Christmas 2011-Reader's Digest Edition

Ah, Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year. (For who, I am sure I don't know.) Traditionally, I pull out my camera and take some photos. Not sure why I forgot that particular tradition this year, but I did. Right from the get go. Our first Christmas-like activity was decorating sugar cookies with the Johnsons. We love this tradition. One that gets easier and cleaner the older our kiddos get. I made some sad-and-sorry-straight-from-the-Pilsbury-tube-cookies this year. I just couldn't bring myself to make the yummy thick sugar cookies I normally do, knowing I would not be eating a single one. I figured the kids wouldn't mind. I was right, they didn't. However, I did not account for Bill's friend, Alan, who was so worried he might have to eat a "vegan" sugar cookie he baked a huge batch of his own. He even brought his own frosting. Granted, the sad-and-sorry cookies were no match for the perfect-from-scratch goodies Alan showed up with. Lucky for Alan, I am used to being shown up in the kitchen department and never take "food-mishaps" personally. Plus, this tradition has very little to do with cookies and everything to do with seeing our friends and their munchkins.
From friends to family, our next Christmas activity involved inviting all of Bill's family over for a brisk walk down the hill to enjoy the lights at Temple Square. We picked a cold, crowded night, but everyone (and their phalanges) survived. Even super-trooper 9th months pregnant April, who walked both ways (slowly) without a peep of complaint. Hot cocoa and ginger cookies were everyone's reward for surviving the 20 degree weather. Good conversation and laughs about growing up "Barber" kept the evening light-hearted.


April hosted the family Christmas Eve dinner. (Did I mention she is VERY pregnant with her 5th child? This will be the 5th with every other child 7 or under!) With a family full of strict and strange diets of vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and kosher- no one wanted to tackle preparing a meal for a bunch of picky-poo eaters. Hence the "bring your favorite dish" theme of the evening (which turned into, bring what you and your family can eat). Anne and I killed the time making silly pictures of ourselves. Well, silly pictures of Anne anyway.

After eating all the vegan chili we could handle, we drove to Salt Lake where we participated in another Romney-Barber tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve. Without a trace of creativity, it is always PJ's. But before they could adorn our young sons, we decided this year to revive an old Romney family tradition- a late night Christmas Eve movie. This year's choice. The Adventures of Tin-Tin. (It was a major hit with my boys, for the record.)

Exhausted, we all crawled into bed around 2 am with parental instructions not to wake us up before 8:30. Being the fabulous listeners our boys are, they slept in until 9:30, making me think we should make that late night movie an annual thing from here on out! Once conscious to the world, we started our morning opening our stockings and working our way from there.

The boys are growing up. No where has that been more apparent than when it came time to make their Christmas wish lists. Cash and Legos. End of list. Really. That was all they could come up with. So that is just what we did. We opened new savings accounts for them that come with their own debit/cash cards. They are now the proud/responsible managers of their own money. A gift for all of us, as no longer will Bill need to be the keeper of their money. Their allowance is set up to automatically be deposited into their own accounts. They get to manage how much they have online. I think we are all singing the "hallelujah chorus" about this new family development.

The second part of their wish list-Legos. We made sure they had sufficient to play with Christmas morning. William also was able to download a game with a Nintendo gift card. Debit cards are cool and all, but not so much fun to hang out with in your pajamas on Christmas morning with. Bill's childhood fantasy was fulfilled this year with a gift certificate to go hang gliding or paragliding (his call) and Bill brought me closer to my dreams by grabbing me a stack of school supplies and a very cool tape deck shaped purse (in case the other students couldn't tell how much older than them I really am.)

After we celebrated by ourselves opening our gifts, we headed up to Amy's house for family presents and Christmas dinner. This is where the old adage of "the best laid plans" came to fruition. April decided as we were in the middle of opening presents to go into "false" labor. The trick is, at the time, no one knew it was false, because it was looking pretty "real" with her contractions lasting for a minute and being only just over a minute apart. If that is really what was happening for her for the length of time she was saying it had been going on that kid should have been born in Amy's living room. She was rushed off to the hospital for several hours, along with her parents and the most medically inclined of all the Barbers, Anne (in case she had to deliver the baby in the van- bwhahaha. Maybe next time, Anne.) That left our family, Dave and Amy and her kids to enjoy the half cooked turkey dinner. The turkey had been put into the oven frozen and cooked for 6 hours to no avail. This combined with the blocked kitchen sink that Bill worked on for several hours and you have all the makings of a comedy of errors type Christmas night. With April in the hospital, Amy's house was full of 4 little kiddos with no parents to take them home. We took pity on Amy's boys who would be displaced from their beds that night and decided to have a cousin sleep over with Sam and David Ray at our house. Video game madness ensued and cousin fun was had by all. Christmas wrapped up with a girl's shopping trip with all the Barber women, Bill and Anne having a ski day at Brighton, and Anne and I having a fun girl's night out at the Tavernacle requesting songs and enjoying each other's company. As soon as our last Barber relative left us with a quiet and kind of empty-feeling home, our Tyrrell friends stopped in for a visit. It took the edge of the whole "empty house" syndrome.

New Year's Eve finds us at home together watching movies and playing games. Some unknown neighbors kindly invested at least $1,000 dollars on illegal fireworks and are currently treating us to a magnificent display right out our front window. Thank you unknown neighbors. Thank you unknown photo takers for supplying photos from the internet for this blog. And many thanks to our family and friends who made this a memorable and delightful Christmas season.

Eunuch Bunnies

Well one of those bunnies feels our bunnies' pain. The one with the sore end half. Being the responsible pet owners we now find ourselves to be, we had our bunnies neutered. This was not an event I would have guessed when we made the appointment with the Vet to be "blog-worthy". Easy in, easy out. They are both male bunnies after all. From what I had read it was going to be pretty easy. Bring your rabbits in early with food and water and then come back several hours later to pick them up. That part went according to plan. The curve ball came when we picked them up only to find out (for the first time) that we would need to keep them indoors for ten days to keep them warm, as their little bunny bodies may not be able to regulate their body temperature with the anesthesia used for the surgery. Um, excuse me! We picked these animals because they are one of the few that we think it is more cruel to keep in a small cage indoors than a large protected area outdoors where they are allowed to run happy and free. Indoors was never part of the plan. But we love our buns and so the hutch came indoors. Into the back hallway. We lasted about 12 hours, following a sleepless night worrying about them, cleaning up the urine they sprayed on our walls, with our runny eyes, noses and tickley throats before we decided (after some careful internet research) that they would be just fine outdoors at least during the days. They spent the night outdoors the next night, but on the third night, Romney's bunny was acting unusually slow. He wouldn't eat or poop and for a bunny this is a big deal. We brought him in and spent an hour nursing him and coercing him to eat and drink. The next day he couldn't wait to get out of his carrier and be outside again, all back to normal. And, finally, after the 5 day mark that is where the bunnies were again- back to normal. Enjoying our unseasonably warm weather and each other more and more each day as the testosterone subsides.

Appliances Belong In A House, Not A Mouth

When you think of the word appliance, what comes to mind? A refrig-
erator? A stove? A dish-
washer? Yeah before the middle of December, me too. Now, it conjures up graphic images of torturous levels of mouth pain. Poor Romney inherited the worst of both Bill and I's teeth, both crowded and crooked. Romney has taken crooked teeth to a whole new level with a permanent tooth coming in several millimeters behind it's baby tooth counterpart. This oral development, combined with an overcrowding problem, prompted the pulling of 3 teeth and an appliance being fitted to his mouth in an effort to try and get his new tooth to line up with it's other "tooth-y friends". Sitting in a dentist in never fun, but lucky for us all, Romney loves his dentist, Dr. Romney. Probably because they both understand their odd Romney humor and "get" each other.

Romney had been hoping to have the tooth moved in time for Christmas and to be appliance free for all the yummy, gooey Christmas treats. But I guess on Romney even his teeth can be stubborn and the darn thing would not move as quickly as everyone thought it should. We granted Romney a reprieve and let him remove his appliance for 24 hours during Christmas eve/day. As promised he remembered without a reminder to put the appliance back in. Not only did he remember, he put it in himself, as well as getting the tricky spring behind his tooth. Well done, motivated little man.

Dr. Romney had mentioned that as soon as his tooth had made it over the "hump" the appliance would be removed because he believed the tooth would slide the rest of the way into place. After several weeks of suffering you can imagine Romney's joy when Dr. Romney proclaimed it had moved past the dreaded "hump", and then you can imagine Romney's anguish as he learned that Dr. Romney no longer felt confident it would move anywhere on it's own volition and had Romney wear the appliance for yet another week. He was stoic as he left the office, but as soon as we got home, there were major tears of frustration as he settles for yet another (at least) week of dental hell.

Charlie Brown, the Flipside

You don't have to suffer to be a poet. Ado-
lescence is enough suffering for anyone. ~John Ciardi, Simmons Review, Fall 1962

I am still young enough to remember the good old days. Days spent reading comics from the Sunday paper while lying on the flower patterned carpet next to the slippered feet of my Mimi, who would read the more "substantial pages", and then ask me for the "funnies". My favorites: Garfield, Family Circus, and Cathy (don't judge!"). My grandmother was partial to Peanuts. Those days my be behind me now, but I am still having my very own Peanuts moments. Bill and I have become the voice of the "grown-up". No longer do we speak normally, but have been relegated to making unintelligible quacking noises that seem to make no sense to our now teenage son. A single case in point (one of many): Last night Bill took the boys shopping. William asked if he could set something down in the store randomly. Bill said no. William walked away. A minute later William comes back and says "Dad, I know I asked you a question. I know you gave me an answer, but I can't remember it. It just sounded like "ERRRRRCKKKKKK." Yup. To quote Pink Floyd: "[Y]our lips move, but [he} can't hear what [we're] sayin'." So the flip has begun. No longer do I relate to Charlie Brown and his buddies, I now relate to the voice in the background, the one that makes no sense and has no relevancy to the children it speaks to. To quote Charlie " AARGGHH!!!"

Perfect Fall Day

After spending days lounging around the house for Thanks-
giving break, we finally got off our rear-ends and out the door for some family fun time. I bought a Groupon to check out the new Leonardo museum a few weeks ago and it seemed like the perfect time to pull it out and give the museum a go. But first, we needed lunch. Shockingly, not much was open downtown. Lucky me, my favorite, the Beehive Tea Room was so I won and got to take my boys. They made my girly hang-out more masculine by playing with their lego mini-figures on the table. I can't help but wonder, though, if the ambience of the place didn't wear off onto them a little when they made those mini-figures perform a square dance. After our lunch we kept walking on to the museum. While I can't claim that I am a fan of the new museum, the boys had a nice enough time trying out some of the exhibits. Romney really enjoyed turning this motion detecting virtual knight into a pretzel by making him break dance- doing the worm and the coffee grinder. I am not sure who was giggling more, Romney or the small crowd watching him.


This exhibit was fun, for a minute. A series of mirrors set up to let you look at yourself and ponder how others see you, complete with white board markers to graffiti up your image. William enjoyed drawing a top hat and handle bar mustache onto his reflection.



Romney and I braved the "trace your face" exhibit. Romney concen-
trated hard on getting it just right. It wasn't happening. He quickly recycled his. I gifted my masterpiece to him, because he kept making fun it of it. Sucker then felt obligated to carry it for a few minutes, until I let him off the hook and recycled mine as well.


This was Romney's favorite stop of the whole museum, the stop animation board. He sat for as long as long they let him, placing paper figures in different funny situations. My favorite was Einstein vs. the Robot. All of his movies had a common theme of one character bonking another on the head, and off the screen, back and forth. Never gets old.



We felt completely done at the Leonardo within a couple of hours. My head was pounding from the dark and the electronics housed in the museum. Though the idea of merging art and science is a favorite of mine, this museum is not. It is not terrible, but it is far from great. Since it is one that is supposed to be in constant flux (like art and science), hopefully it will get better.


Outside the air was crisp the light was perfect, a much needed anti-dote to the dark and airless museum. From dark and color less to bright and colorful, our next stop was the new toy store housed in the Grand America hotel, Jou Jou. It is not very big, but was fun to explore. Lots of bright colors and cool kiddo gadgets and play things.



Last on our agenda for the day, grabbing a hot chocolate and walking home through the lights at the Gallivan Center and Temple Square. The sun was heading over the horizon for the day but the temperature was still not too cold. No snow on the ground and only a mild wind may the night pleasant viewing conditions for this holiday tradition.

Nine is Fine!

If Eight was great, than Nine is Super Fine. What a lovely age. Sweet and cuddly with a huge amount of personality and the verbal skills to prove it. A blend of stuffed animals and Monty Python style-humor. Still wanting hugs and cuddles from his family- once in a while. (Although over the course of this past year, Romney has started refusing to hold my hand, grabbing my arm instead, because my hand now feels "weird".)


Opening presents is always a birthday highlight, so much so that Romney asked to open his family presents today, technically the day before his birthday, but the day of his party. William did the same thing a month ago, but because we bought him a present we wanted to let him use during his party. Romney's present needed to wait until after his party to be played with, but how do you explain all that to an anxious 9 year old. However, our birthday boy will have a giant lego building party on a lazy Sunday afternoon.


Watching my boys pick out presents for each other is such a treat. They have their own money and know each other better than any one else on the planet. William saw this monkey sitting in a store window and said "That is perfect for Romney". Obviously, Romney agreed. He loves this fluffy little critter. (Fluffy little critters are big at our house, right now.)



With presents opened, and house prepped, it was time for a 4 boy sleep over party. Romney has been clear about his plans for months. He wanted to invite his 3 closest friends to have a "camp out" to watch Japanese Anime movies. Again, the stars have aligned for my little Romney man and his plans are a go. Romney's love of his stuffed animals has not yet wavered. And he thought bliss would be going to build a bear to make new friends to cuddle with in the tent during the sleep over. Watching four nine year old boys pick out a stuffed animal, and perform a heart ceremony is something pretty special. I think it also speaks to the sweet nature of the friends Romney has picked. Because, he IS picky about who he wants to befriend.


Old enough to type out their own stuffies' birth certificates, but young enough to enjoy stuffies. The only way they would allow me photos-- without knowing I was taking them, backs to me.



Oh spoke too soon. And got them to pose! Ha, they can only ignore me so long before deciding to shut the ol' lady up by humoring her for a brief nano second. But seriously, have you ever seen four boys as cute as these? How sweet is this photo? How much will they hate it 3 years from now? Not only do they have new stuffed animals, but all four of them had said animals disco dancing on the car ride home to the song "Hot Stuff" (complete with colored flashlight strobe.)



New friends ready to go and hungry bellys, it was dinner time. Romney chose pizza and fresh strawberry/kiwi/carrot juice from the new juicer. I chose to add some broccoli to go with the pizza. All four of them ate it without one single complaint. Either they were really, really starving, or else these are some amazingly easy boys. (Maybe both.) But after broccoli, one deserves a traditional birthday treat- microwave s'mores. Romney chose this over cupcakes or cake. Yup, s'mores. "It makes sense with my camp-out, Mom" was the rational. They were a giant hit. All four huddled close to the hum of radioactive microwaves on the verge of blowing up a marshmallow. True boy entertainment.


See, pure entertainment. Giggling while eating and plate licking once you are done equals the mess on my happy son's face.













Once teeth were brushed (think gooey s'mores), pj's were donned and sleeping bags unrolled for the main event- A marathon Miyazaki film watching festival. The films were projected onto Romney's wall, theater style, all from the comfort of an indoor tent. Two films and several hours later, there was the world's most adorable pow-wow in the tent to determine sleeping arrangements. All boys stating their views of how to best arrange themselves for bed. Pretty rational for 11:45 at night. Should I be worried that they are debating a "camp fire"? Quote of the day: When one went to the bathroom and came back to a new conversation, the explanation given was "We are talking about people we like-- like Leslee and Denise" (both older elementary school teachers). Boy will that take on a different meaning in exactly 4 years.

After exactly 4 hours of sleep. (Say, what, boys?) Romney woke up to a birthday morning full of perky and happy and giggling and hungry friends. What a wonderful way for him to officially start his ninth year. We sent them out to check on the bunnies while we prepared a gorgeous breakfast of pancakes with blackberry compote on top, scrambled eggs and soysage (as Romney calls it). They were in heaven. We had them pack their things, brush their teeth and then we got down to business.

The Gifts! Romney was completely spoiled by his buddies and was a very good gift receiver. (I love this about my boys.) Currently there are four very tired and happy boys playing with Romney's new loot, while Bill and I find activities to putter about the house in an effort to stay mobile and awake.

Bunnies Part II

I am having to add an P.S. to the other bunny post. Why? Bunny Drama ensued a day after the bliss of bringing bunnies home. After having been kept in a cage together to make sure they would get along, we naively brought our bunnies back thinking all would be perfect in our newly minted Bunnyville. And it was, for about 24 hours, until they settled down from the stress of relocation and an hour car ride and realized they actually hated each other. How we could tell was the bite out of Gray Tail's ear, the constant chasing of Gray Tail out of the hutch by Herbert, Herbert sneaking up and pouncing on Gray Tail even while being held by his owner. If left to their own devices, we would have been a one bunny family in no time. And that bunny would probably be maimed and injured. We arrived at a very heart-wrenching decision. Herbert Nenninger needed to join a family with no other bunnies. I had the horrific duty of taking my child's new pet to the humane society immediately so they didn't kill each other. It was awful. Tears were shed, and the family mourned the loss of our new friend. William was distraught, he didn't think he could love another bunny. We talked about how love is funny and while a new bunny would never replace Herbert in his heart, if he could open up to another bunny, his big, loving heart would have another spot to bond with another bunny. He said he felt like a "bunny polygamist". Yea, it elicited snorting laughter from me. We searched online, and at shelters (again to no avail) for a few hours but William kept coming back to this cute guy. He really wanted to meet him. Another un-neutered male made me skeptical it would work. So skeptical, I made the appointment to humor William, but didn't even take any cash to buy him. We brought Gray Tail along for a "bunny blind date" to see how the two reacted. According to the internet, what happened was extremely rare- love at first site. After 15 seconds of ignoring each other, they sniffed and cautiously approached each other. Then the amazing happened- they cuddled, they groomed (themselves and each other), and they bonded. Still skeptical, we bought the bunny with the caveat that the previous bunny owner would take him back if things went awry once we got on Gray Tails' home turf.


But things have not gone awry. Though we are only 24 hours into our bunny bonding things are going better already than they ever did with the previous pairing. They are sharing the hutch, the water bottle, the yard, and even the food tray for the few pellets we still give them to supplement their yard grazing and the generous carrots from the boys as they start to build the bunnies' trust. They are starting their own little "bunny bromance". (The best part of that term is that it came from Bill). Gray Tail has started to come when we call his name (not all the time, but sometimes) and Bear is willing to come over and check us out when we get down on his level and hold pretty still. He's had a pretty crazy past 24 hours. Our family talks about our new bunny buddies like first time parents talk about their new babies. It is pretty all consuming, but the boys have already taken so much from our foray into being pet owners. Romney said "Having a bunny has made me more responsible and he has made me happy. The bunny can make a bad day into a good day, just by being with him." William thinks "It is the best feeling in the world to be a pet owner. It is making me face things and I feel braver". Those two statements have made the hours, the money, the heartache and headaches all worth while. I thought bunnies were going to be a hassle-free pet.

Bringing Bunnies Home

Is it 9:30 yet? First sign of excited children, asking parents if a certain time has arrived, long after the age they learned how to read a clock. Saturday finally came. And so did 9:30, the target "leave the house" time to arrive to pick up bunnies bought 7 days ago. With the week long project of "build a bunny proof fence" behind us and a perfectly timed FEDEX delivery of a rabbit hutch, we were ready to go! Free-range bunnies with a hutch-option (not to be confused with a lease option).


The boys brought shoe boxes filled with hay to carry their bunnies home on their laps. A full hour of bunny petting on the way home. Being not so versed in the way of pet ownership, much less bunny ownership, no one knew if they would try to stage a coup and escape. Not so, these buns liked the petting and the attention. Plus, I am sure they were completely shell shocked. Two happy bunny owners chatted with their bunnies and each other about lofty plans for a plethora of bunny adventures.


Conversations about the fun adventures the bunny would have in their new outdoor bunny space, were followed by tales of bunny penthouse awesomeness. A two level "penthouse" whose gate would never be locked. Bunny Freedom. Herbert Nenninger is a big, big fan. Gray Tail is more of a "let me out to play" kind of a bunny, preferring to be on the grass for grazing and exploring.



Does this look slightly uncomfortable for both boy and bunny? Well it probably is. 13 years of no real pet contact will do that to a kid. (I think the bunny may always look like that.) But bunny hugs and cuddles are quickly becoming more familiar and will soon be the norm. Especially since the boys have committed to spend some time playing with their bunnies every single day, no matter what the weather is like to provide the human contact that keeps them so tame.



Lucky boys, they even got their first taste of playing with bunnies in a snow storm today. When we brought them home it was 50 degrees, and overcast with lots of grass and leaves to play in. By the end of the day it was a sideways blowing snow type of a day and the grass was covered in a thin layer of the white stuff. Hopefully, these little guys will be ok as it gets colder and colder. I can't wait to see my boys build the pet relationships we have deprived them of until now. I can't wait to watch them rise to the responsibility that taking care of another living thing requires. I am super excited to have a place to put our juicing scraps. Hooray for Happy Bunnies.

Life's No Fun Without a Good Scare

Nothing is scarier than hearing these words: "Mom, will you help me make my costume?" Shudder! Puts fear into my heart just thinking about it. Especially since anything falling under the category of "arts and crafts" has never been my area of expertise.






To make matters more challenging, William wanted a homemade Dr. Octopus costume. Who, you ask? Yeah, that's what I said too. One google image search later, I had a clue. I had William go back to his room and sketch out what he wanted and how HE was going to make it work. I wanted a list of materials and a detailed plan about how realistically he could achieve his vision. I thought that would be enough to scare him off. It wasn't. After a trip to the Home Depot for supplies and with a week of time to complete the costume, Bill and I thought we had done our part. It was more complicated than any of us had imagined, and all of 3 of us had to revamp the plan and start again. Last night. At 9:00 pm. So he could have it ready to wear to school tomorrow. Yup, not for the faint of heart.

Romney's idea for a costume, I have some experience with. He wanted to be a "dust bunny". I really wanted to get him some bunny ears to go with his costume, but he was having NONE of that. I thought he was uber creative, until I found out that the "dust bunny" was a character in a Japanese Anime movie. The scary part of his costume, was the week and a half of black finger nails I had after spray painting enough batting to cover a small child and the fuzz that lived in my nose for longer than I care to remember. The good news is no one else will have costumes that look quite like theirs. The bad news: It is entirely possible that no one will know what they are. Still any year I don't have to construct an Atari console out of styrofoam and cardboard is a good year around here.

Another reason to be frightened, I had a minor Martha Stewart moment. (How would it be to be so crafty that the mere mention of your name brought forth vision of all kinds of homespun wonderfulness? Hmm... guess I will never know. And I am so ok with that.) I invited friends over quickly so that when the moment passed, I would still feel motivated. I had seen these little "pepper jacks" (as I like to call them) online and thought filling them with some yummy chili on a Halloween night would be "cute". Usually, that is as far as the idea to reality goes, but not this time, since I had already extended the invitation. That means the pepper jacks went from "a nice idea I had seen on the internet" to actual carved bell pepper "bowls".

We had a wonderful feast with friends and then let these hooligans loose on the neigh-
borhood. They were so excited to be together. It was like they hadn't seen each other for years, when in reality they rode to and from school in the same vehicles. An hour or so and several pounds of candy later, they returned to sort their loot. Favorite item: Halloween themed hand sanitizer. It had the word "chocolate" on the label, that counts, right?


Happy Halloween.

13 Gun Salute to William

Officially a teenager today, William celebrated his birthday with a bang. A lot of bangs actually. With clicks and booms and whooshes of Nerf guns, laser tag guns, and disc throwers. Yup, officially a13 year old boy. Hanging out with a passle of other 12-soon-to-be-13 year old boys for 5 hours made me understand how normal any goofiness my William may be manifesting at this age may be. (As perfectly illustrated in the photo to the left.)

Family presents always begin any birthday celebration. Romney gave William a video game he had been wanting using a good chunk of his own money. Bill and I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to get William the gift we had been considering since July. I found it perusing Etsy in Portland one night. I thought it was perfect. Bill not so sure. I book marked it and we revisited it several times before I convinced Bill of it's absolute perfection. When William opened it up, beheld it's magnificence with dropped jaw, broad smile and shocked "IT'S AWESOME" , Bill whispered these magical words to me-- "You were right!" A Nerf gun transformed with paint and accessories into a steam punk-style weapon of the future, how could I possibly have been wrong?


With such a masterpiece in hand, what better way to show it off than to invited 5 of your friends, your brother and his friend and your parents (because you need a way to get there and pay for it) to the Ultimate Sports Complex in Lindon for a rousing, epic Nerf gun battle. With a warehouse worth of square footage complete with giant obstacles and balcony at his disposal, William honed his "hurling foam darts through the air at friends" skill. An important 13 year old boy proficiency. He also practiced to perfection his "laughing uncontrollably while running" savior faire as well as tested his moxey at "finding hidden Nerf darts in a building the size of a city block". Once those had been mastered, the frivolity continued, this time with laser guns.


After laying down all manner of weaponry, the boys felt as though something was missing and so took up more arms in the form of. . . bouncing playground balls. Dodgeball the evilest of all nefarious playground games. They loved it. Well most of them. One of them would just kind of fend of balls until he was the last one standing and them wait it out without throwing a single shot.

All those "war" games can really work up an appetite- as does breathing, sleeping, reading, going to school, watching a movie, playing on any kind of electronic equipment- for a 13 year old male. Food of choice in our home: cheese pizza. I love that some of them couldn't or wouldn't put it down even long enough to snap a photo. I love that there is chewing, swallowing and even showing off of said pizza happening in this shot.


Once the troops had been fed, it was time to battle the presents. First up, a giant present from his two best buddies. Layer after layer was peeled away, only to be met with peals of laughter as another layer appeared. The more layers that materialized, the louder the giggles and squeals of delight from the onlookers. After being promised that within the box, lay the gift of a puppy (no one believed the givers on that one), a puppy it was. At least a 2-D puppy. A puppy shaped piece of paper that held the information about the "true" gift (a Pokemon video game, in case you were curious.) The whole experience was a big hit.

Finishing up the party, and about to send the kids home to their respective families, we brought out the sugar and heard a rousing rendition of the Happy Birthday song, sung in various keys with various gusto by voices in flux. William asked if he could forgo the usual homemade cupcakes or cake for a Baskin-Robbins masterpiece ice-cream cake. Which he summarily ate 1/2 of a piece of before being "too full of sugar" to consume any more. (Yippee for us!) Finishing up his night with his Dad, his brother, and two of his best friends watching Portland duke it out with Salt Lake in an MLS soccer game pretty much capped off the perfect day of "battles".


What changes happen between the age of 12 and 13? Well. . . so ok, the mustache is fake (a gift from his Aunt), but the change that William was most excited to happen. . . the ability to watch *some* PG-13 movies. Yes, that Pandora's Box has opened for our family. We kept it closed as long as possible, but opened it has. First on his viewing list X-Men 2 and X-Men 3, which he watched for the better part of the evening on his actual birthday. Such a funny mix of "little" and "grown-up" 13 is!