Picture(s) of the (last few) Week(s) - September 29

Time seems pretty elusive for our family these days. I always had these visions that things would slow down once the kids slept through the night, once they could all feed themselves, once they were potty trained, once they started school, etc, etc. Somehow, it doesn't seem to work that way! Life is full and busy, which is wonderful. Writing will always take a back seat to actually enjoying and participating in the lives of my husband and kids. So I'm sorry for the sporadic posts ... but really I'm not because it means my presence is required somewhere else! I'll keep writing whenever I get a chance because I love it, but I'm not making any promises. Who knows, maybe things will slow down one day ... though I seriously doubt it!

Here are some pictures of our last few weeks. The kids are growing like the proverbial weeds that they are and sometime I have to take notice of their littleness because I can see it dissipating right before my eyes. I've heard they go into kindergarten babies and come out as genuine big kids, so we'll see! For now, they are still enjoying life, school, and everything that new days have to offer. My family is awesome and I'm the luckiest girl alive to have been entrusted with them.

Happy almost October to everyone ... it's my favorite month!

Picture of the Week - September 15

Sweet faces staying up late on a Friday night ...

Talking Points

•  I have still not adjusted to school day mornings. You would think after three weeks at it that I would have it down, but I don't. I feel like we're running crazy from the moment we wake up until drop off at school. I know that the remedy to this is just to get up earlier, but I take umbrage with that solution. You see, I like sleep. I'd love to get eight hours plus every night, but that rarely happens anymore. Also, I'm a night person. I enjoy my time after the kids are in bed when I can just lay like a sloth on the couch. The easy solution would be to go to bed earlier so I could get up earlier, but that would cut into my sloth time. So, instead, I run around like a crazy woman for an hour every morning until I can finally breathe once the kids hop out of the car.

• The car line. Ohhhhhh, the lovely car line. I spend a lot of time in the car these days since we're at two different schools that have two different drop off and pick up times. I know most normal people have to deal with this, but I got nice and used to all my kids being in the same school at the same time. Preschool drop off and pick up is old hat, but it's taking me a while to learn the nuances of elementary school car rider rules. After waiting way too much for Luke's liking the first few weeks, we have officially become "that family" that is the very last one to pick up their kids at school. We time it to get there right as the line is petering out and we have to wait all of two minutes. In the end, it means Luke and I don't have to wait half an hour in the car and we end up getting home maybe five or ten minutes later that if we had waited an eternity in the car line. WIN.

• My kids are becoming greedy little money grubbers and are asking for an allowance. We always tell them that if they want something, they can use their money to buy it. The problem is, they don't have any money to buy anything. They get some money from Christmas and birthdays, but we thought we should give them the opportunity to earn some small monetary compensation for doing jobs around the house. I've thought about all different ways to do allowance and I think we've settled on what will work best for us. We have certain everyday chores that are expected (make bed, put clothes in hamper, brush teeth, pick up room, etc). These chores are unpaid and we even reserve the right to take money from your piggy bank if you don't do them. Yeah, we're that mean. Then we are going to have a set of rotating chores that the kids will do every day (feed dog, wipe down bathroom sinks, use the shark vacuum under the table, etc.). These chores are expected as well, but they can earn a bit of money for performing them. Finally, we're going to have extra chores. These are chores that are beyond normal duties that the kids can choose to do if they want to earn extra money. Overall, we have it structured so that they can only earn up to about $1.50 a week, which they think is A FORTUNE! WOW MOM, SIX QUARTERS! We kept the amount small because they're just 5 years old and I want them to learn the skill of saving up for something. Most of the toys or items they covet are in the $15-$20 range, so they'd have to save for a couple of months to get something in that price range. If anyone else has allowance ideas/suggestions, I'm all ears. This is still definitely a work in progress for us.

• Soccer season has officially started and we are spending two nights a week at the soccer field. I determine what program we participate in based on how many nights it will require us to be out of the house. I am just not ready for four nights a week of practices and then all day Saturdays at various athletic fields. I'm holding off for a few more years. Luckily, the organization the kids are playing for this fall has both the boys playing on one night and the girls on another. PLUS, they practice and then play a game all on the same night! I still get my sanity and we still get our Saturdays (for now).

So what about everyone else? Anything on your mind this Thursday? I'm hoping I get myself in gear and in school mode before the month of September is over. If not, I have a feeling it's going to be a looooong year.

Picture of the Week - September 8

This is how you get a ball obsessed dog to stay still during his bath ...

The Last First Day

And the last one finally started school!

I know I'm biased, but he really is the cutest preschooler ever.

Blessing Bags

We are settling into the semblance of a routine with our new school schedule around here. Truthfully, I think it is more of an adjustment for me than it is for the kindergarteners! They have adjusted nicely and don't seem too tired at the end of a full day of school. We have been trying to get to bed early to handle the earlier wake up time and that seems to be working so far! Luke and I have been enjoying our days alone, but he is at a bit of a loss with the removal of all of his instant playmates. Preschool starts this week so I know that he'll be glad to get back into a school routine as well. He's officially the big man on campus in preschool in the Pre-K class this year!

Recently we took the time to make blessing bags to put in our car. I was inspired by this blog on Marriage Confessions. It all started one day when Adah walked into the family room with this sign ...

Ok, I'll admit that at first I laughed because it's hilarious. "I am Hugey"??? It was pretty funny. But I knew what she was trying to write, "I am Hungry." We often see people standing at intersections with signs about how they are hungry, penniless or homeless and the kids always ask what the signs say. We talk about how some people aren't as fortunate as us and may not have enough money or resources to buy food, clothes, or housing. Their response?? They always, always want to help.

Well, after Adah's episode I decided to make good on my promise to help the people that we see. We headed out to assemble blessing bags to offer these individuals. We shopped for and assembled bags containing things like soap, toothpaste/brush, non-perishable food items, and so on. Each of the kids also drew a picture and/or wrote a note to put inside each bag. They had fun putting them all together one afternoon.

So far, we've given away two of our four bags. The kids love to give them away and it's been nice to teach them a lesson in service in a physical way. Inherently, I think that kids are helpers, and these bags have been a tangible way for them to feel like they are helping someone else. Anything I can use to teach our kids the qualities of empathy, compassion, and love is definitely a positive in my book!

Picture of the Week - September 1

Enjoying a perfect Friday afternoon on campus ...