Miss and not miss

As the summer draws to a close and the new school year approaches (one more week! one more week!), I have pondered about the things I will miss and not miss about this summer.

Not miss
1. The fighting. The whining. The complaining.
2. The twins trying to do whatever their older siblings are doing, which includes running outside to play, even if they have no clothes on.
3. "I'm bored."
4. Neighborhood children coming to my back door at 8:45 pm to see if my kids can play. I know it's still light out, but I make my kids get in bed early so *I* can have a break.

Miss
1. Lazier mornings. Sure I still had to work, but it was nice to not have to drag the kids out of bed for school.
2. The older kids helping me keep track of the twins and playing with them.


All hail the school year! Hooray!

A lucky break

About a week ago, the twins did something very, very naughty. They jammed discs into the PS3, and upon discovering the problem, neither A or I could get it un-jammed. Our two options were to either send the machine to Sony and have them fix it for $150 or buy a new system for $300. Neither option thrilled us.

Thankfully, my husband has a friend at work who has a friend who said he could fix it for $10. With nothing to lose, A took the machine to work and we crossed our fingers.

Lo and behold, those little rascals had somehow shoved not one, not two, but THREE discs into the PS3. The tech friend got them out, put everything back together, and tested the system and everything worked just fine.

Today, I'm thankful that my husband has friends who have friends that can fix things. $10 is much nicer than $150.

Sneaky, mischievous little people. What will they destroy next?

Happy birthday, babies!

I know, I know, you're three now, and you're not babies anymore. But you'll always be "the babies" to me (as evidenced by my favorite picture of the two you—see above).

A2,

You're definitely still more shy and reserved than your sister, but in recent weeks, you've stepped it up in the sneaky and naughty departments. I'm not in love with your attempts to hide Dad's wallet, knock plaques off the fireplace, hide Mom and Dad's wedding rings, and break the PS3, but I do admire your ingenuity. I love that you like to figure out how things work. You are a sweet, sweet boy who is incredibly loving and loyal to the people you care about most in life. I hope that never changes, Mr. A.

N,

Oh, sweet little girl. I don't think I've ever met a person quite like you. You never stop talking (which we unfortunately discovered on a recent long car trip) and you never stop moving. You flirt and talk with just about everyone, and you wholeheartedly believe that everyone is your friend. I hope you never lose your ability to befriend other people and love them with that fierceness with which you approach just about everything in your life. I love you, sweet lady.

Happy birthday, babies!

An interesting development

Over the past month or so, something interesting has developed. Maybe it's just because all of the kids are around each other a ton more, but the older kids have started vying for the twins' affections, arguing over who gets to sit next to them at meals, whose hand should A2 hold in the grocery store, and which twin loves which sibling the most. I do caution them to not let two year-old people be in control of things in our house, but I really love the fact that they want to be around the twins. And I recognize that the sentiment may wane from time to time (especially when said twins get into their precious toys), but it really does my heart good.

Our summer so far

Well, four weeks into summer vacation and we're all still alive. Considering my state of mind at the beginning of it, I'd say that's a victory.

The kids have played a lot, gone to the pool several times, and included at least 20 minutes of whining into each day. The twins didn't seem to know what to do with their siblings home at first, which meant I spent a fair amount of time chasing them down and getting them out of trouble, but they seem to have adjusted.

H played on an all-star baseball team and had a great time. Their team lost both games so they were out of the tournament, but he got two weeks of two-hour-a-day practices with a really great coach, so we're pretty pleased with how things turned out. H wasn't sure he wanted to play baseball at all this year so it's pretty cool that he did well enough to make the all-star team.

S has been taking piano lessons from a neighbor and she's having a lot of fun.

T has spent hours upon hours riding his bike, playing with friends, and even reading with me every day.

We had a great 4th of July and enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show (thank you to our home state for allowing the sale of some aerial fireworks again. Wahoo!)

(And sorry about there not being pictures of A2 from the 4th. Someone refused to even look at the camera.)

A confession, toddler speak, and lots of pictures

First, a confession. I can't seem to get motivated to write blog posts lately. So many times during any given week, I'll think, "I should blog about that"—like, say, Easter, T's kindergarten graduation, soccer, baseball, and so much more. But then I get sidetracked and forget about it. Oops.

Next... I love toddlerisms—when little kids mispronounce words, leave out words, and generally mix stuff up. One of my all-time favorites was when S would say, "toomarno"—for tomorrow, obviously.

A2 and N have a few gems of their own. Recently, N has become obsessed with birthdays, most likely because just about everyone in my husband's family has a birthday in May. So, at least a few times a day, N will ask, "When my burpay?" I don't think she really understands what birthdays are, what hers will mean, or even the fact that she'll share her birthday with that kid who is always around, but I just love the way she says it.

For every word he says, A2 puts his own little deep voice spin on it, which I love. He also calls every kind of superhero "Man man." He's starting to distinguish a few of them by "Spi-man" and "Bat-man," but I still love the original A2-ism.

Of course, whenever I hear the twins mispronounce something, I try to help them say it correctly. And I frequently tell my older kids, "You know how to say that word. Saying it the way she says it doesn't help her learn." I am the daughter of a former speech pathologist, after all.

One of the funniest ones is how N pronounces kitty. She says it with a t at the front. This is, for obvious reasons, amusing to my husband and me. She loves these Hello Kitty utensils that S got a million years ago—so much so, that she refuses to eat with anything else. She really loves the fork for some reason, but I haven't been able to find it lately. She'll beg for the kitty fork at every meal, and she just has to make do with the spoon. So sad to eat yogurt with a spoon instead of a fork.

This afternoon, I happened to be cleaning the floor in the pantry, so pulling crap out. As I was putting the bread maker back in, I heard a clinking sound. Lo and behold, the kitty fork was in there. N will be so pleased.

And now, a ton of pictures to make me feel better about not blogging so much over the past while.