Summertime fun

Although we have officially been out of school since June 6, I feel like this is our first week of "real summer."  The first week the boys were out they attended a basketball camp at TCS every morning.  Last week we had two extra boys to play with and love on all week plus VBS in the afternoons.  Needless to say, we have been at least as busy as in the regular school year!  This week, however, we have no real commitments, and we are excited about it!  We will enjoy being lazy, drawing, creating, swimming, playing and reading.  There will be arguments - plenty of disagreements! - but that comes with the territory of raising three children.  :)  
 

This morning I sent Jackson and Harrison upstairs to do their morning chores and they immediately started arguing.  Apparently Jackson wanted to sing while he was working and Harrison DID NOT want him to, so the "Stooooop!  STOOOOP!" yelling began.  There was plenty of back and forth arguing and raised voices, and I was folding laundry but getting ready to intervene when they abruptly stopped.  A few minutes later, Jackson came downstairs.  "What stopped the yelling, Jackson?"  He replied, "Well, we were mad at each other until Harrison started singing 'shake your booty.'  Then we weren't mad anymore."  Oh the joys of boys!  Start throwing around some bathroom words and everyone is friends again!  Haha!

We are very much looking forward to crossing some items off of our "Summer Bucket List!"  It is lengthy, but we are excited about doing some things we haven't done before and some traditional summer activities.  I will try to post as we accomplish things.  :)

Taking Time

Over the last few months I have been really thinking about spending more time with my children. I am just so worried that they are growing up too fast and I'm missing out. One thing I have decided to do is stop teaching piano lessons. As much as I love teaching, it is taking time away from my own sweet children. Precious time. Time that is moving so quickly even my 8 year old said this morning, "Mom, the weeks are just going by so fast. I feel like we were just on Monday yesterday and we're already at Monday again!"
Walking the boys to school is one of my favorite parts of the day. It's early in the morning and we're all still a little sleepy. I try to repair any damage caused in my rushing them to get their backpacks, lunchboxes, socks, shoes, jackets and hats. I talk to them about what the day will hold, remind them of any after school commitments, and just listen to them. I hold Jackson's hand because I think Grant is outgrowing that part. He has started telling me goodbye just as we're walking up to the school. He is probably realizing that he doesn't want me hugging and kissing him goodbye in the cafeteria anymore. One morning last week we were walking along, me all engrossed in getting them down the street at a steady pace, and Jackson says, "See that birdnest?" Um, no. Where? "Way up there!" It was right over my head at that point, perched in the top of a winter-bare sycamore tree. He said, "I see that every morning." I, on the other hand, had never noticed it. It has been there, right up there in those bare branches for who knows how long, and I never saw it until last week when he showed it to me. I want to notice things like that. I want to have time that I'm not so focused on what we have to do that I miss the amazing things going on around us. God's incredible creation that I am so used to that I just overlook wonderful things like birdnests and flowers. Since that day, I am trying to slow down a little bit. I would say we could leave a little earlier, but they cherish every moment spent at home playing before we have to rush out to school. We noticed the daffodils blooming, the train whistle, and some clouds that looked like carrots (in a three year old's opinion). I want that for my family.
I know that the busyness of life can get in the way of things like this, and I hope that I am able to slow down and enjoy these fleeting days as much as possible.

Finally, a New Post!

It has been such a long time since I've posted anything...I thought I would just post some amusing stories and things the boys have said and done recently. One afternoon I was cleaning out Jackson's shirt drawer, pulling out the shirts he has outgrown or never wears. Grant was watching me and said, "Are you saving those for Harrison?" I said yes, and Jackson added, "And the new baby!" I said, "We aren't having a new baby." Grant said, "You don't know that, Mom. Only God decides that." I said, "Okay, well, I'm not planning on having any more babies." Then I look up and see Jackson, head bowed, eyes closed, whispering, "Dear God, please help Mommy to have another baby." Then he looks up, smiles and says, "Amen!"

Two days ago, I cleaned out from under Grant's bed, finding lots of small toys, trash, etc. A little while later, Jackson was looking under there to see what he could find and came up with an eraser. I said, "Thanks, Jackson." He said, "I'm your hero, Mama." Who knew my hero would be a four year old whose favorite outfit consists of an orange shirt, red shorts and dinosaur rainboots?

Grant is doing so well in Kindergarten this year. He is the only Kindergarten student in the Challenge program, and he lives for Tuesday afternoons when he can go and spend an entire afternoon learning about China or Australia or Japan. He loves that one-on-one time with his amazing teacher. He is bringing home second and third grade level chapter books and reading like a pro! He's lost 4 teeth, two on the bottom, and two on the top. The first three he lost at school, one in the library and two in the classroom. The last one he lost at Dan's parents house when we were on vacation over Spring Break. It was one of those top front teeth and it was barely hanging on. I was teasing him about something and tickled him under his chin. As I was pulling my hand away, he was pulling away from me and putting his head down and - my hand caught that tooth and knocked it right out! It was crazy! But the really crazy part? Dan wasn't with us yet, so I had Grant call him to tell him about it. He said, "Daddy! I lost my tooth! Mommy knocked it out when she was slappin' me 'cross my face!" :)

My little sweet Harrison is turning out to be quite a handful. He is also a bit of a bully, but he comes by that honestly. He does have two big brothers who are constantly teaching him that he has to stand up for himself, so that's exactly what he does! He is so sweet though, very loving and cuddly. But he does know what he doesn't want and he's not afraid to tell you. He doesn't talk much, but this week he finally learned to sign "more" and he said "psss" for please. He can also say "mama" and "dada." He mostly says "dada" though. He's all about daddy. He understands so much! I have a feeling when he finally does start talking, he won't stop for YEARS. He also only has two teeth, which he finally cut at 14.5 months. He is now almost 17 months and has yet to cut any more. I think he's working on those two top front ones right now. They seem to be close to coming through.

Jackson's Year of Destruction

Jackson turned three last month, and since that time, Grant has labeled this "Jackson's Year of Destruction."  It has been a crazy time!  He has always been incredibly active and a little defiant, from when he was two days old in the hospital and was trying to turn over on the bed while I was changing his diaper.  The past month has been even more....

Two weeks ago I left the boys with Dan while I went out for some much needed "me time."  When I arrived back home Grant met me at the door and told me that Jackson had done something really bad that "Daddy cannot even fix!"  Apparently Jackson had found a spot on the wallpaper that had a hole under it (where they drilled to blow insulation into the wall) and he got a pair of scissors and cut a big hole in the wallpaper.  He had also peed on the floor while I was gone.  The next day he colored on the same wallpaper with his markers.  (Of course Grant witnessed both of the wallpaper defacements but decided not to be a tattletale until after the damage had been done.)  The next weekend, I found him sitting in the crib with the baby trying to force-feed him a bottle of water.  ("De baby was firsty, mama!")  On Wednesday I took him and the baby shopping.  When we're at the grocery store, Jackson will hold on to the basket and hang like a monkey.  Unfortunately, he tried that with the stroller and pulled it over on top of himself, with the baby in it!  THANKFULLY no one was hurt, aside from the large bump on the back of Jackson's head where he hit the floor.  I nearly had a heart attack!  Here's the last one - yesterday I came home and Jackson opened the door for me and he was crying.  I asked him about the tears and Grant said, "He was trying to drink his medicine and Elise (the babysitter) wouldn't let him so he's mad."  Thank goodness for childproof lids!  He said "I love my medicine.  I want to drink it all day!"  Oh dear.  I sometimes wish they wouldn't make it taste so good!  We don't give the boys sweets, so that syrupy sweet medicine is a special treat, apparently!  Aside from all of these frustrations, he is the cutest, funniest, sweetest, most giggly, and silliest kid around.  I love him so much that it is difficult to stay mad at him for long.  He's just too cute.  All I have left to say is this:  the person who coined the term "Terrible Twos" obviously never met a three year old.

PS - The picture of Jackson eating ice cream is from his third birthday, when he was allowed to have his first ice cream ever.  What an exciting day!

Haircuts

Yesterday I went down to Rockwall to visit my friend Laura and took all three boys.  It is about an hour and fifteen minute drive.  Anyone who tries going farther than the grocery store with more than one kid knows that this is a challenge.  Okay, even the grocery store is a challenge.  Anyway, since we now have three boys and I have come to realize that three little boy haircuts plus Dan's haircut will cost no less than $50 per month, friend Laura is teaching me to cut hair.  So, yesterday was my first lesson.

Jackson went first and I was incredibly nervous, but I managed to get started and once I did, it went really well!  Of course, Jackson cried a lot.  I'm sure the largest part was because he was being left out of the playing (Laura has two boys) and it was lunch time so he was hungry.  Oh, and I poked him with the scissors when I was trying to cut his bangs.  Oops.  Sorry kiddo!  But, the finished result was really pretty good.  He has had MUCH worse haircuts by people who claim to be trained professionals.  Grant complained and griped throughout his haircut, but he did sit pretty still and it was okay.  I was not as happy with Grant's as I was with Jackson's, but only because I cut it short and I think it might look better if it were a little longer on top.  Overall, it looks fine, just short.

Laura was a great teacher, just telling me what to do, telling me how great I was doing and not just reaching over and taking the clippers from me when I was having trouble.  I am hoping to get together with her for the next couple of months to make sure I am comfortable before flying solo.  We'll just have to see if Dan will ever let me cut his.  If he can trust those ProCut people, don't you think he can trust his wife???

My First Post

I have been thinking about blogging for a long time, mostly because it will give me an outlet to write down things that the boys say and do and share them with friends and family.  I am excited about this, because I enjoy telling stories about my sweet children, especially ones when they're not exactly very sweet!

Today was an interesting day with Jackson.  Actually, he's always getting into things, and today was no exception.  After lunch I asked him to go upstairs to pick out his books and get ready for his afternoon nap while I finished nursing the baby.  After about ten minutes, Grant said, "Where's Jackson?"  Well, I thought, hmmm, he has been uncharacteristically quiet, so I went to find him.  Grant & I searched all over the house calling his name.  He finally ran out into the upstairs hallway and announced he had been hiding in my closet.  So, I said, "Okay, go get your books and get ready for nap."  He did and I put him down, then put the baby down, checked on Grant to make sure he was set for his rest time downstairs and headed to my bed for a little rest.  When I walked past my closet I saw that Jackson hadn't been hiding really, as much as unloading every pair of shoes I own into a large pile outside my closet door, as well as dumping out an entire box of nursing pads and pulling out all of my tote bags and shopping bags.  Later this evening he dumped out a large plastic bin full of baby clothes I just brought out to go through for Harrison.  He wanted to play in it, of course.  That boy only wants to sing and play and acts like he can't hear you when you ask him to do something.  He's sooo sweet, but such a challenge.  Last week I was upstairs changing the baby's diaper and when I started back downstairs, I saw that Jackson had spread all of my pots and pans up the stairs so he could make a clubhouse in the cabinet.  How funny!