Good one

"Hey, Mom, I hurt my eye," H said as he got in the car yesterday after playing at a friend's house.

"What happened?"

"I was riding L's rip stick and I had a slingshot around my neck. I fell off and the slingshot flew up and hit me in the eye. My eye was blurry at first but I can see just fine now."

Really?!! The first time ever that you attempt to ride a rip stick (kind of like a skateboard but it requires even more balance and finesse) and you decide that a slingshot around your neck is a good idea?

He has a nasty scratch above his eye and one below it and the eye itself is kind of red. I did a vision test and he seems ok, but really, sometimes I wonder about these kids of mine. I did instill a "no slingshot" rule, which I'm thinking now that we've probably gone over before. I asked H if at any point he thought, "Hmm, maybe my mom wouldn't want me to do this." He said no.

I think I need to work harder to instill the fear of their mom in these kids.

New school year

Yeah, not your typical "first day" picture, but I didn't remember until they were home. Oops.

So, the school year has begun. T is adjusting quite well to a longer school day (hasn't come home complaining once yet that school is too long, so I'm grateful for that). S is planning on doing "The Great American Challenge" which is memorizing things like the Preamble to the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, all of the U.S. presidents, and names and locations of all the states. I'm excited for her to understand more about our country. H has a teacher who's brand new to the school and so, his class is out in the trailers.

During the day now, it's just me and the twins. It's definitely a lot quieter, but also more dangerous. I don't have my three spies anymore to tell me what the twins are doing. Sometimes a quiet house is a nice thing, like when A2 is quietly playing with toys and N is sitting on my lap. And sometimes it means they've yet again shoved DVDs into the PS3. (Luckily, one was sticking out, so I got all three out, with the help of my tweezers.)

Here's hoping it's a great year for all my kids!

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.