Why I LOVE this funny Man!

As the resident funny man, a lot of times Ender may get written about in a light that makes him look nuts, but he is really a great, GREAT kid that we love and adore, and this is why:

1-He always makes me smile with his crazy antics and his constant smile. He is happy always and it is contagious!

2-He is a big helper. With Solace at school all day everyday, Ender has really had to step up and help a lot more, and he has done it really well and with hardly a complaint.

3-He is so loving and caring! He really wants to make sure to take care of and love everyone around him. He is also really sensitive to others and overall tries to help people out (this does not apply to his siblings as much, but even them sometimes!)

4-He is, as you all know, HILARIOUS!! I LOVE his sense of humor so much! It is one of the things that keeps me grounded and helps me get through on hard days! Seriously, I cannot tell you how often I am frustrated and having a hard day and he will do or say something that makes me laugh and I can't help but change my mood. Some of my favorite times are when he, Solace & Armour sit down and tell each other jokes. It is so funny how the many of the "jokes" make little to no sense to me, but they all laugh hysterically at them.

5-He loves to be adventurous. He reminds me of his dad a bit here-neither one of them can sit still for half a second! They both want to be up and out doing something fun and adventurous. He is pretty sure he wants to be Indiana Jones and a doctor when he grows up. I am pretty sure that he thinks Wes is secretly Indiana Jones and a doctor.

6-He is a genius! I am not kidding with this one at all! I do not know what will happen when he hits Kindergarten next year-seriously, he already knows everything they will learn the whole year and he is going to be bored. That is really why he acts out at all-boredom! I am trying to teach him to entertain himself quietly while he sits still so he can make it through school! We have talked a lot about making up stories in our heads or counting things around the room, things like that. Hopefully it will help him. (I told him that is what I do to keep thinking and learning even when I already know what they are teaching.) He already reads, is starting to write well (even though he is left handed and has basically been on his own figuring that out as I am really bad with my left hand and as Wes says, his left hand is basically a club), knows basic addition and subtraction and really is just smart. I often say he outsmarts me-I am not kidding, he is smarter than me and it is scary!

7-He seems to be a real natural athlete. Dad goes and plays with him and is amazed by his abilities-get the kids some coaching and he could be a real star!

We love Ender so much and I want to make sure you the readers of my blog get to hear the great things about him, though his funny stories are the ones that tend to make the blog. He is great! I am sure you will continue to read the humorous stories, but just keep in the back of your mind how great he is when you read them!

(And to end on a typically Ender note, I just said "Hey Ender, I just wrote a nice blog about what I love about you, do you want me to read it to you?" He said "Ahhh (like ahhh...cute)...NO. No thanks! But thanks for writing about me anyway!")

My Kissin' Boy

I just want to note that I was surprised by the overwhelmingly negative response about the Ender kissing story. Then when Wes read it he thought I wrote it in such a way that made it sound worse than it really was. So, I just want to make sure to say a couple things. 1-I was just trying to tell the story in a humorous way and set up the Richard Dawson thing just right, and in the process may have made it seem worse than it was. 2-and this is the more important thing, Ender does not kiss people for the reaction, he does it because honestly, he is a genuinely loving and affectionate kid. None of his stranger kissing events were really a huge deal. Even the bagger, though his initial reaction was a surprised mortification, he wasn't too phased by it and he still liked Ender when we went back a few days later! And the other 2 ladies, well, lets be honest, they loved it and it endeared Ender to them!

Like I said, I must have made it sound a lot worse in my attempt to humorously set up the Dawson parallel. Also, as as side note, he is saving his kisses now for family and mostly he is going to save them (and I quote) for his "future wife cause she is the only girl that gets all my lip kisses!" So, watch out family and future wife-I think a lot of love is comin' your way!

Survey Says...

Recently I posted a blog about how I think because of his crazy humor, that I am raising the future of comedy in this child: However, I must tell you that after the past few weeks, Wes and I think we may in fact be raising someone else. Just a couple quick stories of explanation first: The other day I went to the grocery store with my boys and Kindle while Sol was at school. After I checked out, and was paying, Ender ran around to the cashier threw his arms around her and gave her a big hug proclaiming: "Thanks for doing our groceries! You are the best!" Now this nice lady bent down to hug him back thinking he was just adorable. What she did not expect was when she leaned down, it got her face low enough for him to lay a wet one right on her lips. That's right folks, he kissed the checker. So, then we go out to the van and a nice teenaged male bagger helped me out. Ender was by now in the lovely car cart. So, when the bagger finished putting the groceries in the back, I was about to pull Ender out and he threw his arms around the bagger that was right there and said "Thanks for doing our groceries! It's just too hard for my mom to do alone!" And yes, once again kisses the bagger. He, being young and of excellent reflexes was able to dodge a bit and received his kiss on the cheek. He looked mortified.

After this fun experience, we had a big conversation about strangers and personal space. I thought this conversation went well, a lot of dialogue occurred followed by a rousing Q & A, after which I was pretty sure he understood and we were free of the stranger kissing...

WRONG...

So, we go to the baseball game, and there is this probably 50ish-years-old woman, her husband and their daughter sitting nearest to us (2 rows up and over a few seats.) These people were completely amused and entertained by Ender. He was quite encouraged by the response he got from them every time he loudly tried to start a new cheer or trash talk the other team, or yell that he was hungry, or yell "It stinks out here because I have been farting a lot. Maybe it's time to take me to the potty again dad." Yes, they loved his craziness. They had to leave the game early, and this was the conversation:

Lady to Ender "Well, we have to leave, but thanks for sitting near us and talking to us, we loved sitting by you."
Ender: "You don't have to go!"
Lady: "We do, He (her husband) has to work early in the morning."
Ender: "My dad works EVERYDAY early, but we are staying!"
Lady, laughing: "Well, he (her husband) is much older and needs his sleep."
Ender, runs over to her and hugs her and kisses her: "Please don't go!"
Me, mortified: "Ender, remember, personal space."
Lady, laughing harder, to husband who has already stood up and started to go: "Did you see that?" (then to Ender) "Be careful-I think you'll make him jealous."
Ender: "I don't care if he's jealous, it's all his fault you have to go." Kisses her again.
I make him come over to me as the lady and her daughter are leaving and laughing hysterically and telling Wes and I how much they loved sitting near us and our cute kids.

So, you ask, who does this mean we are raising? Him:

For those that are my age or younger, and do not watch Game Show Network, this is Richard Dawson, former host of Family Feud, frequent guest on Match Game, and notorious for kissing everyone...

So, I figure at this point, I am either raising him or Mickey...

First Lost tooth!!

Solace has had 2 loose teeth for about 4 days or so now, and last night mom helped her yank out the REALLY loose one! It is her first tooth she has lost, and she was pretty darned excited. Eli, Wes's cousin that is a dentist, gave Solace this tooth shaped thing that you can put your teeth in when you lose them, and she promptly put her tooth in that, then lost it. So, the tooth fairy will be coming tonight to get the tooth-as soon as we find the yellow case...Here are some pics of the tooth (very blurry), and the tooth-less girl...

B for Baseball...

This week in Mommy school we are doing B for Baseball. I know I said I would post the lesson plans, but I just haven't. I have them written out, but I will have to put them up later. So, for now just enjoy the pictures of our family night field trip to the Royals game on Monday. I have a great story about the game that I will be sharing in another post about Ender. For now I'll say we were in the general admission seats, hardly anyone was at the game, and we had a lot of room to spread out and be obnoxious. The Royals won and we had a great time, though Wes was highly disappointed that we did not leave with a ball...Armour wore Ender's Indiana Jones hat the whole day and wouldn't take it off-you'll see that. Here are a few pics:

Wes, Ender & Indy watching

"Look at my loose tooth!"
Mom & baby
Mom GameTrying to catch a ball
SEA

Sunset Beauty!

So on our walk home from the park, I took some pictures of the sunset from up on the trail while Wes and the 3 oldest kids were down looking in the lake. In a few pictures you can see them on the bottom right side of the pics. It was too beautiful and my pics turned out too well not to share! Enjoy the beauty and be grateful for those beautiful details in nature! I am!

Park Time

We love to go on walks over to the lake & park area near us and play. Here are some pics of one of our latest adventures.

You have to first know here that Ender has decided that he loves dogs. In fact he tries to get us to buy him one daily, and lately on our blogs he has been refusing to go without his puppies. On this particular adventure as I was taking pics of everyone playing, he said "Mom, don't forget to take a picture of my dogs-look how cute they are being! They are just sitting so nicely!" So, here they are: And the kids with their puppies:
Wes running
Wes & 2 kids
Wes & 3 kids

Sisters

My sister just posted this on her blog, which is private, but I wanted you all to see this. Here is what she wrote:

I just had to post these pictures. . . I think Kindle (Beckee's baby) looks just like her big sister, Solace! Here is a picture of Kindle that Beckee posted to her blog recently:

And this is a picture of Solace taken at about the same age (I took this picture):


Don't you think they look alike!? I do!

So, seriously, aren't my girls adorable? And they do look alike, it's true...

As an important side note, I think you should all know that Solace just saw this and said, "Oh-look how cute she is, did you take that (the second picture) today while I was at school? It is SOOOO cute!" When I told her it was actually her she was beyond shocked and she looked at her sister and said "Kindle, we are twins, very, very cute twins!"