School

Yes, I'm ready for school to start. I'm excited for the "break." It will be easier to do errands and keep the house tidy with fewer kids. I imagine there will be moments of quiet (and I LOVE quiet).
We went up to the school today to see the class lists. Both of the kids have been anxious about who will be in their class and who their teachers will be. Reed was pleased to find out that he has two friends in his class. Sophie was relieved that she got the teacher she wanted. I caught her quickly wipe a tear when she located her name. In that moment, I was reminded that I'm not going to be there when school starts. I will miss lots of things. I cannot control who is nice to them and who is not. I cannot hug them when they are sad. I cannot play with them at recess when they can't find a friend. I cannot cheer them on when they need a little encouragement. I won't know every detail of their day.
Despite all of that, I have lots of hopes for this school year. I hope that they will make new friends. I hope they will be kind. I hope they will respect their teachers. I hope they will ask lots of questions. I hope they won't write on all their clothes with dry erase markers (Reed). I hope they will eat the lunch I pack them. Mostly, I hope they will be happy.
I'll be there at the end of the day asking all kinds of annoying questions and counting down the days until summer comes.

Baby Musings

It was another first birthday party! I love a good party theme, and we all had fun prepping the house in The Very Hungry Caterpillar decor. The kids spent the afternoon coloring the big pictures for the windows. The baby seemed totally confused (as most one year olds are). She gave us blank stares as we sang, cheered, and ripped open presents. She was all about the cake though. She loves her treats!
Mia's Cupcakes designed the "cake" and it was even better than I imagined! Yummy too!

If you're still reading this, notice the beautiful balloons on the side. I took the kids (all of them) to the party store to get balloons. We chose an assortment of colors and waited patiently (okay, no one was patient) as they were assembled into two "floor displays." I walked out with two beautiful "floor displays" and as soon as we got to the van I began to panic. The were instantly tangled together. I wasn't quite sure what my strategy would be to get them untangled and into the car. Seems like it shouldn't be that difficult, right? I had Sophie buckle the little kids and began the long process of trying to shove them into every area of the van. I've never really purchased or transported large quantities of balloons prior to this event and I will tell you it was quite an ordeal. They started popping, and it was like someone was firing several gunshots. The little kids were screaming. The baby was terrified. I was using some "choice words." I was sweating, yelling different strategies at the kids who were trying to help me. I asked a woman walking by if she had any ideas how to get them in and she just kept walking--avoiding all eye contact. I hardly blame her. It must have been quite a scene. We made it home with fewer balloons. Lesson learned.

Stop That!

I'm watching my baby (my last baby!?!) walk. She has only been walking (and crawling for that matter) for a few days, so her steps are the Frankenstein kind. Every step takes a lot of effort and thought. She clearly loves the new freedom and wants to do it all the time. And it has hit me--bam--she's trying to grow up. Just who does she think she is? She's supposed to be my baby. She is supposed to want me to hold her FOREVER. She shouldn't be trying to crawl out of my lap or let go of my hand. She is not supposed to assert her independence from me in any way. I want to say, "Stop that." But it's so adorable. I love watching her. She is always so surprised that she can do new things. Bittersweet is the word that most describes this time.

Now, if her brother could get a little more independent and finally figure out this potty training thing...seriously.

You've Got Your Hands Full

It seems that at least once a day I hear the phrase, "You've got your hands full." Mike has noticed this phenomenon too. Just the other night, we were eating at a "real" restaurant with all the kiddies--a first since the baby has exited the infant car seat. On our way out a man said, "My, you two have your hands full." I'm sure in some way our lovely children probably ruined his lovely meal with his lovely companion and that was his way of saying, "Don't take your wicked children to another restaurant within 100 miles of here." I thought they did pretty good. Mike and I were both sweating bullets by the end of the meal and we couldn't get the check fast enough, but we did it. I asked Mike why he thought people kept saying this to us (grocery store, soccer games, school...) He started laughing and said, "It's true." Yep, it is.

I wish I had more time to be a better friend, volunteer more, go more places by myself, do more service, cook better meals, host more parties, watch more movies, get my graduate degree, finish writing my book (no laughing at that one--you know who you are), sew all the quilts I have planned, learn to can food (okay, I might not actually do that one if I had time), take more pictures, squeeze in some exercise time, and copy all the fun stuff out of the Pottery Barn catalog.

I also wish I wasn't "that mom" who always forgets things like sunscreen, baby wipes, snacks, tissues, my camera, and occasionally the children's shoes. Honestly, it takes so much effort to get out the door these days, that I'm destined to forget at least one thing every time. Thanks to all the wonderful moms who have donated to our cause.

Despite all the things I wish I could do, I never forget what EVERYONE with older children tells me: the time goes too quickly. They will be big so soon. I won't have a baby who begs to be held or a little boy who always wants "just one more story." It is busy. It is hard. Other people don't always get it. But I don't mind. This is better than I could have possibly imagined it.

Calling All Names

Baby number four is on the way. Estimated arrival time is 8/9/10.
Did you catch that? 8-9-10? I think that would be a fun birthday. I'm still brooding over the fact that I missed leap year by mere hours for baby number three...

The family has come up with a few name possibilities, but I'm not sold on any of them. So, in honor of the little bundle of joy, I'm sponsoring a baby name contest! If you name our baby GIRL, yes I said girl, you will receive a $20 gift certificate to the place of your choice!

Here are the rules:

1. I must know you.
2. The name cannot be too common. (Consider our last name.)
3. The name cannot be too strange.
4. No weird spelling.
5. If your name is selected, you must accept the gift card.

Good luck!

Bird Nightmare

I don't even know how to begin to describe this. I'm very, very afraid of birds. All kinds of birds. When they're flying around in the sky or singing in a tree I'm good. I love watching the Blue Jays and Cardinals in our yard. My fear involves birds coming anywhere near me.

I was driving down a residential street today after dropping the kids off at their schools. I suddenly saw a wild turkey starting to cross in front of me. A LARGE, VERY GROSS wild turkey. I slowed down because I didn't want to hit it. I thought he would cross the road and be on his merry way. Quite suddenly, FOUR MORE huge, gross wild turkeys charged my van. They had the front and driver's side completely surrounded. They were pecking my van!!! I tried honking my horn to scare them away. That did not work. THEY WOULD NOT MOVE! The baby was terrified and crying in the back. (I was a little scared myself.) Someone pulled up behind me and took photos with his cell phone. Ultimately, I backed up at full speed and I was able to "lose them." They were still running after my van! It was a frightening six minutes (although I'm laughing now).

Birthday Zone

This is the time of year when is seems that the birthday celebrations run into each other.

The four year old turned five. He cried the other day because he says he wants to be four again. Those must be the glory days. When asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner his response was, "Candy, pop, eggs, and mac & cheese." Mmmm. Sorry you weren't invited?

The eight year old turned nine. This was crazy to me since her birthday happens to be the anniversary of me entering my current line of work. She wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday. (She was given the green light a year ago, but has been TERRIFIED to actually do it.) It was quite an adventure. She has been tormented by the thought of the PAIN (which I tried to convince her really isn't that bad). She tried to jump out of the chair when the girl was ready to shoot in the first earring. She had changed her mind. Me, being the caring mother that I am, said, "Oh no you don't. You are doing this." She did it. And she's glad. She said it didn't even hurt. Well, maybe a little. I need to take a picture...

The baby will be two in a few weeks. Hard to believe. He's a little boy now. He does a great "dying scene" whenever he's playing with swords. He has yet to surrender the Santa hat from Christmas. He wears it and sleeps with it. He refers to it as his "Elmo hat." At least I know he's not color blind. A couple days ago I heard, "Bye mom," followed by some loud, awkward steps. I walked around the corner to find him standing at the front door ready to go outside. Now, doesn't that look like a child who is prepared for sub-zero temps? Maybe the stain on his shirt will keep him warm.

Speaking of birthdays...I'm late in reporting on my 33 birthday challenge. I challenged myself to write 33 thank you notes, watch 33 movies, read 33 books, and try 33 new things. I'm no longer 33, but happy to report that I accomplished my goal. It was a race to the finish with the books. I was reading three books a week at the end. Here's my report:

*Think about writing a thank you note to someone almost every week. Maybe some of you already do that, but I realized I never really thanked people for the great things they do. It has made me more conscious of that.

*There are not a lot of great movies out there. Most of them were a HUGE waste of time. I guess that's why I don't watch a lot of movies. Two of my favorites: Twelve Angry Men and North and South (not the Patrick Swayze version).

*I love to read, but never really made a lot of time for it. This forced me to make time for it. I read some awful books that I felt obligated to finish because I couldn't waste being halfway through. I also read some great books. Favorites: Knuckleheads (my shortest book, but had me laughing out loud), I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (great find, Loni).

Some of the new things I tried were really simple (recipes) and some were more of stretch (lifestyle changes).

EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THIS!