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!