Our secret is out!

So, as I eluded to in my last post, there are many "little" happenings. One will be happening in September! We are very excited for this chance at parenthood yet again, maybe 5th time's a charm? Who knows. We still can't decide if we want to find out what this one will be. We found out for the first three, and kept Max a surprise. I really enjoyed the surprise. Yet, I really want to be able to figure out how to mesh this little person into our family and space. Hmm. I am also excited to see how this one will fit in with all the siblings!
Lauren will be turning 7 this Friday. Where has the time gone? Sometimes if feels like she is just 3. Wait. That's because sometimes she acts like she is just three (definately the whiniest of all my kids). Her front tooth finally fell out. The other one is loose and waiting for a brother to knock it out, I'm sure! She will have two little friends spend the night Friday night (God help me!). She is so excited about that! She has never had a friend spend the night and this is her BFF and her sister (they are two of triplets). From there, its basketball games as usual Saturday and hopefully a low key Sunday.
Lots to think about and reflect on as I have less patience then usual and am in the throws of the first trimester uckiness. I have even less motivation to clean the house. So I force myself to watch Hoarders and then I find the will to clean a room.
Valentines day was great! Doug surprised Lauren and I with roses. She was thrilled to get her own flowers!. The boys got stuffed animals. Topped off with Chinese for dinner, and it was a great day!
These pics are oldies but goodies I am not sure if I have ever posted before.
Till next post!

2012

Clearly, I am not a consistent writer on the happenings of my children. That being said, there are lots of little happenings happening! These pictures are from Christmas. The kids were spoiled rotten by the gifts they received! Thankfully, most relatives got the memo and there were very few toys Mommy had to put together, so there were not fits or cuss words on Christmas! We got this great photo of Doug's mom and 5 of her six kids! Love it! Doug's brother David chooses to live in quiet seclusion from the famiy in Denver. JK. Well, he really does live in Denver, and it really is quieter since he has no kids, but he loves to visit and dote on all of the neices and nephews.
The kids are growing like weeds, uh, I mean, budding into beautiful flowers, uh, I mean they are getting taller, sassier, and smarter. Three out of four can tell time, so the old "Hey its bedtime!" when it's really only 6:15 pm doesn't work any more. One of the aforementioned "happenings" is that we are thinking of sending the kids to a catholic school next year. This will require us to budget, something Doug and I are historically not the greatest at, but we are hoping we can make it work. We think this might be a better fit for our kids at this point. I may also have to look into acquiring a horse and carriage or pray that a second car falls out of the sky to get them to school and Doug to work next year, but we have made one car work this long, perhaps we can make this work too. Walking wouldn't be entirely out of the question, but I do melt when it rains and snow kind of brings me down (pisses me off when people don't shovel and I have to lug my kids through their slush).
We have seen a lot of progress with Walker and his behavior thanks to his therapist and us really trying to be more consistent with him and the other kids. I really think we have turned a corner. He has had very few and very minor incidents this year compared to last year and seems genuinely happy. We do worry about how the change in schools will affect him, but I think we have good support in place to help with the transition.
Lauren is right behind her big brother on everything. She has a front tooth hanging out that is bothering me but she refuses to pull it out. She is also not a fan of the tooth fairy coming in her room at night, so her teeth are left at the kitchen table. She does her own hair, heaven forbid I touch it. She is quite the diva when it comes to fashion, so wearing a uniform next year may break her spirit a bit (or make it easier for Mom to get her ready for school in the morning.) She has done cheerleading and is now taking dance at the Y.
Brady, how does one describe Brady? He is a very sweet and tender hearted boy, except when he is have a fit during a mood swing. He is the first to say "I love you, Mommy" except when he says "I hate you Mommy" when he is throwing a fit. He is very loving towards Max, except when Max takes his toys. He is working as hard as he can in Kindergarten this year. He is a fan of whatever his big brother is a fan of. He is our Brady-Bear, moody, unpredictable, and completely irresistable!
Maxwell, well he is 2-1/2 and has really taking off on talking. Favorite phrases are: "in a wittle bit" when you tell him it is time for bed. "I sorry" when an older sibling comes menacing towards him after he has wronged them some how. "Go way" when I am in his way to get in the fridge. He is my cuddle bug during the day, sucking his thumb and loving on his two favorite "bankies" (blankies).
Kind of a long update, but it has been kind of a long time! We'll see when I get the urge to post again!

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!