Memorial Day was Memorable

We're not really busy people normally. The kids keep me running around, but that is local stuff and not really "over-scheduled". This we did too much though.

First we had Brother's t-ball potluck on Saturday morning. It was really nice to be able to celebrate him and his season with his team mates. He loved playing t-ball and had a great time. Each player received a trophy with his name on it. So sweet! On the down side, our video camera ended up getting soaked in water and no longer works. We've been discussing getting a new one for about a year since ours is large compared to the newer ones and digital is so much easier than the vhs one we have. Still, it couldn't have happened at a much worse time.

After the potluck, we had to rush home for Sister's friend party. Fortunately, Memere (my mom) returned to town in time to help hang some balloons with the kids and help throughout the party. Aunt Sarah spent her last day in Washington helping out during the party too. A great big THANK YOU to them both. It would have been craziness without them....okay, more craziness without them. (=

Aunt Sarah's camera has a better digital video mode than mine, so she captured some video of the party for us. We'll have to go shopping for a new camera this weekend since Sister's Talent Show is coming up.

Back to Sister's party...everything went well. I went the lazy route with the cake after Brother's treasure chests a couple weeks ago. Her theme was American Girl, so I helped her find all the parts to her dolls to use a decoration. She loved setting them all out! The games were pretty simple. I just picked games for each character's time period. Sister wrote some clues for each main character that the party-goers could guess the character with. She loves guessing games. The pinata ended up being really tough to get open. After the third time through the line of guests, Aunt Sarah used her skill as a softball player to whack it open.

What a blessing...the weather was warm and almost the entire party was spent outside!!! My house was still clean after the party.

After the party ended, we went out to dinner with my parents as none of us were rested enough to cook. We just love Ruby Tuesdays and Baby Bear had his first taste of french fries. He loves them!

Next up...packing for a trip to Whidbey Island. We left at noon (right after church on Sunday morning) and arrived about 3 PM. The ferry traffic wasn't too bad as most people had probably already gotten on the island earlier in the weekend. The trip up wasn't fun. I'm not much for car rides in general, but having a small child cry the entire way doesn't help. Let's just say, Baby Bear doesn't like being strapped in his car seat.

The weather on the island was beautiful as well. The kids had so much fun playing with their grandparents and Uncle Brent. They made "tents" in the dinning room and played the piano...they need some lessons. Larry BBQ'ed some hotdogs and hamburgers which were delicious. Unfortunately, Brother's stomach was upset and he ended up having diariah most of the day.

After going to bed late and waking up really early, we ate a wonderful breakfast and packed up our stuff to head back across the sound to Seattle to visit Aunt Carrianne. Brother wasn't up to eating much on Monday, but didn't seem to be having the diarrhea problem anymore. The kids were really doing well considering how little sleep they'd been getting over the weekend. We hung out with Aunt Carrianne for a few hours and even got a tour of Don and Donna's (Carrianne's parents) new house. What a beautiful place. Sister saw it during her big girl weekend in April and has been bragging about it since.

The entire time we were there we were worried that one of the kids would "spill the beans" about Don and Donna's surprise birthday party that evening. They both turned 60 and Carrianne planned (and executed) and awesome surprise party for them. We left their house and went over to Carrianne's place for a little bit to change for the party while Carrianne, her mom, and her sister-in-law went for manicures.

The dinner party was fun. It was neat to catch up with several people I don't usually see now that I no longer live with Carrianne. Baby Bear was a hit with some of the ladies and Sister had fun running around visiting. Brother was pretty subdued and seemed tired, but enjoyed watching everything.

We headed for home about 7 PM. Not five minutes into our trip Brother started throwing up. My dh and I debated stopping, but figured it would be better to just get through the trip and get him home. I passed some grocery bags back to him and he continued to be sick the whole way home. What a trooper Sister was sitting next to him. She didn't complain at all and was so sweet to him. Brother looked miserable.

Once home my dh took him inside to get a back and into some pjs. I spent the next hour cleaning the van out. It was pretty bad. I guess it is now properly christened.

Brother perked up after his bath and seemed to feel better. He had is "upchuck bowl" and took it around with him while he followed me asking questions as I was cleaning off his clothes, seat cover, and such. I checked, but he didn't have a fever at all.

Tuesday morning we had to get Sister up for school. Brother got up, climbed into our bed and promptly fell asleep. My dh offered to take Sister to work with him then over to school if I got her ready in time. She bragged about going to work with Daddy and "helping" him type in numbers all afternoon and evening. Brother slept until 10:30. I made a "bed" for him on the couch and he ate a little toast while watching a movie. He fell back to sleep about 2 PM and slept until after 5 PM. He seemed to perk up a bit after that, but still only ate a little toast.

Today he says his tummy is still upset. I'm not sure if it isn't just that he likes his couch bed and watching lots of tv. He had some toast with peanut butter on it, but still hasn't eaten much else. He's off to his nap now without complaint. We'll see how he does this afternoon. I think we just did too much this weekend and he is all tuckered out. All the riding in the car, so little sleep, and party foods were probably too much for him.

Thankfully, our fun and busy weekend is over. It was wonderful seeing so much family and friends. We loved spending time with them and in the beautiful sunshine. Now I'm just glad to be home and be back on schedule again.

Lots of memories packed into this Memorial Day weekend!

What we're doing...

We enjoyed some really beautiful weather this weekend. My dh even pulled out the small wadding pool for the kiddos to play in. It hasn't been warm long enough to bring out the larger pool yet. It was Baby Bear's first time playing in the pool since he didn't get home from the hospital until September and was still attached to so many tubes (feeding and oxygen) until the middle of October. As Sister said, "It's Bitty Boos first summer!" (By the way, my dh coined the nickname Bitty Boo from itty bitty brother when Baby Bear was less than a month old. My dh is BIG on nicknames).

I haven't had a chance to go through all our bins of 12-18 month clothes yet to find Brother Bear's old swim suit for Baby Bear yet. Thus, he's just hanging out in a onesie. It really wasn't that warm. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of him kicking his feet in the water since I was busy video taping it. Oh well...next time.

While my loving family was enjoying the sunshine on Sunday, I was in the kitchen working on the pinata for Sister's friend birthday party this Saturday. Originally she wasn't supposed to have a pinata. Then, Brother decided he needed one for his party and I made it work into his Peter Pan theme by making it a pirate and the stick look like a sword. Creative, eh? The next thing I know, Sister is insisting on a pinata too. How do you fit a pinata into an American Girl themed party?


After a review of the various AG characters, I decided it could fit in with the Mexican American character, Josephina. (No, I didn't check to see if they have pinatas during her time period since I don't want to know if they didn't). With that in mind, I did some googling and found directions for making a Mexican Star. The story behind it is really cool. The star pinata represents the seven deadly sins. The blind fold and stick represent faith and virtue. The candy inside the pinata represent the sweetness of Heaven. When the kids overcome sin they enjoy the sweetness of heaven. (Maybe that isn't really the story, but I found a website that said it was and it sounds good.)

Unfortunately, the directions implied making a seven-pointed star pinata is easier than it has been. I've made a few adjustments to the directions to try to make it go a little quicker. Fortunately, I recently made another pinata, so I figured out some tricks through that process. Hopefully it all works out and is finished by Saturday.

Why do I keep working so long and hard on these pinatas when the kids just beat them to a pulp for the candy at the party?

Baby Bear is really on the move now. He has started pulling himself up on lower things such as the trampoline and toy vehicles. He still refuses to sit very often, but sometimes he rises up on his knees to reach things, then goes back to his low crawling when he wants to move around.


He's figured out that he can push things like our toddler rocker when he's standing and holding onto it to move across the room. It is fun to see him push it forward then take a couple steps over and over again. I've thought of getting him one of those push toys, but most have wheels and would probably move too quickly for him causing him to face plant. We used to have one, but I think we got rid of it since I haven't been able to find it. Plus, I'm not sure how mobile we're ready for him to get.


Sister is in heaven as student of the week. It means she gets to be the front of the line everyday and lead her class in morning, lunch, and afternoon prayers. This past weekend we put together a poster with photos of her and answered questions about her favorite foods, activities, and such. It was laminated by her teacher and is hanging in her classroom. Sister already has plans to post it on her bedroom wall when she gets it back at the end of the week. What an honor!


Brother is sad that tee-ball is over. His last game was this past Saturday. The itty bitty tee-ball league has a shorter season than the bigger kids. My dh and I are thankful to have our Wednesday evenings back again (and movie night for the kids and I) and our Saturdays too. Still, it was tremendous fun for Brother. He can't wait for next year.


That's all for now. I should go and check on that crazy pinata. Wish me luck!!! I'll post photos once it is done so you all can appreciate my craftmanship.

9-months-old

Baby Bear had his nine month well-baby check today. He is a whopping 2 feet and 6.5 inches tall and 20 lbs 6 oz. Even his pediatrician was surprised that his weight is only 42nd percentile since he looks so big. His height is 96th percentile. He's tall and skinny like his older brother. (Brother Bear always looked like a scrawny little guy though.)

No shots today! He did get a cavity shield varnish on his four and a half teeth. This is a new procedure they just started doing the past couple months. It is supposed to help prevent decay. Since our kids don't have any cavities, I don't know that it was necessary, but it can't hurt. He's been taking flouride drops since his six month appointment.

I was given a list of appointments to make when Baby Bear turns one-year-old. I really wish the doctors would have calendars more than a couple months out. Since they don't, I have to keep track of when I can make all those appointments: one-year-old well child appointment, pediatric cardiologist appointment, and one-year-old hearing check. Why is it that the dentist can make appointments six months in advance, but doctors can't?

Baby Bear's is still fully nursing. He loves drinking water from his sippy cup, but tends to get his clothes all wet in the process. He's had a wide variety of actual baby foods, but not in great quantities since he wants to do the feeding himself. When we feed him with a spoon we have to give him something to eat with his fingers as well like fishy crackers or cherrios. He typically eats when we sit down to eat (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). If possible, we give him a version of what we're having.

Here's a list of some solid foods that Baby Bear has been eating:
fruits: apples, bananas, and pears
cereals and breads: Cherrioes, Corn Chex, Rice Chex, noodles, and various breads
vegetables: celery, cooked carrots and peas, green beans, and potatoes
snacks: gold fish crackers, graham crackers, and banana cookies
meats: turkey, chicken, and hot dog
dairy: cheddar cheese and string cheese

As you can see, we haven't given him much dairy. The doctor said we could start giving him plain yogurt now that he is nine-months-old, but dairy can be difficult for children under one to digest.

His sleep schedule is pretty regular, but he still doesn't sleep through the night. He wakes up about 7 AM each day. He takes either two 60-90 minute naps (about 10 AM and 3 PM) or three 30-40 minute naps (9 AM, 12 PM, and 4 PM). Then he goes to sleep about 8 PM. During the night he still wakes two to three times to nurse. Typically, he goes right back to sleep after nursing. When he's teething he doesn't go back to sleep as easily at night, or he wakes more frequently.

That's the update on our little guy. What a miracle he is!!!

Growing up so fast...

My Little Man is growing up so quickly! His front two teeth are finally starting to come through. Pretty soon we'll no longer have a little vampire living in our house. Here's a picture showing his cute vampire teeth for prosperity.He loves to stand on things. Unfortunately, he hasn't mastered how to lower himself down from a standing position. So, he just lets go and falls backward...ouch! He also hasn't figured out how to pull himself up yet. He does a great job lowering himself down if you're holding him in a chair, on a couch, or a bed. He turns himself feet first on his tummy and pushes backward so he can stand.

His newest skill is waving and he makes a noise that sounds like "hi". Still no film of it though. That's part of the downside of being a third child. Every time I turn the camera on, the other two kids get in front of it which distracts my Little Man from whatever skill he was displaying. Oh well...at least he's tremondously loved!

He's also gotten really fast at getting into things. Here's a cute shot of what he was doing while I started this post. What a trouble maker. In just a couple minutes he emptied that cubby and crawled into it. We just can't take our eyes off him for a second!

I hope all of you moms enjoyed a special Mother's Day. We don't do a whole lot for it in our house. My own mom is often traveling over Mother's Day, but the kids (and my dh) woke me up with some sweet cards and Sister made me a wonderful poem in school. I was hoping that my van would get washed, but the weather was pretty overcast, so I took a nap instead while my dh watched the kiddos. (= I spent the day catching up on laundry since on Friday and Saturday I was so busy with the party stuff, I'd gotten behind. It's amazing how quickly my baskets fill up. Five people wear so many clothes!!!

A big Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the world, mine!!! I love you and Dad. I'm glad you're having a fun trip and we love and miss you lots!!!

All petered out...

Today was Brother Bear's Peter Pan Party. Everything went smoothly. The pinata lasted through each guest getting a chance to hit it a few times. The cakes worked out (though I ended up cutting them in half since they were so large). Brother had such a fun time as Peter he is wearing his Peter Pan costume to bed. Thank you to all our wonderful guests!!! Here are some photos of the fun. Sister is Princess Tiger Lily and Little Boy was a lost boy in a Peter hat. (=

These cakes took me about four hours to make on Friday evening. Next time I'd just make two large ones with regular bread loaf pans since these "petite" loaves were too big for each kid to eat anyway.
Peter Pan blows out the candles on his cake. They were supposed to be the trick type that keep relighting, but they didn't Oh well...they were cute candles.
Peter fighting the pirate. My dh fashioned this "sword" out of some leftover wood in our garage. It worked out really well. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of my dh as Captain Hook. Thanks Carolyn for videotaping for us!
Here is Peter Pan, Princess Tiger Lily, and our favorite Lost Boy.
Here I am multi-tasking (serving cake and holding my littlest one). Thanks Tamara for taking photos for me!

Good at Guilting

For her seventh birthday Memere (my mom) gave Sister a subscription to the American Girl Magazine. She loves it! It comes in the mail just for her, has lots of fun craft and decorating ideas, and photos of real girls on display in certain parts. Now Sister asks almost daily, "Is it here yet?" Unfortunately, the magazine only comes every two months. That is eight weeks (56 days) of hearing that question. When it does arrive, she just devours it.

When her first issue arrived, she immediately had to create a butterfly and submit it since that issue had photos of girls and the butterflies that they submitted in it. She really expected the next issue to have her photo and butterfly in it. On Monday it arrived and sadly she wasn't in it. So, Tuesday she created a photo of her pet (which was what all the photos were on this last issue) and wrote a message on the back. Here is what she wrote (completely on her own, btw):

I sent in a butterfly And it wasn't in it. That hurt my feelings.

I even have a Samantha doll.

Please put this in it.

Love,

*******

Just a little guilt for American Girl Magazine. That's my girl!

There's always tomorrow...

Brother is at that place where he doesn't really nap anymore. Mainly it is due to the fact that the time he would normally nap is right when we have to pick up Sister from school. Today, though, Brother said that he was tired and asked if I would lie down for a nap with him. Sure! I'd love to!!! Baby Bear hasn't been sleeping at night, so I've been even more tired than usual.

Normally, lying with Brother means having him climb all over the bed, kick his legs around, and ask questions every couple seconds. Still, never hurts to try. If nothing else, I'd get to read a little bit. Plus, Baby Bear was sleeping in his crib. So, off to bed we went.

As my life goes, as soon as we laid on the bed, Baby Bear began crying. So, into his room to get him and bring him back to bed with Brother Bear and me. After nursing him, Baby Bear fell asleep. Then, Brother Bear fell asleep. Yippee. I turned and looked at the alarm clock...fifteen minutes until we needed to leave to get Sister....NOOOOO!!!

Still, I was able to take this really cute photo before carrying both of them into the van. Too bad. There's always tomorrow.

Meet us in Neverland...

We're having a Peter Pan party for Brother's fourth birthday. Much as with Sister's Madeline party last year, it is not a typical "theme" for a kid's party based on what is available in the stores. Tinkerbell would have been easy to do, but not very good for a boy. So, the googling began.

This week I've been getting everything done. I started the pirate pinata last Friday and completed it on Tuesday. Since I had to wait 24 hours to let each of the paper and paint layers dry, I was thankful that I started so early. The skin color was supposed to be peach, but it didn't cover the newsprint well enough, so I had to use a deeper pink. I also ended up drawing on the details with markers instead of cutting them out and gluing them on as I originally planned.

Next, I made Peter Pan hats for all of the guests. Sister tried to help me, but she only ended up folding one in the time it took me to fold ten. Sorry Sis. After having the kids try them on, I decided to add elastic string so they would stay on the kids' heads better.

Third, I made Peter Pan's shadow. Tracing Brother was lots of fun and he LOVES his shadow. It will hang on our wall for a long time to come. I made a similar decoration for one of Sister's princess parties (I traced her and painted her as the princess for "pin the shoe on the princess"); that stayed on her wall for over a year.


Finally, I painted a target for the archery contest. Wish us luck on that. It is going to take major organization to make sure none of the kids shoot each other. Fortunately, the arrows have suction cups on the ends, so they wouldn't hurt much.

I also spent a couple hours organizing our house in preparation for the party on Saturday. The piles have gotten out of hand around here. I cleared the piles out of the kitchen, reorganized the pantry, and found "homes" for all the random items I found everywhere. My dh even noticed! Which is pretty amazing in this house. So, the transformation must have been elaborate.

Child Kennel

Recently I have had a few options open up for full-time teaching jobs next year. I'd rather do a part-time job, but none have become available. Plus, half-time child care is about 3/4 the cost of full-time. I already know the cost for the two boys full-time is equivalent to about half my full-time salary (and that is with Master's pay).

Last year I worked full-time during the session and we found a licensed home-care person through the state referral service. She was a CRAZY person!!! When we went to the "interview" she was so sweet and kind to us and the kids. Starting the first day of paid child care she was so grumpy and rude. She'd yell at us and the kids. I've never been treated that way by anyone, particularly someone I am paying. Suffice it to say, after many tears and my dh taking several days off work to watch the kids, my parents ended up watching them for the rest of my employment. All I have to say is that Home Away from Home must have been just euphemism, like when you say a skinny actress is crazy fat.

So, due to these job opportunities, I wanted to check out some child care options before I make a decision since my wonderful parents have said to make sure I have that worked out before I get another job. Thus, yesterday the kids and I stopped by this child care center that is near Sister's school.

I must say, the workers that I met seemed VERY nice. I just couldn't help thinking it reminded me of a kennel for children. The floors were cement. The workers were just sitting there watching the kids as they climbed bookshelves and crashed into each other. In one room (which was the size of my living room) they told me they can have fifteen kids on one side and twelve on the other. What? That is twenty-seven four through eight-year-olds in a room the size of my living room! My three kids seem like too many for my living room. The infant room was just a room full of cribs. They told me that they have an adult in there for every four infants. Seriously? Do the babies even get held very often then?

On top of all that, in almost every room there were at least two kids with snot running from their noses. I realize that kids' noses run a lot, but seriously, why wasn't anyone wiping their noses? That is just gross!

The kicker was the preschool program they were so proud to explain to me for Brother. It is a new thing for them since they didn't have any preschool program before. It basically consisted of drawing pictures of activities. What? That's it? Brother has been able to recognize and say every letter sound since last summer. He can count to twenty. Yet, none of that will be covered. They'll just draw pictures (they called them "plans") of what activity he wants to do next. How sad. Can that even be considered a preschool program?

So, that place is checked off the list. Where to next is the question. I can't trust the state licensing agency again. Their standards are so low you might as well not have any. I'm open to ideas. Let me know if you know of a good child care places. Particularly an in-home one. I just can't picture dropping the boys off at a kennel every day.

Sunny Slow Sunday

The sun actually was shining most of the day. It wasn't that warm, but we were able to enjoy it anyway. After spending some time in our backyard the last couple weeks, I broke down and cleared out my garden of weeds so we could plant sunflowers and corn again this year. I was debating just letting the grass take over the garden since I don't really enjoy the work a garden requires, but the backyard looked so blah without it. Plus, the kids are often saying they love to garden. So, after mass today we headed outside and cleared all the weeds out. Sister was actually pretty helpful and worked well for a good twenty minutes. Brother liked the idea of weeding, but only lasted about five minutes of actual work. The rest of the day they kept talking about how much fun it was to weed the garden, so I guess it was worthwhile. If I was good at growing things I'd probably enjoy it more. Oh well, at least sunflowers don't take a lot of work and are fun when they start growing.



Yesterday we had our first true experience of being baseball parents. The rain began falling right before Brother's game and continued on and off throughout. What fun! You'll notice Memere and Papa in the background with umbrellas. The lovely rocker with the umbrella on it is my chair. I, of course, was snapping photos while my dh was videotaping the game. Yes, we are those parents. The annoying ones who always have a camera on their children. It's my fault, but someday the kiddos (and we) will appreciate having their childhoods recorded. It is all zipping by so quickly! Sister is in the purple sweatshirt running off to the playground again. She came over to see Brother hit and then was off to play again. I'm actually holding Little Boy while I'm on the field. Fortunately, the little guys don't hit very far or hard, so I didn't have to worry too much about balls coming at me out in the outfield. Just a fun time at the ball park on a rainy Saturday.

GAME NIGHT

Today I had to take Little Boy into the doctor's office because his cold just kept getting worse. They diagnosed him with a bad cold and a slight ear infection. Fortunately, that was bad enough that they gave him some antibiotics. Hopefully that will help him recover soon as he's been pretty uncomfortable lately.

After dropping Sister off at school, we had an hour and a half before the doctor's appointment. I'm not fond of getting the kids all dressed and out of the house, just to return home for a short bit, then leave again. Since we'd done the grocery shopping yesterday, I decided to try a Value Village run. I began hitting VV when Sister was small. It was the first time I'd ever been home during the daytime. Staying at home made me a little claustrophobic and she loved riding in her stroller. I found when I went to regular stores I spent too much money. Plus, you can find great deals at thrift stores sometimes. Unfortunately, neither of the boys are very good about riding in the stroller and/or shopping. Why is it that only my first child enjoyed the stroller?

Anyway, I thought it'd be a good day to stop by VV. So, we did and I found out they reorganized it and have a great game section now. There were all these fun children's games that weren't missing any parts. I thought they were all $1.99/each. So Brother and I picked out four that we thought would be fun:Twister (which we actually have, but I need an extra one for Sister's friend party), Clue Jr. (Clue is one of my all time favorite games), Trivial Pursuit Jr. (which I'm normally not very good at), and (brother's favorite) Whack-a-Mole. Typically, I wouldn't be a big fan of a game that encourages you to beat an animal for fun, but recently the moles have been destroying my yard, so I gave in. When we got up to the register, I found out the games were only 99 cents each. If I hadn't needed to get moving to make Little Boy's appointment on time, I may have gone back to look for more games.

So, tonight we had a family game night. We've actually had them before, but not in a while. Brother has trouble playing games and I tend to be the one he climbs on when he gets excited, bored, or upset. Still, it was lots of fun. We first played Trivial Pursuit Jr., which I won!!! Next we played Whack-a-Mole, which no one really won since Brother just kept hitting all the moles. Finally, we played several rounds of Sesame Street dominoes since Brother's patience for a longer game like Clue Jr. was gone by then.

Every time we have a family game night, we always say, "We should do this once a week." Then, we don't. It's actually my fault that we don't since I'm often burned out in the evenings. Now that the kids are getting older, though, I really should put more effort into making sure game nights happen. The kids have fun with them and they learn from them too. Plus, we have lots of games that are fun to play with the kids and the more they play them, the better they'll get.

I also made a super supper tonight; homemade chicken pot pie Betty Crocker style. My dh and the kiddos loved it. I love finding a new recipe that is easy to do and tastes delicious. Being a picky eater, I tend to stick to things I know I love.

All in all a wonderful Thursday. Just one more day and it's the weekend. I'm still hoping the weather will hold so we can have sunshine for Brother's tee-ball game on Saturday. Wish us luck!

On a side note, I asked Sister to strip the sheets off the bunk beds last night for me while I was making dinner. She went ahead and put clean ones on them after that. How awesome! I love that I didn't have to do any of it. She's been bugging me to give her an allowance since they started talking about money during math class. So, this morning I told her I'd give her a nickel each week if she'd change the sheets on the bunk beds. She was very excited. I wonder how long it will take before she finds out that isn't even close to the going rate for allowances now-a-days. I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

Monday, Monday

Normally I'm not a big fan of Mondays. First, we (especially me) are typically tired since we tend to stay up later and sleep in a bit over the weekend (a bit means 7 instead of 6:30 AM). Secondly, we're tired from all the activities we participated in over the weekend. Thirdly, we're disappointed that the weekend is over so quickly. Fourth, we don't get to nap since Sister's school gets out early on Mondays. Finally, the laundry baskets are always tipping over as I don't get much laundry done during the weekend and my family traditionally goes through more outfits on weekends. Therefore, it surprised me that today, a Monday, was a really good day.

The sunshine helped tremendously. Plus, my dh was around to help get the kiddos ready this morning since he was attending Sister's school assembly with us. We all saw her receive her "Birthday Book".

She also had her name drawn for a prize. She had to choose between a dollar jump and a nickel draw. Personally, I would have gone for the dollar jump; you stand at one end of a line of dollar bills and the distance you jump is the amount of dollars you receive. She chose the nickel draw; you grab as much change as you can in one hand and keep it all. I tried to explain to her that you'd most likely get more money by jumping, but she loves change right now. In class they are learning all about money and change is her favorite. So, the nickel draw it was. So much for Mommy's logic. Fortunately, there were dimes and quarters in the bowl as well.

Following Sister's assembly, Daddy headed off to work and I gave Big Boy a choice between Sports class and the park. He quickly chose the park with the ship. So, off to the park with the ship we went. What a beautiful day for it. Little Boy couldn't get enough swinging and loved going high. I even decided to brave the trails to the beach since it was so nice. We were able to go down there without getting muddy!

Big Boy didn't get a nap today yet wasn't an emotional mess around dinner time. Sister had a good day at school even though she fell and scrapped her elbow. Little Boy enjoyed swinging at the park. Mommy is tired, but happy that we had such wonderful weather. Daddy was glad dinner was ready when he got home. All in all...not bad for a Monday.

The Wisdom of a Four-Year-Old

So, my dh and I have discovered that Big Boy is quite the clown. It's probably good that we're finding humor in it now, as we'll have many parent-teacher conferences for him because of it in the future. It's just so hard not to laugh at the creative things that come out of his mouth.

The first night at tee-ball practice the coach had each of the players go around and say their first and last name. Most of the boys just said their first names and then their mom or dad filled in the last name. Big Boy was last. Coach asked, "What's your name?" Big Boy responded, "Chicken Pants." This was followed by uproarious laughter by all the other players on his team. What did we learn from this? Big Boy learned that saying funny things gets you a lot of positive attention. Momma learned that she will end up knowing Big Boy's teachers very well from all the calls and notes home she's going to receive about him. Daddy learned that his genes have definitely been passed to Big Boy.

Here are some other funny quotes that Big Boy has been found saying lately:

Where's my dollie? -Sister
She ran away. I tried to catch her, but she was too fast. -Big Boy (after hiding his sister's doll).

So there I'd be, in the middle of a tornado. Rain coming down on my head. Then, BAM, umbrella. -Big Boy (while trying to convince us he needs an umbrella of his own).

What is your brother's name? -Nurse
His name's Joseph, but I call him Edmund. -Big Boy

While Big Boy was cleaning up the toys that he dumped out from a bin in his bedroom he was singing, "It's a hard knock life for me, it's a hard knock life for me..." (Maybe we listen to the Annie soundtrack too often in the van).

What happened to blind, willing, instant obedience? -Daddy
She died. -Big Boy

So, we morn the loss of blind, willing, instant obedience. Enjoy your Sunday! (=

Baseball Time!

Brother's baseball games began today, tee-ball actually. It was such a beautiful day for it with sunshine and warm weather! He sure seems to enjoy it. He is a natural at hitting and throwing the ball. Some work is still needed in the catching department. It doesn't help that the only time they practice catching is when they are fielding which looks more like a football (or rugby) game since they all run in and dog pile on top of the ball every time.

Big Boy's league is non-competitive. They don't keep score, there are no outs, and there is a time limit for the games; they are only an hour. Which is wonderful since sixty minutes was long enough for the kids to get tired of waiting for their turn and standing in the field. Of course his favorite part was playing on the playground afterward.

Sister had a great time attending a classmate's birthday party at Charlie Safari during Brother's game. She loved it there! Now they've both been there and I'll never stop hearing requests to go. Oh well...who can blame them. It really is a fun place...just too expensive! (=

Little Boy found Brother's game so exciting that he slept through most of it. Fortunately, Memere and Papa were able to attend the game today, so Daddy video taped, Momma took photos, we both tried to keep Big Boy paying attention to the game, Memere held Little Boy, and Papa treated us to ice cream sundaes afterwards.

What a wonderful Saturday!!!

Here's a fun photo of Little Boy at eight-months-old.

Back to Normal

It's nice to be back to normal again. As much as I enjoyed spending time with all three kids and not being ruled by the school day schedule during spring break last week, I think our school schedule works better for long-term. By Monday, which Sister still had off from school since it was Easter Monday, I was exhausted! My two oldest children are talkers; I'm not sure where they get that from as I am just a silent doormouse. (= Seriously though, they just talk all day long. At least Big Boy takes a nap or can watch a tv show and I have a break from the constant chatter, but Sister doesn't nap and will talk even through a movie. Little Boy barely naps during the day so that is exhausting in itself, but to not have any time outs from kids all day long makes me a bit insane.

So, no homeschooling for us. (= I also don't feel like I am able to give all three kids as much individual attention when they are all home. Big Boy really needs time to have things focused on him and Sister has trouble not having attention on her. Then, there's Little Boy who is just needy. Thus, we're going to make this private school thing work. I'm checking into some possibilities for part-time work (afternoons or evenings) and we'll figure out the child care thing.

In other news, the sun finally returned. After drenching us all Sunday, it decided to grace us a bit yesterday (though we had a few quick surprise showers throughout the day). Today seems pretty dry so far. I hope that it stays dry through this weekend as we have Big Boy's first t-ball game on Saturday.

Today, while attending his sports class, I purchased the jersey they wear for their games. He loves it and insisted on wearing it immediately. So far he seems to be doing well hitting, throwing, and chasing down the ball during the practices. It has also been teaching him patience as it takes a long time to wait your turn to bat. The nice thing about his league is that they don't even keep score during games and everyone gets a chance to bat. I think that is great for his age group. He'll spend enough years in the future competing.

We've begun calling Little Boy, Vampire, since the two top teeth that came in are the canines and he has no front top teeth yet. When he smiles he looks like a little vampire. Plus, he loves to gnaw on everything. His current favorite foods are apples (in his fresh food teether) and noodles (the long tube shaped ones). Our dog also appreciates meal times as Little Boy tends to drop lots of cracker and cereal bits on the floor.
That's all for now. Here is our family photo that we took after dinner. I couldn't believe their Easter outfits were still so clean! A blessed Easter season to you all!

Alleluia!!!

It's Easter Sunday! What a blessed day, even with the rain pouring down on us. Yesterday we ended up enjoying a relaxed day at home. With Big Boy's t-ball games starting up next Saturday, it will be the last one we'll have for a while. No Easter egg hunts or coloring eggs for us. Just old fashion fort making and bike riding. It was wonderful!

We attended Easter mass this morning. The worst part was trying to get out of the parking lot afterwards. Who planned a large parking lot with only one entrance/exit? Luckily, the Easter bunny came through while we were at mass. In the past he has arrived during nap time, but Sister doesn't nap anymore and last year she almost caught him. He fooled her this year. He even left some eggs with banana cookies for Little Boy, who loved shaking them and low crawling like crazy to get each one.

While the kids were gorging on the jelly beans from the eggs, I hurriedly made some lunch, and then I set up the eggs and dye while they were eating. I considered letting Little Boy help color them even though my dh thought that he'd just try to eat the dye, but Little boy solved our debate by taking a nap the entire time. We'll let him help with the stickers that we're going to put on them after they dry.

Tonight we're going over to my parents' house for dinner. I'm excited that we're having steak. I know that isn't very "traditional" for Easter, but I'm not a big fan of ham anyway. I made my dh and the kids ham sandwiches for lunch to give props to the piggy.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter Sunday with family and friends and a blessed Easter season!

Good Friday

We had a wonderful Good Friday. Even though it was raining lightly, the path was dry so we were able to walk the outdoor Stations of the Cross with the moms. The craft went alright thanks to some quick Googling. What would we do without the Internet?

Last night, Sister choose to attend Good Friday services with me. They were held in the evening, instead of the traditional 3 PM, so we left the little guys at home again. We got there early so we wouldn't have as much trouble finding seats as we did on Holy Thursday. It also helped that I brought the Magnifikid; since I keep it in my diaper bag I didn't have it with me for Holy Thursday.

I'm not sure about so much of these past two services being in Vietnamese. On one hand, I love that it includes their culture and the dance the girls did on Holy Thursday was great. On the other hand, it makes following along (singing and listening to the readings) difficult, especially for kids. It helped that during one of the songs they sang on Good Friday they alternated verses in English and Vietnamese. Sister even figured out what some of the words meant, which was fun. So, maybe they just need to do a more to make it clearer what they are saying and singing when they do the Vietnamese parts.

Next year we may choose to find a 3 PM Good Friday service instead. It just seems more appropriate and would work better for the boys since the nighttime one goes so long past bedtime. It's one thing to take all three kids on my own on Sundays and holy days, but to take all three in the evening, past bedtime, to a two hour service is overwhelming!

Monkeying Around

Today the kids and I had a wonderful day at the zoo with several friends and their kids. We even had beautiful weather! Prayer works. Thanks ladies!!!

The downside to our day of fun is that Big Boy didn't get a nap. He was so emotional and cranky all evening. I've noticed that there is a really short period of time between "fine" and "not fine". For some reason I'm often lulled into a false sense of peace and then, BAM, we're over the line and Big Boy melts down. Once we're past that point, it is difficult to do anything. He wont nap. He wont relax and watch a movie. He just melts.

Little Boy did well in the stroller for the most part. Normally, he insists on being held. When you're holding him, he constantly rocks and jumps around trying assist in moving you forward. Unfortunately, it only makes holding him even more work. He'd really like to walk on his own. Soon little guy!

I pulled out the play pen this morning. I've been trying to avoid doing that since it takes up a lot of room, but Little Boy has gotten too fast and coordinated lately. Before you turn around he's across the room chewing on a shoe, then down the hall finding a hanger, and finally off to the office to pull on some phone cords. It's especially bad when I'm trying to take a shower and get ready in the morning.

Sister and I attended the Holy Thursday service this evening. The boys were tired and I just couldn't handle taking all three of them by myself, so it was just the two of us. It was an entertaining service, but we had a difficult time seeing anything due to the large crowds. We'll have to get there earlier next year to get better seats. By the end of the service we were really tired. It's been a long day.

It's time for bed. I'm leading Stations of the Cross for children tomorrow morning. We have twice as many kids coming as craft packets, so I'll have to see about getting some more or figuring something else out quickly. If the weather holds, we'll be able to walk the outdoor stations which works better for the kids. Wish us luck!

God bless!

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, but Didn't

So, many of you may not be aware, but I considered homeschooling for a while. I researched it, picked a curriculum to use, and even started working with Sister when she was four-years-old. It was about a week before the start of the school year in 2007 when she said to me, "Momma, I want to go to school. You're boring." So, I checked out the local elementary and was appalled by the rudeness of the secretary. Next, I went to my old public elementary and enrolled her there. So, for kindergarten, Sister went to public school.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I had already started teaching her reading and she had attended a very academic preschool which taught her writing; so kindergarten didn't teach her much of anything. I asked the teacher on numerous occasions to challenge her more. "Maybe instead of coloring the sheet, she could write a story on the back about the picture." Her teacher said no. She said, "I only have to teach the curriculum. I don't have to do anything additional. If you want her to do more, do it with her at home." When my child stated that you don't go to school to learn, just to play with your friends, I started to wonder why I was sending her to school. My largest concern came when I knew the following year she'd be in school all day. That would be a lot of "play" time and wouldn't leave much time for "learning" if it was only happening at home.

So, I again considered homeschooling, but she again begged to go to school. Thus, we decided to put her in a Catholic private school. We love it! She is academically challenged with additional assignments and loves her classmates. I also adore that her day is filled with talk of our Catholic faith and love of God. The uniforms are a HUGE plus for me as well. Being that she is tall, and that the trends of fashion are not modest for young ladies right now at all, it is lovey to not have to deal with the trial of trying to find appropriate clothes for every day of the week.

The downside is that it is expensive. Quite a budget crunch for us. It is especially tight for us as I am completely at home right now. I'm not even holding a part-time job as I have over the previous six years. Due to my dh's current position, his hours don't allow for me to teach in the evenings as I did before. I love being at home. Kids grow so quickly and I don't want to miss a moment. Still, with my dh not being Catholic, it is really my choice to do the private school thing. Therefore, it makes me feel like I'm slacking not bringing in an income.

Last winter we had a HORRIBLE child care experience. I worked full-time for the legislature during the last session. The home care place we found, which seemed lovely when we toured it, was a nightmare. Fortunately, my WONDERFUL parents stepped in and watched the kids full-time. After session ended, and we thanked them profusely, they made it clear that the next time I went back to work, we needed to make sure we chose our child care more wisely so they wouldn't have to do that again.

On top of the child care issue, my dh is not accustomed to household chores. It isn't that he doesn't help. He is a super dad and husband. It's just that things like laundry, homework, healthy dinners and such don't occur to him. While I was working full-time, my weekends were crazy with chores and we had basically no family time.

So, now I'm wondering what to do. If I go back to work, it would be full-time as there aren't part-time jobs available in my career field. If I go outside of my career field, I wouldn't get paid enough to make it worthwhile with the expensive of child care. If I work full-time, we would have very little family time as my evenings would be filled with grading and planning, and my weekends busy with chores. On the other hand, I could pull Sister out of private school and send her to the public school or try homeschooling her again.

Am I making this a bigger deal than it should be? Should I just trust in God to provide? I've never been that good at putting it all in God's hands. I like to be in control. I like to make educated decisions and trust that they were best because I checked out all the options.

In the end, I have to consider where I am most committed. If I'd really been committed to homeschooling, I wouldn't have sent Sister to preschool in the first place. If I had really been okay with public school, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of getting approval for a transfer to a different public elementary school. So, now I just need to figure out how to make this new budget to work so that our family can be comfortable with the amout we have and okay about the things we have to go without.

Still, at times like today, when I am enjoying my children all together and I'm reading all these wonderful blogs by homeschooling moms, I think about the alternatives and what I could do with that additional money. I guess we'll have to see how I feel at the end of the week. (=

Amazing!

What amazing weather we've had the last few days! We're so fortunate to have such beautiful weather during spring break. The kids and I are having a blast playing at different parks, riding bikes, and generally not being in the house as much as possible. (=

In addition to enjoying ourselves so much outdoors, I am also appreciating not having my daytime schedule ruled by a school schedule. We have been waking up about the same time as on school days, but we can lounge in our pjs for a while, eat breakfast when we're hungry rather than immediately (as I don't want them to dress until after breakfast so their clothes stay clean for the day), and then go and have fun.

Plus, and this is the best bonus, Big Boy can take an actual nap each day. We've been struggling all school year on how to get Big Boy to take a nap while still picking up Sister from school on time. He just isn't tired early enough to go down for a long enough nap to be a happy boy in the afternoons when we have to pick up Sister from school. After we get home from pick up is too late. If he falls asleep then, he wont go to bed on time. It's been so frustrating.

Now, I'm just praying that the weather remains at least decent as we are planning to visit the zoo on Thursday with some friends. Wish us luck!

Jumping in and Making a Splash!

Well, I got tired of reading everyone else's blogs and not being able to comment, so here I am on Google, blogging away. I've promised my dh to be somewhat discreet with the information that I post, as he tends to think I put way too much information out into the void we call "the Internet".

Our spring break sure started out with beautiful sunny weather. We better squeeze all the fun we can out of the sunshine today as the rain will start washing it away tomorrow.

Little Boy has a new skill now. He has learned to clap. I'm not sure who taught him or when he started doing it, but it is a constant activity for him now (except when I actually pull the video camera out to tape it; then he stops instantly and pretends like I'm a crazy woman). He even makes a cute clapping noise!

Big Boy has not slowed down at four anymore than he did at three. I'm not sure why they call the twos terrible...they were an awesome age of ability and compliance that I haven't seen since. Our house seems to be shrinking with each day as Big Boy gets bigger and even more active. Thankfully, with the sunshine comes some relief to my walls and furniture as I can send Big Boy outside.

Sister reads ferociously! She will probably have the Boxcar Children series done in a month (there are hundreds of books in this series). A couple times a week my dh takes her to the local library and she checks out 6-8 books. Within a few days, she has finished them. I think she literally devours them. It's amazing, but we've had to start taking away her book privileges as a punishment when she isn't listening. Imagine how many parents have to beg and bribe their children to read and we take the books away from our child. Wow, we're wacky parents!

Tonight we enjoyed a family bike ride. It's the first one which Little Boy actually enjoyed himself (he cried and fussed on our previous two, though the hail on the first ride made everyone a little cranky). It's also the first family ride with Big Boy's new bike. Man, he is a whole lot faster on his bigger bike. Poor kid must have been pumping his legs off before!!!

That's all for now. Time to pray and get the kids to bed. Next week is going to be a big shock to us as we have to readjust to our early school mornings. Wish me luck on this new adventure of blogging!