Can't Believe I Let Him Turn 7!

The new motor scooter!

We took 9 boys to The Croods for his party.

We were placed in a party room for an hour.  With nothing to do.  9 boys get a tad rowdy, but they had fun being crazy and playing pop the balloons with forks.

Brownies and ice cream had them all sitting for a minute or two.

Some good buddies.

Hope your wish comes true!

Believe it or not, they were all mostly silent the entire movie!

Crazy birthday boy!

Respect

All wrestling season, Booker and Dusty had an ongoing reward (bribe, prize, whatever you wanna call it), that if Booker got a gold medal, Dusty would buy him a Swiss Army knife.  Bodey's reward for gold would have been a rocket.  Booker got gold, so he got to go pick out a knife.  He was so super excited.  We had all the talks about being careful, being responsible, asking permission to use it, having supervision, etc.  After owning it for not quite 24 hours, he sliced his finger.  He grabbed it, looked at me, and ran off to hide in his room.  I asked him if he got cut and he uncovered it to find blood gushing out everywhere.  Then he started crying and saying over and over again, "I'm not responsible.  I need to be 10.  I'm not responsible!!!"  Bodey took one look and went even more ballistic and went screaming to get daddy.  When Dusty came in I could just hear the butt chewing Booker was about to get, so I cut him off before it could start.  But, surprisingly, he wasn't planning on taking Booker down.  He came in and said we aren't taking it away from you, you aren't grounded from it, you're not in trouble, blah blah blah.  Then we made Booker use it again.  Trying the old theory of getting right back in the saddle.  We weren't sure if it needed stitches or not, but decided no.  I'm not really sure still, but it seems to be healing ok.  Here it is after 2 days:

Ending on the Perfect Note

Yesterday was our last wrestling tournament of the season!  It was time, it's been a long season and I think we all started to get burned out.  Last weekend, the boys wrestled their first open tournament.  They both wrestled 50 lbs and ended up in the same bracket.  It was a huge tournament with fierce competition.  Booker ended up taking 4th place and Bodey ended up in 6th or 7th.  But they both did really well and we were so proud of them.  Booker wasn't having it though.  He was very disappointed in himself and nothing we could say would change his mind.  He said he hates wrestling and just wants to do soccer.  It boiled down to the fact that Booker really wanted a gold medal, and didn't believe he could ever do it.

Fast forward to this weekend.  It was their second open tournament.  Booker pinned his first kid in 51 seconds.  He gave us a small little smile, and was pretty excited.  Then he pinned his second kid in 13 seconds.  His smile was a little bigger.  Then he pinned his third kid in 36 seconds.  Smile - a tiny bit bigger... but not huge.  I cried I was so excited for him.  After 2 years of wrestling, he finally got his first gold medal!  And he earned it.  He was just so humble about it though.  He did admit he was proud of himself and he had a lot of fun.  And he decided he doesn't want to quit wrestling after all.  :)

Booker and his first GOLD!

Bodey had a really tough bracket and ended up losing all of his matches, but really gave his all and wrestled tough.  I was so proud of him.  That kid is going to be unstoppable when his maturity level catches up with his strength.  A short 8 hours after the season had ended, he asked me how many more sports there are until wrestling again.  I told him soccer, swimming, baseball and football.  He's also ready for next season.

My little wrestlers.

TMJ, IBS and Zzzzz's

Lots of letters?  Lots of problems.  But, problems that have been resolved.  It's been over a year and half since I quit my job in the corporate world.  It was miserable.  Not all jobs are miserable, but CST was.  In all ways possible.  I was completely stressed out, all the time.  Upper management was missing his head, which lead to many unfair and ridiculous situations.  My boss was worthless, but no one would admit it.  Instead, let's just give him a raise!  Dumb asses.  Long story short, the absurd amount of stress led to my jaw  getting massively inflamed all the time, to the point where I couldn't close my mouth.  I went to the doctor and the dentist and decided it was stress induced TMJ.  And I was so tense all the time that I randomly got a permanent "click" in my neck.  Still have it.  Won't go away.  My doctor put me on some kind of anxiety medication, that actually helped, but I decided not to refill it.  I was constantly at the chiropractor trying to relieve all the tension and pain in my neck and back.  Every morning, Monday through Friday, I would have diarrhea 4-6 times before noon.  Saturday and Sunday, perfectly normal.  I cried just about every day - not only at home in the evenings, but I'd actually have to step outside and call my husband bawling just to take a breather!  That's not right people!!  And, sleep?  Yeah, well, I didn't.  These things are not healthy, and certainly aged me!  Since quitting my job, my jaw is yet to swell, I don't have diarrhea, and I sleep.  Still have the weird click in my neck, but oh well!  I've been thinking about how happy and less stressed I am.  And I made the best decision, in my mind, to stay at home with my kids.  We are expecting a large snow storm here tomorrow, and last night I couldn't stop thinking how stressful it would have been if I were still working at Hell.  Obviously, schools and daycares will be closed.  Why?  Because it's not safe to be out driving on the roads.  But, don't you dare miss showing up at CST!  Find someone to watch your kids and get your butt there, even if you are putting your own life at risk.  And if you don't, be prepared to be called out.  Why?  Because the CFO with his head up his butt will send his little secretary around the building to do an attendance check.  I do not, in one little bit, miss those miserable days.  But daily I thank God for getting me out and where I am today.

Bodey's World

Bodey:  "Mom, why isn't it one-dee-one?"
Me:  "Why is what not one-dee-one?"
Bodey:  "Well, it's twenty-one and thirty-one, why not one-dee-one?"
HAHAHAHAHAAAAA.... Eleven!

At last weekend's wrestling tournament, in front of several other parents, Bodey told me I have a big junk in the trunk.  Thanks for pointing out the obvious, you little __________!

Even better though, is I told Bodey's teachers and the older lady that owns the preschool that he told me I have a big junk in the trunk and his two teachers and I laughed.  Then the older owner lady said, "Don't let him ever look in my car!"  BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Bodey has been using the word "literally" in context.  A lot.  This kid cracks me up!

Walking Boots and Snow Boots

Today we got good news from the doc!  Booker got his boot off!  He was really slow walking at first.  Like really slow.  But I sent him to school because he said it didn't hurt and I thought he might stop thinking so much and be himself at school.  By tonight, he was walking pretty normally.  We are taking it easy for a week.  The doctor just said to ease in to activities this week at his pace.  Which could be fast!  We all practically forgot he even had a boot or a broken foot there at the end.  He was running all over the place and playing football and basketball with the neighbors!  Judge me if you want, but if he's fine this week, he'll go to wrestling practice next Thursday and possibly a tournament next Sunday.  ONLY if he isn't having any problems.

Here is the scene we all got used to seeing... the boot.

And here he is with his foot back!  Looks weird now!

He still has his bruise on the bottom of his foot.  The doc said that's right where the break was.

Meanwhile, Bodey is still going strong!  We got enough snow to cover the ground yesterday and it was all I could do to keep him inside.  Even though it was sooooo cold outside, I had to remind myself not to make the kids' decisions based on my love for being nice and warm and cozy.  When I was a kid, I didn't even notice if it was cold outside if I was having fun.  He played outside by himself for quite a while and never complained of being cold.

Silver!

Bodey is a stout, strong, tough little man.  He just has no idea.  I might be bragging a little bit, but this is my blog, so I can, but he honestly could probably beat any opponent he was up against.  IF, he would believe in himself.  Before and after every wrestling match, he tells us how much bigger/tougher/older/taller (the list goes on) the other kids in his bracket are.  Even though we explain the reason for weighing in is so all the kids in the bracket are THE SAME, he honestly thinks we are feeding him a line of crap.  Doesn't believe a word we say.  But today, he had it in his mind he wanted to get that gold medal.  And the DQ ice cream AJ promised him (hey, he is my child).  I told him he just needed to attack right away and then the other kid would see how tough he is and be scared of him.  I think it helped.  His first kid he attacked and pinned in 30 seconds.  Kid #2 he pinned in 1:26.  Now it was the gold medal match.  And, man, did he wrestle his heart out!  He ended up losing 8-7, but was trying so hard!!!  We were all on Cloud 9 that he took home his first ever silver 2ND PLACE medal!