Zachary's shower

Zachary has been playing games on his new camera all day. Finally this evening I told him that he needed a shower. He refused and I told him that he couldn't play with his camera until he was done with his shower. He quickly ran upstairs and within a minute or two he was back downstairs with slightly wet hair. I asked him if he had taken a shower and although he wanted to lie, he told me no. I asked him if he just wet his hair and he admitted to wetting his hair but he was proud to say he wet his feet too.

I was glad he told the truth, but disappointed that he was trying to pull a fast one on me. I am going to have to keep my eye on that boy.

6th Birthday

Horse pinata(they chose a horse because Erin loves them so much)

Picture taken with Zach's camera

Another picture with Zach's camera

Zach's new camera

Nathan and Zachary were waiting for us to return from our shopping trip so they could open their birthday presents. For some reason we always let the kids open their gifts first thing in the morning. I got Zachary a new camera (to replace that piece of junk from the other day.) This one was a lot more money and it doesn't take good quality pictures, but at least it works (and plays cool games too.) I gave Nathan the remote control helicopter that I picked up for half price at Toys R Us. He was thrilled. Normally I get the twins identical gifts. It makes it much easier that way. But now they are starting to develop different likes/dislikes. Erin got Nathan a lego set and Zachary a Bakugan.

We spent the late morning playing and eating at Chuck E. Cheese. Then home to break the pinata and eat Mario's yummy ice cream cake.

It has been a good day, but we will all be sad to say goodbye to Mario tomorrow when he has to fly out to Norway for 2 weeks. Mario was told today that he will be the General's Aid in Afghanistan. He wasn't thrilled with the news, but he said I should be. Now he will have the General's security also. I was hoping he wouldn't ever have to leave the NATO compound. But at least he will be traveling by helicopter instead of jeeps. Mario will be extremely busy, but it is better he does this job when the family isn't with him and he can work 18 hour days if he has to. This job may change (as with everything else in the Air Force.) So we won't really know until he gets there. But that's what he has been assigned to do.

OK, I Lied

I said I was sleeping in for Black Friday and I really intended to. But then Eric found a great deal on a Lego set at Toys R Us that he really wanted to get for Nathan (he drew his name in our Christmas exchange.) So Eric and Erin begged me to take them to stand in line so we could be there when they open at midnight. I am not a night person (and neither are they) so I said no. But I am a morning person so I agreed to get up at 4 and take them. I ended up waking at 3 am so I shopped for some Black Friday deals online.

First stop, Old Navy. We stood in line for at least 30 minutes to buy 2 pairs of jeans and a t-shirt. I was thinking that this was definitely not worth getting up at 4. Next stop, Target...we left after standing in line for about 2 minutes. The line was wrapped around the entire store and it wasn't worth standing there for a $17 scooter. Then we decided to go to Toys R Us even though we knew the Lego set would be long gone. Since we got there 6 hours after it opened, the crowds were gone. We immediately checked the Lego aisle and walked away disappointed. But then I went to check scooter prices and while over in the bike/scooter aisle, Eric spotted the Lego set on a shelf by the scooters. Someone must have tried to hide it to come back for it later. Eric was so excited. The only problem being that Eric was buying the set for Nathan but he really wanted it for himself. I figured he will get to help Nathan put it together (it's over 1,000 pieces.) But who knows, Nathan is getting really good at Legos. We found the scooter for $20 and I happily paid the extra $3 and didn't have to stand in line at Target. We also found a remote control helicopter for half price.

Next stop, Walmart. We looked around and enjoyed watching the crowd pick up nice, big televisions. I was a little sad to see so many people picking up big ticket items knowing that most of them were probably going into debt to buy them (I am really big on sticking to a budget lately and paying cash for everything...thanks Dave Ramsey!) The crowds was much worse than Target and so we left. We finished off our trip at Michaels and Sports Authority.

I was so happy that we found what we wanted at Toys R Us. I was glad that I didn't regret my decision to get up early today. But now I probably have 2 big kids that are going to want to go out every Black Friday.

Quote of the Day

I really should keep a journal and write down the quote of the day in my house. Today that honor would go to Zachary.

Mario leaves on Saturday for 2 weeks to Norway. So we decided to celebrate the boys birthday on Friday before he leaves. They have been talking about Chuck E. Cheese so I said we could go there if they want. They asked Mario to make them ice cream cake for their birthday. So I told them we could have ice cream cake on Friday after Chuck E. Cheese and then I would make them homemade ice cream on December 1 for their real birthday. All the plans were set and I thought everyone was happy until Zach came into where I was running this morning (at 5:00 am-why in the world was he awake at that time?) and started asking when he could hand out birthday invitations to his friends. So as I ran, I tried to explain that we were having a family birthday party this year and that we had a friend birthday party last year. We can't have friend parties every year. Needless to say, he didn't take this news well. It reminded me of a previous blog from March 4th where I posted letters that Zach wrote in school last year about how I always say no. In fact one says, "Its my birthday my mom says I can't have friends over."

On to the quote...so in the car as we were driving home from picking up candy for the pinata and the ingredients to make ice cream cake, Zachary said that I didn't care about his birthday and "it seems like my birthday is just air." I have to admit, I did feel a little bad. But not bad enough to throw together a big party.

Black Friday

I have been looking forward to Black Friday for a couple weeks now. I have been checking out all the leaked ads online and planning my shopping trip.

I changed my mind today...

Zach has been begging for a digital camera for months. I suggested he wait till his birthday or Christmas, but that seemed so far away. Finally today I saw that starting at 3 pm Toys R Us would have one for ten dollars. I asked Zach if he would like to do some extra chores around the house to earn the few extra dollars he needed. Of course he did everything I asked him and earned the money. Then I checked out the reviews on the camera (my fault, I should have done this before telling Zachary about the camera). It got horrible reviews so I tried to talk Zach into saving up his money to buy one with better reviews. He couldn't wait. So we drove all the way across town for this $10 camera. I knew we were in trouble when it was hard to find a parking spot. The store was packed and nothing in the ad was left. Customers were lined up at noon to purchase things at 3 pm when they went on sale. I was so upset. I thought we were in a recession!

Anyway, we finally found a $15 camera and I told him I would throw in the extra $5 since we had already driven all this way. But I did try to tell him it was cheap and wouldn't last so he would be better to save his $10. Long story short, the camera didn't even last an hour before Zach was crying. Now I have to make the long trip back to return the piece of junk (Not a surprise at all...I even told the kids to be careful opening the package because it was probably going to be returned.)

While at Toys R Us, I decided no sale was worth the frustration I felt today (and it wasn't even Black Friday.) So goodbye Black Friday...I am sleeping in.

Mario's New Digs

We used to feel so sorry for the locals in Guam who lived in containers. We would scare Eric and tell him that is why it is important to go to college and get a good job. Mario's been to college, but now we have to explain to the kids why he has to live in a container. Fortunately for him, he will have heat, AC, and hopefully internet access. He will probably have a roommate or two (which means he'll only have half or a third of a container.)

Nathan

I was reading with Nathan this morning when he told me that he wants me to have more babies so he can be a big brother. Before I could say anything, he continued that he wants me to have a baby boy, no 2 baby boys. Then he started counting how many people would be in our family. He said 2 girls and 6 boys. Then he laughed his cute little laugh.

I told him that he is a big brother to Zachary. It may only be by 13 minutes, but Zach uses that 13 minutes to his advantage. Nathan may as well too.

Then after school, Nathan told me that he wishes I wasn't his mom because I am mean. I started to feel a little sad until he finished his thought..."I want a mom that will do my homework for me."