Thursday December 30th, 2021

 Praise God my boys are home!

The boys got their 2nd dose of the COVID vaccine yesterday. Poor Camden was up all night with a fever and slept in until 8am this morning. That's like sleeping away the whole day for him. When his fever finally broke during the night he was absolutely covered in sweat. Kellan is coming up with all sorts of aches and pains because he doesn't want to be left out from the sympathy...

Camden and I were out on the living room and Kellan was taking a bath. All of the sudden we heard a large sneeze and a big underwater toot! All three of us were silent for a moment then burst into laughter. I thought poor Kellan was going to drown he was laughing so hard! 

Kellan wanted wings for dinner so badly last night he came up with a catchy slogan. "No one out wings the hut!"...

Wednesday December 8th, 2021

 I love the magic of Christmas, the tooth fairy, etc. When I was young, the first thing I would do the morning after I lost a tooth would be to check to see if the tooth fairy came. Camden lost a molar last night. The tooth fairy did come, but he's been at school for 3 1/2 hours, the money in the tooth fairy pillow is currently in his room, and he didn't mention anything to me about the tooth fairy coming this morning. Sigh. I remember when I got a curling iron from the tooth fairy. Best.toothfairy.ever...

Last night, I was tired, depressed and stressed from working so many hours. The boys brought their homework into my office and were, let's say, a little distracting. I shut my computer down, let them walk me through their homework (since they barely need any help), and just sat with them. It was the best evening in a long time. Praise God for my smart, caring, funny, tooty boys!

In the middle of homework the other night, Kellan announced he had to poop. He looked at me, and I know he was going to ask if he could take his iPad in the bathroom. He took one look at me, and, rightfully, decided not to ask. He then took his homework in the bathroom. After a while he came out relieved and said, 'taking my homework to poop was probably one of the smartest ideas I've ever had!"...

The boys and I were goofing around, and I said, "what if I were to tell you we were moving to Michigan next month?" Kellan thought and said, "could we move to Afghanistan instead?"...

Camden, for the life of him, cannot understand why Fro Yo is short for Frozen Yogurt. It's a really big thing in our lives right now...

Tuesday November 16th, 2021

 I was a lector at the 9am Mass this past Sunday. Deacon John asked me to wait until 9:02am, then come up and read the announcements. I felt awkward having my phone out, but needed to know the time. The boys stepped up to the job and were eagle eyeing my phone to let me know when it was 9:02am. As we were all watching the phone intently, a reminder popped up indicating PMS was starting that day. I cringed, and made the decision to look at my two young children. They were looking directly at me with crooked dimply grins. I couldn't think of anything appropriate to say, and should have been preparing myself for Mass anyway. They were so proud that they have been through the puberty talk at school and caught my eye every chance they got during Mass to evil grin at me...

Me: Do you boys know that if they put out a bucket of children's feet, I'd be able to pick your feetsies out each time?!
Boys: Do you know you say the weirdest things?

Saturday October 30th, 2021

 Well I'd say today was one of the best days in quite some time.

Michigan State won and is still undefeated
Camden scored 6 touchdowns in his flag football game
The boys were altar servers at St. Rose. At the end of Mass, Fr. Bing gave them a huge shout out and the entire congregation clapped for my sweet boys! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKcSyIkDQW0 

Praise God! 

Wednesday September 1st, 2021

 This is how polite Camden is. I went to check on him in the middle of the night, and pulled his covers up and straightened them out. He's absolutely sound asleep, but still said 'thank you'...

Tuesday August 24th, 2021

Camden: You have the St. Michael Prayer hanging in your room?
Me: Yep! I say it every day before work. I think that's why I'm so successful!
Camden: I smell lies...

We sat down on the couch after running a ton of errands, and I complained of being hot. Kellan blew on me...

Our washing machine was super loud (must have been off balance) and Camden asked it if it had anger issues...

Wednesday July 28th, 2021

Camden calls his room 'Cam's Den' and I cannot stop laughing.

Camden and I were sitting in the living room, and could hear Kellan in his room. He was squeaking and squealing and who knows what else. Camden leaned over and asked me, "Mom, why did you give birth to such a weird son?'...

We went up to Flagstaff over the weekend. On the drive up, Camden said, "I'm surprised we haven't seen any cattle yet!" I said, "yea Kellan. Where are your brothers?" He casually replied, "they're at the butcher"...

We were talking about Jerome and the Haunted Hotel. Kellan asked me if I had stayed in the Haunted Hotel. I said yes and Kellan said, "I believe in hotels." We all cracked up, as I think he meant he believes in ghosts...

Me: Kellan! How in the world did you get...
Kellan: (interrupts me mid sentence without having any idea what I was going to say) Mom, you don't want to know...

I've been having a hard time sleeping lately. I woke up at a quarter to 4 the other morning, laying in bed, thinking of all my failures. The boys woke up early, came into my bed and laid as close to me as possible. The fought over who got to be closer to me. Everything will be ok. 

Friday July 16th, 2021

Praise God! I had a procedure done Wednesday, and they got everything the first time. All is good and God is great!

I had to have blood drawn on Monday. As Kellan is my little evil science genius, I thought, what a great learning experience it would be to watch the nurse draw blood. I knew better than to ask Camden if he wanted to watch. I ran this by Kellan, thinking he'd jump at the chance for some real life experience. He paused, looked excited, then nervous, then asked "can I bring my iPad back there?" Sigh...

Kellan always makes me ruvva (rub) him during Mass. I get so frustrated because I'll be really listening to the homily, the priest is really speaking to me, then Kellan will grab my hand and move me to a different ruvvaing area and totally take me out of the moment. I was explaining this to Kellan after Mass, and of course, it turned into a dramatic, out of proportion funny reenactment of the actual situation. Now, both boys constantly make me act out the scene. I'm hanging on every word the priest is saying, crying my eyes out, then Kellan innocently grabs my hand to hold, and I throw a temper tantrum... sigh...

During Mass, Kellan was looking at his leg, and was shocked to see he was kind of tan. He grabbed me and whispered his findings. Then he paused and whispered to me that it just might be Cheeto dust. The latter is more of a possibility. 

This was an eventful Mass last Sunday. Kellan was dancing around during the closing song. I was smiling as he was being respectful and no one around looked like they were judging my parenting. I was kind of impressed - right on the absolute last key of the song played, Kellan perfectly timed a 'dab". Kid has got some rhythm. 

Friday June 18th, 2021

 More prayers requested, please. Kellan is going through another rough patch transitioning between houses. (He calls it 'transmitting' which is so cute). I pray for defensiveness and ego to get out of the way, and Kellan Tilley to truly come first in every way. 

Camden is also suffering as he watches his brother go through this. I will never place the burden of this on Camden, and never ask him to make sure his brother is ok as he goes through this, as that is not Camden's responsibility. Once God takes ego out of the way, all will be good. 

When we got our new car in February, the boys were so worried they weren't going to know what car to get in at pick up. They asked if I could put a wacky inflatable flailing arms tube gorilla on top so they could confirm. If I didn't have to work all day, you know I would have done that... 

So, it's funny now, but maybe not so much later. I always call Kellan 'cow'. At stores, in the park, etc. Kellan, as much I will not accept this, is growing up. He asked me to call him by his real name. Camden jumped right in on this as he wanted to instigate both sides. He said, "Kellan. what is going to be your real name when you go through puberty?" (This may or may not have come right after the puberty talk at school). Kellam matter of factly and triumphantly said, "my name will be Kellan Hix Puberty Tilley"...

Wednesday June 9th, 2021

 Please say some prayers. They found an abnormality in a biopsy I had done. I am working with great doctors and have complete faith. Prayers are always appreciated!

Camden was talking in his sleep last night. I was cracking up. He said, "I'm twins and I'm chap corn twin"...

Monday June 7th, 2021

 So blessed to be able to work remotely, and so blessed to live in Anthem. We have a gorgeous community center. I am still able to work my butt off, but the boys have a pool, basketball courts, ping pong, foosball, rock climbing wall, etc. It's going to be a great summer!

Poor little Kellan is still not 100%. He had a fever and tested (negative thank God!) for COVID. When he was dropped off this morning I asked him how he was feeling. Little Science Boy said, "I'm ok Mom! It's the common cold."...

I told Kellan I want him to have some blood work done. He was immediately scared, but did look intrigued. I think I can convince him to do this if I appeal to his Science Boy side. Prayers please!

I don't believe in horoscopes, and the boys know this kind of thing doesn't align with our faith. They were intrigued about their signs. Growing up, I was made to fear astrology, but knowing we all have a strong faith foundation, I saw no harm in letting the boys learn a little more about what astrology is. Kellan got ridiculously excited and wanted to learn more about his sign - 'Spicies' (Pisces....)

Wednesday June 2nd, 2021

Such a cool weekend. Spur of the moment, we took the boys to Las Vegas and stayed at New York New York. They had an absolute ball, and are so excited to mark Nevada off as a state they've visited. (They inherited the obsession with hitting every U.S. State from me) :) 

Found a scorpion on the patio. I would give ANYTHING to move to Michigan or somewhere else. I'm done with AZ for many reasons :( My tough 11 year old killed the scorpion and Truly Nolen received a very hysterical call from me...

Back around Christmas I showed the boys a Christmas card we received. (I love Christmas and cards a ridiculously too much amount). This former co-worker had commented on how much the boys have grown, as she had received our Christmas card as well. Camden asked, does she mean how much you've grown up, or us? They know I haven't grown up...sigh...

Kellan asked me why my organization named me as the head of COVID responsibilities. I replied, "because I'm very blessed, smart and responsible." He thought a minute and said, "but I know the real you." He truly wasn't being disrespectful, but man does he have a point....

Wednesday May 26th, 2021

 I sat with Camden for probably about an hour and a half while he worked on a paper for school. We had some laughs and some nudges from me for him to just focus on the paper. No big deal, right? I would sit with him forever if I could. He was so incredibly grateful and when the paper was finished he sat in my lap and wrapped his arms around me tighter than he ever had before. We sat like this for a long time. At that moment, everything wrong in my world was right. I am so incredibly blessed. 

On the other hand, these words actually came out of my mouth this morning. "Kellan, please promise me you will not talk about cocaine at school today." Now let me put some context to this before any authorities are called. Kellan is Mr. Science Boy and loves to learn about anything he can put his hands on. He and I were watching a video and it happened to mention that cocaine was used as medicine in the old days. I turned the video off after that, but that little snippet caught his big brain's attention and that's all he could focus on for a while...

The other weekend we were heading somewhere new, and of course I got lost. We had to take a detour because I missed the exit. We got off the expressway and were at a red light. There was a homeless man there, and I gave him a few dollars. Being the incredibly amazing Mom I am, I started teaching my boys some lessons. These included, why some people may be homeless, why I can't give every homeless person I see money, etc. As I beamed at myself for a little while, we went to CVS later that day. The boys stopped in their tracks when they saw a huge gumball machine. As their mouths opened to form some interesting begging tactics, I shut them down immediately. "No Gum!" Camden, who has braces and cannot consume gum,  looked at me pleadingly. "But Mooom! All the bubblegums are homeless! They need quarters!"...

Kellan got sent to the fidget chair at school. First, I didn't even know there was such a thing. I was stunned and asked Kellan why?! He replied, "it wasn't my fault Mom! (likely story). I have a mosquito bite on my bee dee bee dee and couldn't stop fidgeting!" Ok, I will give him this one. Mosquitos love that boy!

Wednesday May 25th, 2021

Me: Oh my legs are so sore (complaining noises)
Kellan: (without looking up). So sorry for your loss...

Camden was in rare form when he got home from school. I jokingly said, "you're cruisin' for a bruisin'" He asked me what that meant and I told him. He thought a minute, got his crooked little grin on his face, and went into further rare form. I sighed, and he asked, "am I cruising?"...

Camden's new thing, to completely annoy Kellan, is saying in a matter of fact voice, "did you know - the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round?" This absolutely sends Kellan into a tizzy. And Camden can't stand when Kellan fake coughs for attention. So now, the joyful noises I hear around the house involve wheels on buses and dramatic coughs...

Aaaand this is why I keep them. I moved my desk out to the living room to record a video for work. Kellan was sitting on the couch after a long week of school and said. "Mom? Can this be your permanent office? I like having you out here with me."

I bought the boys two different types of Kleenex because I couldn't remember if they liked the lotion kind, or if it freaked them out. Both boys love the lotion Kleenex. Kellan lovingly held the lotion-y Kleenex and said, "now this is something I could fall asleep to"...

The boys were arguing over who tooted. They both wanted to claim it - sigh. They could not agree, so they said they were going to call 'Judy Dooty". I CANNOT stop laughing! 

Monday May 3rd, 2021

 It was a bad weekend. It was a hard weekend. I am struggling. After I put my sweet boys to bed, I came and sat on the couch and sobbed. I didn't see little Kellan sneak out of bed and come into the living room. I tried to stop crying, then realized, it's ok for my children to see real life emotions. It's better to get this out instead of holding it in. He quietly sat by me, put his arm around me and his head on my shoulder and said, "do you want to talk about it?" God has truly blessed me with my sons. They are my reason for living. 

Thursday April 22nd, 2021

 I work for a Global Company with thousands of employees. I was just told I received the President's Award for 2020. The President's Award! I am beyond humbled and immensely grateful. I work hard - always have. I would never have expected to be chosen for this award, and it's more than a huge recognition - it's concrete proof that I am a good person, I am good enough, I need to stop putting myself down and accept that I give 100% every single day. Some days my 100% may only be 2% of what I normally can give, and that's ok. 

This award is absolutely dedicated to Camden and Kellan. While I ALWAYS put them first, they know I am working long after they've gone to bed. They've been patient while I've had to take calls on the weekend or while in the car picking them up from school. I am very open with them in explaining why I have to work so much, but also letting them know they are my #1 priority. Thank you Camden James and Kellan Hix for your part in this award! 

Sunday April 18th, 2021

Oh my gosh Mom I CANNOT stop laughing and I know you can’t either. No Dogs Allowed...

Wednesday February 17th, 2021

My Camden. I am beyond Blessed to have this kid. When he left for the weekend to go to his father's, I had a sudden thought. Valentine's Day was that weekend, and Camden is so thoughtful (especially for a 5th grade boy). I didn't want him to do anything for me for Valentine's Day, so before he left I made him promise. No card, nothing. This wasn't something he should have to worry about. Fast forward to Monday when he came back home. He proudly displayed a card and handed it to me. I looked at him quizzically and his little face was just beaming. He made me a "Happy President's Day" card. I can't believe how thoughtful and clever this little monkey is!

Camden suggested we play Clue which surprised me as that game freaks him out (understandably). He gets so excited when he thinks he's solved the puzzle. He stands up and yells, I'm making a final accusation! But he pronounces accusation - 'ackuckation'. I corrected him once, then kicked myself, as I love when they have these cute little mispronunciations. I needn't not worry as he continued to pronounce it 'ackuckation' the rest of the night.

I could hear the boys goofing off in the shower and praying they were actually cleaning themselves. Suddenly they both burst into song. They had the lyrics close, but not quite right. Now that I think about it, I don't know if I'm more concerned they had the lyrics wrong, or of their choice of song. They were singing "I'M A SINGLE LADY!" at the top of their lungs...

Also during this shower escapade, I happened to walk by and hear Camden say, "hang on Kellan. I gotta wash my butt". At least something was being cleaned during this event...

The boys were stunned to find out your bowels empty when you die. Little evil genius Kellan said, "if I know I don't have long to live (insert anxiety attack here), I'm going to make sure my colon is full!"...

The boys play with their friend Noah via video chat occasionally. They were playing a game I had approved of and Kellan yelled, "Noah! You just Kim Kardashian-ed me!" What?!...

Speaking of Noah, they were on the phone and Noah's birthday is coming up. Camden asked Noah, "hey Noah? Are you having a birthday party, or keeping it simple?" This struck me as so funny as it sounds so grown up! What happened to my little monkey?...

Friday January 15th, 2021

 Happy No Ears! (As Kellan with his ridiculously adorably big ears would say)

So the boys went through a phase where they constantly changed what Siri would call me by. I did not realize this is any way shape or form would impact my email address. 99% of the time I use my work email, but the 1% of the time I use my personal address (usually to communicate with our wonderful Catholic School), the name in which the receiver sees the email is being sent by - comes across as "I Like Big Butts and I Cannot Lie" Don't know how to change this, don't know how to apologize to the Catholic school teachers...

I finally had a weekend that I actually took a break from work. The boys and I were having a wonderful Saturday. It was a beautiful Arizona winter day. I am neurotically always making sure the boys are drinking water - to the point when I nag them it even bothers me. It took me until late afternoon to realize that every time Camden said he had to go pee, he went out to our backyard. Thank God we have a nice private backyard! I love being a Boy Mom!

The boys are really into video games lately. They started playing a hockey game and I'm sitting there just enjoying the back and forth banter between them. So, keep in mind they're playing hockey. Kellan was half giggling and kept asking, "what are they saying". Camden couldn't be bothered to answer because, God forbid, his little brother beat him at a video game. Finally Kellan paused the video game, and still with a smile asked, "what the heck are they saying? Duck?!" Camden and I exchanged glances and replied, "umm it's puck". And this Mom has already scheduled a hearing check up for the little Cow.

I cannot stop laughing (which is usually the case). For some reason the boys and I were looking up famous people born on our birthdays. Camden and I went first of course, and then we typed in March 15th for Kellan. The first famous person that popped up was St. Nicholas. We were all a little stunned as Camden and I had current celebrities and not Saints listed. We both looked at Kellan who was shocked. He did a nervous little giggle and belted out "Ho Ho Ho!"...

We were out in the backyard playing football. It was a little chilly, but we were running around. My old soul son Camden turned to me and asked, "Can I please have a jacket Mom? The weather has really turned on us". What is he - 80?!...

Me: Kellan, is Nina still in your class?
Camden: (answering for his brother as usual) No, she retired...