First Day of School

Monday was the first day of school for the kids this year. Morgan is in Kindergarten, Ronan in first grade, and Hayden in 4th grade. Everyone woke up bright and early very excited to go to school for the first day!

Brian went in to work late so that he could drive them to school with me (we don't get a bus). Which I am thankful for, as I had to make a quick trip into the school to check on everyone. The Kindergartners were suppose to meet their teachers in the gym the first 2 days of school, and Morgan being very independent wanted to go in by herself like her brothers. So, we dropped everyone off out front, and sent Hayden with instructions to just make sure she made it to the gym, and to the right teacher. We then made a loop, and came back around so I could go in after them just to make sure everyone made it to where they were suppose to of been. I couldn't just let them go in and not KNOW for sure. So, I peeked in on Ronan's class, and saw him sitting happily next to his best friend, and them peeked into the gym, and found Morgan sitting with her class with a grin on her face, so all was well, and I could leave. Hayden's classroom is in a portable outside this year, and would be too obvious if I 'peeked in' on him. So, I thought I'd not embarrass him, and didn't check on him.

Ronan came home saying that he wasn't going back, because there are no toys in 1st grade, and too much work. Morgan as well was missing Pre-K, but the second day seemed to go better, so I think it will be a good year. Hayden loves his teacher, his class, and is excited to be in 4th grade, after all- next year he will be at the top of the school! Scary thought for mom, next year is his last in elementary school!!!!!! Little Duncan has packed his backpack each morning and brought it with us as we drop the kids off, and even tries to 'sneak' out of the van with the other kids once at school, saying "By momma, I wove you!". He wants so badly to be with them! I told him I need his help here at home, after all we are supposed to have our new baby come and join us tomorrow!!!!

50 Things I have learned recently......

1. Nail polish remover WILL take out hot pink polish from a white carpet.
2. A newly mopped floor is just begging to have Orange juice spilt on it.
3. A spare key hidden under your bumper can come in quite handy when locked out of your car in D.C. with 4 children.
4. A pregnant woman may need to use that spare key more than once during her pregnancy.
5. Shoe shopping with four kids is so much easier when done online.
6. Certain children WILL work for computer time.
7. A 6 year old CAN scrub the bathroom quite well.
8. Saturday mornings are great when the kids can feed themselves and turn on the cartoons.
9. Another person's screaming child really isn't THAT annoying when you are grateful that it isn't your own.
10. NOT everyone feels that way about screaming children.
11. An expectant father WILL go out for ice cream at 10:00pm, even with the 5th pregnancy!
12. And give great foot massages.
13. It's wonderful to have a sister near by you can call on at 3:00am.
14. Brand new couches are magnets for spaghetti faces.
15. It's worth the money to scotch guard the new couch!
16. Owning a rug cleaner CAN reduce your stress level.
17. A 3 year old, a jug of orange juice, and a newly cleaned carpet are not a good combination.
18. It is possible for the plastic bottle of syrup to split and empty onto the carpet.
19. The rug cleaner CAN get out syrup (you just have to go over it MANY times).
20. A wet toothbrush DOESN'T mean that teeth were actually cleaned!
21. If you send a 3 year old to the basement freezer for something, don't forget to check that the door was shut all the way.
22. Dinner made by a friend always tastes better.
23. That same dinner if tried to recreate will not be eaten by the children as well.
24. Cold cereal is a perfectly acceptable meal when daddy won't be home for dinner.
25. 15 minutes of homework a day during the summer WILL NOT kill a 6 year old (although the whining might kill his mother).
26. After grocery shopping with 4 kids all summer long, going with only 1 child is a treat.
27. Going by yourself feels like a 'night out'.
28. Sometimes mommy's need time-outs too.
29. Children WILL figure out how to unlock a mother's door while she's in Time-Out.
30. To a three year old White-Out is a convenient child sized bottle of paint.
31. To his 5 year old sister it is nail polish.
32. Toilet paper is fun to watch rolling down the stairs, much better than a slinky.
33. It can also be used to 'trap' someone, and makes great mummies.
34. Shoe laces can be doubled as leashes for your toy animals.
35. Jump ropes work as leashes for children pretending to be animals (but only around the tummy please!).
36. Sometimes children will have to go to church in shoes without laces.
37. Sometimes you will show up with no shoes at all.
38. The nursery leaders at church don't like it when your three-year old is constantly pulling down his pants to show that he no longer wears diapers.
39. Children will deny the fact that THEY were the ones who wrote on the wall with pen even though they signed their name to it.
40. A couple with only one child will never have to play the "Who did this?" game.
41. Tooth paste apparently is a great cleanser for the face.
42. Always check the towel in the kids bathroom before wiping your face (ex. toothpaste).
43. Wet kisses from your 3 year old aren't icky (but from someone else's 3 year old though they are).
44. It's fun to be Princess Leah (sp?) all day long and constantly be saved from the bad guys.
45. Morning snuggles in your bed are the best!
46. Watching your kids watch your pregnant belly move can be entertaining for quite some time.
47. Sleeping children are so angelic that they can wipe away all the days mischief.
48. The sentence "I wove you" can help get a mother's child out of trouble.
49. A 3 year old can catch on really quick to the "I wove you" thing.
50. I love being a MOMMY!

The Longest Week Ever!

This last week has been our last week of summer vacation, and yet it seems to of drug on and on. We finally got some much needed rain the first 3 days of the week, which was great, but kept us inside all day long. At first I thought this was a good thing, I didn't feel guilty about NOT putting on my bathing suit that is stretched to the limits and going to the pool with the kids like we have done most days this summer, but I think we all got a bit of cabin fever after spending most of our days outside of the house this summer! Duncan spilled the container of Orange Juice on the dinning room carpet, which then had to be shampooed, Morgan had an overflowing bowl of Rice Crispies as she tried to pour the milk herself, and at times Hayden and Ronan seemed as though they wouldn't survive another minute spent together! By Tues. afternoon I was done with this summer fun, and called Brian at work to warn him that I needed a Time-Out when he got home. He was very sweet about it, and even snuck a small gift bag for me on the drivers seat of the van that I found when I went to leave for my Time-Out. What a sweet husband! I didn't do anything special for my hour and a half in Time-Out, just made some returns at Target and did some shopping BY MYSELF! It's amazing how after grocery shopping with 4 kids and being 9 months pregnant, standing in the customer service line in a store feels like a treat, because I'm doing it ALONE!
The time to myself was good, especially because I ended up only sleeping for 30 min. that night before I awoke with contractions. I had them coming every 3-5 minutes for about 2 hours before I woke Brian up, and he started keeping track of them. After they were 2 minutes apart for an hour, we called my sister at 3:00am and had her come sit with the kids while we went to the hospital. Of course, as Murphy's Law would demand, once there things calmed down, and they sent me walking. At 7:00am we determined that NOTHING would be happening today and went home! Wed. was a blur, as I slept for most of it trying to recoup from not sleeping at all the night before! My friend Jen took the kids that afternoon so Brian could sleep as well, and even made us dinner that evening, we were very grateful!
Today is Friday, and the rain is gone, but the humidity has come back with a vengeance! I had my appt. this morning, and have had no change since my trip to the hospital Wed. morning. They have however scheduled me to be induced this coming Thurs. morning at 9:00am, ya hoo!! Which incidentally is actually my birthday as well, so if she doesn't come on her own before then, then we will be sharing a birthday!
The kids start school on Monday, and this afternoon we are going to the school to find out who their teachers are and all of that. They are really excited! I'm happy to have this week coming to an end, as it has just felt SOOO long, I know it's because I'm waiting for this little one to get here, and am happy to know that I have at the most 6 days left to wait!!!

Feeding the Fish

We went to the state park near us this past weekend. The weather was great! 80 degrees, and no humidity! It was a perfect day. We brought some bread to feed the fish and the geese, and hung out near the small lake most of the day. We got to see some turtles, and Brian gave the whole camera thing a shot. Normally I'm the one always carrying the camera around, but he had fun snapping the shots this time, and got some good ones of dragonflies and butterflies. I sat on a bench for some time in the shade reading, it was a nice treat. That night the Tidwell's watched our kids for 'one last date before baby arrives'. We went out to dinner, and then walked around the lake by our house a bit hoping to encourage baby a little more, but she's still hanging in there! Brian has been very cute the past week or two, he is VERY excited about baby's arrival, and is almost acting like a kid around Christmas time. He says he's always been excited about the births of the kids, but for some reason this time around his excitement is even higher! He calls me each time he is near a different phone number so I know where to call just in case. I get a call when he arrives at work, another one when he's in a meeting with the number to that room, then a call from his cell phone when in the car at lunch time, etc. He is not allowed to have his cell phone in the secured area at work, so thus play this phone game, and I have a list of numbers on my fridge 'just in case'. We are all very excited to meet our new little one. Morgan knelt down in the middle of the living room today and said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to please send her baby sister to us today. I sure would love to have her prayer answered!

Adventures at the lake

So, this past Tuesday for Ronan's "Special Time" he and Brian went to 'the bottom of the lake'. The lake near our house is being dredged, and fitted with a new pier. So, at the moment it is empty, dry, and you can go searching for treasures at the bottom of the lake-something Ronan is very fond of doing. They came back with tales of their treasures, and some frogs found up the stream that feeds into the lake. So, yesterday everyone wanted to go to the 'bottom of the lake', but it was 94 degrees out, an just too hot for me to be walking around there, so we agreed we would go this morning right after breakfast before it got too hot. We got on our wellies, packed some water, and headed towards the lake. Silly me wasn't even thinking that during the day the diggers would actually be working, and therefore we could not go to the bottom of the lake (although watching the diggers work was fun in itself). So, we headed up the stream to look for frogs! We hit the jackpot, and found loads of them! The kids had a blast running through the water after the frogs (poor frogs). Then, it started to get a little dark, and sprinkle a bit of rain. We thought, 'Great, it's hot, and a little bit of rain won't hurt us'. Well, we were wrong on the 'little bit of rain' part. It started down pouring! We started for home, but were a good 20 min. away, actually 30 after you calculate the time spent splashing in the puddles the whole way home! So we were soaked to the bone by the time we arrived home, at which time of course it stopped raining! So, we played in the puddles a bit longer, then went inside for a nice big bubble bath! It was a very fun morning!

As for the 'Special Time' that we've implemented this summer, it's been going great! This month was Brian's month to go out with the kids, and he and Duncan spent their evening at the pool together, Morgan and Brian went to a baseball game in Baltimore, Ronan & Brian of course spent their time at 'the bottom of the lake', and Hayden and Brian are going canoeing this coming Tues. Brian is excited because he will get to have the month of Sept. as well, as I probably won't be ready to leave baby home just yet, so I'll pick back up in Oct.

We are still working on finding a name for baby! I've pretty much gotten all of the projects done I wanted to before she comes, just painted the rocking chair yesterday, and got that put back in the girls room. So hopefully we will pick a name and she will come soon! I went on a vigorous (for a pregnant woman that is) walk last night, to try and encourage her, but of course not a single contraction came of it! My mom is due to fly out here next Sat., and I really want baby to be here before she comes, so she can help me instead of just waiting with me for her to arrive! I'm really not good a this patience thing!

A'HOY MATTIE

We are finally having a nice rainy afternoon, and I figured this would be a good time to do some blogging. This past weekend we got up Sat. morning at 4:30am to drive out to the Delaware shore so that Brian, Hayden, Ronan, and Morgan could catch a ride on a tall ship. In case you are unaware, tall ships are one of Brian's passions, most importantly is to be SAILING on one with the wind blowing in the sails. He and I rode on a tall ship for a week in England, but due to time schedules and lake of wind, we 'sailed' by motor the entire way, he was very disappointed! When he found this ship on line, (which is a replica of a Swedish ship from the 1600's) that would take you out for a 3 hour tour and actually SAIL with the wind he was so excited and booked it right away! At first he was just going to take Hayden, but then decided that he wanted to share it with the other kids as well. Myself being 9 months pregnant and all, I was not about to get on a ship and be sick the whole time, so I told him to leave Duncan with me, as I thought taking all 4 of them would be too much work, and he wouldn't be about to enjoy it as much. So, we set off to Delaware by 5:30am, and get there with plenty of time before they take off. Unfortunately poor Duncan kept saying that he was going on the big ship as well. I told him he and I could go build a sand castle at the beach, this was not an acceptable alternative to him. So, needless to say, when they went to board I was left with a puddle of a 3 year old or was quite inconsolable. Brian was feeling very guilty, and again asked me to come on with them so we could take him. I assured him he would be fine, and we quickly make our way back to the van. We had planned on waving from the dock to them as they sailed away, but that was no longer going to happen! Duncan fell asleep within 5 min. of getting into the van, so we never made our sand castles on the beach, but rested instead (I of course was just fine with this change of plans). Poor Brian did not have the trip that he had hoped for! First off, Ronan and Morgan quickly found the shady spots on the ship and quickly fell asleep (due to the 5:00am wake-up I'm sure). But, not to worry, he and Hayden were still very much excited to be on the ship and about to SAIL. That is until they tried to unfurl the sails only to realized that the main sail was stuck in something! They were informed that unfortunately they would be unable to actually SAIL, but would have to use the motor while out at sea! Brian's heart just sank! Poor guy! When they came back into port, a much happier Duncan and I were there to welcome them in and take some photos of the ship. We had all planned on going to the beach together before going home, as it was only 1:00pm. But, it ended up being 98 degrees that day, 104 with the humidity, and we just weren't up for it. So, we drove home and swam in the neighborhood pool. Brian was quite disappointed in all the effort made to get there and back that day, and still no sailing was done. But they were on a ship out at sea!

Sumer Fun in the Stream!

The kids and I found this wonderful spot in the Patapsco Valley State park! Within 20 feet of the parking lot is a park, a bathroom, and a stream to play in! These days having things within a close proximity is very important (especially the bathroom!). Between me being a few weeks away from delivering and Duncan being newly potty trained a close bathroom is always a good thing! So the kids and I have gone here a few times, and I set up camp on the bank of the stream and watch the kids go to town playing in the water and catching crawdads!

It's a ton of fun! It also has given us some variety in water play this summer. We've been going to the pool a lot this summer, which never seems to loose it's excitement. I have really enjoyed the stages of my kids this summer. Hayden, Ronan, and Morgan can all swim well, and go to the big pool on their own. Duncan and I hang out at the baby pool, or in the big pool together. He seems to be liking the big pool a lot more the past week or two. Last summer Hayden was the only one who could swim, and having 3 that couldn't was very stressful for me. So this year has been a very nice non-stress time at the pool! Of course next summer there will be a one year old in the mix, hopefully Duncan will learn to swim quickly!