Visit

One of the best things about travelling to see family is watching the littlest members get a chance to spend time together.  They don't know it now, but soon, they will look back and cherish these little trips...

Guy Time

While we love Amelia, Meggan, and Sophie with all our hearts, every once in a while Everett and I need to break away for a little bit of guy time....

Portrait

Amelia drew her self portrait for school ... if I didn't know better, I would think it was a photograph...

Style

If you don't require the stylist to leave your sunglasses on while you get your hair cut.... you just aren't on Everett's level...

Celebrate

This is how you celebrate a great first week of kindergarten with your dad...

Ballerina

We finally got our pictures back from Amelia's ballet class. While I think they turned out really cute....

I also find this Christmas tree ornament more than a little strange....

The Truth - In Pictures

This is how a day looks around here right now......

Pre-Kindergarten excitement...

Post-Kindergarten coma...

M.I.A.

If I take a few days off from posting, I hear about it. I don't say this to pretend I have a massive readership. I don't. I have no interest in one as this is a personal blog about my children. That said, I have a few spicy readers (read: grandmothers) who like to let me know when I'm slacking. It's almost as if I take the $0.00 I earn on this thing for granted.  The truth is I do generally try to post 5-6 days per week. However, the last few nights Meggan and I have been taking advantage of Amelia's post-Kindergarten pass outs to catch up on movies we never get to watch. So, while I apologize for depriving both grandmas of their daily cute kid fix, it was totally worth it.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

After all these years of struggling to get Amelia to sleep, we finally found the solution....wake her up early, send her to kindergarten, have her meet 15 new friends, put her through a fire drill, have her learn Chinese, let her go to recess multiple times, remove the nap time she has become accustomed to, and then send her to extended day. Apparently, if you do this, she will get belligerent for about 15 minutes at bedtime and then pass out.  

Kindergarten

The first day of kindergarten was a huge success. Amelia had zero hesitation and approached the entire day with excitement and smiles. In an unsubstantiated claim by her, she even got to read a story to the class because she was able to read the first two lines when the teacher asked if anyone could. True or not, I'm proud of her for the way she attacked the day. In fact, she had such a good time that she didn't want to leave when Meggan came to get her.  Now, if we can only repeat this every school day for the next 13 years or so. 

Helper

Everett has decided to sneak into kindergarten tomorrow to make sure his big sister is okay. If his Elmo pull-ups or Woody boots don't give him away, I'm pretty sure his new mustache will provide the intimidating protection Amelia needs.

Meet Your Teacher

Amelia got to meet her Kindergarten teacher today. She also got to see all the great programs her school has to offer. Any day where you meet your teacher, see your school's touch tank, and pet a live owl is a good day.

Teaching

This is what you call a little man who has learned from his father....fresh flowers go a long way....

Tiny Painters

In an effort to show Meggan how much we love her, the kids painted picture frames for her tonight. Amelia did a really good job on her rainbow colored painting while Everett chose to go with brown on brown....and as I noticed tonight in this picture, he also chose to paint a brown spot on the side of our fireplace...

Security

Sophie went absolutely nuts over a couple of deer this morning. It was dark outside, so I went out to see what all the barking, jumping, and general chaos was about. While I give Sophie credit for trying to be a ferocious, protective dog.... if you are doing your best intimidation moves and you can't even get a deer to get up off the ground (left) or stop eating leaves (right), you need to reevaluate your career in the attack dog industry...



The best pic I could get in the dark...

Hibernating

Ev has cycled through many bed partners in his day. Currently, he is onto a tiny black bear that he carries with him everywhere. The other night, he even showed the bear how to fall asleep by closing his eyes and pretending to snore....

Flush

After a long bout of trying to figure out how it goes, Everett finally used the potty like a big boy. I don't write this assuming anyone out there cares about his bathroom habits. I write this as a record of the time Everett either became potty trained or the time Everett falsely got my hopes up before continuing to crap his pants for another 6 months. Only time will tell.

Buckaroo

It's hard not to enjoy your trip to Home Depot when you are going with a rootin' tootin' buckaroo like this guy (and yes, he wore his hat and boots all through the store)....

Artist

Amelia impressed me with her Play Doh skills tonight. We were playing a game where we each would make something and the other person had to guess what it was. First, she came strong out of the gate with her ninja turtle, Michelangelo (complete with purple nun-chucks)...

Then, at the end she was the lead designer (including the idea to use her little toy bird, the eggs, the leaves, and the branch) of this bird nest...

Order

Just in case any of you thought Everett had given up on his love of stacking and organization, he built a train track and parked all his trains for you....

Self Control

It is easy to parent when you can ask your son if he thinks he needs to go to Timeout for being bad and he not only says yes, but he also walks away and puts himself in lockdown without you lifting a finger.... let's just say if I asked Amelia the same question, SHE would be the one lifting a finger...

Best

This morning while walking into school, Everett told Meggan she was "the best mommy ever".  Now, I'm not going to lie, I'm a tiny bit jealous. That said, tonight, he also said "this yogurt the best yogurt ever". So, he might just be going through a "best [insert anything] ever" phase.

Show

I thought I had a celebrity sighting at the store today....


Is that Elmo over there??

Then, I found out it was just Amelia performing an impromptu puppet show...

Jewelry

Amelia and Meggan handcrafted some jewelry tonight. I haven't verified the cut and clarity of the diamond we bought in the Wal Mart craft section, but I'm sure it is a pretty rare gem.  It's gorgeous and has immense sentimental value to me... but if you love it, I'd be willing to part with it for $20,000 (Meggan and Amelia not included).

As Expected

The transition could have gone much better. Amelia cried for about an hour before bedtime and then said the following prayer...

"Dear Jesus, since my mommy and daddy won't let me sleep in their bed, after we say our prayers, please let one of them drive me back to Grandma and Grandpa's house"

Needless to say, we declined her really enticing offer of letting us drive her 5 hours tonight.

The Return

Amelia stayed at her grandparents when we came home from the beach. So, we've had a quiet few days of having only one kid in the house. There were no fights for attention, no arguments over which show we were going to watch, and no complaining about the dinner menu. That said, the house was also missing the beautiful energy of a 5 year-old. It didn't have any of the wild conversations Amelia's mind takes us to. The sweetness of seeing siblings cuddle on the couch was also gone.  I know after a week of Amelia going to bed whenever she wants and sleeping in a bed with someone, tonight is going to be a battle for the ages. However, when she inevitably sneaks into my room and snuggles up to me at midnight, my home will feel complete once again.