Friends and Football...

Alex had his 11th birthday party on Friday, April 29th. I can't believe my baby is getting so old! All he wanted to do was play touch football with his friends. I must confess...this party was EASY! We've come a long way since the chaos of JumpZone parties! We started out "tailgating" on the deck with pizza and cupcakes. Afterwards, we drove over to the Maumelle football fields for a game of "two-hand touch."

Side note: I told all of the other moms that we would be going to the fields to play "flag football." Alex corrected me by explaining that there were no flags involved, thus it was not flag football. I thought any football NOT involving helmets, pads and tackling was called flag. For all you moms of boys out there: This is not true!

I think all of the boys had a great time. They all played with good sportsmanship and Carter even participated to "even out the teams." After a week of horrible tornadoes and gloomy weather, we were blessed with a gorgeous, cool evening. We were all thankful to be outside...even if it was just taking pictures from the sidelines!

Pull apart Razorback cupcakes

"The Crew": Carter, Ryan Tyrrell, Jackson Newsom, Alex,

Wyatt Chandler, Gage Fowler, Jax Coleman and Dillon Douglas

"Tailgating"

Watching the NFL draft before heading to the fields. Everyone was anxious to see which round Ryan Mallett would go in. Turns out, it wasn't until the 3rd round, which was a shocker. However, as a birthday gift just for Alex, he went to the New England Patriots.
Alex's favorite team!

And the pass is complete!

Huddle up!

Defense

Sprinting down the field. Love this picture!

Water break from the resident water girl.

Dog pile!

Georgia On My Mind...

Our baby girl turned a year old this week. That's right! As of April 28th, we have officially been dog owners for one year. Anyone that knows me will recognize this as quite a feat! Don't get me wrong, I don't hate dogs. I even view many of them as cute. However, I have never felt the need to have one in MY house. Through some freak of nature, my boys are both animal lovers. They begged for a pet for years. When Alex was 6, we got him a fish. This bought us a year of respite, but apparently fish can't be cuddled. So, we promised him a dog for his 10th birthday...who knew it would arrive so dang fast?

Georgia Kate (if I had had a girl, this was a serious name contender) was a Craig's List find. The free kind. She was so sweet and subdued as a puppy. It's was a trick. Kind of like a newborn baby that is so breathtakingly precious...until he keeps you up all night! As she grew and developed a personality, she began to show signs of mental instability. Even our friends referred to her as psycho puppy. She growled and bit for no apparent reason. Not little puppy nips, but full fledged skin piercing bites. The boys (the same boys that had BEGGED for this pet) were now scared of her. They would scream like little girls and stand on the couch when Georgia entered a room. Our vet shook his head and told us, "She probably isn't the ideal first pet, but she sure is cute." Whatever!

I was ready to throw in the towel. I wanted to sell her to the gypsies and tell the boys we made a tragic mistake. House training was a nightmare. The shedding made every fiber in my germaphobe-body cringe. I couldn't leave the house for extended periods of time without worrying about returning to mayhem and madness. Nope! Dog ownership was not for me!

Fortunately for the boys, Russ developed a strong affinity for Miss Georgia Kate. He became her court appointed advocate. After explaining to her that foster care was a real possibility, she grew to love the outdoors and began listening to the authority in his voice (I think my voice just wreaked of panic and disgust!). Don't get me wrong...she's still a few bricks shy of a load. She's still not the cuddler we envisioned (seriously, the fish would have been a better candidate). And she still hops around like a rabbit on speed. When she runs to greet you, it feels more like an attack...and not friendly fire. She is still prone to random growling. We think it's the voices in her head. On the flip side, she doesn't bite for sport anymore and she has even learned a few tricks. She can sit, shake and speak. Of course, she will only perform for bologna or bacon treats, but we accept her limitations!

While Georgia and I still need a bit of therapy to work out the kinks in our relationship, I can honestly say that she is now a part of our family. The boys LOVE her and actually do take care of her. They play with her after school every day and clean up most of her messes. They claim that she is "the cutest and sweetest dog ever." I think that is stretching it a bit, but love is blind! And we really do love her...

Coming home from picking up Georgia in Cabot. Carter had been drinking red Gatorade!

Sweet Baby Georgia Kate!

One of the many "issues" that will be addressed in our therapy sessions.

Waiting patiently for a treat...and managing to look innocent!

Egg Hunt on Steroids...

After a delicious Easter lunch (that sound you hear is me tooting my own horn), the boys changed into some serious egg hunting clothes. Serious because there was money involved. I'm sure there is something in the Bible about not mingling a Holy Day with acts of sheer greed. However, I couldn't recall the exact verse, so I proceeded with caution. Lest you judge me, please know that my boys are older and need a bit more motivation to get out there and hunt. Hard boiled eggs aren't really getting the job done anymore. With this in mind, I hid random amounts of money in 20 plastic eggs. They were each allowed to find 10 then they had to quit. They couldn't look inside until all was said and done. There were two prize eggs containing $5. Carter found both of them. There was a bit of commotion and a tad bit of a scuffle, but it was all in Easter fun.

FYI: We did the Resurrection Eggs EVERY night this week, attended church this morning AND prayed before our meal. I'm just sayin'...

Easter Events...

This post should really just be called "The Randomness That Is Easter."

Grandaddy had Easter lunch with us today. Grandmommy is in the hospital, so we were very thankful that he could join us.


The first of many egg hunts.


Checking on the goodies from good ole E.B.

Baskets

Posing after the chaos of dying eggs.

Easter 101

I have great memories of shopping for Easter dresses. It was a major event each year. It wasn't just the dress...there were also Golden Goose, white patent leather shoes (these came with a golden egg filled with crayons and stickers!). If I was especially lucky, I would get the matching purse. Aside from the years of the disastrous Dorothy Hamill haircut, there were ribbons and bows to coordinate. These purchases were often made over the course of several shopping excursions and usually ended with a Happy Meal. These are fond memories...

Now, I recognize that I have been blessed with boys. Fashion is rarely on the radar unless it involves a football jersey or Star Wars t-shirt. This being said, I have always loved shopping for their clothes. When they were babies, I would scour the Toggery for their sweet little smocked john-johns. When they were toddlers, I anxiously awaited for the Gymboree Easter vests to arrive. This year, I thought they might actually be old enough to WANT to participate in their own clothing selection.

I had a return to do in the Dillard's shoe department and the Ralph Lauren section is directly next to it. While I was doing the return, I told the boys to walk over and start looking. "See if there is anything you like." Before the lady could even complete my transaction, I had two little boys standing next to me with striped shirts. Seriously, it was less than a minute later...more like 45 seconds!

Me: "Boys, you can't be serious? You could not have possibly looked."
Alex: "This one looks good to me."
Me: "Is it the first one you saw?"
Carter: "Yes, but that doesn't matter. It looks good. Let's buy it and go get a cookie."

Thus ends our first major shopping trip. Five minutes from start to finish and this included a return and picking out two pairs of swim trunks. No need to try anything on because "it will work. Just hold it up to me."

I must admit...for a hasty purchase, they do look pretty handsome!

Coming Soon...

Carter has been wanting to go to Star Wars camp for the past two summers. The problem? It doesn't exist! Pulaski Academy is hosting one on "the science of Star Wars." They are going to talk about planets and robotics. This is not what Carter had in mind. No ma'am! My baby wants something with no educational value whatsoever! After an ample amount of thought, Russ decided he could make this happen. He is designing a three-day day camp to be taught at the Maumelle Community Center (the dates are actually August 1-3...they were changed after the below flyer was made). Russ will be teaching 16 young Padawans the ways of the force. Hopefully, by the time they graduate, they will be full-fledged Jedi Knights! Part of me thinks Russ has no idea what he is getting in to...16 rowdy little boys? The other part of me is just proud to be married to a man that steps up to make a dream come true for our son...

The Dreaded Diorama...

Since the dawn of time, first graders at CHEMS have had to create a dinosaur diorama each spring. There is a check list to complete: dinosaur molded from clay (or something!), dinosaur name on the top of the shoe box, 5 dinosaur facts on the back of the shoe box, child's name and teacher on one side of the box, and a fabulous dinosaur habitat created inside the shoebox. How many first graders can do this independently? None! I'm sure the teachers are well aware of this fact and I'm sure the point is to spend quality family time creating such a prehistoric marvel. Unfortunately, this is not the Galbraith family idea of quality time together!

Now, let me preface by saying: We were rock stars when Alex had this project! Seriously, we bought the fancy clay that had to be baked. We walked over to the lake to gather realistic looking artifacts. We actually had Alex familiarize himself with the facts and read him a book on his chosen carnivore. We suffered from a condition known as over-achieving. This is fairly common amongst parents of first born children and is spontaneously cured upon the birth of the second child.

Carter's T-Rex was made out of left over model magic from Alex's cell membrane project. We didn't have enough left of one solid color so we mushed a bunch of colors together to create a very realistic tie-dye effect. Russ gathered "nature" from our backyard because Carter was too busy watching "Big Time Rush. " And I printed off 5 facts from the internet and stood over him as he copied them. No need to understand...just write!

When all was said and done, Carter was thrilled with the end product (he loved the broken off toothpick teeth). And Russ and I are just hoping WE get an "A."

It's Kind of a Big Deal...

I'm going to be totally honest...I am only publishing this per Russ' request. When all was said and done, his NCAA tournament bracket was ranked number 462 out of over 6 million brackets. Apparently, this is kind of a big deal. I think it would have been a bigger deal if he had ranked number ONE and we had WON a million dollars! Nonetheless, he was quite proud of his accomplishment, thus I will be supportive and blog it for posterity. Please note "russandaimee2" featured below. Let the sheer miracle of it wash over your body...

Not Our Choice...

The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards were on April 2nd. The boys had cast their votes on line several weeks beforehand. Additionally, they wrote out their "predictions" by hand so they could check off the results as they watched. They settled in on the couch with their tally sheets and a plate of cookies. Life was great until the winners were announced...Carter was positively indignant when his choices were not picked. My favorite quotes from him were:

1. "This is totally rigged."
2. "Who the heck are these kids?"
3. "I didn't pick Justin Bieber because I thought he was TOO popular."
4. "I'm so over Miley Cyrus. Only crazy people like her."
5. "At least I got Diary of a Wimpy Kid right...and I didn't even read the books."

Alex took his losses more maturely. There was a bit of mumbling under his breath. Something about "there is no way this can be right" and "this is ridiculous." Still, at the end of the night, he proudly posed with his picks and claimed he had cast the RIGHT vote. Carter was totally cranky and refused to let me take an "after shot" with his paper. We might need to work on his sportsmanship!

FAVORITE TV SHOW WINNER: Icarly FAVORITE REALITY SHOW WINNER: American Idol FAVORITE CARTOON WINNER: SpongeBob SquarePants FAVORITE TV ACTOR WINNER: Dylan Sprouse FAVORITE TV ACTRESS WINNER: Selena Gomez FAVORITE TV SIDEKICK WINNER: Jennette McCurdy FAVORITE MOVIE WINNER: The Karate Kid FAVORITE MOVIE ACTOR WINNER: Johnny Depp FAVORITE MOVIE ACTRESS WINNER: Miley Cyrus FAVORITE ANIMATED MOVIE WINNER: Despicable Me FAVORITE VOICE FROM AN ANIMATED MOVIE WINNER: Eddie Murphy FAVORITE BUTTKICKER WINNER: Jackie Chan FAVORITE MALE ATHLETE WINNER: Shaquille O'Neal FAVORITE FEMALE ATHLETE WINNER: Lindsey Vonn FAVORITE MUSIC GROUP WINNER: Black Eyed Peas FAVORITE FEMALE SINGER WINNER: Katy Perry FAVORITE MALE SINGER WINNER: Justin Bieber FAVORITE SONG WINNER: Justin Bieber FAVORITE BOOK WINNER: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series FAVORITE VIDEO GAME WINNER: Just Dance 2

Mimi's 60th Birthday

We celebrated Mimi's 60th birthday this past weekend. We met our extended family in Jonesboro for a yummy lunch and birthday celebration at Chris and Wendy's house. "We" (this translates to Russ) made a video montage of Mimi's life to mark the occasion. If I were more technologically savvy, I would download the entire video, but, alas...I am not! In lieu of the fabulous video, I downloaded a few of my favorite pics of Mimi with the boys. This blog is really all about them and she is such an important part of their lives. I asked them to tell me some of their favorite memories:

Alex: "I love taking trips with her, especially to the beach. She always plays checkers with me on the checkers beach towel. I love going to her house because she is so nice and lets us do fun stuff. She also leaves special treats on our beds every time we go to her house. I remember her always reading to me from the Sesame Street book and I'll Love You, Forever. I love her soooo much."

Carter: "Mimi is just sooooo nice. She talks sweet and almost never says no. She takes us to fun places like Chuck E. Cheese and putt-putt golf. One time she got us cool circle rafts to play with at the lake. We would jump off the dock and try to land in the middle. She always makes pizza cookies with us and lets me eat corn dogs for breakfast. She also bought me a Force FX light saber for my birthday and I really wanted that!"

Alex, Carter and Natalie with the birthday girl.