It's Been a While...

I am officially a slacker blogger. It is so much faster and easier to read what YOU are up to than to get around to uploading photos and tell you what WE'VE been up to. This is going to be long, but here you go.

1. I am officially a loser soccer mom. I started the season off by getting to the first practice 30 minutes late. I missed a game so I could finish my craft at Super Saturday. Then I flat out missed a practice for no reason other than I forgot. Lost a soccer sock. Fortunately that's the only part of the uniform that doesn't have to be turned in. I guess Nick lost the sock so that doesn't officially go on my personal loser list. Bottom line: I'm not quite ready for three sets of practices and three Saturday games for the next 20 years. But Nick had a great time and has not let go of his trophy since the last game on Saturday. Seriously, the thing is never going to make it into a box in my basement when he goes off to college; I predict it will be completely broken by December.


2. Halloween. I am so glad it's over and we can move onto my favorite holiday. After two church trunk-or-treats, two school parties, two school parades, a very fun friend/neighborhood party and regular old trick-or-treating, I went with Jenny's philosophy this year of just letting the kids pig out and eat until they got sick. It has been quite effective in quickly getting through the stash although my light colored carpet is not happy when they insist on sleeping with their candy and drooling it all over the floor when they wake up and have 10 pieces for breakfast. Gavin alternated between being a cute cow and gorilla, Ryan refused to wear the monkey costume at most of the events due to a strong preference for the too-big dress-up "ree-ow guy" (translation: fireman), and Nick insisted on squeezing into last year's fighter pilot jumpsuit.

3. We've got another climber. Gavin is taking a few steps here and there but not walking, which I was expecting since his brothers were running by now. He turns 1 on Friday and I've been cooking up a storm for his celebration this weekend. I walked into the kitchen today and found this:

4. With as much relief that Halloween is over (or maybe more?!), I am so glad the elections are finally over. I am not an Obama fan, but I came to terms with the fact that a Republican was not going to win this election a long, long time ago. I came close to foregoing my right to vote when we showed up to find a 3 hour line in the morning, but the second time was a charm. The elections were quite the topic amongst kindergartners even. Someone convinced Nick that Obama was okay since he was "only going to raise our taxes a little" until Shawn started taking "just a few" of his beloved Pokeman cards as an object lesson and Nick retracted his position. This morning he woke up and when Shawn told him who won he said "Obama won? Oh no! Not again!"

5. My brain cells have continued to implode. I raced from Nick's parent-teacher conference to my doctors appointment this morning. I am late almost all the time, everywhere I go. Today I was really early. Like a whole day. They were kind enough to see me anyway.

So our lives tick on. I hate the moments when Nick cries or talks back to me, when Ryan starts whacking on people or blatantly disobeying me, and when Gavin wakes up earlier than I'd prefer, but I love these crazy kids more than anything. I love hugs and kisses from the older boys, Gavin snuggling and laying his head on my shoulder, Nick excited to show me his schoolwork when he gets off the bus, Ryan sweetly consoling a sad Nick with his favorite teddy bear, and best of all, wrestling and tickling each other at bedtime and then listening to Nick read books to us before turning out the light.