The Boys Predict The Future

I did a terrible job keeping track of our life in 2011. I don't know what's changed but I feel busier and more distracted than I ever have as a mother, wife, and teacher. I am going to be better about writing in 2012- I have to be, because the older I get, the worse my short-term and long-term memory gets. Here's what I have to share about the boys and the Mohs family right now:

- Hunter wants to be a gymnast when he grows up and plans to live in California where he can be close to the American Ninja Warrior tryout course and his favorite ninja warriors. Hunter loves to wear all Under Armour clothing. He has a friend at school, Aidan J., who wears all black Under Amour and Hunter wants to follow suit. Santa bought Hunter a brand new Under Armour football sweatshirt this Christmas. He can pair that with his t-shirt and black pants. Monday is the day of the week that Hunter wears all black Under Armour. In regards to Hunter's future, he does plan to get married. His reason: he doesn't want to live alone. However, talking about future spouses upsets him greatly. There is a lot of blushing and very little information divulged.

- Mason wants to be three things when he grows up: president, a builder (we talked about the word architect), and airplane driver (another vocab lesson- pilot). Mason wants to have ten babies when he grows up. The names: Lucas and Bowser. Nine Lucases and 1 Bowser. He wants to marry Lillian from schoool. Mason is a big kid. He is able to wear clothes that Hunter stopped wearing a little over a year ago. I bet he could pass for a six year old. Right now he finds life with his brother incredibly frustrating. I have spent about half of this break breaking up fights between the two brothers. They enjoy the same things and are always trying to "one up" the other.

- As for me- I swear that the act of my sitting down sets off an alarm in my boys' heads (yes, that includes my husband). The second I sit down, someone finds me and asks me or tells me to do something. Get me a glass of milk. Take me potty. Can you go to the store? Get me. Can you? Get me. Can you? That's pretty much my day at home with these three men.

- As for Mitch- he is playing a lot of Madden on his new Playstation 3. He is also obsessing about trucks and, as always, his I-phone. He also came up with a new show for he and I to watch together- "How I Met Your Mother." We tend to find shows and then watch anywhere from three to seven episodes in an evening. It's kind of our thing :).

Here's hoping that I can continue to update "You" on our life! :)

All I Have Time For- Post #1

Excerpt from breakfast conversation this morning- Monday, October 17th, 2011:

After asking me where his heart is located, Mason said, "Broken hearts.... those aren't such a good idea."

A little later, Hunter shared this profound insight: "God must be really short because he's so old."

Yes, we get pretty deep in our morning conversations. I might not be able to remember how we got from Mason's insight to Hunter's, but I think it's most important that I remember the most memorable parts.

Summer 2011

Because it's really all I have time for, here is a list showcasing the "best of" our summer:

(12) We love the penguin exhibit at the zoo. We enjoy spending whole days at the zoo.

(11) Hunter attended an enrichment class at the Fair School in downtown Minneapolis. Bus picked him up at our house and dropped him off at the end of the program. I watched my boy grow up before my eyes! Mason enjoyed a lot of mommy time.

(10) Fantasy Football draft party #1 and #2 (#3 is happening next weekend)

(9) YMCA Preschool soccer (Mason earned his first medal) and 1st grade soccer (Hunter scored two goals during the season)

(8) St. Louis Park Pool (Hunter, determined to conquer what we call the Wipeout zone, taught himself to swim for the sole purpose of conquering the Wipeout zone; Mason grew a bit braver every time we swam this summer)

(7) We spent 4th of July with my parents and then Hunter and Mason stayed for a few days. They went fishing and went to the pool. They had an all round good time and completely exhausted my parents. They also had so much fun with cousin Hudson.

(6) The Mohs reunion at a YMCA campsite in northern Minnesota. A trampoline on the water and we had our own cabin. Cousins are awesome!

(5) Edina Aquatic Center- this year, the waterslide was a hit. And Hunter almost jumped off the high dive. I'm guessing that will be next year.

(4) The Splash Pad in St. Louis Park. Great park and great water fun! (We basically visited a new park every few days. I like to vary our activities so no one grows bored)

(3) Ninja Warrior. The boys will re-enact this show in my living room, at any park.... basically anywhere.

(2) The Wilderness Hotel- Wisconsin Dells. We love the Wild West side of that world.

(1) The Twins game against the Yankees. I know he is the enemy, but I think Derek Jeter is smokin' hot. And you can't beat the Legends level at Target Field. It is luxurious.

Ultimate #1- Lots of time with family and friends! So much fun! Memorable.

Sleepless Nights

I slept exactly one hour last night. I will blame it on the book I'm reading, one that was recommended to me by my mom. The title of the book is Sarah's Key, which has its backdrop the Vel D'Hiv, a massive roundup of Jewish people, mostly children, by the French police in France in 1942. It has been a very moving read, but I think I was so troubled by the true brutality suffered that I couldn't get my mind relaxed enough to sleep. So, I slept from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. Then got up for a technology class that I had put off taking until now. By the time I came home, I was not functioning to say the least. Thankfully my husband moved some clients around so he could be with the boys while I rested. I was able to tack another hour on. I guess I won't read before bed tonight and I guess I'll medicate myself to ensure that I fall asleep.

Funny thing- I had intended this post to be about the fun summer we've had. I guess you'll have to stay tuned for that. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Gems

Hunter and Mason wanted to talk about college tonight. What did Hunter want to know? He asked me if college is hard and if you have school on Fridays. His best question- "Will wives be at college? Will the wives have my birthday?" Mason said that he will go to college when he grows up and that he's going to play with Jack. Up until now, I've thought that Jack was a friend from school, but according to Mason, Jack is from his imagination. So I guess we have ourselves an imaginary friend :).

Flashback: Hunter 2004

A Snowy Evening Update

Mitch arrived home safe and sound after a weekend at the farm (one of his last as his mother recently sold it). He came home with a lot of stuff, some sentimental and some that went immediately into the trash (he knew it even before he brought it home). We had a lot of fun going through the stuff. Some of the treasures we kept: 5 Mason jars that have taglines, all featuring the name Mason; Mitch's wrestling pins; his yearbooks (with love notes from lots of girls- more on that later); Mitch's tractor/truck set (the boys went wild). We also sat down this evening to look at the pictures his sister-in-law took this weekend, all of the farm- outside and in. Even though I didn't grow up there, I still feel a sense of loss. All of the picture remind me of Mitch's father and my thirteen years as a part of the family have imprinted the farm on my heart and in my mind. We intend to make one more trip to the farm in the next few weeks so we can take a farm picture of Mason and Clare (the two youngest grandchildren in the family). All of the grandchildren have a farm picture, so we need to make sure to include the last two little ones in the mix. Missi, Mitch's oldest sister, has an idea to have Mason and Clare dragging the "For Sale" sign behind them. I think it's a cute idea.

So these girls.... hmmm. It was fun to read the notes former girlfriends and potential girlfriends wrote in Mitch's yearbook. So idealistic in tone. So carefree (but so much drama along with that). I was able to determine a number of threads that held all the notes together. These girls all liked having long talks with my husband; they all had crushes on him; they all wanted to "party with him some time"; they all told him to "never change." Oh, and so many of them had mentioned memories the girls predicted he and they would never forget. Funny thing is, we do forget those high school moments we claim we will never forget. I've noticed that in some of my high school memorabilia. I can no longer recall a lot of what was so incredibly important to me between the ages of sixteen and eighteen.

Mitch and I have been together since 1997. I told him that he and I should write letters to each other. What I would write now, I have no idea, but it's really pretty fun to think about what I could write and then save to read years from now....

Greetings 2011

We put our Christmas tree and stuff away today, much to the boys' dismay. So, in honor of our Christmas season, here's a little pic of the boys with their stockings. As Hunter says, "Christmas will come again when I'm seven and you're four Mason!"