Growing Up

The little ones in my life finished their school year a few days ago.   They started the school year thinking they would be in the South for who-knows-how-long...and finished the year in the Midwest. 

They grew and changed and embraced change and made me one proud momma.

T-Man took the changes in stride.  He smoothly transitioned from one climate and culture into the next.  He is a helper, a leader, a reader, and radiates positivity.  Ironically, his name means "long-winded talker" and "cheerful".  Both of those meanings fit our little T-Man perfectly.  And I love him to pieces for both of those qualities.

Fearless had the hardest time with the changes--he is one that loves the routine and anticipating what is coming next.  Moving and starting over with new school rules, new friends, new climate...it took awhile for him to adjust.  But being the little rock star he is, he realized he was having a hard time and every night he would pray that he would be happy.  And each day he tried hard to choose to be happy. 

That attitude is pretty grown-up for a five year old.  I'm so proud of him for pushing himself to grow and embrace the change. 

And this little lovey?  She's still my doll-baby; but she's grown-up too.  She loves her independence and is communicating what she needs and wants like a champ.  And although we lovingly refer to her as our little F5 Tornado (or just F5 for short) I love her curiosity and her sense of adventure.  I love hearing about what is going on in her mind. I love learning what is important to her, so it can be important to me too. 

Having them all home everyday means that our home is full of ruckus & chaos at any given moment--and surprisingly, it doesn't bother me.  Just having them close and deepening our relationship is worth all the noise and Lego messes.

Yay for 3 months of uninterrupted time for me to spend with my little ones!!

Bring on summer!!

The Other Side of the Card.

While I am currently focused on our upcoming move and in the thick of trying to keep my house clean for potential buyers (Side note: Anybody want to buy my house?  And: Please don't make me go through the work of getting/keeping my house ready to show if you aren't going to buy.  Just sayin'.) I am attempting to mix in at least a few of our annual Christmas traditions.

One of which is our annual Christmas card pictures.  I was happily getting the kids in their Christmas picture clothes, when our realtor called and told me some people were coming to look at our house in an hour and 15 min., and could we please be out by then?

At which point, Dr. C and I cranked the stress level up about 50 notches, threw the Christmas-pic clothes on the kids, buckled them all into the van, turned on Charlotte's Web and then frantically ran back inside to do some last-minute OCD arranging of the towels in the linen closet cleaning.

By the time we drove away, my once-happy-children had been imprisoned sitting in the van for almost an hour, Charlotte had long since died and that Norman-Rockwell-Christmas-picture ideal died with her.  (Note to self: Next time I put the kids in the van to frantically clean, choose a reeeaaaalllllly long movie.)

We went anyway.

I did get a *few* good ones...enough for the card...but I got a wholelotta bad ones.  Lovely.

Here is a sampling, for your viewing pleasure.  (Displeasure?)

Freed from the confines of the van, Fearless takes off the moment we get unbuckled.  Takes several minutes to bring him back. 

Don't be fooled by this cute pic--T-Man was pinching Fearless on the back.  Nice. 

T-Man: I will fake smile now because I know I'm in trouble for pinching.
Miss B: There is drama happening, so I must cry.
Fearless: "Mooooooommmmmy...T-Man PINCHED me!"

We are lucky to be alive after receiving that look.

Now it's T-Man's turn to run away.  Yay.

This cry was legitimate, fell down and scraped her knees.  So sorry, little love!

Miss B to T-Man: "Why the heck are you smiling?!?"



Another legitimate sad face...Fearless cut his hand a little on something and no amount of band-aids, kisses, reassurances would make it better.  On a positive note, T-Man shaped up after the pinching moment.



And now she's outta there.

The End.

Sometimes, Kids Know Best.

Here's the Update from Miss B's big-girl bed transition.

Fearless is very protective of Miss B.  While he isn't always extra-careful with her himself, when other people are around, he is her personal bodyguard.  And if Miss B runs in the street (which is one of her fave things to do) Fearless is the first one to chase after her.  He looks after her, shares his snacks, helps her open marker lids so they can have a color-your-arms-purple party, gets her toothbrush ready at night, likes to help pick out her clothes and hairbows for the day, and always picks up an extra sticker/prize/treat for her when he gets one.  In short, he spoils her.  Don't get me wrong...they fight, just like all brothers and sisters do; but it's easy to tell Fearless has a special place in his heart for Miss B. 

(T-Man does too, but that's for a different day.)

Ok, with that background, let's go back to the bed-transition update.  Miss B has a twin bed; I put it in the corner and then put rails down the whole long side so that she wouldn't fall out.  The only open spot to possibly fall out of is the end of the bed.  And after doing the same set-up with both boys without having any problems, I was confident it would work.

Fearless knew better.

Fearless: Mom, we should put a rail at the end of the bed too.
Me: I don't think so, she would have to move around the bed A LOT to fall out all the way down there.
Fearless: But Mooooom, she could get hurt!
Me: You and T-Man never fell out the end.
Fearless: Let's get another rail.
Me (exasperated and thinking I know best and tired of the battle): Maybe next time I go to the store.
Fearless (unconvinced): um, okay.

I put Miss B to bed that night, and she was easy-peasy.  Didn't make a sound, didn't get out once, didn't cry...just went right to sleep, no problem.

At 1:34AM, I woke up to her screaming bloody murder.  In a sleepy-panicked-rush, I booked it to her new bed, only to find it empty.  With my panic level rising, I checked the end of the bed.

My poor little lady had fallen out the end, right into her empty laundry basket.  Just like Fearless had said would happen.

I would be screaming bloody murder too if I had been happily dreaming and all the sudden found myself falling into a laundry basket, wouldn't you??

Ack! What a bad-mommy moment! If I had just listened to Fearless, there wouldn't have been a problem.


Thankfully she was unhurt, just scared out of her wits.  Not that I blame her.

Back into the crib she went.

We won't be putting her in her big bed until we get another rail.

I really should have listened to Fearless.

Summer Travel Journal Part 4: Gone Fishin' Party

Once again, we are flashing back to our Summer Travel Journal.  We spent the last week of our vacation at a family reunion with my family in the Uinta Mountains--a simply gorgeous part of our country.  My whole family, minus one brother, was there...making a nice round number of 30 people in one cabin.  It's a good thing we love each other!

The cabin we stayed in was pretty much waaaaaaaay out there...as in, no cell phone or Internet service.  As in, so far out there that there were real cowboys (shepherds?) riding their horses and herding their flock of sheep across the highway.  Nothing like starting a nice family reunion almost being slowly stampeded by sheep.  The cowboy-shepherd guy kept telling us to just keep driving...but dude, who wants to run over a herd of sheep?!?

Baaa.

A couple of miles later, this deer was running along the road, right next to the van.  After a good race, it decided to stop and pose for a picture.  (Sorry for poor picture quality, I was took it through the window.)

The sunset view from the cabin porch.  Simply beautiful.

We started our week with a Gone Fishin' party.  Each family decorated a tackle box--and then filled it with yummy snacks like Swedish Fish and gummy worms.

Miss B picking out stickers for our family's tackle box.

I made this fishing-bobber-pinata for the party...and let me tell you the homemade paper mache process was a whole heckuva lot of work. 

If I ever decide to make a pinata again, please, somebody stop me. 

Despite the project being much longer than I expected,  I was pretty proud of the fact that it lasted through 18 of the 19 grandchildren hitting it.

All that was left after my hours and hours of labor.  Next time, I think I'll just buy one.

My mom did a cute carnival-style fishing game--where every grandchild got to fish for a prize.  My dad was in charge of the child-with-the-fish-hook side of the pond...which was a very brave thing for him to do.  I'm happy to report that not one person's eye was lost.  (But we did have some close calls.)

My cute nieces made these fun fish-cupcakes for everyone to enjoy.  I don't get to see my sisters and brothers and their families very often; so that evening in the crowded kitchen while we were making dinner for 30 and the girls were cupcake-decorating away and the laughter and chatter was constant...even though we were miles away from a decent-sized civilization and many, many more miles away from my house, it felt like home.

More to come...my goal is to finish our Summer Travel Journal by the middle of next week...we'll see if I make it!

Summer Travel Journal Part 3: Hanging Out with Dr. C's Family

You all probably thought that I had forgotten about the promised Summer Travel Journal. But, you are in luck, because I didn't forget and we are ready for the next installment.

We spent the first week at Dr. C's parents' house--where Miss B broke a lamp and an alarm clock; I broke the dryer and Dr. C's razor's case stained the bathroom sink. 

They were probably pretty ready for us to leave by the weeks' end. 

 The boys got to try on Grandpa R's Green Beret.  Very cool...although I'm not entirely sure that they understood the significance of it other than "Grandpa's neat hat."  T-Man kept wanting to wear it like he was a Newsie.

What's with the one squinty eye?

Miss B took over the Flintstone car like she'd had her license for years and was cruising around in her hot rod. 

 One night involved some intense games of capture-the-flag.  I think the girl's team only one once; but hey, at least we won, right?

Miss Banana kept getting tripped over, so she eventually became our inside cheerleader. 

Yeah, not happy about that.

Another night we had a bbq at Aunt E's house, where much fun was had by all.

They have a kiddie-car-wash...how cool is that?!?

Water balloon volleyball (and regular volleyball) were also big hits.

Fearless and T-Man got in a water fight. 
Fearless thought he had the only water gun.

 Until Uncle C brought out the BIG gun.  And when I say BIG, I mean BIG...as in T-Man needed help picking it up once it was full of water. 

That thing was like a fire hose.

Fearless didn't stand a chance after that!



Despite losing the water war, Fearless was happy because later that evening, we partied for his birthday.  He shares a birthday with Grandma R and a couple of days later is Grandpa R's birthday, so everyone got to celebrate.

Miss B was a little stinker that night because I wouldn't let her gorge herself on cupcakes.

I'm such a mean mom.

 Thank goodness for all of the family members that cheered her back up; she's so much more pleasant to be around when she's not screaming her head off.

And, since you've made it this far, I will end with a little treat.  Dr. C's niece (in the background of the picture above) has been playing guitar since she was 9; and recently won 1st Place in her division of the local Idol contest.  She just wrote her first song, True.  The recording makes it hard to understand some parts, but listen closely; there is a verse about Miss B!!

(Sorry, tried to embed it, but the video isn't working...hopefully the link works!)