connecting with my guys via 'the biebs'

while i was listening to my oldest son saying his bedtime prayers the other night i realized he was quoting lines from justin bieber's song "pray"-- (children are crying, soldiers are dying, some people don't have a home). it hit me then that i needed to blog about this bieber phase that we're in (and yes i do mean we!) before it's over and i couldn't believe i hadn't done so already. this is how i know i haven't gotten the hang of this blogging thing yet, you see i took the boys to see the justin bieber movie the night it came out, february 11th. i came home and briefly wrote about it (in my note book), posted a picture on facebook, and went on and on about it for weeks to my friends and family and to anyone who brought up justin bieber for that matter! (all the while being made fun of by my husband) of course i didn't get the clue to blog about it until i heard easton pray....better late than never though right?!

we've had the slow on-set of bieber fever going on over here for about the last year-and-a-half or more. i could tell you about countless youtube videos watched (thanks for starting that mom!), coming home from the scholastic book fairs at school with bieber posters and books, the boys cranking their little radio (or 'ghetto blaster' like i called it when i was their age--LOL) outside playing their JB CD's and riding their bikes in continuous circles on the court out back just singing and riding (i'm sure the neighbors loved the blaring music but it's just too cute), i could tell you about our impromptu family bieber dance party nights (i have video to prove it...and the bike riding as well). we could talk about bieber trading cards, silly bands and magazines, cooper putting justin bieber's name on his birthday party invite list or the boys singing along to their ipods with their headphones on all too loudly while trying to dance like him and of course our regular jamming to JB in the car. oh yes, and there has even been arguments as to who looks more like him!
(watching justin bieber videos on you tube)

i'll admit i was a little leary at first. i didn't know anything at all as to who this kid was (except that he was discovered on youtube) and why were my boys liking him? wasn't he somebody that just all the little girls are liking, i questioned if it was weird that my boys liked him? i did kind of go along with the skeptics at first, he's young, not my taste in music...yada yada. well, after the 56,478th time of hearing his songs (okay...probably more like the tenth time-ha!) i finally had to admit that i was digging this kid.
(they begged and begged but i wouldn't buy it)

the day the movie came out jeremy was at the fire station and we had been couped up inside all week so i knew i wanted to get out and do something that night with the boys. i asked them while they were getting ready for school if they wanted to see "gnomeo and juliet" or the "justin bieber: never say never" movie. they responded with a very loud "justin bieber! we can't believe you even had to ask that mom!" LOL! i was actually worried that cooper wouldn't want to go since just the week before he came home from school sad saying his friends didn't like him anymore because he liked justin bieber. oh yeah...that happened! second graders people! second. graders. ughh, ticks me off but i'm not gonna talk about that now. thankfully it didn't hinder him from wanting to go.

i called that morning and got our tickets ordered. we got there early enough that we had to wait in line to get in the theater but not for long. it was packed as expected. we were definitely in the minority...umm me being over the age of 15 and the fact that i had boys with me:) there were other boys there that were older but i don't think my guys even had a clue that they were out numbered so that's good, apparently i'm the one that's worried about that. anyway, it was SO.MUCH.FUN! all the kids were yelling, clapping and singing to the songs. even at times getting up and running around the theater giving each other piggy back rides. at first the boys were looking around like 'what in the world is going on?!' but they soon joined right in. i just loved looking to my left and to my right seeing my sweet boys having a blast and singing along and just watching with such intensity. porter cracked me up when he would start hollering and every now and then i would catch him with his hands on his hair gently feeling to see if his faux hawk was still standing up!
(waiting to get in the theater. taken with my crappy purse camera)

now here's where i go on and on about the movie...LOVED IT! if i wasn't a bieber fan before, this movie certainly did a great job of making me one now. such a great story and the fact that they had so many photos and videos of him throughout his life and at such young ages helped so much with the telling of his story. i was so impressed with his mom and grandparents and how he was raised and the fact that they showed them praying in the movie several times. i just thought that was incredible. i loved his team of people, they showed them going around before every concert giving away tickets or during the concert taking someone from the farthest seat to the 2nd row...such generosity. i want that job! justin bieber definitely has some insane talent, he is very driven and works really hard--ughh, i could go on and on and yes, he is certainly a cutie! i found out that his mom and i are the same age...as if i already didn't feel old enough sitting in that theater with a bunch of teeny boppers! but honestly that's how i felt watching the movie, like a proud mama. i got teary eyed a few times especially when they showed his mom watching him perform standing there clasping her hands together with such sparkle in her crying eyes. oh that just tugged on my heart strings so much, i remember how i felt just watching easton in his school spelling bee!
we drove to the movie listening to JB and we drove home listening to JB. except on the way home i had 3 sleeping boys but this mama was still jamming and wishing so badly to be young again. it was such a great night. you know i have taken the boys places and to do things many times when it's just them and me and lots of times it frankly...well, sucks due to constant fighting etc.. but this night was perfect. they were wonderful. i was just giddy when i got home. of course the first thing i thought of was a play on the infamous mastercard commercials:

4 tickets to "justin bieber: never say never" in 3D $48.50
3 kids packs $18.50
1 pizza/large drink combo w/ carmel gourmet choc popcorn $20.00 (don't judge me! ha)
date night with my 3 handsome dudes...priceless!

it's pretty much been JB 24/7 since then. in the house, in the car, and oh yes...on my headphones at the gym! yep, i'm the 35 yr old mom jamming to JB on the treadmill! this is where i'm feeling the connecting with my boys though. i'm hoping that right now they think i am the coolest mom ever because i like who they like and i crank it up in the car and we all sing at the top of our lungs. i know it won't always be like this. pretty soon they will be too cool and not want to like anything i listen to. i won't be going to movies with them, i'll be dropping them off and if they're anything like i was they will be hiding on the floor board of the car so no one will see them with their mom. these are fleeting times and i just want to grasp it, caress it and hang on to it for as long as i can. however, i might need to take it down a notch though....just the other day we were singing loudly to the acoustic version of "baby" and i was being a bit of a show off and totally went all out on the part that goes like this "yeah yeah i'm sixteen and i thought that you'd be mine, i used to tweet you and text you and call you and hit you on facebook all the time...." LOL you get the idea. i was kind of in my own little world and at the end i kissed my fingers and did the peace out thing only to look over at easton starring at me with a deer in the headlights look and he slowly says "umm, that was awkward". oh my goodness i/we died laughing and of course porter makes me do that now every time that song is on.

finally, i am loving this phase of justin bieber with my boys and when it is over i pray that there will be something else i can genuinely connect with them on. i pray that i see their strengths and passions and lead them in the right directions to help pursue their goals and dreams no matter what they may be.

(some shots of easton and cooper's room in it's current state. will be fun to look back on someday too)

(there is another poster on the back of the door too)
(interesting i know, bieber posters with a painting of birds. there is a story though, it was painted by my mom for easton per his request a few years ago)
(trying to make sure i give them the freedom to hang stuff in their room the way they want as my parents did with me. i had skid row posters wallpapered on all 4 walls and the ceiling! knowing my mom i do not know how she let me do that...because i don't know if i'll be able to let them go that far??!)

as always, thanks for taking the time to read my ever so long ramblings.

xo xo

Comments

[Cija Cooksey]

believe it or not, my girls have not discover JB yet, or the Jonas brothers... there was a hannah Montana phase but that seems to have passed. Fun blog, thanks for sharing.

[Momma Jones]

Dearest Darling Daughter, Juli,

You make me laugh and cry all in the same blog AND sometimes I was doing both at the same time!

Loved every word and every picture. Love you, the boys, and Jeremy even more. This time of your life will fly by very quickly so someday you will be so thankful you've written and taken pictures to document all these things that happen in your lives. And it will give you comfort when you look back along with an ache in your heart that the past is past. By then your boys will be in a new stage of life and making you proud in ways we can only imagine now. Claim it; believe it; they will make you proud as my children and grand children make us proud each and every day.

Love you, Mom

[Jenna Pfaff]

Hi sis! I LOVED this! I love mom's comment too...so true mom! I thought this one was great as we got beiber fever too! And I mean we as well! I might not have gone and seen the movie in the theater had it not been for you loving it so much! I am glad you had such a great night with your boys. I am right with mom, you had me laughing and then crying and both when I was reading it to Jas! Love you SO much! Thanks for sharing. The only thing that would have made it better is if we could've gone together!

[Lisa]

Super cute post. It brings back lots of good memories, having obsessions over people...and yes, I'm going to the Motely Crue concert in 2 months! The one thing that's a bit different...I don't ever remember our Mother's walking around and singing to "our obsessions". I'm sure my reaction would have been very simular to Eastons. Thanks for sharing this story, I love reading your blog! Love, Lisa