Chaos: Party of Five

Showing the snow who's boss

2012-01-24T22:36:00.000-05:00

So the trip I mentioned? Went on as planned, with slight adjustments. On Friday morning, the weather report was saying snow and ice starting in the early afternoon, then following us to our destination (Oma and Opa's house). I had planned to leave right after school, but with that information, we decided to skip a day of kindergarten (I'll take my lashings now) and leave right after lunch. It was a good call - we drove on dry roads in the daylight and then sat in my mom's warm house and watched the snow fall that evening.

Pittsburgh got 6 inches of snow overnight that night. The next morning was the big event for which we traveled. Oma and Opa were to take Katy and David downtown to see Fiddlesticks - which is a young child's introduction to the symphony. Games, activities, instruments, and of course, a kid-friendly concert. We were debating up to the last minute about whether or not they should go, depending on the conditions of the road. But they decided to go for it - my mom said it was questionable on the way down, but they made it safely. Brian and I got to hang back with Luke (who was in toyland heaven).

A big part of the anticipation was dressing up.

You may remember these dresses from last year. And now Chloe has one, too!

Lukey loved Oma's house - especially the cool stool so you can help with cooking, crafting, and the like. Oh, and he slept through the night 2 nights in a row, which he hasn't done in MONTHS. Should we move in with Oma?

We do puzzles of every type.

Katy had requested jammies for Chloe, so she wouldn't have to sleep in her clothes, poor girl. So not only did Oma makes jammies, but a bathrobe, SLIPPERS, and a matching set for Katy. While we were there, Katy picked from the doll patterns and the scrap fabric and helped Oma sew another new outfit for Chloe.

TinkerToys were a new discovery this trip.

Katy had to prepare for her 100th day of school while we were there, since we pulled into our driveway just an hour before drop-off time on Monday. She needed to bring to school 100 of something, sorted into 10 groups of 10. When I was trying to think of an item which my mom would have 100, the first thing that came to mind was BUTTONS. She has jars and jars of buttons, I bet some of them are 30 years old. If you're ever missing one? Check with her - she might have it.

Witching hour(s)

2012-01-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

I remember a time in which my kids napped until 4 or 4:30 most days, and Brian got home shortly after 5. There were even a few days sprinkled in there when he would walk in the door and one of the kids was STILL ASLEEP from afternoon nap. Late nappers, my kids have been in the past. That wasn't much of a witching hour.

Several things have changed.

1) Brian doesn't get home until about 5:45. Once or twice a month, he has to stay and work at the rental, so it's 7 or 8pm before he gets home.

2) I have to pick Katy up from school at 3:30, so that is the latest anyone ever naps. And actually, the boys have been waking up closer to 2:30 these days.

3) Once a month, the school has early release and I pick her up at 2:30. Yes, that means that on those days kindergarten lasts an hour and a half. Only part of PM kinder that I don't like. (Three hours of witching on those days).

4) A couple of nights a week, we need to be out the door by 6 or so for an activity, so it's always my goal to have dinner on the table when he walks in.

This is what I would LIKE for the witching hours to look like:

- The kids enjoy a healthy snack around the table and talk politely about the day.

- I help Katy with her 10 minutes of homework, which she completes cheerfully while the boys do some coloring or cutting at the table.

- I set up something for the kids to do (a game, a craft, a train track) and they play with each other while I fix dinner. I intervene as needed.

Here is what actually happens:

- The kids start bickering on the way home about what kind of snack they are allowed to have.

- They whine and complain that the snack choices are "healthy" and try to bargain for a "regular" snack, despite years of the policy. No matter how much food I give David, he continues to beg for more until dinner is served. (I actually caught him hiding under the table the other day to catch the scraps that Luke dropped, like a dog. Not my finest parenting moment.)

- I drag Katy through the homework process. (And she's a good student and only has 10 minutes. Lord help me when I have a kid who isn't as motivated toward school and has hours of work to do!)

- Katy begs, pleads, and cries in request to invite the girl across the street to play. When the weather is nice, I don't mind at all if they play in the yard. But here's the thing: I don't know the family very well, and the girl is 2 years older than Katy. I don't get the impression that she really wants to play, unless there's nothing better to do. And certainly not every day, which is as often as Katy would like to invite her. I really don't mind having her over at ALL, but I just don't want Katy over there begging her to come every single day. This is hard to explain to a five year old who puts a seven year old on a pedestal.

- There are periods of play, mixed with fighting, thrown together with tears. I cannot let Luke leave my sight for more than 10 seconds, and I am constantly rerouting him from trouble. I feel guilty every time one of the kids comes up to me and pleads, "Will you read this book to me?" By the time Brian gets home, I feel desperate for him to arrive. But somehow, as soon as he walks in, I can't be sure why I was so flustered.

Any suggestions? What does this time look like at your house?

**side note: We are supposed to travel to my mom's this weekend and there's some snow heading this direction. We have tickets to a much-anticipated concert and I'm praying the weather doesn't force us to miss it.

Bonding with the Boys

2012-01-10T21:46:00.000-05:00

Luke had a well visit today, and the when the dr. asked "how is life with Luke?" all I could think of was, "It's a full time job to keep him from injuring himself." It would take several paragraphs to describe the close calls and near misses the kid has had this month, not to mention the blood smear on the garage door from last weekend's incident. The kid is wild, and I ask myself a thousand times a day, "Where's Luke?" So Luke and I, we spend a lot of time together.

(This is partially why the dr. isn't concerned that he is only 22 lbs 2 ounces - which is 5 %'ile for an 18 month old boy, even though he's 32.5 inches, 50 %'ile. I guess he's just moving so much he's burning it all off?)

And I get lots of time with Katy, mostly because she demands it and needs it. She has homework and likes crafts and games and just...she demands it.

But I've been thinking lately about my middle child. He doesn't demand my attention in the same way, and I've found that the attention I give him is too often negative. He's a 3 year old boy, so I am constantly correcting him for screaming, pushing, being too rough, too loud, etc. And fighting with him to do the things he needs to do (go potty, get dressed, brush his teeth) because he doesn't want to stop what he's doing.

So I'm making a strong attempt to have some bonding time with David every chance I get. If I find a few seconds of down time, I'll jump into whatever he's doing and try to cuddle with him a little extra. He often gets up from rest time before Luke, so I'm trying to put aside what I need to do and play with play-doh, Zingo, or Let's Go Fishin'. And it makes me teary to realize how excited he gets, to play with Mommy all on his own. He's such a sweet, sweet boy and he deserves some attention in this busy household.

So I'll do my best.

Tidbits: January edition

2012-01-09T17:06:00.000-05:00

**So, I don't want to speak too soon or jinx anything or eat my words later...but is it possible? ...is there any way...that maybe, just maybe... *whispers* we might just have a mild winter on our hands? I mean, I KNOW that it's probably still coming. I remember March of '08 when we got several feet of snow (I remember because I was great with child and nervous about driving to the hospital in labor in said snow). But I have seen the 10 day forecast that stretches into mid-Januray and it's still looking...fairly mild? We've walked to school a few days in the past week, played outside all weekend, contemplated going to the zoo just for kicks. In JANUARY?!? I could get used to this. So, okay, Old Man Winter, if the way you roll is to wait for someone to post on their blog that they think it might be a mild winter and then BRING IT, I guess it will be all my fault.

**Gradually we are starting back into our routine - church stuff all started last week, Girl Scouts tonight, and tomorrow Katy starts a piano class. She has been very interested in piano since Oma brought us a keyboard and some primer books and taught her to play a few things. There is a perfect little class sold through the rec center that is a group lesson for 4-6 year olds, happening right when David is at school (almost too perfect to work - I'm having to carpool so I can drop David off at the exact same time piano starts). We know 2 of the other 4 kids already, and Katy is super excited about it.

**Last night I heard a thud upstairs after the kids were in bed, but no crying afterward, so I figured someone got up to get a drink. When I went to check later, I found David like this. I'm guessing he fell out of bed but was too tired to climb all the way back in?

**David's nap has been hit or miss, and we skipped it for 2 weeks straight around Christmas. So for now we've settled into this routine: on weekends and any day that Katy doesn't have school - he stays up from nap. On the days that Katy has school, he goes to his room and tries to lay down, but if he doesn't fall asleep, he comes down at 2:00. It's a good compromise for now, because he and Katy have several activities that are easier to do when Luke is sleeping (play-doh, legos, bingo, etc), so they get the chance to do these on off days. But then on school days, we try to rest, and he doesn't argue because he knows there are days he gets to stay up. He still falls asleep on most of the rest days, but only for an hour or so. Which is just enough time for me to catch my breath and make needed phone calls and feel like I have the energy to finish the day.

**Katy just hung on my arm for a minute and started to read the paragraph above. She got every word in the first sentence except for "skipped," "straight," & "Christmas." It's really fun to watch her as an emerging reader, but it starts to make you think...about what all she can read?!?

**Luke is so funny right now, although it's the kind of funny that is difficult to describe in a way that retains the humor. He imitates everything we do (like picking up the cereal bowl from the table to get the last little bit), nods "yes" with emphasis, and attempts to put on his shoes and coat when anyone opens the door. He loves to play trains, and constantly brings me a piece of wooden train track and shoves it at me, like, "Build me a track!!" We made spinach and artichoke dip and he ate a whole bowl of it with a SPOON and asked for more until we ran out. ?!? He's just a cuke, oddly hilarious with his own little quirks.

I hope your January is chugging along nicely. Let's hope it stays that way.

Forward progress

2012-01-01T08:25:00.012-05:00

I can't remember a time that I made a written list of resolutions and managed to keep them for any length of time. But I've been thinking about a few goals that I've accomplished this year. Things that I've been meaning to get around to for awhile and finally did. This is an easier way for me to think about - having a list of goals that I will get to this year, rather than "From this day forward I will no longer ____."

Most of these happen to be domestic goals, but it's a start. I'll add some personal ones for 2012.

In 2011, I made some forward progress in these areas:

**Serving dinner at home to my family: I've struggled with this...well...since I've had a family. This summer I bought a Days-of-the-week wipe-off board at a garage sale for 50 cents and stuck it on my fridge. I also started doing once-a-month freezer cooking on a regular basis. On Sundays, I plan our meals for the week, pull out of the freezer what I need to thaw, and we're finally making it through the week without getting take-out. We usually eat out some on the weekends, just because we enjoy it and we budget for it. But during the week, dinner is on the table when Brian gets home from work or a few minutes after. *shew*

**Baking our own bread: Brian had a bread machine from his single days (can you believe that?) that has been sitting in our basement for years. I kept reading on blogs about women who never bought bread in the store and always baked their own, and while I wasn't sure I would go totally cold turkey, I wanted to try it. So I got it out, got a good recipe from a friend (thanks, Ab!), shared a bag of bread flour and yeast from Costco with another friend (thanks, Kate!), and baked my very own bread. DELIGHTFUL. Now, I'm not going to give up on store bought bread entirely, but I've been baking bread about once a week and using it as part of our meals.

**Stay within our grocery budget: I kept feeling like I couldn't find the time to cut the coupons and follow the sales the way I knew I should. And I was stressing over every cup of yogurt I put in the basket. And even though we had raised the budget a couple of times, I was STILL going over. I know it's only been a month, but this one is suddenly so much better. Emily, meet Aldi. Aldi, Emily.

**Keeping up with the laundry. Brian helped a ton with this one. We're in a routine now - I usually do a mid-week load full of stuff that we suddenly need, like a certain color shirt for preschool or a jacket that got really muddy. But other than that, we do a big push every weekend, and Brian and I are both working on it throughout the weekend until it's done. This is better than my previous routine, which was to wait until everyone is out of underwear and then swim in piles of clothes for 3 days, which might fall during a busy part of the week.

So for 2012?

**I'd like to figure out how to make exercise a regular part of my routine. Brian has done a great job with this and has been really consistent for over a year.
**De-clutter. It seems like there are tons of books out there on this topic right now (I don't read many books, but I read blogs and bloggers tend to read books and then blog about them), and I would love to decrease our stuff. One blog did a 40 bags in 40 days challenge during lent last year, which I think would be fabulous if I could get motivate.

**Get the whole family to eat more produce. I've been experimenting with ideas like putting the big bowl in the middle of the table so they are always looking at it, and slicing oranges with a knife so they look more appealing. I'd like to take more steps like these to increase improve this.

Christmas Marathon 2011

2011-12-31T23:19:00.000-05:00

We have returned from an eight-day Christmas marathon in which we visited with all 3 partitions of our family and really had a wonderful holiday. I think my kids would say that this has been the best week of their lives. Lots of family, fun activities, holiday treats, special events, and of course...the gifts.

Once we got home, we spent two days doing eight loads of laundry and purging through shelves and closets to be able to neatly put away our new toys (both kids' and parents'). Now I'm trying to wrap my head around starting a normal week tomorrow. Eeesh! I took a gazillion pictures, so here's a little glimpse of the week. (I feel like I have fallen off the photography bandwagon and I need to apologize as the quality of photos has taken a downward turn. Hoping to improve again, I should add that to the New Year's list.)

At home on Christmas Eve, ready for church. My mom, Greg, and sister Melanie joined us for the weekend. My mom likes to give gifts, and I do too, so it's crazy kind of fun on Christmas morning.

My mom brought my old coat for Katy to wear to church - she made it for me - circa 1982?

I LOVE this moment captured - this is what you see if you open the garage door and say, "C'mon, Lukey! Time to go!" Poor guy's worst fear is getting left behind.

Putting out cookies, milk, and notes for Santa.

At our house, everyone contributes to everyone else's stocking (grown-ups have them too). The result is that the items may not all physically fit into one's stocking, and when you pull out that bubble bath or lottery ticket - you don't know who may have given it. This year I also made post-it labels because I'm the only one who can remember whose is whose.

Stockings with bedhead!

One of the perks of Christmas morning is getting chocolate first thing.

Shout out to the consignment shop where we got 75% of the kids' gifts this year.

The biggest hit for Katy this year? A doll named Chloe from Oma - she came in a Girl Scout uniform, but my mom had also sewn her a wardrobe. I am shocked, because Katy has not been a doll person before now - but she LOVES this doll. Carries her around everywhere and changes her clothes and brushes her hair. Cute. She has also loved her lego set and non-fiction videos.

You might as well try on your new digs. Luke and I both got rain boots, and Katy got an umbrella. Rain really affects our school drop-off and pick-up!

David was introduced to the world of Superman - a book, a costume, and an action figure. Maybe he'll branch out from his cars.

A wrap-around generations canvas for Oma!

The kids have gotten into building train tracks lately, so an expansion pack that I got on clearance 6 months ago was perfectly timed. It's really fun to explore the new possibilities.

Skip forward to Dayton with Grandpa and Grandma Sue (Aunt Mel again, too). We went downtown to see a train set.

The escalators were equally popular.

We also visited a set of historic department-store-window Christmas displays.

Luke is battling David for the title of Family Cuddler.

The year of the argyle sweater.

The kids had a blast at Grandpa and Grandma's. Katy and David got the new experience of sharing an air mattress - but they did great! We watched Polar Express, which I think may be the first full-length movie we've all watched together? (Besides Cars, of course. I'm not that sheltering, they just haven't been interested.)

New state - this is Kentucky! Grammy's gift to all the girls (9 of us altogether!) was a trip to the nail salon. It was a fun girls' morning out together.

We stopped into Grammy and Papa John's travel agency to see the great map. COUSINS!!!!!!!!!!

We went bowling, but I had a hard time taking pictures because I was chasing Luke all over the place and trying to keep him off the floor (yuck).

It's becoming a tradition: people disappear in turn to work on a thousand piece puzzle.

The kids spent hours (and hours and hours) playing with their cousins. Board games, outside (we saw 60 degrees!), hide and seek, performing "shows," etc. The trip was actually quite relaxing for me because the kids were so entertained and just disappeared for long periods of time.

As the oldest cousin, Kimmy always gets her picture taken holding the baby cousin! But she's really good at it.

Thank you, dear family, for a wonderful week! Now back to reality. :)

A hiccup...for perspective

2011-12-24T10:12:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of this week, I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed with to-do lists, but also excited with anticipation. We had a schedule full of fun activities for the week leading up to Christmas, including 2 class parties, a girls' night, an out-of-state friend visiting overnight, and my sister's annual Grinch-watching-gift-wrapping-par-tay.

We started off as planned: errands completed, zoo trip, class party #1, Brian's friend Joey arrived and I left them at the house for the evening while I met the girls at Cheesecake Factory. This was a special occasion because Abigail was back from Colorado and we were all anxious to hear how her new life was settling in out there. We laughed, we sympathized, and we ate. Specifically, I ate chicken enchiladas and half a piece of Hershey's chocolate cheesecake.

On the way home, Beth and I stopped at Target and I finished my Christmas shopping (one gift for Brian and stocking stuffers). I came home to find Brian, Joey, and Melanie kicking back with some beers and some laughs. We got to bed late.

And then I woke up at 4 in the morning and ran to the bathroom. It was one of those situations in which you are looking at the toilet and the trashcan and trying to decide how you're going to make this work. I usually appreciate someone holding my hair in that situation, but I told Brian to stay out. It was that bad.

Then I laid in bed and ran through all the best and worst case scenarios in my head for the week to come.

Best: it was something I ate tonight, and is therefore not contagious. I will be better by tomorrow and we will continue with all of our plans.

Worst: this is the start of The Stomach Bug that Ruins Christmas, in which we spend the next week passing it throughout the house, and I have to choose for each of our carefully laid out plans whether to give my entire family the stomach flu or miss Christmas celebrations. It took us a month to schedule the next 8 days of visits and travel in order to see everyone at Christmas, so it's not like I can just push it back a week.

I stayed in bed that morning while Brian (and Joey) stayed home from work with the kids. I felt much better by noon, so they took Katy to school and went in to the office. (Katy was late, she forgot her book-in-a-bag AND her library book. Sometimes I forget all that is involved in getting a kid to school) Mel came back and took David to Katy's class party, and Luke took the longest nap he has taken in a LONG time.

I chose not to share the news with the girls from our night out, because I decided that if the tables were turned, I'd just rather not have that paranoid thought in my head for 4 days leading up to Christmas...that there could be a small chance of catching a stomach bug. Hopefully by the time you all read this, it's been long enough that you won't be worried - love you ladies! :)

So now it's Christmas Eve, it's been over 72 hours since I was sick, and at this point it appears that we have a Best Case Scenario on our hands. *knock on wood and prayers already sent* No one else has been sick, and I read some things online that lead me to believe that it was likely the chicken enchiladas at the restaurant that made me sick.

But I don't place blame in what caused it - I really didn't mind being sick at all as long as I didn't have a nasty bug that was going to spread to the whole family and ruin Christmas! And if it did anything for our week, it helped me to slow down, appreciate the people who are here, and be SO thankful if we are able to make it Christmas morning without any further gastrointestinal incident. My mom, Greg, and Melanie are here and we're ready to party! Let's do this thing!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Christmas is Here-ish

2011-12-19T22:42:00.000-05:00

We had our first Christmas celebration already with a family get-together at our house. The best part was catching up with family that we don't see very often and watching our kids play with my cousin's kids. They LOVE to play doctor and the boys enjoy running wild together.

Nate wasn't in the mood to cuddle up with the others.

You know it's a good day when no one wants it to be over.

We also had a lovely evening with friends seeing the lights at the zoo. It was a great night - the weather was perfect (for December), it wasn't crowded, the lights were beautiful, and the kids had a blast. It really put us in a festive mood.

The key to beating the crowd at zoo lights is to get there at dusk.

Classic Frank. We love this kid.

Goofy.

What's wrong with this picture?

Coolest part of the night: Santa dove into the aquarium for the daily feeding. You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces.

Please tell me I'm not the only one...

2011-12-15T16:48:00.000-05:00

Some kid activities: I love. I enjoy reading stories to them and playing card games and taking walks and talking about all of their endless questions. I love to do puzzles with them and play sports and go swimming.

But there are a few activities that for whatever reason...that part of my brain does not connect and they drive me bonkers. The first of these that I noticed when the kids were little(r) was blocks. Sit me down with a pile of blocks and I feel like I am being punished. What am I supposed to DO with these things? I can make a tower twice and then I'm done. And I have zero creative capacity for building structures without a pattern set before me.

The other one that drives me crazy this time of year is a living room full of tunnels and forts. You know the kind: all the couches are pushed into the middle of the room and the pillows and blankets are placed just so to create a perfect labyrinth of tunnels and crawl space. Brian often sets these up for the kids and they LOVE them. But then Brian leaves for the day and within five minutes the kids are all "MOMMY!!! It's broken! Fix it! Luke messed it up!!! The pillows!! They're all WRONG!!! Fix it!! MOMMY!!!!" Except that I cannot fix it - no matter what I try, it's not quite right and the tunnel no longer exists and every fiber of my being is screaming "I just want to put the couches back where they belong!!! Everything is out of place and it JUST ISN'T RIGHT!!! Please, please, PLEASE can we put the couches back now?!?!"

Please tell me you have one of these things. (And Brian, I love you dearly. Somebody has to be the fun parent.)

On my honor, I will try...

2011-12-13T13:29:00.000-05:00

Last night we had an investiture ceremony for our new Girl Scout troop, so the girls are officially scouts! They received their pins for being able to recite the Girl Scout promise (in case you need a refresher):

On my honor, I will try

To serve God and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout law.

The ceremony was for Wendy and I as much as for the girls, because we've both put a lot of work in to get this troop started. So it was exciting for the girls to give each other the Girl Scout handshake and say "Welcome to Girl Scouts!".

It really is a neat program. They are earning daisy petals to be added to their vest - one for each line of the Girl Scout law. So for example, one week, the activities revolve around "being honest and fair." Another week, "courageous and strong." Another, "to use resources wisely." The 8 girls that we have so far have been really excited about everything and seem to really be learning the concepts.

Everything has it's challenges, of course. Sometimes a parent has a different idea about how things should go. Sometimes it's supposed to rain on your parade (literally), and you have to find the balance between disappointing the girls and ticking off the parents. And sometimes the council keeps emailing you to see if you'll take more girls who can't find a troop, just as soon as you've gotten things organized. But it will be worth it, for these girls.

Tidbits: December edition

2011-12-12T14:20:00.000-05:00

**I'm really enjoying our December. I'm not stressed or overwhelmed, we're doing many of our usual traditions and trying a few new ones. The kids are having a blast. And we're just chugging along, comfortable in our routine.

**Although there was one week in which Luke was taking only one 30-minute nap during the day, and then waking up 3-4 times per night screaming bloody murder. And this is the kid who requires your UTMOST attention while he is awake. So we were tired that week. But he's better.

**We've had such a lovely warm fall that I've been in serious denial that it's going to get cold. Just in the past week have we pulled out hats and mittens, started driving to school some days, and cleaned out the garage to get the van inside. I figure if we deny it long enough, eventually it will be spring, no?

**I'm about three-quarters done with The Shopping. And I don't even want to rush to finish it because I love it so. But even when it's done...I look forward to January, when all the clearance sales hit. We have some fun shopping in January.

**We saw our usual Santa (and Mrs. Claus) last week, and the kids made their polite requests (David: "a racing car" and Katy: "an Ariel Barbie.") A couple of days later, Katy's school had a winter festival in the evening and Santa was there. They sat on his lap again and David repeated his request and Katy said she didn't know what she wanted. We asked her afterward, why didn't you tell Santa what you wanted? She said, "That was a different Santa, and I don't want them both to bring me the same thing. It takes a lot of Santas to visit all the kids in the whole world, so that other Santa can just bring something for me. I hope David doesn't get two racing cars." Oh. Ok.

**I have never said a word about good behavior correlating with Santa's gifts, or anything about the naughty list. But David told me this morning, "I told Katy last night that I'm going to be nice so Santa will come on Christmas. Being on the naughty list means that you are mean." I know he got this partially from the Dora Christmas special, but it's amazing what all they pick up.

**I'm still giddy about Aldi, you guys. There is a noticeable difference in my grocery budget, and I'm not having to work so hard with all the coupons.

**Yesterday afternoon, Brian and I braved the shopping crowds with the 3 littles in tow, attempting to knock a few items off of our list. We ate dinner in the Target food court (don't judge me), and pushed the kids to the absolute limit before heading home. We stopped to fill the van with gas on the way home, right at Luke's bedtime (he was already screaming before we got to the station). Brian put the key in the ignition - won't start. It's freezing cold, everyone's tired, Luke is crying, and we were having trouble finding anyone to give us a jump. We tried to think of a friend to call - but if the jump doesn't work and we need a ride home - it has to be someone who can accommodate 5 extra people in their car, including 3 car seats. We called the one we could think of who was fairly close, and luckily, before he arrived, someone gave us a jump and the van started. So far today, knock on wood, the van has started several times with no problems. (What was that I was saying about loving to Christmas shop?)

**I'm loving the Christmas cards in the mail everyday. Keep 'em comin'!!

How to Play Shut the Box, by Katy, age 5 and a half

2011-12-06T20:17:00.001-05:00

(Luke gives a cameo, but refuses to say his lines)

Already?

2011-11-30T11:54:00.000-05:00

Every year that I have participated in NaBloPoMo, I am surprised to realize that it's over. I never have any shortage of things to say. :) But I do have a shortage of time to connect my hands to the keyboard, so it's also a relief to be free of that (self-imposed) commitment...

...just in time for another self-imposed daily commitment - the Advent Calendar! We'll be repeating what we did last year, which is placing a piece of paper in each door that the kids open in the morning describing a Christmas activity that we'll be doing that day. I stole this idea from Wendy, and our activities range from doing a Christmas craft to visiting the train display to driving around to look at lights. The kids have already been counting down...to the count down. Not kidding.

Last year I totally cheated a few mornings because of course, the kids could not read - so I just kept putting the same piece of paper in the next door and then "reading" it to them. But this year, Katy will be very excited to read what is written on the paper, so no more cheating - I need to be prepared each evening. I also remember a couple of mornings last year in which I had to distract them with something because I had completely forgotten to stuff the box the night before. I'm determined to be on my game this year!

December will be busy with so many fun things - welcome, December!

The way they are

2011-11-29T15:14:00.000-05:00

Luke: Even though it's frustrating and scary, his climbing also makes me laugh. The only place in the house that is completely out of his reach is the top of the refrigerator. He sees something on the counter that he wants? He pushes over a kitchen chair and climbs right up. (this is one of the scary ones - I cannot leave the stove unattended for even a second.) I will also find him in new places almost daily. Yesterday he was sitting on the back of the futon, legs dangling like Humpty Dumpty, ready to jump off. He's only been walking for three months! I had to rig the straps of his booster seat with rubber bands because he figured out how to stand up and pull the straps right out of the chair.

He generally more interested in moving than talking, but he LOVES the book Gallop and tries to repeat animal noises from it. My favorite is the rooster, which is some form of "do-ah-do." I love that he picks up on cues when someone is leaving the house and brings me a pair of shoes (not necessarily his) and pokes me with them in desperation, as if to say, "You're taking me with you, right? Right? Right?"

David: The car obsession lives on. I realized that 3/4 of his ornaments are vehicles of some sort (the first one was a Baby's First Christmas ornament). He spends much of his play time moving cars and trains around various areas of the house. He is usually playing out very complicated car drama in his head, and he completely flips his lid if Luke grabs one of the cars and takes it out of the storyline.

He does get wild, especially in the company of other boys - they feed off of each other and he gets really excited. Excited = running, crashing, screeching, making lots of motor noises, and laughing a hysterically evil laugh. In those rare times that it's just him and me, he's a remarkably calm and sweet kiddo. He talks my ear off and makes impressive observations. I think he's going to be a charmer, he even knows to compliment girls that their outfit is "beautiful."

He's still my cuddler, and he's terrified of storms. Every single night, if I forget to tell him explicitly, he comes back out of his room and asks, "Mommy, will there be storms tonight?" If I hear a crack of thunder in the night, I can count to ten and plan on a three-year-old in the bed with me for at least an hour.

Katy: Considering the challenges the she has given me over the years, I am really enjoying age 5 with this girl. She is so sweet, so mature, and really seems to be coming into her own. (Does anyone really know what that means?) She's just pleasant to be around, which is really nice. I enjoy our conversations together - she asks a lot of questions, she likes non-fiction (yes, she calls it non-fiction), and she's really proud of herself for all of the accomplishments she has made this year.

She's still really competitive, which is the one area where we can still butt heads. If she feels that something isn't fair, or that she isn't winning or coming out on top - look out! Things can turn ugly pretty quickly. But at least now I can talk to her about it logically. She has shed many tears this year over PM kindergarten: "Mommy, ALL the other kids go to kindergarten all DAY. I'm just a BABY who only goes in the afternoon. I want to go in the MORNING, TOO." This comes up when she wants to make a play date with someone on a weekday morning, and I have to break the news that they are at school. This is not well received.

But her heart is really loving. She's helpful and kind to her brothers most of the time. We started a magnetic responsibility chart (I'd recommend this one as a gift idea!) and she is loving it. She constantly asks what she can do to get a magnet. (when she fills up the whole chart, which takes her a few weeks, we go out for frozen yogurt with mix-ins.) She's really growing up!

Thanksgiving Weekend: A pictorial (with captions, because I'm a talker)

2011-11-28T10:28:00.060-05:00

My mom and sister were vital during the power hour (last hour before you sit down to eat.)

I was extra thankful for this special guest! My Granny is only one month post-op and I really wasn't sure if she'd be able to make the trip. I was so happy to see her up and about.

Lukey checking the progress on the turkey.

I love to see my Grandpa playing trains with the boys.

The spread (it looks the same every year).

The one day of the year that you are allowed to eat more dessert than dinner.

The fam, enjoying the warm temps we had all weekend!

Grammy and Papa John arrived and we quickly whisked them away to a lights parade, recommended by a friend. We parked the car and discovered Santa, cookie-icing, and a petting zoo in the parking lot. The kids were ecstatic.

She would've stayed for hours, even though the bunnies scratched her.

After walking through the drive-thru at Wendy's, we got free glow sticks and waited for the action to begin.

Everyone was impressed - very cool event.

An example of what the floats looked like.

The next day Grammy and Papa John helped us decorate for Christmas and we watched the Buckeyes try desperately to beat Michigan. Luke was wild, as usual. Teething much?

Finally, Grandpa and Grandma Sue came for one last meal. David was so exhausted at this point that he "covered" himself and Grandpa with pillows and requested to go to bed. Luke, on the other hand, is attempting to put on his shoe, which is a request to go outside. (you know, in his diaper, at bedtime)

You silly boy, we're all exhausted! Take your bottle and go to bed! Please?!?
Thanks to all of our family for a really nice weekend.

All Decked Out

2011-11-27T22:27:00.000-05:00

Since so many of you have asked what happened with the Hallmark ornaments (8 comments on a post? That doesn't happen very often here.), I wanted to give an update. We had 3 coupons for $5 off a $10 purchase. They were from 3 different sources (so I wasn't cheating by replicating the same coupon), and we planned to buy the three ornaments separately to use all 3 coupons. None of them stated anything about exclusions. The original prices of the ornaments ranged from $13-$20 each.

After we were denied at our usual store, Brian went to the Hallmark near his work the next day and they took the coupon without question. He went back at a later time and a different cashier also took the coupon without question. So he called the manager at our original store to clarify that other stores were accepting them. The manager had him read the fine print over the phone, and then conceded that they should have accepted it. So I went back to that store and bought the third ornament, with no problems. That's a lot of drama to save $15, but what can I say? Fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks.

We also bought a new tree this year! We've been watching post-season clearance for a couple of years without much luck, so this year my mom, sister, and I went Thanksgiving evening and got a doorbuster tree. I'm happy with it, and my mom and I are now tree twins. :)

And keeping this tree out of Luke's hands? Nearly impossible. He constantly grabs the ornaments right off and puts them in his mouth - they are getting higher and higher, and I need to go make sure all the ones with hooks are out of his reach. It's been an interesting day chasing him away from the tree.

A new tree! With a strangely mature-looking child next to it?

David picked a firetruck that lights up. This is the third year in a row that he has picked a vehicle-themed ornament.

We couldn't decide which one to pick for Luke, until he was screeching to grab David's from him, which is an hourly occurrence these days. So it seemed appropriate to get him the toddler version of the firetruck, since he just wants whatever David has.

Katy picked the mailbox called "Letters for Santa." She is hoping that I'm going to leave treats for her in there each morning, There's a strategy to her decisions.

Brian got this handy device to easily hang outdoor lights, so we humored the kids with some extras this year. I think the tree in the window is my favorite part. Having kids this age makes Christmas so exciting.

Early morning meet-up

2011-11-26T23:08:00.000-05:00

I had the most exciting reason to leave the house at 6am and meet my friend Cindy at a dairy farm this morning. I got to meet her most precious baby girl, Genevieve. I also got the rare chance to have some face-to-face girl talk with one of my dearest friends. And to get to see friends in the middle of a busy holiday weekend? We'll meet at whatever hour we can meet.

We were both cracking up as it was still dark in the parking lot when we arrived. I think we were the only ones who thought it was funny to be there that early.

It was a blast!

Sweetie baby and proud mama!

Good kind of busy

2011-11-25T23:13:00.000-05:00

We've been overflowing with family, food, shopping, and holiday spirit. I hosted Thanksgiving dinner, and somehow, it wasn't stressful at all. My mom was here, which helped a bunch, but it was just a relaxed atmosphere.

And I did the most Black Friday shopping I have ever done. My mom, sister, and I went out chasing a doorbuster on Thanksgiving evening. Then Brian and I went out both this morning AND this evening - taking advantage of the grandparents to babysit. It was so fun! I love shopping, love a good deal, and it really wasn't that crowded at all. (We didn't line up at Wal-Mart at 6am or anything crazy like that).

I've taken lots of pictures, and we've got more fun planned for the remainder of the weekend. So I'll take the time to download them tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying your holiday!

GR8FUL, still

2011-11-24T08:34:00.000-05:00

Just over a year ago, I started a gratitude journal - every night before bed, I listed 5 things for which I was thankful, specific to that day. About halfway through the year, I added 2 daily prayer requests to the list, as a way to curb my anxious thoughts.

I just filled the notebook. It has definitely been a positive exercise for me. I think it has helped me to see that every single day, even the hard ones, there are lots of good things in my life for which to be grateful. On a few occassions, I stared at the blank page, struggling through my attititude to find something positive from the day, but those were the exception and not the rule.

I'm going to take a break from the journal for now, mostly because I think too much repitition robs an exercise of effectiveness. But this Thanksgiving, I'm in a better place that last year - not just in circumstance, but in the heart. We have SO much to be thankful for.

Questions from Mom

2011-11-23T00:12:00.000-05:00

My mom had a few more questions...

1) What is the one thing you miss the most that you enjoyed before you had kids? (Mine was being in the bathroom by myself--at least sometimes.)

Time to myself, to do whatever I want. I feel like even when the kids are sleeping, I have things I need to do that are related to them somehow (clean up, laundry, plan meals, grocery shop, plan Girl Scout stuff, etc), so I miss having time that is really truly mine. But I know someday I'll have it again and wish the kids were around, so I try to keep that in perspective.

2) Of all the household chores you do, is there one (or more) that you kind of like in spite of the work? (I like laundry; the clean clothes smell good.)
I like cleaning up after meals, because it feels finite: there are a certain amount of plates that need to get rinsed and put in the dishwasher and foods that need to go back in the fridge and then you're done. And that meal is done. It's not like picking up toys while a trail of toys is falling behind you, or doing laundry while 5 people are wearing clothes and getting them dirty. It's done...for at least 2 hours until you start the process again.

3) What book would you read if you had time? :-) (I liked "The Help" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.")

I saw the movie "The Help" (first movie I've seen in the theatre in years) and it was awesome, so I'd love to read that book. Brian is reading "Heaven is for Real" and says it's really interesting. I've always got a stack of books that I'd like to read that people have recommended...

I'm such a night owl that I am writing this past midnight and counting it as tomorrow's post. :) I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving.

Gripping the Wallet

2011-11-22T21:14:00.000-05:00

Tonight we took the kids to Hallmark to continue our annual tradition from my childhood: letting them each pick a keepsake ornament for our tree. (I was excited to get this done before Thanksgiving so we can decorate this weekend!) The kids were high with anticipation this afternoon. They made their selections with great intensity.

But when we got to the register, the cashier told us that our coupons could not be used for keepsake ornaments. The coupon does not state that there are any exclusions. We used the exact same coupons at the same store last year to buy ornaments. But it's a store policy, she said. No coupons on ornaments. So what did we do with our bright eyed kiddos and their carefully selected ornaments in hand?

We walked out.

Those coupons would have saved us $15, and this is the third time in the past couple of weeks that this type of things has happened, in which a store doesn't honor a discount and I had to walk out without the merchandise. We're all tightening our purse strings, I understand, but this is starting to get frustrating.

The kids were great sports about it, bless their hearts. We told them we were going to try to find the ornaments at another place that would take our coupons. (Tried Kohl's, they didn't have the ones the kids picked, darn it). We were all disappointed.

So now I'm wondering if we should change the tradition so that it doesn't revolve around Hallmark keepsake, but any type of ornament. Without a discount, Hallmark would cost us $50-60 ever year, at least - is that worth it? We don't buy a real tree, so maybe it's a trade-off?

Basically I'm just sitting here bummed that a family tradition which I'd like to carry on is seeming too expensive... (if only I hadn't spent so much money on portraits!)

Answers

2011-11-21T14:31:00.001-05:00

Only Giselle had any questions this time around, but she asked three, so let's address those.

How about 5 really good books you've read. Maybe some that aren't as well known?

I'm afraid I'm really going to disappoint here, because I am (sheepishly) not much of a reader. I read with my kids every day, but for me? I have tried, (I swear!) but I read too slowly and fall asleep and never finish anything before it's due back at the library. I know that this makes many of you fellow bloggers shudder (I'm looking at YOU, Kelsey, Pam, Kate B. & Giselle), but the only books I've read since becoming a parent have been...parenting books. I guess I could list those? Oh, and I read blogs, and occasionally magazines.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth - saved my sanity with a newborn.

Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys by James and Thomas - helped me when I was struggling with boy behavior - how much is just being a boy and what do I need to keep in mind. (although I have to admit that I only read half of it before it was due back at the library)

The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner - great for easy and cheap entertainment for the 1-3 year old, especially in the winter when you're stuck inside.

This is pitiful, I can't even think of 5. There are others that pop in my head, but I wouldn't classify them as "great," so I wouldn't list them here. Oh, nevermind...

As a side note, I don't know if this is a pipe dream if I can't model it myself, but I'd love for any of my kids to be avid readers. It's such a healthy habit, but one that I haven't been able to develop in my own life.

What about habits you have that you think will embarrass your teenagers someday? (I think about this more now that Andrew's getting older and inviting friends over. Is my singing made up songs embarrassing? Smooching Jeff in the kitchen? etc etc...I'm totally going to mortify my kids).

The biggest one that comes to mind is that I'm constantly hugging and kissing my kids - it's kind of my love language - so I have a hard time imagining stopping that as they get older. So I'm sure I will embarrass them with that. I've thought of this recently as there has been this huge wave of 9-12 year old boys in our neighborhood lately. They are coming out of the woodwork and frequently playing hockey in the court in my front yard. My kids will run up and give me kisses and hugs and I wonder if they think it's lame. Whatever!!! (Don't you like my mature response?)

And I'm dying to know if you've decided to have a 4th child...but that's kind of personal, isn't it? Reading blogs really encourages the Nosy person inside me.

Well. I'm typically an open book and many of you have heard an earful from me in person on the topic. But I will share what I am comfortable saying here in this space.

And that is...that we have not decided. I am having a hard time deciding to be done - there is this place in my heart that really wants 4 kids. But I love my 3 and we are chugging along right now. Sleeping through the night (mostly) and we have a good schedule, etc. But every single day I think about a 4th. (And just as an aside, I have never once in my entire life entertained the thought of five. The dreaming stops at 4 in my mind, for some reason). Pregnancy and delivery and post-partum were no picnic, especially this last time around. But if we're going to go for it, we don't want to wait too long.

And Brian is in pretty much the same place on all of the above points. If one of us felt strongly in one direction or the other, we could probably persuade the other. But we're both just not sure. So there you have it.

Leftover #3

2011-11-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

The portraits went as well as they could have. It was crazy busy at 10am on a Sunday morning. It was tough to get all 3 kids to be making attractive expressions on their faces at once, but we got some good shots. I spent WAY too much money. I can't believe I parted with that cash. But to get what I felt like we needed (to give to family), we could spend $20 more and get enough prints to wallpaper the bathroom. So would you like one? Because we've got PLENTY (including Christmas cards, so many of you will be seeing those).

It seems like ages ago that we were spending 2 evenings a week at the soccer field. It was a very busy, but rather short, season. The best part of soccer as a parent was watching how much Katy loved it. She's already asking about spring (we'll see). Even if she didn't score the most goals, she had a noticably strong spirit and passion for the game. Parents on opposing teams commented several times on "that spunky little Katy on the other team," etc. After the last game, she received a trophy for participation and a team photo. She has told me several times that if she ever has show and tell for school, she'll bring her soccer trophy.

Weekend

2011-11-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

Last night Brian and I enjoyed a real bona fide DATE. We probably get about 5 or 6 date nights per year - and for most of them, we do two things: go out to eat at a place where you order your food at the counter, and then we go to Target.

But LAST night, we went out with our friends JT and Adrienne, went to a nice restaurant (waited 45 minutes for a table - haven't done that in years), and then went to the OSU basketball game. It was a great time - so nice to have a night out in which we had something fun to do. (Not that we don't love wandering around Target. We do.)

I spent part of the last few days getting ready for family portraits tomorrow. Cut Katy and David's hair again and went to the salon to cut mine. Tried desperately to find coordinating outfits for the five of us out of our current closets. Went shopping for a couple of pieces to make it work. Researched prices and tried to strategize how much to buy to get the best value. Bathed the children and blew their hair dry. Hovered over Luke to try to make it to the session without a goose egg or scrape on his face. This is why I don't do this every year!! (Not the preventing injury part, but the rest of it)

But is it just me, or does it kind of feel like Christmas season already? Lights are up, halls are decked, and I'm in the mood to start shopping. I guess posing in a red sweater in front of a Christmas tree will seal the deal.

Leftover #2

2011-11-18T14:41:00.000-05:00

Back in October, Katy's class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch, which was a big deal in one sense because it was her first bus ride.

She thought she was big time.

It was also a big deal because I wasn't able to find a sitter for the boys, so I couldn't go on the trip. Lots of other parents went along, and a friend of mine was assigned to be with Katy the whole time, so I knew she was in good hands. But it was a bummer to miss it.

But I feel like I was there. First of all because it's the same farm where she went two years in a row for preschool field trips, so I feel like I could give the speech about the difference between a pumpkin and a gourd, and taste the apple cider. Also, my friend forgot her camera, so she borrowed mine on the trip and brought back lots of pictures of Katy and her daughter. So I got to see shots like this...

So she had a blast. On her own. *sniff*

Leftover #1

2011-11-17T21:33:00.000-05:00

I'm tired and I want to go sit so I'm going to share some pictures that I didn't get around to posting in October.

First, Brian ran a half marathon and got a personal record. Our friend Brandon and his lovely wife Melanie came to visit so the guys could race together. It was great to get to know Melanie since we only met her at their wedding last May.

They were running so fast we had a hard time catching them! We went to 2 spots and missed them both places...then barely made it to the finish line in time.

Cutie newlyweds. Gotta call them that for the short period of time that it fits, right? :)

We're suckers for kettle corn.

pre-haircut

Randoms

2011-11-16T21:52:00.000-05:00

-Last week when I picked David up from preschool they told me that he had failed his vision screening. For some reason, unusual as it is, I didn't panic. I just know my son and if there were several other kids in the room while they were doing the test, he would say "I can't see it" just to be done. But I had to get glasses for lazy eye and farsightedness when I was in kindergarten, so it's also not a far jump to wonder if there could be a problem. So I took him to a pediatric eye doctor today and my intuition was correct. His vision is better than average for his age, including depth perception and color differentiation. So mark another one off the worry list.

- Right after I wrote yesterday's kindergarten post, completely unprompted, Katy said to me, "Mommy, remember when I used to complain about G all the time?" (G is the girl at her table who was "causing trouble" and Katy didn't like it). "Well now I like her, she's one of my friends." It was nice to have a little conversation about giving people a chance even if they do something to annoy you when you first meet them. You still might become good friends.

- Luke is SO WILD!! He can (and does) climb onto any and every surface in the house. He climbs onto the kitchen table chairs all day long and stands on the backs of them in very precarious positions. If he sees something on the counter that he can't reach, he pushes a chair up to it and helps himself. He can climb on the couches and even over the arms onto the floor. We had to put the high chair away because he was climbing into it (over the TRAY), and move him to a booster seat at the table. His new favorite game? Dumping his full plate of food on the ground almost immediately and then screaming because the table in front of him is empty. My one note of progress this week: he will actually follow the command "sit down" when I find him standing on various surfaces.

Kindergarten, 3 months in

2011-11-15T14:48:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to share my thoughts on how kindergarten is going. I spent so much time in this space fretting about it, I certainly owe you some follow-up.

My observations are based on being present for drop off and pick everyday - and we pick up at the (outside) classroom door. I have also been volunteering in the classroom twice a month, so I have a handful of days in the room. Some things are surprising to me - most are positive.

- On half day vs. full day: first - I'd like to submit that half of 6.5 hours is not 2.5 hours. I understand this is busing and lunch and recess, but it's somewhat shocking how short their half day is. In this day of academic standards, I now believe that this is a disservice. They don't have time to do ANYTHING other than academics, because they have to accomplish the same standards as full day programs. They've had recess only a few times, they have 2 or 3 specials each week for 30 minutes, no snack or playtime. It's very structured from the moment they walk in until they leave. As a result, I worry that kids (especially ones how don't enjoy academics as much as Katy) might decide in the first year that school isn't fun. Which would be a shame.

- And speaking of academics, this has been my next surprise. I thought going in that Katy was pretty strong academically, so I was even wondering if she'd be challenged. (And a couple of people had told me their kids didn't learn anything in kindergarten? Oh my GOSH. They must have been way ahead.) She's challenged plenty - I feel that it's very strong academically. She has made SO much progress in reading. At the beginning of the year she could sound out short-vowel three letter words. Now she can read most of the level 1 early readers. And math, too. She really likes math - she asks Brian to write math problems out for her for fun. (Yep, she's a dork like her mom.)

- I'm also impressed at all the ways that they learn this stuff - it's minimal "table work" - they are moving around the room working in various sub groups and stations. Using music and dancing, etc. (I did raise my eyebrows three weeks into school when Katy said, "Mommy, why did they have us buy scissors? We haven't used them yet." But now they have.)

- I'm surprised that the teacher has a full time assistant in the room with her? That was not the case in the district where I worked. I'm pretty sure this is only kindergarten. I really like both the teacher and the assistant. They are kind and positive and exuberant. But also firm when they need to be. I was impressed that the teacher kept all 24 of them sitting on the floor quietly for 15 minutes while she gave verbal instructions.

- The second day of school, Katy came home and said, "I don't like my table. The other kids don't do good things. They do bad things and get us in trouble. The other tables don't get in trouble." I asked what kinds of bad things, and she said, "talking, scooting their chairs in and out, not doing their work." I panicked a bit for a couple days, just wanting so desperately for her to have a good experience. But once I got into the classroom, I got to see for myself what was going on. It's true that she's at the most rowdy table in the room. The assistant admitted to me that they put Katy there to encourage the rowdy ones. But in September, a new student was placed at the table, and Katy has seemed much happier since then. And in fact, the other kids have calmed down a bit and seem to be doing better. It's an adjustment for all of them. They don't spend that much time at the table anyway, so it's really fine. I'm glad I didn't overreact back in August.

- Because they don't have recess or much playtime, I think the social development is slower (they don't have time to form great friendships yet). This can be good and bad. I have a friend whose daughter in full day has had some social drama on the playground already, so we've delayed that. But that was also partly why I was motivated to do Girl Scouts. I want her to get to know the kids at school.

- I've enjoyed getting to know the families in the class. I think half-day supports this, because we drop off at 12:50 when no one else is outside, and we pick up at the classroom door so it's only kindergarten parents, there, too.

- Homework: Each Friday they receive a packet of homework that includes a poetry project (takes 20 minutes) and 3 worksheets (10 minutes total). Poetry is due Monday, the rest is due the following Friday, but we do it all over the weekend. Then for reading group they have early readers and a ring full of sight words that they are supposed to do every night. This takes anywhere from 3-10 minutes, depending on whether she writes her sight words or not. The homework feels like a good amount - not too much. But I can see how having three in school will start to get complicated, keeping track of it all.
- I LOVE walking to school. This fall we've been lucky with weather - it's mid-November and I am still walking everyday unless it's raining. It benefits all of us to be outside for a few minutes, it gives us some time to prep or debrief from the school day, and we often end up having conversations with neighbors along the way.

- Public school isn't perfect. We don't know what will happen next year because of the levy. And they are limited in what they can do because of state standards and class sizes and funding, etc. Of course there are kids whose families don't share the same values that we do, or the same cultural or socioeconomic background that we have. But for now, I see it as an opportunity to teach my kids that people are valuable and that God wants us to love them. All people. (They don't notice the differences as much as I do, anyway). And Katy enjoys school and she's learning and making friends. So it's working for us this year.

We'll see about next year.

Big Day

2011-11-14T21:38:00.000-05:00

My Granny saw the surgeon today and her arm is healed well enough - no more surgery! This is a huge relief. Now we can start thinking about Thanksgiving.

And then Brian had an appointment that went well - we'll have more information in a couple of weeks, but we are both feeling better about things in that regard.

And Katy and I had our first Daisy Girl Scout meeting tonight! I have to admit that I was a little nervous. And even more so when one of the moms stayed and stared at us the whole time. Luckily I got a positive email from her this evening, so I'm breathing a little easier now.

Overall it went well. The girls were kind and pleasant and seemed to like the activities we did. About halfway through the meeting, one of the girls said, "Are we going to do anything FUN in Girl Scouts?" Ouch. This is the same girl who was at my house for a playdate on one of those 70-degree November days, and she wanted to play with the dollhouse in the basement. I said, "No, it's so nice outside, let's play outside today," and she replied, "When I have friends over to my house, my mom says we have to let THEM choose what we play." Ouch again. We brought the dollhouse outside.

But as for Girl Scouts, I think my biggest challenge is going to be worrying that the parents are satisfied. They aleady have different opinions and I'm all up in arms about wanting them to be happy with how it goes. How can I get OVER that?

But we're off and running. I'll let you know when I have cookies for sale. :)

A Sunday with No Plans...

2011-11-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

It's 10pm and I'm sitting down for the first time today, even though we had no plans. When I was in college I worked in a biology lab. One Monday morning my (adult) boss came in and we exchanged "how was your weekend?" We both said, "Great!" But she followed up with "I got so much done around the house," and I said, "I had so much fun!" We commented on the difference between being 19 and 30-something - our definitions of a great weekend.

It's true that these days I enjoy a weekend in which I accomplish many tasks. Of course it's great to throw a little fun in there, too (we had a bunch of friends over for dinner tonight - which is both fun and motivating to get the house clean).

So we cleaned, played outside, clipped coupons, practiced reading, ran an errand, and baked for our dinner. That's the day!

I cleaned out a closet that has been a dumping ground for the 2+ years that we've lived here. It was desperate for a re-org. (If you've stayed in our guest room lately, you may have noticed that the closet door wouldn't shut all the way - the situation has been remedied.)

Part of what is stored in that closet is "memory stuff" for the kids. You know - hospital bracelets and scrapbooks and baby curls. It's nostalgic, even though it wasn't all that long ago. But I want to publicly apologize to my sons: PLEASE know that the amount of baby memorabilia in your box does not correlate to how much I treasure your sweet faces! It is unbeLIEVABLE how much STUFF I have for Katy. It seems that not a week went by that I didn't document something. But each of the boys? I could store their stuff in a padded envelope. I'm so sorry, boys!! I'm thankful for this blog and the documentation that it provides.

Anyway, it was a good weekend.

My new love

2011-11-12T21:42:00.001-05:00

I've mentioned a few times about getting into deal hunting and couponing, especially in the past few years. When I started, I clipped TONS of coupons and played the drug store game and got lots of stuff for pennies on the dollar. But two things have changed:

1. I can't find the time to clip that many coupons and plan out scenarios anymore. I only clip the ones that I KNOW I will use.

2. The deals just aren't as good as they were two years ago. The economy has affected the manufacturers and they aren't as generous with deals.

So I've still been comparing prices and using some coupons and buying Manager's Specials (discounted food because it's about to expire), but now I'm excited about a new strategy.

Aldi.

I have been to Aldi a few times in the past, but I had the wrong idea about it. I thought it was crappy food for low prices in rough neighborhoods. But then I read this article and this one written by a frugal blogger who makes things from scratch and tries to buy local produce. This changed my mind about Aldi!

I realized that the reasons for their low prices weren't yucky food (lots of people LOVE their food), but cheaper real estate and fewer employees (you bring your cart back to the store, bag your own groceries in your own bags, things are packaged to be scanned quickly, items are displayed in their shipping cartons). And they treat their employees well.

So I went today and holy cow! I'm excited! Large canister of coffee? $5.49 ($8.99 at Kroger). Bag of mini bagels? 69 CENT (regular $1.99, $3.50 at Kroger). Shredded cheese? $1.99 ($2.99 at Kroger). I could go on.

The only downfall is that you probably can't find everything on your list there (no organic milk or Diet Coke - boo), so I had to go to Kroger to grab the leftovers. But it was worth it. And no coupons! (Used some at Kroger so I'm not totally free from them, but still)

I'm curious since we're all living on tighter budgets these days - what's your favorite money saving strategy? Any thoughts on saving money for Christmas gifts this year?

Pleasant Surprise...and Questions?

2011-11-11T15:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Veterans Day to my Dad and both of my Grandpas (one late). I'm so proud of the service that you given to our country!

Every November, Brian and I are surprised to discover that he has the day off for Veterans Day. I don't know why this day flies under my radar, but he's worked at the same place for 12 years and yet...every November we're shocked.

So we've had a really nice day today. We went to the indoor pool with some friends. We hadn't been swimming since August (Luke wasn't even walking then - what?!?), so the kids had some catching up to do in the water. It was great fun.

Then we came home and made a hot lunch and Brian walked Katy to school and went for a run. I put the boys down for nap and took a leisurely shower. I'm in the mood to clean and organize, so this weekend I'm hoping to: scrub, mop, empty closets, pull out gloves and hats, organize the garage so we can pull the van in, and maybe do some baking. November feels cozy, doesn't it? Especially when it goes from 70 degrees to 30 in 48 hours.

In past NaBloPoMos, I've asked if anyone has any questions for me to answer - to give me some new topics. Anyone got anything this year?

Funk

2011-11-10T15:13:00.000-05:00

I was all set in my mind to go off on a rant today about the Penn State stuff. We watched the students on the news last night protesting JoPa's firing and I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't go to sleep because I was so upset about it. What has happened to our priorities when football is more important than protecting children?

But then I looked at my lists of posts from this past week and MAN. Have I been in a bad mood or WHAT? Some kind of funk. Katy is learning at church right now that no one likes whining and complaining. I should place my bottom in those little chairs and take a lesson myself.

So I'll be back tomorrow with something more positive. I've gotta figure out how to get out of this funk.

Mad. Sad. And Worried.

2011-11-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling emotional about the election results this morning.

I'm mad that our school levy failed. (Remember that worst case scenario I mentioned? Yep.) Right or wrong, that's how I feel about it.

I'm sad that this is just another effect of this economy. People are struggling, and I totally understand that some people literally could not afford the increase. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that public schools will have to make (huge) cuts, that our home values will continue to go down, and that a good education for "free" is not a realistic expectation in 2012.

I'm worried about the future for my kids. What programs will they cut? Will Katy have art and music next year? How big will they allow the class sizes to get? Will it get bad enough that we would consider other options? But we can't afford any other option?

Hopefully I'm being overly dramatic, but $20 million is a lot of money. We will feel it, I'm certain of that.

Worry

2011-11-08T13:34:00.000-05:00

I read somewhere recently that stress is worrying about something that has not yet happened. For some reason that description really struck me. How much energy do I waste on a daily basis worrying about stuff that may or may not happen? It doesn't help any to worry about it upfront even if it ends up happening. Why not just wait and see if there's something to worry about?

Easier said than done, of course. But case in point: I went to the dermatologist this morning to get a mole examined that fit the description of "concerning" on the skin cancer website. I kept telling myself it was most likely fine, but was still worrying about it. I'm fair, I've had some severe sunburns in my day, and some members of my family have had cancerous moles.

But as it turns out, it wasn't even a mole. Not concerning at all, she said. That'll be a $35 co-pay, please.

So I'm thankful. I'm also thinking about how much energy I spent worrying about it. There are several other items on the worry plate right now: the election today, my Granny possibly needing another surgery, Brian's upcoming appointment with a specialist to address some concerns. But I'm trying to talk myself out of worrying about it.

Let's just wait and see if there's anything to worry about, shall we?

(And Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. We are having Ghirardelli brownie sundaes tonight, at his request. Can't wait.)

What's changed in 5 years

2011-11-07T20:45:00.001-05:00

I haven't been in a public school for 5 years since I left my full time job there when Katy was born. Now I've volunteered in her classroom a few times and I noticed a couple of things that have changed. (Disclaimer - I worked in a different district and I'm basing this on 10 hours of observation in kindergarten only).

1) It seems that nowadays it's acceptable for teachers to have their cell phones in their pockets, and to pull it out and check it if something occurs (call or text). Not that they are texting all through class, but they have it readily available. I think this is a societal norm now across many divides. Five years ago, I worked in many many classrooms in many different buildings, and I can't think of any teacher that kept his or her cell phone in his or her pocket. They usually had them in their purses, in the desks, to be checked when there was a natural break. Now I've seen three different teachers reach into their pocket in the middle of class to check. (Note: I'm not judging, just noticing. If I were a teacher today, there's a good chance that I would want to keep my phone close by, especially with my own small children.)

2) Wow! They have fancy copiers now. With the touch of a screen, those originals are collated, alphabetized, stapled, stacked, distributed and practically placed into backpacks. Impressive.

In what's becoming an annual tradition

2011-11-06T22:37:00.000-05:00

See last year's trip here...

Question about boys

2011-11-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week, and I spent the better part of today at Girl Scout leader training. The laundry and the housework are calling my name, so i have a question for YOU tonight.

How wild is it ok for a boy to be?

David is a really sweet child. Such a sensitive spirit and he can melt your heart in certain moments. But lately, he also has a wild side. I know that I need to give him room to burn off energy (we try to spend as much time outside as possible), but there are times that the wild hair isn't appropriate. Throwing, for example. He'll be playing, excited, happy, and he'll throw a heavy toy across the room. Do I punish him for that? Maybe the first few times, redirection is a good idea - but when he's been told many times not to throw things? He's not mad, just...active.

Or another example...growling in another kid's face. HE thinks it's fun and he gets on these growling kicks where he's growling at everything he sees. I tell him not to do it too loud in someone else's face, it's scary/disturbing/rude. He'll correct the problem right then, but do it again later. In his mind, he's pretending to be a dragon or some other creature. Do I punish him for typical boy behaviors if I've told him it's not ok to do them in that manner?

Political Nervousness

2011-11-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

I don't talk much about politics, mostly because I can usually see pros and cons of both sides of things and don't necessarily know the best answer. The political unrest in this country makes me very nervous right now. People are becoming so polarized and I fear that it is going to do great harm to our nation.

This week I am nervous about Tuesday's election. There are 2 local/state issues in particular that have me all worked up. For the first time in my life I've considered putting a sign in my yard.

The first is a school levy. It's a big one. The reason it's a big one is that the state has cut so much funding that they are going to be $20 million+ short if they don't get the levy. A LOT of people are against it. Which I understand: times are tight and they are asking for a significant amount of money. But we have strong schools. Not the best in the state, but strong. I want to keep it that way.

Second is this state issue that would severely decrease the power of the unions for teachers, police officers, fire fighters, etc. I do not think that the plan they have is perfect. But the unions have too much power. I worked for the public schools for 5 years and was considered a teacher in my contract. I was paid well - I made more money than my husband and I worked 9 months a year. Also, it was impossible to fire bad teachers. One woman would no-call-no-show on a regular basis and it took 2 years to fire her. She was making a good wage for that two years.

Honestly, I don't know the perfect answer: I want the levy to pass but I know some people literally cannot afford it. I think the unions have too much power now, but I'm not sure if the bill that is currently proposed is the right answer either.

But here's the worst case scenario in my mind, for our community: the levy fails and the senate bill is repealed. Then the school board has no money, yet cannot bargain for the cuts that it needs to make because the union is too strong. So they will have no choice but to cut extracurriculars, sports, art, music, bussing, and anything beyond the basics. Our kids will suffer, our home values will go down, and our community will pay the price.

That's what I fear.

A Thursday

2011-11-03T21:43:00.000-04:00

Thursdays are always busy for us, but today was one of those days where all of the once-a-months and once-in-a-whiles lined up so the schedule looked like this:

8:40am - leave the house.

9:00 - drop David off at school.

9:15 - arrive at church and check Katy and Luke into their classrooms, fingers crossed.

9:30 - my mom's group begins.

10:15 - childcare workers come and get me because Luke isn't happy today. I chase him around in the background of my meeting.

11:15 - meeting over, get Katy from her class.

11:30 - set up Luke and Katy with packed lunches while I help clean up the meeting.

12:15 - arrive at David's school and let Luke and Katy play on playground for a few minutes.

12:30 - pick David up (his school allows him to stay for lunch if needed. for a fee, of course).

12:40 - meet my sister Melanie in my driveway. She takes the boys in to nap and I leave to walk Katy to school.

12:50 - arrive at Katy's school and check in to volunteer in her classroom.

1:00-3:30 - help in Katy's class.

3:40 - arrive home. Mel leaves. I feed the kids a "snacky dinner" and they play outside.

5:30 - arrive at David's preschool for open house.

6:00 - Brian meets us at David's preschool.

6:45 - back home. Sit for a minute.

7:30 - Beth picks me up to go to Costco. (for 2 years I've shared a membership with 2 friends - we take turns going and sending lists, etc)

8:45 - arrive home. Deep breath.

These days are the exception, of course. I don't mind them once in awhile, but hopefully they won't become the norm.

Thought of the Day

2011-11-02T19:48:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about posting everyday in November, and I had an idea. What if I just did more like a long-winded Facebook status - but here on the blog? That doesn't feel as overwhelming to me, but I think it would be fun. I really like blogging (and looking back at archives), so that would be better than the whopping 4 posts that I wrote in October. (And I tend to shy away from actual Facebook - the audience is too wide and there's so much judgement! And I realize that I shouldn't care whether I'm judged or not - but that's a lifelong struggle of mine.)

We're enjoying a stretch of beautiful weather this week (highs around 60, sunny), and the past 2 afternoons I've had a yard full of kids for a couple of hours. The kids are all older than mine (that's the way it lies on our street at the moment), but I love to be the party house, and I hope that continues into the teen years. Come on over! It's fun here!

I've also been bringing other kids from the neighborhood to our Wednesday night children's program at church. Some are kids who already attend our church, and some do not. But I just LOVE to be the church bus. The kids talk in the back seat and I get to be a fly on the wall. And there's something exhilarating to me about walking in the doors with 4 kids and getting all their bags and jackets settled and into their classrooms. I want to be that mom for my kids' friends. Speaking of which, I'm on my way to pick them up now and bring them home...

Pick a costume, any costume...

2011-11-01T22:34:00.000-04:00

It seems that the opportunities for the kids to wear costumes start in early October and continue all month. We are also fortunate enough to have several generous friends who share my love of borrowing and trading, so we had several costumes for the kids to choose from.

I tried to steer Katy toward some other options like Buckeye cheerleader, but she insisted for weeks that she wanted to be Ariel. We borrowed a costume from a friend and Katy was thrilled that the costume "looks like she doesn't have legs, like a real mermaid." She asked me today if maybe she could see the movie sometime. (I'd be happy to show her, but it was only 9 months ago that Ursula on Ice scared her into the lobby. So we'll see.)

David kept teetering between Thomas and a dinosaur, but every time he had to make the final call, Thomas it was. Brian spent hours transforming our wagon into a train for Thomas to pull around the neighborhood.

At first I was going to put Luke in the lamb costume that Katy and David have both worn. But after getting his picture taken in it early in the month, a friend handed us a lion costume that was so cute I couldn't pass it up. So the lion got to ride in the train - which he tolerated for about 30 seconds.

First up, the annual photo shoot at Brian's work for their calendar.

photo courtesy Jodi Miller

Next, Boo at the Zoo when Oma and Opa were in town. (I didn't bother with a costume for Luke)

In search of treat stations.

Could've stayed in the hay maze for hours.

One of those girly salons had a booth with princesses - they took Katy over and sprayed glitter in her hair (which she loved, but I was surprised they didn't ask the parents?)

Then it was David's parade and party at school:

Anxiously awaiting Thomas (don't be fooled - the lion could not be contained!)

So proud!

Katy's parade and party:

Finally, trick or treat!! We love to go with friends - and this year we were joined by first-timers Frank and Maggie!

Katy and her girls. At the end of the night, she told me that she wished she had a sister. :(

Have you ever seen a cuter gnome?

David was thrilled that Frank came along.

Oh, babies in animal costumes!

See the train? The cage didn't contain the lion, who wanted to run free. The lion then did a face plant and bled down the front of his costume. Which Brian said made him look more authentic, as a lion.

The coolest thing that happened was right at the end - we were heading home and it was dark, and a fire truck with flashing lights pulled up right next to us. The firemen jumped out with bags of candy and made David's night!

So we made it through another Halloween! It's nice to pack up the costumes for now, but David's already asking how long until the next Halloween.

Hair? Cut.

2011-10-28T23:07:00.000-04:00

First, some updates: Granny ended up being in the hospital for a week and had surgery on her shoulder in which they put in a metal plate and 6 screws. She's home now, and doing well. We're praying that her mobility continues to improve, but she's in good spirits and feeling optimistic about her recovery.

Also, the Girl Scout troop is officially underway! It has taken quite a bit of time the past few weeks: completing training (at home and in person), shopping for supplies, contacting parents, holding a parent meeting, and making a plan for the year. But we're really looking forward to it and we seem to have a great group of girls excited to participate. Once it gets going, I think it will be reasonable. The meetings are only twice a month, plus occasional field trips.

We've had several fun events this week that involve wearing costumes, but I like to wait until Halloween to show pictures of costumes - so all of that will come next week! I just realized that next week is November, and that in past years I have participated in NaBloPoMo (posting everyday during November). I just don't think there's any way I can do it this year. Unless I do REALLY short posts. But maybe I'll try that. I do feel badly that this is only my third post this month.

So you know when you reach that threshold in which your hair is suddenly TOO LONG and just NEEDS TO BE CUT IMMEDIATELY! Do you reach that threshold with your kids too? I do - and last week all three of their little heads were bugging me. And I felt that everyone's hair needed to be cut.

For David and Katy, I attempted my 2nd home haircut for each of them. (I snuck David to the salon prior to preschool because I had a really good coupon) David's: I'm satisfied with. Katy's: I had it all cut and thought it was looking nice. Then I tried to get fancy and layer the ends a little. I BOTCHED one side. I had to start over and ended up chopping another TWO inches to even it out. Luckily she is really excited to have "short" hair, and I think it looks fine. (although I keep finding pieces that are too long and needing to trim)

Now as for Luke, I know that some of you will be disappointed about cutting the curls, but here's the thing. It had gotten to the point where it only looked cute like this for about an hour about his bath:

After that, it was just looking a little unkempt, like a boy who needed a haircut:

(I looked at the zoo animals quite differently after the Zanesville incident - anyone else?)

I took him to a salon, because I knew he was going to be squirrely, at the least, and I wanted someone who knows how to cut it give it a first go. Let's just say it was the most dramatic haircut I've ever had. And I don't mean dramatic like waist length to stacked bob, I mean tears and screaming.

The entire 20 minutes. Poor baby did NOT want to sit there.

But I love the results! I actually think that in some ways he looks more like a baby, because he has so much less hair and it makes his cheeks look bigger.

What a sharp looking boy! (yes, he's making "Vrrmmm" sounds with his car)

With everyone's hair freshly cut, I'm considering making an appointment for family photos. One year ago we had our pictures taken at a park by a friend (see profile photo), but we haven't had a family studio picture taken since...Katy was a baby? Is that right?

Calamity

2011-10-14T21:15:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, a fuel tanker crashed a few miles from here, spilling fuel at the intersection of 2 major highways. An 8-mile stretch of both highways was closed in both directions for EIGHTEEN hours, causing what some called the worst traffic gridlock in this city for 20 years. Several busses in our district didn't complete their morning route until after 11am - can you imagine having elementary students on the bus, stuck in traffic for over 2 hours? Potty? Tears? Restlessness? Nothing you can do? Those bus drivers deserved a bonus that day, or at least a piece of cake. All of this mess resulted in Katy's first "calamity day," because they cancelled afternoon kindergarten and started all the busses home early. Very strange what one truck crash can do to a million people for a day. (Sadly, the driver died.) Brian took David on his pumpkin fieldtrip, which was thankfully out in the country, so he didn't have a problem getting there, but some families never made it.

David chose Daddy to take him on his first field trip. I get that, I would've chosen him, too.

--

On the same day, my friend Abigail packed her family onto a plane and moved to Colorado. The week prior was filled with several "lasts" (last girls' night! last playgroup! last BBQ!) and several tears. As I mentioned before, not only is she part of a group of friends that I love, but she's one of my closest friends and I will miss her dearly. And do you know what arrived my mailbox just as she boarded the plane? A most precious gift...

A photobook! I hardly ever get prints of the pictures I take, so this is such a treat.

The crew...8 babies in 5 years...and counting.

The ones we'll miss.

The kiddos

The wild ones

The new neighbors (they just moved SO close to us!)

The classy ones

The big kids, who used to be...

...the babies. (Do you see my Diet Coke in that picture? It's an addiction.)

--

Finally, yesterday, my Granny (who recently met us at Young's, married to my Grandpa who spent the summer recovering from a fall in May) fell down the steps and is in the hospital with several fractures (ribs and shoulder). So far they haven't had to do surgery to set the shoulder, but they will make the final call next week. I've had rib fractures, and they are so painful, especially when you have a chronic cough like Granny. Please pray for her recovery and the transition to home. I'm worried about her. She has spent her whole life loving on others, so I pray we are able to do the same for her. I wish I could just get in the car and drive there. My sister is going today.

What's Going On

2011-10-10T14:43:00.001-04:00

*Katy's last soccer game is tonight, and life will feel significantly less busy (I think).

*After a brief cold spell, the weather here has been amazing for a week. I feel like we are on borrowed time.

*Luke has learned to say "NO!". Not "no" but "NO!". He's emphatic, and responds this way to every question you ask him, good or bad. ("Do you want to go to bed?" "NO!" "Do you want a cookie?" "NO!") He also shouts it at his siblings if they get too close to him or take something that he wants to play with. He has started throwing what I would call mild tantrums. If I try to get him to go in a direction that he doesn't want to, he goes limp, throws himself on the floor, and cries. After being my easiest baby, I'm wondering if he is going to make up for it in the toddler years.

*I hope I'm not crazy, but it appears that I am co-leading a Girl Scout troop for kindergarten at Katy's school. The good news is that my friend Wendy is co-leading with me, and as I watched the orientation video, I got really excited about all the fun we will have with the girls. I really think it is a great program, from which I have many fond memories.

*I'm wondering if this is a fall thing - but between Katy and David we will manage this month: 2 field trips, 2 class parties, 2 picture days, and a fundraiser. And of course they're all on different days. I called a babysitter with a list of dates, but she wasn't able to help much, so I'm trying to choose what to do. It's hard when I'd like to help with everything. I know this will only get busier as the years go on.

*Brian's running a half-marathon this weekend. I'm proud of him - he's been exercising very consistently for a solid year now. Neither of us have been able to keep up with it long-term since we got married/pregnant, so I'm glad he's got a groove going. If only I could get my own groove...

*This is random, but my kids were watching Backyardigans this morning and I laughed out loud at this song. (I also love Alisha Keys, so maybe her voice played a part in that as well). So I guess I have the sense of humor of a 4 year old?

Lukey, 15 months

2011-09-28T20:01:00.000-04:00

Oh, my poor neglected third child with no professional portraits or anything that resembles a baby book! The least I can do is dedicate a single blog post once in awhile!

Fifteen months has been my favorite age with all of my kids - they are just out of the stage of being super physically demanding, and they are learning so much so quickly and becoming these cute little kiddos before your very eyes. Although I do have to say: I don't remember 15 months being this darn ornery! Luke never stops moving, not for one second. And he's a climber - I am constantly, no...constantly! pulling him down off of things. It's gotten to the place where he stands on the train table and I just sigh, because he can get down safely on his own, and I'm tired of chasing him off of it. The big kids have shortened their TV time in the morning (probably not a bad thing) because Luke drives them crazy turning the TV off and pushing other various buttons on the front.

He's still a peanut: at his most recent well check, he weighed only 21 pounds, 2 ounces (10th %'ile) and measured 30.75" (40 %'ile). But what he lacks in stature he makes up for in voice. The kid is LOUD. Observe (these are happy sounds, by the way):

Put that inside the house with a 3 and a 5 year old, and you'll find yourself seeking solitude in the bathroom once in awhile. But I love watching him learn to vocalize. He has several words that he says consistently that I love to hear:
Dada - yup, good ol' Dad.
DyeDye - Bye Bye
Date-Doo - Thank You
NaNa - Night Night
Mama - I'd like to think it's my name, but he uses it when he points at anything he wants (you can hear him saying it in the video)
No - he hears this one a bunch, see above
Oh-moo - Love You (I only know this because he repeats it when I say it to him)
Uh-Oh - obviously, anytime he drops something

He's drooling like crazy, cutting all four molars. We seem to be past the cranky part, though. He loves to be outside, and he will do anything in his power to keep up with the big kids. I give him a much longer leash than I gave to the others at this age, partially out of necessity and partially because I get more relaxed with time. Also, Katy's really good about watching out for him.

Everyone comments on his hair. It's so blonde, especially compared to the rest of us. And the curls - some days they are so precious and some days they are out of control. I really think that if I were to cut them off, they'd never come back, so I'm reluctant to cut them.

My favorite part of the day with Luke is when I put him to bed, I throw his blanket over my shoulder to get him to cuddle with me for a minute. Then I put him down in his crib and he gives me a kiss through the crib rails (it's funnier that way). My sweet boy, not much of a baby anymore. But I'll keep pretending.

Tidbits: Back to school edition

2011-09-25T23:20:00.001-04:00

*It's been a month, and the new school routine is feeling like the new normal. I drop off or pick up from school 14 times in a week, but we're in a good rhythm. Thoughts on kindergarten will wait for another day.

*Soccer makes the evenings feel busy (2 games a week, plus 1 evening at church), but we're already halfway through the season and it will be over before we know it. Katy continues to love it and looks forward to every game. Everyone remarks on how tiny and fierce she is, but her size and speed limit her success on the field. (What I'm saying here is that she doesn't stand out as a strong player except for her spirit).

*One day when I picked David up from preschool, his teacher pulled me aside and said, "He is SUCH a sweet boy. Such a good, good boy." I told her there was nothing I'd rather hear as a parent.

*I have never had an allergic reaction in my life (other than hay fever stuff), but I found myself covered in hives one night this week. It was very bizarre and I still don't know what caused it. (I didn't eat anything new, hadn't used any new soap or anything). They are gradually going away but my FEET are itching like CRAZY.

*We met my grandparents at Young's Dairy for pumpkin picking and had a lovely time. If you ever find yourself in that part of Ohio (any time of year), I highly recommend it.

Cracking up at the goats

Notice anything different about her? She has suddenly decided that she likes to wear JEANS. Wha?!?!

Love my grandparents...Grandpa is fully recovered from a summer of hip fracture and pneumonia. They had some catching up to do with Aunt Mel.

Most bountiful pumpkin patch I've been to!

Cleaning with leaves

*We've been dragging our feet to pay the money to have a tree taken down (victim of Emerald Ash Borer). We had gotten several quotes and just...ouch. As it turns out, someone knocked on our door and offered to take it down for a third of the price if we could pay cash, right now. So just like that, the tree is gone.

I just...I had no idea. Those two guys are supporting his weight along with shoes that have blades in the tree bark? I prayed the whole time he was up there.

Two hours of entertainment.

Here's where I got REALLY nervous - when the two guys on the ground sent a running chainsaw up on a rope to the man harnessed 20 feet in the air so he could remove a branch. Lord protect us!

See the four men pulling the enormous tree TOWARD themselves with the rope? Two of those men are my husband and my neighbor who came out to help.

Didn't hit anything or anyone. *shew*

*Katy is learning to read, and I am really enjoying working through early reader books with her. She is really motivated and it's fun to see her making connections. Today I found her first attempt to write a whole sentence phonetically.

She told me that it says "David is learning letters. No pictures." (I think she means that once he learns his letters, he can learn to read instead of just looking at pictures?)

*More to come...where did September go?

One of Those Moments

2011-09-11T10:13:00.002-04:00

You know those moments as a parent that make all the hard work and sacrifice worth it? They come in big and small sizes, and I try to make a mental note of them as they happen. This week I was fortunate to have a big one.

Katy's been looking forward to playing soccer ("on a team!") since last spring. She had two practices, which she enjoyed, but on the day of her first game, she told me, "But Mommy, I still don't know how to play soccer." She was just having trouble understanding how the game itself was going to work.

The evening of her first game, it was raining a steady rain. Since Brian coaches (and I'd have the boys on the sidelines), I had planned to send David with a neighbor to our weekly church program. But at the last minute, he figured out that he was going to miss Katy's game. "But I wanted to go cheer for her! I wanted to see her play!" So he came with us and sat in the rain with pompoms, cheering his little heart out for an hour with not one single complaint. Heart of gold, that one.

We had just pulled in to the overcrowded parking lot and unloaded our gear when I looked at the fields and realized that this was going to be very challenging for Luke. He was already soaked in the first minute, and I'd be chasing him through the mud all night. Just then, my phone rang, and my generous friend Beth, who lives right down the street from the field, offered to come and take Luke back to her house. I have some incredible friends. Seriously.

So each kid on the team plays three quarters and sits one out. Katy played the first quarter, in which she was very clearly trying to figure out what the heck was going on. When she came running over to me to sit out the 2nd, she was jumping up and down like a drowned rat: "Mommy!! That was so fun! I know how to play now! I'm trying to get the ball between those cones! I'm trying to keep the ball away from that red team! When do I get to go back in? When do they blow the whistle? Huh, Mommy? When do I go back in?" She was SO excited.

Third quarter, she went back in. Her team hadn't scored any goals yet, and I'm telling you they were a HEAD shorter than their opponents. (My sister came along, and she kept saying, "Not to sound like a soccer mom, but there's no way those kids are 5.") Brian had come over to tell me something, and just at that moment, Katy kicked the ball between the cones. She turned around, face beaming, fist pumping, high fiving. We screamed. It was awesome.

And then she did again. Same reaction. It was awesome.

And again. Equally as exciting.

They don't keep score at this age, but if they did, Katy's team did not win, I know that for sure. But it didn't matter at all. We walked back to the car soaking wet, chilly, tired, and GIDDY. She loved it, can't wait for her next game.

And if she ends up playing a lot of soccer, I'm sure the honeymoon will pass and I won't always enjoy watching it in the rain. But for the first time, it was great.

I'm not kidding myself into thinking this means she's going to be good at soccer. It was just so fun to see her enjoying something so much, having some success, feeling good about herself. One of those moments that makes the hard work worth it.

Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!

2011-09-10T22:13:00.000-04:00

Aunt Mel is back!

David's turn!!

2011-09-06T14:59:00.000-04:00

The advantage of sending David to the same preschool where Katy went? The start of school is so smooth. It's a familiar routine, even to him. He is completely comfortable there, has no hesitations, even knows his teachers by name. Some of his classmates are siblings of Katy's former classmates - so they are familiar faces as well.

The disadvantage? It was easy for this to feel so routine that I might miss the significance. My boy - my Bubs, my sweetheart - is a preschooler now. He has matured so much in the past several months. And the best part of taking him to school? He is my talker - so when I pick him up - he actually tells me, in as much detail as he is capable, what he did today. It's awesome. I love this kid.

Congratulations, Bubs! Mommy is so proud of you for being such a big boy! (Even if I asked you if you missed me and you said "no." Throw Mom a bone next time, will ya?)

Developments

2011-09-02T14:11:00.002-04:00

So much is changing around here!

*David went from barely pedaling a trike to riding a bike with training wheels half a mile around the neighborhood! He is SO proud of himself.

*Luke is walking around everywhere, still with his hands up in the air. He falls quite often, but catches himself, stands back up and keeps going. He's seeming like a full blown toddler, it's incredible. (video to come)

*One week into kindergarten, things are going well. Katy seems to like it - she gets really excited about "specials" like music and computer lab. She has made one new friend in particular from the neighborhood that she talks about quite a bit. I think she is disappointed that there aren't as many toys and crafts in kindergarten as there were in preschool, but she still enjoys all the work they are doing.

*After months of being well, we've already had a mini-round of sickness. After only 3 days of kindergarten, Katy had a fever and head/neck ache that put her on her back for a couple of days and already ruined that perfect attendance record she was hoping for (I'm not even kidding). Brian was down for a day, too, and is gradually recovering.

*The PM kindergarten schedule is an adjustment for sure. Pro: if the stars align, I walk Katy to school, come immediately home and put both boys to bed and have 2 hours to myself. It's been over a year since I had any time with all the kids asleep, so that part is great (though numbered). Con: In this very same perfect scenario, I often end up waking one of the boys to go get her, which I hate doing. And it makes for drowsy and grumpy boys. The alternative is to make Luke take two shorter naps before and after K, but then he's awake while she's at school and I'm back to square one. I'm wishing I had a neighbor that I could hand the monitor to so I could run and get her without waking the boys. We'll see if something materializes.

*Brian is training for another half marathon, is within a few pounds of his lowest adult weight, got nomiated for a college-wide award at work, and still manages to upkeep two older homes and a side business. There isn't a lazy bone in the man, I'm telling you.

*Ever since Luke was born and I quit my part time job, things have been tighter and tighter. Every month we're cutting a new corner and we were starting to think about whether I should look for evening work or find another way to earn some income. But we just finished a refinancing of both our properties that is going to help SO much. I can't believe what a relief this is. I was starting to get nervous every time I started one of our 10 year old vehicles because I didn't know how we'd come up with another one if it died. (as I've said before, please no jinxing).

*We started out teaching David to do all his pottying sitting down. It was neater and he was more comfortable that way. Then somewhere along the way, I forgot this wasn't normal until someone at church commented that they tried to stand him at the potty and he looked confused. So I told Brian that his task before preschool starts is to teach him to pee standing up. It took 5 minutes and he's hooked. Let the battle of the toilet seats begin.

The Busy Balance

2011-09-01T14:09:00.000-04:00

We're in the middle of a 2-3 week period that is transitioning from summer to fall. It feels somewhat chaotic, because every day we have some sort of parent meeting/registration/orientation/gentle-start/meet-the-teacher/first-practice/get-to-know-you event. And I'm starting to realize, even though it's only kindergarten and preschool, how complicated it is to have kids in different schools. Imagine when Katy's in high school, David in middle, and Luke still in elementary. Talk about complicated.

I'm also having a debate in my head about how much activity is too much? I feel like everyone has opinions on this, and certainly there must be a different best answer for every family. Katy is in school 5 half days a week. I think the half day is important to note when considering the activities, because her school day is only 2.5 hours. David will have 2 half days of preschool, (different half of the day). We will do our church's children's program one evening per week. And Katy is signed up for soccer. She had her first practice last week, Brian is assistant coach, and she is REALLY excited about it. That will be two 30 minute games per week, walking distance from our house, for 6 weeks.

That seems like enough for now, I'd definitely prefer to wait until soccer is over before doing anything else. There are two other things that peak my interest: one is piano, the other is Girl Scouts.

My mom is an excellent pianist, and she's been giving Katy basic lessons when she sees her. We have a keyboard (Oma again), and Katy really enjoys playing. But this could definitely wait until winter. As for Girl Scouts, we got an informational letter home from school. Brian and I both did scouts for large chunks of our childhood and have very fond memories. I think they only meet twice a month after school. I don't want to overwhelm our schedule and not have down time at home. But Katy is home with me 5 mornings a week (plus weekends). So she has down time for sure.

Here's the thing about activities for us: Brian and I are both extroverts, and not homebodies. We prefer to be out and about, doing things with other people than staying home. I certainly value time at home, but staying home for long periods of time drives me crazy, and the kids just tend to pick at each other. I don't want to impose my preference on them, of course, but for now they have seemed quite happy to go out and do things. I'm never dragging them out the door, it's more like, "Let me outta here!"

So how do you find a balance? Do you have a rule for how much is allowed at once? How much do you think parent personality and kid personality play a part?

The Real First Day

2011-08-24T16:23:00.000-04:00

I was allowed to take pictures today, because it was really and truly, no more joking around, The First Day of Kindergarten. I have thought about and anticipated and worried about this day for years. I wish I were exaggerating. Put together my planning tendencies along with my anxiety and my indecisiveness? You start thinking about kindergarten on a regular basis when your child is about 2 and a half.

From our back-to-school dinner last night at the make-your-own-pizza place.

But for all the anticipating and preparation, today I was just ready to get ON with it. We've made our decision. She's excited, I'm excited, we're all excited, let's just do it. My throat was a little lumpy, but I didn't cry. Believe me, I've shed plenty of tears over this - I've had two and a half years to do it.

This morning she took a shower and picked out her clothes all by herself (advantage of PM kindergarten: having time to do this). I tried to talk her into wearing something more...special, but she was really proud of herself and her outfit, so I let it go. At the end of the day, she felt good about herself, so that's what matters, right?

They were wild all morning. I was just trying to make it to 12:30 without major injuries (we had two minor ones).

Brian and I were discussing that our favorite part of the neighborhood school so far is feeling like part of a community. As we're walking to and from school, we see other families walking, and so far, we've discovered 3 other kindergartners within a few blocks of our house that I didn't know were there. Not that we're all going to be best buds, but I love neighborhoods and feeling connected to those who live close by.

Right after I took this picture, my camera battery died. Backup battery? Also dead. So Brian took the rest with his cell phone, and I was shocked how well they turned out.

Katy was telling me how excited she was. So sweet!

They lined up outside and then blew kisses and waved goodbye.

Her friend Benji, who is in her class, and his sister Avery.

Brian took today off, so I went to pick her up by myself while the boys were asleep. (That's going to be a new schedule adjustment). She seemed happy, but as usual, it was hard to get much information out of her as to what she did for 2 and a half hours. She did tell me some of the rules, that they went to gym, and that she sat at a table with a girl named "Wen." (Gwen? or could be Nguyen?) Brian said, "You would love to have a video camera strapped to her head that you could review when you got home, wouldn't you?"

Ummmm...yes, isn't that the point?

The Lake

2011-08-22T16:30:00.001-04:00

Since we weren't able to go to The Lake with our friends last year, I'm so glad we made it right this August. It's a annual day trip that we all look forward to.

I've mentioned before how much I love these friends. There are some big changes coming soon, mostly good, but some bittersweet. First of all, our good friends Beth and Jason, who currently live about 20 minutes away, are moving to a new house practically across the street from us. Well, ok, it takes 4 minutes to get there. But still. We're going to be like NEIGHBORS. I'm SO excited.

But jumping into the moving trend, our friends Brett and Abigail are taking a very exciting opportunity and following it to Colorado. I'm happy for them to take this adventure together, but I'm going to miss them like crazy! Ab is my texting buddy. On any given day, I can text her some random update of something funny/bizarre/serious has happened, and she will most likely respond right away with some type of hilarious/supportive response. And vice versa. (Did I just call myself hilarious?) I like to laugh, and we definitely like to point out the funny parts of this motherhood gig. Anyway, I won't get all sappy just yet, but it's a good thing that they have texting out in Colorado.

I totally failed to take a group photo, but maybe it's just as well since Beth and Jason didn't make it (moving, remodeling, blah, blah, blah :). And I didn't even manage to get individuals of everyone who was there. Photo fail.

Mags!

Franklin

Taco bar!

Miss Peep (ask her dad)

"Mr. Brett", "Mr. J.T." & "Dad"

Ab, taking kid duty on the boat.

Fussy McGrumpypants ("There's dirt in the water! Eww! And leaves! Yuck! It's so yucky! I want a boat ride! I don't want to go swimming! I want to go to the beach!")

Dave and Kate are not only fabulous hosts, they humor kids with a canoe ride when the speed boat has a hiccup.

Never. Stops. Moving.

Two dads, hours of jumping

Pseudo-First Day

2011-08-18T22:34:00.000-04:00

Our district does a gentle start for kindergarten. For the first week of school, each kindergartner is assigned one day to come in, in a group of 5ish kids, and get to know the classroom, teacher, etc. They also do an assessment to see what kids know coming in. I really like this set up. I like the idea that the teacher gets to know my kiddo before she becomes a face in a sea of 5 year olds. And Katy gets more familiar and comfortable before the big day.

The only downfall that I see is that I've been feeling a bit torn - was today the first day? Or is it next week? Which day do I take the official Back To School picture? Katy decided for me, I guess, when I got out the camera and she said, "Why are you taking pictures? Next week is the first day!" Okay, next week it is. (stalling, stalling...)

How did she get to be so grown-up? (Also, love hand-me-downs.)

Holy backpack! (Oh, my, she is so little!)

First walk of many. I hope they continue to enjoy it.

She was so excited, and really had a good time. She told me the night before that she LOVES school. And she looked in the mirror and said, "I look like a kindergartner!"

Next week...another first day!

The Draw

2011-08-17T16:12:00.000-04:00

I've been pondering as we visit each set of grandparents over the summer how their homes are all so different. Each one really has a unique draw: one thing that the kids eagerly anticipate. (Besides the grandparents themselves, of course. The kids would visit their grandparents in a cardboard box.)

At Grammy and Papa John's, it's the pool, for obvious reasons.

At Grandpa and Grandma Sue's, it's Scout, the dog. (Oh, it's a video of Katy's first steps! Sweet baby girl...)

And at Oma and Opa's, it's The TOYS. My mom loves to shop, and every time we visit, she has purchased several new items for the kids to play with at her house. She has almost as many toys as we do. It makes Oma's house seem like a playland.

Road mat from IKEA. Brian and I had a date strolling around IKEA - very entertaining.

Loves 100 piece puzzles! Oma had 4 new ones for her.

Hit of the weekend: garbage truck by Melissa and Doug. It required a decent amount of assembly, but David played with it for HOURS.

It even witheld the weight of a toddler who thinks everything with wheels is a riding toy.

LOVE LOVE LOVE these puzzles.

Luke's favorite posture at the moment. He CAN walk across the room unassisted, but he'll stand up and put his arm in the air and squak until someone grabs it and follows him wherever he goes. He's becoming much more demanding and verbal about it.

We went swimming at the Y, and Katy was thrilled to wear her new bathing suit.

For the first time with the kids, we went downtown (Pittsburgh) to ride The Incline. I explained it to David as a cross between a train and an elevator. He was in heaven.

Still beautiful, even on cloudy days.

Incline veterans.

Next we ate a picnic lunch on the river. Bonus: the fire engines were emptying their tanks (?) into the water, which was pretty.

Feeding ducks is the best, isn't it? (Side note: this picture gives me the willies. That's THE RIVER she's teetering on.)

Taking a break to read an e-book.

Another Draw: piano lessons from Oma on the baby grand! Katy is really interested right now. We aren't going to pursue lessons, yet, though. Too many new things on the horizon.

Thanks for a great trip, Mom and Greg!

Trucks, Butterflies, and Swimming

2011-08-04T16:51:00.000-04:00

Since we aren't taking a vacation this summer, we're trying to do as much fun stuff in town as we can. Brian's been taking some "staycation" days and we're trying to cram as much fun as possible into the warm season. We've also done a couple of special outings with each kid on his/her own. (Except for Luke, who really prefers to stay home anyway)

Brian took David to a truck event in which he was able to realize his dream: climbing into and out of and pretending to drive every kind of vehicle imaginable. The pictures speak for themselves.

We had touted this as a "boy trip" for our family, so when they got there, David said, "I'm going to tell Mommy that there are girls here."

The only thing better than driving a big rig is doing it with your BFF Frank and his cutie sister.

A hot day for trucks.

Brian said the horns were blowing NON-STOP.

A fork-lift!

----
In keeping with gender stereotypes, I took Katy to see the butterflies at the local conservatory. She's been very interested in butterflies lately and has a great library book from National Geographic right now. She was thrilled with this outing, and equally thrilled when we got sundaes from McDonald's afterward and went shopping for a clearance bathing suit. I love a girly day!

She tried really hard to find all the different types!

And she REALLY wanted one to land on her.

You weren't supposed to touch them, but she tried to get as close as possible just in case one accidently decided to rest on her finger. It only happened for a moment.

----

Finally, I can't finish up summer without mentioning how much we have loved our neighborhood pool this year! I have always wanted to get into the habit of going consistently throughout the summer (2 times a week or so), but have never made it happen in the past. This year we have and it's been great family time in the evenings. I love running into other families that we know and the kids are making great progress in learning to swim. Luke is a NUT in the water. He just crawls until his face is under water and you rescue him. He's wild and he loves it.

The big kids are in lessons this week, so I was able to take the camera and get a few shots. They moved Katy up a level and I'm a nervous wreck! She's by far the smallest and least-developed swimmer. She's the only one who can't touch and clings to the wall the whole time. But she's swimming several body lengths under water and learning to dive and tread and I think she's doing great. It's just anxiety-provoking for me. (what isn't?)

The goggles mostly stay on David's forehead.

So proud of himself - and what an improvement from spring!

She's a serious swimmer now.

Countless trips down the slide!

Three weeks until kindergarten, four until preschool...let the countdown begin.

Walking yet?

2011-08-01T22:51:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I wrote this post and got hung up trying to upload the video, so I tabled it:

Everyone has wanted to know - for the last 4 or 5 months now - is Luke walking yet? This child has been crawling - WELL - for a solid 7 months at this point. He started pulling up to stand in late February. It's AUGUST. The child is STILL not walking.

He takes steps, sometimes four or five at a time, but only when he isn't thinking about it, and he much prefers crawling. And believe me, I fully realize that it is completely typical for a 13 month old not to be walking yet, but most kids don't crawl for seven months. He is just perfectly content to get where he is going crawling. He fights you to get down on his knees so he can get a move on!!

This video that Brian took really captures Luke right now. He's the sweetest, and I love how much he's trying to talk. But try to get him to take steps? Nope!

Well, what a difference a day makes! Because look what Little Mister finally decided to do:

I tried ALL day to capture it, I have 5 failed attempts on my camera in fact. But Brian got it on the first try. I love that he's in the trash can. If you have toddlers, you know about the magnetic force that draws them to the trash. Yuck.

The Voice

2011-07-31T21:44:00.000-04:00

This is the voice that David uses everytime he is telling us what Luke is saying or when he is talking directly to Luke. He comes out with it unexpectedly and I've been trying to capture it for months. Classic.

Family Projects

2011-07-30T22:39:00.000-04:00

Brian is a hard worker and quite handy. Before we had kids, we used to work on projects together. I have lots of memories from the old house of hanging drywall, mudding, painting, sanding, drilling, etc. But once the babies came along, it's been Brian working alone while I keep the kids out of his hair. I look forward to the day when we can all do projects together again.

Katy is always wanting to help, and finally Brian had an idea in which she and David could get involved. Last year when we bought our playset, there was only one disappointment: the previous owners had never treated or stained the wood, so in 5 short years it had gotten pretty yucky. Brian was worried that it would start to break down and not have the life span that we are hoping for, so this week he powerwashed it and stained it. A family project!

Notice Katy working hard on the lower railings. She did most of the lower half!

David, well...he liked the idea of painting more than the actual task.

Perfect because drips didn't matter!

The back BEFORE

The back AFTER

BEFORE again

AFTER! The playset looks brand new and we're hoping it will last for the long haul. The kids are really proud of their work. (I enjoyed watching from the AC - baby duty has it's privileges)

Kicking It Up Another Notch

2011-07-26T23:18:00.000-04:00

After months of insisting that she did not want to cut her hair, the summer heat got to her and Katy asked me about cutting it short. So two youtube videos later, I gave it a shot, only slightly less nervous than when I cut David's hair.

Before - it was down her back!

We cut off over 6 inches!

First glance - she said, "I look like Kimmy! It looks a lot better than it did!"

Is it just me or doese she look like a school-ager? *sniff*

Jungle Jack's Landing

2011-07-19T15:48:00.003-04:00

Every once in a while, I come across something that I just want to share with you, even though this is not a review blog. I'm not getting anything in return for this opinion, I just don't think that Central Ohio has discovered Jungle Jack's Landing yet!

Jungle Jack's is the new mini-amusement park at the Columbus Zoo, in between the main zoo and the water park. If you have already paid admission to one of the two parks (or gotten in with your membership), then you can stop by JJ's for a ride. There's a booth to buy individual ride tickets right as you enter that section, and rides are $1 each. Or you can do what we decided to try, which is go to the zoo with the intention of just riding rides and buy all-day-wristbands for $8. We got them for Katy, David, and Brian, but we could've gotten away with only Katy and David. Many of the rides they could ride alone, and once they had gotten their feet wet, they wanted to be big kids and go by themselves.

Once your kids are 36 inches (mine are and they are SHORT, so most 3 year olds are), there are about 5 rides that they can ride alone, like the swings, the train, the elephant ride, the tea cups, the frog hopper. There are also another 2 or 3 rides that they can ride with an adult, but they are the spin-spin-spin-spin-spin variety, and after one try, my kids went back to the easy ones.

We went on a Friday morning - both the zoo and the water park were packed, but we did not wait in line for one single ride. Most of the time, we were the only ones riding. And bonus! Your wristband also allows you to go into the main zoo and ride the boat ride in Australia, the carousel, and train ride in North America.

I feel like we got the King's Island experience without the long drive, the long lines, and the hefty pricetag. It wouldn't satisfy a teenager, but for parents of preschoolers in Central Ohio (especially if you already have a zoo pass like most people I know), it's the way to go!

They Make Me Laugh

2011-07-18T15:22:00.000-04:00

*I was in a waiting room with all the kids and it was time to go. I was struggling to gather all of my belongings, capture Luke, make sure all 6 shoes were on their 6 feet, etc., when Katy looked at the employee and said, exasperated, "Having three kids is a lot of work!"

*We were walking to the first morning of camp at the park in our neighborhood (a nice warm-up gig for preschool), when David started asking again if Katy was going to be there the whole time with him (yes), would she be close by or far away (close), etc. Then he said, "Mommy, I'm feeling a little nervous, but in a minute I'll be better." (He was right.)

*Typically the kids each pick a "video" (which is actually a show on the DVR) in the morning, and they don't see Brian and I watch TV, because we only watch it after they're in bed. Yesterday David came down the stairs and saw Brian watching the World Cup, and said, "Daddy?!!? Did Mommy let you pick that video?!?"

*We were playing at a friend's house when Katy picked up a toy fish and sighed, "A fish would be a nice pet. I wish we could have a pet, but we have Luke instead."

*David frequently mixes up opposites, like hot and cold, long and short, etc. He'll walk into the air conditioned house when it's 90 outside and declare, "It's HOT in here!!!" or he'll declare, "I can't reach the monkey bars because I'm not short enough."

QT in the hometown

2011-07-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

Not to sound like a broken record, but the kids had a blast again, this time visiting my Dad and Sue. We did so many fun things while we were there, and Brian and I even celebrated six years of marriage. It was surreal to go out in my hometown, eating and shopping entirely in places that did not exist when I lived there. The area has changed SO much.

The spray park is always a hit! Luke has no fear and lots of people were pointing and laughing/cringing as he plowed through the water.

My Dad is such a good sport - the person who chases Luke gets SOAKED.

He's cautious at first, but he warms up.

They spent lots of time playing "tow truck." The bungee cord between the two bikes makes it a fun game, and Grandpa's tools make for hours of entertainment.

We took the big kids to a Dayton Dragons game. It was hot as heck, but they still had a good time.

Cool Relief

The night before we were there, the Dragons broke a record for consecutive sold out athletic events. Since the team's inception, they have never played to less than a sold out crowd!! Amazing!

After the game, they let the kids run around the bases. We almost didn't do it because we were 20 minutes past meltdown, but I'm so glad we persevered. David's little legs (and his tongue sticking out - too small to see in this video) are priceless.

Then we went to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. My kids LOVED it. Huge hit. It's aimed at the younger kids (compared to our local children's museum), and if you have a Columbus Zoo membership, you get 50% off admission.

Katy now understands how a microscope works!

I love how his hair is blown back by the wind.

Several truck focused exhibits, including a landfill and a recycling truck.

Could've played in the grocery all day.

And the pizza making station? Perfect!

We also met Kelsey there, but I didn't get any good pictures with her family. The kids really enjoyed each other, though.

They recently remodeled the little zoo area and my kids loved it. It's mostly Ohio animals.

We visited my Grandma on the way home. Nothing like a lap full of great-grandchildren.

They surprised me with a Graeter's birthday cake. David came up to me and said "shhh...it's a secret," and Katy cried that he had ruined the surprise. But I played along and worked it out. Great visit!!

The (Third &) Fourth, 2011

2011-07-06T14:58:00.001-04:00

The cousins spent a day with us on their way through town

It's quite difficult to get a picture of 6 kids

So you remember that I've mentioned the zip line behind our house?

They waited until I went inside and put Luke in there. Stinkers!

David doesn't let Kimmy out of his sight.

Bros.

Carrie is 7, heading to 2nd grade

Flames still too high for S'mores

Perfect!

Blurry, but captures the joy of sparklers

Post haircut, waiting for the parade

Lucky to find a spot big enough for her chair on the street.

Have you ever tried to get a 12 month old to sit and watch a parade?

Much too busy for that!

Only at a parade are you allowed to stand in the street and eat candy off the ground (thrown by participants)

Boys

Going to sound cheesy, but the parade makes me cry. Something about our country and the feel of community and hope.

I took Katy and David to see fireworks for the first time with their friend Rachel.

They caught fireflies while they waited, which was just as exciting as the fireworks themselves.

A rare moment in his chair. They were SO rambunctious that I was worried they were bothering the people around us. They jumped around dancing and shrieking like crazy.

Didn't take long to figure out the best way to view them. Hope you also had a fantastic 4th!

Never thought it would come to this

2011-07-05T14:55:00.000-04:00

I tried to trim Katy's bangs myself once. No, maybe twice. Both times I ended up taking her back to the salon to get it fixed within a few days. I remember that one of the times was right after David was born, so then all of his newborn pictures are plagued with the choppy banged toddler next to him:

That cute baby is thinking, "Keep me away from mom's scissors."

So I never even tried to cut David's hair. Took him right to the kids' salon (which we love) to the tune of $15 a pop, after coupon and tip. And I preferred a scissor cut to clippers, so it had to be done every 6-8 weeks.

Recently it occurred to me while running my fingers through Luke's hair that soon that cost would double as I need to take TWO boys to get haircuts every 6-8 weeks. Yikes! Money's tight for us as it is for everyone right now, so I took a deep breath and started to watch some YouTube videos on how to cut boys' hair. And in the end - this blog post was the one that I found most helpful.

And then I tried it. I used a combo of clippers and scissors. We already had this stuff because Brian has been cutting his own hair for years (obviously).

Shaggy Shag Before

And complicated by a cow lick

Nervous Mommy and David During (I did actually nick his ear - poor kid!)

Side view after - Katy said, "Ahhh...I think David looks cute with that hair cut!"

Cute indeed

I'm pretty happy with it, especially for my first try. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll be able to cut hair on all 3 of them and save some signifcant cash over the years. And hopefully my technique will improve too. Another effect of the economy: cutting my kids' hair myself!

Two Little Peanuts

2011-07-04T15:43:00.001-04:00

I scheduled Luke and Katy's well visits together, mainly because it's a 20 minute drive to the pediatrician, but when will I learn? It would have been fine without the shots, but it was no fun to try to manage that. Luke went first, and was still screaming when the nurse was wanting me to help with Katy. So I had to strap the poor boy into his stroller (thank goodness I brought Blankie), still crying, and then go over to hold Katy. I knew she would be nervous, but I did NOT anticipate having to physically restrain her while she fought with all her might, screaming "NO!!!!" It was awful, having to hold her there to endure something painful, even if it needs to be done, against her fight. I'm sure every parent has to do that at some point (hold them still for a scan or stitches or a cast or whatever). Luckily everyone was completely calm by the time we reached the lobby (suckers in hand). Shew!

But holy cow, what a couple of peanuts! Here are the stats:

Katy at 5 years:

Weight: 35 pounds - 15 %'ile

Height: 40" - 5 %'ile (both of these are actually higher measurements than we've gotten at home. the poor girl, it really bothers her to be short, but she might be destined to be the shortest in her class. :( )

Luke at 1 year:

Weight: 19 pounds, 11 ounces - 10 %'ile (can I just stop and remind you that this child was 9 pounds 11 ounces at BIRTH?!? Most babies double their birth weight in 6 months and triple it in a year, but he barely doubled it in a year)

Height: 29.25" - 30%'ile

Most importantly, of course, is that they are both healthy. I'm so thankful for that!

Annual cousin swim weekend

2011-07-03T13:11:00.001-04:00

In what is becoming an annual event, we met Brian's brother and family down at his folks' place for 3 days of swimming, eating, swimming, a little rest, and some more swimming. I honestly think these are Katy's 3 favorite days of the year, she anticipates them like Christmas. She loves to swim and she adores her cousins, so what could be better? Leading up to the trip a couple of her friends would mention getting ready to go to the beach, and she said, "Well, I am going to Grammy's house to go swimming with my cousins!" Everyone that we saw for the few days before the trip, she told them, "I won't see you for a few days." Talk about anticipation!

We spent hours and hours and hours in the pool. Both Katy and David improved their swimming skills while we were there. Katy can just barely touch on her tiptoes in the shallow end (3 feet - the girl is short), and she would get very frustrated when she had to wear a flotation device to participate in certain activities (raft jumping, slide, etc). But once she got over it, we all had a good time.

Papa John's school of biscuits. We eat like kings when we go to Kentucky!

She saw this picture and said, "I look like a baby!" She wants to be big so badly!

David jumped off the wall like crazy and propelled himself in this little raft. Luke loved to float in this thing - my others never wanted to stay in there for more than 5 minutes but we only took him out when he had had enough sun.

Kimmy is 11 now! Hard to believe she's off to middle school.

Leah demonstrates a proper landing in the raft game. If she sticks the landing, she gets to the next "level."

Katy - still mastering her form but equally determined to advance.

Kimmy helped me make an Elmo cake for Luke's birthday (oh, and Kelly and I got a mention, too, since our birthdays are all the same week).

Katy heard from the pool that we were decorating the cake and came running in to put the last 4 stars on.

Yay! My baby's 1!

So, red is apparently a very difficult color to achieve. Seriously.

They take a break to eat meals in the gazebo.

Gathering to sing to Lukey.

So you can imagine that if it's difficult to achieve the color on the icing, that the dye sticks quite nicely to skin, teeth, and clothing. (Beth, I will be replacing this outfit of yours.)

The cousins are old enough to read bedtime stories to us! What a treat!

Somehow I didn't get a good photo of Grammy, which is a shame since she's the one who makes this all happen. Thanks for hosting out little mini-vacay - we had a blast!

Safety City

2011-07-01T13:00:00.002-04:00

If you lived in Ohio the summer before you started kindergarten, you may remember a program called Safety City. It seems to be pretty popular in Ohio - I remember it, Brian does, and many of my friends do as well. Katy just completed it and I can't say enough about how great it was. The part that most people remember is riding bikes around in the little town with working stop lights, but there was so much more than that. Over a two week period, they learned about stranger danger, calling 911, learning address and phone number, fire safety, car and bus safety, poison safety, gun safety, water safety, tornado drills, crossing the street, and animal safety. I am the daughter of a retired police officer, so this stuff is important to me.

They also had a super cute graduation ceremony, which my dad (the retired PO) and Sue were able to attend since it coincided with Luke's birthday. The kids sang songs about safety and each got to receive a certificate. Then there were several photo ops. My kids love these characters.

The most famous 5 minutes of the program

Proud Grandpa. (Sorry about my very basic use of Photoshop. But this IS about safety)

When Katy saw this guy outside the school one day, she laughed under her breath and said, "I think that's just a person in a costume."

These little guys talk and move (even spray water) when the officers are operating them. David LOVED seeing these each morning.

Fun times! David is already asking when he will get to go.

The difference a year makes

2011-06-30T10:12:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to talk about this for awhile now, and if you know me personally then you know all about it, because it has been my biggest struggle this past year. It's my physical recovery after having Luke. I'm being vague about the specifics, of course, because even I have some discretion, open book that I tend to be.

I'm thinking about it today, because it is my 34th birthday. And today I feel pretty much normal, although not 100%. But it has taken almost a year to get to this point. A long year, it has seemed.

I remember last year on my birthday, I was one week post-partum, of course. And I felt horrible. Physically absolutely horrible. We went out for lunch and sat on a patio, and the weather was perfect and the food was delicious. But what I remember was that every second that I sat there was quite painful and uncomfortable. In fact, I remember that I got up and walked laps around the restaurant in order to distract myself.

Some of that is normal, of course, one week after having a baby. But this was beyond the normal recovery stuff. I've been seeing a specialist about once a month since last August. It has been a gradual process, but I am so thankful for that office, because I am finally feeling good. It makes a big difference in my days, to feel good. Eventually I will likely need to have surgery, but we would need to be sure that we are done having kids. Another post.

My point for today is that I am so thankful to be feeling so much better than I was at this time last year. I'm not sure what is next or what will happen long term, but for now I'm just grateful.

Catching Up

2011-06-29T15:57:00.000-04:00

As others have said recently, I have lots of pictures and events to share, not to mention some topics in my head to discuss. This summer is absolutely flying by, and I feel like I'm desperately clinging to it. In recent years I've never been so conscious of wanting to freeze time. But I do. This summer could go on an on as far as I'm concerned.

I'm going to try to catch up with one event at a time.

So let's start with Luke's birthday. My Dad and Sue came to visit and have cake with us. We grilled, played outside, opened gifts and sang. I love birthdays.

Here's what I've noticed about boys: they like to make noises. They get around to words eventually, but they really enjoy noises.

He looked bewildered while we sang, but he can clap with the best of them. (Katy was upset that she didn't get to lick the candle)

He enjoyed his cake more than my others on their first birthdays. Shoved it in like a champ.

Poor third child: he got clothes and a cleaned-up, hand-me-down car seat for this birthday. But I honestly couldn't think of a single toy that he could need. Grandma and Grandpa did give him a toy car, and he knew exactly what to do with it, sliding it around on the floor and saying, "Vrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

Finally, a little video to see his newest trick. He has no desire to walk when he can do all this!

First year of Luke

2011-06-23T07:02:00.063-04:00

Lukey Loo, Lukers, Lukey Bubs, Tuke,

It seems that the sentiment that I should be feeling is, "Wow! That went so fast! I can't believe you are 1!" But when I really think about it, that day that you (finally!) arrived into the world late last June? It seems like a really long time ago. I can barely remember what it was like before you were with us. You are the Family Baby, and we make over you all day, every day (hence the ridiculous nicknames).

I wish that this weren't the case, but this past year is more blurry than others. I didn't do as great of a job documenting all that you accomplished and what you were like, mostly because I was doing the best that I could to stay afloat during the days. But please know that I enjoyed every moment with you, and I am just as proud as ever of every single milestone that you reach. Your big sister can tell you the timeline of when you went from "laying down, to rolling over, to sitting up, to crawling, to standing, to walking (still just with help!)."

You are absolutely sweet and completely precious. Small but mighty. You crawl super fast (which I think is why you haven't bothered with walking yet) and have no fear to tear into everything. You can crawl DOWN an entire flight of steps without help, your reflection cracks you up, and the only thing that makes you sad is feeling left out (like when someone goes outside without you). Recently we put away all the baby toys, because you are really just interested in what Katy and David are playing.

Like most 1 year olds, your life goals are 1) to put the toilet brush in your mouth, 2) to push every button on the remote control, 3) to beat Mommy to the street, and 4) to empty the contents of the trash and recycling onto the kitchen floor on a daily basis.

But seriously, I love 1 year olds. You are soaking up so much information and learning new skills all the time. You say "Dye Dye" while you wave, say "Mama" when I come into the room, and point to items and try to name them "da." Just this week you have mastered climbing the steps on the playset and then sliding down the slide backwards on your belly. You are wild in the pool, too, just a riot to watch.

Everyone comments on your blond hair, especially since neither of your parents are blond anymore (but rest assured, we both used to be!). But I love the little curls on the back of your head - it's a big ol' party in the back.

Stay sweet this year, baby boy! I will treasure every day with you and each new thing that you learn, even if I don't get a chance to document it. My favorite part of the day is when you are tired and I can get you to cuddle with me (only if I have Blankie) for a few minutes.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Luke. I love you!

Mommy

Pickin' berries

2011-06-20T13:52:00.002-04:00

Strawberries are among my 3 favorite foods in this world. Cover them with chocolate, and they bump up to first. I have fond memories from childhood of going to pick strawberries with my Granny. She says that she would sit the basket next to me in the car on the ride home, and they would be half gone by the time we got there.

So I've been determined to take my kids, and finally I made it happen this year. Katy and David LOVED it. We rode on a flatbed behind a tractor out to the field, and they worked really hard at picking, not wanting to stop. I also felt good about taking a step toward teaching them where their food comes from. I have a long way to go, there. (Heck, I don't really know.)

Every day of summer that goes by, I am consciously aware that we're one step closer to fall. How is it possible that it's the end of June already? I love, love, love this summer, and I'm holding on tightly, trying to keep it from slipping away too quickly.

So long...Aunt Mel...

2011-06-19T22:52:00.000-04:00

My sister is on her way to Colorado for the summer. A long summer, and we will miss her tremendously. The kids love seeing Aunt Mel every week, and they have no idea what we mean when we say that she'll be gone for a while. By the time she gets back, Luke will be walking, Katy will be in kindergarten, and David in preschool. David will miss her the most - he tells others that his "best friend is a girl, and her name is Aunt Mel." When she comes to our house, he asks her if she'll go cuddle on the couch with him.

Part of what I love about having Melanie in town is that when she comes over, she just jumps in with the kids. If Luke needs a bath...

We spent some extra time hanging out this week before she left. We made Bon Voyage S'mores. (Although we didn't go so far as to make Melanie's best invention ever: S'mOreos. Oh, yes, you guessed it.)

She doesn't get a lot of face time here, (partially because every time I take her picture, she rolls her eyes and says, "Don't put that on the blog."), but we love our Aunt Mel. If I need a last minute sitter for an appointment, I call her. If I'm feeling really down and I don't know why, I call her. And if I need to go shopping but I'm dreading it because I can't believe I could POSSIBLY need that size now, I call her. She's busy with her own life for sure, but she's a loyal sister.

We're praying for you, Mel, to have a safe and rejuvenating summer, breathing all that mountain air! We look forward to seeing you in the fall! (without wishing away the summer, it's a delicate balance, you know?)

Sunday in June

2011-06-13T15:04:00.000-04:00

Everyday

2011-06-09T16:43:00.000-04:00

We've been so busy with Big Events lately, that I've lost sight of the everyday stuff. This week, the calendar has been pleasantly empty, and we've gotten a chance to revisit day to day life. Take walks, go to the pool, have lunch on the porch, turn on the sprinkler, run errands, read books. It's been awesome.

Someone's got a birthday coming up! He's sucking the same two fingers as his brother and he's totally attached to his blanket. (Mom - do you have any extra of that material? We may need a spare.) Everyone is surprised that he still isn't walking because he crawled early. But he's just really happy crawling and cruising.

Katy is OBSESSED with perler beads right now. David figured out a way that he can help - finding the colors that she needs! (He was having trouble putting the beads on the peg boards so this is a better fit.)

You put these teensy tiny beads in a pegboard in a design and then iron them together. You can do your own, or if you have an idea book like this one, you can copy more complicated designs.

One other item of note from the week: Katy's kindergarten teacher came for a home visit*, and it was a really positive experience. She will be in the afternoons, in the class that we were hoping for, and I really liked her teacher a lot. I finally feel more excited than nervous about kindergarten. Now to enjoy summer!

(*In case you are like me, and had never heard of such a thing as a public school home visit, it has something to do with Title 1 money that the building gets for having a certain percentage of students from low income families.)

Much celebrating

2011-06-06T16:28:00.000-04:00

You may remember back in 2009 when I shared about my dearest friend Cindy's bridal shower and wedding. This weekend, many of the same folks came to my place once again to celebrate the latest blessing in Cindy's life - a new baby due in August!

I've discovered in the past few weeks that I really enjoy hosting parties. I just love the planning part, love putting all the pieces together, and love to see everyone enjoying themselves when it's party time. This shower was definitely a group effort, which made it even that much more enjoyable. Plus, I only get to see Cindy a couple of times a year, so it's always a blast to get together.

A new experiment for me: a 3D cake! It was Brian's idea to add the toys.

Another view. It was a very interesting process (it bakes on its head!).

Favors (sunflower seeds) from Tracy and game prizes from Kelsey!

We hung clothesline and decorated it with some hand-me-downs from the guests for Cindy. Some of the girls included pictures of their own babies wearing the outfits.

This might have been my favorite part of the shower.

Cindy appreciated the history behind each outfit (this sweater is one that her grandmother made and she wore as an infant).

Onesie painting! Cindy and Chan call their little one "Bun."

Bun will be creatively dressed.

Male representation in the form of cuteness. (yes, that's Kelsey, but not her baby. :)

This game was somewhat of a bust, because every single person got 100% correct. I had played it at another shower and it was really tough, so that was impressive.

Classic because Cindy LOVES to get a picture with anyone who has a pregnant belly, and try to get it at an angle that makes your belly as large as possible. Now it's her turn! Can't wait until August to meet the little Bun!

First wedding

2011-06-05T23:23:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, a dear friend of Brian's (and mine) got married in Kentucky. Like the best man said during his toast, you will not find a man on this earth with a kinder, more sincere heart than the groom, Brandon. And itseems that he has found a woman of equally good character to make his bride. So we needed to celebrate.

Out-of-town weddings always raise a question mark for small children, and prior to this one, if Brian and I have attended one, we've left the kids with grandparents (we've done this 3 times in 5 years). But this time, we took Katy and David along and left Luke at home to get some quality time with Aunt Mel. This ended up to be the best decision, because Luke would have had a hard time with the schedule, but Katy and David thought it was fabulous to attend a wedding and stay in a hotel (!!).

The week before we left, Katy pulled out our wedding video and asked if we could watch it. This was actually the perfect prep tool to talk about everything that was going to happen and what was expected of them and explain what it all meant. She asked about a thousand questions and got very excited about the upcoming event.

When we arrived at the hotel prior to the rehearsal, you would have thought we had pulled into Disney World. The kids were exclaiming: "We have a BATHROOM in here?!? And a SHOWER?!? We each get our own BED?!? There's an ALARM CLOCK?!?" And the pool at the hotel? Heaven right here on earth.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of them sleeping in the same bed. I had to place a line of pillows between them to get them to keep their feet to themselves, but once they fell asleep, they did great.

Photos to tell the rest of the story:

Regretting that I didn't get a better photo of the bride and groom - they looked amazing!

Studying a caterpillar at the park where the wedding took place

Another bonus of the wedding was getting to visit with some friends that we don't see often, like Tyler & Arpitha and their beautiful baby girl.

Katy loved the dressing up part

Brian's friend Joey came and visited with us for a couple of days after the wedding.

I think my favorite part of a wedding (beside the life commitment part) is the cake. And we got to watch the girl assemble this one. It was fascinating! (and incredible)

Thinking of her next question...

When we stopped at a rest stop on the way down, he pointed at a snack machine and asked, "Is this the wedding?" At this point I think we got that cleared up.

Dancing their little hearts out.

Not pictured: the massive (and I mean massive) meltdown my kids had when they missed the bride and groom with their bird seed toss (their aim was bad and the pitch was too slow). Our friends Mark and Anne were incredibly good sports, and walked through several more times, pretending to be the newlyweds so that my kids could actually pelt someone with bird seed. (Overtired much?)

Congratulations to Brandon and Melanie! It was a great day!

Better Late than Never

2011-06-03T12:42:00.002-04:00

Remember last fall when I shoved a crib into the corner of "Katy's room" and dubbed it "Katy and David's room"? Our original thought was that it was a temporary situation and that we'd be putting the boys together soon enough, so I didn't do any decorating. But now Katy and David are so happy together, and Luke is certainly fine by himself for another year, that I'm not going to fix what isn't broken. SO. I got around to hanging up some decorations and making "Katy's side" and "David's side." I didn't paint, so please ignore the slightly feminine wall color and window treatments.

I found this comforter (it's firetrucks - the Mater blanket came later) at a yard sale and the (pottery barn!) wall decor at a different yard sale last summer.

That night when he said what he was thankful for, it was, "The cars on my wall!"

We finished off "David's side" with the navy blue dresser that we grabbed off some one's trash pile. My pregnant neighbor actually called me and said, "I'm standing at the side of the road claiming a dresser for you that would be perfect for David's room. How soon can you get here?" The two of us hauled the very heavy furniture into her van.

(Okay, it was not my intention to be talking about how cheap I am, I just noticed that it came up in both parts of David's room! Don't worry, that's the end of that for now...)

"Katy's side"...all that stuff used to be spread over twice the area.

Katy helped me with this project that I had purchased over 2 years ago and thought I had lost in the move.

Her middle name is Faith, and I really love the name and thought it would be fun to have it displayed somewhere. Katy and I sanded and spray painted the letters and attached the ribbons.

Hopefully it looks a little more like the room belongs to both of them now and they'll enjoy sharing it for awhile longer. The nursery has been displaying the same gender neutral frogs for over 5 years now. I'm pretty tired of looking at them by now. Oh, well.

Remembering Great Grandma G

2011-06-02T14:39:00.000-04:00

We were pulling together some photos for a memory show for Brian's Grandma, and I thought I would share a couple of my favorites from the past few years.

Whenever we went to visit, she always wanted us to take her out for a burger and fries, then some kind of sweet treat (a woman after my own heart). So of course, we obliged.

Brian told me that on this trip to the drug store, Grandma and Katy cruised the Halloween candy for quite some time.

Four generations at my in-laws' house, summer 2010

Like the preist said during the service on Tuesday, "Eight-five years is a long life. But it never seems long enough."