May: Part 1

When we got back from Disneyland, our crazy continued, just staying a little closer to home. The kids were finishing their school years, starting spring Tball, and we try to get outside as much as possible. We have quite a few home projects in the works this year, which means we jumped right back into the busy that we love.

One of the first days after he got back to school, Carter came home with 2 books that he had read at school! For Montessori, they have letter boards that they use to show that they know the letters, then sound boards for the letter sounds. After they have completed these to the satisfaction of their teacher, they can move onto the beginning BOB books. I knew Carter was working on some tricky letters and was really interested in reading (we have been doing a lot of pre-reading activities at home, but I was surprised at how fast he jumped into it at school! His major accomplishment earned after-school ice cream for the whole family...so we were all quite appreciative. I'm super proud of this almost-5 year old and all the things he is learning and doing to get ready for Kindergarten in the fall.

My major accomplishment for the week was much smaller. 3 days after getting home and realizing that the kids beds smelled a little musty, adding in a week of clothes and the travel clothes, and having a couple sick kid incidents, I finished my 21st load of laundry, got it all folded, and put away. This meant that the kids could have their library back, and I earned an ice cream break. Sometimes the glamour of a big family is just too much to handle :).

We spent the week gathering materials and figuring out our plan for a full weekend of house projects. We are currently working on an extended patio, a new (and big) retaining wall in the back yard to flatten out our slope, painting the main floor living room, dining room, and kitchen, and redoing the floors/baseboards/furniture in the main floor rooms. We may have bitten off more than we can chew for first time DIYers, but we are making progress slowly, and I appreciate my amazing husband more each day.

I sent this to Alex showing that the City had come and cleared our area for digging. It's hard to see, but that entire part of the yard is sloped down to ground level from about 4 feet up. We dug out that entire grass area, extended and redid the railroad tie retaining wall, and laid a new cement patio that joins with the very small pad that was already there. It's a big project, but one that will greatly increase the useability of our back yard.

Milestone moments come often in a house of four learning, growing kids, and this week saw another big one when Olivia started riding her bike with no training wheels! She is a go-getter who loves her independence, so this new skill was very important for her to learn. Her cautious desire to be in control definitely came through in a hesitance to keep her feet on the pedals, but she figured it out, and gets better every day :) Definitely a proud mom over here!

Flooring options were the topic of conversation on Friday, we like to keep it mixed around here. I love looking through the pictures and realizing all that happens in a week though, it reminds me that I am right to feel exhausted at the end of each day. We have chosen and built a very full and fun and tiring life. I wouldn't have it any other way :).

Sunday was Mother's Day, and the kids helped Alex make breakfast in bed! The older ones are getting more helpful in the kitchen, but Alex reminds me that until we don't have more babies every year, having older kids doesn't make it easier :).

The two older kids had sweet gifts that they had made at school, and Alex helped all the kids make some art for me on Saturday. I always love the little things they do for me, and Alex is a great dad who helps them realize their plans :).

We had our annual life-jacket trying party, and Makenzie was thrilled that she graduated from the orange baby jacket to the blue kid size :). She is so fun with everything she does, and she gets excited - or emphatic - about every little detail, I love hanging out with her and listening to how she sees the world.

When Hunter fell asleep for his morning nap, we started painting the living room. The kids were really helpful and stuck with it for a long time, they always love the 'dirty' projects. This time it was a lot easier to let them help because we are trashing the old baseboards and carpet, so I didn't have to protect anything except the window. It was definitely easier to handle Carter stepping in the paint tray, Makenzie sitting on her roller, and Olivia's hair in EVERYTHING because I knew that the messes were going away :).

That same afternoon, after we painted two walls, Alex rented the excavator and did our digging for the new patio and wall. It was such a fun adventure! The kids were over the moon ecstatic about the real work truck in our yard, and couldn't wait to help dad do some digging. They all stayed our watching for the first hour or so until they got a turn, then went inside except Carter, who stayed out with his snow shovel helping for about 3 hours. He was definitely in his happy place.

The next day the kids got right to work after school...lots of digging and worms and learning about root systems :)

Tuesday was Dentist Day! These kids love the dentist, and this was Hunter's first official visit. No cavities, no problems, and lots of future orthodontia discussed. No pics of Hunter because we did a lap exam, but the dentist said I should be glad that he will be one next week and only has 2 teeth...apparently it's better for teeth to be in the gums for later, but Hunter and his inability to chew the foods that everyone else gets might disagree.

In a move that is so not typical of my parenting, I gave the kids free reign in the bathroom to wash their shoes. I figured that the desire was right, so what could go wrong? The result was lots of mud, little to no clothes, and happy kids. The shoes were slightly cleaning and much more wet than when they started.

In May we started Tball with the kids. Carter was really excited, as he is with all sports. Olivia told me that she only played because she would rather run than watch Carter every time. Watching Carter at basketball but not being able to participate was really hard for her, but I think it was good practice, as Carter has been watching her dance and gymnastics for years.

The kids had a really fun, young coach who was very encouraging and sweet. She wasn't as much a taskmaster as some of the kids needed, and things often got rowdy. I think they played tag more than they played catch, but they both had a fun season and learned a little about baseball in the process :). I was happy that they could be on the same team and that Alex knew some of the other parents, so I was able to meet some of his coworkers and chat throughout the season. Beginning Tball games are quite slow (1 hr, 2 innings, everybody bats), so I was just happy that they were happy :).

These next few pictures are just of a random day when the kids were playing in the garage. It's much easier for me to keep everyone safe if I park outside and let them ride bikes/cars, etc in the garage rather than on our sloped driveway or in the street, so we welcome chalk and other outside activities into the garage. Hunter was the first one who decided to go out, I caught him halfway down the stairs on his way out to play. Hunter has an open door radar that is extremely effective. Whether its an outside door, an open craft cupboard, or (best of all) the fridge is open, Hunter is on his way crawling as fast as he can to get to it.

Makenzie drew her first person...me! She was so adorable, making sure to give me a head, hair, eyes, a body, and 11 feet. She told me about all my parts and was quite specific. I wish I knew what I needed 11 feet for, but she wouldn't tell me :).

The huge mud pit in the back yard was a favorite place for all the kids, but Hunter especially. Every time I would let him go out, he would play forever and eat a little before I made him come back inside. It helped that it rained for 3 days straight after we finished the digging, so the whole thing was quite slushy.

On May 19th, I went with Olivia on her FFA field trip. It was cowboy day at school, and when Olivia dresses up, the other kids desperately want to dress up as well. I was happy to oblige to the best of my ability, and we found everyone some form of jeans and a button down shirt. It takes a lot to get Olivia into practical clothes, so she made sure that her jeans were a skirt and her shirt was tied up to look 'like a rodeo princess'.

We were in the midst of planning Hunter's 1st birthday party, and getting ready for Alex's parents to come visit, so that morning I started Hunter's cake. It was so hard for me to grapple with the fact that this would be my last smash cake. Every first that Hunter has is also a last for us, and some hit us more than others. It will be hard to not have a baby, even if Hunter acts like the baby of the family forever.

The field trip to the high school to learn from the FFA students was a huge success, until about 5 minutes after this picture when Olivia got stung by a bee. The bee flew inside her boot before it stung her, so it took me a while to figure out what had happened. Luckily, Olivia is very tough and doesn't love to miss out on things, so she recovered quickly and lived to brag about her battle wounds on the way back.

While she and I were at the field trip (and Alex was home with the other kid), Mary and Gary arrived! I was so happy that they were able to come, since I didn't expect them so soon after our Disney trip. It was nice to have a reason to make Hunter's birthday special and decorate. I will write about our fun family birthday weekend next post!