Snippet from my day

And now for today's little journal entry...

I took the kids to school this morning and stayed for chapel since Rose's class was singing. It was nice and I should do it more often. A few months ago I started volunteering in Ry's class in the afternoons. I help the kids while they're at centers and his teacher does reading tests with individual kids. It's only for about an hour and just once a week, but I've found it to be really rewarding. And from being there that small amount of time I have a new found appreciation for those that are called to be teachers. The patience I've witnessed is outstanding! 

Well, I'm not feeling great due to the lovely cedar pollen in the air so I'm calling it a night. 

Here's a little something

Each and every time I open up "new post" I'm hit with a little bit of anxiety. I guess because I'm out of the routine and the once familiarity of sitting to write now feels foreign. There's only one way to get back into the habit and that is to just begin again. And so I will try.

Life is speeding along no matter how hard I try to resist acknowledging that fact. The boys are loving school. They are so smart. They are also fairly confident, which I love, because I never was. It always makes my day to hear about them talk about their friends and what they learned. The kindergarten-3rd grade choir sang last week and there were two (short) solo parts- Ry had one of them. You can probably imagine what proud parents look like... we were prouder! I actually teared up when he sang his part and it took a lot of concentration to not start full on crying.

The girls are sweet and also little button pushers. I am certain Rose is going through a growth spurt because she's going through a hungry/cranky/tired-but-won't-nap phase. She's almost 5. That's is incredible. She's hilarious. Last night (after a trying afternoon with her) as I was slumped over on the couch she asked, "Mommy, do you feel okay? Is your back hurting you?" I answered honestly, "No, my back is fine, it's just my patience." Rose, "Oh, but you've been SO patient today!" And I couldn't do anything but laugh.

That reminds of something D did yesterday. I had a urge to paint and so I attempted some watercolor paintings of a cardinal and a bluebird. I thought I did ok for a first try and decided to give my paintings to the boys. When D saw the cardinal he told me it looked good, but instead of just telling him thank you I proceeded to tell him how it wasn't that great, but it was just the first time I had painted a bird. His response was, "Oh, well I can teach you how to draw. I'm really good at art." See, confidence. About 15 minutes later he hands me a color drawing of a cardinal that made me feel pretty dumb about thinking my painting was any good. That kid was right; he is good at art.

August

The boys started a new school year on Wednesday. D is in 2nd grade and Ry is 1st. So far they are really enjoying school. I started doing preschool with Rose and I'm happy to say that she is able to focus and she even likes the hour we spend on it. I tried it last year and she just wasn't ready. I think being a year older plus getting glasses (yay! she can actually see now!) helps.
I've got to say, if your kids are super uninterested in learning letters/numbers or can't remember what letters look like at 3-4 years old... go get their vision checked. Our pediatrician does a little eye chart exam at 5 years old, but for us that was too late and I had already caught the boys eye problems and were seeing an optometrist. I caught Rose's vision problems pretty early. One, she wouldn't sit on the couch to watch tv or movies. She had to be close to the screen. Two, after spending an ample amount of time learning about a letter she couldn't pick it out on a page with other letters no matter how many times we tried. (She could pick out T, O and X) Three, after both boys needing glasses and the family history I was watching a lot more closely. The optometrist was impressed that I had caught it so early. Four, I had a gut feeling she wasn't seeing clearly. Trust that feeling.
We went on our 2nd annual trip to Schlitterbahn to reward the kids for completing their swim lessons and to celebrate our anniversary. This year was our 10th anniversary! It has gone by so fast and time's not slowing down. It's amazing what has happened in 10 years and I'm so glad I got to live those years with my best friend by my side. It makes me excited for the next 10!

swimming

The boys have been in swim lessons since last Monday. It's amazing how far they've come since then. They started out practicing kicking and putting their heads under the water on the first day to jumping off the diving board yesterday. I was so proud of both of them! Friday is the last day of lessons and I think we'll miss it.... although I won't miss driving to town everyday!

Ry is 5

Saturday was Ry's birthday. He turned 5.
F.I.V.E.
I just can't believe it.

Ry is such a good kid. He is tough, sweet, stubborn, intense and crazy smart. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for him. I love that guy.

not on my game

So... I've been neglecting this here blog. Most of the time it's because I can't/don't find the time to blog, but sometimes I feel like I have nothing new to write about and then there's times when I'm purposefully avoiding blogging.

Sunday Tim and Ry flew to Baltimore so that Ry could have a check up with his fantastic doctor there. (Ry was born with a rare bladder condition. I know I've never really talked about it on here... maybe in the future.) Anyhow, Ry is doing great and his doctor is happy with his progress. This was a huge relief to us! (They got back home yesterday.)

Sam is rolling over from her back to her tummy and yesterday when I woke up she was sleeping on her tummy in the bassinet. That means the bassinet has to go and she gets to move into a bigger bed. (For now it'll be our super luxurious pack-n-play.) She is such a sweet girl. She has the best smiles for us and always wakes up in a good mood. When she's cranky she calms down pretty quickly just from seeing us.

And now I am off to plan dinner, pick up D and search for birthday presents for someone's fast approaching 5th birthday.

our weekend

 Saturday afternoon we decided we had been cooped up in the house too long and we were going somewhere. Anywhere. T was not feeling his best after fighting a stomach bug all Friday and into the early hours of Saturday morning, but insisted on going out. So... we lounged around for hours trying to figure out what to do. Due to a wedding this coming weekend, several birthdays and Mother's Day I had us quite a strict budget and taking a family of five out to eat only happens once a month so we were kind of stuck. The park would've been nice if it wasn't a million degrees already. We headed out right at dinner time (this always happens on spur of the moment outings). I decided we would have to eat somewhere that was cheap and definitely not Taco Bell or McDonald's. Eventually we ended up driving through a parking lot with a Denny's. My super eyesight plucked out the words "kids eat free Tuesday and Saturday". It was Saturday. I hadn't eaten at Denny's since I was in California during Spring Break approximately TEN years ago. T and got burgers. I thought the first bite was surprisingly good, but unfortunately each consecutive bite was worse than the previous one. I left feeling empty and full at the same time. I regretted not sticking with breakfast options. The kids enjoyed their meals though and had a good time which is always what really matters in the end.

Sunday we had a birthday party for me, Ry, my sis and brother in law. Our birthdays are all in a ten day time frame. It was fun! I insisted we have homemade pizza for supper and spent a good deal of time making the perfect supreme pizzas. I also made a chocolate cake with boiled icing. We ate until we could eat no more, opened presents (I got an awesome herb garden from my sister which I will have to get a picture of later) and then took our sugar high kids home to crash in their beds.

Many thanks to my family, T's family and our awesome friends (Holly and CLB) for making our birthday's so great.

P.S. It looks like Ry's fingers are on fire, but fear not, it's just a fancy photography trick.

weekend details (maybe too many)

Friday was Ry's birthday and it started with birthday doughnuts and a couple of presents. In the afternoon I let the kids play in the sprinkler and then they watched movies and ate some junk food. That was a bad idea. Around 10pm I had just checked on the sleeping kiddos and had spotted a gigantic scorpion in Rose's room. While T was introducing it to the bottom of his shoe we both heard a cough and splattering sound from the boys' room. I won't go into further detail, but D doesn't remember it happening (lucky) and junk food, juice and sweets were very limited the rest of the weekend. (He is fine, by the way.)

So, Saturday T had to go into work (they work one weekend a year and it's always the last weekend in April. So, always on Ry's and my birthday weekend.) Saturday was my birthday and all I asked was not to cook dinner. T got off work hours before I expected and came home with an awesome birthday present for me. A kindle. It is awesome. Highly recommend. We spent the afternoon chillin' and then took the kids to T's parent's house and we headed out to enjoy dinner. It was delicious, I had steak and lots and lots of potatoes. I didn't realize until I was picking at my broccoli that ordering Texas cheese fries for the app and then having loaded mashed potatoes as a side that I ate approximately ten pounds of potatoes in one sitting. Then in the car I totally embarrassed T by dancing (think Elaine from Seinfeld) at a red light to a wildly popular tune that came on the radio. (He doesn't even like the song and the next morning he purchased it from itunes for me. He's sweet like that.)

Oh, but I'm forgetting something. We were pulling into our driveway when Ry said his stomach was hurting and I didn't really think much of it and told him we were home and he was going to be fine. (I figured he just needed to go potty.) Instead of going into great detail here I'll just say he got sick. It was not a good night for him and I ended up sleeping on the couch with him at 4am. He is fine. I don't know what caused this but we were fully expecting Rose to follow suit, but she has been okay so far.

Sunday I made french toast which I've only made once before (and only eaten three times). It was perfect. If I had any energy right now I'd make some today for "brunch", but I have to save all my energy for a grocery run. Super excited about it. I better get going soon or I will end up at the grocery store at lunch time with three kids which is always so much fun. Okay, everyone have yourself a merry Monday!

ten happy things friday

Today my Ry-Guy turns 4 years old!

Ten things I love about Ry:

1. His smile

2. He gives the best hugs

3. He is fierce

4. He makes silly faces

5. He's incredibly smart

6. He's courageous

7. He's adventerous

8. He's caring

9. He doesn't hold anything back

10. He changed my life

Happy birthday, Ry! Mama loves you.

Wordless Wednesday

Featuring a super cute two year old and her pouting brother at our second home, the t-ball field. 

(Brother is conveniently hidden behind the watermark.)

he wears the smarty pants

This morning when caught playing in the dogs' water bowl (again) and having me scold him (again), Ry walked about 5 feet away, gave me a stern look and then said, "I think you should go back in the house now."

 Lately whenever he's in trouble he tries to talk his way out of it or redirect my attention elsewhere. He's a clever one.

I did it!

I encourage my kids to do things for themselves. They do a great job most of the time. At least 50% of the time Ry puts his pants on backwards and I make him take them off, "Remember, zipper and button in the front!" This particular day he took them off, turning them inside out and then promptly put them right back on without paying any attention to zipper and button placement or the fact that they were wrong side out. He is always very proud of himself for putting on his own clothes. This was no exception. He declared himself ready to go outside not caring at all about his inside out-backwards pants. 

Not wanting to stifle his independence or creativity, I simply snapped this picture, opened the door and let him go play.

Some things we did

Yesterday we took Ry to his eye checkup. He is still making progress and we are continuing to patch and do eye exercises. His depth perception has improved and his eyes are working together more. He definitely has more awareness of using his left eye. We go back in three months for his checkup and one year evaluation.
T also had an eye exam and is getting some new glasses. (I've been telling him for two years that he needs new ones.) He came out of his exam and the doc came over and said, "So, he tells me you've never had an eye exam! Why don't you schedule one for Thursday when you bring D in for his?" Ugh. It's true, I've never had a complete evaluation. I've only done the vision test for getting my drivers license to prove I'm not blind. I suppose it's the right thing to do. I'm a little nervous, but have been reassured that it's nothing to stress about. (I just don't want to do the glaucoma test or have to get my eyes dilated.)


We rented The Help last night and watched it with my sister and brother-in-law. I was so excited about it, but it's different from the book. That's the problem with movies based on books. First if you didn't read the book there were a lot of things you are missing out on in the movie, especially background info on different people. I was somewhat disappointed in it. My sister and I took turns giving each other looks and saying, "That's not what happened in the book!" So, if you really want know what all the fuss is about you still need to read the book. 

Well, my house missed me the last couple of days. I think I'll clean the kitchen and then organize Rose's new birthday and Christmas toys... or just play with them. That sounds like more fun!

Comfy Cozy

I'm not sure why our dog does this, but he likes to nap in this big tub that I had flowers in during the spring. He curls up and nods off. I guess the soil in it is nice and soft.

The title is courtesy of Ry, as he is quick to declare blankets, beds, clothes and chairs... "comfy cozy!"

home barber

I don't know what that look is for;

I think it turned out swell.

 

this is the "model with an attitude" look

haha, I got you to smile!

only had to bribe, bribe, whisperthreat, bribe, bribe for thirty minutes (repeatedly)

he got a root beer float

(so did I

do did D

so did Rose)

because we survived it

yea!