Excuses

Everyone has been asking about the blog...I know, I've been TERRIBLE this summer!  Sigh.  I just can't seem to get it together.

Since everyone loves excuses, here is a list of excuses for why I haven't been blogging regularly:

1.  I'm pregnant.  (18 weeks...almost 1/2 way!!)  I'm pregnant and I can't think a complete thought...putting that thought into writing?  Next to impossible.  I have pregnancy induced dementia.  For example, the other day, the kids and I were driving to the grocery store.  I was NOT thinking about what I was doing, and I missed the turn.  So, I turned the car around.  I immediately started thinking of something else and missed the turn AGAIN!  I would not have even realized it if Aidan hadn't said something.  I've also taken wrong turns on the way to church twice in the last week.  Church is less than 5 minutes from my house.  So, I'll be doing good to finish this post and remember how to get it published correctly.

2.  Both of my kids are home all day every day.  I LOVE having my kids home, but if I don't keep them entertained they will do one of three things:  a) Eat every bit of food in the house  b) Fight   c) Make a gigantic mess.  So, needless to say, I do my best to keep them entertained.

3.  My husband is only working half days.  One might think this would make it EASIER for me to get things done, but no.  I need a routine.  I have my days planned out, and on my schedule, Mark gets home at 4 or 5, not 1:30.  It totally messes me up.

4.  Laundry.  Does this even need an explanation?  Could someone please explain to my children that you can wear the same clothes AFTER you go swimming that you were wearing before?  And, if you want to pretend to be super heroes, you do not have to ACTUALLY change clothes while spinning around.  If God had told Eve that eating that fruit would ultimately lead to load after load of laundry I am SURE she wouldn't have done it.  Fortunately, Mark took up the laundry cause yesterday...he decided he was going to wash every piece of dirty clothing in the house so it would ALL be clean at once.  I just smiled...I didn't bother to explain that this is an impossible task, because our kids won't stop wearing clothes!  He'll figure it out soon enough.  In the meantime, I'll update my blog while he chips away at the laundry.

5. Dishes.  (sigh)

6. Our computer is a dinosaur.  I'm not kidding.  It takes 7 minutes to open one email.  If all goes as planned, we will be getting a new one this summer, thanks to my awesome hard working husband.

7.  We are getting ready for a long trip.  Because of my PID (pregnancy induced dementia) this is really taking up all my mental energy.  I usually have a great system for trip preparation, but I can't seem to concentrate long enough to work on it.  So, I just think about it, walk around the house a few times trying to decide what to do first, and then sit back down.  It is exhausting.

8.  I am trying to keep 2 kids (I guess, 3 now), 2 cats, 1 dog, 1 bird and 1 husband alive.  They must all be fed, groomed and played with regularly.

9.  A realtor is coming to the house on Thursday to discuss the possibility of listing our house.  That means, I feel compelled to clean the whole house...and not just "stuff it all in the closet" clean, but really clean and organize everything...which takes twice as long because of the aforementioned PID.

10.  It's summer...and I'm lazy.

Enough excuses though...I promise to try to do better.  Maybe while on vacation, I'll have more time.  Ha!

In other news...we find out the gender of the baby on July 18th.  Yea!  My morning sickness is almost completely gone, although it still rears its ugly head on occasion.

Please don't hate me, but we will be going to Colorado VERY soon.  Colorado!  The place that boasted a cool 56 degrees last week...on the same day that it was 105 here!  If you need me, I'll be sitting on a deck looking out at a stunning mountain view and reading a good book.  Please don't hate me.  :-)

Sweet Summer Time List

I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been with my sweet babies around the clock, enjoying some summertime fun.  I love summer, and I love having Aidan home.

I've got a few minutes while Aidan complains about putting his laundry away, so I thought I'd make a list of what's been going on around here.

1.  Ella has been coming up with some very creative names for her toy animals lately.  Two of my favorites of late are, "Phantom Button-Head" and "French Apple Princess."

2.  Nothing says summer quite like a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers picked by my sweet boy on a walk one evening.

3.  We're having a big garage sale tomorrow.  I've been feeling claustrophobic lately, especially with the baby coming.  I don't know how we're going to fit.  We're changing the family room into more of a playroom, so we're getting rid of our big, more formal looking furniture.  Someone, please buy it, so I don't have to move it anymore.  

4. Speaking of the baby, we are now 15, almost 16 weeks along.  The morning sickness is pretty much gone, except for an occasional episode when I'm really tired or really hungry.  I go to the doctor on Tuesday for a check up and I'm going to try to sweet talk her into doing the anatomy sonogram BEFORE we go to Colorado instead of after.  So, if I get my way, we should know if the baby is a boy or girl in the next 3 weeks or so.  

5. We have been swimming almost every day this week.  In fact, I think one day we went 4 times in less than 24 hours.  Ella LOVES swimming this year.  Which is nice, because she's been kind of difficult to take swimming in the past.  Hopefully, we can get her some swimming lessons this summer.  

6.  It's hot.  Very, very hot.  And, it's only June.  July and August aren't looking so good.  I don't think I'll come back from Colorado until October.  Do you think my in-laws would mind?  Pregnancy + 100 degree temps= a very miserable mommy.

7.  It looks like our next crop of peaches will be ready before our vacation.  That's good news, because last year, someone picked them clean while we were gone.  I haven't gotten over it yet.

8.  In addition to Colorado, we're also going to the beach this year.  I am super excited about that.  If we can work it out, we're going to try to get in a trip to Sea World also.  Did I mention that I LOVE summer?

9.  Oh, and we have been playing with Legos this summer.  Okay, not so much "we" as Aidan...and his friends.  These are some pictures that we took of their creations the other night.  They are hoping we can get them published in the Lego magazine.

10.  We're trying to find lots of free and "cool" things to do this summer.  The Saginaw Library is doing their reading program again.  If you sign up, you get a free pass to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.  And, if you read 5 books, you get a free circus ticket.  Plus, you can go watch their story book theater every Wednesday, if you can stand all the rude parents that sit in the back and talk so that no one can hear.  Our school district is serving free lunch, regardless of income, to all kids under 18 all summer...so if you're really desperate to get out of the house...there's always that.  The movie theater is showing $1 movies on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10 am.  What are you doing this summer that is free or cheap??

Three Year Olds and Logic

Sometimes, if I'm desperate, I try to use logic on my 3 year old.  It never works.

Ella has had this problem lately that has Mark and I at our wits' end.  She is refusing to wear a pull-up at night, and she is not consistently dry through the night yet.  We make her put the pull-up on, but sometime in the night, she takes it off.  We're not sure if she's doing this while asleep or awake.  It is a fight every night just to get her to put one on.  She says they itch.  We've tried everything we can think of to get her to put one on and keep it on through the night.  We've had very little success.

So, last night, I thought I would appeal to reason.  If I could just use the right words...say the right thing, she would understand the need for her pull up and happily wear one, right?  Hmmm...not so much.

As she was getting dressed and throwing a fit about wearing a pull up (and after a long time out) I said, "Ella, I need you to be mommy's big helper.  When you don't wear your pull-up I have to wash the sheets, and dry the sheets and put them back on your bed and that's a lot of work for mommy.  So, don't you want to be a big helper and wear your pull-up for mommy?"

"I do!  I do want to be your big helper mommy.  I will help you."

"You will?  You're going to wear your pull up and be my big helper?"

"No.  I'll put the sheets in the washing machine for you, like a big girl."

Ugh.  Thank goodness she's cute.

My Big Helper

This Boy

I'll start by saying that I should be cleaning my kitchen right now.  But, I cleaned it yesterday...yesterday when I was running fever, and had a sore throat, and nauseous...I cleaned it anyway.  And today?  Well, today it is a disaster already.  Someone must be messing it up in the middle of the night.  Maybe one night when I'm up for the 300th time to use the restroom, I'll catch who's doing it.

But, enough complaining...the real reason for this post is to brag on this boy:

This boy, is now a Bear Cub in cub scouts.  How is that possible?  Wasn't it last week that I was buying that tiger cub uniform?  He has learned so much from cub scouts, and worked so hard on all of his achievements.  You can't see them in this picture, but he has 4 silver arrow points and one gold arrow point for doing electives on his own from his wolf cub handbook.  He also earned the Texas Badge and the Leave No Trace Badge this year.  We are so proud of him.

This boy, LOVES field day.  He won the first round of the 50 yard dash.  He ran his little heart out, and gave it all he had.  He never slowed down to look back like he did in 1st grade.  He just ran, and I was so proud of him for trying so hard.

This boy, is a 3rd grader now (as of tomorrow).  Wasn't it just a minute ago that I wrote this post about 

Aidan starting 1st grade?  He grew so much in 2nd grade.  Doing his best started to matter to him.  We went from having to study spelling words every night, to never having to study them, because he would memorize them on his own at school.  He started doing his best to write neatly.  He has stopped trying to read fast, and started reading with expression.  (He asks me many times while he's reading, "am I reading with expression?)  He's aced everything that's come his way.  He points out waxing crescent moons and cumulonimbus clouds.  He does double digit multiplication...in his head.  He received a trophy for being a star student...only 2 are awarded per class.  He also made A honor roll and received a good citizenship award.  He's learned so much, and we are so proud of him.  

I love this boy, and I can't believe how fast he's growing.  Each little milestone is a mix of joy and agony for me.  I am so happy for how he is growing and all that he is getting to experience...and aching inside because it is all going so fast.  This boy is my pride and joy.  I love him to pieces.  What a blessing he has been to his mommy.  This boy is one of the best gifts I've ever received (and quite possibly a huge part of the reason why I have to now go clean the kitchen, again!)

I love you Aidan!  Congratulations on another great year!

Love,

Mommy