S.R. Jones

Most days he goes by Obed, Bo-Bo or Boo-Boo-Bear. These days, however, he goes by Snot Rocket Jones and the Boogie Bunch.

Birthday Celebrations

I had a birthday this week, so of course, as it goes with birthdays in the Black house, the boys were very, very excited. All week, they have been drawing me birthday pictures and singing happy birthday to me.

Asher was so excited about my birthday presents. He had a hard time keeping them a secret (which he usually does pretty well). He never actually told me what I was getting for my birthday. He did, however, whisper (ever so quietly) to me what Daddy might like for his birthday (which is not for another 9 months). Several times this week Asher came up to me and whispered, "Mommy, I think Daddy would like new sun glasses for his birthday." The one that sort of "showed his hand" was when Asher whispered, "Mommy, I think Daddy would like a new skirt for his birthday." Shocking, I know... I got new sunglasses and a skirt for my birthday.

So the morning began with opening presents. Then Vince and the boys made me a carrot cake.

All the boys have had nicknames throughout their childhood. Ezra has been String Bean, or Beaner. Obed is Boo-Boo-Bear or Bo-Bo. Asher used to be Meatball, then Smasher (due to his tendency towards clumsiness). Meatball and Smasher evolved into Smash Burger. Imagine his surprise and delight when we moved to a city that has a restaurant called Smash Burger! That being said, we went to Smash Burger for lunch for my birthday. Obed was ready to go... although he didn't quite get the right shoes on.
The boys enjoyed Smash Burger... but really, how can you not enjoy a good hamburger and fries (every once in a while that is).

The boys thought the thing I would enjoy most for my birthday would be a picnic and camp-out on the living room floor (they must not know about things like pedicures, massages, or nice meals out yet - although the picnic and camping on the living room floor might be a close second).
We then had birthday cake (which was so yummy! Kudos to my husband for being a great cook!!). I forgot to buy more birthday candles so either A) We used the candle I had, which just happened to be the left over Lightening McQueen candle from Asher's birthday or B) I LOVE McQueen. So much so, in fact, that it was the only candle I truly wanted on my cake so as to show off my love for McQueen (I'll let you choose A or B).
After our picnic and cake, we roasted a few marshmallows over the fire, as would occur with any good camping experience.

Then it was camping time. Ezra and Asher are still chatting away in the tent as I type. Obed? Well, Obed lost the privilege of sleeping in the tent after he was in and out of the tent about 12 times, crawling on top of Ezra and Asher, throwing their animals out of the tent and just being a 2 year old sleeping in a tent, so he is currently asleep in his room. Maybe this summer he will be ready for a real camping trip (at least it was good practice, eh?).
All in all, a fun day with lots of memories for the boys. I'm grateful for my boys who want to make my birthday special for me. I truly am blessed!

Who Needs Girls?

For some reason, unbeknown to me, the boys decided last night after dinner that they wanted to do my hair. It started out with Ezra and Asher getting a few of my brushes and simply brushing, twisting and knotting my hair.

Then Obed wanted to get in on the action and brought out the "cutters" (also known as my flat iron for my hair).
The way Obed "cut" my hair with the cutters was to grab a few hairs between the cutters and then pinch the cutters together, and then proceed to pull, yanking my hair out.
Who needs to have little girls when I've got 3 little boys who like to play beauty parlor.

The Evolution of Stuck

Weights and Un-Beauty School

While Vince was lifting weights tonight in the form of Asher...

Ezra was brushing both his and Obed's hair and displaying his non-talents in hair styling.

Spinach?

We try to encourage the boys to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Fruits are never a problem... they LOVE fruit. Veggies are hit or miss. We do well with green beans, broccoli, salad, carrots, corn, peppers and a few others as well. They struggle with others such as edamame and spinach (I can't comment on how they do with peas. Peas are on my top 3 list of foods that make me gag, so I never feed the boys peas because that would mean I would have to eat them and I just can't do it. I have to swallow them like aspirin in order to get them down and the smell alone is enough to put me over the edge... but I digress). I have recently learned, however, that if you put fresh spinach into a smoothie, sure, it turns the smoothie a strange color, but the taste of spinach is almost undetectable. It's fantastic! We told the boys they had spinach in their smoothie, but they didn't believe us the first few times. Then, they saw us putting the spinach in and were shocked. So, here's the tip for he day... add fresh spinach to your smoothie and get an extra serving of vegetables.

Tonight's dinner? Blueberries and whole wheat, white cheddar macaroni.

Smoothie (consisting of chocolate soy milk, frozen blueberries, raspberries and black berries, 1 jar of homemade yogurt, and about 2-3 cups of spinach. Sure, sounds nasty, but don't knock it until you try it!).
And one boy with Bert like uni-brow and handlebar chocolate mustache.

Solomon's Latest Trick

Solomon has a new trick. All my kids have had stages where they too have learned this trick. Solomon seems to excel at this trick, however, in the most inconvenient places (mainly, in his car seat which has a non-removable cover and says, "spot clean only" on the side). For the third (yes third) time this week, Solomon has decided that the best time to create an explosion so huge (that nary a diaper, no matter the size nor absorbency, could contain the force behind it) is when he is in his car seat... in the middle of a rather busy situation... with no bathrooms or changing tables in sight... and at least one brother in the midst of melting down and needing special attention. Today, he chose to load his diaper, car seat and suit in the middle of the grocery store. He really is getting quite good at this trick. Below is the clothing-carnage post-diaper change.