Grandparents Day again

This is the second year our school has had Grandparents Day. We were a few weeks off, but I have to say, it was worth it. Learning from last year, they made it much nicer...table clothes with center pieces prizes, older students serving and clearing plates, potato soup, a nice sandwich, and a cheesecake square for dessert for the grandparents. They also had the Journalism students take a picture for the grandparents to have, and Zack's turned out pretty good.

I appreciate Mom and Mike coming all that way for a 30 minute lunch. When I told Mom this was the last one, she seemed a little bummed. They do not do Grandparents Day Lunch for Secondary Students. I think she likes to skip work too.

Bowling with the Church Kids

We went bowling with the 5th and 6th grade church kids Saturday. Zachary did pretty good. Here are a few lame pictures, but I wanted to share Zack having fun with other children.

I love this smile!

Brace-face

Do you remember this? Zack does, all too well. But today, things changed for the better. And wouldn't it make sense that we would do this during his already great fifth grade year. Today, his braces came off. His teeth look so good. I can only pray his jaw and additional permanent teeth will not mess things up. So, here is where we started and where we finished up.

2 1/2 years ago

Today: with braces

Next to his own personal parking spot sign.

Today: without braces

Way to much growing up going on this year. I don't like it one bit.

Comedy hour with Diary of a Wimpy Kid influences

Well, it is time for an update on Funny Things Said...


Much has been said since the reading of the Wimpy Kid series this summer, so we will start with that.


1. There has been talk about becoming a man and puberty changes. So the other day, he claimed he was a man because he had his first pimple. He didn't, but we laughed. Then, he decided he would draw a picture of me with my first pimple. Classic!


2. Zack - When I'm 12, I'm gonna use a big fork. John - Why 12? Zack - Because I will be a man then.


3. In the book, the older brother is not very studious. The other day Zachary says, "I'm tired of school, and I don't care about college." Darn, those books. John asked another day what he wanted to study, and he said, "I like Pacman. I'm going to be a Pacman Master." I'm not sure how much that pays.


4. A few days before school started, Z told me he need Wimpy Sprigs for his first day of school pic. In my confusion, he showed me this (below). Thankfully he forgot the day of school.

5. And like every child, they are all in a hurry to grow up. Zack - When I'm taller than you, I can do what I want. Me - silence, grin. John - "blah, blah, blah" is what Zack heard. We also got, "When I can drive, I can go where I want." I told him, "Get going. You can go anywhere you want with those two feet. And whose getting you a car, anyway." Already seems to be in the mode of entitlement.

So that is it in the way of D-of-a-WK, but we've received much more humor, and I hate to leave you out.

6. I was getting on to him for being disrespectful, and he said, "I don't want to hear it anymore." Also, he says, "that's enough." Yes, I say these phrases to him all the time when he is talking about a topic for the 100th time. And of course, we continued our disrespect conversation because now there was more to address.

7. He is learning how to match his outfits, so I sent him back to try it again one morning. He now does this X with his arms and cuts through the air in a downward motion. This means, "you're dead", or "no, I don't want too."

8. We are working more on table manners, and have focused on chewing not having your elbows on the table amongst a few others. So, I said, "remove your elbows." He said, "I'm comfortable." Whoever said you couldn't have elbows on the table anyway.

9. He's been rather obsessed with our new couch and why we got a new one. It is kind of hard to explain why some things wear out fast and other's don't and sometimes, you decide you are just ready for something new. Anyway, he said, "I don't want a dog. Pete got the couch dirty, and he will just make a mess on mine."

10. I had Pete sitting on my chest one morning while Zack and I were playing in the bed. I was telling Pete he was not the alpha male dog, even though he was on my chest. So later, Zack jumped on top of my stomach, and said he was alpha male. Ha!

11. John and Zack wrestle a lot. John had Zack pinned, and Zack yells, "Moooommmm, get the tape." This is from Toy Story 3 when they use the tape to tie up the bad monkey. It was very cute.

12. We were talking one day about using the Lord's name in vain. He noted OMG is the same thing, which rather surprised me. Anyway, he said, "what if I say, 'Oh my granmommy.' Is that OK?"

13. Zack and his piano teacher pray before he starts practice, so she asked him to pray. He said about 2-3 lines. Mrs. Pike - Well, that was a short prayer. Zachary - Yep, just like my dad's.

14. Zack - Dad, your new name is John Lotso Sansing. John - What?! Not it is not! So, later I asked John if he knew why Zack called him that. He said, "because Lotso is the big fat bear from Toy Story 3. I guess he is calling me fat."

And the final one, 15. John and Zack went into the bathroom and John was showing him the sensored water faucet. Zack said, "no Dad, I can turn it on with the Force." and he put his hand out like he was commanding the water to come on, and it did.

And that's it folks. More to come next year.

Out with the old, in with the new

I'm a bit behind on my blog. So, I'm going to attempt to catch up from the summer. I have been busy turning my blog into a scrapbook. I know that may seem so ordinary to some of you, but it is so appropriate for a right brain, type A personality.

This summer as part of the transition to tween-hood, we changed Zachary's bed out, along with a few other modifications. I was planning on waiting until after 5th, to make it a cool jr. high change, but he said he needed a bigger bed, and I figured with therapy changing, this was a good time. Besides, it will make it easier to have a friend spend the night too.

So here we have his room before with his loft bed...

I had only just added the shelves for 15 of his Star Wars Lego sets.

This dresser was actually full of Star Wars Lego sets before.

It was so good to be able to sell Z's loft bed to a friend. It has a slide that goes with it, and her son was sooooo happy. This is him below.

And then we converted to a new room. I've been waiting, and finally got to use my crib-to-a toddler-to-a-tween bed. I did not paint because I had only just painted his room 2 years ago, and refused to do it. Zachary still thinks he needs a new color. And I gave up on finding a bedspread that would match and fit his new bed, so this one is finagled.

New bed and nightstand

I really think it even looks better the way it is laid out now. And I will add, that while you may see a TV, it is not hooked up to cable. It only plays his one pac-man game. We matched the nightstand and desk to the bed and chest we've had since he was a baby. It's not exact, but Zachary loves his new room. And I loved the price.