Mom, I think I'm going to....

blech..... How many times as a mom have you heard that? Followed quickly by lunch leftovers - in this case macaroni and cheese. Poor little Tate, he was just fine one moment and the next standing beside me telling me he was going to throw up. And then ... well, let's just say the kid has great follow through. I was in the middle of sweeping the floor and on the phone with my sister - I like to multi task. Anyway, Tate had impeccable aim and was able to simultaneously get the floor (right in the middle of the pile I was sweeping), the broom, the garbage can and of course my feet.
Luckily we made it to the bathroom for the next several bouts, this is what he looks like right now... all snuggled up on the couch with his throw up bowl - what a life! It will only get better too, ginger ale and popsicles, ahhhh!

Of all my kids to get sick, it is worst when he gets sick because he can't keep anything down and can't sleep at all, he is continually waking up to purge himself of those little bugs. Looks like it is going to be a much more eventful day that I previously thought. But hey, I was just getting to mop the floor anyway. I'm in the midst of laundry up to my ears, so that shouldn't be a problem. Only I have to apologize to all the kindergarten class that was exposed this morning and then the public library - so sorry, we had no idea!

*** I need to update, we now have all three boys taking turns with the "throw up bowls", Connor has been very successful at hitting his target, Tate has done pretty darn good, and Gage - not sure he knows what a target is. I better get going on some laundry ... for some reason I have a little more to do today.

Blame the Beavers - DAM them!

What is a mom to do? I really love my kids, they love me, we have laughs every day, we enjoy one anothers company, etc. But really, I may have to take a break from a certain 3 year old, we won't name any names. I just can't keep up with him and the ONLY time he gets out of eyesight/earshot is when I am feeding McCall - so pretty much all day everyday! But he is constantly into things he shouldn't be! I am at my wits end. Seriously, do used pull ups belong under the bed and in little cubby holes? Even after he is reminded EVERY day to put them in the garbage?
Last week he kindly defrosted the deep freeze for me, mind you I did not ask him to, nor was I expecting it. He apparently had a cankering for an otter pop while being babysat so he helped himself to the freezer and neglected to shut the door. The next morning, while rushing to get out the door because I was late, I happened upon a giant puddle of melted popsicles, ice cream, seafood, pork chops - shall I go on, or do you get the picture? I was not impressed, as I was already late and now had to empty a freezer and try to rescue what was left behind. By the way, it's true what they say, you should not refreeze meat after it has been thawed - NASTY! But how much meat can you cook for one meal? Grrr - not a great start to a day!
Two days ago said unnamed three year old was told not to wear his swim shorts, as we were not going swimming and his shorts were dirty. Apparently this was a life altering ruling on clothing issues. The melt down was tremendous and I left him in his room to work it out and get redressed. After ten minutes of wailing and weeping he emerged from his little wee room wearing a t-shirt and, of course, swimming shorts. He looked up at me in all honesty and said, "mom, look, my swim shorts just fell right on me!" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, or rant and rave - it is a constant struggle I have with this little man.
Let's move on to today, shall we?
I noticed that his new shoes he got for the summer had two large cuts in them, possibly of the scissor variety. I questioned the perpetrator and asked, "How did this happen to your shoes?" Without hesitation the answer was, "Oh, it was the beavers in the backyard. They chewed them." Then he walked away and continued to play, as if that were indeed the correct answer.
What am I in for? I don't think I can laugh that off and say, what a creative little fella! No, I am afraid for my future.
With that said, I do love you Gage - I mean, unnamed three year old.

Homework

I am going to have to get back into the swing of things for homework with Connor. His homework load has been multiplied by probably 25 in the ALPS program. Seriously, his spelling tests alone are insane, and he has to do 4 projects a week with his spelling words, the easiest being putting them in alphabetical order for the 25 words. Then he gets to choose whether he wants to make a crossword puzzle out of them, find their meanings in the dictionary and write them out, do a word search, write them out one letter at a time (i.e. spell s sp spe spel spell), along with about 10 other choices. It takes quite a bit of time, then add on his nightly reading, math sheets and we can't forget his vocab practice. The words on that are amazing - etymology, concentration, embody, lexicographic - those are the ones Ryan and I can remember. I think I will be going to purchase a dictionary today! Pretty sad when you can't do your 2nd grade child's homework!
He also has a book report coming up - he has to read the book (duh!), and plan out a marketing plan to get the kids in his class excited about reading it, then he gets to give an oral presentation and everything. I'm getting tired just thinking of it all - not to mention I have to read a book about Larry the vegetable so I will know what he is up to. Better get to it! But really, I am excited about this year for him, I can tell he is going to learn a lot and so will I!

The big send off...

Well, both boys went to school together today - the first day of many. They were both up before the alarm clocks, cooperatively got in the shower and dressed, ate all their breakfast and had a few minutes to spare. So I decided to give them the "mom lecture", I am sure you are all familiar with it, I received it many times growing up. I imagine I have tweaked it a bit from what I was told - the main point of my mothers lectures for school went something like this ... "don't do anything to embarrass me!"

I focused on remembering to keep the school/class rules and make sure to choose good friends. Really, that's probably just another way of saying "don't do anything to embarrass me!" So in the middle of my well planned lecture I asked Tate to tell me some of the school rules he remembered - these were his answers:

1. No bringing knives with blades or guns

2. No bringing drugs to school

3. Do not dance on the ice.

The last is particularly important as we are in the middle of the summer here in Utah. I hope he doesn't break that rule today!

I was hoping for the rules of the classroom, i.e. no bullying, raise your hand to talk, listen to the teacher the first time, etc. But at least he won't get arrested if he keeps the rules he can remember, or slip on the ice!

I hope he will be as excited when he gets home today as he was when he left this morning. He didn't even have time to say goodbye to his brother, he was too excited to join his class. Connor ran after him at the school to say goodbye and give him a hug, but Tate was beyond that already.

Gage on the other hand has enjoyed his "alone" time with mom and McCall. He has played quietly and nicely all day and has requested that we play pre-school. So I pulled out the alphabet cards, Memory, and writing materials. Apparently those are not pre-school things - he wants to play Dominoes and watch a movie. I'm afraid he may be disappointed when it is his turn to go to kindergarten. We'll have to work on that.

Time to head out, this 11:18 release time is going to really split up my day!

First day of Kindergarten

I don't know if I have ever seen a little boy so excited to start school. Tate has been planning this day for months! He was especially excited to wear his new school shoes today and get his clothes all picked out. When I asked him what he was going to wear he told me, his new shoes, white socks, white underwear and some shorts. Hmm, interesting combo.
He was thrilled to meet his teacher and do the assessment testing. Every once in awhile he would look up at me and raise his eyebrows and give me the thumbs up. He was so proud of himself and he should have been, he did very well!
We're excited for this new adventure for Tate, he is pretty stoked himself.

2nd Grade!

Watch out 2nd Grade, here comes Connor! He has been so excited to start his first day of school, his clothes were all laid out two days in advance, his back pack ready, lunch box cleaned out and all. The night before he couldn't sleep. He came upstairs every 20 minutes to report that he was too excited to sleep! It paid off, he had a great day and is so excited that two of his friends will be in his new school and one even in the same class room. This will be a great year for our little guy!

Finishing off July!

Somehow July got away from me! I can't believe it is already over, I didn't even finish putting up pictures from the 4th! I need a nanny/assistant. The nanny would be for me to make sure I do the things I am supposed to - shall I take out an ad or will this suffice?
But we did have an enjoyable 4th. We ended with fireworks at Grandma and Grandpas house. The kids loved it, even McCall, she wasn't scared of the big noises or anything a little surprising!