1st day 2nd day...what's the difference?

We took some pictures of Jacob again this morning...since you know who, did you know what...Second time was a charm. Jacob had a great morning and day at school. I did not have to work technically so I was able to pick him up. That is the hard part about being a working mom. I don't get to pick him up when he gets out half-day. But today I did and I hold on to those bright smiles I see when they see I am there.

When we picked up Joshua, he looked a little sad. With his lip quivering he told me that Paul was not his friend anymore and he would show me why when we left. I took him in the hall to get the scoop incase I needed to talk to the afterschool assistants. You know me, why wait until tomorrow to open up a can of whoop-ass. It turns out to be a funny story. Each day I learn how sensitive my rough, tough, muscular boy is. He was upset because Paul made him sit in the swing with bird poop and it got on his shirt. I told him boys always tease and trick each other and hopefully he will not let it ruin a friendship because good friends are hard to come by. I mean really, do you know how many piles of bird poop Chris made me sit in...and we're still friends.

Have a fun, safe Labor Day Weekend. I'll be welcoming my students back on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing them again.

Jacob's turn

Did you ever notice how there are millions of pictures and video of the first child, and less and less of the following children. Well, today Jacob started school. I'd love to show you a picture of him. But he is not the first child so I don't have one. Before you hang me on the cross with nails, I DID take one, two actually. Auntie Chris DELETED them before I got them on my computer!! Can you believe that? And she calls herself an Auntie. We may have to revisit that...

So it was a bit of a rough morning. Let's just say that after they peeled him off me, I called Jim to see if we could homeschool him and then called Kellie, his babysitter since birth, to see if she would homeschool him. But, being a teacher for many years and a mom of a boy who have two years of tough starts, I know that they are fine when they are in class. Jacob was picked up by Kellie with a glowing smile on his face. He is so articulate and shared his day and worries, told all about the story they read and I think he will be ok tomorrow.

It was the sweetest moment though this morning especially when you have brothers that can annoy the heck out of one another. Before Jacob even started crying, Joshua was already teared up, "Mom, I'm worried about Jacob in school". When I picked him up this afternoon the first thing he did was ask Jacob how school was. I think he was relieved that he had a good day. I love those moments.

1st Day of 2nd grade

Joshua started school today and he did great. He went to the before school program with 2 years under his belt and I was on my way. He was excited to see his friends. He was a little upset at me when I picked him up a little later than he asked me to from the afterschool program but all was forgiven quickly. He resumed his routine of ravishing anything left in his snack/lunch bags and rested a bit when he got home. It is so great that he has more confidence and comfort. Tonight he went to bed after a leg massage (the poor kid gets growing pains) ready for the next day ahead. Tomorrow Jacob will join us. Oh man, my little babies are growing boys.

Time for another baby!!! If only...my husband just won't budge :)

Busy Busy

Being the last weekend before entering the Real World again, I wanted to do some fun family things. On Saturday we went to the beach. We brought blankets, four wheelers, sunscreen and the intention to just hang out near the water. The sky was a beautiful blue with not even a puffy white cloud in it. There was a nice breeze which makes you forget you're burning. When we got there the tide was out and then started coming in after a few hours. We just moved our blanket back a bit, got some lunch and then headed back to our blanket. The waves were much bigger and fun for the boys. Jacob, however, is not much of a wave boy (Jim quickly put him down when his teeth fell out of his mouth and Jacob was met with a wavel.) so he hung out mostly in the sand with his four wheelers. It was relaxing and I don't think there was one fight while we were there.


On Sunday Jeffrey went to play paintball and the rest of us headed to some new trails in Alton where they were having a mudbog. Not quite as exciting as the one Jim played in but it was still fun. We did a little riding but not too much. Jim's machine is still not fixed since his mud bogging so he was on the back of mine. I offered to sit on the back but he said I could chauffer. Jacob has also been sick so he was getting tired easy. He loves that he has a fourwheeler of his own now (Joshua's old one) but we can tell he misses being Daddy's co-pilot. I think the next time we go we will go somewhere where he can ride with Jim for a change.

This week marks the start of school for all of us. The boys are ready.


School supplies Check

Backpacks Check

Sneakers Check

Haircuts Check

Clothes............(We'll save the picture for the 1st day of school)...Check

Jeffrey starts on Tues., Joshua starts on Wed. and Jacob starts on Thursday.

What a great few days we had! We took our time on Tuesday, not rushing to get ready. I knew we would have Auntie up early on her birthday since we were going to StoryLand so I let her sleep until 10. On our way up we stopped at the Basin for a little break. We walked around a bit and took a few pictures. It was a bit too muddy on the trails from all the rain that has fallen this summer. Then I dragged everyone to one of my old neighborhoods. Places sure look a lot smaller now than they did when I was 5. We stopped to get some new flowers to bring to the cemetary but I couldn't decide on any, I'm not quite ready to get the fall colors yet. We went to visit anyway. I can't believe it has already been that long. It will soon be one year that I found out my dad was first sick and in no time it will be a year that he died. It is still very hard for me and even though things weren't great in his last years, I remember the years when they were. He and I had a special relationship and in the end he and I knew it and the rest was forgotten.

StoryLand was a fun day. It is a cute little place based on Mother Goose tales. Sadly, the boys don't really know any of them to realize the pigs and goats were not just cute animals and what the Old Woman in the Shoe was about. It's kinda like Disney. They don't watch Mickey or many Disney movies to know many of the characters if we went. To them it would all be about the rides. I remember when we brought Jeffrey and he was not impressed at all with the surroundings. It was nothing like the commercial where the kids pass the gates and are frozen still with amazement. All he wanted was the rides. I remember thinking we could have saved a few thousand dollars and just went to Canobie Lake Park for $25 a whack. I did learn that we need to model some patience for the kids in that some things are worth waiting for. Joshua did not want to wait in any lines. If there was a line it was not worth waiting for. We live in such a fast society that we always keep moving forward and we need to rmember that sometimes you need to slow down and wait to enjoy things.

We saw a special friend on the way home too. She must be popular because everyone stopped to see her.

Happy Birthday Chris and Christian

Auntie is such a good sport. We are going to Maine for a few days and she will be spending her birthday at StoryLand on Wednesday. Yippee!!!

She shares her birthday with our nephew, cousin Christian. He is turning three.

Here is a little Happy Birthday Video for Christian. (We'll sing to Auntie in person)

What have we been up to?

It's been a few days. But sometimes our life seem boring, mundane and not worth reading about. Each day I am greeted by Jacob saying, "Mommy, what can we do today?" He greets his babysitter the same way. I don't always feel like doing 'things' especially if we've had a busy day the day before. Like today. Yesterday we went to York's Wild Animal Kingdom, then to the beach and dinner. Got home @10 pm and today I'm still in my PJ's doing overtime for what didn't get done yesterday.

Auntie has been wanting to go to a zoo and we had hoped to this summer but it hasn't happened yet so I asked Jim if he wanted to go to York's. It's no zoo but they do call it one. We had a fun day. Jim told the boys they could have whatever they wanted, which to them meant soda and gift shop. We went to the gift shop and guess what Jacob picked, a nice reminder of our day with the monkeys, ducks and other animals, a four wheeler and trailer. That's our boy! Thank goodness the piece of plastic crap only cost $8, unheard of from a gift shop. It was fun, but certainly not something we would probably do again. One time is enough.

After we headed to York Beach. We got there and it was about 5, so not crowded, and really low tide. It was great. We have been there several times but never caught it this low. It is a great little beach and Jim and the boys searched for their usual crabs in the rocks. They did find a starfish, the first real one the boys have seen. Next to Patrick Star that is.

I think the school shopping is pretty much under control. Joshua is going to be a tough one I can already tell. We went to 6 shoe stores and two online sites before he picked a pair of sneakers. I think it was more so difficult for him because he had to pick one pair. He is used to having 5-6 pairs. I told him he needed to love the ones he picked because we have on two occasions had him have to have shoes that he didn't end up really wanting to wear. He has always been a shoe guy since he was a baby wearing everyone's shoes at the door. Last night at the restaurant we were seated near a corner and they had Elvis sitting in a chair with a guitar. Joshua was across the table and said, "Jacob, can you move? I want to see his boots." He cracks me up. A couple of times I have asked him, "Who was the girl sitting next to you in the class picture?" to which his answer was "What shoes was she wearing?"