Brady is 5!

Brady is officially 5! He had a great birthday that started at home with his WWE champion belt. It ended Saturday with a party for him and Max with the cousins. SOO much fun! I wish I could say the school thing is going better, but it is not. Trying to figure that one out. He is very glad to finally be 5. His little brother has adjusted to the terrible twos too well. He has started sticking his tongue out at me when he is unhappy with me. It is so cute I have a hard time keeping a straight face. Lauren has started officially cheering for YMCA football games and loves it. The side effect is that all the cheers get stuck in my head. For some reason the cheers are not as cute when I do them. Go figure. Walker is taking on football with the same drive he approaches every sport. He has made a buddy and he ended up taking Walker to the Airshow this weekend. It was a very memorable experience for him. It was followed up by the age old whining from the other two "how come we never get to do anything special?" Ahh the lesson of "life is not fair" is rearing its ugly head.
So that ends the month of birthdays here!
BTW, there is a picture of Brady's two oldest cousins and their aunt. Cannot believe how tall and grown up they are! Great babysitters too!

Max is Two!

Well, the first boy of August had his birthday on Sunday. He had a blast opening presents and eating cake! He got the traditional underwear to kick off the idea of potty training. He got cars which he LOVES and a cute outfit. Just enough for a two year old. Walker (and I as managing baker) baked him a butterscotch cake (recipe courtesy of Mrs. Wendy Rathje). While we are not really butterscotch people, this cake is yummy and a family hit! We had pizza for dinner which is Max's fave dinner. Walker and Lauren helped wrap presents. They loved putting on a birthday for him. All in all it was a nice day.
Brady will have his on the 25th, but he is running out of patience for it. I do have good news on the Brady front. He went to school today in his shirt that looks like daddy (a long sleeve oxford type shirt Doug got him on clearance at Walmart, on a 90 degree day) and didn't cry AT ALL! What a major improvement from last week! Whew! The catch is that he says he will only go two more days then he is done. We'll see about that.
We also got cards today from grandpa that make music when you open them. What a good idea! The boys loved them!
Here's hoping tomorrow goes as well as today for the drop off!

Back to School!

Well, the three big kids (or shall I include Doug and say 4) started back to school yesterday! Day one went great! Walker and Lauren catch the bus right outside our house. They were nervous but excited and say that they love riding the bus! Then Maxwell and I walk Brady to school. He had an awesome first day! We buttered up each of their teachers with candy and nice notes so hopefully this set them out on a the right foot. They sure were tired when they got home. I made choc chip cookies from scratch (move over Paula Deen!) and they fought it, but all were asleep by 8:45 pm. I do have to say that it feels weird being home with just Maxwell. He did look for his brothers and sister, but enjoyed all my attention. The true test comes tonight as I go back to work for the next four nights. Kids also have practice tonight, so we'll see how they do.
Day 2 was surprisingly rougher. Walker found himself a bus buddy, but Lauren does not have anyone to sit with. Then when she got to school there was some confusion about breakfast and she had a meltdown. I think she got herself together and pulled through the rest of the day. Brady thinks kdg is just too long every day. He wanted me to ask if I could come get him at rest time. He got teary as I dropped him off (not at all like the first day) and begged me to come back and see him. That was pretty rough, but it sounded like all the little kindergartners were having buyers remorse about kdg as there were loud sobs in every classroom as I walked out. I hope he is not mad at me when I pick him up at normal time! We shall see what the rest of the week brings as I work nights, Doug has class Thurs, and 2 kids have practice Thurs. Any volunteers to take a kid to soccer or football practice? Come Saturday we will probably running from game to game, but that's ok with us. Let the fun of fall begin!

The End is Near

Well, we had our ups and downs, but we survived. We are very eager to have Doug come home today. We have definitely missed the "fun" parent. I tried to get out with the kids. We did some shopping and, as you can see, some bike riding. Of course, we swam as well. I feel like we did ok. It is so frustrating how we can be having a pretty good day, my temper intact, then one incident blows it all out of the water. Surprisingly, Maxwell has been the center of the trouble. He is trying to get attention and throwing toys (one hit my nose the other night and I hit the roof), hitting, and jumping on people (knocked me in the head today and knocked me right out of my good mood). Of course, I lose my temper, ruin the good moments we were having and have to sift through the guilt to get back on track. Doug is the balance we have been missing. He can take a hit better than I can or at least see it for what it is, an accident or attention seeking behavior. What can I say, I am a work in progress. When not blowing my stack, I have been feverishly updating baby books. I don't know why I suddenly feel an urgency to do so, but that has been the order of business for my free time. Walker's of course is pretty well done. Lauren's had a good start. Poor Brady and Max I had not even started theirs. It is so hard to believe that Brady will be 5 and Max will 2 next month! These years are just flying by!

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Brady?

So, to get to the nuts and bolts of it, Doug and I are having a hard time deciding what to do with Brady. He turns 5 next month and could technically go to Kindergarten, but would be on the younger side. Next year, our school district is changing the Kindergarten cut off date to late July which would mean that Max, who also has an August B-Day, will be six upon entering Kindergarten. We did not have him do kindergarten round up because we felt pretty sure that he was not ready for kindergarten this year. The preschool I was going to send him to has had a change in staff and I am no longer comfortable in sending him there. So here is the dilemma: A.)Send him to a 4 or 5 day a week preschool that would cost between $150 - $200 dollars a month. B.) Send him to Kindergarten twice (this year at our neighborhood school and next year at Sunny Slope where Doug and the big kids are and this option would not cost us anything.) or C.)Enlighten me with a plausible option. It is a hot debate whenever I talk to people about it. Educators seem to be of the thought that waiting is the best option. I see that and I agree that he does not have the same maturity Walker and Lauren had at the start of Kindergarten. Would he know he did Kindergarten twice if we took that route? I just don't know!
Now that I have that out there, Day Two of life without Doug has been surprisingly good! Thanks to Grandma who spent the night with the kiddos while I worked, they had a good sleep last night and we went swimming today. Me versus four kids was daunting, but I dug deep and found . . . . . . a life jacket for Max so that he would not be so dependent on me in the water! He loved it and we all had a good and exhausting time. Is it wrong that dinner was ready at 4:45 and I would like to put them to bed at 5:00? Unfortunately, I now have kids that tell time, so that trick doesn't work anymore.
BTW- For anyone interested: Doug is getting his masters through Nebraska Wesleyan Univ, and they are visiting Williamsburg, Jamestown and Chesapeake Bay. They flew into Newport News, VA and are staying in Williamsburg. Ironically, I lived in VA from age 5-10, so I was quite jealous when this opportunity arose for Doug. I haven't been back since we moved and I have very fond memories of VA. Hopefully Doug and I can get out there together in the future!

Roughing It!

Doug has decided that he would like to get his Masters and as a result was given the opportunity to visit Virginia as part of his class. He left early this morning. So far, we are surviving. I may have tipped the scales in my favor by starting out this adventure with a trip to Walmart. So, lucky for me, the kids have all been playing away with their new toys. I know this will last a few more hours at best and tomorrow I will be back at square one trying to entertain and keep the blood shed to a minimum. Luckily we have the pool we can go to when all else fails. While I will miss Doug, and the kids have missed him since they woke up at 7 am this morning, I am kinda excited to have this time with them. I say that now but all that may change in a matter of seconds when tempers flair, limit testing is under way and everything becomes everyone else's fault. We have had a good summer and I hope they will look back on this week as a fun time with mom, since typically, I am not the fun parent. As I have for the past seven years, I am going to try not to worry too much about the mess my house is in, but enjoy the quality of the time I am blessed with the opportunity to spend with the kids!

This is the story of a girl . . .

. . . who cried a river and ERASED ALL THE PICTURES ON MY CAMERA! She was so upset that we were upset with her! All to take the lovely photo of herself posted here. Really? She piled on the guilt ("you hate me!" "You want other kids, not me!"). To which I answered, well, if they don't touch my camera, than yes! I do want other kids! JK!!

Otherwise, this week has been one of hellos, goodbyes and turkeys.
Helloooo! No sleep? That would be the result of working overnight four nights in a row! I am currently, two down, two to go. My newest endeavor is to work overnight to allow more daytime with Max and Brady, alleviate childcare costs, and what else? I can't remember, I'm too tired!

Goodbye =( Having to leave a job I truly enjoyed was a lot harder than I thought it would be! My class made me a very cute book and we had a yummy pot luck to send me off. The tough part was leaving as the kids were saying "goodbye". But I did it with almost all of my dignity intact!

Helloo Turkeys! Literally! As I am driving away trying to keep my composure, two turkeys crossed the road in front of me. Was it the fatigue creating a mirage? Was it a sign? Was it bad timing? Was I hungry? I guess I'll never know.

Well, so far the kids are alive and doing well with my job switch! I will count that as a success for right now. Walker has had a great week at school and seems less anxious overall. Lauren is really pushing my buttons with her attention seeking in inappropriate ways, but she is quick to take responsibility and apologize for a hug and kiss from me. Brady is my good guy who cleans up to surprise me! Maxwell, well, I don't know about him. Besides unplugging everything all the time and being a cuddlebug, he is just the 20-month-old master of disaster that he is!

Think I'll try to tire out the boys for a long nap this afternoon!

Life is what happens ....

So life has been happening. We sure have been busy! Walker is 7 going on 40. Lauren is 6 going on 16 and Brady is 4. Then there is Maxwell, my master of disaster. He is now 19 months.
Walker has been doing well. He had an awesome basketball season. He had a great coach and really enjoyed learning more about basketball and playing his little heart out. Whatever becomes of my Walker, he always puts it ALL out there. There is no half-way with him. If he goes for something he GOES for it. On the downside, he has been struggling with what I think are anxiety issues. I hope we can get a handle on it and help him deal with it so it doesn't affect him at school or hinder him in any way.

Lauren is loving kindergarten! That girl was made for school! I hear all about her BFF Kym and all the drama that can happen during the day. She is learning how to read and is really taking off with it. I am amazed at how well she is doing! She also loves her baby brother Max. They are so cute together. She is like his second mom.

Brady. Oh Brady. What a character. You never have to guess with him what he is feeling. He will definitely let you know! He wants to do what his older siblings are doing, but he is also my one who can self-entertain the best. You could give him a rock (and on occasion, I have!) and he can play for quite a while all by himself. He is also starting to show and interest in coloring and writing.

Mr. Maxwell. My baby. Not so much a baby anymore! Oh well. He is my cuddle man. He checks in for a quick hug than explores the trash. He loves to laugh and talk. But boy is he sensitive! When I tell him "no!" his little face falls and he cries and it breaks my heart. No way that boy will ever be able to manipulate me with crocodile tears (right??).

Doug is getting ready to pursue his masters so we are all bracing ourselves for another round of hectic change. Hopefully I will be able to be supportive and keep my sense of humor!