Well here we are again, another Halloween and our kids no nothing about carving pumpkins. Both Thayne and I HATE carving pumpkins so we decided before we even had kids that we would not do that as a tradition in our home and so far we have had no complaints or from our kids. I do think we'll probably draw faces on pumpkins or I've actually seen fake pumpkins you can buy at craft stores that are carve-able, which I wouldn't be against. But right now, Halloween is all about costumes and candy, not pumpkins, for our family.
Jaed is a ninja this year, Josie is a unicorn, and Indi is a princess. I actually bought cheerleading outfits for the girls to wear for Halloween several months ago, but yesterday we went to a store that was having a HUGE Halloween sale (BIG MISTAKE). Indi saw this beautiful purple princess dress that she grabbed and wouldn't let go of. She threw the biggest fit and was crying hysterically when I took it away. My heart was breaking....and ....well...I GAVE IN. I know, I shouldn't have but I did. I confessed to Thayne and he just laughed at me. He knows that my girls can pull my heart strings faster than anyone can.
The Law School had a big halloween bash last night for law students and their families which the kids loved. They gave the kids "evidence" bags and the kids went trick or treating at the professor's office doors. Everyone commented on how dang cute Indi was in her purple dress. A couple of times Indi would do a little twirl for them if they told her how pretty she was. Our kids left the party with very full bags of candy. Indi was even dragging her bag because it was so heavy. I asked if I could help her with it and she said, "No mommy, I help it.". So I just let her drag it along beside her. Josie was our double dipper last night. Almost at every door she would say the routine "trick or treat" and try to grab as many hand fulls as possible before she was told to stop. At first I was so embarrassed but the professors would just laugh and say, "Oh she's a hungry unicorn, it's ok!". We tried to lecture her about it but nothing worked. Jaed even reminded her several times that she better only take one this time, but she was in her own world as usual.
I'll be posting pictures of their costumes tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have great stories to tell after Trick or Treating tonight!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Like Mother like son
I need to start off telling you a little story from my past so that you can understand the gene that I have passed on to my son.
When I was in 5th grade my parents let me get a neighborhood paper route. The first couple of weeks deliverying papers was fun but then it started to get old. My neighborhood friends started tagging along on my paper route and keeping me company which was nice. Then I slowly started letting them throw the papers to the door, and even roll the papers and put the rubber bands on. Within the next couple of weeks I had several neighborhood kids rolling ALL the papers, and deliverying them for me while I played at home and waited for them to finish and report how they did. I remember giving them each a dollar for the month for helping me. This went on for sometime until my parents found out. Boy, did I get into trouble. I had to give up my paper route and got a huge lecture about doing my own job.
Well yesterday we had a "cleaning party" here at our house and I sent Jaed to his own room to pick up his toys while Thayne and I cleaned the kitchen. I heard Jaed calling for Josie and Indi and then saw the girls running up the stairs to Jaed's room. When Thayne and I finished the kitchen, I decided to check on how Jaed was doing. When I got close to Jaed's door, I heard him say, "Ok Josie, now put all my legos in this bucket here. And Indi, you pick up my dragons and put them over there." I quietly peeked inside the room and saw Jaed seating on the bed with a book in his lap and the girls where crawling all over the floor picking up the toys. I guess Jaed thought they needed a bit more motivation because he said, "If you pick up all the toys girls, I'll let you play with three legos." Indi eagerly responded, "OK!". I decided to break up the slave labor scene and walked in the room. Jaed's eyes got huge and jumped off the bed and started picking up toys. I told the girls to go see dad and Jaed and I had a little talk about doing his own job.
When I was in 5th grade my parents let me get a neighborhood paper route. The first couple of weeks deliverying papers was fun but then it started to get old. My neighborhood friends started tagging along on my paper route and keeping me company which was nice. Then I slowly started letting them throw the papers to the door, and even roll the papers and put the rubber bands on. Within the next couple of weeks I had several neighborhood kids rolling ALL the papers, and deliverying them for me while I played at home and waited for them to finish and report how they did. I remember giving them each a dollar for the month for helping me. This went on for sometime until my parents found out. Boy, did I get into trouble. I had to give up my paper route and got a huge lecture about doing my own job.
Well yesterday we had a "cleaning party" here at our house and I sent Jaed to his own room to pick up his toys while Thayne and I cleaned the kitchen. I heard Jaed calling for Josie and Indi and then saw the girls running up the stairs to Jaed's room. When Thayne and I finished the kitchen, I decided to check on how Jaed was doing. When I got close to Jaed's door, I heard him say, "Ok Josie, now put all my legos in this bucket here. And Indi, you pick up my dragons and put them over there." I quietly peeked inside the room and saw Jaed seating on the bed with a book in his lap and the girls where crawling all over the floor picking up the toys. I guess Jaed thought they needed a bit more motivation because he said, "If you pick up all the toys girls, I'll let you play with three legos." Indi eagerly responded, "OK!". I decided to break up the slave labor scene and walked in the room. Jaed's eyes got huge and jumped off the bed and started picking up toys. I told the girls to go see dad and Jaed and I had a little talk about doing his own job.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Settling in
We've been in the house almost one week now and it feels so comfortable. My dishwasher is a huge time-saver and joy! The kids are enjoying the space as well. They have caught on to the rule that food stays in the kitchen rather quickly. I was sure this was going to bea constant fight but to my amazement they have done well. I even make them go to their rooms for an hour of "quiet time" and they are doing great with that. I get to relax, blog, and answer emails while they play in their rooms.
Thayne had a second interview with a large national insurance company today. He left yesterday and will be back later tonight. He really would like to get involved with corporate law so this would be a good fit for him. It would be a summer clerkship for him and then if all goes well over the summer they will hire him full time after his final year of law school. The company is based in Illinos so that's where we would be moving if all goes well with the interview. We should know more in about two weeks.
Jaed is having troubles in school again. I am hoping that it's the move that has disruptive his life a bit and that in a couple of weeks he'll settle down and start doing well.
Josie is also having a little trouble in her two schools. The biggest complaint is the lack of interest in participating in activities. The Joy School that she's in is getting a little more formal than I had hoped for, I think. Two moms have opted out of continuing for their own personal reasons and now I'm left to decided what to do with Josie. My in-laws will pay for a preschool for her if that's what I choose but I just think she's two young to have so much structure in one week. She gets the therapy preschool twice a week and that seems to be good for her, and the Joy School was suppose to be more fun and socialization, I thought. I guess I'll have to think about it some more and decided what's best for her and me.
The kids are so excited for Halloween. Jaed is counting down the days until he can put his costume on. It's so great to see them get excited about such a simple holiday. The Law School has a huge Halloween Party for law students and their families the day before Halloween. All the professors use their offices as "trick or treat" doors and the kids go from one office to the other and ask for candy. I think they get more candy doing that then they do in our own nieghborhood on Halloween night!
Thayne had a second interview with a large national insurance company today. He left yesterday and will be back later tonight. He really would like to get involved with corporate law so this would be a good fit for him. It would be a summer clerkship for him and then if all goes well over the summer they will hire him full time after his final year of law school. The company is based in Illinos so that's where we would be moving if all goes well with the interview. We should know more in about two weeks.
Jaed is having troubles in school again. I am hoping that it's the move that has disruptive his life a bit and that in a couple of weeks he'll settle down and start doing well.
Josie is also having a little trouble in her two schools. The biggest complaint is the lack of interest in participating in activities. The Joy School that she's in is getting a little more formal than I had hoped for, I think. Two moms have opted out of continuing for their own personal reasons and now I'm left to decided what to do with Josie. My in-laws will pay for a preschool for her if that's what I choose but I just think she's two young to have so much structure in one week. She gets the therapy preschool twice a week and that seems to be good for her, and the Joy School was suppose to be more fun and socialization, I thought. I guess I'll have to think about it some more and decided what's best for her and me.
The kids are so excited for Halloween. Jaed is counting down the days until he can put his costume on. It's so great to see them get excited about such a simple holiday. The Law School has a huge Halloween Party for law students and their families the day before Halloween. All the professors use their offices as "trick or treat" doors and the kids go from one office to the other and ask for candy. I think they get more candy doing that then they do in our own nieghborhood on Halloween night!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The big MOVE!
Ok, now to blog about the move to our new house. Thayne had a fall break last week and didn't have to got to school. We took advantage of the free time and made about two or three loads of boxes, to the new house, a day. By the end of week, we had everything but furniture over at the new house. I even unpacked several of the boxes we took over to the house so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed on the weekend. I know the kids were quite confused. We'd take their toys over and then return to the apartment with nothing. Josie, especially, was upset that her toys got to stay at the new house and she didn't.
On Saturday, we rented a Uhaul and waited for church members to come over and help us out. Thank goodness some showed up (Four great guys!!!!) to help Thayne load and unload all our furniture. Two guys even offered to take their shoes off in the new house and be the ones to carry the furniture from the door to whatever room I directed them. I was amazed at how careful they were not to ding the walls. Maybe I shouldn't be, but when we moved in the past furniture got broken, walls got dinged and we just had to throw up our arms and say "Oh well!". I should say that most of those moves were done by family (siblings) volunteers which we appreciate a ton but maybe you are more careful when you don't know the family moving as well. Who knows!
The worst thing to move was my large commercial size treadmill. Thayne has made comments before that the treadmill is a huge pain to move and since I dont' use it we should sell it. I either ignore him or tell him that if he talks about selling it again I'm going to get mad. I do use it.......when I want to. Ok, so it's not everyday, but it's my treadmill that he bought me and it's my business when I use it. I have gotten in a routine and used it everyday or every other day for a while, but then something happens and I miss using it several days in a row and my routine gets all messed up. I don't know why I feel like I have to explain myself about that stupid treadmill. I guess I just need to find the perfect excuse and writing it out always seems to help! :)
After all the furniture was in the new house, Thayne and I started putting together room by room. Of course, we started with the playroom....thinking that we could get that room ready for the kids and then they would play and leave us alone. We must be really dumb. Here we are, parents of three young children, and we actually thought that they would stay in one room of a new big house and not bother us at all. Can you believe we even got frustrated when they didn't do it? They just folllowed us from room to room and tried to help as much as possible.
When we finished the girls room and I put on their new princess comforter set, Josie and Indi were in heaven. They crawled into bed and pulled the comforter up to their chin and stayed still for several minutes. Indi had graduated from a toddler bed to her first twin bed and she was even more excited than Josie, I think.
We had bought Jaed a Star Wars comforter set for his birthday and when we put it on his bed he was thrilled. He jumped around and climbed in and out of his bed several times. He was sleeping on a futon but we got him a twin bed as welll so he was so excited. That night, all three kids slept all through the night without even one little peep. It was a great night for all of us!
On Saturday, we rented a Uhaul and waited for church members to come over and help us out. Thank goodness some showed up (Four great guys!!!!) to help Thayne load and unload all our furniture. Two guys even offered to take their shoes off in the new house and be the ones to carry the furniture from the door to whatever room I directed them. I was amazed at how careful they were not to ding the walls. Maybe I shouldn't be, but when we moved in the past furniture got broken, walls got dinged and we just had to throw up our arms and say "Oh well!". I should say that most of those moves were done by family (siblings) volunteers which we appreciate a ton but maybe you are more careful when you don't know the family moving as well. Who knows!
The worst thing to move was my large commercial size treadmill. Thayne has made comments before that the treadmill is a huge pain to move and since I dont' use it we should sell it. I either ignore him or tell him that if he talks about selling it again I'm going to get mad. I do use it.......when I want to. Ok, so it's not everyday, but it's my treadmill that he bought me and it's my business when I use it. I have gotten in a routine and used it everyday or every other day for a while, but then something happens and I miss using it several days in a row and my routine gets all messed up. I don't know why I feel like I have to explain myself about that stupid treadmill. I guess I just need to find the perfect excuse and writing it out always seems to help! :)
After all the furniture was in the new house, Thayne and I started putting together room by room. Of course, we started with the playroom....thinking that we could get that room ready for the kids and then they would play and leave us alone. We must be really dumb. Here we are, parents of three young children, and we actually thought that they would stay in one room of a new big house and not bother us at all. Can you believe we even got frustrated when they didn't do it? They just folllowed us from room to room and tried to help as much as possible.
When we finished the girls room and I put on their new princess comforter set, Josie and Indi were in heaven. They crawled into bed and pulled the comforter up to their chin and stayed still for several minutes. Indi had graduated from a toddler bed to her first twin bed and she was even more excited than Josie, I think.
We had bought Jaed a Star Wars comforter set for his birthday and when we put it on his bed he was thrilled. He jumped around and climbed in and out of his bed several times. He was sleeping on a futon but we got him a twin bed as welll so he was so excited. That night, all three kids slept all through the night without even one little peep. It was a great night for all of us!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Jaed's Birthday!
Well, I'm settled and ready to blog again. I think I'll start with Jaed's birthday party. After stressing about it for a week and driving myself insane, the party day finally came and I was ready as I was going to get. We had 4 kids RSVP, and I was praying that at least those 4 didn't get sick or forget about the party. My sister flew in from Washington state the day before so she was there to make the party fun even if no one showed up. So, we had everything ready by 12:45 p.m., and the party started at 1:30 p.m. at the park right next to our apartment. At about 1:05, the phone rang and it was a father of one of kids invited to the party wondering why no one was at the park yet. I hurry and grabbed an extra invitation that I had and looked at the time I had put on it and he was right! It said "1:00 p.m.". I thought I was going to die. I knew everyone had shown up and left because we weren't there and the party would have been a flop because of me. I apologized several times to the father on the phone and told him we would be there in less than 5 minutes. My sister and I grabbed the stuff and rushed the kids to the car and we drove 200 feet to the park. We set everything up and waited to see if anyone else was going to show up. To my amazement EVERYONE that RSVP'd showed up a few minutes later than we did (except the father that called) and the party was a success. I was thrilled and was able to relax and enjoy watching Jaed have a great time. At the end of the party, Jaed said "this was the best birthday ever, Mom!". Even with my bad luck with parties, this one was a complete success.
Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end after the party. Thayne had to leave half way through the party for an oral argument he had to give at school, so he took his keys (which I grabbed rushing out the door to get to the park) and the car and left. WELL..... as we gathered things up and started towards home, I realized I had no keys to the house and Thayne wasn't going to be home for at least another hour or more. My sister suggested that we just let the kids play at the park and wait for Thayne, which we did. Josie peed her pants three times and we had no extra clothes, Jaed and Indi played in the mud, and my sister and I were starting to get cold. I finally took Josie's shirt off and made her wear it as a skirt so that I could take her wet pants and underwear off. She had a sleeveless undershirt on under her shirt, and that was it. After about an hour we walked home and waited in front of the door for another 25 minutes but no Thayne. We decided to walk to a friend's house to call Thayne and see if he was on his way home or not. We had to walk to three different friend's house to find someone home but Thayne didn't answer his phone. As we were leaving the friend's house, Thayne had called back and my friend chased me down with his cordless phone. Thayne had just finished his oral argument and was on his way home. Ten minutes later we were all in the apartment, trying to get warm and relaxing on the couch.
WOW! What a day! Even after the second half of the adventure, Jaed still thought it was the best day ever.
(Jaed and his Aunt, my sister)
Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end after the party. Thayne had to leave half way through the party for an oral argument he had to give at school, so he took his keys (which I grabbed rushing out the door to get to the park) and the car and left. WELL..... as we gathered things up and started towards home, I realized I had no keys to the house and Thayne wasn't going to be home for at least another hour or more. My sister suggested that we just let the kids play at the park and wait for Thayne, which we did. Josie peed her pants three times and we had no extra clothes, Jaed and Indi played in the mud, and my sister and I were starting to get cold. I finally took Josie's shirt off and made her wear it as a skirt so that I could take her wet pants and underwear off. She had a sleeveless undershirt on under her shirt, and that was it. After about an hour we walked home and waited in front of the door for another 25 minutes but no Thayne. We decided to walk to a friend's house to call Thayne and see if he was on his way home or not. We had to walk to three different friend's house to find someone home but Thayne didn't answer his phone. As we were leaving the friend's house, Thayne had called back and my friend chased me down with his cordless phone. Thayne had just finished his oral argument and was on his way home. Ten minutes later we were all in the apartment, trying to get warm and relaxing on the couch.
WOW! What a day! Even after the second half of the adventure, Jaed still thought it was the best day ever.
(Jaed and his Aunt, my sister)
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Keep checking in
We're in the middle of moving to the new house and my sister was in town visiting last week so I haven't had a minute to sit down and do much blogging. I'll update you all after this weekend. We should be settled in the new house and back to our routine. Keep checking back!!!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Throwing a party...
I absolutely hate throwing parties. I've thrown so many parties where only one person (or even none) show up and I"m completely embarrassed forever afterwards. Some how I seem to jinx any party I throw. I had a small birthday party for Indi and another friend who's child was turning and one person showed up, but my mom was in town so we just called it family party with friends to make me feel better. Now Jaed's birthday is right around the corner and I struggled with whether or not to throw him a party. Finally, I decided to go for it and I made really cute invitations and handed them out to all the boys in his class and a couple of good friends from church. The party is in three days and only two boys have RSVP'd. AHHHHHH!! I should be happy that at least two RSVP'd right? At least that's more than one. Well, Jaed will have fun with two or twenty friends....he doesn't care, so neither should I. I have no idea why it stresses me out so much. I guess I hate to feel "lame" and I do when the party is a flop. Maybe that's why I want several kids...then if no one shows up to a birthday party at least it's still populated with kids (all siblings) :). Maybe I"m getting crazy over nothing. I"m the worst about RSVP'ing and often times just don't do it but I still show up, so maybe there are other moms like me. My sister is coming into town tomorrow so she'll be here to make the party fun no matter who shows up. We'll be just fine....I'll keep telling myself that.
I have a friend who really wants me to throw a make-up party and I've been avoiding the topic with her for months cuz I'm scared to throw it and have NO ONE show up. That just seems so humiliating to me. I know she's gonna ask me again, and I'll probably cave in and have one but I"ll be praying the whole time that people show up. I know, it's ridiculous....but we're all allowed to have ridiculous fears, right? I have "get togethers" or scrapbook nights and am not even worried if my friends show up to those, so what is the difference between those and parties? Who knows. In my funny mind, there's a different. So maybe I should start thinking of parites as "get togethers" instead? Although, I"m horrible at trying to fool myself. It never works. I'll probably fear parties for the rest of my life, but I'll keep attempting them hoping that each one will be a HUGE success. Wish me luck!
I have a friend who really wants me to throw a make-up party and I've been avoiding the topic with her for months cuz I'm scared to throw it and have NO ONE show up. That just seems so humiliating to me. I know she's gonna ask me again, and I'll probably cave in and have one but I"ll be praying the whole time that people show up. I know, it's ridiculous....but we're all allowed to have ridiculous fears, right? I have "get togethers" or scrapbook nights and am not even worried if my friends show up to those, so what is the difference between those and parties? Who knows. In my funny mind, there's a different. So maybe I should start thinking of parites as "get togethers" instead? Although, I"m horrible at trying to fool myself. It never works. I'll probably fear parties for the rest of my life, but I'll keep attempting them hoping that each one will be a HUGE success. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Hmmm
I thought I would just post a little update of our family:
Thayne just finished one of his biggest projects for this semester so we may see him a little more until finals. He's had tons of job interviews but no catches yet. I know he's stressed about it but I know something will come around soon. He keeps telling me how much he enjoys his classes this semester and because of the more hours he's putting into studying, he's less stressed.
Jaed has been so good at school. He's gotten a penny everyday for those three skittles that he gets to buy. I can tell that he's very proud of himself as well. His teachers seem to really like him and I've heard them tell Jaed that he's a good example to the other kids. WOW!! I seriously never thought I would hear those words from one of his teachers. His teacher, last year, told us that he will ALWAYS be a difficult child for his teachers throughout his school years. Boy, was she wrong. Maybe I'll email her and brag about him :).
Josie has truly turned into a little girl. She now calls herself a "big girl" and thinks she can do anything that Jaed can do. The other day I asked Jaed and Josie to go get the table ready for dinner and I heard Jaed say, "Move, Josie, I'm the strongest and I can do it by myself!". Well that obviously made Josie mad. She said very loudly, "I'm strong too, Jaed!". Jaed informed her that girls were not strong, just boys. Josie yelled, "I'm strong Jaed, I'm strong!". Everything got quiet after that so I guess they worked it out.
Josie loves school so much. She gets pretty upset on the weekends when there is no school and even pouts about it. I haven't recieved any concerning letters from her teachers so I guess she's doing very well.
Indi has become quite the teaser. She is famous for ripping a toy out of Jaed and/or Josie's hand and running with it. And then when they tackle her to the ground and get the toy back she comes crying to me. I try and tell her that she can't take the toys away from them but within the hour she's doing it again.
I have had to assign jobs to my kids because they were fighting over who was going to do what. For example, when we leave the house, Indi is incharge of making sure the TV is off. If Jaed or Josie move towards the TV she yells, "NO, my job!" and they quickly back off. She loves to help pick up things too. She is really a good helper for only being two. It is a pleasure, not an extra job, to let her help.
Me, well I'm just taking care of my little family and trying to mentally prepare for another baby. Somedays I'm excited about the new baby and other days I'm full of anxiety. I know that as soon as the baby is here, I'll get us on a routine that works for me and things will be okay. It's amazing that even after 3 children I"m shocked when I feel the baby move. You would think that after several kids you would be familiar with the feeling but it's not true. Everytime the baby moves, I say to myself "There really is a baby in there!". Four more months is all that's left and with the holidays coming up, I'm sure it will fly by.
Thayne just finished one of his biggest projects for this semester so we may see him a little more until finals. He's had tons of job interviews but no catches yet. I know he's stressed about it but I know something will come around soon. He keeps telling me how much he enjoys his classes this semester and because of the more hours he's putting into studying, he's less stressed.
Jaed has been so good at school. He's gotten a penny everyday for those three skittles that he gets to buy. I can tell that he's very proud of himself as well. His teachers seem to really like him and I've heard them tell Jaed that he's a good example to the other kids. WOW!! I seriously never thought I would hear those words from one of his teachers. His teacher, last year, told us that he will ALWAYS be a difficult child for his teachers throughout his school years. Boy, was she wrong. Maybe I'll email her and brag about him :).
Josie has truly turned into a little girl. She now calls herself a "big girl" and thinks she can do anything that Jaed can do. The other day I asked Jaed and Josie to go get the table ready for dinner and I heard Jaed say, "Move, Josie, I'm the strongest and I can do it by myself!". Well that obviously made Josie mad. She said very loudly, "I'm strong too, Jaed!". Jaed informed her that girls were not strong, just boys. Josie yelled, "I'm strong Jaed, I'm strong!". Everything got quiet after that so I guess they worked it out.
Josie loves school so much. She gets pretty upset on the weekends when there is no school and even pouts about it. I haven't recieved any concerning letters from her teachers so I guess she's doing very well.
Indi has become quite the teaser. She is famous for ripping a toy out of Jaed and/or Josie's hand and running with it. And then when they tackle her to the ground and get the toy back she comes crying to me. I try and tell her that she can't take the toys away from them but within the hour she's doing it again.
I have had to assign jobs to my kids because they were fighting over who was going to do what. For example, when we leave the house, Indi is incharge of making sure the TV is off. If Jaed or Josie move towards the TV she yells, "NO, my job!" and they quickly back off. She loves to help pick up things too. She is really a good helper for only being two. It is a pleasure, not an extra job, to let her help.
Me, well I'm just taking care of my little family and trying to mentally prepare for another baby. Somedays I'm excited about the new baby and other days I'm full of anxiety. I know that as soon as the baby is here, I'll get us on a routine that works for me and things will be okay. It's amazing that even after 3 children I"m shocked when I feel the baby move. You would think that after several kids you would be familiar with the feeling but it's not true. Everytime the baby moves, I say to myself "There really is a baby in there!". Four more months is all that's left and with the holidays coming up, I'm sure it will fly by.
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