Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fall is here!

Last week Fall arrived. Our front tree has already a few leaves turning beautiful colors and the kids were dying to jump into them. We finished decorating the outside of the house. We bought some corn stalk from our church. Sunday was so beautiful weather wise. We enjoyed a long family walk. Patrick and Tommy did there share of walking too. We brought the backup - now THE - double stroller along so if they both wanted a ride they could. I gave my friend my really good double stroller and one of the cribs on Sunday. She is having her second baby in a year so she could use some extra help!

I'm trying to come up with ideas of things I could do with the boys during the cold days. We have been hitting the parks where they have animals inside. I know of Playground World in Chesterland that has open play time. The Wickliffe Library has a fun play kids section. Tonight for fun we did a craft project together then I printed out pages they could color. We could of course go to the mall - but I don't know if I can handle it being a weekly trip - although they would get their exercise. I might have to check out those places that have the inflatable stuff. It costs money - that is the only downfall - free is so much better - especially when I have 3 kids to pay for. I just wish there was a place the kids can go and run - not hurt anything. That is the mall and we could walk too but I'm sure the people at Disney will get sick of us just like the guy at Target who works the Wii section.

I'm nervous in some respects about James and the fact he doesn't know how to write really well at all. I haven't taken the time because of the little ones and when it is just us - I'm working or he doesn't want to do it. I'm going to have to make a point to try and work with him in the mornings he doesn't have school - I guess I could have the other two color or something. I just think I will lose it if and when they start coloring something other than the paper.

John had an awesome interim report. I now know what his reading level is. I guess after Kindergarten he was at 1.5 and now he is at 2.2. This week he has alot of tricky words to spell. I am having him practice every night just like last week (even though last week was easier). In fact right now they are all watching Letter Factory. James can learn how to right and John can refresh on his phonics. I'm excited I am going to be in John's classroom two times next month helping the teacher and kids.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Patrick the hat trick!

So Patrick has become so obsessed with Wii that he has now cut his nap time in half. I think I finally convinced James that he now has to give Patrick a turn. James has let him do things and now has to admit Patrick is good. He enjoy the golf the most. He gets very excited. But then John comes home and if everyone takes a turn - Patrick gets impatient after one person goes. This turns to screaming and tantrums. Patrick is very quick to start another game without giving up the remote. I'm sure its a trick his brothers taught him. We have 3 remotes. I told Matt we will probably need to become a 4 remote family now. Pretty soon Tommy will need one without batteries as the tv remote won't do.

James completed his first full week of school. He seems to enjoy it very much. I always enjoy hearing what he does in class. I think he is still shy and doesn't interact with the kids. I'm sure by the end of the year he will be a little more social.

I signed Patrick and Tommy up for an exercise class and today was the first class. There were my 2 and another boy. The teacher let us try the class today and decided we can continue for the 4 weeks. I hope she will keep it going through the winter because it gives us a new place to go and have fun. It reminds me a lot of dancing to the Wiggles - only with different songs. Patrick really did well and Tommy did pretty good too. At times they both would get shy. I think because the music was loud they got a little afraid.

John continues to do well in school. He is reading great although I'm a little nervous he isn't comprehending what he is reading. I test him here and there about the book. His handwriting is really neat. I couldn't believe how he took such care with each letter when I saw him do his homework this week.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

The back to school germs have arrived

John started coughing late last week and on Monday James started to develop a stye. As of yesterday Tommy and Patrick started sneezing and coughing. We are washing hands and wiping noses at a furious pace here. I took James to the doctors yesterday. He prescribed him an ointment to help get the infection out. The pharmacy didn't have it in stock so in the mean time I stepped up the hot compress this time using a tea bag. This has helped tremendously. The gunk has come out - mostly. It is still a little swollen. I'll be anxious to see how the ointment works. I plan to pick it up after dinner.

John is still liking school. We are trying to figure out how John can learn to open up a carton of milk himself without waiting for someone to help him. I have sent an email to his teacher hoping this can happen. I'm trying to find small cartons of milk so we can practice at home - I haven't found any at the regular supermarket - maybe the convenient stores might have them.

We decided last week to replace our storm door. Nothing was terribly wrong with the one we had but I was hoping to get one that has all glass and a retractable screen. Lowe's put them on sale for Labor Day and I was sold. We had Lowe's install it. They came yesterday and it looks wonderful. Then today I was thinking that I would like to decorate the front of the house really cute for fall so the weeds wouldn't look cute. I went out and bought 5 and then 8 more bags of black mulch. The boys did their best to help but they weren't much of help until they helped collect the weeds. James actually was a help by handing me the different rakes when I needed them. I mulched the front and then the side of the house to where the porch starts. The boys play in the one area by the big oak trees so I'm thinking of leaving that alone - after all they would be digging up mulch instead of dirt. We'll see. I know we would need a lot of bags to cover that area and I'm not even thinking about covering under the bushes.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Back to school part 2

Well today was James' 1st day of preschool. He did very well walking in without a fuss. I think he knew in his mind he is ready and excited about getting to do big boy stuff. I felt bad for the first time kids and parents who had a tougher time. I had the video camera on but forgot to hit record on the way in so I got some footage of James by his locker. It would help if he grew another inch or two so you can tell it is him! I did get video of him coming out - although I have yet to watch it! His favorite part was playing on the playground and snack! No surprise there! Patrick kept asking when was John coming home - I said don't you mean James??

Patrick was ready to walk in to school too when the doors were open. He is mentally ready - just not physically. Although at times he is good at potty training and other times he doesn't say anything.

John continues to do well in school. He is reading really well at night. I'm glad the teacher sends home a note weekly with what they did in school. I didn't realize I was supposed to be going over math with him - adding 0's and 1's. That is another thing we will need to squeeze in. Maybe after dinner while the kids are playing he will want to go over it. I feel bad because I know he needs time to run around too but we need to review this stuff. It will help once the weather starts getting colder. We had to brainstorm yesterday for his writing unit. For every subject he had to come up with 3 ideas. Most of them he did come up with. The subject "Pets" was a little tricky seeing we do don't have any. I think what is ironic the only pets names we came up with is for Dogs and John isn't one to go pet a dog! I like Sad Times - his first thoughts - when you yell at me for which I rephrased - when I get in trouble!

I just realized last night that Tommy has had something happen to him at least once a week. Three weeks ago it was his bloody lip, last week the bee sting and umbrella to the face courtesy of Patrick. This week we had 2 falls in the same morning. The 2nd fall left a really nice goose bump on his head. It is slowly going down now. Of course he has his scrapes too from falling on bricks that line our flower beds and a bloody nose. The youngsters latest thing is to climb the fence and the banister for the steps on the porch. Matt calls him a daredevil - I call him trying to keep up! The poor kid last night woke up screaming and just rubbing his back didn't settle him so I picked him up until he stopped and then laid him back down. He was fine and then it started all over again. Matt tried to comfort him as well. When I heard him breathing hard I got back out of bed. We gave him some goldfish pretzels (as his peanut butter sandwich for lunch and supper became an option for him) and some water. After that he fell back to sleep. He is getting more molars but it really seemed like a nightmare to me. Matt said he was ok with Matt being in the room with him but once Matt tried to leave he started to cry hard.

The younger boys enjoy waving to every bus that goes by our house. Sometimes they even wave to people on motorcycles. I'm glad they wave back.