7 Things About My 7-Year-Old...

1. He has an incredible head of white hair. Seriously, where did that come from? Sometimes I still look at his tow head and think, "Is he really mine?"

2. He has passion. Sometimes it's almost too much to handle, but he knows what he wants, and is very passionate about his likes and dislikes.

3. He is an excellent big brother. He has been known to pick on the little guy now and then, but overall, he is very loving to Lewis.

4. He is confident in his abilities - sometimes a little too confident.

5. He has an artistic flair. He likes to do crafty things and draw pictures. He also cares about his hair and his clothes. I believe he will be budgeting for hair products as he gets older.

6. He loves to catch frogs and snakes and other creepy crawlies. And then he creates tunnels and caves and such in the aquarium for them.

7. Though at one time I thought he'd be the one wanting to be the center of attention all the time, he actually often gets embarrassed by attention. I can remember after he scored a goal at a soccer game, he put his hand over his face to hide his giddy smile from the cheering parents.

(The turtle cake in the picture is courtesy of Corey's mom. We were in Nebraska on his birthday.)

Good-bye Snow, Hello Soccer

Now that we can see our grass again, the soccer balls that have been sitting lonely in the garage all winter, are back in play. After a winter like we had this year, I could sit outside and watch them kick the ball around for hours. Both boys loved playing soccer so much last fall that they decided to be in the spring league too. So, soon we will be going to soccer practices and games. One of the benefits of having two boys pretty close in age is that they can be on the same team! That significantly cuts down on the craziness of being involved in an extra-curricular activity!

The Joys of Parenting

We potty-trained Lewis in January. He caught on super-.
quick to peeing in the potty, but he would prefer to poop in his pants. If I'm paying attention, I know when he needs to go, and I get him to the potty. Otherwise, the little turkey does the job in his pants and then comes to Corey or me and says, "I pooped."
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He said that to Corey last night, and Corey very sternly told him that he is not to poop in his pants. Lewis looked at him with those innocent eyes of his and said, "You still like me?" I had to turn away, because I couldn't keep a straight face. Corey went on to explain that Yes, he does still like Lewis, but he doesn't like it when he poops in his pants, because poop goes in the potty, not in the pants. The he took away Lewis' sword and mask and told him he was going to have to stand there in his poopy pants for a few minutes before he was changed into clean ones. Lewis then looked at Corey and said, "I don't like you."
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He is quite the character.

Mom of the Year

If there is such a thing as a "Mom of the Year Award," I have it in the bag. All you ladies who think you might deserve such an honor have obviously not heard about the amazing things I have done thus far in 2010.
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Keep in mind that it is not even mid-march yet, and I have done two things that should put me way ahead of the competition. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will be familiar with my first feat.
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Drum Roll... I sent my six-year-old to school with a broken arm. Yes, my dear middle child, Owen, broke his arm on a Thursday afternoon, and I, his very loving and concerned mother, did not take him to the doctor until Saturday morning. In my defense, this child, whom I am quite confident will win an Oscar or at least a People's Choice Award someday, can, with just the shear volume of his scream, make you think a papercut is a severed limb. So, I have taught myself to wait until the drama dies down to determine whether the situation is serious or not. Turns out this one was serious. Oops.
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My second accomplishment occurred just this morning at the dentist. Another Drum Roll...I was told Carter has an abscessed tooth. WHAT?!? I guess a chip in a molar led to a cavity, which let to an abscess. How did I let this one slip by me? Well, when he complained about the pain, I looked in his mouth and found a little sore. I thought it was probably a canker sore. Wrong. It was drainage from the abscess. Loving mother that I am, I gave him some Tylenol a few times, and told him it would eventually go away. Well, the pain did go away, but not because the sore healed; it was because his tooth DIED!!! I let my son's tooth die. I guess the good news is, it's a baby tooth, so we will have a fresh start with a permanent one eventually. But for the time being, I have a boy with a dead tooth and I feel like a poophead of a mother for not getting him checked earlier.
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So, there you have it. Kimberly Kaye Harms, Mother of the Year

Broken Arm Story

Sledding Hill

Doctor's Office

Win I got a brocin arm I was sleding. I went down a soopr fast hill with a ramp in the mitll. But win I got down, I crasht in a tree, and then I wit to the hospidll and the doctr. I had a brocin arm. Then I had to git a cast. The end. By: Owen Harms

I think this little story with pictures is absolutely adorable. It is definitely a keeper. Those pictures on the wall are his x-rays, and there was a skeleton in the room where he got his cast put on, in case you are wondering who the strange looking dude is in the drawing. And check out the ramp on the top picture. It's pretty amazing he didn't break more than just an arm flying off of that thing!

LOST & SURVIVOR

I don't like a lot of television shows. I get irritated by all the unsavory humor in the sitcoms, I can't handle the disturbing story lines in most of the "cop" shows, and even the thought of watching the "Desperate Housewives" type of a drama makes me want to puke. But there are two shows I love! You might even say I have a slight obsession. Those shows are SURVIVOR and LOST. I have seen all but one season of Survivor, and am in the process of watching LOST for the second time through on DVD.

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On Monday nights, Corey and I have a small handful of young people (whom we've gotten to know well through Corey's work with the youth group at church) come over for supper, some Wii playing with the boys, and some LOST. After the boys go to bed, we watch 3 or 4 episodes. I'm not sure how it became a Monday night event, but it is loads of fun. And dinnertime is a great preparation for me for when my boys are older. Feeding a couple teenage boys is quite interesting. (If you happen to read my blog, Andy, I have no idea where all that food you eat goes.)
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I don't know why I love these shows so much, but I could sit on the couch with some snacks and watch either one for hours. I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle being a contestant on Survivor, but then again, I was pretty sure I wouldn't survive two nights on the Super Hiking Trail, and I was fairly concerned about falling off of a cliff into the Pacific on the Kalalau Trail, and I lived to tell about each of those adventures. So, maybe I could live on coconuts and bugs with a handful of strangers for 39 days. But I'm not going to apply, so I guess I'll never know for sure. And as far as LOST goes, the good vs. evil thing along with all the "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" type of connections has totally drawn me in; that and the cool accents and all of Sawyer's great one-liners.

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Anyway, I will watch Survivor until they finally decide to take if off the air, and someday down the road, I will likely watch all the seasons LOST again, but I doubt there will be many shows in the future that will capture my attention like both of these have.
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And, on a random note, I have discovered as I have watched these shows that Jeff Probst (host of survivor) and Richard Alpert (forever young Other on LOST) look remarkably similar. Their photos are above. What do you think?

Matching "Musnashes"

Grandma and Grandpa took Lewis to DQ, and he came back with this awesome musnashe (as he likes to call it.) Grandparents are great for buying the kids things from those little machines that I always avoid.