Our last summer hurrah!

I have TONS of blogging to catch up on, but I'm going to start with what's most recent in my memory and then work backwards (yeah, like THAT will work, you may as well just assume that any other events of the past 4 months are never to be blogged about ).

Well, we finally did it.  FINALLY.  My little Connor was baptized.  *wah*  Not wah-ing that he was baptized, but that Connor is 8 years old (actually, he's been 8 since January, hence the "FINALLY" part).  Wah.  All I  can say is that when I'm in charge of stuff (like making people and worlds, etc. - it's a religious thing, don't ask) kids are going to age at a MUCH slower rate.  We only have 10 more years with him!  WAH.

NOTE:  Since many of our blog readers are NOT of the Latter-Day Saint religion, we baptize our kiddos at age 8 (as opposed to birth) since we believe that age 8 best represents an age of accountability.  That's what the rulebook says, anyway.  We gave Connor a "one-last-day-to-be-mean-to-your-little-brother" and explained that after he was baptized he'd have to be accountable for how he treated Noah and did he really want to repent EVERY SINGLE DAY???  Yeah well, that didn't work.  Oh, the be-mean-to-Noah-day worked out just DANDY (for Connor, not Noah!), but Connor evidently feels no guilt about having to repent every single day.

Here's Connor's baptism program, so you can feel like you were there (yes, I designed it, gotta keep the creative juices flowing every once in a while).  And because who doesn't want to sing "Follow the Prophet" and all its nine million verses, am I right?

 

But enough Mommy blubbering for now.  Grandma & Grandpa Davis were able to fly in from Idaho for the big event - no wah-ing about that but cheers and hurrahs!  And we crammed a lot of fun into our five short days with them - my mom visits 2-3 times a year, but my dad only makes it out here to the big bad NEW YORK (my dad still can't get over the fact that Hilary Clinton was our senator for a while) maybe once every other year.

After Connor's baptism was over, we realized that everyone had left and we didn't have any family photos together!  But never fear, we were able to set up the camera on top of our car hood (supported by the only support I could find, Connor's "Sir Farts-A-Lot" book, which my mom thought was VERY inappropriate for church photos, but hey what can you do??) and get some oh-so-treasured family memories, like:

Gosh, I am SUCH a pro.  I astound myself.  Actually, I blame it on my camera.  I hate my camera.  I think it may also be to blame for our car's newest clunking sound.  It's also surely to blame for the new, stinky cleanser they use at Carrabbas restaurant.  And probably global warming, too.

Okay, this is better except for BAD Shelby!!  At least you can see her cute dress.

 Awwww, Grandma and Grandpa and my little boy sunshine.

Oh ho, Grandma!  Your respectable and proper German exterior is cracked!  Wait until I set you up on Facebook and make THIS your profile pic!  You'll have to get technologically caught up in a hurry to change it!  *sneaky heh heh heh noises*

And what celebration of Connor's wouldn't be complete with a meal at Koto?  (Connor's favorite hibachi-style Japanese restaurant)  Although this time, we had a VERY in-your-face performing chef and Connor very indignantly informed him, "I think you are too dangerous with that fire!!"  Oy. 

These are my only Koto photos.  Again, I blame the camera.  It should have reminded me to take photos!   Shelby very UNsuccessfully trying her hand at chopsticks (I did NOT photograph the ensuing meltdown).  And Noah's stuffed donkey getting sauce all over it.  Ahhhh, memories….

During Grandpa & Grandma's trip here, we (sans Mark & Shelby) also took a VERY memorable trip down to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see the Joseph production at the Sight & Sound Theatre.  Now, I talked about this place briefly in Noah's birthday blog entry (click here for linky) but I'm going to blab about it again BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE NOT YET GONE HERE YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO.  Hear me, people.  When I have I ever led you astray? 

Look at this astoundingly gorgeous theatre:

Look at the *astoundingly* attractive people who go to this theatre!:

I've seen at least a dozen shows on Broadway, and this stage is twice as BIG (and it uses the side walls and the ceiling and the aisles), and the sets and the singing are every bit as good as on Broadway.  And it has live camels and horses and goats, oh my! 

Look at these astoundingly amazing shots of the show & sets (clearly NOT my photos since they actually are really good):

Here's the website link:  http://www.sight-sound.com.  Go over there AFTER you finish reading my blog and trust me, you will THANK ME.  I will accept cookies and tacos in lieu of money.

As always, Connor and Noah's fondest dreams revolve around a hotel with a swimming pool.   There is no greater joy in their little boy lives than jumping across between hotel room beds (which is why we always have to request a ground floor, y'know, for when they miss the beds or push each other off - THUNK, waaaaaaaaa!):
 

Second ONLY to jumping across beds is swimming (and no, Connor is NOT, in fact, dead - I tried to take a photo of him doing a dive and doing a hand-stand on the bottom, but well, this is what my camera got - YES, it's the camera's fault):

Rest stop bonus!  A downed tree from Hurricane Irene!  Hours of fun for the kids!  Yay!  (well, not really hours, but at least this poor, deceased tree kept them AWAY from the dog poop area, so YAY!)

Has anyone seen or read Diary of a Wimpy Kid?  Remember the cheese touch, the old moldy cheese on the playground that NO ONE can touch for fear of being made fun of and ostracized at school?  Well, at this very rest stop we discovered an old piece of bread laying in the grass, and of course, the BREAD TOUCH was created.  This dreaded affliction followed our family around for five days until at the very last moment possible, the bread touch was given to Grandma's tushie on her way through airport security - so people in Idaho, BEWARE!  The bread touch has left Pennsylvania and New York and has entered Idaho!

Noah then very much needed a nap from his ranting and strenuous poses at the rest stop:

South of Lancaster by only a few miles is the cutest-of-all-cute towns called Strasburg, Pennsylvania.  And THIS is why I ADORE the East Coast - colonial, 200-year old houses like these:

I die.  (Yes, the new season of Rachel Zoe is FINALLY back on and I'm watching delightedly.) And yes, that IS my hand in the camera lens on the top left of the photo, thanks for noticing.  Anyway, these kind of houses with this kind of character do not exist in the west.  I could have taken photos of 50 more and posted them here.  Want me to??  *loves loves loves*

And if the gorgeous old homes aren't cool enough, then check this out….an old cemetery dating back to the 1700's, simply tucked away behind a little church in Strasburg.  I am NOT a history buff and could really care less about history (judge me, go ahead) but even *I* can appreciate this….

A GRAVESITE FOR A SOLDIER FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR!!!!

This cemetery wasn't on any tour maps or whatever, it just looked soooooo interesting (even to me) that I flipped a U-ie in the road and zoomed back to it.  There was just something about it that reminded me of a horror movie set, so naturally that drew me in, but it was SO MUCH BETTER!

And look!  A grave from a Civil War veteran!   OMgosh. 

Even after it was getting dark and even after my much-more-history-appreciating parents were done with the cemetery and went back to the car, I was still wandering around looking at gravestones.  I could NOT get enough.  It was WEIRD!  Me?!??

And an extra-special graveyard moment  - Noah pointed out this cross and asked me, "Didn't some guy die on one of those?"   EEEEEEK.   As Connor loves to say, "EPIC FAIL!"  Not my proudest parenting moment.  As a matter of fact, most of my not-so-proud-parenting moments involve Noah.  Hmmmm.    We gotta get that kid back to CHURCH, stat!

And….presenting the Grand Finale of our trip!   *~*~* WaWa!!!! *~*~*

So, on the way down to Pennsylvania, I missed a freeway exit and we had, oh…..a FREAKING 2-HOUR DETOUR….getting to Lancaster and the Sight & Sound Theatre.   Fortunately, we'd left with exactly 2 hours to spare.  

Thank goodness we had time for a 7-minute lunch at Friendlys where my Dad was able to order his $9.22 fried clam strips!!!!   Only because clam strips were the fastest food they could make, in precisely 45 seconds.  (I asked as soon as we got there, what is the fastest food you have?)  It's a long story, but I had to include this because these ridiculous clam strips (the leftovers of which sat in my car during the 2.5 hour show performance, totally stinking it up!!)  will be *legendary* in our future family tales and memories.

But the golden lining was that by having to take different roads, we discovered WaWa convenience stores!

Okay, so we drive by the first one and I point it out to my dad, "Look at that store!  It's called WaWa!" which I pronounced "waugh waugh".  Which sounded stupid and silly enough.  I mean, it's a weird name, right?  So we chuckled about it and kept driving, and then Connor piped up, "No, it's called Wawa!" pronouncing it "waaaaa-waaaa".  Like crying baby waa-waa, you know what I mean? 

Now, you have to understand, this was *THE* summer for Connor's infamous Aspergers meltdowns during which MUCH waaaa-waaaaing was heard all over the west clear back to New York and every state inbetween.  For Connor to find a store called Waaaa Waaaa was absolutely hysterical to us.  We laughed and joked and screeched with laughter for MANY many detoured miles and it even got us through a miserable traffic jam in Reading, Pennsylania in relatively good spirits.  By the time we FINALLY reached Lancaster, I lamented the fact that I hadn't seen any other WaWa stores because I wanted to get a photo of Connor in front of one.  But THEN, guess what?  There IS one in Lancaster and of course, I had to do another U-ie in the road and flip back around and take a photo of a surprisingly good-natured Connor in front of the WaWa.

And THEN I decided that since we were there already and we had an extra MINUTE, I might as well fill up my car at the WaWa.  And while I was doing that, my dad got out and walked around and to his great delight he found a WaWa gift card laying on the ground.  SCORE!!!   I didn't want to USE it (and besides, it had a $0 balance, yes I checked), but the phrase was hilarious -  "Gotta hava Wawa"???? BWA HA HAH AHH HA HA!!!  For the rest of our trip, the WaWa card was offered to anyone complaining:

"Connor, do you gotta hava Wawa?" 
"Noah, YOU gotta hava Wawa!!" 
"Grandma, do you need the Wawa card??"

 

And it's like the dreaded cheese touch from Diary of a Wimpy Kid - no one wanted the WaWa card and EVERY SINGLE TIME it stopped the kids from complaining further!  Seriously!  It was like a gift from the heavens, this discarded WaWa card.  And even now, 10 days later, IT STILL WORKS!!!! 

Was any of that WaWa stuff funny in the least?  Or was this a "you-had-to-be-there" thing???  At any rate, I tell you, if our house catches fire, the first thing I rescue will be my magic WaWa card!

Conversations with Connor at the Cinema, Part Two

Connor and I went on a Mommy-Connor date to see Pirates yesterday.  And as always, Connor proved to be a most entertaining date.

Connor:  Those pirates really need to learn how to share.

Mommy:  Well, that's true, but that wouldn't be a very entertaining movie then, would it?

Connor:  Doing the right thing is not always the popular thing!

Mommy:  {speechless}

Connor (keenly interested in the voodoo doll segment):  Why can't they make a nice voodoo doll?

Mommy:  Ummmm, what would you do with a nice voodoo doll?

Connor:  I'd be nice to the person's voodoo doll!  I'd get it dressed and comb its hair and brush its teeth!  That would be nice.

Mommy (VERY proud Mommy):  It surely would, my goodhearted little son. 

Connor:  I know if they'd asked the mermaids nicely they wouldn't have behaved like that.  All they have to do is say please!

Mommy (happy to hear that my harping on saying please for YEARS is really getting through to my kids):  True that, my little Padawan.

Connor (after watching Captain Jack Sparrow jump off a cliff):  Well, he's lucky he didn't have to jump off Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, which is in Venezuela, measuring 3,212 feet.

Mommy:  {speechless}

Mommy:  Hey Connor, did you catch that cool booby trap where he grabbed the icicle-thing and the other dude died?

Connor:  Mommy, that wasn't an icicle!  It was a stalactite!

Mommy:  {stuffs mouth with more popcorn, afraid to speak further}

As you can see, since my last documentation of an entertaining date with Connor (click here for that), our conversation....level?....quality?.....has changed drastically.

As my mom said when I relayed her grandcherub's comments, "Well, it's a good thing you have someone keeping you educated!"  Indeed.  I think, anyway.  There's definitely nothing like realizing your 8-year old is smarter than you are.

She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named

So, Tuesday, April 19, might have been my worst day as a parent ever.  And it pretty much revolved all around my little darling….She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Actually, that WAS indeed what we called her yesterday.  Today, I'm *almost* over it, and can go back to calling her Shelby.  Besides, typing out She-Who-blablabla is way too much hassle.

Tuesday morning I found myself messing around on my computer (no surprises there).  Connor was home because it was spring break, and he was messing around on his computer next to me.  Shelby was upstairs, and to my knowledge, playing in Connor's room.  I was looking forward to a very quiet and uneventful day, given that Noah was at Zoo Camp all day.  You see, in our household, if there's a ruckus or argument or any kind of noise, Noah is involved.  I had a friend recently express surprise when I told her that Noah was at the heart of most of our kid ruckuses.  Yup, cute little, wide-eyed, usually smiling and joking Noah.  He's trouble.

Anyway, back to my Noah-free, trouble-free morning.  Shelby was VERY quiet upstairs.  And I KNOW I KNOW!  It's the first rule of parenting, right?  When they're being quiet, it usually means they're up to no good.  I called out to her every 15 minutes or so, and each time she'd answer me, "I'm okay, Mommy!  I'm not done yet!"  Yes, the "I'm not done yet" should have tipped me off.  But it didn't.  I even had a little conversation with Connor that went something like this, DURING THAT very time she was upstairs:

• Mommy:  You know, Connor, they always say when a kid is too quiet it means they're doing something bad.
• Connor:  *smiles*
• Mommy:  But I never had to worry about that with you.  You were a great kid.  So is Shelby.
• Connor:  Noah would get in trouble, though!
• Mommy:  Yup, true that.  Are you sure Shelby is playing with your pyramid set?
• Connor:  Yeah.  She's kind of making a mess, but that's okay.

Yes, that was Connor leading me down the garden path.  No, I'm not blaming him.  Not very much, anyway.

So, after about 90 minutes of quiet from upstairs and quiet computering between Connor and I, I finally decided I'd better go upstairs to check on Shelby.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

That's not really what I said.  If I type what I really said, I think Blogger would flag my blog and delete it.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

There is cat litter.  EVERYWHERE.

It's in the hallway.

It's all over the laundry room (where we keep the litter box).

It's all over Shelby's room.

It's in my master bathroom (clear on the other side of the top floor of our house), all over the floor and piled 3 inches high on the windowsill.

It's in Connor's room, all over the floor and a nice little pile on Connor's lower bed.

In each pile of litter is one of Shelby's stuffed animals, also covered in litter.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

The only place unscathed is Noah's bedroom.  I can't figure that one out, other than the fact that he left his dinosaur set out and it was kind of blocking the door.

For her to have displaced as much litter as she did, she must have carried at least 50 scoops of litter OUT of the litter box in her little VERY BAD hands.  It must have taken her….well…..about 90 MINUTES!  90 minutes of unsupervised time by a VERY BAD Mommy.  No wonder she "wasn't done yet!"   We do have a child-lock on the laundry room door.  And still have baby gates at the top and bottom of our stairs.  Of course, they don't do any good if THEY'RE NOT CLOSED!

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

From my perspective, the only break I caught with this was the fact that the cats had not yet done poopies in the letterbox that morning.  Who knows where those would have ended up.  *shudders*  I can't even go there...

So, I snatch my VERY BAD little She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and wash her hands for at least 5 minutes and then stomp downstairs with her where I firmly plop her in front of the TV and tell her that SHE WILL NOT MOVE HER BODY WITHOUT MY SAYSO. 

I then realize that I cannot reclaim my upstairs without a Diet Coke to sustain me.  A HUGE one.  Probably 2 of them.  And besides, it's almost lunchtime.  And if nothing else (can't claim to be a great hands-on Mom, can I??), I am a champion procrastinator (and justifier).  I need nourishment and Diet Coke if I am to tackle what has happened to my house.

Thirty minutes later and we're back home from a Taco Bell run.  I'm sitting on the living room couch eating my 7 Layer Burrito, and dousing each bite with lots of TB's Hot Sauce (which I LOVE).  I'm also watching Tori & Dean's new wedding plan show.  Told ya - I'm a champion procrastinator.  What better time to catch up on the 3 DVR'd and unwatched episodes of Tori & Dean than NOW, when the upstairs of my house is virtually uninhabitable (for anything other than cats)?   There's one particularly tender moment when the bride comes out and looks so very pretty and everybody starts crying, so naturally I start to shed tears.  This blurs my vision, right in the middle of a douse of hot sauce on my burrito.  My hot sauce MISSES my burrito and lands on my couch.  THE VERY COUCH that just 4 weeks ago I took apart from top to bottom and spent an entire day cleaning and painting and fixing.  ^@%$^^#&^&#!!  The very couch that I FORBADE anyone to eat anywhere NEAR it.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

And yes, I blame that on She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.  I wouldn't have been eating a burrito to drown my frustrations if she hadn't done her litter box relocation projects!

Okay, hot sauce mess gets scrubbed out and I'm back on the couch watching my Tori & Dean marathon, trying not to sit in the wet spot.  Shelby comes in and says (I thought), "My teeth hurt."  She looked so sad that I momentarily forgot about how VERY BAD she'd been and I wrapped my arms around her to hug her and hold her.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

I feel squishy stuff on my arms before I catch the smell.  THIS VERY BAD kid has just had the worst poopie blowout of her little life, with it going all the way up her back and up to her neck.  And now it's all over my arms and shirt.  I know if I ungrip her that it'll get on my AGAIN freshly cleaned couch.  !@$%^&%$^&!$%&^!@%$&!!  So, still stuck together WITH POOP as our glue, Shelby and I make it upstairs to the kid bathroom.  I strip down to near nothingness and then I strip her down, although I just threw her shirt in the garbage.  No way was I even going to try and get the huge globs of poop off of it.  Besides, I just placed several kid clothes internet orders.  She has plenty of shirts, dammit!  I then open the toilet up so I can start wiping her down before I toss her in the bathtub.

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

There is poop smeared all over the toilet!   NOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  @&*$%*&@#&*@#&!!  Noah, who lately has been VERY BAD about wiping his bum BEFORE he slides off the toilet, has left a nice little surprise for me to find later, as if to leave me a memento of him while he's gone away from me at Zoo Camp.  So, I have to hold Shelby with one hand so she touches NOTHING, and use my other hand to scrub down the toilet.

I clean the toilet.  I clean Shelby.  I clean myself.  I clean the bathtub.  I do 2 loads of laundry (despite the cat litter everywhere which I must walk through and which is sticking to my feet - and at this point I'm really wishing I'd cleaned up the ^#@^&$! litter BEFORE eating lunch).  I sweep all non-carpet rooms of litter.  I clean our master bathroom (which was hit particularly hard by litter, for whatever reason).  I vacuum.  And vacuum.  And vacuum.  I get a new vacuum bag out once it's full of litter.  I do this TWO times.  About 4:00 I'm finally done cleaning and I come downstairs, only to discover that there was POOPY on the chair Shelby was sitting in during her blowout. 

HOLY FREAKING HECK.

So I clean up MORE poop.  Because it's what I do.

 

At this point, I call Mark and tell him to pick up Noah and then meet us at Twin Trees restaurant.  Now, just that very morning, we'd agreed to curb our eating out at restaurants to save money for our many trips planned this spring and summer.  Mark naturally begins to protest, at which point I say, " DO. NOT. QUESTION. ME.  DO. NOT."  Mark then wisely agrees to meet us there.   I should explain that I've been researching "true New York pizza" since in our 8 years here we've never had a good pizza.  I know, right??  Anyway, I've compiled a list of 5 supposedly must-try pizzerias in Syracuse, and Twin Trees is the closest.   It's not the #1 choice but I seriously canNOT eat one more time at Chilis or Olive Garden without going postal with a fork.  Seriously.  Syracuse is renowned for bad food (as I've discovered in my pizza research, and after 8 years of my own dedicated research to this cause).

Unfortunately, Shelby wants to sit by me, shrieking "I WANT TO SIT BY MOMMY!  I WANT TO SIT BY MOMMY!"  Yup, a bond forged in poop (literally) is VERY STRONG.  For the rest of the meal, Shelby behaves like an utter terror, so much so that we must have said her name so many times "SHELBY!!!" that one of the waitresses (who was NOT ours) notices one of Shelby's absences (Mark has her in time out) and says, "Oh!  Where is Shelby?"  BUT, She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is on Mark's clock now and all I have to do is pretend that I don't have any kids and that all I have to do is eat this fabulous pizza.  And order 2 more Diet Cokes.  Bliss achieved.

Happily, Twin Trees is very family friendly (meaning it's plenty loud so your kids can be loud, too), AND the pizza actually tastes kinda like my beloved, long-lost pizza from Fredricos in Logan, Utah!  I'm pretty sure it's not genuine NY style pizza, but I'm happy.

HOLY FREAKING HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!

And today, with Noah at Zoo Camp again, actually DID turn out to be my quiet, relaxed nirvana day.  'Course, I DID buy Shelby a new DS game and let her play on Noah's DS all day long.  And locked all of the baby gates.

And um, yeah, I did end up booking my road trip shopping spree for next week that I'd been delaying booking because I felt kind of guilty about it.  Maybe by next week (when I'm 1000 miles away from her), I'll be thanking She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Happy birthday cute little freckley Noahdude!

(Noah saw his name on my computer and asked me to insert "cute little freckley")

And I'm even blogging about it in the SAME month that it happened!  Woohoo Mommy!   Sorry, Shelby & Connor, that I haven't gotten around to your January birthdays yet.  But I'm aging and I gotta go with what's fresh in my memory.  It's tough being……29.

Anyhow, here's my happy little 6 year old Noahguy.  Boy oh boy do I love this kid.  I love his goofy personality and his little elf face and his huge blue eyes.  I love that he's all boy and tells obnoxious poopie and toot and burp jokes.  I always wanted boys and BOY OH BOY did I get lucky with my 2 fabulous boys!

Moving on, NO, this is not a photo for "Find the kid in all the mess, if you can!"  But I think it's really fun when people put baby photos of their kids on their birthday blog entry.  Unfortunately, I'm not that organized at the moment and all of our old photos are still on our old computer.  However, I came across this gem, from when Noah was about 2.  Obviously, he'd tipped over in his little toddler rocker and was too lazy to get up by himself (or stop drinking from his sippy cup).  But you can tell he'd been crying about his predicament since his face is pretty red.  Springing to action is SUPERMOMMY, always ready with the camera to first document the treasured and potentially embarrassing moment and only THEN offer assistance.  So, that's that for the baby photo.  I LOVE this photo!

Back to the morning of April 6, 2011 - marking the 6th birthday of NOAH!  Here's Shelby and Noah running into the kitchen first thing in the morning to see what the birthday table looked like.  I LOVE Shelby's face here (click to blow it up).  Oh, and I take no responsibility for Noah's attire (or lack of).  He likes to dress himself and on his birthday morning he deemed underwear and his Yankees cap Dressed Enough.  Yes, Noah's little 6 year lifetime dream is to be able to live naked.  We worry for his future sometimes.  But at least he had on underwear, so we counted ourselves as blessed.

Speaking of worrying for the future, check out this shot of Mark and Connor.  It's worth clicking on it to blow it up bigger.  Are they exact replicas of each other or what? Ay yi yi.  I don't know whether to laugh.  Or weep?

Okay, a couple of notes here - 1) YES, this is still the camera from Christmas (oh wait, you didn't read about my new camera from Christmas that I don't know how to use because I haven't blogged about Christmas yet either!  Crap!) that I don't know how to use and everything inside with a flash is always yellow.  2) YES, our family birthdays look the same every year.  A few party store decorations around our kitchen table and balloons.  You've seen this scene at least a dozen times here on our blog over the years, right?  We seriously need to remodel.  Or move.  Or celebrate a birthday somewhere in some other way that is NOT in this room.  Tell ya what, our next birthday celebration blog documentation will be in our laundry room.  Or Tahiti.  One of the two.

Back to Nakey Noah (one of his many nicknames, though this one was most apropro for today, no?), here's him working on his MarioKart cake.  He looks so skinny!  I think I caught him right on the inhale.  Someone get that skinny kid some birthday cake!

Speaking of apropro, I saw this book and immediately thought of Noah.  And yep, it was a hit. 

What was NOT a hit were the 2 sets of nighttime goggles!  Neither Connor nor Noah liked them.  Yeah, Noah, using your goggles to look at the downstairs bathroom wall is NOT really what they were intended for.  What the heck is wrong with these kids?

At least Shelby liked the goggles!

And no birthday would be complete for Noah without a video game gift...

Another birthday treat for Noah was being able to watch TV BEFORE school.  This is a VERY. BIG. DEAL.  And whaddya know?  Spongebob is on at 8:00am.  Happy birthday to Noah!  (Notice Noah also wearing his favorite bright green argyle socks - aren't they magnificent?)

Unfortunately for him, having a birthday did not exempt Noah from school, so we brought the birthday to him at school with some MarioKart cupcakes that were a big hit in Kindergardenland.  We also met Noah's intended, Adrianna.  They've been engaged for about 3 months, as it turns out.  Evidently EVERYONE in Kindergarden knew about it, including Noah's teacher.  Welcome to the family, Adrianna?  I guess??  I bet he hasn't told you about his dream to live nakey, has he??

We'd told Noah all morning that he had to wait to get his "big present" until after school.  So, speeding out of Kindergarden, Noah and I headed for the mall and went to Build a Bear Workshop!  Yup, Noah's dream (aside from being naked in public places) for the past few months has been to have a teddy bear.  I ignored that request at Christmas, figuring he didn't really want a teddy bear - I mean, huh??!?  Anyway, no wonder the stupid $99.00 Big Foot Robot he got for Christmas was played with only once and just taken to the Goodwill last week!  *grouch grouch grouch*  I guess he was serious about a teddy bear.  Fortunately, Build a Bear was hit and Noah built his dream teddy bear.

So, Noah's dream teddy bear wears a Harley Davidson t-shirt, camouflage shorts, has a skateboard and skateboard helmet and related gear, features a Light Saber on his wrist and plays Star Wars music from his foot.   Noah couldn't decide what macho theme his bear should have so he picked some of everything.  Oh, and……..wait for it……..Noah named him…….CAREBEAR.  Yes, Carebear.   The Build a Bear clerk about choked on her drink when Noah told her the name of his macho-looking bear.

To follow up on how Carebear has adjusted to life, the bear itself costs $18.  All the accessories and clothes and crap took our total up to $72!!!  Carebear is now living Noah's dream for him by residing on his bed NAKED, with all the stupid clothes & crap lounging in a drawer.  Yep, another $50 well spent.  NOT!

Another birthday tradition for Noah is seeing a movie.  And he always wants ME to take him (as opposed to Mark).  I generally hate kids movies.  BUT, I won't pass up an opportunity to drink a 64 oz fully-loaded Diet Coke, so lucky me got to see Hop with Noah. 

And, another Noah birthday tradition, Noah wanted to leave the movie halfway through.  Well, BELIEVE ME, so did I, BUT I hadn't yet finished my Diet Coke or popcorn, so I made Noah & Carebear stay for the whole glorious dumb movie.

Finishing up our birthday day, we celebrated in fine style at Dennys, Noah's favorite restaurant.  There's not much I can say about this.  It's Dennys and it leaves me completely uninspired and even a little nauseous.  But hey, it's all about the kids, right?  *plasters on fake smile*

Sadly, in the end, April 6, 2011, was a bittersweet day for Noah.  It was the birth of naked and overpriced Carebear.  But we also had a death that evening.  Our Wii died.  On Noah's birthday.  Could that timing be any worse?  Oh, I don't know, let's see how Noah handled that:

 The weekend before Noah's birthday we did a little getaway trip.  We went to see a production called "Joseph" (not the Technicolor Dreamcoat version, but it was still fabulous) down in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at a phenomenal theatre called Sight & Sound with a stage twice the size of any Broadway stage (plus they use the side walls, the ceiling and the aisles) and JUST as spectacular as any Broadway show I've seen.  Seriously, New York peoples, get your tushies down there and go see a show at this theatre.

Naturally, despite the sensational show and even tooling around Hershey Pennsylvania for a bit (yes, HERSHEY as in chocolate - no the town does NOT smell like chocolate, but the Hershey-kiss shaped street lanterns ARE really cute), the highlight of the trip was staying in a hotel with a swimming pool.  Oh, and watching TV from bed - the ultimate luxury:

I want to write more about Sight & Sound theatre, but I'm pooping out.  I stayed up too late last night drinking caffeine and shopping online.  Here's some more pics.  They're pretty self-explanatory and you don't really need me to blab more, do you?  You just lost another 20 minutes of your life listening to me blab.  And yet look.  I'm STILL blabbing!  And you're still here!   *evil laugh*

A few days AFTER Noah's birthday, Noah got a second birthday cake!  Noah's church class teacher, Sister Theler, made him a cake!  Aside from a naked (but camouflaged!) bear and a hotel with a swimming pool, getting a SECOND birthday cake was one of the most fabulous things to happen to Noah for his 6th birthday.  Wowie!

Happy birthday to my little awesome Noahdude!  (and yes, that is his DS, pretty much permanently attached to his arm)