Happy Labor Day

Yippee! My sweet husband is on his way home early, a little Labor Day gift from his company. They fed them burgers and beer and gave them the rest of the day off. Hmmm... that doesn't seem real safe! Jason didn't actually have any beer (the line was too long) so he's okay to come home and spend more time with his loving family. Not a lot to report today. ZA and I went shopping today, which was a learning experience, it was our first time without the big kids (and they are extremely helpful, pushing A's stoller). All went well & Z was my big boy helper and did great.

Cloth diaper note:
This is really a much easier transition that I had anticipated and I feel like we can keep it up. Yea for the environment - double yea for the checkbook. :)

My thoughts on staying home

Here are some things I really like about staying home:
No schedule - this morning Z and I decided that we should go to the park, so we did!
Quiet time, although A needs to get a better grasp on that one.
Seeing my big kids at the end of the school day and spending more time with them. Making their lunches & putting in little notes.
Not taking my babies to a babysitter - that was always so hard.
Nursing exclusively (A still hasn't had a bottle).
Playing with Z - we built a space ship out of legos today and his Little People pirate ship is really fun too.

For my friends at work...
Here's what I miss:
You! I miss the adult interaction and eating lunch. :)
Hmmm - that pretty much sums it up.

Day 3

I'm a big enough person to admit when I am wrong and when I've done something foolish. So here I go - I thought I had two pair of plastic pants but actually one of them was a "streamline" cloth diaper, just a fancy diaper that you don't have to pin shut. My mistake! So it really wasn't meant to be used over another cloth diaper - poor A. She was padded down good with two diapers on! Today is day 3 and since I've realized my mistake it has been a VERY good day. We have had no leaks and she has been in the cloth since this morning when I got her up at 7am. Yea!

Day 2

So here we are in day two of our cloth diaper drama. A had one leaky one today - but I'm beginning to think it wasn't made to hold it in. Maybe it is a manufacturers joke. It doesn't look like "plastic pants" and it doesn't hold in wetness like "plastic pants." Sadly that leaky diaper was her first cloth diaper today, we went swimming today and the cloth were left at home. Which means we are currently batting zero. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. My theory - although I agree it may be as leaky as cloth diapers - is that if we can use the cloth while we are at home then we are saving money and a little space in the landfills. Yep, I am becoming a tree hugging, Birkenstock wearing, granola eating green girl. hee hee.
My friend Kierstyn will often blog conversations she has had with her little girl, and they crack me up!
Well I have one today with Z.
Me: Z do you need to go potty?
Z: No - grunt.
Me: Z I think you are stinky.
Z: yes, I stinky.
Me: You could do that in the potty next time.
Z: I should go in potty! (and he ran to the bathroom)

Boy wouldn't be nice if the light really came on that easily, on time of course.

Cloth diapers Day 1

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Erin I have decided to give cloth diapers another try. I attempted to use them about 9 years ago with a boy named, B - but I was not successful. Today in the attempt to save money & in the hopes of saving a little space in the landfills I tried to put cloth diapers on my 2 year old and 3 month old. So here's what happened. I put one on Z and he immediately looked at me and said, "I don't like it, take it off." I tried to encourage him to try it for a little while but he was pretty adamant so I gave in. Lesson learned - don't try cloth on a kid that can talk. Aw - look I have one that can't talk - "hi A!" So A has had three cloth diapers on today. We had a little leak in the second and third one. Sadly I only have two "plastic pants" so I she is now in a disposable while I wash the pants. My attitude is good, I will not give up. I think this is worthwhile so I will press on & I'm sure I will persevere against the evil leaking diapers.

Here's a picture of A with her cloth diaper on - she's about a pound heavier with these things on! Poor girl - looks like a little pear.


Now with the unrelated stuff:
Today we played with playdoh - it is so hard to keep all the pieces on the table. So today I gave up. Z liked playing in the floor with it.

Here's just a cute pic of Z&A (she's in the cloth here too).

I took this picture yesterday. A was "playing" with her blocks. So cute!

Success

Today was successful for both kids. B has met some boys that he would like to get to know better, he calls them acquaintances, hopefully they will be friends before long. K has met a girl who sit at her table and she is "nice." They both thought all their teachers were great, lunch was too short & noisy. B has a 10 minute recess - way too short, K has two recesses - no complaints. B is excited because in PE they will have a water safety class, so they can walk to the pool. K was excited because the music teacher knows some song with balls that their previous teacher did. Oh yea, they don't have PE every day and both kids think that is a shame. I love those kids!!! That is the scoop on the first day of school.

The first day of school

So here are my babies on their first day of 4th grade, 2nd grade and Mommy staying home. They don't look too afraid, huh? K never showed signs of being anxious, she was just downright excited. B on the other hand was a little apprehensive and that made me terribly distressed, he's my big boy... he doesn't want lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles anymore so I didn't know the right way to drop him off. Do you do the big bear hug and kiss him all over his face and tell him everything would be okay - mommy will make sure it is?! No, that is not the option I chose, I gave him a little shoulder hug and told him I'd be thinking about him all day. Which was 100% true. I haven't stopped thinking about either one of them. In about an hour I will find out how their day was, that will be posted either later today or tomorrow.
Z&A and I had a good day. Z went down for quiet time early, with the promise that we'd go get his kids when he woke up. I'm working on getting A on a similar nap schedule as Z so she's down too, that gives me about one hour every day to get stuff done alone.
It has been a good day, I know that my husband will read this sometime (he's a closet fan of my blog) so I want to say somethings to him (and the rest of you will be my witnesses :).
Jason,
1.) Thank you for letting me stay home with our children. This is a dream come true for me & I appreciate all the work you do to make it happen.
2.) I still reserve the right to misspell words and have grammatical errors so back-off. :0)
3.) I love you - thank you for being the greatest husband!
4.) Thank for not snoozing me this morning.

Notes about nothing

Today we met B&K's new teachers. How exciting! I thought they both seemed nice, B actually has 3 teachers (I didn't really get to talk to the other two, I just talked to his homeroom teacher). It was VERY exciting letting them know that I was available to help in their classrooms. B&K are excited and both thought they would like their new teachers.

Z likes to talk. I've said many times that he is definitely my child, but here is more proof. Tonight we were driving to get Jason some food (since he got home late and we had 'Meet the Teacher' tonight). Jason burped and from the backseat we hear Z say, "Excuse you daddy." We got a good laugh at that and then he asked, "What you did daddy?" Jason explained that it was a burp and that he should have said excuse me. So then Z looks at me and says, "Mommy, daddy burped." I guess he figured that we needed an update from the back of the van so he told us, "A is crying mommy." As if we didn't know that! Aw, he's so full of information... it is just seeping out of him.

Another funny story. Jason forgot to set his alarm this morning and I realized that when mine (A) went off at about 5:40am. So I woke Jason up and told him what time it was and that he'd forgotten to set his alarm. I was tapped lightly on the head and he laid back down. Puzzled, I asked him if he heard me and he responded, "yes, I just snoozed you." How do you like that? I've snoozed, I've heard others snooze but I had never actually been snoozed myself.

Oh yea - am I the only person that didn't know there was a fee to join PTA? I thought it was a volunteer organization. I need to look into this further, I'm in a quandary over this one. Should I have to pay to volunteer my time? Is that an oxymoron?

Since we are doing notes about nothing in particular tonight I want to put this picture on. Check out A's little foot, she did this on her own. Maybe she'll be my gymnast. hee hee

Grandpa

On our way home we stopped to see my grandfather. He's not a fan of having his picture taken so I had to persuade him to let Jason take this picture with his great-grandchildren. All of the names that we have given the kids have meant something but I think it is really neat that three of my four children have some connection to him in their names. A's middle name is my grandmother's name, K's middle name is his grandpa's dad's name and Z shares his middle name with this really wonderful man. My blog has become kind of mushy lately, might as well continue, huh? G'pa has always been a father figure to me. I don't remember a time when we didn't live near my grandfather and I don't remember a week growing up that we didn't see him or stay at his house. My fondest memory of him is my brother and I lying in bed at night between him and grandma watching Fantasy Island and Love Boat and eating peanuts. Silly memory I know but I remember feeling so safe and loved when I was at their house. So as you can imagine it is a tremendous blessing that my kids (especially B&K) have had the opportunity to get to know my grandpa.

Sacrament of Baptism

We had one more wonderful experience this weekend. We baptized A this weekend at Bonnie & John's church in Missouri. I couldn't help but reflect at one point this weekend what a testament to Bonnie & John and their love to have their daughter's baby shower and their grand-daughter's baptism all on the same weekend as they celebrated their union 40 years ago. I feel truly blessed to be a part of this family.
We asked Erin & Alex to be A's sponsors and they graciously accepted the responsibility. As we stood before God's family and accepted the awesome responsibility of having her baptized I was reminded of my own baptism, as an adult and my desire to be a part of The Lord's family. I am so grateful for the men and women that He has brought into my life who've kept me faithful and encouraged me in my walk with The Lord. So thank you all - I will continue to need that encouragement.
As you will see in the picture below, we were truly blessed this weekend with a loving family. Thank you all for staying in town and celebrating with us.

Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary

Bonnie & John are the best in-laws in the whole world. They have shown Jason and I an awesome example of what a long-lasting and unconditional loving relationship looks like. So what better time, than their 40th wedding anniversary, to give them a small token of what they mean to those around them. I created the following montage (it is about 17 minutes long, if you want to watch it) as a surprise for the anniversary party that Erin planned. If you have time watch and enjoy, you can see true love in all of these pictures! Oh yea, Bonnie I'm sorry I was not completely honest with you too.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Surprise Baby Shower

Jason's sister, Erin, is pregnant with her first child. Erin is the closest thing I have to a sister and I talk to her every Sunday evening, she's one of my dearest friends and I am as excited about her having a baby as I was when I was having my own children. With this in mind you can imagine how sad I was when I was not able to plan a spa baby shower for her (we both have a deep affection for days at the spa), so her friend, Vicki, and I put our brains together and decided to plan a surprise shower. I thought what better time is there? We will all be in Missouri for Bonnie & John's 40th wedding anniversary so it will be perfect timing. It was! We were able to have a shower for her and several people who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to welcome this baby were able to be there. On top of that we really surprised her! It was so much fun to see Erin shocked and then begin putting together the pieces. We had so much fun but I have to say one thing, Erin I'm sorry I lied, you know I wouldn't usually do that. :)

Two blogs in one day

I couldn't resist. This evening Z sat down to dinner and as usual Jason reminded him that he had to wait to eat until we said our prayer. So Z began, "God is great, God is good...." I was so pleased, usually he just sits there and says, "amen." So I was thrilled to know that he has been listening. Secondly, after dinner Z asked to be excused and followed it quickly with the words that are turning Jason's hair grey, "I want to play with Barbies." Hee hee!!! Can't wait for Z to see this blog some day.

Sorry, yes, no

Z is working on learning when to say sorry and how to answer yes and no questions. Although at times frustrating, most of the time it is just downright funny. Here are some examples of what I mean. He'll trip over baby bear and say, "oh sorry." Or yesterday he dropped some cheerios and kept apologizing when he realized he was sitting on one. We aren't sure if he's getting the yes or no questions because when we ask are you going to draw on the walls anymore he'll respond, "yes." Now does he really mean yes he is going to draw on my walls or does he simply not understand the question? I'm not sure and I don't trust him! Poor little guy.
Here are some random pictures of what we've been doing the last two weeks. Z loves to play in the pool in his "sipsuit" and A loves to smile and coo at her daddy and her kids.

BEWARE - the next picture is not of my children and is VERY alarming and disgusting!

This is a picture of the horrible (very large) spider that Jason would not destroy - it was right outside the door on my screened in patio (technically in my house!). For those of you who know how large our crickets are you can see how big this spider was!!!

Haircut & Swimming

Teeny Theeny as A is known in our house got a hair cut this weekend. Let me describe her head and then you will understand. She sleeps so great on her back that she has developed a bald spot on the back right side of her head, her left side appears to be shedding because it is ultra short and she has hair on her right side and enough on top of her head to do a comb over. So it was a patchwork of hair... check out the new do.

Don't worry it wasn't as bad as her expression says it was.

B had his last swim meet last weekend. He did great and had a lot of fun. Here is how he did:
1st place in 100 yard medley relay
1st place in 100 yard freestyle relay
2nd place 25 yard back
3rd place 100 yard individual medley
On Sunday he was also presented with two best time awards:
Boys 9-10 100 individual medley (2:04.79)
Boys 9-10 100 freestyle (1:52.42)

This one is B's tushy in the air.

Tagged

Thanks Kierstyn.... I think.

4 jobs I have had: special education teacher, reading teacher, bank teller, Hardee's cashier

4 films I could watch over and over: Grease, Steel Magnolias, Sweet Home Alabama, Legally Blonde

4 Places I have lived: College Station TX, O'Fallon MO, Springfield, MO

4 Favorite TV shows: Seinfeld, Law & Order, CSI Miami, American Idol

4 Favorite Foods: nachos, turtle sundaes, Gourmet Cheeseburger from Red Robin, cherry pop tarts (and we wonder why I need to exercise)

4 Websites I visit everyday: Kierstyn's blog, Christi's blog, Shelley's blog, google

4 Places I would love to be: the Bahamas, Canada, Alaska, Massachusetts (with Erin)

4 Favorite Colors: black, blue, green & brown

4 Names I love but would/could not use for my children: Not sure...

I tag Shelley & Christi (you've been double tagged!)

For BCCA

I have permission from Rae Ann to share some of the pictures I took of her kids too. So here are a few more pictures of our trip to Port A.
Note to Rae Ann's B: I took several pics of you on the waterproof camera so hopefully I got some great ones of your awesome boogie boarding skills - I'll post them as soon as I get them back! :)

Nap Update

I had an ah ha moment a couple of weeks ago. I realized that Z was not falling asleep until later in the afternoon and he was very worried when he went down about what B&K were doing. So we have implemented quiet time in our house. Z takes B to his room and puts him down for quiet time at about 2pm and tells him he will come and get him in 2 hours, then he takes K to our room for her quiet time and tells her he'll come and get her in two hours too. After that I get Z down, explain quiet time means he has to lay in his bed and he can't get up until I come and get him then I go give B&K a thumbs up so they can resume playing quietly. Every day that we've done this he has fallen asleep within 10 minutes of me putting him in his room. I go back and get him either in two hours or whenever I hear him, whichever comes first. Then he promptly goes and gets B&K up from their quiet time. Thankfully the big kids have been really good sports and have gone down for their quiet time without a fuss. Now I just have to convince A that she wants to nap then too.

Educational setting

When I "retired" from teaching my students kept asking me what I was going to do. I would reply, "I'm going to teach my own children and be a mom." Little did I realize how much teaching happens in every setting in our house. Here is what happened this morning. Z was sitting on the potty, because he keeps asking to and so I try and let him when I can. As he sat there trying to do some business he looked at our shower curtain and we started naming the things on the shower curtain, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Leaning Tower of Pisa, elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, The Golden Gate Bridge, the list goes on. What fun! I had no idea when I found this curtain at Wal-Mart in the clearance isle what a great learning tool it would be - I thought it was just a fun curtain. Who knew?!

Helpful or scary, you decide

I'm not usually a procrastinator but having to take my four children to any auto repair places is very intimidating to me so I just kept putting off getting my car inspected... perhaps hoping that the car inspection fairies would come and relieve me of this duty. Well they didn't so off we went yesterday morning, trying to beat all the other moron's (no offense intended if you are one of them) who didn't get it done in the other 30 days of the month.
We got to the place that we had taken Jason's car earlier in the month. When I pulled up this guy came to the car and explained that I had two cars in front of me and that it would be at least 30 minutes before they could even get me into the shop. I asked if there was a better time trying to explain that I have four children. He leaned in close and whispered, "you could go across the street to one of the fast oil places and get it done. They usually have more men and less cars so it would be quicker." I gave my thanks and went across the street where Abraham told me that it would at least thirty minutes because there was another car in front of mine. I decided that since my car was just going to be sitting there I would stay put until they came to get it. Well it turns out that I didn't have to get out of my car at all, Abraham came back out and explained that he had to drive it but if I wanted to move to the passenger side the kids and I could stay in the car (in hindsight I see the scary things that could have happened but I tend to be a trusting person so I didn't think about the danger until it was all said and done). Being able to stay in the car was fantastic, Z could watch his movie, A could snooze happily and B&K could sit patiently! So this incredibly stressful situation (that I created) was not stressful at all! Thanks to Abraham!