Boy With A Blog

We recently got a snow cone maker and thought today would be a perfect day to try it out.  The weather was nice and our friend, Rickey, was over. 

As soon as I got the camera out, Cole suggested we make a blog.  I was so happy to hear it!  Here's the link:  A Story About Snow Cones.  (I'm super sad that my camera battery died right as Cole was about to end his story with a joyous exclamation of, "I love snow cones!"  That's the exact same way he ended his fish story.  Perhaps this'll be his way of signing off each time.  You know, like, "Seacrest!  Out!")  Cole and I are totally and thoroughly enjoying his blog...we hope you like it too!

Cole Has A Blog!

Cole is frequently asking me to post things to my blog; things that he's made, or things that he's said, or things that he's done.  So I thought it would be fun to have Cole start his own blog.  (Thank you Linda, for this most wonderful idea!)  This way he can articulate exactly what he wants, in his own words, on his own blog.  How cute is that!  I'm going to try to keep it as authentic to Cole as possible, meaning I'm only going to post something to his blog when it's his idea to do so.  Here is the link to his first post.

http://teamboyd3thecolemine.blogspot.com/

PS.  Do you like his header?  I kind of made it myself.  The Photoshop madness never ceases.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful mommy friends.  I just appreciate all of you so much.  I know that I'm a better mother to my children because of the friendships I have with my mommy friends.  There is nothing quite like the sisterhood of motherhood, is there?

Happy Mother's Day to my mother in law, Nancy, who does so so so much for our family.   We appreciate you and love you a lot! 

Happy Mother's Day to my own Mom.  I love you, Gammy!   You really are my BFF, and I'm lucky to have YOU as my mom!

And thank you to my Chaddy for making me a mom and giving me my babies!  I love these little guys so much, and I am privileged to call them mine.

C*R*A*Z*Y COUSINS

We celebrated Mother's Day at Darin and Heather's house today.   I really, really wanted the perfect picture of all the kiddies for my P365.  It was really, really hard to get all five of these crazy cousins to sit and smile at the same time (really hard). It required Uncle Darin to repeatedly corral the children, and Chad to repeatedly jump around behind the camera like a hooked fish, but look at how cute they are when the exact right moment is captured!

Perfection!

Intel Fun Run

On Wednesday, Grampa, Chad and I ran in the Intel 5K Fun Run.  Somebody, and I'm not going to name names here (IT WAS ME!) got FIRST place in her gender/age division (30 to 39) and was the fifth place overall female finisher with 9.30 minute miles.  Impressive, right?  But before you get too impressed, let me break it down a little.  There were about 150 participants in this race.  The last race I participated in (where I made my best time - a minute and a half faster than what I ran here) had over 2,600 runners.  In order to get first place in my age group in that race, I would've had to run over 8 minutes faster than my best time ever.  So you see, this first place finish isn't as exciting as it sounds.  But for this athletically-challenged girl, I was pretty happy about it.  (To illustrate for you just how athletically-challenged I am; remember how bad you felt in junior high and high school for that person that was always picked last for team sports in PE?  Remember that person?  Well, that was me.  I was that girl.  Literally picked last every time.  Unless Chad was the team captain, then I was always picked first.  Love you, Chaddy.  My point being, I'm not super athletically inclined.)

FIRST PLACE RIBBON  (You can probably guess that I've never received one of these before)

Post race smiles...I think we were all just really happy about my shiny ribbon.

Next stop - The Big Backyard 5K at Marymoor Park in a few weeks.  (I don't predict any ribbons being handed to me at that one.)

April P365 Pictures

Dearest Readers,

My April pictures have been uploaded to my P365 blog.  I hope you enjoy them!

Yours,
Holly J Boyd

You Know You're A Grown Up When. . .

. . .you're super excited about a new washer and dryer.  Granted, my old set had been getting on my last nerve for quite some time now, but I kept them gimping along for as long as possible. The dryer didn't always shut off by itself; giving me fire hazard concerns. The washing machine made a strange whirring/shaking sound, the agitator was missing some pieces, and when the clothes were coming out dirtier than when they went in, I knew it was time to say goodbye. Four dirty boys and one perfectly clean girl that sometimes forgets to remove her Chapstick from her pockets can be pretty hard on a washing machine.  You might've thought I'd be sad to spend the money on a new washer and dryer, BUT NO!  I was delighted.   Here is my new set, in all its' perfectly functioning glory!  Isn't it pretty?  Clean clothes for everyone!

I Did Not See This Coming

So Caden and I are in the throes of potty training.  I'm starting him a little earlier than I did the other boys because he's showing all the signs that he's ready, and frankly I've been changing diapers for six and a half years straight, it's time to move on.  Well, you would think after having been around the potty training block two times before, I would've seen it all.  But I did not see this coming. Caden put himself on the potty, which he does all by himself (meaning that I am not always in the bathroom to oversee the event), when I heard him calling to me, "I did it.  I went potty on the toilet."  But he didn't sound as enthusiastic as he normally does; he sounded pretty sad actually.  When I went in to check on him, his face and hair were covered with tinkle.  Yes, you read that correctly, his FACE and HAIR were covered in tinkle.  I'm not even sure how this is anatomically possible.  But there you have it.   He was very sad, and so was I.

I ran upstairs to get a towel and soap, and then I went to work scrubbing him down in the kitchen sink.  (I didn't want to carry him upstairs and risk the tinkle spreading around my house.)  Caden thought it was just delightful to get a bath in the sink.

I'm truly hoping that his fun bath in the sink doesn't motivate him to tinkle on his face again.  Oh, the joys of being a mother to boys.  They are always full of surprises; some good, some bad, but almost all of them funny.  (Maybe not right at that exact moment, but definitely after enough time has passed.)

Cole's First 1K Race

Last Sunday Cole participated in The Top Pot Donut Dash at Greenlake, his first 1K race.

Here is some pre-race stretching, because Cole knows the importance of loosening up before a run.

Right before the race started, I realized that the kids' course ran right along a busy road.   I immediately started imagining how Cole might spot a shiny little bug in the middle of the road, abandon his run to go inspect it, and get squished by a car.  So Grampa and I decided to run with him.  Even though I wasn't planning on running with Cole, I'm so glad that I did because I got to see how speedy he actually was.  He shot out like a rocket, and Grampa and I actually had to work to keep up with him!

And we're off!

Obviously since I was running with Speedy Gonzalez himself, and I actually had to fight to keep tabs on him, I wasn't able to get any pictures.  But here are Cole and Grampa crossing the finish line (and that's me in the corner jumping and cheering for Cole)!

This, by far, was the absolute coolest thing about the race.  STORM TROOPERS!  I was so excited when I spotted them, that I marched Cole right over to them and starting snapping pictures.  The Storm Troopers weren't  friendly AT ALL, but I just attributed it to the fact that they're on the dark side of the force. I actually discovered after the race, that they were there to run in the 5K, and not to amuse Cole and I.  I mean, if you're going to dress like a Storm Trooper, you best come prepared for mothers of 6 year old boys to go completely crazy on you and demand pictures of you.  Come on!  Be nice already!  (I really did believe they were there to promote the race, but even if I had known that they were there just to run, I still would've accosted them for the photo op!)

After Cole finished up, Grampa and I ran the 5K. Now, when you read the words "Grampa" and "ran", you might picture a little old man with a cane and bifocals shuffling his slippered feet and hobbling his way down a path.  BUT NOT THIS GRAMPA!  He was all pumped up to run 9 minute miles, which got me all pumped up (although I had my doubts).  So we lined up with the 9 minute milers, started the race, and guess what?  We finished the race in just over 28 minutes.  That is fastest I have ever run in my life, thanks to Grampa for being the fitness dyanamo that he is!  Here is our post-race family photo.  Look at those victorious faces!

Afterwards, Cole took some time to appreciate the beautiful scenery of Greenlake.

 



The only little hiccup for the day happened during the awards ceremony.  The top three male and female finishers won trophies.  Well, Cole was just beside himself that grown-ups, who don't even need trophies, would get them instead of the kids.  I mean, really and truly, he was severely put out by the absolute unfairness of it all.  He did get a ribbon, but clearly that's just not as cool as a trophy.  Maybe next time, Cole.

Next week, Chad, Grampa, and I will be running the Cinco de Mayo 5K race through Intel. Stay tuned for the respective blog post.