Jack's First Day...

Jack started preschool this week. If it were up to him he'd be starting college and living in his own place. I've never met such an independent child. Preschool doesn't start until 11:45, and he was ready with backpack on by 7:45. I tried everything to buy me time, but we ended up on the front porch with a camera by 11:05. I made a deal with another mom that I'd drive the kids, if she would pick them up. Awesome deal. We showed up at the friends house at 11:20. A little early? She was just about ready to go, so it only bought me another 5 minutes. We showed up on the porch of the preschool at 11:32 and of course the doors were locked. What preschool teacher in their right mind would leave doors unlocked to eager 3 year olds and even eager parents?! We played on the porch. We took pictures. We walked the wooden ledge around the flower beds. We jumped off the porch. We made silly faces. We talked about what fun the day was going to be once we were allowed to enter the doors. We talked about what their teacher was probably doing that would cause her to lock the doors----they figured she was eating her lunch.

Finally the teacher was seen walking towards us. She unlocked the door and we were allowed to actually enter the building. Jack couldn't put his backpack in his cubby fast enough. He has 2 nametags to choose from----1 with Jack, and 1 with Jackson. He couldn't decide on back-to-school-night which one he would like to be called, so his teacher made him 2. He decided he'd be Jackson for the first day. He kissed me goodbye, and I left. Wow. My 3rd child is now in school. When did these kids grow up?

He had a great day. The next day he wasn't ready to go until 8:15, so he was getting closer to the correct time. He also told me that I didn't need to walk him in to school because he could go by himself. I told him it was the rule for me to walk him in. He also thinks he should get to go all day like Ethan and Kennedy and is pretty ticked they won't accomodate his wishes. I guess I never need to worry about this particular child living with me when he's 25. I just hope he sticks around my house long enough to finish elementary school......

SWAT team..

Flies are infesting our home. The kids leave the door to the garage open when they head outside to play leaving ample opportunity for the pests to enter my domain. I am horrible at killing the things. I can swat for 30 minutes and maybe hit one. Kennedy told me I was a failure. Her words, not mine. Ethan happens to be a very good aim. He told me that when I'm able to hit 7 flies in a row then I can be a member of the "swat-team". "Until then, you can only wish Mom". Lucky for me the people that have achieved "swat-team" status (Ethan & Jack) live in my house and take care of the little buggers for me.

Long Drive Home....

I just found some pictures from our long drive back to the midwest. Kennedy was given make-up for her birthday from Grandma Angela and decided she needed to do make-overs the first 5 hours of our trip. Jack happened to be her client.

One Last Summer Swim....

Today being Labor Day the kids were out of school. It's also the very last day to swim outside here in this little town. We took advantage and ventured out to the lake. The water was nice. Even Jack got in and got wet (he's pretty particular about his water temperature). The weather was absolutely perfect for a day at the lake. We took snacks, buckets & shovels, and life-jackets ready to spend the afternoon in the sun. Ethan loves to swim out to the dock and jump off. Today the dock was full of college age kids who were fully entertained by Ethan and his friend Aimee. I kept hearing roars of laughter coming from that direction--------Ethan and Aimee had raptured all their attention and were really taking advantage of being in the spotlight. What a great way to say good-bye to summer days and welcome in the fall. I do feel bad that Shawn is missing all of this because he's working so hard for our family. We love you babe, and really missed you today.

***Ethan is the one on the dock in the orange life jacket gesturing with his hands. Looks like he's entertaining the crowd. That's my Ethan.

Bagels & Cream Cheese...

Landon's new favorite breakfast is blueberry mini-bagels schmeared with strawberry cream cheese. I think he feels like he's eating something covered in frosting, which is why he's so willing to eat this typical food. You can see by the picture that he thoroughly enjoys his breakfast. Landon has really grown up these last few months and has FINALLY started to spit out some words. He has names for all the kids. Ethan is "E-O", Kennedy is just a long "EEEEEE", and Jack is "Ga-Ga". It's funny to me to watch his vocabulary explode so I can finally hear what has been going on in that little head for so long. He knows all his body parts, but his favorite is elbow. Anytime anyone's elbow is in view he needs to touch it and say "belbow", then point to both of his own. He doesn't really know the names of animals, but everytime he sees one he makes the sound over and over. The thing that is fun to watch is his excitement. He pounds on my arms saying "Mama, mama" until he knows I'm paying attention, then he'll show & tell me what he's viewing. The other night me & the kids rented "A night at the museum" for a movie night, and Landon watched on my lap. There are so many interesting things to a 21 month old in that movie. I'm surprised I don't have bruises covering my arms. He pounds me incessently, even though I've acknowledged whatever it is he's excited about. I guess he just wants to be 100% assured that I'm not missing what he's seeing. Funny boy. I find myself doing things for him that were forbidden to my other children. Like bedtime for instance. My kids just get into their own beds and stay there. I don't care if they cry. I just have always made bedtime sacred "me" time. Lately I've been putting everyone else in bed and taking Landon downstairs to cuddle on the couch with. He'll just sit in my arms cozy in a blanket and let me hold him. He doesn't say anything, just every once in awhile he'll pat my arm to let me know he loves me. I love it. I might regret it in a year when he won't stay in his own bed, but for now this is our time. After all, he is the baby.

Jack's "World"

When we were in Idaho, Jackson kept referring to my mom's "world". He'd say things like:

"Grandma, we don't have these kinds of french toast sticks in our world". Or, "Will you show my mom where in your world to buy this licorice so she can take some back to my world?" Hilarious. My mom just kept laughing because of this "your world, my world" stuff, like he was on a new planet. I discovered after 9 hours into our drive home that "world" actually means "city". "What world are we in now Mom?" was a frequent question. I laughed and said "do you mean city?" I'm sad that he now knows to use proper terminology because the "world" thing was so cute, and so Jack. One thing Jack acquired on our trip to the other world was a kid-tough mp3 player. Kennedy already has one, but Jack really needed his own. He LOVES to dance to kids bop songs----L.O.V.E. is one of his favorites. A few days ago we were outside playing and Jack disappeared down the street pushing his backpack in the stroller. When he came back into sight he was listening to his ipod bouncing along. I can safely assume the music was stored in the backpack for future use. He makes me laugh. His creativity is genius.

Lazy Sundays......

I'm bored. I've been through all my regular blogs---twice. I've checked my email---three times. I've read everything on myfamily at least 4 times. Shawn is gone, and my kids need attention. I don't really want to give it right now. I should probably go make dinner, but it's no fun when Shawn isn't home to eat it. I'm trying to count weight watcher points which makes the thought of dinner even less appealing to make. Wow, it's only been 3 minutes since the last fight broke out. The fights are getting closer together which means I better feed them before they totally destroy one another. Maybe we'll head to the park just to get out of the house.......