Labor Day

After Ryan watched the kids all week, I thought I would give him a break for the weekend, so the kids and I took off for a long weekend at the beach. Actually, Ryan just wasn't allowed to leave Fayetteville. The family time would have been nice, but we didn't want to pass up a nice weekend at the beach, since we won't be going down again until the end of October.

Gabe spent most of his days, snoozing on the beach. I wish I could have joined him, but someone had to keep a watchful eye on the other kids. The beach didn't disappoint. We were out from sun up to sun down every day. The kids played individually as well as together, and even met some old and new friends.

On Saturday night, we headed across the street to the local Tiki Bar for some free hot dogs and music. The kids then proceeded to steal all the bean bags from some folks playing corn hole.

Fighting and arguing were minimal, and they feel asleep each night as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Just the way I like it!

I can parent 4 kids, no problem. If only every day was a day at the beach.

Oh, and Elizabeth lost a tooth at the beach, but it turns out the tooth fairy doesn't stop by our beach house. The other side of the story is that I used up the last of my cash, buying a beer at the Sand Bar.

P.S. We had breakfast the last morning at the pier. While we were strolling out over the water, the kids managed to guilt two fishermen into letting them throw their catches back into the water. The kids have no problem eating fish, but they were a bit concerned about the fish flopping around on the deck gasping for breath. Lizzy was the only one brave enough to pick up the fish and toss them back, but they all felt better about letting the fish live another day.

Look what I can do

I leave for a week long business trip, and when I come back my baby boy can do all sorts of new tricks. Gabriel can now sit all by himself. He can almost transition between sitting and laying down and back again. He get up on all fours and rocks. He can definitely roll. If you leave him alone for 2 minutes he will be halfway across the room.

He can hold his own bottle. This a huge deal for me. I can pump and give him a bottle, so that I can get dinner ready. Half the time, the kids would get bored feeding him, and would run off to play, leaving me with a screaming baby and burning food.

Another big plus is that he is now sleeping 12 hours at night.

**Except for when I go on business trips, and he gets sick which leaves Ryan waking up every two hours. Not cool when you just finish working the 3pm-midnight shift.

Now for the stats, Gabriel is 6 months old. Weighing in at 15lbs. (15th %tile) and 25.5 inches (10th %tile). He seem so much bigger to me, than Casey was at this age, but I guess he is still a small fry.

First Day of School

Here we go, another school year. Now there are two in school.

My mom always made me wear a dress the first day of school to make a good impression. I suggested that to my daughters, but they didn't agree with my recommendation. They wanted to wear their new t-shirts. They said that they looked nice and they were comfortable. I couldn't fault them on their second point. Being able to play on the playground is very important, so I figured as long as they brushed their hair and teeth it really wasn't important what they wore. In typical Ava fashion, she opted for color coordinated t-shirt, leggings and sparkle shoes. Elizabeth still prefers eclectic fashions and went for cowboy boots, a skort, and a tie shirt. It says formal, yet fun. Sometimes, I can't believe these two are sisters. Ava will weary very few of Elizabeth's hand me downs, and they only have one identical outfit. My little girls are growing up, and I fun to watch their sense of style emerge, but sad that I can't dress them up anymore. Baby boys aren't that much fun to dress.

Elizabeth was a bit reserved about her first day of school. You do have to cut her some slack because she changed schools. She found school shopping boring, other than picking out a new backpack and outfit. Last year she carried a Transformer backpack all year. This year, she picked out a WWE backpack with John Cena on it. I asked her how she knew who John Cena was and her response it that she watched wrestling with daddy. A claim that Ryan denies.

Ava couldn't have been more excited. She talked about this day for a month straight. She was in heaven during school shopping, picking out a backpack (Princesses), crayons, folders, pencils, and a new outfit for school. While she was little reserved at meet the teacher, she had no fear when I dropped her off the first day. She is the child who will show you every worksheet she completed, every picture she colored, what she did, and what everyone one else did also. The hard part isn't getting her to tell you about her day, it is getting her to stop.

I hope the girls have a good school year. I have heard great things about Ava's teacher. The school is small, 170 kids with just Kinder and 1^st. Every teacher has a full time teacher's assistant, which is great when there are about 20 in each class. They have music, art, computer, library, and gym on a weekly basis, plus lots of field trips.

Ava's 5th Birthday

Ava said she wanted a surprise party this year for her birthday. She didn't want anyone to tell her when it was her birthday. Ava has a general concept of months and days of the week, but she doesn't understand dates yet, so surprising her on her birthday wasn't too difficult. No one talked about her birthday the week prior, and we didn't wish her happy birthday day when she woke up the day of her birthday. We just sent the kids off to daycare as usual while we worked. Ryan made a crown cake this year and decorated it with berries and candy for our little princess. She secretly wishes that she could have been born into nobility.

When I picked the kids up in the afternoon, I sent the others inside and asked Ava to help me with the garbage cans. Then we came in and when she walked up the stairs everyone one yelled surprise. She was surprised and very happy. We just had a small family celebration, and Ava was quite content with cake and some presents. Little things can make her so happy.

Goodbye Old House

We are out of here. Last morning in our old house. It is sold and destined for another family now. We are off to North Carolina for an at least a couple of years. We came to this house with 2 and a babe, and we leave with 3 and a babe. I promise we will not be adding any more kids after this move. Our fish, Pinky and Sharky, went to live with some friends. Sam the dog is coming with us. Texas has been wonderful to us. Good jobs, great schools and childcare, awesome friends, fantastic weather, and gracious family nearby. We can only hope that North Carolina can match at least half the list.

Colorado Vacation

Ryan's best friend, Mark, invited us to join him and his family on a vacation in Colorado for a week in July. In addition, his wife invited her cousin and her family out as well. The result was 9 kids, 6 adults, and pure chaos for the week. Someone was always hungry, tired, in tears, whining, fighting, or upset. Alcohol for the grown-ups and snacks for the kids made it all bearable.

Despite the amount of time it took to get everyone out the door, we did get to see and do a lot on our trip.

• The kids got to play in the snow and go sledding in JULY. We reaffirmed that Elizabeth loves the snow, and Casey hates being cold.

• We took some beautiful hikes and saw lots of waterfalls. The kids even did a six miler, which is not easy at 10K ft, and the first half of the hike is all up hill. Casey was a real trooper and completed every hike under his own power.

• We saw mountain goats. Elizabeth can climb like one. She and Ryan did a little bouldering adventure.
• We took in the Breckenridge 4th of July parade and fireworks. The fireworks were pretty weak, but the kids enjoy them and all the candy they got at the parade.
• The boys toured the New Belgium Brewery.
• We also took a tour of an old mine and learned about how to pan for gold. Ava found all sorts of pretty stones, but alas no gold. We also dropped in on "Old Town Days" in Frisco to learn more about the gold rush and the mining culture.

Run, and jump, and sled and play, while Gaby Baby slept the day away. Ten week old Gabriel spent most of his vacation in the back pack or in bed, so his adorable little face was not captured in any photos.

Odd converstations

Kids will say the darnedest things, and I would hate to forget what they are so I figured it is best to record them here. These are two recent ones pertaining to death. The girls brought them up on two different and very random occasions.

While driving home from work/daycare:
Ava: Mom, when am I going to die?
Mom: Well Ava, most likely you won't die until you are a very old woman.
Ava: You mean like when I am 24?
(Personally, I am hoping she can live happy and healthy to the ripe old age of 94.)

Dropping off a movie at Redbox:
Elizabeth: Hey Mom, when Dad dies can we get a cat?
(Ryan was not so amused that he could be so easily replaced. Perhaps he shouldn't be allergic to cats.)

Midsummer night's dream

While big sister is away, Ava will play

Ryan headed off to his annual NASCAR pilgrimage over Father's Day weekend. This year's race was in Michigan. Since he was flying through Ohio to meet up with his brothers, he decided to take Elizabeth with him so she could spend the weekend with GinaMom and crew. Here on the home front when I am short a kid, I go and adopt another. Ava invited her best friend, Analiese, to a play date at the Splashpad (which is are favorite "free" place on a hot day and fantastic for taking pictures) followed by a sleepover. I swore that I wouldn't let the girls have sleepovers until they were 8, but I caved because we are moving in 3 weeks and this is Ava's one and only true friend. Of course, I had a little girl in tears at 9:30 at night asking me to call her mom, so that she could go home. Fortunately, I got her calmed down and asleep before 10pm. I knew she wouldn't have wanted to miss out on a pancake breakfast in the morning with Ava. Casey had a good old time terrorizing his sister and her friend. Gabe just stayed out of the way... what a good boy!

Before I forget about number 4

Gabriel's 4 month milestones: -rolls front to back and back to front -big grins and a hearty laugh -still wakes me up twice a night -loves the music on his swing and playing with his feet

P.S. His spots have all cleared up and he has beautiful smooth baby skin.

Schools out for summer

This girl rules the school.

Elizabeth had a great head start in schooling from last year's private Kindergarten program at her daycare. She did fantastic this year. Her biggest academic improvement was her reading. She is now reading by sounding out words she doesn't know and using context clues. In addition, she is gaining speed in her reading. She is starting to enjoy sitting down and reading to her brother and her sister, when they will actually sit still long enough to listen to her read. I will catch her at night looking at books when she should be sleeping. She is looking forward to the day when she can read the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series all by herself.

She also learned a lot socially. She learned how to deal with peer pressure when a girl in her class told her that she could only wear "girl" clothes, and that her favorite camo pants and football jersey were taboo. Elizabeth was probably the only girl in school to a wear a pink tutu and carry a Transformer backpack. Her teacher even commented on how much she looked forward to the outfits that Elizabeth put together. One day would be legwarmers with basketball shorts and a pirate t-shirt. The next would be a dress, boots, and a headband. Elizabeth is very particular about putting together "girl clothes" and "boy clothes."

Side note: All I can say is that her fashion sense is nothing like Ava's, who I think has been secretly reading Vogue. That young one is all about skinny jeans, leggings and boots, lip gloss, and doing her hair. She will now do some model pose when you take her picture. She claims that she learned it from her Aunt Andrea.

Casey joined me to watch Elizabeth's Kinder"garden" show.

Elizabeth is a social butterfly and makes friends easily. She also has a bit of sass that drives me crazy. Like the time she told me that she "isn't my maid" when I asked her to throw some papers away. She is also my child who leave her shoes and jacket in the middle of the floor and forget to brush her hair in the morning. Arrgh! I hope we can raise a nice young lady. It is challenge as well as a pleasure to try.

He gots the spots

What does Gabriel have?

a) Chicken pox

b) Eczema

c) Impetigo

or d) no one really knows so we will treat him for all of the above.

Any way you slice it, the poor little guy isn't very happy.

The youngest man

There have been some requests for updates on Gabriel.

Currently, his favorite activity is to talk to and play with his feet. If there is a blanket on his feet, it makes the game even better. The crazy things that entertain you when you are 3 months old. I love this little guy.

Our new home (before)

Hopefully, our new home on June 15th. 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2200 sq ft, 3/4 acre, and backs up to the elementary school. Here are the pictures to document the "before." We will be moving in July, so give us a little time to post the "after." Everyone is getting excited for the move, but we are also very sad to leave our great TX friends behind.

1963 Bi-level home w/ carport

Master bedroom World's smallest master bath Living RoomKitchen (I'm a big fan of the wall paper) Family room Kid's bedroom (others are similar) Guest BathKid's bath Backyard

Mutton Bustin'

The girls pre-Mutton Bustin'

Elizabeth- post Mutton Bustin' She broke her arm up near the shoulder. It is a place that they can't cast, so she is in a sling with an ace bandage wrapped around her body to immobilize her arm. It was one hell of a ride! She is such a champ.

Ramblin' Man

Casey has graduated from speech therapy. He is now solidly in the normal range for speech (pronunciation), as well as expressive and receptive language skills. A big thanks to Crystal, his therapist, for working with him two days a week for the last 18 months.