A bit of random, a bit of history...

Random things first. Blackie, our beloved pet, has flown the coop. He's nowhere to be found. After calling for him and throwing oatmeal on the grass, alas, he has probably gone back to his real home. And so the kids want a fish now. I feel bad for fish. There's nothing to see, nothing exciting, so we'll see. Not much to report really except for the triathalon on Saturday. After last Saturdays training, I felt like someone had shot off my knees. So this Saturday should be interesting.

And now a few conversations that go on here in the ZoBell household:

Nat is playing the piano. When she stops I ask her,"What's the name of your song?"
Nat- "You are Sleeping Booty, you are dead."

Tyler tells Nat that she has to pick up her room 10 times before she can have her new sparkling red shoes. She picks up everything and then goes around the house to pick up stuff. Tyler hands her a dirty shirt to put in the laundry basket. After she's done she says,"Only a few more times before I get my shoes." Tyler says," No Nat, putting your shirt in the dirty clothes is not a chore."
Nat- "Oh, you have to bend down or it isn't a chore."

Mason- "I don't want to be a missionary when I grow up, I'd rather be the Prophet."

History- 70 years ago today The Wizard of Oz was released in theatres. Thank you Victor Fleming. And why hasn't the radio station called? Don't they know that they're sitting on the essay of all essays?

Our pet

While we were getting the kids ready for bed last night, we had a feathery friend fly into the backyard. It was a rooster and the kids were really excited. We fed him some bread, which may have been a mistake since he hasn't really left the yard since. Tyler picked him up last night and the kids came over to pet it. We brought him inside and Mason picked up the book 'Are you my Mother?' and read it to him. The rooster was totally into my boy reading to him as you can clearly see.

He was hanging around this afternoon and evening. When I got back from my bike/run I discovered that the kids have named him Blackie and he came into the house tonight after Mason opened the door. That would explain why he's right outside the door right now. Occasionally he runs into the glass and the kids laugh. What a great pet. Now, we need to nip the 5 a.m. roostering.

RUB A DUB DUB

2 GIRLS IN THE TUB!!!!

Birthday Boy

Seriously, my baby boy (eldest) turned 6 yesterday. 6!! I can honestly remember waking up on the morning of the 4th with contractions and thinking "o.k. relax and breathe. Here comes your babe." Well, that babe didn't come until the night of the 5th. Yep super long labor, but I won't bore you with details. Just super long.

He wanted a garbage truck cake this year. This turned out to be easy because we didn't have to make it look super fancy or cover up the little cake flecks with more frosting.

We piled cake on top of each other and frosted little pieces of cake coming out the back for the trash. Tyler started throwing M&Ms and Whoppers at the cake pile on the bottom. It was a fun cake to do and Mason was thrilled with it.

We woke that morning and got ready for the birthday boy. The tradition is that Tyler goes in the birthday childs room and carries them into our room singing," Birthday boy, birthday boy, here comes the birthday boy!" Then they get under our covers and open presents. Mason asked for the following: Root beer, Cheetos, The Brave Little Toaster, and his own bag of cotton balls for crafts. Yep, he got them all. We were able to swing it this year.

And we also got him a new bike. Tyler harnessed it to the zip line the night before and so after he opened presents inside, we took him outside with a blanket over his head. Tyler got to the front of the zipline and then told Mason," o.k. you can look now." Mason dropped the blanket and watched as Tyler let his new bike down the zip line. It was priceless! Mason starts screaming, "My bike!! My new bike!" I love that kid!

We had friends over for a party that afternoon. 9 6 year old boys. 7 of them were from his Kindergarten class. It was tons of fun and he had a good time. I sent the boys on a treasure hunt at the end. I had found pirate treasure chests at a party store and I filled them with gold chocolate coins and Hershey nuggets. Hot wheels and gushers. Tyler "buried" them in the sandbox. The boys had such a blast running around and reading the clues. They were thrilled at the thought of digging up there treasure box. Seriously, I totally scored cool mom points for that one. You should try it with your kids.

His request for dinner? Blueberry pancakes. Man I love that boy. Happy Birthday to the sweetest son, brother,grandson, nephew, cousin, and all around best kid ever! I love you!!!!

Something stuck

Today after church Mason took his lunch outside for a "picnic". Well, our neighbor across the fence has a little grandson Mason's age and we told him that he is welcome anytime to come over and play. And he's taken us up on that a few times. But today I hear Braden, the neighbor boy, call out to Mason that he would like to come over to play. Mason's response? And I quote," We don't have friends over to play on Sunday. It's a family day. But you can come over and play tomorrow." I am bursting with proudness that with all the primary lessons, the explaining about the Sabbath day that something stuck with that boy. And he is awesome!

That's our scarecrow. We didn't have a wooden pole, and the Swiffer mop did just the trick. Mason drew a scary face on him. His face being a sandbox bucket. Hey, you have to be creative when you don't have scarecrow junk lying around. I'm not sure what his arms are exactly, but, wow you should see our corn now!!

We've had play dates for Mason for 2 weeks straight now. Everyday a different friend from Kindergarten has come over to play. This was last Friday. That's my child flipping into the pool on the left. I love having playdates. I love to see Mason and his friends play and run around. I love to see his personality come out more.

And Tyler walks by and says,"Don't forget to post a picture of yourself. People want to see you to you know. And so here you go. Taken 2 minutes ago for you eyes to enjoy.