Spring is for Seven Year Olds

Isaac celebrated his 7th birthday on May 29th. (This is him wearing the hat he got in school).

What did he want to do for his birthday? Get a new Mario Galaxy game and spend literally all day playing it. SURPRISE!! So, that is what he did. He also asked for a telescope. He has been enamored with the solar system and galaxies and planets now for a while. He told me one night as he was looking out of his window at the moon that he likes to imagine there are other worlds behind the moon. He also keeps telling us he wants to learn everything. I do mean EVERYTHING. This kid has quite the imagination and asks some really interesting and difficult questions. Like for instance, he wonders where the exact location of heaven is. Is it in this galaxy or is it in another galaxy? Etc., etc.. He has a love of learning A LOT like his father.

The only problem with getting a telescope for his birthday is that there has not been a clear evening since his birthday! We have had no breaks from rain except two nights. Both of them were nights we got home late and didn't have time to look.

Rain, rain, rain, rain and rain. I know I live in Seattle but this is ridiculous. Since I have lived here (13 years) we have never experienced this kind of spring. Alex has had over 10 "rain-outs" in baseball this year. Every time they try to reschedule a game it has been rained out again, and again. It goes on and on. I've never had a spring like this and it's been really ick, for lack of a better word. And I don't even hate rain!

Anyway, back to Isaac. He is a real trip. He LOVES his primary teacher. He actually has a little crush on her, which I won't complain about because it makes him happy to go to church! She is a really good sport about it and tells us funny stories about him. Like, a couple of weeks ago, after the kids were settled down for class, Isaac said he had something he wanted to say. Apparently, the kids in his class have a habit of hiding from the teacher when she comes in under the tables and in the cupboards or behind the chairs. So Isaac stood up in front of the class and said, "When you guys hide, it's getting old." This is really Isaac. He does not like chaos or unrest and I think he wants the kids to "respect" his teacher, the love in his life. Martin and I were talking about this and thought it was so funny. Isaac is a very quiet kid and ignores a lot of stuff, but for him to bring this up was just awesome (and uncharacteristic)! We hope he doesn't become one of those weird kids that nobody likes....but he doesn't act like a know-it- all so I hope that doesn't happen.

Some of Isaac's favorite things:

1. Mario, Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Bros., and, well, pretty much any game with the name "Mario" in it.

2. Pizza. He eats nothing else. I'm serious about this....nothing.

3. Playing "World Championship Baseball" in the living room with Alex. This consists of hitting this mini ball with a mini bat and running the "bases" while knocking my pictures down and breaking them.


4. Playing "Avatar The Last Airbender" (wrestling) with Alex on the trampoline until they are both hurt/cut/bruised up and Isaac is crying. While they are wrestling we have to remind Isaac repeatedly that he has to scream and laugh more quietly because the neighbors complain. My Isaac is loud???? Oh, yes.

5. Watching Spongebob every morning.

6. Reading the scriptures. He recently got really upset because we weren't including him in scripture study with the older kids. He wants to read the real scriptures now. But he still wants us to read his Bible reader every night. So basically we have to read twice to him.

7. Playing his DS.

8. Laughing...he laughs all the time and it makes us all laugh when we hear it!

9. Making "movies" with his block.


10. Playing with his friends, Isak, Solomon and Miles as much as possible.


Isaac is my sunshine and my sweet boy. He makes me laugh daily. We love him more than any family could possibly love a son or brother!

FACEBOOK UGH!!! (No offense Facebookers)

The other day Martin was looking on his Facebook page, and though I haven't been on FB for 8 or 9 months, I got seriously nauseous. I was reminded of why I HATE Facebook, and the reason I deactivated my site in the first place. Martin isn't a huge fan either and we have talked extensively (probably too much) about the phenomenon that is "Facebook." We have come up with the 8 top reasons we don't like this social networking staple. Maybe we should try to come up with 10 like David Letterman does on his "Top Ten" but, hey, I'm no David Letterman.

*Disclaimer: I realize many of you are "on" Facebook and I am in no way trying to make you feel judged. You all have your reasons, and I had mine, for using it. My reasons for abstaining just outweigh my reasons for partaking. Also, these things I'm listing here are all things I TOOK PART IN and DID when I was on FB so I am not saying I am innocent of anything. :).

Okay, here we go:

1. Our egotistical/narcissistic tendencies. I bet we all do this. We have all posted how much we got done before sunrise, how many push ups we did this morning, how fast we can wolf down a Big Mac and side of fries, and what a great gift we got our dad for Father's Day. My question is why do we feel like we have to talk about ourselves so much? I found myself bragging and fishing for compliments on an hourly basis on FB and thus, I became more and more self-centered. I was addicted!! I hated that about myself and I don't care for it in other people. It makes me compare myself to people I have no business comparing myself or other loved ones to. And while it made me feel good to say things about yours truly, I hate to think it made other people feel inept or inadequate in any way.

2. This leads me into my second point: The obligatory "sunshine up the rear-end," as my Dad would so eloquently put it. I LOVED it when people would follow up my bragging with a "way to go, Heather," or "Heather, you're such a good person." However, I have come to the conclusion that when I would compliment a person in kind for something they did I didn't mean the compliment AT ALL. To the contrary, I was usually jealous, annoyed or I just plain didn't care. Now I look and still see people doing the same thing. Everyone is just so blasted complimentary. Do they mean it? Are people really that nice? I truly believe there are people like that out there, I'm married to one, but I know I'm not one!

3. I feel like I can't say how I feel on-line. Sometimes I want to tell a friend that they are idiotic or that they're a moron, or just that they made a bad decision, but sometimes I shouldn't. I don't know about you, but I get sick of being positive all the time, so I had to remove the temptation to say what I felt completely. There have been more times than I can count that I've said something hurtful to a "friend" not purposefully meaning to hurt, and vice-versa. I've actually lost relationships because of this pitfall.

4. Pictures and comments about meals. Wow, I don't even know what to say about this. I guess eating is a big part of being a human, so we include it in everything. It just seems weird to me that I get to know what so-and-so had for dinner last night or what this guy bought at Starbuck's. And do I really need to see the photos of it? It's just a weird observation that Martin and I are stumped over. I actually got to see a photo of a ham sandwich some dude had for lunch. A ham sandwich. ATTENTION: We know what a ham sandwich looks like. Sometimes imaginations are required and preferred.

5. Status updates, status updates, status updates. When I deactivated my account it took me 3 weeks to quit thinking of my life in status updates. I realized I was walking around thinking, "I am going to the store now," or "A mean guy cut me off on the freeway today--how shall I get revenge?" I decided I needed to stop thinking of my life in status updates as it was also contributing to my narcissism.

6. Major Time Suck and Distraction. I was checking my FB page almost hourly. I was wasting time I could have been spending with my kids and Martin. I couldn't make a move without first checking my Facebook. I was too dependent on it to feel connected to people, but missing my life with the most important people in the process. Some people can check once or twice a day, but I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried.

7. Poor Grammar. This needs no explanation. I hate poor grammar and bad spelling and it thrives on Facebook. I guess that's what you get from an English Major.

And last but not least:

8. Getting left out. I really got tired of seeing all the dinner dates and parties I wasn't invited to. It was depressing and humiliating to see my friends were getting together and I didn't have a place there with them. It reminded me of High School and everyone knows I hated High School.

Some people can have a healthy relationship with social networking. These eight things may even be the exact reason you LOVE Facebook and if that's the case, I'm happy for you. I know for a fact I have lots of friends who find happiness and fun in Facebook (you know who you are). You must have found a good balance. I'm glad someone out there likes it and finds a purpose for it in their lives. Don't be offended if I struck a chord here somewhere...like I said, we all have our reasons for doing what we do, and I can't speak for you. These are just some funny observations, so laugh (or not).