Family Fun Festival

Here are some shots from last night's Family Fun Festival at Oscar's preschool.

Why my kids will be embarrased by me....

You always hear about stories of teen agers begging their parents to drop them off blocks away from the school. I’ve always wondered what these parents could have done to make their kids so embarrassed of them…. until today. I often put Jack (and Calvin and Oscar before him) up on the counter & do my kitchen chores or cook. I usually have music on. And in order to entertain the babies I dance. Like a crazy person. Seriously.

I am also guilty of breaking into song if there is a silence of longer than 1 minute (in the presence of just my kids of course). I do this un-ashamed and loudly.

The kids LOVE my dancing and singing. They are 7m, 2 ½ and 4 ½ . So my theory is that we parents act CRAZY because little kids think it is funny. We act in front of them in a way we act in front of no one else. In front of everyone else we are together, dignified, etc. We don’t show that side to our kids though because it isn’t funny.

We show them the crazy.

Is it any wonder why as they grow up they don’t want their friend to see us? They THINK we are crazy!!

Gotta Love the Tupperware cupboard....

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DOMESTIC BLISS

Thanks Mom

Last night was the perfect storm... for no sleep for me.

Darren is out of town.

Jack was up 3 times. Teeth I guess. Who knows really. He is a baby after all.

Oscar's overnight pull-up didn't make it over night so I had to change his jammies, sheets, etc.

And Calvin. Sweet Calvin was up most of the night w/ a runny nose. Apparently for him the discomfort of a runny nose is enough to cause great distress. We were up from 10-midnight the first round. At which point I drugged him.... w/ the night time cold & cough stuff. Hey - I know but you do what you have to right? Then Jack was up at 1am. Then Calvin again at 2am. Then Jack at 3am. Then about 3:30 I started to wonder if I'd been PUNKED. Or for those of you over 50... I was looking for the candid camera. At 4am when Calvin's crying woke up Jack the three of us sat on my bed & cried together. We all have weak moments right? Everyone finally fell asleep at 4:45.... until 5:30. And somewhere in the middle of this all the neighbors cats started to mate or something that sounded horrible. And I started to want to find & kill the person who invented the phrase "sleep like a baby". What does that mean? And who DOES sleep good. Not babies, not toddlers. Not mommies. Who!

Now Calvin & I are downstairs walking around in a haze of sleepiness.

So all of this is leading to me saying, "thanks mom". I know you had your share of these nights too w/ my brother & I. Each day, I have a new found respect for you.

And Here we go...

For the past 4 1/2 years I've been a stay at home mom. Now I'm starting a new phase...18 years of being a carpool mom. My oldest child started preschool this week.

For those of you who know Oscar this is a BIG deal. He is a smart, fun, energetic boy... that doesn't like change so much. This is a BIG change. My dear friend Anna told me about a book called, Llamma Llamma misses mama where the little Llamma goes to preschool. That has helped.

Logistally none of us were prepared for "school". We had to go to 4 stores to fill his preschool supply list. Yes his PRESCHOOL supply list. I'm still floored by that. We got him new clothes, new shoes & a brand new backpack. We went to "met the teacher day" & toured the school, Hilltop Christian. Here are Calvin & Oscar playing w/ another boy (the other red-head) at meet the teacher day.

One thing that was awesome about "meet the teacher day" was Oscar saw his name already all over the room. This is us looking at the birthday list & his name was under Novermber. He thought that was cool. A side note: when I got home & reviewed our pictures I noticed the HUGE Louis Vuitton bag in the shot & thought, I need to get Oscar hooked up w/ THAT family... maybe he can marry into $$. (kidding of course)
So on Oscar's first day I was all nervous about how it would go.... and it went GREAT. Thanks to lots of prayers. He went right in & did great the whole time!

He even jumped out of the mini van in the drop off line and walked in all by himself like a very big boy. And when I went in to pick him up was so excited to go back on Friday. Who is this kid & what has he done w/ my Oscar!!!

Flowers

This is what my awesome husband gave to me today. For no reason what so ever... other than that he loves me. I'm a lucky girl.

Playdate wow

So today we went to visit my friend & her 4 kids (3 boys & a girl ages 4-10) in McMinville. They live in boy heaven. There is tons of grass to run & play. There is a huge tree w/a tire swing. A giant slope of forest w/ a creek at the bottom. My boys were in heaven.

Our Vacation

We had the pleasure of going to Cannon Beach for our vacation this year & staying in my Mom & Dad's condo. We had an awesome time. Here are some of my favorite shots.

This is Darren atop the playstructure in downtown Cannon Beach... wearing Jack & sporting a mocha.


The boys playing in the water....
Oscar "milking" the pretend cow at the Tillamook factory. FFA anyone?


The view from our deck.

Calvin flying a kite.

Oscar

My monkey. Literally. This was him today... climbing our walls.

Our Play

This is what our house looks like each morning while I do my morning "chores" like dishes, etc.

Calvin plays blocks now in the kitchen becuase we've run out of playroom in our playroom. Yes those are still his jammies. Don't judge me... ☺

And this is the other boys playing . Jack is happiest when he can see Oscar. So cute.

Pureed what?

So Jack has started eating solid food. And by solid I mean watery pureed food that I make. This phase is fun but time consuming w/ all the baby food prep. Today we made banana's & avacado. Yum!

Weekend Fun

We had a great weekend. Played in our park (Overlook Park) and hung out at Jamison Park. Here are some shots. As you can see the Pearl was packed.

Here is Oscar's baywatch shot.

The boys like to run the bases at our park.

The original "Because I said so"

So tonight I was reading bed-time stories to the kids. Oscar chose the Adam & Eve story from his childrens Bible. The following conversation took place between Oscar & I after the story:

O: what was God's rule?
Me: God told Adam & Eve to NOT eat the fruit from one tree
O: why
Me: why what?
O: why couldn't they eat fruit from THAT tree
Me: It doesn't matter why. They disobeyed God by breaking his one rule.
O: buy why couldn't they eat that fruit? Was it bad for them?
Me: Because He said so.

Berries!!

So we went berry picking this morning. Me & all three kids. It went great. Here are some shots. We actually came home w/ some berries. And Oscar only had to pee once & did okay w/ the outhouse (more on that HERE).

Here are Jack & I

Here is what we all looked like... Oscar was a great picker.

And Calvin ate & ate & ate.... I was glad they didn't weight HIM before & after.

You know a good time was had by all when the 2yr old falls alseep in the car on the way home at 10 am.