Halloween Fun

So as the week built up to Halloween the boys were excited but still a little nervous. I bought glow sticks so they wouldn't be afraid of the dark. I offered to take them for a walk so they could see our neighbors houses in the daylight. Costumes were ready. Finally Halloween arrived. It is 6:30am still pitch black out. Patrick is already requesting to go to the neighbors house across the street. I say sure, if they are home. He immediately opens our shutters and looks across the street for any light on. We come home from church. The questions begin - is it time yet?? no. After nap. Is it time yet? no we still need to eat. Finally it is 5:25pm and it is time to start to get layered up. We snap a few pictures in the front yard and the kids cooperated fairly well. They already ditched their masks so they could see ok. We went to the neighbors across the street before Trick or Treat began so we didn't have to try and cross with the extra Halloween traffic of imports coming from other cities. We come back after a nice visit and we light the glow sticks. The kids are running around the yard. Is it time yet? Tommy goes back inside claiming he is already cold. The wind was brutal. Finally it is time. We start at the house across from us. Then we go down the street one house with lights on at a time. When the kids were nervous we just skipped the house. Patrick had no fear on most houses and was first in line. Tommy was usually last and near the end the bag was so heavy that I was carrying it along with the masks. We made our way back up to our house. With bags full of goodies and cold hands. The boys are excited to see Matt again and to begin their duty of shouting out and inviting anyone and everyone to our house for candy. Patrick and Tommy immediately wanted to go in the house to warm up and start eating the candy. After I checked their bags they had a few pieces. It is tradition for the fire trucks / ambulance / or police cars to come around the neighborhood with candy for the kids. John and James announced that the fire truck was making its way down our street. I got Tommy and Patrick bundled up again and we waited on our tree lawn for the truck to come. Finally I realized it was our mayor and a fire fighter on the bumper of the truck with a sucker. The boys all got a good look at the truck and a sucker. The truck left and Tommy was very disappointed. He was crying and crying as he went into the house. Apparently he thought a ride came along with the candy. Sorry buddy that is not the case. We got in our jammies and watched Scared Shrekless for the 10th time in 24 hours and the boys were off to bed with sweet candy filled dreams. The highlight of my night was when John said "I never thought it would be so much fun!"

When it rains it pours

The stomach flu has hit our house this week. It was one of those things where you hope it was just one child and maybe yourself out of sympathy and that was enough suffering. Turns out we were not so lucky. Yesterday after dinner, Tommy became the next victim and then later in the evening it was Patrick. Right now John and Matt are the lucky ones and hopefully with them not being around it as much as I have they will escape this nasty bug. Yesterday I was lucky enough to clean more of Tommy's room in preparation for my parents visit next Monday. When Patrick went down ill, I pulled down a cot mattress and made Tommy's room a medical ward that way I didn't have to keep running up and down the stairs if Patrick got sick again. Needless to say it was not a restful night for me. It was nice that we did not have to be anywhere so I could rest on the couch and then get up to take care of things here and there. I would like to think we are almost out of the woods but I'm not so sure. Tommy hasn't had much of an appetite and I think James' appetite is coming back.

Yesterday John came home from school with a big grin on his face. You would think he won the lottery or something. Turns out he did in a way as he lost another tooth. I'm so glad a few more are starting to drop because it front teeth are looking a little funny and they need the two next to them to grow in so they can be pushed closer together. I'm not sure if John is OCD or just very detail oriented. He made not to us this morning that the tooth fairy put the dollar bill in the top right corner and not in the center like normal. Also the dollar was folded differently than before. I told him it must have been a substitute. I'm also thinking this under the pillow thing is for the birds and he should leave his tooth out on the kitchen table so we don't have to worry about such details.

Good Times Good Times

Yes I am quickly realizing that I no longer have little babies but little boys who don't even think twice about jumping into mud puddles when they are playing a soccer game. Boys that start playing a pickup football game not caring about falling on the wet ground therefore having wet muddy knees and muddy coat. Boys who really want to buy a school lunch and apparently did one day without my knowing - lucky for him the cashier was not the normal one who would question why he wasn't buying milk like he has done several days in a row. Boys who tell me they know their penis is "the best part" (don't ask me how they know this) but would still like it cut off so they don't get pee on their leg or on their toes. Boys who like to ask a question and then constantly follow it up with "why?" Boys constantly telling me they need a snack. Boys who think we can just go see Dancing With the Stars like its in Downtown Cleveland.

At least the boys are still little enough to think its fun to dance together or give their mommy kisses and tell her that they love her. At least they still little enough to sit on my lap and warm up under a blanket. Yes - these are good times!

School Memories

Last week was a great week for the kids with school. James did not complain once about going to school and John came home with school work that made me laugh. Tuesday John came home with a paper that was testing their comprehension of a story. Apparently the story had something to do with rules and following them. The last question was to think of rules you have at home and list one of them. John's response was "Do not use bad words". The very next day John had a paper that had a list of words that had the ending -all. You had to fill in the blanks with these words. When John gets something wrong I look at it to see if I can explain what went wrong and also to see if I can understand his thinking. He got two sentences wrong. The first sentence that was wrong that I looked at was "That man had a lot of ________" John selected the words balls. At this point I'm laughing hard on the inside then I look up to see the word he should have used. The correct answer was gall. I knew he didn't know what gall meant. When I asked him, he said - Mom, "That man has a lot of ball" doesn't make sense, I don't get it. I said the correct answer is gall. He said I didn't know what that meant, I thought it was a fish (like seagull). Now I understand why he put gall in the sentence "That man kicked the ______ in the net". Part of me wants to know what the teacher thought when she read his paper especially how John wrote not to use bad words at home the day before.

Having Fun

I don't know who is enjoying Patrick being in school more - me or him. It has been so nice to have just Tommy around. What is really great is Tommy is not at all clinging to me like I thought he would. He is a happy little guy playing by himself and using his imagination. Just like I figured he doesn't complain when I want to go to a store to look.

Patrick seems like he is enjoying school. I think he likes interacting with the other children. Because of school he seems to have fun playing with other children when we go to parks and is not shy.

I know he LOVES playing on his soccer team. Yesterday when we were walking to his game he was skipping down the street singing and being happy in his super large soccer uniform. It was so cute to watch. He is doing very well too. He hasn't scored a goal on his own where he kicks it in. He kicked a ball last night and another girl on his team pushed it in the goal with her hands. Either way he skips back to the middle of the field to get ready to play again.

Letting go

Tomorrow is a big day in our house. Patrick will be starting 3 year old preschool. It's hard to believe his social and school career is starting. Patrick is very much happy about being a big kid. He has been asking "When is it my turn to start school/" just about every day for the last two weeks. We met his teachers and dropped off supplies on Tuesday. The teacher had the kids listen to a story about going to preschool. It was so fun to observe Patrick sitting and listening to someone else read a story and answer their questions.

This weekend we watched movies of when James and Patrick were babies just learning to either crawl or walk. It seems like a lifetime ago when they were babies. I have very much enjoyed this new stage in our lives without strollers and 3 different sizes of diapers in the diaper bags. A little of me is sad too. Thank goodness Tommy still loves to cuddle with me.

Tommy will have some adjusting to do. I'm pretty sure he thinks he and Patrick are twins and whatever Patrick gets to do, so does Tommy. It will be nice having some time with just Tommy to run errands and hopefully do a few fun things before the weather gets cold. When I go out with just Patrick and Tommy now it feels like they are my 2nd family with John and James being my 1st family.

We are now letting go of summer and beginning Fall. I am now wondering if the jeans I have fit everyone not only in the waist but in length too. Oh yea and do I have enough. I love shorts - have enough of them and I don't have to worry about length!

Summer is winding down

It is hard to believe we will be meeting John's teacher tonight and dropping off his school supplies. The 8 weeks of swimming lessons went by so fast. I don't think I ever had the feeling like we have been doing this forever - maybe because this year I did not have to get a stroller out of the trunk! John passed to level 4 in swimming and James and Patrick know how to swim the front float and some back float. They both are not afraid of jumping in the water. Tommy isn't either and he hasn't been to a lesson yet.

Last week John and James went to Bible School. They enjoyed it very much. As always the closing concert on Friday evening was jammed pack with family members watching their loved ones sing songs they learned from the week. I'm actually enjoying the post concert as we continue to play the CD in the car. I hear both boys sing the songs.

This being the last week of summer, I've jammed pack the week with fun for one last time. Monday we went to the Farmpark and Captains game at night. Tuesday James had bus safety class at school and in the evening I took them to Cleveland Browns Training Camp. They seemed to enjoy watching it. I was a little disappointed we couldn't be a little closer to the action. We ran into two areas of heavy traffic and that delayed us. Not to mention I needed to stop and put gas in the car and then we needed a potty break at a gas station. We finally parked the car and walked down the street to the practice field. I can't believe Tommy never complained because I know I was walking fast trying to get to the practice. He was probably happy to be out of the car after being in it for over an hour. Yesterday I took the boys to the Zoo in the morning and the Lake County Fair last night. They enjoyed looking at most of what the fair had to offer. Patrick did not appreciate getting to close to the cows that were laying down. They did like the caged birds - turkey and chicken. Of course they loved the rides. We were lucky one ride worker was in a generous mood because he let the boys ride 2 rides for free (without giving up our tickets) The last ride was very cool. It was a line of trucks linked together like a train. The lady let the kids ride for 3 or 4 minutes. They all wanted to do a fast pitch game which I nixed because I didn't want to blow all the $ I brought with me. Today was "get ready for school" day. The boys got haircuts, we bought jeans for John and James, and everyone got tennis shoes. They probably can start the school year in their old shoes but the store had buy one get one half off and then I had a 20% coupon to use on top of it. So I got 4 pairs of tennis shoes for $60. James talked me into some non-tying shoes which then led to John getting some non-tying shoes. They have elastic shoe laces. Both promised to continue to practice tying shoe laces. James' are pretty cool as they are Star Wars. John used to not untie his shoes half the time so I figured might as well be able to get the non-tying ones too. I'm not sure what is on tap for tomorrow in the morning. I am thinking Penitentiary Glen and then in the evening we have another Captains game.

Our Fall is going to be another busy sports filled time. James and Patrick are in soccer. Both have enjoyed practices so far. They should be starting games in 2 weeks. John is going to play Fall Baseball. Games so far look to be Saturday mornings. He will play double headers. First game at 9am and the next at 11am. I hope he doesn't get too burned out but he has had a month off. I'm not sure how long they will play. I'm guessing maybe to the beginning of Oct? That will put a wrinkle into their leisurely Saturday mornings.

Patrick will start school the Tuesday after Labor Day. I think he is anxious to go and see his classroom. They moved the location of the preschool to be in the same building as the K-8 kids. I'm anxious to see how drop off will go. I just got the bus schedules for John and James and they moved up their pick up time by 3 minutes. I'm definitely going to have to have my act together 3 days a week.