Summer Days

The boys had a successful school year! Lots of A's on the report cards so this summer we will do our best to not lose what they learned! Baseball season has been good but rain is wreaking havoc on the schedule. I hope they get to make up some of the games but I can see the younger boys having the games not made up unfortunately. Next weekend we will travel to Cincinnati for a tournament for John's team. I am hoping all will go smoothly with the hotel, the younger kids being entertained and getting to church. Yesterday we were headed to the library Tim McGraw's song "Next 30 Years" was on the radio. John was saying "Wow I am going to be 40!" They then ask how old I will be and of course Matt. Patrick then asks how old will he be in 10 years. I said 16. Patrick moaned in disappointment. Tommy says that is cool you will get to drive! I said we will see you need to pay for car insurance have a car etc. To that John replies - I don't want to drive. I will just ride RTA my whole life. Oh that is too funny!! Time to go entertain and keep the boys busy!

Baseball Season is here!

Yes here it is Baseball Season where I run 4 kids on 3 teams to practice. John's practices have been going on since mid February so it's no big deal. The only crazy night we have is on Tuesday when they all practice. Luckily the start/end times are spread out enough that I have my sanity by the end of the night. Tommy is doing FANTASTIC! He has always been drawn to the Boston Red Sox and Big Papi so as luck would have it his team is the Red Sox. I am very impressed with his hitting and his accurate throws. We still need to work on catching the ball. Oh and his teammates need to pay attention too lol! Patrick and James are on the same team. Patrick technically should be in Tommy's league but he played enough games with James when they were short players I moved him up. I haven't had a chance to sit and watch a whole practice for their team yet so I can't say how they are doing. I worry for James not to be afraid of the ball and not to get hurt when playing. They are very happy to be in the manly man ranks by wearing athletic supporters this year. The coach suggested the players wear them and I figured it couldn't hurt. So this leads me back to a couple of years ago when I was looking for a cup for John. I had everyone with me and Patrick wanted to know why we were at Dick's Sporting Goods. I called it a penis protector as I knew he would understand what I meant because I didn't really want to have a 30 minute conversation about the whole thing. A few months later we were back for something else and Patrick says "hey I remember this place - we got a penis protector for John". So fast forward to last night Patrick needed help getting all his pants up after using the bathroom. John walks by and says "It's so small" and Patrick said "Of course because I'm small". After further review I realized all the cups were the same size. Its just the briefs or sliding shorts are different sizes. We have John's schedule and we are waiting on the others. I am hoping there are too many conflicts that I can enjoy rooting my boys on!

5 YEARS!!

Can you believe in less than 2 weeks my little boy that changed my life forever is going to be 5??!! This is the little boy that influenced this blog, that forced me to become a stay at home mom, that is my buddy for life! I found him a new brand shirt this week at our local Thrift store that was the same brand clothing I used to buy for his older brothers when they were little. I dressed him in it today and took his picture. It reminded me of how I used to take his picture ALL the time in the first two years of his life and now its for holidays, birthdays or just when we are on a fun outing. I met with his preschool teacher yesterday. Nothing she said surprised me. After all I've spent everyday of his life with him and am proud of everything he has learned. It is nice to see that he maturing into an independent little boy. I will miss having him around next school year. For now I am enjoying every day we are together. Happy Birthday Tommy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It was truly a magical Christmas this year. My parents retired this past Fall and moved back to Ohio to be close to us. It was so nice to spend time with them and not to feel rushed into enjoying every moment we were together. The boys have enjoyed numerous sleep overs and I'm sure the run of the place! My parents keep asking them back so I guess they haven't wore out their welcome! Last Friday I called the Elementary school to register Tommy. I can't believe in a little over a month he will be 5! I will miss his company and his help. Some days, like when I have a lot of errands to run, I won't miss him. It turns into a negotiation or bribery. It definitely will be different in the day and chaotic after they get off the bus. I hope I figure out how to help them all and we can still have our relaxing time. Patrick went on a field trip today. I think I have been privileged enough to accompany the boys on every field trip (Matt got to a few) they have been on. Of course I would have loved to gone to Playhouse Square to see a play. I hope he remembers about what happened. Of course he was super excited. Up at the crack of dawn. He asked me what the date was and I said the 15th! He said "It's Martin Luther King's Birthday!" After a little back in forth he said "Now we get to sing 'We Three Kings'!" I said "His last name is King - he is not a King!. " Super busy weekend coming up. James has a basketball game then we are off to Tribe Fest. I hope we can meet some of the players that will be there. We have to be back to Willowick so we can attend our church's Anniversary Dinner. Matt and I will be honored with their Stewardship Award. They like to give it out to someone in each age group. Matt was fortunate enough that we were placed in the 30's age group. We are still laughing about it! Sunday John's basketball has a team mass at 9, the kids have religion class at 10 and then John's basketball game at 1pm. Thank goodness we have Monday off to chill out. I do need to come up with a plan to keep them out of trouble!

Homework fun!

So now that we are in our 5th week of school I now know homework time is a crazy time. John and James do work independently but they need to be quizzed on various things plus I need to talk to them so I understand what is going on before "they forget". Here is how the afternoon goes. The kids get off the bus and everyone makes a mad dash for the bathroom. Some like to hunker down in there to do their "reading" and take care of other things. Patrick is one of them which delays our one on one time. I use the time to go through their folders to see what is going on in school. Then its help Patrick complete his work with James asking for help too. In the meantime I have Tommy playing on the computer or watching TV quietly. To make things fun John has a Science test this week so I am quizzing him on what he needs to know. God help us next year if Tommy needs to hunker down in a bathroom after school because I think we will be in trouble. Oh yea - something to look forward too! LOL!

School is now in session!

I really was going to blog about Back to School like 2 weeks ago and then I got pulled in another direction. John and James seem to be fine with being in the back to school mode. James is still getting used to his new teacher and "not being afraid" of her. She is tall but I don't think scary! Patrick and Kindergarten is a story of itself. My lucky go happy kid - couldn't wait for school to start - does not like school. I'm sure some of that is true - after all he is gone for around 6 hours. The first day he came home distressed his teacher left him at lunch. I also found out that it was little chaotic after his first recess so I'm sure that didn't settle well with him. When he does come home after a while he tells me about his day and I can see the sparkle in his eye he does like it. He tells me everyday how his belly hurts and he misses me. I feel like my little baby calf is being weened. Tommy is now in his first full week (3 days) of preschool. He was miserable on the day we both went to school. I think a lot of it had to do with me being there. I was his crutch. His first day on his own he had a good day. His teacher said he even talked to her. I will be interested to see how tomorrow goes -- his first show and tell. They have a letter of the week and you bring in something that starts with the letter. We decided he could take in Acorns because that is different than Apples. I've been prepping him to say 3 things - A is for Acorn. They come from Oak trees and squirrels like to eat them. Let's hope he doesn't whisper the whole thing! When I picked him up last Thursday he saw me in the hallway - he smiled but then he tried not to like he was miserable. My favorite Back to School Moment with Tommy was when he asked me if Patrick could wait for him in Kindergarten. I laughed and told him both you and Patrick are too smart to be held back 1 year! Today is September 11th and Royalview Elementary is honoring our police and firefighters. Apparently all the grades wrote a letter to the police and firefighters. John said yesterday his teacher said his letter was the best so he will represent his class to give the firefighters their notes! I'm so proud! I would love to know what he wrote but of course that happened last week and we can't remember!

A first for me!

So the kids are in Bible School this week. That means I am all by myself for 3 hours each day. The first two days I did some cleaning and today I'm trying to figure out what to do. I always thought I wouldn't miss the kids when they were in school but I do miss them. I think I miss the Tommy the most because I am so used to having him by my side. He has been so brave at drop off. Not too many tears... he just holds on to me tight. I do think he likes being a big kid when he tells me about his day at school. Over the weekend my Mom had the kids overnight on Saturday. Another first for them and us! Again it was a little weird. I kept looking in at Tommy's bed to see him sleeping. Of course he was sad when we showed up at my Mom's to pick them up. He had some more playing to do apparently! It is good to know I have one more school year before Tommy goes all day. I have lots of fun activities planned this Fall.