Date night

Mark and I got to go out one night and since it is such an event and I thought we looked nice I figured why not take a picture. Here we are.

Of course Caleb wanted in on the photo action too. How could I resist??

So Cute!

Team work

Talk about team work. These kids really know how to work together to get into stuff. The bathroom drawer is one of the hot spots that they love to hit. Here Cohen was using Cecilia to get up higher unfortunately she could only stand it for so long.

Blankie babies - Aug

Caleb has always loved the blankies that my mom has made for him and still has what we like to refer to as a yarn rag. When I was pregnant with the babies I of course wanted a hand made blanket from grandma, but I knew that for one was a lot of work and for two I knew I would need as much help as I could get when they got here from her so I didn't want to use up her precious time before hand. Much to my surprise at the 'Bath' I was given a box with 2 blue and 1 pink hand knitted blankets, just like the ones Caleb loves. I was so excited that she spent the time to make them for the babies.

You never know what you kids are going to cling to and fortunately and unfortunately all of my kids have loved their pacifiers and blankets. Here they are with their lovies.

Cohen decided he liked one of Caleb's smaller blankets that my mom had made so he handed his blue one off to Christian. She also got him another green one with a bear on it. Green blankies and green pacifiers.

Christian clings to the original blue blankies and his blue pacifier. He, like Caleb sometimes used his blankies as floss so there are quite a few loose strings that have been tied up. Grandma made him another blue one, but the originals are his favorites

Cecilia has the original and of course Grandma made her a back up too.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten morning started with Mark making pancakes for breakfast. Caleb told him that he makes the best pancakes in the whole entire world so of course Mark was thrilled to make them for him. Caleb was not as hard to wake up as I thought he was going to be but 6:45 is definitely WAY earlier than his 9am wake up. This is actually a big adjustment for me too since I was used to rolling out of bed at 7 and then being lazy for awhile before we had to do anything. Now it is rush to take a shower, get Caleb and the rest of the kids up, fed and out the door to walk to the bus stop by 7:40.

During breakfast Caleb got a call from his 'friends' aka cousins Caiden and Nolan. He had a good conversation with him while enjoying his pancakes. I think what really was supposed to happen was that aunt Trisha was calling to tell Caleb to have a good day and the kids took over the call.

Mom dad and Caleb before heading to the bus stop

There are lots of kids at the bus stop, and one of the kids is actually in his class. He w as really excited when the bus showed up and ran off. No tears from this kid. I didn't think it would bother me, but I was a little sad to see him seem so grown up. After the bus picked him up we went to school to meet him off the bus and go to the parents boo hoo breakfast. This is Caleb after he got off the bus. He was excited to be at school.

After the conversation the night before Mark and I could not resist taking a picture of this sign we found in school.

When we got to school we walked Caleb in but were not sure where to go since he did not have a classroom. We checked with the other kindergarten teacher and she said that we needed to go to the library. We met his teacher and she seemed very nice. Caleb told us that he was fine an that we could leave him. Mark and I headed to the boo hoo breakfast to chat with other kindergarten parents.

After picking up Caleb from the bus I got home and there was a message that he was absent. Knowing that I left him with his teacher an just got him off the bus I was not too concerned, but obviously wanted to know why they called. Apparently they had two name tags for him so when the second one was not given out he was marked absent. Seemed to be first day flubbers so I was understanding about the situation. Had I been home when they called I might have freaked a little especially if I had not taken him into school.

All and all the first day went well. Caleb seemed to be excited about school...mostly about the playground, but still happy to be back.

Family Photos - July

Cecilia July photos

Christian July photos

Caleb July Pictures

Twas the night before Kindergarten

Its the night before kindergarten and I am not sure what to think about how tomorrow is going to go. I didn't think that I would be bothered by him going to kindergarten, but I'm not so sure anymore. He's been in school for the last two years but we had meet the teacher night yesterday and we were supposed to meet his teacher, see his classroom and go for a short bus ride before the ice cream social. Well, as of yesterday he has no teacher and no classroom and that really bothered me. I know it is for the best because now there will be two classes of 15 instead of one with 30 kids, but still. So, tomorrow I guess we are all going to meet his teacher provided they were able to hire one. The plan is that he will get on the bus and then I will be there when he gets off the bus to take pictures.

I'm not sure that Caleb really understands what the big deal is about him going to school since he has been going to school for the last two years. Everyone keeps saying things to him about is so now I am worried that everyone is making too big of a deal about it. I do think he is excited about riding the bus but tonight he told Mark and I that he is worried about the bullies because God told him about them four hundred thousand ninety five years ago in his dreams. I just figured that when he mentioned bullies he was thinking of a movie like A Christmas Story but who really knows and once he pulled the whole God thing into it I was confused.

I am most worried about how I am going to get him up in time to make it to the bus stop which is about 15 houses away. I figure that I will need to drive to the bus stop and then the babies and I will walk up there for pick up. It should be interesting since it is SO early and he is not good about going to bed. Mark promised him that he would eat breakfast with him so I'm sure he will be excited to get up. Heck, the babies like waking him up no matter what so that will be fun!

Benda what? Bendaroos!

It was interesting when Caleb started pre-school two years ago that they talked about how kids progress as they get older with their art. Over the last year or so Caleb has really come into his own with describing and drawing pictures and the progress has been really neat to watch. This is just one of many pictures that he has made, but I thought it was cool because it was made out of bendaroos and it was on the wall next to my bed. He said it was a guy holding a balloon and can ice cream code with two scoops.

Swinging

After the kids played in the water we ventured over to the playground and to the swings which is their favorite thing to do at the park. They LOVE to swing and most parks only have two baby swings so what we have to do sometimes is put them back to back. People look at us funny, but the kids are happy (and contained).

Cohen and Cecilia Cohen

Christian, Mark and Caleb in the background shooting them with a water gun

Christian

Cecilia

Day at the Park

Two Sunday's ago we decided to take a trip to the park after nap time. One might think that this was a crazy idea considering Mark told me on the way there that the heat index was 110 degrees. Yes, it was nuts, but everyone is going stir crazy in the house and this particular park had water!! Suits? Who needs suits when we can just wear our clothes and avoid the extra step of dressing everyone when we have no idea how long we would be staying.

The babies and Caleb all loved it. The stayed in the water section for the most part and then ventured over to the playground equipment. It was so nice to have Mark there to help keep them corralled.

Cecilia trying to hide behind the bench

Christian

Caleb

Cohen

Adult ADD

So clearly I am a bit scatterbrained these days since i posted the same story twice on the blog. I will just go ahead and leave it just for grins. I seem to walk around aimlessly these days forgetting what I was going to do from point a to point b. We were at the family 4th of July celebration in August and as usual I was walking in circles and forgot that I needed to get the kids pj's since they were getting out of the bath. I obviously looked lost so someone said something to me and I told them that I had ADD. Her response was no, you have CCC. I thought that was pretty good.

Caleb funnies

We went to costco the other day, I think it is my new favorite store. We got there right when it opened and unfortunately what I did not realize is that the sample ladies do not come out until 11. I was only there for a couple of things so I really had no intentions of being there when the samples showed up. Caleb was begging for samples and the sad part is that between bathroom breaks and circling the store several times looking for Christians shoe that he threw out and getting the 3 items we were there for it took us an hour. Caleb begged and begged so we stuck around long enough for them to get ready and it might as well have been Christmas. the babies even know those people have food and they want it too. So Caleb tells the sample lady that old people make the best stuff. Not once, but twice. He really liked what she had to offer, however I don't think she found the humor in what he was saying.

Caleb is really into numbers and he told me today that he had not had Trix cereal for 400 million, 542, 33 thousand, 56 and 78 hundred DAYS!! This is normal conversation for anything that he wants and is trying to tell me that he has not had in a long time. Sometimes, well most of the time, the 'long time' is either a couple of days or hours.

Ring around the rosy!

It is so nice to be around other moms with kids either the same age or older. I always seem to pick up on different tricks and fun things to do with the kids. Not too long ago I was thinking about ring around the rosy, but I didn't think the kids would get it. Last weekend at the lake Aunt Trisha and Aliyah invited the kids to play with them and Cecilia and Cohen love it. I have even gotten them to hold each others hands and it is so stinking cute. Sometimes they just hold hands and spin in a circle while I sing. Christian loves to watch and giggles a lot but is not really interested.

Brushing teeth

The babies love to brush their teeth or really just eat toothpaste and suck the water out of the tooth brush. Well, I guess I can just think that they have really good oral hygiene. The constant fighting and pushing finally drove me to get a second bench so they could get to the sink a little easier. They all fit a little better now, but still push and fight. Mark thinks we should just go buy two more benches so no one has to share, but I'm sure they will find something to fight about.

Cecilia, Christian and Cohen

Cherrios

So this is what happens when the bungee is left off the chair and I decide to run to the bathroom. I was gone for about two seconds when I knew something was wrong by the amount of squeals and giggles. Sigh.

crazy hair

The boys seem to enjoy running their fingers through their hair...when their hands are full of food. Here are some cute pics.

Christian with spaghetti noodles

Cohen with a little food gel.

No pics of Cecilia. She is currently on a food strike and all meals except breakfast are promptly thrown to the floor.

Christian's 1st Hair cut

Christians hair was getting pretty long, but for some reason we could just not bear to cut it. First hair cuts are like a passage into toddler hood or something of the sort. They just look so much bigger and grown up once they get that first snip. So we delayed it long enough and the other part of the problem was that Mark had decided that he was going to be the stylist. He has been wanting to cut Caleb's hair and I'm not to excited about that because he has so many colic's that even the professionals have a hard time with him. Once I finally made it to the supply store to get the scissors it still took a couple of days to get it trimmed. He did really well and so did Mark. Caleb was the assistant and combed the hair down so Mark could cut. I of course cringed every time a cut was made thinking it was going to be WAY too short. In the end it turned out great for Marks first shot at cutting hair.

Christian being a good little guy...not really sure what is going on other than enjoying the water spray.

Mark holding Christians head and Caleb combing the hair


Almost done!!

The assistant!

Swimming!

This past weekend we went to the lake with Trisha and her 3 kids. Jacob thought we were crazy to go since there were 7 kids and 3 adults, but it really was not that bad. Up until this point the babies had really not been in the lake swimming for more than like 2 seconds and they did not like it. Well, this weekend they took the plunge, literally. Saturday morning we took a long boat ride and found a cove to anchor and swim. They were practically jumping off the boat where the ladder was on the boat and Mark was having a hard time holding them back. I was already in the water and Mark did not have his suit on so it was all me. I have never been crazy about holding the babies in the water, but I did it. At one point all 3 of them were in and loving it.

Caleb made a big step this weekend too in that he started jumping off the dock and boat into the water. He was having a blast and Mark threw a Frisbee to him as he jumped off the dock and tried to catch it. He loved the game and actually caught it a couple of time.

Cecilia and Christian in the water. Mark was trying to hold Cohen back so that is why it is not that great of a shot.

Caleb funnies

So I decided to take Caleb to the school by our house so he could ride his bike on the track. Mark had other plans so I thought this would be fun for us to do since there was a playground there too, if all else failed we could play there. Caleb right off the bat did great once I got him started. He takes off around the track and as the track goes to the left he keeps going straight. I of course am half way around the track and take off running with the babies in tow. He apparently decided he wanted to stop, but it just so happened before the turn and was headed for the hill that went straight into the street. The funny thing was that Trisha and Caiden were coming to meet us there and they were coming down the street and saw the whole incident unfold.


At the same track, there were other people there walking and Trisha says to me did Caleb just run into that Lady? I look to where he is and he is on the ground and she is brushing off the back of her legs. So we run up to where they are and she has already taken off...running. Mind you she had been walking the whole time we were there. So I ask Caleb if he hit the lady and he says 'no'. I press further and he says, 'all right, but she was in the way'. We had a nice little conversation about politely letting people know when you are coming up behind them like a 'beep, beep'. So he takes off and within seconds the boys have caught up to the woman Caleb ran into. Trisha and I were watching closely thinking she might run off the track if she hears them coming , she did not, but she did leave. As Caleb rounds the track and approaches the cheer leaders I hear him yell 'get out of the way!' I guess that is better than running into them!

Today at costco, Caleb was insistent that we get samples. I of course did not know that the sample people did not come out until 11 and we got there at 10. Fortunately for Caleb we circled the store looking for Christan's shoe that he threw out of the cart for awhile and back tracked several times deciding what to get. Oh, and of course the bathroom break that took longer since the checker would not let me past without unloading my entire cart. (I have been to that bathroom a ton of times with unpurchased items. They don't let you out without a receipt anyway). So when we were done in the bathroom we had to reload all of the items back into the cart. After the first sample, Caleb said 'Mom, old people make good stuff'. He of course meaning this as a total compliment since most of the sample ladies at Costco are older, gray haired grandma looking types. I of course thought it was cute until we got to the lady with the yogurt. As he tasted her peach yogurt he says to the sample lady, (as he is commenting on how good his sample is) that old people make good stuff. She smiled and said 'oh really?'. I wanted to crawl back into my shell. I think she knew what he meant, but still!! I of course felt obligated to buy the yogurt so we have been enjoying that all afternoon.

Big Boy Bike!!

Mark and Caleb decided about two weeks ago that they were going to take the training wheels off Caleb's bike. I'm not really sure that Caleb was 100% on board with the idea because at times he was so resistant. I think that is just his personality at times though when he can't do something he doesn't want to even try. Teaching him things does seem to be a huge challenge of our patience, but if we stick with him it works out in the end. The most frustrating part is that we know he can do things but refuses to try.



Well, we finally convinced him he could do it and it didn't take long. The hardest part was finding a time that we could get him out to a flat area to practice. Once we get to the top of our street it is pretty flat so that is really where we practiced. Mark would go one direction down the street with him and I would follow with the babies and then on the way back I would take Caleb and Mark would take the babies.

Sweedish fish finally did the trick. After dinner last Wednesday night we went for a ride but before we went out Mark was eating sweedish fish. We all love them so we all wanted some. I grabbed a pocket full and told Caleb that the fish would be calling his name and if he rode his bike he could get one. He of course thought this was really funny since I was calling out 'here fishy, fishy' and saying 'Caleb, I see a fish up at the next corner...focus on the prize!' This was the best he had done ever. He rode almost the whole way back home without any help other than starting off.

Caleb and I way ahead of Mark and the babies

Me, taking a picture and dangling sweedish fish out for Caleb to get.