Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail. . .

Well folks, it is Easter! All are napping (except Walker) and this is a good time to let you know how the big day went. First of all, a big THANK YOU to Aunt Tracy who came through this week with some super cute easter presents for the kids! Walker got his first. He got some Wiggles wrist bands (he took them to school the next day, very stylish I must say) and a Spiderman drawing pad with those magic ink markers to color (my favorite kind of coloring utensil since I have a very Avant Garde crayon design throughout the downstairs of the house courtesy of each of my children at some stage of toddlerhood). Lauren got a Barney doll to cuddle which she did right then and there as she was eating her dinner! Brady got the most popular, the Wiggles keyboard! He has to lay on his tummy to play it, what a nut! The kids were over the moon, especially after my boss (Ms. Kelli) bought them each a book from our Scholastic book fair for Easter! You would think that all of the bunny's work was done, but Easter had some good surprises for them! Lauren got a Princess book set with a read along CD (the most expensive of the bunny's gifts, but Daddy bunny said she was worth it, can you tell she's a Daddy's girl?) as well as some flip-flop looking slippers. She is always slower to analyze and realize what she has gotten. She wore the slippers to nap and Daddy has read her two of the books. Brady boy got a board book with some animal sounds which he enjoyed. Walker is always the one to get into the excitement of the holiday. He campaigned hard for a certain DVD from the Easter bunny, so I was a little nervous when the bunny got him something entirely different. The bunny got him one of those old school hopper balls (you know with the handle and you literally bounce yourself crazy). It has Spiderman on it. Wouldn't you know that he has not stopped bouncing all morning? Seriously. He even said he had always wanted one of those (he had no concept of what it was until he laid eyes on it this morning!). Needless to say, it all seemed to go over well. Lauren and I both are festive with purple nail polish and will be ready to go later to Debbie's house for the rest of the festivities. With all that said, it has been a pretty good weekend and we are getting excited for spring to hop back into some outdoor fun!

The Other Side of the Mountain

As you may already know, I am now on the other side of the mountain. I am officially in my 30s. What a thrill. Things look pretty much the same right now, so I guess that's the way it goes. On to the kids:
Walker is loving swim lessons, but looking forward to possibly doing baseball when swimming is done. He has been very philosophical lately and we have had long talks about death, good vs. bad choices and whatnot. Then he turns around and sings a song Lauren likes and substitutes all the words with poop, pee and fart. So, maybe he is not the most mature philosopher.

Lauren- My girl. She is loving the kitty kat her uncle got her for her birthday! She loves to pretend she is me reading books to her animals and babies. She LOVES her Barney videos. She is getting very spontaneous with "I love yous" and hugs which is soooooo sweet. Her new thing is to wipe off my kisses to get me to tickle her. She also likes to pick and choose when she is 3. If she wants to be carried, she is 2. If she wants me to let her do it herself, she is 3.

Brady-My little big boy. He literally is not much smaller than Lauren now. He is getting to the age where he's cute and he knows it. He is in a MAJOR Wiggles phase now. He is also a lover. He loves to lean in for kisses and hugs even with his siblings! But if you tell him "no" he sucks in his lips and starts to pout BIG TIME! He is growing soooo fast!

Well, here are some pictures from school so you can see what they do!

So, I don't like being called a Slacker!

Obviously, I'm a little more motivated to blog lately. Why, I'm not sure except that maybe it is saving lives. Yes, saving lives. You see, typing right now is saving Walker's life. I cannot kill him and type at the same time, so he lives (he is not laying down like he is supposed to, imagine that). Had I blogged yesterday, it would have saved Lauren's life. She got caught drawing on her bedroom wall instead of laying down to sleep (busted!!). Her dad saved her life (SUCKER!). So, that's my new philosophy, blogging saves lives.

Back to what's new, Lauren is now 3!!! She had a bit of a tough time letting go of 2. She's sentimental that way. Unfortunately for her, she was sick on her birthday, so she really did not enjoy it at all. Now that she is back to her normal naughty self (see above paragraph) she is enjoying the spoils of her birthday!

Walker and Brady are doing well. Brady is such a little boy now! He blows his own nose and points to me when he talks, although I have no idea what he is saying. Whatever it is, it is very important! Walker continues his amazing feats in swim lessons. He went off the diving board, and volunteered to be first!

So that's the news for tonight, hope it was enlightening!

Total Slacker

Yes, I am a total slacker with updates. But, since I feel like my head is going to implode and I can't sleep, I thought I would do a brief update.
So that's been the story this week. We have all been sick. Doug came home from school last Friday with whatever this is and is still not 100%. Saturday night, Walker, Lauren and I took turns throwing up all night. It ended in the four of us sleeping on the floor downstairs with a bucket for Walker and Lauren. Brady has had icky diarrhea for most of the week and low grade fevers so he has been staying home with dad. Tonight the poor little guy threw-up in his bed, so I'm not sure what to do with him next. All sickness aside, the kids are super excited for Valentines day! They made out their little cards tonight. Walker of course has Spiderman (no self-respecting 4-year-old would have anything different) and Lauren's are the Disney princesses. Speaking of my spunky little red-head, she turns 3 Sunday! She wants Barney and Princess for her B-day theme. I don't think we're going to do a big party, but (everyone feeling better) the kids really want to see a movie. Then, I'd like to celebrate at home, just the 5 of us. We'll see how it all goes.

I need to try to get Brady to rest, he is snuggling on my lap watching me type, so I should get back to him!

Hope nobody else gets this dastardly ilness!

Until next time!

Yadda, Yadda

You know the drill by now, no news is for the most part good news. Sorry for the lack of pictures this time around. I do have some, but will share later. Anywho, the news on the Goebel front is as follows:
Walker- He is now officially 4. He had a great birthday. The fact that we had to celebrate again with his aunts, uncles and cousins had him convinced he was now 5. I assured him he has 355 more days of being 4. His new one is "How tall am I going to be when I am 5?" He has settled into the school routine. He loves his teacher, which (thank God) is not me. He still has moments when he thinks he belongs on my leg, but they are A LOT less frequent. He has made some buddies too. It is nice to see him develop in a social setting.

Lauren- I am now her teacher. It is like night and day with those two. Walker acted out and was needy when I was with him. She acts out a little bit (more to test me than to get my full attention I think), but she is not near as needy. She plays with her babies, pretends to be the teacher or with her best friend of the day just fine and I can actually do my job!! She is still retaining any and all songs she hears to be practiced only at bedtime when the rest of us are trying to go to sleep. She is also still crazy about books. She pretends to read them to her imaginary class. Most days, she says her best friend is Walker which is kinda cute I think.

Brady- Well, Butch is still as big as ever. He is 27 pounds of stubborn boy. In case you are ever called to babysitting duty in our house take heed:
-He does not like to be changed, clothes, diapers, any of it. He will through himself back and fake a closed head injury just to get you to go away. The key is to turn on a Wiggles video (yes, I have another Wiggles disciple) and do said changing in front of the TV
-He is quite attached to the binky and the blanky. He will frequently hug you with his blanky. If your are getting him up from a nap, he will hand you the blanky so it is with him at all times.
-He must eat what ever everyone else is eating, so no sneaking snacks or he will go back to throwing himself down and faking another closed head injury.
-He signs like a madman. They have taught him at school (to my knowledge he is not deaf or autisic, so don't panic) please, more (I could have done without this one), all done and Thank you.

As for us, we are still married and we still know each other's name which is pretty big most nights (just kidding). We are loving our little family and trying to keep each other sane with humor and love. I have to say, Doug keeps his cool A LOT better than me, so I am learning.

Well, I will post pictures soon!!

Pam

Long Time, No Blog

Nothing earth shattering has been going on, hence the lack of blogs lately. Here's the low down:

Walker is doing better at school. We still have our moments, days, what have you. He has decided that he likes his teacher, not me thank goodness. He does well when I am not around.

Lauren is well, Lauren. She does her thing with her class. As long as she can read and sing songs, she is good to go, well, she needs some time to play babies (she is quite the little mother).

Brady has done well in his class mastering sign language and he is top in his class at meal times (he's a bit of a pig it seems).

Other than your run of the mill sibling rivalry things have been pretty average here.

Oh yeah, Doug and I have commenced our sixth year of marriage. We made it through the first five. We sure squeezed alot into those five years!! We've learned a lot about ourselves and each other and I think we are in a good spot to keep building on our relationship!!

Walker will be 4 on halloween. This should be interesting!!

Until next time!!

No News... Blah, Blah

Well, to say no news is good news is somewhat true. I have learned that it isn't my profound writing that brings people (all two of you) to this blog. Its the pictures of the kids, so I will load up this entry with some. Basically, life has changed for us again. The kids and I went back to school too. We are at Rosewood Academy. Walker and I are in preschool and Lauren and Brady are in their respective age groups. Lauren is loving it except for nap time. She doesn't seem to be comfortable sleeping there. Brady has staked his claim on a lady named Kathy who he hogs and tries to charm with his chubby cheeks and manly growl (truly, he growls). Walker and I have been having a bit more of a struggle adjusting (enter uplifting and constructive comments here JK). So here's the bottom line, Walker and I have the same personality so we tend to clash in a big way and feed off of each other under stress. Yes, I am the adult and I should know how to handle this but I don't. He is seeking my attention by being naughty and like a sucker, I feed right into it. It is so hard to stand by and watch your own kid be naughty and not do anything. We have been having melt downs daily (him, me or both of us). He is also having huge separation anxiety. For example: Today Walker slept in my bed last night, showered with me, went to school with me, went with me on break because he would have disrupted everyone in his class, came home with me and is now watching TV with me. We have literally not spent two whole minutes apart today. Any suggestions????????????? Note the desparation in the number of question marks. He is an adorable little boy and I want to make good memories for him from this experience.

So now you know my latest failures in parenthood. Stay tuned for the next blunder!!!


Explanation of pictures: The first one is of all the grandkids on Doug's side, so my kids and all of their cousins taken back in April. The next one was of Doug in Brady (too cute) and the last I think sums up my sentiment on a bad day (Lauren in one of her not so finest moments). Enjoy!!