The boys got their first dose of the Pfizer covid vaccine this morning! Our pediatrician’s office was extremely well organized and celebratory. We are so happy!

My little guy turned 8 years old this month! He can legally ride in a car without a booster seat, like a fully formed human. We've been talking about baptism and letting him know he can decide to do that now. But we all would prefer to wait until he is fully vaccinated.

Just for fun, here's a link to his 8 month blog post. Look at those cheeks! I'm happy to report he has been sleeping through the night for the past few years! Hurrah! Hmm, stubborn and wanders off to do his own thing? That hasn't changed much. Now he's a spacey kid and hard to snap to attention. He'll look at you without hearing what you are saying, or wander off mid task with item in hand, completely forgetting what he was asked to do. He's still smiley, funny, creative, and fun to be around!

He celebrated his birthday with a small outdoor party that was Minecraft themed. He started by having his best friend over for indoor video games - a treat he hasn't been able to do in over a year! Of course they were masked and I opened all the windows and set up fans to blow fresh air around while they played. They loved it so much, they were a little dismayed when it was time to start the party outside!

Sam started with presents and snacks. Then they made Minecraft character keychains with perler beads.

There was an item matching game with cards hidden in the balloons.

Everyone got a couple turns with the pinata before Desi was let loose. He annihilated the creeper, as expected.

The kids hunted for little containers of ingredients to craft the birthday cake. I found little food items to represent the milk, eggs, wheat, and sugar, that you need to use in the game to craft a cake.

Cake time! Sam asked for a cake that looks like the one from the game. I think it turned out great! It was chocolate cake with strawberry buttercream. A little marshmallow fondant and squares of Fruit Roll-up were used for decoration. We employed the hygienic method for blowing out candles: using canned air.

A brewing thunderstorm ended the party right on time. Sam was feeling a little worn out from all the friends and eating too much junk food. He recuperated shortly and we opened his family presents.

That was all on Saturday before his birthday. Sunday was a quiet day at home. Monday the 13th was his actual birthday. I made him chocolate chip pancakes with peaches for breakfast before school.

That morning I left for GJ to help mom with her knee surgery. Sam had a good time at school and an indulgent time at home with the Ben and Jack. I hear there was pizza and video games, to no one's surprise. He had a good birthday all around.

Here's some pictures I took last week. Nothing remarkable, just a slice o'life.

I love dancing again! I've been trying to do two classes a week all summer, and so far am keeping it up since school started.

In Zumba Wednesday night my teacher filmed one of the routines and I asked for a copy. It's a super old song and I've done at least 3 versions with different instructors over the years, none of them recently. So I was a little rusty! I love when they put old routines in playlists though.

Here's a short clip of the dance. I'm wearing all black and the mask on the left. My friend and instructor is center in the white tank top.

I tried putting that one directly into wordpress, so I hope it plays for you. Here's the full video on youtube. It got a copyright claim with the music, I apologize if it plays annoying ads as a result.

Sam has had several loose teeth for months. He finally wrestled one out yesterday after school.

This was a special tooth, a Siamese twin tooth! We identified it when he was a baby. The dentist told us it’s a single tooth that had a fusion, so it looks like two teeth from above the gum line. He assured us that a single tooth would erupt below it. It’s time to test his theory!

(He got the regular $5 plus $1 for this fancy tooth specimen)

Gross tooth photo warning. ⚠️

If you are not into that the post ends here!

Twin tooth:

Yay! Jack started middle school this year. He gets the ride the bus! Hurrah! He's happy to have a friend and some classmates from elementary on the bus with him.

Today was all orientation for 6th graders. Jack came home brimming with excitement. There were definitely nerves, but overall he seems psyched. He has friends in almost every class, including 3 classes with a friend he made in the summer camp program. He raved about his science teacher, who entertained them with pyrotechnics during their brief orientation period. He said math might actually be a challenge this year, since he is in the accelerated 6th & 7th grade math class. He's also taking Western Hemisphere studies, English/Language Arts, orchestra, and PE.

Sam is in third grade this year. He had a good day with no real surprises. It seems like he only has minor changes to his schedule and routine from last year. He said his new teacher even reminds him a lot of his second grade teacher, in looks, manner, and teaching style. She seems great to me, very experienced and easy going. Sam's best friend is in the same class again - yay! The school had some renovations over the summer, so at least that was new to him!

Sam was more resistant to me taking pictures than Jack was. He blandly obliged me with these pics, and then ran off to start the year.

Me? I had a fabulous day! I cleaned the house and it STAYED CLEAN. I indulged in some quiet morning time watching three new k-pop music videos that dropped last night and DIDN'T GET INTERRUPTED ONCE. I'm talking, like, 12 minutes in a row!

I made a new recipe, S'mores cookie bars. I love having fresh baked cookies ready for the boys after school. I usually bake on Wednesdays, but why not celebrate the first day? I got out my mixer and reached for my headphones, before remembering that I was all alone. I put the headphones back and pulled out a loudspeaker. It was really fun to crank up my music and dance and bake.

Cleaning, laundry, working, and reading made up the rest of my quiet day.

If I wasn't still suffering from an SI joint spasm it would have been an A+ day. This lower back pain pops up 1-3 times per year ever since my pregnancies. I already saw my chiropractor twice and have been throwing all my therapies at it (ice, heat, anti-inflammatories, rest, yoga, foam rolling, etc). I'm much better than when it flared last Wednesday, but not 100%. Dang, because I was thinking I could do a hip hop class in Boulder tomorrow morning while the kids are in school. Maybe next week ;-)

The kids wanted to share some magic tricks. I don't think a lot of practice or preparation went into these, but it's fun anyway :-)

The day he has been waiting for is finally here. Jack got braces today!

They put on a top set and will do the bottom layer. 18 months to two years of treatment, then a retainer to maintain. He’s so excited to be “full nerd.”

Caveman, words provided by Betty and Rick.