Kung Fu Wm

Today was Wm's first kung fu class. He was REAL pissed about going and insisted he would not have any fun. Then...FUN. He had a blast and can't wait to go next week. I tried to tell him that he never wants to do anything - and always says it won't be fun. Then, when forced to do it, he has super fun and is so happy he did it. Soooo...there's a fairly obvious lesson there. But he just smirked at me evilly.

KUNG FU MASTER

Kickin' a little ass

We have drilled into Wm's head that he is NEVER EVER EVER allowed to tell anyone online ANYTHING other than his first name. And if anyone asks his last name, or even what city he lives in, he is not, under any circumstances, to give out that information. Or any information. Apparently this has worked very well. Wm's favorite activity is to get on his friend from school's server and play Minecraft with him while, at the same time, skyping. So they play Minecraft and chitty chat about important 8 year old matters. He came downstairs this afternoon and goes, "Mommy - Henry wants to know where I live so we can have a playdate. Can I tell him?" I was like, "Of course." And Wm said, "Are you sure it's OK to give out my address?" I reminded him that all his friends know that he lives up the street from the school and Henry is very aware of where he lives - and I do not think Henry plans to kidnap or murder him. Wm goes, "Oh...yeah." 

Wm's Skype habit has also provided me with a new hobby: humiliating Wm. I ran into his room and bust into "uhhhhh weem-away...uhhhhhh weem-away....in the village, the peaceful village, the lion sleeeeeps tooooonight!" Wm furiously whispered, "MOMMY! GO AWAY!" Then, later, he was all, "Don't do that! Henry heard you!!! He asked if that was my mom singing in the background and I had to tell him yes!" Mission accomplished. 

Randomness

Wm's spring break is creeping up on us! I am taking a couple days off with him, so I am looking forward to spring break too!! After school yesterday a mysterious package arrived with Wm's name on it. Of course, he was all over it. He opened it to discover a giant tin shaped like an easter egg filled with Cheryl's cookies in the shapes of baby chicks, bunnies, carrots, and easter eggs. Wm goes, "OH. MY. GOD. There are a MILLION cookies!!!! Where did these even come from????" Upon discovering they were from Mimi and Guy, Wm goes, "Mimi. Of course. She knows I love cookies. And it's early - like Mimi." Ha! I think keeping Steve out of them will be Wm's greatest challenge.

baby chick cookie!

Sorting through all the goodness

When Steve came down this morning, I noticed both he and Wm had blue striped hoodies and khaki pants on. I yelled, "TWINS! Let me get a picture!" And this is how Steve's face rolled:

Steve's face: I will murder your puppies

So then I told Steve he should, at least, try to look like he wasn't a serial killer and he gave me this:

Thinks he is hilarious

When Wm came home yesterday, he told me about this weird concoction they made from candy peeps at Clubhouse.  One of the steps involved microwaving the peeps. And, as everyone knows, when you microwave marshmallow stuff, it gets hugely puffy. So Wm was talking about the "fat peeps" all excitedly and then goes, "OK - after the pat feeps…wait." PAT FEEPS! We laughed so hard Wm gave himself the hiccups. No one else seems to think this is as funny as we do. But…PAT FEEPS! C'MON!!!!! That's awesome.

State Fair

Wm had his big State Fair extravaganza at school today! Without further ado...

Heading out!

Suave.

Showing off to visitors

Genius.

Wm, of course, had the best display. Here he is explaining what is on it:

He is also a tiny Walt Whitman. Here is the poem he wrote about Colorado:

I am Colorado.

I wonder when the Meadow Larks will sing again.

I hear the winter wind blow and whistle across my surface.

I see the columbines grow again in my dreams.

I am Colorado.

I pretend that it's summer, and that the columbines are growing, and the Meadow Larks are singing.

I feel the snow softly land on me.

I touch Kansas, and ask him when he thinks summer will come back, if ever.

I worry that winter will never end on the mountains, and in my river.

I cry at the thought...but wait, is that the columbines starting to bloom, and the call of the Meadow Lark?

I am Colorado.

I understand now how it goes, winter is long, and summer is short.

I say that I am glad to hear the Meadow Larks again!

I dream that Denver will grow, and my population too.

I try hard not to sing along with the birds, and whistle to the rhythm of my river way down below.

I hope that it is a long time until winter comes again.

I am Colorado.

Kitchen Complete!

I finished painting the kitchen cabinets on Thursday and Steve hung the last doors today. So we are DONE! And now, the kitchen finally feels COMPLETE! Steve and I are both really happy with the way it turned out!! It is especially awesome because I took a walk this morning and the guy that bought me and Steve's first house was outside working on it. I stopped and said hello and introduced myself. He took me on a tour so I could see what he has done - and what he plans to do. And, MAN, I had forgotten how tiny that house is and how much work it needed!!! He has redone the bathroom and it looks amazing, but the kitchen looks exactly like it did (only much grimier thanks to the buttface who bought it from us!) when we lived there. Coming home, our kitchen felt so spacious and gorgeous!! YAY complete kitchen!!!!

Now, a tour of the progress of The Kitchen:

What it looked like when we moved in.

New floor and paint!

Jazzy cabinets and tiled backsplash

And now, drum roll, please - the final final. I am SO DONE messing around in the kitchen!

Reader

Today is the Read-a-Thon assembly at school and Wm *may* be a little bit excited:

As you can (maybe!) see from the picture, Wm read enough to get a free Read-a-Thon tshirt (which kids are supposed to wear to the assembly) - as well as a free pizza, free trip to Magic Mountain, and a free (and pretty nice!) Minecraft book. He is currently SUPER into the "Warrior" book series. It's something to do with feral cats. This is making me sad because I am not reading them and he is refusing to read the books I have for us to read (Hiroshima and The Fourteenth Goldfish) so he can continue with the Warrior books. I am all about whatever fosters a love of reading, but I am hoping he's getting near the end of these books soon so we can reinstitute The Book Club.

Nerfday

Wm has decided he wants a nerf gun themed birthday party. All his friends will bring their nerf guns and they will have a "turf war" in the backyard (I guess that's something from Minecraft). So, naturally, I had some ideas….

Me: Omg, Wm, would could get a nerf gun cake and write on it "Happy Nerfday, William!"
Wm: YES!
Me: And we could sing "Happy Nerfday to you, Happy Nerfday to you, happy Nerfday, dear William…happy Nerfday to you!"
Wm: That's a little over the top.
Me: What? Why?
Wm: I was with you on the nerf cake and I think it would be funny to write "Happy Nerfday!" on the cake. But singing "Happy Nerfday!" seems a little excessive.

So, apparently, I got overly excited and need to rein it in.

SO. TRUE.

Summer Shopping!

Mimi took Wm for his bi-annual new season clothes shopping extravaganza! This outing was a whole new experience:
Years 0-5: Mimi and I went sans Wm and had a grand time picking out cute things
Year 5-7: Wm came along to try things on, but was an otherwise passive observer while Mimi and I had a grand time picking out cute things.
Year 8-??: Wm came along to try things on and had INTENSE and DEFINITE ideas about what he would and would not wear.
We also always find cute things to send to Griffin and Evvie too - Wm LOVES shopping for Evvie's clothes. ;-)

Note: that was NOT purchased for Evvie - don't panic

Last night while I was tucking Wm into bed, he asked me what a "sin" was...

Me: Some people's religions believe that god wants them do to certain things and NOT do  other things. The things you are not supposed to do are sins.

Wm: What kinds of things are sins?

Me: There's actually a whole list of 10 for Christian people. I have no idea what all 10 are. But, some are total common sense and some are weird.

Wm: What are they?

Me: Well, there are the obvious ones like don't kill and don't steal. Then there are strange ones like "don't take the lord's name in vain." That means, like, say "oh my god" or "goddamnit."

Wm: Welp, I'm going to hell.

Me: Yeah - AND there's one about honoring your mother and father!

Wm: [sigh]

Me: And there's one about coveting, and I feel like it's more specific, but I can't remember. We can look it up tomorrow if you really want to know.

Wm: What's coveting?

Me: To covet is to want something that belongs to someone else. Like - to be jealous.

Wm: I covet stuff all the time!!!

Me: What could you possibly covet?

Wm: Other people's desserts at lunch.