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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Ten on Tuesday

1. Recital has come and gone..what a weekend. The girls did awesome and thoroughly enjoyed being on stage in front of the audience. They ate it up and would have definitely done it more than dress rehearsal and the actual performance if they were allowed. The only thing they didn't like - the lipstick I bought.

2. We had both sets of grandparents here for recital and the kids especially were super excited about that. It was really nice to visit with everyone.

3. Jason is home! He landed at 9:30PM Friday night and was on a flight with a company of soldiers returning from overseas.

4. A huge thanks to my mom for all her help the past two weeks. She watched the kids so I could go grocery shopping without four kids, go to doctors appointments etc. It was pretty nice.

5. Everyone misses school and their teachers. Especially Isabella. She was actually crying for her classroom and music teacher tonight.

6. It looks like Drew and I will both be having surgery this summer. Nothing major but with his asthma, I'm still leery of any type of anesthesia. Mine is just the annoying hernia repair.

7. I had round one of allergy testing yesterday and I am officially allergic to nature. I didn't even have to wait the entire 15 minutes to get a reaction on most of the testing. I'm hoping with shots, I'll get some relief soon.

8. Our new patio furniture was delivered last week. Just in time for the blazing summer sun. Jason and I insist on the kids being outside every day even if we aren't able to make it to the pool. We don't have any trees for shade and the best we could offer the kids, is a large umbrella.

9. Jason is registered for his masters classes and is just waiting for his schedule to be approved. I think he has around four weeks of work left and then he'll be a full-time student for 18 months. And no, we won't be moving on campus :)

10. We're looking forward to a four day weekend and a pool birthday party for one of he girls' friends this weekend. I hope everyone has a Happy Memorial Day!!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

what a difference

Here are the kids on their first day of school (this is the only picture I had with all three of them)

and here they are on the last day of school. What a difference nine months makes.

We were really blessed with amazing women for teachers this year and we are really going to miss them! People always ask me the benefits of sending your kids to preschool versus keeping them at home all day and I'm a firm believer in sending. Besides the social interaction they all made huge accomplishments this year.

Isabella:
- Can write and read all her letters
- she can write and read some words
- can count to 100, knows the months in a calendar year
- waits patiently and follows directions

Amelia
- no longer cries at drop off and is always smiling at her teachers now
- colors inside the lines
- knows all of her colors, most of her letters
- can write her name and half of her letters
- speaks clearly, follows directions, shares and is extremely patient

Will
- LOVES school
- speaks clearly (a huge improvement)
- uses complete sentences
- recognizes his colors
- shares and is patient

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Ten on Tuesday

1. I took the littlest man for a well baby this week. He was behind on a set of shots and needed to catch up before his one year well baby in TWO months. Oh my goodness. He weighed in at 22 pounds 10 ounces and measured 29 inches long. He's a big boy.

2. A tooth has finally been spotted on the bottom right. Maybe Drew will have one tooth by the time he's one and walking. Maybe.

3. Spent the weekend at the pool with the kids. It was awesome and I think we'll be camped out there all summer.

4. Another resident decided to test their new kayak in the pool on Saturday morning. We're swimming and in walks the man and his boat. All my kids are already in the water and Bella stands up, looks at me skeptically and says, "Is he really going to put that in the pool?" Of course she had to stop what she was doing to go inspect what he was doing. She was quite certain he was going to drown and she told me she wasn't jumping in after a crazy person in a boat. In a swimming pool. My thoughts exactly.

5. Jason comes home in three days. We never make it through a trip of any kind without a plumbing or appliance disaster and this was no exception. The washing machine decided to act up yesterday. Hopefully this is not a repeat of last year when I was without a machine for five weeks.

6. I have to say this trip has really made me think about our soldiers overseas, their families and their sacrifices. 547 or 365 is a lot worse than 30. Thank you for putting things into perspective and reminding me that it's not always as bad as it seems. We take things a day at a time and we'll get through it. Until they all come home..

7. Today is my good friend's birthday and a few of us went for pedicures while the kids were in school. It was nice to relax with my friends.

8. We met our new babysitter yesterday and I have to say I think Will has a little bit of a crush on her. She is pretty cute. I just hope he behaves and she's willing to come back more than once.

9. Tuesday = dinner with my favorite redheads. I have to say Mama redhead has us all eating our vegetables. And I'm not talking pickles and ketchup. I'm talking actual vegetables that grow in the ground.. who would have thought.

10. Bella's new favorite outfit is a denim skirt and a plain white tank top or white short sleeve shirt. Boring. We've gone around and around about this. I've tried to talk her into other shirt options. She has a rainbow of color in her closet to choose from. Today I looked at myself in the mirror as I was getting ready out and what am I wearing? jeans and a black tank top. It's part of my uniform. Maybe it's part of her's too.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

the handy man

My Dad is the handiest man I know. He can fix or build anything. This weekend when he came to visit, I asked him if he could build a gate for the deck. Drew is crawling all over and is more interested in going down the steps than staying on the deck. Jason decided he didn't want to put up a metal gate, he wanted a wooden one. My Dad said he would take a look and see what he could come up with. We went to Lowe's on Sunday. I say we because my purpose was solely to finance the operation. (I know nothing about anything other than appliances in Lowes.) My Dad was all business and chose his lumber like he was choosing a new car. Checking every piece and pushing several pieces to the back. Most of the time I was on my phone answering emails but I became more interested in his selection process the more particular he became. We came home with all our supplies and he had the gate built and installed within two hours. Amazing. But I didn't expect anything less from my Dad because he is amazing.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I had to call my friends at poison control after a certain someone found a bottle of hand sanitizer. After giving them the date of birth and child's age, the lady's response was "Are you calling about William?" The one and only.

2. I consider myself a professional at "watching for signs of drunkness in a two year old". This may drive me to drink eventually.

3. The wonder boy also took a Evil Knieval like ride down a steep driveway into the street as I'm screaming and sprinting after him when we were at our friends house for dinner.

4. I am currently recovering from another double ear and a sinus infection. I'm beginning to think I'm not only allergic to nature but Alabama in general.

5. Drew turns 10 months old on Friday. Still NO teeth but he's starting to cruise around the furniture.

6. Nene and Poppy arrived Saturday and we celebrated Nene's birthday. Amelia was in charge of picking out the cake. Her first choice was a huge Owl graduation cake and her second choice, a double chocolate Cheeseburger. She finally settled on a cookie cake with balloons.

7. Will enjoyed his time with Poppy this weekend and stuck to him like glue.

8. My mom has graciously been getting up with Drew since she arrived. I'm enjoying the extra sleep at night and the early morning exercise outside.

9. I have quite the little fashionistas on my hands these days. I think this is going to lead to huge problems down the road for their Dad. I had to look everywhere for a denim skirt for Bella that she could sit down in. Hello people. She is 5..I'd like more than a 3 inch inseam.

10. Babies, babies everywhere. Bella is begging for a new baby -sorry sister. I feel like every day I'm getting another birth announcement, text message, phone call or email from someone announcing their exciting news. I'm so excited for all my friends and I'm even more excited that this blessed even't won't be happening in my body.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

ten on tuesday

1. The terrible two's with a two year old boy are way worse than the terrible two's with a two year old girl. That's all I'm going to say about that..

2. Good thing I'll be an expert in 12 months when I get to experience the terrible two's again with another little boy.

3. Potty training week one is over and we are back in diapers. Will had two accidents in his underwear and he totally freaked out. He wanted nothing to do with them after that. I don't want to push him too hard so I let him put the diapers back on. Guess who's putting himself on the potty now?

4. When I typed this post, I've spent 221 hours of constant togetherness with the littlest members of our family. That's a lot of togetherness.

5. Drew has picked this week of all weeks to start cutting teeth. Pretty awesome given all the togetherness and drug recalls on the market. It's also made me realize sadly, I'm not 22 anymore and I can't survive for days on 3-4 hours of sleep.

6. Drew likes to suck his thumb and his toes while he's eating his dinner. It's really messy and drives me totally crazy.

7. I took all four children to the grocery store this week. I forgot how much I really dislike grocery shopping with all the children. We're like a circus sideshow and everyone has to stop and talk to us. Really, they're all mine. Do you think I'd be insane enough to bring four children that are not my own into a grocery store?

8. If you're my friend on facebook you already know about our run-in with the peace protest. It still disgusts me, even days later that a group of people would march on the street with a sign that says "soldiers suck". I wanted to pull over and throw them in the back of my van and drive them to the nearest recruiting station. Some people need to learn a thing or two about service and sacrifice.

9. Two houses have sold on our street this week. Are you my new neighbor? I'm hoping for some kids for Isabella and Will to play with.

10. We're having dinner tonight with our favorite redheads. I can't wait for a night of adult conversation and the kids are excited to play with their friends.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

goodbye nap..

I'm going to take a deep breath before I write this blog because it's been a tough week here in more ways than one. Isabella is officially a big girl and has decided on her own (or more accurately with her friends) that she no longer needs to be napping. Ahh, I knew this day was coming but I really didn't need it to come this week. When I am taking care of four kids on about four hours of sleep every night. Here is how the story goes..
I picked Bella up from school on Tuesday and she told me that one of her friends is still sleeping in her parents bed every night. Interesting is my response to her. I also look her in the eye, and reply "Don't get any ideas. I sleep in my own bed. You sleep in your own bed." I don't believe in co-sleeping with my children. I love them but when I'm sleeping, I want to be sleeping. Without anyone touching me.
The next day I pick her up from school. She immediately announces that she isn't going to be taking naps anymore because taking naps is for babies and she isn't a baby. Her friend doesn't have to take naps anymore and Isabella 1)is older than her friend 2)sleeps in her own bed all night 3)isn't a baby. I mean really do these kids not talk about My Little Pony and Barbie Dolls anymore?! For the love..I put all the kids down for their naps and fought the girls for over 1.5 hours. I say "girls" because my dear five year old kept waking up or sending her three year old sister to the door to check if it was time to wake up. Pretty nice of her, huh? I thought my head was going to pop off and fly in to outer space I was so furious. We had another long discussion about napping and decided that if she wanted to try not napping that was fine. However, she will be attending all day kindergarten, five days a week next year (it's required by the state, not my personal choice) and is required to have a 45 minute rest period after lunch. She doesn't have free reign of the house during nap time and is required to stay in the toy room for the entire two hour period. I do not stay in there with her and she isn't permitted to come out and speak to me. I know this probably sounds harsh but our house is very open and echos and all four bedrooms are upstairs. It gets really loud, really quickly. Also, this has been really hard on Amelia. She is completely heartbroken that Isabella isn't napping anymore and I don't want her to think she's doing whatever she wants while everyone else is stuck napping.
The transition is going as I expected it would. There have been some bumps and we're still working them out but I know we'll get there. This really just isn't the way I would have preferred to handle things.