Friday, June 29, 2012

Summer Bliss

The kids and I had a great day today!  Let's see how much I can remember of it.

I had a hard time waking up this morning, so they started out the day watching a movie or two.  When I finally got going, I started to make a batch of cream biscuits, then decided to make them into more like cinnamon rolls, with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar inside, then decided to add blueberries, too, then decided that I couldn't possibly cut up the not-very-well-rolled concoction, or it Would Not Be Pretty.  BUT!  I baked it, and put some frosting on top, and the kids started asking for more before I even got to finish mine.  So, round 2 was made and mostly devoured shortly after.

After that, I had to go on base to get a new military dependent ID.  I got to spend some time with Matthew during the day, and that was nice :)

When I got back home, Tiffany had to go to work, and Kailey was still on the computer, so I kicked her off, set the kids to cleaning up the living room, and heated up some hot dogs for lunch.  Not the best lunch in the world, and I'm really not much of a fan of hot dogs, anyway, but we need to go grocery shopping, and Tiffany had bought a couple packages yesterday, so hot dogs it was!  The kids mostly didn't eat, and were getting fussy and whiny, so I put the little ones to bed, and put in a Celtic Thunder DVD for myself the bigger ones while I blew up the swimming pool. 

Once the pool was inflated, I set it outside, turned the hose on, and set Colin, Brennan, and Kailey loose, with instructions not to drown each other.  About an hour later, Colin came inside.  I don't know what his deal was today, but he was being mean and angry for seemingly no reason, and when he came inside, he asked if he could have a turn on the computer.  I said yes, and he brought it out to the living room, and laid on the living room floor playing games for quite a while.  I watched him every now and then, and he really knows what he's doing on that thing!  I was pretty amazed at how well he's doing, even on games he JUST started playing, and got to brag to Matthew when he came home :)  After a couple hours spent on the computer and mostly alone (which may have been what he needed more than anything), Colin's attitude stayed positive for the rest of the evening.

When the little ones woke up, I brought them outside and sat with them, and ended up getting soaked by a crazy Nikolai delighting in the hose.  At that point, I got in the pool and soaked myself the rest of the way, and then sitting out there with them was a lot more bearable!  It was HOT today!

For dinner, the kids and I decided on oven barbecued chicken legs and a veggie tray (then I added some leftover baked potatoes).  A pitcher of ice cold peppermint tea was the perfect complement to a delicious meal!

After dinner, Brennan took a turn on the computer for a while, and the kids all played around (then cleaned the boys' room) while we waited for it to get dark.  I did sparklers with the kids, since we got such a big package of them from Sam's Club.  Between five kids 6 and under, there was only one minor accident, when Nikolai tried touching the top part of the metal stick right after it went out.  I had Colin get him a wet washcloth, but it wasn't that bad.  There hadn't even been a mark when I looked at it before bed, so hopefully between my screaming for him not to touch it, and the heat, he probably saved himself from worse.

Tonight's bedtime stories were a book about Independence Day, another about Molly Pitcher, a cute little story about animals building a house for the shepherd boy (new from Grammy when we visited at the beginning of the month), and we read the story of Samson.  When I put the boys to bed after that, I laid down with them for a little bit, and spent some time rubbing their backs, giving them kisses, and whispering how much I loved them.  Nikolai spent part of that time expanding his vocabulary- including finally saying his brothers' names!  Brennan was awake when he said "Brennan", and was so pleased!  I got him to say "Noni" for Colin once (what Brennan used to call Colin), though Colin was already asleep and didn't hear.  I think Niko is still having trouble with the "C" sound, but Noni works!  Just, please, call your brothers SOMETHING!  He has names for almost everyone else in the house, and even said the next door neighbor's name tonight, Naijah.  He actually said, "Naijah mom 'n' dad" and something that sounded like "Naijah mom walk", but he said walk wasn't it when I repeated it.  I was surprised at the "mom and dad" part, because he's only said "mama" and "dada" before now, and this was in relation to someone else's parents, not even Matthew and I.  It's just been funny how his vocabulary is growing so quickly now, and he's saying all these things you don't expect him to almost any time you turn around!

Tiffany and I went out to get a few groceries after the kids all went to bed, and now I'm the only one up.  It's been a while since I'm the last one in bed.  The quiet is so nice, I'm almost loathe to go to bed and miss it.  But, I know if I don't go to bed, I'll be too tired to get up with all the Wild Things when they start their rumpus.  So, bedtime it is.  I'm going to try to make tomorrow as good of a day as today was!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Springtime Summary

This spring has been crazy.  Let's see how much of it I can remember!

-Soccer was INSANITY!  I learned we are not yet ready for sports, at least not until people can put their own sports gear on.  And there is help, maybe?  Four days a week between Colin, Brennan, and Kailey was too much for me to do alone, plus dance another day, and church on Sundays.  We ended up not usually going to the SCA because I needed a break from all the other days' activities.

-Colin performed in his first dance recital.  And yes, I cried :)   He's still not sure if he wants to continue or not in the fall.  If he does, I think he'll drop the ballet and just do the tap, or possibly we'll see if they have a hip-hop class for his age.  He liked the dancing/performing aspect, but I think being the only boy in the class sometimes made him uncomfortable.  He kept complaining about one of the girls "making blinky eyes" at him!

-Nikolai, at 24 months, had a vocabulary of about 35 words.  It took me over a week to compile the list.  Finally, a couple weeks ago, he started speaking for real!  He's been adding several new words a day to his vocabulary since then, and is starting to put sentences together!

-Brennan has been doing better in most areas lately, though we're still having major trouble with potty training.  He still has his meltdown days, but it's been the opposite of what it was- good with a few bad thrown in, rather than bad with a few good.  I'm so thankful!

-Tiffany got into an accident at work, so Heather came for 6 weeks to help me with the workload.  It was lovely, as always, having her with us!  I ended up driving her home, and the boys and I spent a couple weeks visiting everyone.  I wish we could have spent more time there, and seen all the people we didn't get to see, but it was a good trip anyway, and I'm glad we got the time there that we had. 

-I fixed Nathan's old laptop!  All by myself!  With only a little internet guidance and a video tutorial to guide me!  That computer is now more of a family computer/the boys' computer.  They've been learning a lot on there.  I put their allowed sites on a bookmarks bar for them to click on what they want without needing my help, and they've been doing all their little games and videos and such on Starfall and PBS Kids.  We actually spent the rest of their Christmas money on a subscription to Starfall, they were loving it so much (and learning so much from it!)  And, I don't know whether it's been a result of their computer usage or not, but Colin has taught himself to read!  He still has a little ways to go, but last night he read about 3/4 of a Beginner Book all by himself, with only a little help from me in sounding out a few words.  I'm so proud of my little man!

-We've gotten chickens.  We had ducks.  They got given away because they were too stinky and messy.  And we totally weren't even ready for the chickens, let alone another, completely different type of barnyard fowl.

-Matthew is getting out of the Marines in September.  We're not sure what's happening after that yet, but I'm hoping to stay on the east coast.  I really love it over here, especially the weather!

-One of today's escapades: I brought the boys with me on The Great Fabric Hunt today, to get some fabric to finish a couple of the projects Grandma gave me.  Hancock's was a nightmare!  They were literally running and screaming around the store, and when I got two of them in a cart, Niko managed to climb out and on top of all the fleece!  I brought them all back out to the van, put Niko very tightly in the moby wrap, threatened the other two with the double stroller, and brought them back inside to finish.  Finished, and Niko threw a fit about getting in the carseat.  He fell asleep on the way home and slept for probably over two hours.  HA!  Take that, tired!

Anyway, that's all I can think of tonight.  Now, to put Wild Things to bed, and crash pretty soon myself!