Is It Summer Yet?

This is the first year I've really felt the crush of May.  May is when everything wraps up, but not without requiring extra effort compared to normal, when your energy level/enthusiasm has already started to wane.

We have successfully ended Awana, dance, and preschool with appropriate end of the year gifts to all.  (We love all our teachers and are very thankful for them!)

Still left.... 2 weeks of pre-k for Erik and 2 weeks of soccer.  Erik LOVES schools but even said "no fair" regarding lainey being done and not him the other day.  Haha!   I still need to get organized for the end of the school year gifts for his teachers and bus drivers (4 people total).  This stresses me out a bit because I am not creative but want his gifts to be meaningful and memorable if possible.

 (MLG I didn't even think to bring gifts for all the special teachers like you did but think it's an excellent idea, just not sure I'm going to get there myself.)


Anyway, I read this article this morning and it cracked me up!

Especially the lines....

"auditory reading"  Hahaha!

and

I have 5 kids and really only have the energy to properly educate 2 of them

Enjoy the article below....

http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2013/05/30/worst-end-of-school-year-mom-ever

Joy Project: Happy 10th Anniversary Lauren and Seth

This weekend we were invited to 6! different parties.  I think that's more parties than we average over the course of 6 months usually!  So we had to pick and choose (3 out of the 6).

Today to we were able to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of our friends Seth and Lauren.  They happen to be our next door neighbors and as you've heard before a family we are quite fond of!

 Renewing their vows!  

 Best buds!

Oh how I love these sweet boys!

I am so thankful for their wonderful friendship. 

 More of James and Erik

Little brother Tyler also seems to have 

made a place for himself and happily greets

the older two with a hug and enthusiastic "Hello Jedi Master!". 

 Carson and Lainey even joined in the beach fun!

This photo might look warm but it was NOT!

Highs in the upper 50's which is so odd for Maryland at this 

time of year but I am not complaining as the oven will be turned on

soon enough.

 After a yummy dinner of crab and ribs, Seth serenaded

Lauren with a song/spoof.  Haha!  This might seem romantic

but Lauren has somewhat of a phobia of vocal music so while she 

was smiling she was actually thinking she should have had another glass of wine.

Back up dancers!

Seth is aware of her phobia but did it out of fun.

Don't worry, he made up for the spoof by surprising Lauren with a 

10 day trip to Europe (kid free) that they will taking soon!

What an awesome surprise!!

The party was hosted at the beach front property (amazing) where Seth grew up.

I only saw one snake, it was a big, but not a copperhead!

Lainey is deathly afraid to go near the rocks now (snake haven).

Carson spent the rest of the afternoon/evening trying to find another one. Yikes!

We are so so thankful for our fabulous neighbors and friends!

For the list...

199) Celebrating marriage

200) Deep friendships

201) Beautiful scenery

202) Great food

203) Hilarious singing spoof

Oh and if you are curious I did record a snippet of Seth's singing expertise/serenade!

http://youtu.be/9reCNwa4CWM?t=3m25s

For some reason, blogger thinks I have no youtube videos so I can't upload them directly.  

Anyone know why?

Joy Project

I was talking to a friend this morning about parenting.  She said, and I agree, that parenting is both the best and worst thing you can ever do. Ha!  Thankfully, the good way outweighs the bad but it is a very busy, exhausting journey.

That being said, I keep thinking about how lucky I am to experience both the good and bad and can't stop thinking about the poor parents who put their kids on a bus in OK yesterday never to see them alive again.

For that reason, I thought I'd share a few good parenting moments I got to experience today....


195) Carson's second mother -- Lainey really goes out of her way to take care of Carson.  They are best buds but she definitely plays a "mother" role too.  Thankfully, for her sake, he doesn't seem to mind most of the time.

196)  Fun at the playground.  The boys found a stick left behind by the construction workers, instantly the playground is more fun. Ha!  (Video below)

PLayround fun - you tube won't let me upload video so have to click on this link

197) Carson saying his own name.   C's at the start of a word sound like a "T" - cute!

Tarson - Hope this link works


198) This happy little guy!

Notable Moments: Midnight Packing?

Last night Victor heard something and got up to investigate.  It was 4 AM and what do you think he discovered??

Nothing but Lainey and Carson up playing.  Lainey had her suitcase packed full of baby dolls and lightsabers ready to go somewhere!

When I reminded her that she is not to ever wake up her brothers so said, " But I heard Carson crying so I got up to help him."   (I think she was awake before him but she likely did hear him crying as he wakes up sad at night sometimes.)

He certainly was a lot happier once he was released from his room and off on a midnight adventure. Haha!  Those two crack me up!

I am fairly certain they wouldn't have actually left the house but I am glad Victor heard them so we didn't have to find out.

22 Weeks

I have little to report about this pregnancy! 

It's been quite easy.

Only "complaints"....

-heartburn (I get this almost daily already! The only other baby that gave me heartburn was super hairy Erik.) I have been taking Prevacid daily which does help.  With Erik's pregnancy I was afraid to take anything beyond TUMS but spent the last few months barely sleeping.  I'm not interested in repeating that! :)

-Varicose veins (same one, still there, hope it doesn't find any friends)

-Tired  (This isn't actually too bad.  I am ready to be done by 7 PM every night but during the day feel quite normal)

Otherwise I am feeling well...

I am still running 20-24 miles a week.  The pregnancy doesn't seem to hinder the running much yet.  I am hoping to  be able to run until 27 weeks.  We'll see.  I lift weights 2x a week and walk around 2 miles 3-4 days a week. My doctor seemed quite impressed by the running and said I should keep it up as long as I can.

I have gained 6-7 pounds but generally speaking I can still hide the pregnancy unless I have on a tight fighting shirt (see photo below).  I am still wearing all my normal jeans but pulled out maternity shorts since my regular ones would only last another week or so anyway.

I can watch the baby kick and punch and flop around now which I love!  The kids haven't seen it yet as  he seems to be quiet if I lay down and try to show them. :)

It's been a cool spring here and I am SO thankful for that!

We have done nothing to get ready for the baby.  I'm not sure if we will move Carson into Erik's room before the baby gets here or not.  I need to order a new infant car seat as they supposedly expire after 5 years but otherwise we have most baby gear we would need.  Lainey can hardly wait to buy newborn diapers and a few "pajamas" for her new brother. :)

We have a name picked for the baby boy already which is quite shocking as we didn't settle on a name for Carson until we'd met him.  It could still change but for now we have a fairly solid idea.

Hard to believe all three of my kids were born 16 weeks from now.  That doesn't seem very far off!

 21 weeks

(haven't take a photo since then)

Lainey's First Dance Recital!

 My kids are not ones that love to pose for photos.

Oh well!

The recital was cute!

They did one choreographed song, a leaping exercise done individually, and then ended with a third song that was half choreographed but ended with free style dancing.

I was fairly convinced that Lainey would get out on stage and just freeze completely but she didn't!

Yay! 

She did her best to complete the choreographed songs correctly. 

So cute!

She needed the teachers hand in order to have enough courage to do the leaping exercise but participated well in the third song again.  

One little girl in her class wouldn't even go on stage. Poor thing!

It was at a local high school and a formal performance.  The kids were taken backstage, without parents, 30 minutes before the show started.  They didn't see us again for 2 hours.  That's pretty intimidating for a 3 year old!  

The studio we take her to is quite formal.

The teacher for the 3-6 year old kids is really kind and wonderful.

It's extremely organized (both the classes and recital).

It is quite strict though - specific tights, shoes, leotard and hair style (bun) required at 

every class. Yikes!  My bun making skills have improved dramatically over the year. Ha!

I have mixed feelings about this because I want dance to be fun and am afraid the formality of it

will take away from some of the fun.

That being said, I do think it's important to get good, quality training at whatever you participate in and she is getting that at this studio.

So far she seems to like dance.

She'll be in the same class next year (it's for 3-4 year old kids, that turn 4-5 during the year)

and I imagine she will improve drastically in her confidence next year.

The recital today was only for the 3-7 year old kids.

This limits it to just over an hour (yay!).  They did have older kids do two dances though.

I think this was mainly done to show the parents what our kids might be doing in 10 years.

One of the dances was particularly amazing!

Really, really beautiful.

Even Erik seemed captivated by it!

It was a fun day.

I am glad dance it done for now though as

her classes were on saturdays.

Two more soccer games and we will get our Saturdays back 

for the first time since Labor Day. Yay!

Joy Project

187)  A nice trip to California to see Daron last week

188)  Great babysitter who helped out while I was gone so Victor didn't have to take very much time off of work (1/2 day only)

189) Sunny Bike Ride/walk with the kids

Lainey can ride her bike 2 miles without complaining now.

She is quite proud, so am I!

(Not too many 3 year olds can ride their bike without training wheels -thank you stride bike!)

190) Spending time with Victor on his birthday.  He took the day off and came to my OB appointment with me.  We then headed towards downtown DC, stopping at Thomas Jefferson Island to hike a couple of miles, then we ate lunch at Founding Farmers.  (YUM!!)  The fried green tomatoes and roasted sweet potato with praline topping were quite amazing.   Happy Birthday to you, Victor!

191)  Ending the birthday celebration by eating dinner out as a family (we rarely do this and when we do the kids are very excited about it).  As you may have noticed, eating was a theme on Victor's birthday. :)

Happy 41st Birthday dear husband!

Think we'll be any less tired on your 51st birthday?! Ha!

192) An uneventful pregnancy, I am so thankful for the wiggly little boy headed our way.

193) A fun soccer game for Erik today - he played much better today than he has the past few weeks.  Strong kicks and was much more aggressive.  It was a tough game, endurance wise, because they had no subs (it was raining and lots of kids on our team didn't show up), but their team won which was  nice because it'd been a couple weeks since they'd won. :)

194) Sweet little Lainey's first dance recital.  I can't describe how cute 10 little 3-4-5 year old ballerinas are all gussied up and on stage.  More photos to come.

We have lots to be thankful for over here!

What brought you joy today? 

Four reasons why it's great mom's not here for Mother's Day

Let's get right to it.

The first cool part is that I get to take over the blog.

Yes, I know that this "internet" thingy allows you to weblog from anywhere you might have a connection, but it doesn't feel the same unless you are at home posting while wearing bunny slippers, and not visiting your brother Daron, which is where the primary owner of this blog is at the moment.

All you bloggers out there post with furry animals on your feet don't you?  I would, especially if I was living somewhere with a fishing opener like this.

Another reason: it's much easier dragging three kids to the grocery store multiple times because I forgot something needed for Mother's Day.  Why?  Because now we can pile into the van without having to sneak around concealing our surprises for mom, but it still doesn't solve the issue of Giant's car cart only having two steering wheels.

I think the laps around the aisles will be worth it though, because when mom's gone, we get to make something for her that's totally non-caloric and good for you.  Good for you in the I've-been-marooned-on-a-desert-island-for-two-weeks sense or in the I'm-a-grandparent-and-am-happy-to-load-the-grandkids-up-with-sugar-before-I-give-them-back sort of way.

This is what we came up with.

Regarding the picture, we (meaning without mom) don't make cakes very often, so it doesn't have a photogenic side.

Of course, one benefit of mom being gone is spending more time alone with the kids.  Today I caught myself in one of the first "wow, you're really old dad" conversations with Erik, who is currently obsessed with Lego Star Wars, thanks to Grandma Sandy, and his 7-year-old Jedi Master next door.

     Me: Erik, did you know that Star Wars came out even before there was a Wii?

     Erik: (blank)

It's a good thing Erik enjoys school and is learning a lot there, because I don't think my homeschooling would be very effective.

In fact, Erik can write complete sentences on his own now!  Check out this one in the upper left from the Mother's Day 2013 picture we created.

Lainey is pretty expressive in her drawing.  At bottom left is a princess, there is a prince on the right with a crown, and a member of the door family at bottom right.  Though it looks like she's reminding you of an older post by labeling #4 for you as "he," I think she was starting to write Chen, but didn't get  to the rest of the letters.

Carson is a still more of a colorful swoosher at this age, but I think that's pretty fitting for his personality.

The kids have only asked a billion times when mommy is going to be back.  We're looking forward to sharing the cake and picture (and more) with her in a couple days, because this time has been a great reminder of what a fabulous mom we have in our house.

Happy Mother's Day, we love you!

Poison Control

I had to call poison control today.  Why?  Because my 5.5 year old, who recently figured out how to open "kid safe" medicine containers, decided to take approximately 19 of his Singulair tablets this afternoon.   Thankfully, the RN I talked to at poison control acted like this was no big deal and he would have no side effects from it aside from possibly a headache, no need to take him to the ER.  I am so thankful that he didn't break into the tylenol as that could have been catastrophic.

How did this happen??  I keep asking myself that.

Our day was a normal one.  I walked Erik to school and went to the gym for an hour.  A quick shower and then a friend came over for lunch and a playdate.  They left around 1 pm.  I took Lainey and Carson upstairs for naps around 1:15 while Erik started on his homework.

He finished his homework around 1:45 or 2:00 and I let him play Wii for 30 minutes while I checked e-mails/blogs.  Then I read him a couple chapters from Box Car Children and realized I was having trouble staying awake.

Since the other two were napping I told Erik I was going to rest for 45 minutes on the couch and he could play on the computer.  I didn't actually sleep, I don't think, and I was in the same room as Erik.  It was during that 45 minute period though that my apparently bored, curious, naughty 5 year old ate the remaining 19 Singulair tablets (probably around 3 PM).

I didn't realize this until around 4:30 when the kids were in the kitchen for a snack and I was cleaning up.  I went to put the Singulair back in the upper cabinet and suddenly realized they were gone.  I was on the phone with a friend and said I need to go and hung up immediately.

After a minute or two of questioning I confirmed it was Erik who took the meds, made the poison control call, called myself down (amazingly I didn't cry or yell), and then had a lengthy discussion with the kids about the dangers of taking too much medication.

I can't decide if I am more angry at Erik doing something that seems so obviously wrong, relieved that he's okay, or feeling guilty about it happening on my watch.  A combination of them all.  I am so sincerely thankful it wasn't tylenol as that could have killed him.

Parenting is never boring.

Anyone else ever have to call poison control?  (Kristal, calling about vaseline doesn't count!)

Joy Project

181)  One on one time with Carson at the park on Thursday.  My sweet little boy is such a happy little guy.  I pray he never loses his sense of joy!

182)  Antibiotics - Lainey and Carson both had strep throat this week, hoping no one else gets it!


183) Strawberry picking as a family

Carson liked picking the strawberries but most certainly won't eat one!

Can you find Erik in the photo below?

He loves anything that has to do with farming/gardening.

He wanted to pick strawberries up and down every single row!

Victor stayed with him long after the other two (and their mom) lost interest.

184) Friends!  I met two good friends for dinner tonight (Karen and Jenn).  I am thankful for them.  Erik also has a super best friend who happens to be our neighbor and son of my good friend.  We are so thankful to have them next door.  I am seriously already worried about them moving next summer.  Poor Erik will have a broken heart for the first time.

185)  Sweet little baby kicks - can't feel sad when a new little guy is dancing in my belly

186)  Sleep.  There were too many late nights and early mornings last week.  Last night I unexpectedly got 10 hours of sleep (Victor clocked over 9).  That was an awesome blessing!

Soccer and Dance Photos

I may be the only cheap mom on the team but so far I have no bought any soccer or dance photos.  We still go to the team photography sessions but I just can't imagine why I need to spend lots of money on something the kids do when they are 3 and 5, especially when I will have a collection of photos from 4 kids!

Apparently, I am one of the only parents that feels that way though which makes me feel a little guilty.  Lainey was the only kid who didn't have an individual photo taken at dance today.  Oh well!  She is too little to care and wouldn't have smiled anyway.

Here  are some photos I took of the kids most recent activities....

Color Confusion

Woah, have my blog updates been slow.  I'm not sure why!  We have been busy but not a ton busier than normal.  Too bad I can't share my work stories with you!  I'd have lots of humerus updates then.

Instead, I will leave you with a video of Carson demonstrating his color knowledge.  Ha!

Carson does correctly identify pink and orange but the rest are a crap shoot really.  :)