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!