Why I didn't send Jacob to preschool this year...

In the car today:
"Mom, I'll still love you even when I'm all grown up".
"Thanks Buddy, I'll still love you too".
"Maybe I just won't grow up mom, I'll just stay little forever".
"I wish you could Jake but everybody has to grow up".
"Okay, well... I'll grow up but still live in your house mom".
"I would love that Jake, but you might want your own house someday"
"Okay mom, well...I'll just build one next to your house".
"That is a great idea son".

Now that this is in print...can I hold him to it one day?

He's such a sweet boy I wanted him at home with me one more year. Emma had two years of preschool and to tell you the truth I thought it was a waste. I think it was a great socializing outlet for Emma who NEEDS constant stimulation and activity, but she didn't learn anything more with two years of preschool than she would have with one. Jacob is so tender and easygoing, (thankfully he is past that stint of 3 year old naughtiness he had) that I just wanted him home one more year with me before he's thrown into the big ugly world. (okay a little bit of exaggeration there but you get my drift) . Am I crazy?

Road Trippin Part II

(See part I for details)
I used to swing up and down these flag poles when I was a little girl while my grandparents square danced at the town square. I had to teach the kids how to do it.

Eating Ice Cream at the the Parlor I used to eat at growing up.

Sitting on Grandpa's Tractor

We drove to Flagstaff to go to an Indian Museum. This is Jacob and my grandpa outside the museum overlooking the canyon.

Grandma and Emma at the museum

On the way home from the museum we stopped at a fire station that was having an open house. Jacob got to sit in the fire truck. I think that was a bigger highlight for him than the museum.

Emma at the lake.

The sunrise driving home. Good by Arizona.

Road Trippin

I haven't posted any pictures lately with the move and all. The weekend before we moved I took a road trip with the kids to visit my grandparents in Arizona. I was a little stressed about going because I had so much to do still for the move, and it was a short trip, but we had such a great time!

They live in a small town in the middle of nowhere and it was so quiet and relaxing there. Living in a big metropolitan area, I forget how nice it is to go somewhere very slow paced and quiet. Growing up, I spent the summers at my grandparents house. My brothers and sisters thought I was crazy because it was "boring" there but I thought it was absolutely wonderful. It was so quiet ( I LOOOVE QUIET), there was no little brothers and sisters getting into my stuff, and of course, I was the center of attention. (something you don't often get in a family of 7 kids). Don't get me wrong, I love growing up in a big family and love it even more now that we are all grown. But having my summers all to myself was fabulous.

Anyway, when I went back this summer with the kids it reminded me how much I cherished those summers with my grandparents and what wonderful memor ies I have there. My life was in such a stressful state with the move and all that it was just the weekend away I need to catch my breath and relax a little bit. Here are some pics from our trip.

This first sequence I had to post all four pictures that led up to actually getting "the picture". My grandpa was taking the pictures and just kept snapping while I was trying to get everyone lined up. When I looked at the pictures I just laughed because it shows how difficult it is to get 3 kids to look at the camera at the same time! This was at a beautiful little lake where the kids had a great time throwing rocks in the water and wading.

Emma took a picture of my grandparents and I. She's quite the photographer these days.

Words

I have some great pictures I want to post - Emma's first day of school, the house etc. But until I find my card reader - I can't upload them. Soon though, I promise! In the meantime here are some of the cute things my kids have said:

Emma: Today I finally finished her room except painting which is down the road a bit. I hung a canopy over her bed and when she walked in her room she exclaimed: "oh mother, it's so beautiful...I, I, I just don't know what to say". (yes she emphasized the stuttered I, I, I for effect) it was obviously a line right out of a movie - I'm not sure which princess she was copying but she used kind of a Snow White/Barbie accent. It was hilarious.

Jacob: After guzzling down the requested glass of milk he handed me back the cup and said "thanks mom, that was so refreshing".

Ben: His FAVORITE new word is the dreaded: "MINE, MINE, MINE"! I remember when Emma started saying this I was absolutely mortified that she learned this word so early on and seemed to use it frequently while playing with playmates. Now by the third child, (I shouldn't admit it) but I find it quite humorous when I'm pulling Ben away from the drawer of kitchen knives or taking the ballpoint pen out of his mouth that he starts yelling "mine! mine!" The benefit of being third child.

I am so amazed at how quickly Ben learns things! The other night Emma and I were saying her bedtime prayers and Ben was wandering around the room. After Emma finished her prayer we looked up and there was Ben standing there with his arms folded. It was sooo cute. I've never even taught him that - he's learned by watching us and now always folds his arms when we start to pray. He seems to do so much more than the other kids did at his age, simply because he is doing the same things they are doing at 5 and 3 - only he is 15 months old! He wants to be wherever they are at and doing whatever they are doing. He also says: please (mease, mease) thank you (tank tu), food (fu), drink (dwink) and lots of other cute little words. He can kick a soccer ball around like no other 15 month I've ever seen! It's so fun to watch him grow and learn. I love being a mom.

Down on the Farm

Five hours and two huge bags of kettle corn later, I loaded my filthy kids in the car and tried to decide whether or not it was worth waking them up for a bath as they sacked out on the way home. The first Monday of the Cox Farms Fall Festival is definitely our new tradition - it was so empty, it felt like we'd rented the whole place out for our private party! (If you know my husband, he will tell you all about my crowd-phobia I developed after becoming a SAHM - I admit it, I am a daytime snob when it comes to traffic and crowds). We had the best afternoon with lots of friends and acres of fun. You can tell from the photos who I hung out with all afternoon since Nick was running around with his buddies. Gavin did go on some slides with me and the hayride, but was very content to sit in his stroller with unlimited cider and apples to gnaw on.

Watch out Virginia....

here come the smear ads! The one thing I despise the most about campaign season is all of the ridiculous commercials from both sides trying to smear the other side. It happens every election yet somehow the media always acts so surprised when the mud slinging starts happening. Cracks me up. Anyway, it looks like they are headed your way Virginia so be prepared. I'm sure you'll see lots of fun ads over the next month and a half until election day.

I don't really want to get into a political discussion but I have to say I have been so intrigued by this election I felt I just had to talk about it a little bit. I'll admit I'm not a politically savvy person. I do try to do my civic duty by being informed on issues and voting at election time. But honestly, the political rhetoric and mudslinging just gets on my nerves and I try to stay away from it. This is the first election in a long time where I can remember being so interested in the candidates and feeling like there is so much at stake.

When I first started listening to Barack Obama, I have to admit I was somewhat interested...even though I do consider myself as a conservative republican. I thought maybe he would bring around the change we needed. However, the more I've listened to him and more importantly learned where he stands on the issues, the more I've realized he is not the candidate for me. I'm not suggesting to anyone how they should vote - just sharing my opinion. And, if you are a conservative and you have been swayed by him to maybe vote different this time around - all I'm saying is make sure you know where he stands on the issues - especially with marriage and taxes! I think it's more important now than ever to really understand where each candidate falls on the policies that are important to you and make sure you vote accordingly.

So, I'm finding myself back on my own party lines with McCain and Palin who I do think will make a great team. I do have to say one thing about Sarah Palin though - I've watched basically everything I can on her - tried to learn what she's all about and where she stands on the issues. I do like her, but I just get this gut feeling about her that goes along with the saying - "if something looks too good to be true than it probably is". I don't know why I have this reaction to her and I am voting for the Republican ticket. I just have a feeling that down the road things will happen or come out that will change how we look at her. I feel like the media and the democrats are just trying to tear her apart right now so I do feel bad for her on that front.

Anyway, that's my take on things. I like the Republican ticket this time because I just think they will be willing to cross party lines to really shake things up in Washington and get stuff done. Even though they do have very conservative views (which I don't mind because I do too), I feel like they aren't trying to impose those views on others but more willing to work on issues that will help the better good of the nation which is what we really need right now.

So please feel free to share your take on this election. I'm really interested to hear what other people have to say and if you are finding this election as intriguing as I am. And please, let's everyone respect each other's opinions. That's what's great about our nation - we are free to think and vote however we want.

Family Fun

We are loving 9am church vs. the 1pm schedule we had before the move, it is nice to have the whole afternoon to do stuff together as a family since we get so little time during the week. This afternoon we check out a free walking tour of the monuments downtown and learned lots of new info for our annual Memorial Day night tour of the monuments with friends (watch out NY Nelsons, Shawn has got a whole new script for you!) It was such a gorgeous day, and even though the boys were whining or torturing each other most of the time, it was definitely worth it. We continued with the history theme as we joined Grandma and Grandpa for Mt. Vernon's Annual Friends & Family dinner on the lawn (thank you!). It is so fun to enjoy dinner overlooking the water, listening to the band and walking through the mansion lit by candlelight. The highlights for the boys were the tables of all-you-can-eat-cookies and a horse-drawn wagon ride with grandma! I loved growing up in this area and I love that my boys get to have these types of experiences too. I'd be dreading the end of the weekend and a laundry-filled Monday except for that we are spending the whole afternoon at Cox Farms, another NOVA favorite of mine!! If you're a Cox Farms fan, be sure to sign up as a member on their website to get discounts for September admissions and free hot dogs after 12noon to go with the free apples and cider!

Redeeming Qualities

My Ryan probably gets the short end of the stick when it comes to praise on this blog, which largely mentions him as the instigator of all things troublesome and destructive. He really does have so many redeeming qualities, which is God's way of making sure his mother still loves him. I realized what a good kid he really is as I filled out paperwork for preschool, which had a list of words to choose ones that best described him. Of those words, I determined that Ryan is NOT unhappy, tempermental, possessive, belligerent, or a big tantrum thrower (I think big brother inherited all the tantrum genes Mom had to offer). The words I did circle included happy, inquisitive, easy-going, a good sharer ("good" does not equal "perfect"), and a great sleeper. Even though I've threatened to sell him on Craigslist, I really am so proud of Ryan and I love and appreciate the tender little heart underneath his rough-and-tumble zest for life.

Ryan's Big Day

I had Ryan signed up at our preschool and then opted out of our spot at the last minute when we were in the moving process. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was a terrible decision that I regretted almost immediately. Pretty much every friend he has is in school this year so he was getting about zero socialization and I felt so bad for the kid. After calling the director to put him on the wait list last week, I prayed and prayed that a spot would open up and whala! The little boy who took his spot ended up not being ready for school and Ryan got to start today, only missing the first four days. He has asked me every day when he gets to go to school like Nick and his buddies, so when I told him the news he jumped up and down yelling "YEAH! School! Whoo-hoo!" and immediately grabbed his lunch box and packed himself a lunch of granola bars, peanut butter crackers, wheat thins and a juice box. He was thrilled to arrive at the Panda classroom where big brother started his school adventures a few years ago and had a great first day. Here is my little monkey on his way out the door:

He immediately turned around for the "backpack shot" he observed me taking of Nick on the first day of kindergarten:

But he couldn't quite get the concept of showing me his backpack AND turning his head toward the camera. Nick stepped in to show him the ropes.

Okay so he's almost got it...

Here he is with Mrs. Brown, who was also the assistant for Nick when he started preschool. Ryan is lucky to have her too!

Can't wait for tomorrow!!

Finding my Happy Place

I don't have anything to complain about. I really, really don't. I have a healthy, and usually happy family. I have a new - much bigger than the old- house with a pool and nice yard. I live in the most abundantly blessed country in the world. I really don't have anything to complain about.

However, for the past 2 months I feel like I've been really stressed and really grumpy. Buying a house and moving is just so stressful - even when it's a happy move. I feel like I've let it get the best of me and I need to make a change - not only for myself but for my kids. I can tell my grumpiness has worn off on them and it's just an ugly vicious cycle.

Last week I came down with a horrrrrrible flu. I was knocked flat for a few days (well, as much as a mom with 3 kids,and a husband in tax season, and a house needing lots of unpacking and TLC can be knocked flat). This weekend when I finally got some extra sleep I started to feel a little better and I realized I needed to make some changes in my life.

I need to find my Happy Place and stick with it! Stop letting the little things get me down. Stop letting the house needs, the kid needs, the husband needs and every other kind of needs get me down. Slow down, just breathe, and enjoy. I haven't been doing enough of that. I haven't enjoyed my new house really at all because I've been focusing on the negatives about it. I knew the negatives were here before I bought it but I want them all fixed like - yesterday. So today I took a look around my place - even in the state it's in - and just felt so blessed to have a beautiful home with such potential.

I haven't been enjoying my kids because I've been focusing on the negative behaviors, which as moms we all know just somehow brings out more negative behaviors! When I slow down and enjoy the fun and exciting things I love about being a mom - it's so much better! So the last couple of days I've been reading a ton to them. Slowing down with them , listening to what they have to say, snuggling a little bit more and punishing a little bit less.

I haven't been enjoying my husband much because I do have the uncanny knack for looking at the bad behaviors in my husband and trying to fix them instead of focusing on his good qualities. Does anyone else do this or is it just me? I'm really good at finding the moat in my husbands eye. The other day I was watching him playing with the kids and thought to myself - "man, he is handsome " and remembering all the things I love him for. That felt really good. I need to work on more of that and less of the negativity. One of my favorite stories about marriage is here.

Anyway, it was the pits to be sick but I think I needed it so I could remember how good it feels to be well. Sometimes you forget how good you have it until a little bit of it gets taken away. It gave me time to slow down, think, and reassess myself and where I'm at. I'm at my Happy Place now and I want to stay here!

Still Catching Up

What have we been up to besides searching for my camera battery charger.... well, before the big move we had one last (sniff sniff) family birthday celebration in our first home. Here's Nick blowing out the candles on his Lightning McQueen racing cake:

No photos of the move. Why would I ever want to remember that with pictures, I don't know, but I do remember all of the many people who helped us move and the wonderful, wonderful grandparents who helped with cleaning, painting and kid-watching. I am certain I would not have survived this move without them. Did I mention the meals and food several people brought us too? I'm pretty sure we would have starved to death had those food-angels not shown up at our door since we were simultaneously trying to move into a new house and prepare our townhouse for renters in a two-day time frame. I hope I get many opportunities to reciprocate the service we received. We lived a few days in a post-bomb scene, but time kept ticking and I found myself at the corner bus-stop sending of Nick to his first day of kindergarten:

Waiting for the bus, check out Gavin hanging out on the pole in the background.

We still need to order carpet for the basement, which will be the kid's domain, but Grandma Dub saved the day with her awesome moonbounce when we hosted our babysitting swap right after moving in. One of the advantages of having completely empty dining and living rooms is that the living room has now been renamed "the moonbounce room".

Then we decided to take a break from moving related activities and went hiking. The boys had a blast up White Oak Canyon in the Shenandoahs, particularly playing in the water.

All three boys (and mom) slept the whole way home.

And now, to make sure this is the longest blog post ever, we move to our first season of soccer. I hesitated to throw Nick into what can be an extremely serious, competetive environment here in NOVA, but he is so cute in his little cleats and shin-guards and has so much FUN that it has been worth giving up the first six of probably a minimum on 1,000 Saturdays over the next 20 years to sporting events. As previously mentioned, I can't find my battery charger, but I have five more games to capture some photographic proof of his first season. In lieu of photos, here are my two favorite Nick-isms on soccer:

1. After encouragement from the coach to work as a team at the first practice, Nick passed the ball to a teammate, stopped in his tracks and jumped up and down with his arms in the air yelling "GO GO GO whatever your name is!!"

2. Squirming in excitement on the sidelines as we waiting for the first game to start, he says "I can't wait, I just can't WAIT to get in the mix!"

Soccer photos and photos of RYAN's first day of school to come!

Chili From a Can

Now that we're finally settled, I decided to put my new kitchen to work tonight and baked some chocolate chip cookies and the world's BEST coconut banana bread with lime glaze (sorry grandma, but I just retired your recipe for this one). I'm not much of a baker on a regular basis, usually just around the holidays, but it was relaxing tonight to work on something other than the house. Anyway it's almost midnight and as I was washing my dishes, I was thinking about the discovery my college roommate and I made sometime during our sophomore year. I think she was hunting for some chili in a can for dinner, which was the first time I had ever heard of chili in a can after growing up with my mom-the-gourmet-cook. She was equally shocked, having grown up on get-your-own-cold cereal-for-dinner, that anyone actually made their own chili. While I don't have the time for full-blown gourmet cooking right now, I am definitely looking forward to fall and homemade chili soon!

Checking In

I am still alive if you were wondering, just getting my head out of boxes. I need to post photos to record Nick's first day of kindergarten sometime, but pausing to reflect on the tragedy of 9/11, I wanted to post an article the Washington Post printed this week about my HS friend's father and some of the good that has come into their lives since that horrible day.

Nie Recovery Fund

I'm sure many of you have read about the Nielson family of Arizona. If not read here:

Nie Nie Dialogues

It is a heart wrenching story but at the same time heart warming to see a community (blogging community) come together and support a wonderful family. I've added a button to the sidebar if you would like to donate to the Nielson family. You can read updates at her sisters blog - it truly is an amazing story and I have been praying for the Nielson's since I read about their tragedy.

The good times and the bad...

Moving has been quite an experience this time around. We've had some good times and some not so good times. Here's the breakdown:

Good times:

• Being able to unpack things into a cupboard without craming them in, and still having extra space left over. It's so nice having more space!!
• Being able to stand in my bedroom and not hearing anyone else in the house!
• The willingness of friends and family to help - our first week here it felt like 2 steps forward and 5 steps back every day! Then my mom came to visit for a week and Dave's parents came up on Saturday and with all of us here we really got a lot done.
  
• The pool, the pool, the pool....I know it's probably going to be expensive to run - time will tell...but the kids LOVE it! As do Dave and I. It's so nice to go in the backyard and jump in or have friends over for lunch and swimming. I see lots of years of use coming from that pool!
• Listening to the boys all taking a shower together in our gargantuan Master Bath shower ( a little too big actually) but it was fun to hear Dave, Jacob, and Ben playing in the shower while I laid in bed.
  
• Our neighbors are fantastic! They've all brought over cookies, little maps of the cul-de-sac and who lives where. They are very excited to have a young family move in.

Not so good times:

• Unpacking...ugh, it's going so slow.
• Unpacking with three kids running around pulling things out of boxes. Finding my spatula in a bedroom somewhere and band aids scattered all over the house.
• Flooding in our hallway, bathrooms, laundry room, dining room kitchen and family room. Three days of carpet pulled up all over the house and fans blowing. Sometimes white noise can get annoying.
• Dealing with plumbers, electricians, pool people, handyman, ac company etc. It seems every time someone comes to fix something another thing breaks. The electrician came to fix a few wiring problems we knew about before moving in and now my pool equipment and ovens don't work...thank goodness for the home warranty.
• My bones....oh my aching bones. I guess I'm getting old.
• Wanting everything you want done to your house done like yesterday, but knowing it's not going to be done for a looong time. We've bought somewhat of a "project" and I just have to be patient. But it's hard.
  

Favorite Trader Joe's Pizza

1 pkg TJ whole wheat pizza dough
1 container TJ Pico de Gallo sauce
1 Pkg TJ low fat shredded Mexican Cheese blend
1 can sliced olives

Let pizza dough rise and roll out according to directions
Spread entire can of Pico de Gallo over the pizza dough, top with cheese and olives. Bake according to pizza dough directions. Yum, Yum!