Today my baby turns seven. We had his birthday party yesterday since it was a holiday. A lot of people showed up and we had about a zillion kids running around, jumping and playing football. Butterfly bought Echo Mentos and Diet Coke so the kids had a ball exploding them. Karin sent a package that included a bag of goodies to share. That was wonderful because everyone got a present! Mike was in charge of the BBQ and made hot dogs, chicken and ribs. All in all, it was a great time. We didn’t get around to the pinata because we ran out of daylight… or did the grownups just run out of energy? Either way, we are going to do it tonight, on his REAL birthday. I almost cried when we did Echo’s cake.

Mike: Did you make a wish?
Echo: Yes, and it already came true. I have a FAMILY!

How sweet is that? He was really proud of his ‘Birthday Book’ and showed it to everyone. The first half is made up of pictures of his life so far. The second half was all the mail he received over the past month. We’ll add a few of the photos taken at his party as well.

Echo’s 7th Birthday on flickr: set | slideshow

Related: Echo’s 6th Birthday, 5th Birthday, 3rd Birthday

best card ever from kristyk on Vimeo.

Thanks to everyone who made this one of the best birthdays ever. My sister came over last night with this AWESOME card and a stack of gossip magazines. During the day we went with Echo on his field trip to the Fair. He is such a cutie. I can’t believe how well he behaved!

Mike and I don’t agree on Echo’s hair.  Mike never wants me to cut it. I agree that he looks cute with longer hair but the boy does NOT want his hair washed or brushed. He ends up looking like he crawled out from under a rock somewhere. At the fair, Mike had to sit down and rest all the time. After a few minutes we would catch up to the class and find another place to sit. It was always easy to pick Echo out of the crowd. “Just look for the boy with long hair,” Mike said. “He’s the only one!”

The kindergartners had to pair up and hold hands the entire day. They lined up behind the teacher, swinging their little arms. Adorable! Echo’s partner, a little boy I didn’t recognize, kept staring at Echo. He kept telling Echo how pretty he was. LOL… A couple of times, he asked if he could kiss Echo. Echo was making a million faces and rolling his eyes. I asked them if they were having fun and the boy said, “Yes. He is soooooooo pretty!”

Mike thinks it is time for Echo to get a haircut.

SNMSF 2009 on flickr: set | slideshow

Echo has to be one of the funniest kids I’ve ever met. He has such a wild imagination! Sometimes I’ll lay down with him and cuddle and he’ll tell me stories until he gets tired. This is how our conversation went last night:

“Mom, do you know what jail looks like on the inside?”
“No.”
“Neither do I but I made a plan to find out. The next time we go through the border check… You know, where they ask you questions? Next time when they ask if you are a citizen tell them you are German and they will put you in jail. Hide your phone in your pocket and after you see what it looks like, call the police and tell them you aren’t really German. You are actually a citizen, a SENIOR citizen. They will check you and when they see your gray hairs they will let you out.”
“Why don’t I just tell them I’m a US citizen?”
“Mom. They won’t believe you. You don’t look like a United States but you do look like a senior so just say that and everything will be  fine.”

Mike’s dad is buried in the cemetery in Deming, about an hour’s drive away. We rarely go with the kids. In fact, the last time (before Andy died) was in 2006. Now it’s different. Andy was such a huge part of Mike’s life. He isn’t ready to let that go and we’ve been to the cemetery many times to visit. I took the kids with me just before school started. We visited Andy’s grave and I decided find Mike’s dad. I didn’t remember where exactly he was buried so we started looking. There had been a storm the night before and flowers were scattered around. “Don’t mess with the flowers,” I said. The last thing I wanted was for them to take flowers that were meant for someone else.

Echo took off running ahead of me and stopped by a headstone. He started picking up the flowers that were on the ground. “Echo, STOP.” “But Mom, these are for my GRANDPA. He wants me to fix them.” When we got to the other side, I realized that the headstone belonged to Mike’s dad. Wow.

Even though he was dead long before they were born, the kids always talk about Grandpa Victor. That is a testament to Mike’s family because they still talk about him all the time. He is a huge part of the family even though he isn’t there anymore. Last night was Open House at the school. I made the rounds of the classrooms, checking things out. Butterfly’s class made posters about themselves. One section was about something they wanted to do. Butterfly’s said ‘I want to meet my Grandpa Victor‘.

Mike and I took his mom to Deming later that week. She loved the story about Echo and the flowers and talked about it several times. She is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and we are used to her repeating things. When we got to the cemetery, she did the exact same thing. “I can’t remember where your dad is buried. Look! The flowers are down. I need to fix them. Oh! It’s Victor’s grave!” It was funny in a very sweet but sad way.

Yesterday I went to visit Mike in Deming. Naturally, we stopped by to visit Andy. The wreath that we put there just a few days ago was gone. It had been moved to the grave right next to his. We left it there and wondered… Had the family taken it on purpose? Or had the wind blown it away? Maybe the groundskeepers had found it and returned it to the wrong spot. We went for a walk and noticed a car parked behind our van. The family inside gathered around a grave, the same grave with Andy’s wreath. Mike kept stopping to watch them. I already knew what he was thinking. He wanted to see if they would take flowers or not. They didn’t. We headed back to the van and Mike stopped.

“Was that man in our van?”
“No. Why would he be in our van?”
“Look. He’s walking away from it with a little boy. I know he was by the van. Did you leave the door open?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe. I don’t know.”

The passenger side door of the van was wide open. When I walked to the van and looked inside, there was a little pile of flower petals and leaves on the floor.

disposable camera

If I hide, will I disappear? No? Oh well… Today was a rough morning. Echo didn’t fall asleep until 9:45 last night so he was beyond grouchy this morning. He went from one bed to another trying to avoid school. I finally had to dress him and put his shoes on while Mia held his legs because he was throwing a huge fit. If you haven’t heard one of his tantrums, it is actually kinda funny. He says ‘Waaaahhhhh’, enunciated very clearly over and over. People don’t really cry like that! Anyway, it wasn’t funny this morning because I had to carry him to school and hand him off to a cafeteria monitor. Embarrassing.

Mica and Mikal usually get a ride to school with Mica’s friend but this morning Mica left for school on her skateboard without asking/telling me. The other girls never showed up for Mikal and Mica wouldn’t answer her phone. She knows she is in trouble already! I had to take Mikal to school and she was *almost* late, which was TERRIBLE. Mikal is all about following the rules, for now at least.

The good news is that the kitten under our house is improving. I’ve seen it running around a bit. Every morning I sit by the hole under our house and talk to it before leaving some food and water. Usually it stays out of sight until I leave. Ten minutes later the food is gone. But today, it poked its nose out and watched me while I talked. Maybe it is finally learning to trust me a little.

Also, this weekend our car broke down in Tularosa. Mike thinks the alternator is bad, but he is working and I don’t know what to do about it. I hope they don’t tow it away.

I stuffed the mail in my purse and loaded up in the van with Echo to go to the store. Mike needed jalepenos ASAP for his salsa. The keys. Where were the keys? I left Echo and went to get the keys from the house. When I came back, Echo was holding Mike’s new issue of Maxim. When he saw me, he dropped the magazine and tried to play it off like he hadn’t been looking at it.

“Why were you looking at those girls?” I teased.

“What?! No. I wasn’t looking at the girl. I was only reading it for the NUMBERS! Seriously. Look!” He pointed to some numbers in an ad on the back cover. “Four. Zero. Two… Numbers. Like homework. I have NO IDEA what’s on the other side!”

OMG. I was laughing so hard.