Time to get caught up!

It's 2015!!! The kids are now 10, 9, 8, and 5 and it is time to update this blog! I have been saving posts for the last few years without ever managing to get them on here, but I got an iMac air laptop for my birthday and I am ready to rock again! Yay! The kids will be back to school in just 3 short weeks and it is time to get organized! They will be in 5th, 4th, 3rd, and Kindergarten so I will actually have a chunk of kid free time each day. I am telling myself this is a good thing, even though I know I am going to miss them terribly, but I will take full advantage of that time to get this house organized, get caught up on photos, and renew my blog posts! I am so excited to get started and YES...I think I am in love with my new iMac! I think I will call her Penelope! Updates to come...

I'm back!

yes, I have been woefully remiss in my blogging lately. In my defense, I cannot type worth a hoot on my ipad, and therefore I just haven't been doing it. BUT, for the sake of preserving the cuteness of thing four, aka Claire, I am giving it a go.

Olivia: Hey Mom, if I don't drink enough water, I'll hibernate, right?
Me: Um, I think You mean dehydrate!
Olivia : Oh yeah, right.

Sammy is the only kid in his kindergarten class that can read. We still don't know his current DRA score because when his teacher tested him, she only had books up to a level 10 with her, and he read the 10 "with no problem, and with expression!". They have been studying the Chinese new year this week, so on that day, each of the kids got a fortune cookie. Regular box of fortune cookies. Sam's said "Leaders are Readers.". Awesome!

Claire loves to run around naked after bath time, necessitating that we chase her to get her Jammie's on. She also frequently pees in weird places at that time ( like the hallway or OUR BED) but that's another story. Anyhoo, tonight she went blasting down the hall and into Olivia's room with Sam and I hot on her trail. The door closed just in front if us, and we pushed it open and began searching for her in her usual spots...the rose petal cottage, behind the glider, in the closet, etc. and couldn't find her. We were both quite perplexed until the door pushed gently,and there was naked Claire, having stumped us both! Little stinker! And speaking of that, she was poopy right before dinner tonite, and when Ryan picked her up to carry her off for a much- needed change, she yelled "Eeeewwww, poopoo! mama, HELP!".


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Richmond, VA

October already, jiggidy jig!

Wow! The time is really flying lately. There are so many things I want to remember, so many feelings and smells and sounds. The way the kids look each night when we go to tuck them in:Olivia, usually spread eagle, never any covers, mouth sweetly closed and head cocked to the side. The boys: usually off their pillows, blankets either unused or crunched up at the bottom of their heads...their room smelling strongly of "boy". Claire, all cuddled up in her crib, a very light sleeper that wakes almost every time the door is opened and reaches up for "mommom".
Sam lost his first top front tooth two nights ago. He has been hanging onto that tooth forever, it seems, to the point that it was hanging sideways for at least a week before he finally pulled it while he was in bed the other night. the tooth fairy brought pokecards, so he was over the moon about that. Ahe is excelling in kindergarten, as we knew he would, and I have loved having the opportunity to volunteer in his class twice already. Jack's class will be starting small group next week, so I am really looking forward to getting to know his classmates too. Last week when I went in to plant pansies, Jack's teacher told me a cute story. One of their spelling words last week was "dam" and she said she had stressed all week that it was the kind of dam that holds water. She asked the students to write a sentence using each of their words, and one of the girls wrote, "Damn, that's good!". Hilarious!
Claire has been so much easier lately. All the kids were remarkably good on our drive down to Florida last month, and enjoyed their time at Disney. Olivia met the princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table, and Jack got his fill of roller coasters. We both loved the Bigfoot roller coaster at Animal Kingdom, and alot of the shows were really cute. Nemo at Epcot was a favorite again, because of it's aquarium at the end.
But back to Claire...constant kissy noises, lots of sweet hugs, much better listening, and general pleasantness has made her a joy to be with lately. She has actually stayed in her seat in the cart two times in a row at the store, which is a new record, and she sits at the table like such a big girl! I know she can be challenging, but when I realize how hard it is becoming for me to carry the big kids, I know how fleeting this time is. I want to soak up every moment...the joys, the frustrations, the love and snuggles...all of it!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Virginia

Summer is ending...

The end of summer is rapidly approaching and I cannot believe it! We have done so many fun things and yet it feels like we JUST finished the last school year! I am filled with such mixed emotions about it all. This year, Jackson will be in First grade, and Sam will join him at the elementary school in KINDERGARTEN! that means, 5 days a week, both my boys will be gone for 7 hours. I will enjoy grocery shopping with fewer kids, and running errands/ feeding and cleaning up lunch will certainly be easier, but spending so much time away from my boys sounds terrible! Not to mention the race of getting the boys out the door, getting Olivia to preschool, running around, volunteering, soccer, karate, ballet and tap! Whew, I am getting tired just thinking about it all! Routine is nice, and the kiddos have been getting to bed so late this summer, it will be nice to have evenings back to spend with my hubs, but getting up at 7 instead of 9 is not going to be fun! MAYBE I will start more regular blogging again. they have said and done lots of cute things, and Claire is really just starting to talk, so I want to record these moments. If only I could type better on my iPad and/or figure our how to upload pics from the iPad to the blog....

Summer 2011 (or man, my kids are spoiled!)

So far, even though summer has only been going for two weeks, we have managed to do quite a bit! Olivia's fourth birthday was last Sunday, and she had a great time at her ice cream themed party! My sister Jen and her kids stayed on from Monday to Wednesday, so on Monday we met Shell and her kids at Chuck E Cheese for lunch, then grilled out burgers and hot dogs while the cousins played outside in the hose and slip n slide. Tuesday we took all the kids to Busch Gardens, but got rained out before the fireworks. Jen's kids haven't been to an amusement park in ages, so they had a ball! Wednesday we caught the dollar movie (Megamind) before the cousins headed for home. Thursday I took the day to clean up the house, and it was Olivia's actual birthday so the kiddos spent the whole day outside playing in the hose and slip n slide, making water bottle tornados, eating Popsicles and drawing with sidewalk chalk. We got dressed and hit Chick fil a for dinner ( birthday girl's choice) and came home pretty worn out after letting the kids play in the funky smelling play area! Friday Ryan was off, so we hit Busch Gardens again. The fireworks were great, but we didn't get home until 12:40, and had the kids in bed after 1!!! Saturday we took it easy, but Connor and Caden came over to play outside with the kids and then it was our first edition of Kids in the kitchen! Jackson helped make eggplant parmesan, slicing the eggplants, breading them and dropping them in the pan. He also helped pick the basil, and chopped it up with scissors, and added the salad dressing ingredients and shook then up. Sam was in charge of brownies and did everything himself, including putting them in the oven. Olivia made the pasta, salting the water, and adding the pasta, and stirring it, of course! it went much more smoothly then I anticipated, and the kids were very proud of all their contributions to the meal. Today, we went to church and then spent a lazy afternoon playing outside and on the wii. Ryan made hot wing and fries for dinner (or chicken on the bone as the kids call it!) and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores on the fire pit. We pulled put glowsticks and flashlights and the kids played beside the tent we (Ryan) set up in the backyard. they showered and got Jammies on outside which was declared SO MUCH FUN! And settled into the tent with daddy to play chess and read stories. All in all, it has been a fun filled summer and it has only begun!

Stuff

Conversation with Sam:
Me: Sam, Mrs. Ray told me you have a big part in your end of year program.
Sam: Oh, yeah. It's a leadership position. ( quite serious)

Claire said "night night" clear as a bell today. Maybe she'll talk one day after all!

Olivia had her ballet recital about 10 days ago and still talks about it nonstop. She was mimicking some of the older girls the other day and shaking her hips from side to side while pushing her hair back on both sides and saying " dontcha think I'm adorable!". She also told me the other day that she wants an Alice in Wonderland birthday again. But don't worry Mom, I'll just invite different people!

Jack came home today with a recommendation from the school art teacher for a summer art program, which doesn't surprise me a bit. He loves to draw and I have seen marked improvement all year. maybe we have a budding architect on our hands?

Lots of cuteness

The school year is winding down and I am so excited to spend time with the kids without the pressures of our crazy schedule. We ended up making a last minute trip to Florida last week as Ryan's grandmother is sick, and the kids were amazing despite spending about 30 hours in the car in a 4 day period. There was quite a bit of "are we there yet? How bout now? How.many.minutes.? That's a palm tree so we must be there NOW!". But overall they were incredible little travelers! Our schedule is so crazy that in order to be gone for 4days, we missed karate graduation, 2tball games (including being responsible for snack), 2 karate classes, 2 birthday parties, a field trip, and collecting for a teacher birthday!
Sam was so sweet yesterday at a birthday party as they blindfolded Olivia for a game and he whispered to the mom "make it kinda easy for her because she IS only 3 and a half."
I am seeing glimpses of the future like that from all of them. Yesterday after Jackson got off the bus, I was changing Claire's diaper when the phone rang. I asked him to bring it to me, and though I didn't recognize the number, I answered to hear "Is Jackson there?".
"Yes, he is. May I ask who's calling?".
"I wanted to talk to Jackson."
"Okay, who is this?"
"Easton."

Jack positively beamed from ear to ear when I told him the phone was for him and he wandered off talking to his friend from kindergarten. After about a minute and a half he came back and handed me the phone, shrugging. I took the phone and when I listened I could still hear someone on the other end. "Hello?"...."Easton?".
"Yeah?"
"Are you done talking to Jackson?
"Yeah."
"Okay, well I am going to hang up now."
"okay. Bye."

I asked Jackson what they talked a out and he said, " I don't know. We just talked for a while about some stuff."
My little teenager!

The kids played outside today with the neighbors and when it was time to come in, Olivia came cruising up in a kids jeep saying, "mama, Mason is driving me home!" while giggling and tossing her hair back. Terrifying!

On our way home from karate, Olivia asked for some of my lip gloss. Claire watched intently as Olivia pooched out her lips and carefully applied just the right amount. As she finished, Claire thrust her hand out for Olivia to give her the lip gloss, and with a serious look, tried to unscrew the lid while pooching out her own lips like Olivia and trying to apply the lip gloss! 14 months old today and going on 14 years!