School

I had some awesome 1st and 2nd day of school pictures. Of course, because they were awesome, somehow about half of them got lost when I was transferring them from my camera. GRRRRR!!!!

I got a couple at least.

First day of Kindergarten

2nd day of Kindergarten and Second grade

We finally started at the new school - we used a varience so the Bug could finish the year at the old school last year - and so far, they've come home happy everyday, saying they like school. Good sign.

They haven't raved about how many new friends they've made. I know that will take time. It's just hard as a parent to have to watch them face new (hard) experiences.

This new school has exceptional rankings (like #2 in the state) and lots of parent involvement, which is great.

I went to help at the 2nd grade picnic though(yep, they had a "welcome back to school" picnic for the 2nd graders) and I felt like the new kid too. It was hard to not fit in with all the "Chicky" moms. I felt like the outsider in some club, where I was the newbie from the other side of the tracks that no one wanted to talk to.

I hope this isn't how my kids are feeling.

I keep reminding myself that it is a really really good school, that we made the right choice, and that change is hard-just keep going. But a little part of me wants to run out tomorrow and re-register them at the old school where I know the teachers and staff, and procedures and the other kids, and where I feel more comfortable because that is where we've spent the last two years.

I'll get better right? I'm sure it will. I guess I'm just being reminded how hard it is to move, even when it's not very far away.

Summer, Finally!

Bug, on his last day of school with his teacher. He was trying really hard to smile through his tears. He's going to miss her, and his school a lot. I'm hoping that he likes the new school just as well.


We've been out of school for 1 week now. (It's about dang time!) It has been great. No real schedule and lots of fun. The boys finished swim classes this week, and my kids who last year wouldn't go near the water ("of course we don't want to go swimming Mom") are now certifiably "fish". I foresee lots of pool visits this summer.

Girlfriend?

My boys went to play with a friend this afternoon. I wasn't there, but the Friend's mom relayed the following to me:

The friend was singing the "I don't like your girlfriend" song. So, they asked him if he had a girlfriend. He said no, and the conversation went around to asking my boys if they had a girlfriend. Bug said he didn't have any girlfriends, only "girl-enemys". Then Beefy had to counter with "I only have girl-enemys" too.

Hmmm....Hopefully that attitude keeps up for at least a few more years. Maybe they can convince the sister to have "boy-enemy's" too.

While Mom's Away...

...The boys will play.

I went to girls camp for a day this week. It was fun, and going for a day (then coming home to shower) is kind of a nice thing. Anyway - Daddy and the boys have a tradition when I am gone, of making bready guys. It started out as bready bears, then last time it morphed into bready Yodas (we were in a Star Wars phase) and this time - bready Sonic and Pokemon guys. It's a good thing they have good imaginations I guess.

Pikachu and Drifloon

Amy and Sonic

Ready to be baked.

It's Done!

Not bad, eh?  The kids are loving it.

 I'm loving it too.

Their room was so ready for an update - though now I need to work on matching quilts.

 They think that these ledges are the best feature of the bed.  Perfect place for all their action figures.

"Safety" Scissors

Yeah, safety scissors my eye.


I guess pillowcases don't fall into their realm of safe items.


The best part....Not only did they snip the corners off, but they knew they were going to get in trouble, so they decided to go ahead and "fix" it, by taping the corners back on.

This is how I found it:


Nothing quite like having to call up Grandma to inform her that her darling grandsons decided to take their scissors to her personalized birthday pillowcases.

Boys.

Stuff I Love - Cars

When Buggy was about 2 1/4 years old, we bought the movie Cars, and our lives were never the same again. He would beg to watch it many times a day. It was in fact the only thing that he would watch for a while there. My husband and I, to this day can still almost quote the movie verbatim.
With the love of the movie came the inevitable love for the merchandise (sneaky Disney execs.) It was hard not to get into the spirit of it though, with so much cute Cars stuff out there, and a kid whose eyes would light up and the mention of Lightning and Mater. Over the next few years we accrued quite a collection of Cars themed memorabilia. Like everyone, some toys have been more popular at our house than others, but nothing we have found yet has equaled the love my oldest had for Cars for so many years.

It's been many, many months since we bought our last car, and our DVD hasn't been playable for a while now. Beefy still has a love for Lightning and Mater, but Buggy recently informed me that Cars isn't cool enough for a Kindergartner, and that he needed to have stuff (namely, his bedspread and room decor) that was cool, like Star Wars, and Mario (although, he still does carry a Lightning McQueen backpack).

As I was cleaning, and sorting through toys recently, my OCD took over and I separated out all of our Cars die cast cars, and then just kind of went from there, taking pictures of the boys room, and their things. I know that my days with these decorations are numbered, and I don't want to forget about them when they are gone. It is so crazy to watch my kids grow up so fast (they seem to be speeding right in front of my eyes lately).




I think I will always have a soft spot for Lightning and Mater.

New Take on a Classic

Songs overheard at our house lately:

First - Fun to Do.
"Burping is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do. Burping is fun to do, to do, to do, to do."

-Yes, I live with boys. Those of you who do also-understand this one.

Second - Follow the Prophet

"Follow the Prophet, follow the Prophet - you will be happy".

-All of the primary kids were asked to sing this song at Stake Conference a while back and Buggy was trying to teach it to Beefy. This is Beefy's interpretation. Not quite the right words, but it definitely gets the message across. And it is super cute in his little 3-year-old voice.

Larry

Can you tell....My kids are pretty happy that we planted cucumbers this year.

Crazy Boys

Lots to catch up on in posting about my silly boys. First, a picture from yesterday:

Notice the sunglasses? He had to wear them to church. No amount of coaxing would get him to take them off, and I finally decided it wasn't worth the battle. He wore them through the whole 3 hours of church, and home. He fell asleep, and I tried to take them off - he woke up just long enough to tell give me an emphatic "NO!" and then went back to sleep. Funny Kid!

Next, I have to make a note of this just because I think it is kind of funny. I've been trying to buy breakfast cereals with high fiber content lately. Mostly, for myself and my husband, but the funny thing is - the kids love them. They choose them over their usual Kix and Rice Chex almost every day.

Buggy's Favorite (along with a some new pictures - for the grandparents):




Beefy's Favorite:





I love that they (for some silly, strange reason) love these cereals. It just makes me laugh.

Finally, this one: My husband and I grew up loving the Animaniacs cartoons. We have the DVDs and a music CD that we listen to in the car occasionally. The kids think they are hilarious.

Today we were driving when "the Great Wakkorotti" came on (check it out here). It is fairly disgusting, but my boys (no surprises here) LOVED IT. The car was so full of the best giggles, that I couldn't help but laugh myself (especially as Beefy was trying to imitate it, after the song was over). Boys will be boys, right?

It's a good thing that they can make me laugh, to go with all of the gray hairs that I am going to get someday because of them.

Park

We've been doing a lot of playing at the park (actually a few different parks), and swimming lately. These pictures were taken at a favorite park near us.


There is a sprinkler pad, a sand pile, and a really good playground at this place. Buggy loves the water, but Beefy is more inclined to the other activities still (I think the water scares him a little bit).

New Wheels

We are once again all healthy, and have been spending lots of time playing lately. We've had summer weather for like 3 weeks now (unheard of for Seattle) and we have been taking advantage of it. Unfortunately it means my posting, and other projects have suffered. So, today is my "get caught up day", and that is what I intend to do.

For the boy's birthdays this year we decided we were going to get them bikes. Rather than get Beefy one in May, and make Buggy wait until July, we got them both new bikes over memorial day (with the understanding that they are birthday presents). They have loved them, and we've been grateful for the good weather so that they can ride them often.


We were going to get Beefy a new tricycle instead of a bigger 2-wheel bike, but when we got to the store and realized that Buggy was too big for the 12" bike we had Beefy try it, and he took off on it right there in the store. It didn't take long to realize that the bike was a much better investment for Beefy.

They love their new rides.

For the Grandparents

The boys have been doing a lot of artwork lately (stupid Seattle rainy weather), and they really wanted to share it with their Grandmas and Grandpas. But rather than put up random photos of their interpretations of modern art I thought I would at least add them into the pictures. Enjoy!

Who Do I Look Like?

We are still trying to figure out who Sister looks like...

Is it brother #1...

Or brother #2...

What do you think?

One Week Stats

We've had Baby Sister in our family for a whole week now. Here's where she stands in the statistics department.

• We took Sister to the Dr. today for a weight check. She came in at 6lbs 9oz. She has gained 5 ounces since we were in on Wednesday, and 7 ounces since she was weighed on Monday at her postpartum check-up. And has officially (today) passed her birth weight of 6lbs 8oz.
  
• When she was measured on Wednesday she was still 19 inches long, hasn't hit an upward growth spurt yet. I'm sure it will happen soon.
• Still in newborn diapers, and probably will be for a while. The kid has no butt (I mean that figuratively of course, not literally).
• Her (very few) newborn size clothes are fitting better, the 0-3 size are still pretty big on her though.
• She is so good. Hardly ever fusses, and eats extremely well. Sleeps pretty well too.
• She is well loved, and very rarely put down.
  

And how are her brothers?

• They've done surprisingly well. They both love her, and Buggy asks to hold her often. He's decided that she is very cute, and that we can keep her (good thing).
  
• Beefy's favorite is watching while I get her dressed, and singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to her. He also has figured out that putting his hat on her is pretty funny (to him at least).
• The behavior problems have come up - as we knew they would - but they haven't been nearly as bad as I imagined them being. Mostly just a slight increase in tantrums, tiredness, and general challenging-ness. All directed towards me of course.

And Mom and Dad?

• My husband is in daddy heaven. She got a lot of his features, just like the boys, and the added bonus of dark hair and the darker skin tone. He is very proud of (as he calls it) his little army of clones.
• Me, I'm doing okay. Physically I feel pretty good. Not hurting much, and healing really well from the looks of things right now. I'm going a little stir crazy without the ability to get out easily and with the lack of adult conversation. I am hoping to be out of the narcotics induced stupor soon though so I can start to ease back in to my normal routine.
• Still kind of tired. Baby Sister is sleeping pretty good, and I am trying to get naps in, but most days I'm still ready to hit the sack when the time comes.
• Along with the really wanting to drive again soon, is the stupid "no lifting" rule that is driving me crazy. I am still following it stringently (I know better than to cheat on that one) but I will be a much more happy camper when I get the okay to at least do my own laundry and vacuuming.
• We have had so much help, that I am very grateful for. I have about a hundred people to thank for things like loading my dishwasher (multiple times), giving my kids rides, bringing us meals, and sharing "helper-aged" kids with me after my husband had to go back to work. I appreciate all of you - you know who you are - and know that if my Thank-you's are late in coming, that I still really mean them. Thanks.

Overall, we're good. And more than anything we are so glad to have her here, safe, and healthy. A year ago we couldn't have imagined being in this kind of a place so soon again and yet here we are.

I couldn't ask for more.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

No matter your current situation, or opinions of this "holiday", I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Maternity Photos

Okay, let me preface this by emphasizing once again that I really don't love having my picture taken. In fact, I think the last time I willingly let someone at just me with a camera, was for my bridal pictures.

With that being said, obviously I don't have any pictures of me being pregnant, with the exception of a few from my baby shower with Buggy, and an unfortunate picture at my best friend's wedding when I was extremely pregnant with Beefy - incidentally, I was not the only subject of any of those pictures.

Anyway, "AM" asked if I would be willing to let her practice some maternity shots. After immediately saying a heartfelt "No", I thought about it a little bit (my first mistake) and then some strange hormonal part of the back of my mind took over and made me think that someday I may regret not having any photos of me pregnant. So I reluctantly let her take a few (umm... more like a lot).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is my journaling device right now. Therefore, you all get to share in the things that I feel like someday I may want to remember. (Oh, Boy!)

So, without further ado - Here I am in all of my 32 week glory.