another mouse birthday!

Matthew James Walker - the happiest baby in the world :)

I can't believe my sweet little baby mouse is turning 17..... SEVENTEEN! But he is.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW MY PRECIOUS BOY!!!

turning 8 years old :)

turning 9 years old :)

 10 years old :)

11 years old :)

ONLY THE MOUSE would insist on wearing a kilt to his 6th's grade graduation! :D

I couldn't find birthdays 12 or 13 which is gonna drive me INSANE.....

so his kilt pic will have to substitute for them both :/

 Turning 14 and flying high at City Walk and Hard Rock :)

15 with Davy at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles.....

..... and doing some big time high flying of an entirely different kind this year!

16th birthday with Ambrosia and the gang at (you guessed it) Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles.....

..... and of course a visit to Amoeba Music afterwards - Ambrosia, Matty, John, and Davy :)

~

So how is Matthew going to celebrate turning 17???

You have a few days to guess - you'll have to check back to see the pics!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW - I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

favorite people stuff

Let me just say, life is a whirlwind. Here are some of the peeps I love, and what we've been up to. 

And just let me tell you, we've been up to a lot. Like..... a LOT.

First off, I've been taking lots of pics of my fave things, like the flowers above.

 Ahhh, my girl Tori and the chocolate vegan rosettes she made. I love this girl :)

 Awww..... the cutest girls in the world (well ALMOST all of them!) before prom. I love you girls!

 YESSS! Getting to see one of my bestest friends Joan, and her adorable daughter Whitney!

Are they just too cute with their matching jammies or WHAT!

We had such a great time, and I *loved* having Whitney here to stay for several weeks!

My oldest boy Daniel - world traveler extraordinaire - packing for the summer in Laos :(

(and Davy's naughty kitty trying not to be noticed)

We ate a LOT of my girl Hayley's amazing - no, seriously, AMAZING - homemade bread!!!

Listening to Davy's anti-social band practice many, many, many (you get the idea) times 

in our super messy garage when it was 100 degrees out there and yes, this is a run-on sentence.

 The gang before attending a 1920's party - SO FREAKING CUTE!

John, Ernie, Taylor, Davy & Whitney

The Mouse brought a tiny little furry baby home from work late one night!

He knew she couldn't make it on her own without her mama :(

This adventure actually deserves it's own post, so yeah, hang tight.

We went out to Westlake Village and spied on my old house across the water on Westlake Island.

It brought back some great memories - I will always love Westlake :)

~

Stay tuned - yup, I've been up to a lot more. Like, a LOT more!

v day

Happy Valentine's Day, Friends!

This will remain my very most favorite Valentine in the entire world, for life!

The Mouse made it when he was 5 or 6 - it's the most precious thing on earth.

I re-post it every chance I get because I love it so much...

It hangs on my Boy Wall all year long and makes me smile every day :)

Love to you all - have a wonderful day!

xoxo

Of Mice And Men

Okay... this post really isn't about my son's mouse - even though I think he did a capital job of taking this close-up of a constantly moving target(!) And this post is certainly not about the actual novel, Of Mice And Men. Which, by the way, I detested. Almost as much as I detested the worst novel ever written on the face of this earth: A Farewell To Arms. And while we're at it, The Brothers Karamazov. Yes I know - everyone that reads it loves it sooooooo much. Ugh. Ugh and Double Ugh. Ugh infinity. But I digress.

My youngest son has been nicknamed The Mouse since the day he was born. Tiny Mouse. From a sweet character in a Cynthia Rylant story. Oh, there have been many variations over the years - Mousie, Mouse-like, Baby Mouse, Mouse Mess........ you get the idea. Friends, neighbors, friends of friends, family, the Queen........ he's Mouse to everyone. We'll bump into an old friend we haven't seen for years and it just cracks me up that after all this time they will still call him Mouse. And I can't tell you how many times we've been in a public place and, without thinking, one of us calls to another, "Hey, where the heck did that Mouse go?". Only to have some poor woman scream "MOUSE!?!? A MOUSE!?!? WHERE!?!?". Heh heh - that one never gets old ;)  
Just look at this sweet Mouse :) That sweet face. That fuzzy little head. His Converse high-tops. He was about 6 in this picture. I still think he's 6. The Mouse who's neck I love to nibble. The Mouse who is full of air and goo and laughs like an elf. The Mouse who crawls in bed and snuggles with me every morning. Who constructs Hot Wheels tracks and bakes Creepy Crawlers. That is the Mouse I always envision. Even though the Mouse just turned 13. Can you see where this is going now? Sigh......... I'm having some issues. My heart is playing tug-of-war. 

I do love watching my boys grow up. I love how each one is his own amazing person, and I delight in seeing that develop. DELIGHT. I'm not a "just you wait" teenage-hating mother either. I think every stage has it's ups and downs - mostly ups - and I am a big fan of finding the positive side, even when it's really, really hard to find. I *love* who my boys are. I *love* who they are becoming. But letting go of that last baby..... especially Tiny Mouse..... I have to admit - wow, I did not see this one coming. I would never have guessed it would be this bittersweet. Ouch.  
When the Mouse recently graduated from 6th grade, that was big. Collectively, my boys had been at their little neighborhood elementary school for 17 years straight. To have him move on and leave it behind for good..... the finality was much harder than I thought it would be. Yet he could not WAIT to leave it behind for good! And in true Mouse form, he asked for a barbecue for graduation! I don't mean a party with a barbecue. I mean he literally went and picked out his own barbecue grill! That crazy Mouse will put an apron on and grill the best doggone cheeseburgers ever!

And while we're on the subject of graduation, get this: He insisted on wearing a kilt for the graduation ceremony. A SCOTTISH KILT. As we say very frequently in our family, "Only the Mouse....... only the Mouse........".  

So now the Mouse has braces, and likes girls, and listens to loud music, and frequently acts like he's from another planet all together. He still loves Sponge Bob, but will read any non-fiction account of WWII. He can still decorate a cake like a pro, but he would rather be outside, covered in army gear, pelting all his buddies with air-soft be-be's. He still loves the denim quilt we made together, will kiss me in front of anyone, and yet hauls butt on his dirt bike, and lives to blow up just about anything. And his cell phone ringing nonstop? Yeah, it's usually a female voice on the other end. That Mouse can be playing Halo like a killing machine (shudder), and yet his heart is so tender he will do anything to help an animal. He can slide down an ice luge track at 40mph with nerves of steel, and then have a freaking come-apart if his brother looks at him cross-eyed.

But that's what's so awesome about the Mouse. He is such an individual. And he's such a contrast in talents and hobbies. He'll be selling grilled hot dogs on the street one minute and trimming all our bushes with the hedge trimmer an hour later. An hour after that he'll be watching Drake and Josh and later on he's made two batches of Rice Krispie Treats. Seriously. I can't keep up with that Mouse. I've accepted that. And I know he'll always be the Mouse to us, but I've got to let him be himself too. And I have a feeling my heart is not the only heart playing tug-of-war. Part of him still likes being a child. A lot. Part of him is very excited to grow up and experience whatever is in store for him around the bend. And there is a LOT in store for him. The Mouse will be a man.

"Only the Mouse.......... only the Mouse............".