Halloween 2011

Halloween is our second favorite holiday around here (that does not include Joey).  It's definitely mine and I'm trying to brainwash the kids into making it theirs too;)  I think its working!

Here they are on Halloween night, itching to go trick or treating.  Isaac is a Ninja, Jay from Lego Ninjago to be exact.  Georgie is Rapunzel (shockingly she was one of the only Rapunzels we saw all of Halloween...I expected her to one of 100's!)  Juliet was a black widow spider who's costume you can't really see in the pictures.  She was pretty cute:)  and I was a spider web, so we co-ordinated.  I know...cheesy!

 This is Georgie's idea of a pose.  Ha!!

 Isaac put the Ninjago symbol and his name that he drew and cut out all by himself on his back.  And there's Ju-B's black widow mark.

 Our first time decorating our trunk for the trunk or treat.  Isaac was so proud!

When we ran out of candy to hand out, Isaac started handing out his.  I kept telling him he didn't have to do that but he insisted.  "It's stuff I don't like anyway, Mom."  LOL!

 Georgie wasn't giving away ANY of her candy.

 Here's Ruth who always inspires me with her costumes.  She owns Halloween every year!!

 This is Ninja business,

 On a sugar high after the trunk-or-treat, faces painted, full of songs!

 Lookin' spooky....

Here they are with "Spooky Jack" the jack-O-lantern that they carved and

 named earlier that day with Dad.

And this is such a Ju-B face, I had to include it....shock and awe at the black bird perched on our railing.

 With DC and Ruth on Halloween night, ready to knock doors

 Ruth and I stayed on the porch and passed out candy.  

Joey took the kids around the neighborhood.

And this little spider lasted all night trick-or-treating, happy as a clam lapping up 

sucker after sucker all the way.  

Happy Halloween!!

Joey's Tri Weekend

Our 2/3 Iron-Man

Last year, Joey did his first half Iron Man at an event called the RedMan in Oklahoma City.  He was made aware while there that doing a full distance Aqua Bike is also an option at this event.  Baring a hatred for running as he does Joey knew that he had to sieze this oh so rare opportunity and sign himself up.  So here we are, late September one year later for another Tri weekend in Oklahoma City for Joey to do his Full-IronMan-minus-the-run Triathlon.  That's a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike.  Pretty impressive if you ask me!

The kids and I dropped him off at the start around 6:30 am and then headed back to the hotel for some more Z's.  We got back in time to catch him coming out of the water (above) and then we headed back to the hotel for yet another nap and then to do some shopping (TARGET!!).  

Here they are waiting for Daddy to finish up his bike.

Tiger Jump Castle to entertain all the athlete's children...cool!

and done...6 hours later.  

According to him he felt pretty miserable at the end but we couldn't tell it.  I think he was definitely glad to have it over with since it seemed to cause a lot of stress for him these last few weeks.  But we were all so proud.

The next day we headed over to the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum which was a beautiful and touching experience.  This museum is so well done.  If you ever have the chance to see it, please do.  What a tragic tragic event.

The glass chairs, memorializing all who were killed.  168 people, 19 of them children.

They had a kids area there were children are encouraged to write messages in sidewalk chalk.  I love Isaacs!!  So cute;)  If you can't tell, thats a heart with the state of Oklahoma inside and the heart is broken. 

This is Georgie's version of a tiger.  

This was her drawing that she did before she got wind of Isaacs less abstract pictures.  I wish I knew some handwriting analyst that could tell me something about the adult that she'll become by analyzing these bazaar nonsensical drawings that she does ALL the time.  I've never seen a kid draw like this.  Let's just hope its doesn't reveal her to be a mass murderer or something...but that's off topic.  Sorry.

I love this picture of him...shows off his great trademark smile;)

And this is Isaacs second drawing, also very sweet.  It's a hand and each of the fingers "represent something", he told me.

Be Nice

Follow Your Heart

Be Helpful

Care

and lastly,

Have Love

And that about sums up Isaacs heart! 

 Love that boy!

On the outside of the memorial was this chain link fence where people can hang momentos.  There were some tragic things hanging up there.  I was particularly touched by a series of poems that a father wrote to his 24 year old daughter who had died in the bombing.  Her picture was there in the middle of a Christmas wreath.  That had me in tears.  

Anyway, Congrats lover (Joey)!  Thanks for giving cause for a great weekend in "the City"!

xoxo

Juliet: 13 and 14 months old

Juliet:

13 /14 months old

Juliet is getting bigger and 

it's about time for a report;)  Here it is:

Juliet is cute.

Juliet loves having her hair brushed.  I've made a habit of commenting, "Oh so pretty," the whole time I'm brushing her hair.  And she grins from ear to ear.  Every time that she hears the word 'pretty' she pats her chubby little hands over her curls, smiles and looks at me knowingly.  She's taken, lately to brushing her own hair.  She loves to wear shoes mainly, I think, because it makes her feel big like the rest of us. She smiles and waves at everyone that gives her any attention.  She likes people especially when they don't try to pick her up.  Then she gets fussy. 

 Juliet gets into everything.  

Wherever she goes, there's a trail of ransacked cabinets and drawers or empty bottles trailing behind her.  ANd the bad thing is, I encourage it.  If she's entertained than I can get my jobs done.  Empty drawer with contents scattered all over the kitchen?  I'll take it!  Because it beats an empty dinner table;)  In this particular picture I gave her the bowl lined with whipped cream that I had just finished icing a cake with.  She was lovin' that.  I never would have given something like that to Isaac...

 Juliet is LOUD. 

I've never heard a child's voice that carried the way that Ju-b's does.  She yells at us incessantly, particularly at the dinner hour and we don't know quite what to do about it because she's too little to reason with.  She'll squawk at you so loudly and her whole body will stiffen, her face as well, eyeing the goldfish, cookie or water bottle (she loves sport/water bottles...sippy cups get thrown to the floor after about two sips making for a frustrated mommy!!) and when she finally gets what she wants she'll look at you with her adorable little brown eyed face and say, "tank oo".

Juliet says:

"No" (her first word)

"Mam-eh" (mom)

"Dadde"

"Tank-oo" (thank you)...

strangely this was honestly her fourth words!!  So cute!!

"Na-na" (banana)

"Baby"

"Hi"

"Ni-Ni" (night night)

"bye bye"

Juliet loves her bed.

Juliet is still taking two naps.  And she needs every one.  When I tell Ju-B that it's time to go "Ni-Ni", she smiles and says "Ni-Ni" in this peaceful, soft, almost breathy voice.  As soon as I walk her into her room after telling her its time for ni-ni she insists on being given her paci.  If that doesn't happen she yells at me.  I tell her to talk quietly and she yells at me again.  I make her say please in sign language and then I give it to her.  What else should I do?  (that is not a rhetorical question.  If you have any advice, please give it to me.)  At bedtime (not nap time) we're trying to make a habit of having her give kisses to everyone before she goes to sleep.  She LOVES that and Isaac and Georgie love it too.  She says "ni-ni" to everyone and then opens her mouth just a tiny bit for a kiss. (I love that!!)  We go into her room, promptly give her the paci and then she chooses a book from her shelf.  She LOVES to be read a story at any time of day.  I would say books are her most used toy.  After a story, 9 times out of 10 the routine goes like this:  I try to rock her and she resists, arches her back, yells at me, or whatever so I put her in her bed, hand her her baby, tuck her blankey around her and she smiles from ear to ear.  Sometimes she giggles.  Once I saw her roll over on her tummy, giggle and stroke her sheets.  She was in pure heaven.  Then I walk out, close the door and she promptly starts yelling at me.  She wants to have her cake and eat it too;)  But I'm not falling for that business;)

We love you, Ju-B!! 

xoxo

Soccer Begins!

Isaac ♥'s Soccer

Soccer season began on Saturday.  Isaac was REALLY excited!  Every season, at every game I tell myself, "I'll bring the camera next time."  And then I never do.  So this may be the only shots we get all year...and that's cool too.  But I had to document Isaac doing his "thing".   This sport is really growing on him.

 Joey is his assistant coach this year which Isaac was pretty excited about.  He did a marvelous job the first game, if I don't say so myself;)  He was so patient and enthusiastic with all the kids.  I think  this coaching thing is going to take;)

 After many failed attempts at getting some "in action" shots, Ju-B quickly became the center of my cameras eye;)  Look at that face:

 How could she not!!

 She loves her big brother (sometimes more than others).

In this particular moment Isaac had just scored 2 goals and stopped by to visit us during a water brake.  He was feeling pretty confident and she was really loving him.  She looked so content, perched there on his shoulder!  Happy Soccer season, Isaac!  
We'll be cheering for you!

xoxo

mom

Isaac's two wishes

On Isaac's second day of 2nd grade, his teacher had the students fill out a worksheet based on the number 2. Two of their favorite things, matching pairs of words, etc. The last page of the worksheet asked what his two wishes would be. Here are Isaac's (plus a drawing):

I came home from work and saw this sitting on the dining room table. I don't know why, but I found it hilarious! I didn't think that we had ever talked to Isaac about "world peace," so I asked him about it. Apparently his teacher had mentioned it, so we had a good talk about what it means and why one would wish for it. And the "More LEGOS." just makes it. That is classic Isaac, right there. At least he has his priorities straight. Love you, buddy.

The First Day of School

Today, August 16, 2011

Georgie started 

KINDERGARTEN:

and

Isaac began

SECOND GRADE:

The overall mood was one of anticipation. 

 Isaac woke up saying he was excited and added later, as we pulled up to school, 

that he was a little bit nervous.  

Georgie never really seemed sad or scared.  She took it all in stride.  She was just fine when I left her in line outside of the school.  See that cute smile?!

Juliet ran back to say goodbye to her.  It was pretty cute!

Our cute little Kindergartner! (Gaga wanted to see her full outfit, i.e., the belt;)

After seeing Georgie off we moved on to get Isaac to class.  

He was so cute walking down the hall, saying hi to all his classmates from last year.  We've really been working on being friendly and I was glad to see his effort!

After about 2 minutes in the classroom he totally forgot about me standing over at the door.  I couldn't even get his attention to say goodbye.
He was ready!

At the end of the day Isaac came home feeling like it had been a good day.  He said he worked hard at making new friends in his new class by joking around with the other kids and splashing two of them with water in the bathroom.  One of the two kids didn't think it was funny and he got tattled on.  "But I was just teasing him to make a new friend.  That's what you told me to do Mom."  He's right, I did.  My bad.  I told him that we should change the word from teasing to 'Joking around with'...that word is a better description of how to make a new friend.

Georgie didn't have too much to say.  I think she was tired.  I pestered her with questions but I could tell she didn't feel like talking.  A few hours later she opened up to me a little bit more.  She played with Samantha on the playground and she told me that at the end of recess she noticed that a little girl from her class, Avery, was playing alone so she went and asked her to play with them.  She told Gaga that the only disappointing thing about the day was that she didn't get any homework!  She also told me that some of the kids' moms work at Sunset and it made her sad that they got to see their moms at school and she did not.  I'm find with that sadness;)  She loves me;)

We are so excited about both of the teachers the kids got this year.  Both of them have been teacher of the year a few times and Georgie's teacher is the same one that Isaac had in Kindergarten, Mrs. Madl, and we loved her.  Mrs. Richeson, Isaacs teacher is a bundle of energy who steps out of the box with her approach to teaching.  We feel really lucky to have them both!  It's going to be a great year!

xoxo

An Epic Summer Day

While our neighbors were out of town this summer they invited us to use their trampoline in exchange for watering their back yard.  Since we've always wished we had a trampoline, this was not at all a problem for us!  In fact, it was an opportunity!  The kids absolutely loved running across the street, hopping over their fence and setting up the hose on top or underneath the tramp for hours of jumping fun in 100+ degree heat.  

As a Mom in the summer time with big kids, a baby and a home to take care of, nurture, entertain, teach, clean, feed, discipline, etc. I often find myself mourning the fact that I don't have more time for FUN with my kids.   I resent having to getting angry with them and I feel guilty about the fact that sometimes, when I do have a minute to spare I'd rather spend it alone than with little people that have been all up in my personal space all day long.  The role I play seems to be too much of, "stop this, do that, no!, clean up, go to time out, no TV for a week" and on and on and on!!  One Saturday morning after a run I suggested that the kids go jump on the trampoline and as always, they asked me to come with them.  Hmmm...well... Juliet was sleeping, Joey was doing the laundry, I was already hot and sweaty and we weren't having anyone over for dinner that night so...why not!  So I went.  I'm so glad I did.  I wish their had been a video camera in the sky somewhere that no one in the world could watch but the kids and I someday in the future.  We laughed so hard that we couldn't catch our breath.  I was being a complete loony person out there, all of us scantily clothed, drenched with water and squinting from the bright sun.    

 We came up with characters on wierd whims like "Wild Nellie" and "Crazy Bill" and we played those parts, shooting each other with water and slipping all over the place.  It's hard to explain and best for our image as sane people that I not explain it in much detail...but it was pretty epic.  The kids kept saying to me over and over again, "This is so fun, Mom!  We're having so much fun together;)"  I kept thinking to myself, "I hope I always remember what this feels like, right now and I hope that they remember me....like this."  I hope that when I'm frustrated or angry over the course of the next year that this fun time we're having together will carry over and soften their little hearts toward understanding and forgiveness.  I hope this epic summer day carries on.  

The dual role that I have to play as a Mom, both disciplinarian, teacher, and example of so many things while simultaneously being a joyous influence in the home and trying to make our house a peaceful place for my family to be has been tricky for me.  I've always hated putting people out, asking for help, or demanding a lot of sacrifice from my friends.  The same has applied to my children as well.  I do it...but I always feel torn up inside about it.  I feel this pressure to always keep my cool, never upset them and make sure that everyone is always happy!  I want so much for them to like me!  I think the view I had in the beginning of my adult life of what I would be like as a mother was unrealistic.  I didn't think I would ever have to be the bad guy.  I believe strongly in giving kids boundaries, a lot of responsibility and allowing (or instigating;) natural consequences to occur as a result of their behavior.  But I didn't take into account how regularly I would feel grumpy, how strong their individual personalities would be or how much kids don't understand about the world and why they have to learn certain lessons.  I remember my Mom saying, "You're can't be your kids best friend."  I'm still working on really accepting that part of my job and its fun experiences like this one, actually, that help me to see that both can be done and both are equally important. 

 It's about finding that balance and accepting that there has to be both sides.   For me, as I accept that, the more gracefully I handle those tricky, grumpy situations because I don't feel the pressure to be or keep everyone "happy".  It's just not realistic.

There has to be both the wise, sometimes stern, teaching Mom that you respect and the friend Mom that you can let your guard down with from time to time.  

It's a tough job but somebody has to do it...I'm glad its me.  Isaac, Georgie and Juliet are like little Zen masters, enlarging me every single day.  And that's what its all about! 

xoxo