My Big 8 Year Old

My Christian D turned the big "8" on June 1st. What happened to my first little sugar man? He's starting to grow hair on his upper lip, and I have to make him put on deodorant every morning! Could this really be happening? Christian is an awesome kid who has made, almost the last decade of my life, a fun ride. He's smart, and more importantly, clever. He's got a mouth on him that either wants to make you smack it or kiss it. Seriously, I think we have a natural born lawyer on our hands. His personality gets along great with mine. We're both sarcastic, we both get it, and we can both laugh it off. The fact that he makes better points than I do in an argument is somewhat scary. He's honest, kind, and quick to comfort when he knows someone is upset or hurting, whether it be physically or emotionally. Christian is everything and more when it comes to what I dreamt a son would be like.

Once again, this year, he had a few birthday celebrations. First, in his classroom, I brought in goodies, and the class had a little birthday celebration. Again, this year, like last year when I subbed in his class, I had two girls come up to me and say, "Mrs. Romo, I think Christian is really handsome." For real, what's up with these brazen little girls? What am I going to do in a few years? Maybe I should be like Bobby Bouché's momma in "The Waterboy" and tell him that "girls are the devil!" I don't want to think about those years yet.

Next, he had a birthday dinner at Peter Piper Pizza. I would rather go to the dentist and get a root canal than go to Chuckie Cheese or Peter Piper Pizza, but that is what he picked for his special day. I must say their pizza is better than Chuckie Cheese, and they give out more tickets so kids can get better prizes. It was bad, however, because my little bottle of antibacterial gel in my purse was gone...oh, the grossness. He had fun, though.

So lastly, we just had an actual birthday party at one of the rec. center pools with his friends. They had a great time, and Christian got sunburnt to a crisp. I'm a bad momma who only focuses the sunscreen use on her very pale children (Coy). To wrap it up, Christian had a fun, long birthday celebration, and I've cherished every one of the eight years I've had with him. I didn't know what joy was until I had this kid.

CD Ro Then...

CD Ro Now...

Coy's Preschool "Gradulations"

A few weeks ago, Coy had a little farewell graduation ceremony for preschool. The kids sang a lot of cute songs and showed us parents what they have learned in preschool. For a second there, I got a little teary-eyed thinking of him being in kindergarten next year. It seems like yesterday he was just my little q-tip baby, and now, he is the comedian of the family. I really felt it was important for Coy to have two years of real preschool because he seemed to be tougher to teach than Christian was. Whenever I tried working with him, he would get frustrated, as would I, and it would quickly turn into a very unpleasant learning environment. Looking at him today, it's amazing to see how far he's come, even in just the last year. He loves to do his "schoolwork", and he begs me constantly to print off all sorts of preschool worksheets from some very helpful websites. He's very proud that he can do all of these things on his own now. He's on his way to reading, and I'm so glad that we made the investment in his preschool experience. He not only had incredible, loving teachers who knew just how to work with him, but he was also able to learn and experience some important biblical truths.

This is Coy's future wife, Kylie.

Coy had his big speaking part...

Kiddos in Action

John's been having lots of fun with the new handycam.

Some Moments in May

Lots of pictures; not much to say.

Corinne settled on this pair after pulling out all the shoes I own.

Poor Apollo; Corinne is the only one who pays attention to him.

Coy with a pirate face at a birthday party.

Christian received the student of the month award for academics at his school in May. He's always been such a smarty; I'm very proud of him.

Here's Coy's preschool water party. Some firefighters were spraying the hose up high, and the kids loved it.

Well, Corinne didn't love it because she said the firemen were going to take her to jail. She has her public service officials confused. And yes, I have told her that policemen do more than just take people to jail.

Coy loved the pretend rain until the uber amount of sunscreen I put on him got in his eyes.

John and I living dangerously by taking pictures while driving on the freeway.

Hey look, mom, I can drive with my eyes closed.

Jay and Katie

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Jay and Katie, graduated from UNLV a few weeks ago together....so sweet. It was a long, stressful road, but they finally finished. We're very proud of them. It was also pretty cool that Jay was the only one I saw hobbling across the stage on crutches. It added some character to the day.

He's our special boy (John, not Jay).

Debbie, Jay, and Katie

Tony and Diana with Jay and Katie

Mother's Day

Yep, Mother's Day was almost a month ago, but my blog motivation has been dismal. I was spoiled this year, once again. I wondered why John crawled into bed at around 5:00 am on Mother's Day. After going downstairs I understood why. After getting home from work late, he went to the store, then stayed up for the next few hours trying to make some yummy masterpieces. I found in the fridge John's version of an Edible Arrangement along with a ton of chocolate covered strawberries he had made. There were flowers and balloons sitting on the table for me, and a note on every little thing telling me why he loved me and what made me a good mom. Oh yes, I almost forgot the huge chocolate cake waiting for me to devour it on the counter. He knows my overwhelming weakness for chocolate cake; seriously, I dream about it; I have a problem. John then, as exhausted as he was, helped me get the kids ready for church and got us there on time. After church, He and the kids took my mom and I to the Bootlegger for lunch. I had a Mother's Day filled with food. We all know how food makes a girl happy. I spent the rest of the day with my mom and the kids. They all made this day very special for me. I have a wonderful mom and the best kids that were ever knit together in a womb :-) ...what a blessed lady I am.