School’s Out for the Summer

 

Hopefully I won’t be regretting my decision to yank them from daycare come Monday…

A Child's Perspective

Since going to a wedding a couple weekends ago, Jacob has been pretty interested remembering "the beautiful bride." He didn't believe me when I told him that I was once a beautiful bride, so I showed him the pictures in our bedroom as proof. His reaction: ewww gross, you are kissing Daddy.
And so it begins...

Our Lame Memorial Day Weekend

Jacob was reintroduced to the Wii, created this cool dude as his character, and bowled a 203. I was questioning his throwing techniques, but it sure seems to work just fine for him!



Caleb smoked a pork shoulder. And about 17 hours after he started cooking, it was done. And about 25 hours after he started cooking, my house and my family members stopped smelling like a campfire. Did you know that proper smoking attire includes snow boots, footed pajamas, goggles, and a cheesy smile? Me neither.



Mason was feeling all shades of crummy the whole weekend with a finale of middle-of-the-night-barfing-in-bed last night. Delightful.



And Camryn worked on her smile... and keeping her smile hidden from the photogs. All smiles until the camera comes out. Good grief!

Mom fail.

Picture day at school on Friday. Totally forgot, and the boys picked out their own outfits. Oops. I can only hope that pictures happened before lunch break, or this might just be a glimpse into the finished product. Yikes!


And, seriously, for the amount of cash we fork over each week for daycare you would think that face washing would be included. Geesh!

Cousins

It is not very often that they all get together, but when they do these cousins know how to have fun. These expressions are the direct result of the farting noises we were making to get these kids to smile. Keepin’ it classy.
We were all in Iowa this past weekend and this is what went down:
Camryn went to her second wedding in as many weekends. The boys gobbled down suckers as a bribe to keep quiet in the church. I ate half a pan of brownies. I think I have a chocolate addiction. My boys—all three of them—peed in the ditch on the side of the road. Mason got lost—then found—at the wedding reception. Jacob danced—and fell in love—with the bride. Both boys were dancing fools. Jacob drove Papa’s tractor nearly the whole time we were there.The oldest three cousins went fishing. Papa caught a snake. Papa was bit by a snake. Caleb caught the whole thing on video.  A fish bit Jacob. A flying turkey almost crashed through our car windshield and landed on my lap. I almost peed my pants when said turkey almost landed in my lap. Caleb’s grandma called him chubby. We already knew this. We learned that Camryn is the noisiest sleeper in the history of sleepers. We had a blast, got hardly any sleep, and look forward to the next time we can all get together with a constant soundtrack made entirely of laughing, screaming, fighting, and crying.

Milestone

My "I'm officially a mom" moment:


Being handed my first kid-playing-sports button. Clearly not the most impressive picture, but it may just be worthy of the ol' purse strap :)

It is a fact…

That this boy could not love his sister more.

And who couldn’t love this baby’s smiling face? Chubby cheeks, double chin, crusty eyes, bent over ear and all. A horrific angle, but we finally caught that elusive smile on film!

It is a fact…

That it is 100% impossible to take a good picture when there are five kids in the shot and one of those kids is Jacob. Although I am laughing at his expressions…

Ridiculous.

Among the million post-bedtime requests tonight: Can you cut my big toenails?
Seriously? Go to bed already!

Spring has Sprung!

It's about darn time!

Not quite the picture I was looking for.

My Gramps had never been around all of his great grandchildren at the same time before, but with everyone being in town for the wedding we were able to snap a quick photo of the whole crew.

And if it weren't for his legs, you wouldn't even know that Gramps was in the shot. Laughing. And brainstorming how we will photo shop in his head...

So I don't forget.

In two months, Camryn has absolutely changed all of our lives. She is the sweetest, most adorably cute little girl we could have ever asked for. She has a mellow temperament and fusses only when she needs something. She wakes up only once (or not at all) each night. She is the apple of her big brother's eye. And Mason likes her, too! She mimics our coos, sticks her tongue out when we do, and has a contagious smile. She has found her hand, can fill her pants like no one's business, and has had her first sun tan (not so proud Mom moment. Notice her rosy cheeks in the above picture?...)

 She is growing like crazy and looks adorable in bows! Her dad can't get enough of her new baby smell. And I love to smooch on this little darlin's cheeks. Her head control is amazing. I'm pretty sure it's from continuously trying to dodge Blondie's Eskimo kisses. It's hard to believe she is already two months old. Time sure flies when you are having fun. And we really all are.

Ironic.

That we would have a bunny nest in our yard. You know, because we just love rabbits.



I imagine that these will be feasting on our flowers by the end of next week...

I almost forgot…

The belle of the ball. Asleep and sweet, per usual. I just want to gobble up those perfect little lips. Adorable!

Our Saturday Night

My cousin got married, so Caleb and his two leading ladies got all dressed up for a night out! (Happily, the boys skipped the wedding to hang with Grandma and Papa!)

Three of four generations. My mom is very elusive when it comes to pictures…

But I snagged her for this shot. I will spare the photos of her dancing. Needless to say, this grandma was having a blast!

With my brother and his wife. I’m pretty sure that Caleb and Joe went beer for beer, I ended up being the sober driver (why does that always happen to me?!) and Ashley skipped the drinking altogether because she is growing me another niece or nephew!! (And because it’s Facebook official, I can spill the beans!)

My mom and dad. They just celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary last weekend. Bliss? Looking at the red lasers aimed at each other’s noggin, it looks like they have both hired snipers to take the other out…

Just kidding about not posting any pictures of my mom dancing. HA!!

This chick is 2 months old!

And in honor of this milestone, Camryn decided she would sleep through the night! Quite possibly the best Mother's Day present ever!



And speaking of Mother's Day presents, I received a vacuum cleaner for our wood floors. The best part about the vacuum: Jacob loves using it. Bonus!

Nice try.

An evening conversation between me and Mason:

Me: Mason, did you open Camryn's bedroom door while she was napping?
Mason: Nuh-uh. Jacob did it.

Believable only if Jacob weren't several hundred miles away right now visiting his grandparents. Shaking my head. And noting this for the future.

My Mason.

This is the look of a little boy who couldn't go watch his brother's tee-ball practice.


And this is the look of a boy who, one week later, got to tag along. He's cute either way, but smiles always trump tears!

The third child...

Just doesn't get enough face time. This is for you, Grandma and Papa.








I can't even stand how cute she is!

Bullying sucks.

Especially when your child is the target. And when your sometimes introverted child comes home with battle scars on his chest from daycare and opens up to you, you listen. That was my Monday with Jacob. He was pinched--quite noticeably-- three times with plastic tongs by a classmate in school. I initially brushed it off as kids being kids. But it wasn't until our ride home that I began asking questions and the information spewed out. Alex, who attacked my child, has apparently been bullying Jacob for some time now. And it must be going under the radar because this is the first time I have ever heard of it. According to Jacob, this kid pushes him, kicks him, calls him "a little baby," and tries to make him cry. Jacob even told me that he doesn't want to go back to school because he doesn't have any friends and everyone is mean to him. Though I am sure (hoping) that is an exaggeration of the truth it breaks my heart. Jacob wouldn't tell his teacher who hurt him on Monday (why she didn't see it happen is my biggest question), and he doesn't want me to talk to his teacher about Alex. I respect my son's wishes, but I have an obligation to make sure my child is safe. I have spoken to the center director, and I discreetly spoke with his teacher. Fingers crossed that these conversations might open the eyes of those in charge so they can intercept situations before my child is hurt again (both physically and emotionally), and I really hope we can all be sneaky enough to do this without Jacob finding out as I don't want to breech his trust of me. I sure wasn't prepared to deal with this before formal schooling began, and I am now happily counting down the days to June when the boys will be taking the summer off of school.

Best. Day. Ever.

A bouquet of flowers. My favorite coffee cake for breakfast. A silly game of mad libs.
Two adorable boys who wanted to play with me at the park for a good chunk of the afternoon. Hands down the most insanely cute baby girl I have ever seen. The nicest, sunniest, warmest day of the year. A dinner cooked for me by my mom--complete with a cake, candles, and a song. And a brand new Modern Family. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!