Destressing at the moment

So, a few months have passed since I last posted. The summer was quite chaotic, and life is not slowing down anytime soon. I need a few moments to de-stress, so I am going to do a quick post to update what's going in in our lives.

The big announcement this summer has to do with our moving. Yes, we are moving. Bruce accepted a job about 30 minutes away and we are required to establish residency there, so next week we hope to close on our new house and move Labor Day weekend.

I have actually had a harder time with the move than I thought I would. We have lived here for 11 years. Hard not to get attached to people in 11 years. Plus, this is the only home that our children have known. In fact, Cara and Jonah did not take the news well at all. Cara said she wasn't going, and Jonah, well, we'll just say he became so upset he lost his cookies. At first, Adriana seemed okay, but that night she became a little upset when she realized that she would be leaving all of her friends behind.

Our new house is in a neighborhood with children. Right now, where we live we do not have neighbors. I have told a few people that our children may decide they actually like each other since they will have others with which to play.

Now, I am knee deep in boxes. I am trying to make the most of the time that the children are in school to get as much packing completed as possible.

So, I better go. I will update more later.

A day in the life

My brother has been involved with Revolutionary War reenactments for about 20 years. Years ago, his whole family participated, including his three kids. They are all now teenagers and hanging around campsites playing dress up is not quite their idea of fun.


Last year, Adriana's class had a character day where they chose a book and had to dress up as that character to do a presentation. When she showed me her book was about Martha Washington's mother, I made a quick phone call to my brother. He put an outfit in the mail the next day. I think she received an "A" on the report with a "great costume" comment from her teacher. Thank you, Uncle Robin!

So, Adriana was very excited when an event was being held near us and her uncle asked her to help. Since she is in fourth grade, this helped the history she has been learning to come alive. She had a great time, and I received a great workout with all the walking we did that day. Cara and Jonah went with Bruce that day to take his mother out for her birthday, so this also allowed Adriana and I to have a little one on one time.

Uncle Robin has also now helped to create a monster. She told me that she wants to go to every event that is held. Thankfully, Robin said that he only goes to about four a year now.

Whew.

That, I think we can handle.

This the same outfit that she wore last year. When she wore it last year, it went all the way to the ground.

Helping Uncle Robin with a demonstration.

She loved petting the horses that were at the event.

Let's all breathe for a moment, shall we?

Because school is out!!! (Well, for the kids anyway.) So, life has been chaotic busy lately with spring break near the end of the school year, state testing, spring sports, and the end of the school year.

Crazy, I tell you.

Just crazy.

So, let's all pause for a minute before the craziness of the summer takes over, okay? June is going to come on with a full roar in just a few days. Until then, we are going to take a few minutes to look back at our spring.

Starting here. Back in March, Bruce's younger nephew, Chip, and the very lovely Meg, were married. It was a beautiful low-country wedding on a plantation. Very romantic. Our three precious cherubs (and they were precious cherubs that day because they had been threatened within an inch of their livesencouraged to behave their best.

Here are a few pics from that day. Meg is the real photographer of the family, but she was otherwise occupied that day. So, here are a few of mine.

Cara and Jonah with their best dance moves.

Cara was relentless at trying to get Chip to dance with her.

At Bruce's other nephew's wedding a few years ago, Cara would not leave Meg alone. The fact that this time the wedding was Meg's did not deter Cara. So glad Meg loves children.

I have lamented before about the difficulty of getting three children

to stand still at the same time for a picture, haven't I?

This was about the best one of all five of us.

Jonah's first tooth

Yeah, it's been forever. I know. I'm sorry. Life sometimes gets in the way. I am officially on a break this week from school, so maybe, just maybe I can get caught up on some things.

The kids were on spring break last week, so we went to Atlanta for a few days. Had a great time, but the trip was too short and we are all tired.

While we were there, Jonah had a tooth come out for the first time. It happened right in the middle of the World of Coke. He was a little upset at one point because he said it was stuck. I looked and it was pushed back all the way in his mouth. I told him that it was time for it to come out. This was a long time coming because he has gone back and forth from being excited about losing his tooth to being upset that it was going to come out. He shed a few tears, but I think he was tired more than anything else.

Here's a couple of pictures. More about our trip and other things that we have been up to lately coming soon.

From Spring Break 2011

Just a little traumatized.

From Spring Break 2011

I'm pulling. Daddy's holding. Adriana's taking the picture.

From Spring Break 2011

Don't be horrified. I know I need a manicure desperately.

From Spring Break 2011

All better now. I think he realized he would be getting money out of this.

Jonah's school

Jonah is obsessed.

Seriously, the boy has issues.

Since he has been in school, he is obsessed with teaching his "students," his toys. Don't dare call them toys around him, though. He will quickly tell you they are students and not toys.

Somewhere around here, I have video of him with his students. If you saw the video, you would see him singing the morning song with his students, reading to them and possibly his students having rest time. You might even catch one or two in the "watching chair."

He does this every day when he comes home from school. I have learned many things that take place in his classroom just from his role playing. He even calls some of his students by his friends' names, and then I really learn what happens in the classroom and who does what.

So, the other day after we returned from Bruce's mom's house, he lined some of his students up for something new. (He has so many now that he is violating the state's adult to student ratio. Shhh, don't tell anyone.) Here is a picture. I am not going to say what they are doing, because I want you to guess.

The first person to guess correctly what his students are doing gets 100 bonus points. That's it. A bonus points and bragging rights. That counts for something, doesn't it?

Christmas

Tearing into the gifts.

The Pillow Pets were a big hit. I have to admit, they are pretty soft.

Fist pump means it's a great gift. Yeah, Uncle Chris.

Cara decided to leave her letter to Santa with our Elf on the Shelf, "Rooty," to take to Santa. Rooty was in our Nativity set, too. I know, it a little bit of conflict there. He was demonstrating that everyone kneels at Jesus.

Traditional pajama picture in front of the tree. I am not going to count how many takes this took. I finally gave up.

Okay, since I confessed the other day that the tree was still up, I figure I can finally finish with the Christmas Eve/Day posts. (The tree is down now, by the way.)

We celebrate with our mothers and one of my brothers on Christmas Eve. So, our mothers, my brother and a family friend join us for dinner and then we open presents afterwards.

The children were funny that day. They were quite anxious for everyone to get here so we could open presents. Jonah asked at one point when everyone would get there. I told him that it would be later, and he said, "that stinks." He's one smart little boy, too. The presents were scattered under the tree, but each child's presents are wrapped in paper that is just "theirs." It makes things a little easier when they are trying to "find me another." Jonah went into the living room at one point, and Bruce went to see what he was doing. Bruce found Jonah finding all his presents and stacking them in a pile so they would be ready when we started opening them.

Everyone finally gathered and we enjoyed a meal of ham and various sides. Bruce tried to talk me into making the meal simple, but I like to do a nice meal as a gift to everyone. I think the kids didn't eat much of it because of the excitement.

We started diving into the presents and Jonah was pretty funny. In the midst of it all, he said, "Christmas isn't about presents, it's about Jesus' birth." Bruce responded, "Well, then let's just take everything back." Jonah replied with a big "No!"

Cara had the best reaction to everything. Every.single.thing she opened, she would squeal with delight.

Uncle Chris's presents were big hits. Somehow, he knew exactly what the children wanted and the kids went on and on about what he gave them. They have yet to learn that Uncle Chris incorporated the help of his sister to find and buy the presents. So, Uncle Chris was the hero of the evening.

After we finished unwrapping the presents, we hung personalized ornaments and the children sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn.

It was a great Christmas, followed up by a light snow the day after. Later the next day, though, Cara came down with a fever and was sick for a few days. Now, we are patiently waiting for spring.

The Tooth Fairy has been busy.

The Tooth Fairy has been busy around here. First, Adriana lost a molar a couple of weeks ago. Then, Cara lost a bottom tooth last week. Today, when she came to the van she asked if we could go to Bruce's office to see him.

At first, I said, "no." She was giggling and I asked her why. She said she wanted to show Daddy her teeth. She smiled and her top two front teeth were out. When she left for school this morning, both of them were in there. She said one came out before lunch, and the other one came out after lunch. Needless to say, she had a little bit of trouble eating dinner tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, it's Valentine's Day and what am I doing? Okay, I'll admit it. I am taking down the Christmas tree! Yes, I said it. In my defense, all of the other decorations are down, but the tree is in our living room that we rarely use. So, out of sight, out of mind. It will be gone by the end of the day. I promise.

Until then, here are a few pics from our Valentine's night out with the kids Friday night. A local Chick Fil-A sponsored a Daddy/Daughter date night, so Bruce took the girls there for a date. They had reserved seating, table service, and activities for the guests. Reports are it was a great time.

While he had the girls on their date, Jonah and I went across the parking lot to a nearby Moe's for a date. Jonah ordered an adult meal and I ordered the kids' meal because they give you generous portions. I didn't think Jonah would be able to eat all of the nachos because he usually splits them with Cara. I was wrong. He came pretty close. That boy can eat!

Here we all are about to leave for our "dates."



I am going to be surprised if Cara gets any work done today. When she woke up this morning, she immediately asked if she was getting anything for Valentine's Day. She said everyone else has given her something, so she is waiting for something from Mama and Daddy. Greedy little thing, she is. Good thing she's cute and can get away with it.

Awards day

Just a quick brag on the Cool Kids before I finish with the Christmas posts. Yes, I am still working on Christmas posts. If you think I am behind on the blog, you should see our tree. :)

I try not to brag too much on the kids. (Okay, I do, but not too much in print.) I have to now, though. You have been warned.

Awards Day was held yesterday and the girls both were presented with certificates for the Principals' Honor Roll, which meant they made all As for the nine weeks. When Adriana found out, she was excited because she has not made all As since first grade. She has worked hard this nine weeks, and her writing assignments helped. (Kind of like another member of the family who had her rear saved plenty of times with writing assignments. But I am not naming names. Ahem.) Cara was excited, too. Then, she and Adriana started comparing their report cards numerical average by numerical average. I stopped them when they started.

I told Jonah the day before the awards that he probably would not get anything because those in the four year old/kindergarten programs can only get so much. He didn't qualify for perfect attendance because he was sick in December and missed a few days. He started saying something about Good Citizen and then said, "Oh, yeah, one day I didn't get a feather." (They get "feathers" for good behavior.) I asked him why, because this was the first he had said anything about it. He said that he was playing around in music class.

Imagine our surprise when his name was called for Good Citizen for his class. To top it off, Adriana was also named Good Citizen for her class. And, Cara, well, we'll say maybe if she could learn to keep quiet in her class, she might stand a chance. (Once again, kind of like another member of the family who will still remain nameless.)

The Polar Express

So, we had a great fun-filled Christmas making lots of memories with our family.

The day the children got out of school for Christmas break, we picked up our mothers and headed to the mountains for a surprise trip (for the children) on the Polar Express. We rode it two years ago with just the children, but we thought we would take our mothers as part of their Christmas present this year.

We had not told the children we were going, but they had pajamas on because they had pajamas and movie day at school. Perfect! Thank you, school staff for planning it that day. On the Polar Express ride, children are encouraged to wear their pajamas. We rode to Bruce's mom's where my mother was waiting on us. We had told the children we were going to Nanny's for the night, but we didn't tell them why.

Kind of a mistake.

Backfired on us.

Big time.

When we arrived at Bruce's mom's, my mother had just gotten there. We had not told the children that she would be there. Cara and Jonah were excited to see her, but Adriana knew something was up. She asked if we were going to see these holiday lights we usually go see. I told her no, and she wanted to know what was going on. I told her that she would find out soon. She started panicking and would not get out of the van. She started crying. I asked why. I told her that it was nothing to cry about. She finally asked if we were taking her to get her blood drawn for a study of siblings of diabetics. ??? (This summer, I had Adriana and Jonah scheduled for the study, but after talking to them, we canceled.) I told her no, again. She said she was scared. I finally told her and told her not to tell her siblings.

Big mistake, again.

When I walked into Nanny's house, Jonah was crying and saying he didn't want to go on the Polar Express. ???, once again. All he has talked about since we went the last time was riding on the Polar Express. He goes around the house, singing, "Hot Chocolate" during Christmas time.

When that happened, the thought occurred to me that he probably does not really remember the ride (he was 3 at the time) like he thinks, but he associates the movie with the ride. If you have seen the movie, you know the movie can be kind of, uhm, strange at times.

I finally had to tell him the ride was not like the movie and the train would not have a hobo on top, nor did a lot of things happen like in the movie. He finally calmed down. On the ride up, he even started getting excited.

We were nervous for a few days before the trip because the weather was getting very cold and snow/sleet was being predicted for that area. They did get snow, but the weather warmed up and the roads were clear.

The best thing was snow was on the ground while we took the ride.

On the ride, you are served hot chocolate and hear the story of the Polar Express. We arrived at the North Pole and picked up Santa Claus. On the ride back, we sang Christmas carols.

We had a great time on the ride. Afterwards, we spent the night in a chalet in the mountains that we had rented. The next morning, we had the best breakfast I think I have ever eaten at a restaurant. It was definitely Southern, and they had enough variety for everyone. They had continental offerings, plenty of wonderful fruit, and all the great fattening offerings, too. We left very satisfied.

Here are some pictures from that weekend:

All aboard!

Starting the ride

On the way to the North Pole.

Everyone enjoyed the hot chocolate.

Dancing in the aisles.

Reading along to the story.

Christmas at the Cool House

I am going to write more about Christmas in another post within the next day or so, but I will write now that we had a great Christmas. As Jonah said on more than one occasion, "Christmas isn't about presents. It's about Jesus being born."

With that in mind, we were able to slow down a little and enjoy Jesus' birthday. The morning of of Christmas, the children waited patiently before tearing off to the tree while Cara had breakfast to bring up her blood sugar. That gave Bruce a great opportunity to read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke before the craziness started back up.

Later in the day, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and the children blew out candles on little cakes.