My Baby is 4!

Not sure how this happened but my baby is four! Gone are the baby years, gone are the toddler years. Now we're full fledge in the preschool/grade school years. Not quite sure how I feel about all this but here we are. Don't get me wrong I like that the kids are more independent and we're able to do more things as a family but the nagging thought of what am I going to do when my baby doesn't want to cuddle with me any more is haunting me more and more each day. Lucky for me Tyler is still as much of a cuddlier as he was on day 1....he just doesn't fit in my lap quite as well.

At 4 years he's all boy. Very physical. Yet he's sensitive. Easily upset if you have a cross tone to your voice. He loves wheels, planes and Toy Story. He's working on learning letters and their sounds. He knows how to spell his name but is still working on getting it on paper. He loves bed time stories, his sister and time with his "best" mommy and daddy. He's so cuddly perfect, if you're lucky enough to have him curl up in your lap for a movie it's all you can do to stay awake. I love that boy more then word could ever describe.

For his birthday we took a ride on the Polar Express. I think the kids had a wonderful magical evening although Tyler passed on the "Hot" chocolate. Seems he only likes "warm" chocolate. Sunday evening we had a small get together with our new neighbors, my parents and some friends.

For months Tyler has been asking for a scooter, a skateboard and Eeyrore. The scooter was my attempt at talking him out of the skateboard but that obviously back fired. Eeyore was because he saw one in Kohl's he wanted and I tried to talk him out of having a fit by telling him maybe he'd get one for his birthday. I never dreamed he would remember. So yet another mommy fail. The Eeyore I could have bought for $4 dollars had I given in, cost me $20 on Amazon....lesson learned. 3 year olds cannot be deterred from what they want. Well I made sure he got everything he wanted and when the neighbors gave him a Buzz Lightyear (which he loves) he wanted to take it back because he hadn't asked for it. He's so stinking sweet I could eat him up.

Leah's 1st horse show

Leah had her 1st horse show tonight and she did pretty well. 1 first, 2 seconds and a third which made her 2nd place reserve champion in the walk division. Not bad for only having had 6 lessons so far. More importantly she enjoyed herself and got to watch some more advanced riders to get an look at what she'll get to do with lots of practice.

Just wish horses and flash photography worked a little better together because all my pictures are blurry.

 

Trick or Treat

So I'm a little behind in posting this...again

We went to Boo at the Zoo for the first time this year. It's pretty much just an excuse to get dressed up and walk around the zoo in the dark but every year it sells out so we figured we'd see what all the hoopla was about. We ending up stopping in one of the tents to see a magic show and Tyler got picked out of the crowd to go on stage. It was so cute, I was in tears. Luckily I had our handycam on me so I was able to record most of it. If I feel inspired later I'll try to post a little clip.

Fall 2010

2 down 18 to go

I had to travel for business earlier this week and before I left Sunday evening Leah's 2nd tooth was hanging by a thread. I was a bit nervous she might lose it while I was out of town and the tooth fairy wouldn't know what to do. Leah promised me if she lost it while I was gone she'd make sure the tooth fairy didn't take it just so I could see it when I got back. She kept her promised. I got home late Wednesday and about 12 hours later Leah lost her second tooth just after having her school picture taken. It's a good thing the tooth fairy was ready.

Weekend of Firsts

Leah had her first horseback riding lesson this weekend and I think she really enjoyed it. She was very business like and very eager to try everything. She's the smallest girl in her class so I have a feeling they'll end up putting her on the smallest pony most weeks but she'll be the kid that wants to ride the 17 hand gelding. Anticipating a future drama on the drive home I was telling her she should be excited that she'll get to ride the ponies because when she gets bigger she won't be able to do it anymore. Best to enjoy it while she can. I'm sure some of the big girls will be jealous...we'll see in a few weeks if my pep talk worked.
So not only did she learn to tack up a horse this weekend but she also learned to ride a bike without training wheels. We went for a ride down the street and when we came back Leah discovered the boy next door had just learned to ride and that's all the encouragement she needed to ditch her training wheels. She figured it out all on her own and was so proud of herself...I'm pretty dang proud of her too.

Family Fun Fest

Wiggle and Jiggle and Tickle Inside

Tonight while getting the kids ready for a bath Tyler told me there was a bug by the wall. Fully expecting to see an itty bitty dead midge I glanced over only to see an enormous centipede bolt under the stool I was sitting on. I admit I squealed like a little girl, jumped up and ran out the room. Not the best reaction when you're trying to teach your kids to lay off the drama. But seriously centipedes are NASTY and give me the heebeegeebees! I was trying to explain to the kids that centipedes eat spiders and since we've had so many midges from the lake this year we have a lot of spiders....and centipedes. So the kids decided if the spiders eat the flies and the centipedes eat the spiders then we should let a bunch of birds in to eat the centipedes...then we need to get some alligators to eat the birds and sharks to eat the gators and whales to eat the sharks.
We had a whale of a good time.

Milestone Almost Missed

I'm guessing/hoping it's pretty common to get to a point where a mother finds that she's lost a bit of her identity outside of being a mother, wife and employee. I not so sure how well I do any of these "jobs". I keep telling myself I need to stop making excuses and start doing something for me.
Last Friday a co-worker asked me to go out for drinks and I found myself making excuses again. I wasn't really dressed for a night out and I needed to drop off a check at the old daycare and more importantly it was Tyler's 1st day at his new preschool and I really wanted to hear all about his day and take him out for a celebration dinner. I headed home, kicking myself for making more excuses but when I got home and saw my little man's smile I realized going home was "for me". To top of the evening Leah lost her 1st tooth at dinner and I was there for it. There's no other place I would rather' have been.

New beginnings

Tyler started at his new preschool last week. After trusting CCA with the care of my children for the past 4 years and seeing what a fabulous job they did preparing Leah for grade school I was very conflicted if we were doing the right thing. Luckily the Tyler and Leah are thrilled to be in the same building and the teachers and staff are amazing.

Angel's Among US

You know anytime I go to Target or Wal-Mart with the kids I hear "I want" way more times than I care to admit. I do my best to teach the kids realistic expectations and explain that while there are lots of things we'd like there's very little we need. While Leah fully understands and buys into TV ads, Tyler hasn't really connected the dots that what he sees on TV can usually be bought at a store. A few weeks ago there was an ad for the upcoming National Air show and when Tyler saw it I could see his eye light up. The boy loves things with wheels...if they have engines all the better. Throw some wings on it and he's in heaven. So when he told me he wanted to see the planes I marked my calendar for a very special date with my little man. What better way to spend Labor day weekend then with the Blue Angels and one very excited three year old?

 

First day of First Grade

Tuesday was Leah's first day of first grade. All week she seemed excited about starting at her new school but when the morning rolled around we had a hard time convincing her to get out of bed. After a little persuasion and a reminder that she didn't have to wear a uniform she dragged herself out of bed to start the New Year. As a Family we went to the school for the flag rising and a few songs before parting ways for the day. I gave Leah a task to learn one girl's name and one boy's name. It took her four days but she has learned one boy’s name. Owen....He's in before and aftercare with Leah so they spend a lot of time together during the day....I should hope she learned his name eventually. I get the sense that his family is new to the school too. I'm sure there'll be new names and friends to follow. So far so good.

Guy's Weekend

Last weekend Scott left for a guy's weekend. While I was less than happy at the idea for him leaving the week he started classes and the last weekend of Leah's summer vacation I decided to make the most of it and took the kids to the beach. I'm proud of myself anytime I decide to take on an adventure on my own and even more proud when every thing works out. I enjoyed myself and more importantly the kids had a blast. I packed a lunch and we had a little picnic in the back of the van just to get out of the sun for a little while. After 5 hours in the sun no one got burned and no one drowned (well I did run in once to save Tyler from some big waves but he survived)....success in my book....and I got my beach vacation this year after all.

Old Man's Cave

We took the kids on a little roadie this past weekend. We visited Athens and got to catch up with a dear friend I haven't seen in 8 years or so. The next day we packed up and headed to Hocking Hills State Park for a little camping. Looking at the weather report for 30% chance of isolated thundered storms I kept asking Scott if we really wanted to risk it with 2 small children on their 1st camping adventure. He was up for it so off we went. After setting up camp and dripping in sweat we got the kids in their suits and headed to the pool. Just as we approached the pool I heard thunder and told the kids to hustle. I jumped in the pool and turned around to grab Leah when they blew the whistle to clear the pool. I dunked both kids just to get them wet and poor Scott didn't even get a chance to get in. The weather blew over and an hour or so later we headed to the pool again only to have the whistle blow again after about 15 minutes. We decided to get the camp fire started to start dinner and before we knew it rangers where making rounds to warn everyone that there was a tornado warning. Rain and even lighting and thunder are one thing to deal with while camping but tornados while stranded out in the wilderness are my biggest fear. We threw the kid in the van and headed down the hill to seek shelter at the ranger/welcome station. After the cell passed by and we confirmed that the second cell on it's way would be much weaker we headed back up for a very soggy night’s sleep (I never did eat). The next morning we got up and hiked a few short trails before deciding we weren't going to risk another night camping in the rain. While the weather definitely put a damper on my grand camping dream, the kids enjoyed themselves and we got a chance to hike the trails in solitude...which was a rare and wonderful treat.

I don't much have the patience for messing with photos right now so please excuse the order and multiple posts

The kids have never seen Jurassic Park but yet they thought it best to keep an eye out for Dinosuars

A little perspective on how big this gorge is - Hi over there...there...there...there

My Rugged Guys

Taking a little break with Phineas and Ferb gummies

Old Man's Cave II

Talk about a root system!

Roots looked like lace to me

Upper Falls

Old Man's Cave III

Yes - my eyes are closed! Thank you very much

Upper Falls - Looks like an Oasis

He came up with this photo op all on his own

Leah wanted in on the fun - Looks like Tyler may win

Old Man's Cave IV

 

Amazing how nice they can be to one another when they don't think we are looking

 

Peace Out!