Do you know why I’m hiding from you? She whimpers from her perch on the stairs. It’s because I think you don’t want me anymore. Her body starts shaking with sobs. I guide her back to her bed and assure her that there is nothing in the world that could ever make me not want her. I lay next to her and play with her hair, reminding her how much I love her as her tears come under control and her eyes start to get heavy.

I’m going to be honest, we are having a rough week. C is absolutely loving school and everything about it, but it is a difficult adjustment to going back to sitting still, doing work, and following instructions every moment of the day. By the time she gets home from school she is exhausted, and by the time I get home from work we still have to make it through dinner before unwinding. I’m getting them to bed on time, and even a little early, but we are dealing with some pretty major meltdowns. For the most part, I’ve been riding them out, knowing their root cause isn’t malice or spite, but rather incredible fatigue. In a week or so, they should even out as we settle into our new routine. Until then, we could all do with a little extra grace.

I am just so happy that we have a long weekend to look forward to. We are all going to need it!

After a long day of being a first grader, sometimes you just need to crawl in bed and cuddle with your baby brother.

I’m sitting here staring at a pile of papers a quarter inch thick that I have to go through- PTA membership forms, volunteer interest forms, Codes of Conduct and such. I like filling out paperwork. It’s a strange quirk, but I enjoy it.

C did amazing this morning. She got up and got dressed. She hurried downstairs for breakfast. She filled her little pencil case with pencils and trinkets to take to school. She put on her shoes and hurried outside to sneak in a few minutes of riding on her scooter before the bus came. Last year she was nervous and excited, this year she was just excited. She insisted that our new neighbor girl sit with her on the bus because she didn’t want the little girl to be scared. She tried to grab her hand as the bus pulled up, but they got separated in the shuffle, however once they were all on board, they settled into the same seat together, smiling and waving out the window.

She was tired this evening, which I expected, so we took it easy and spent time reading and playing. The boys missed her terribly today and both of them wanted her attention this evening. When she is tired, she does not volunteer information, but I was able to learn more about her teacher, which friends she saw, where they went for recess, and that she had a good day.

Her backpack was heavy, teaming with paperwork, her lunchbox, and her newest library book. The lunchbox held most of the lunch I had packed for her still intact, proof she talked more than she ate during lunch today. She undoubtably had a lot of catching up to do with her friends.

All in all, I would say the first day of school was a success!

Her lunch is packed. Her backpack is ready. Her new dress is laid out. And this little girl is fast asleep in her bed. Tonight is the night before the first day of school.

She’s ready, man she’s ready. She told me the other day that the summer went by very slowly, which made me sigh a sigh of relief, because it flew by for me. She was excited tonight as she crawled into bed. And even thought of only knowing one other kid in her class did not seem to shake her.

If anyone has butterflies in their tummy tonight, it is me!

But she’s got this. She’s good.

And as the bus pulls away tomorrow morning I will be praying that she will be the same kind of kid that she was in kindergarten- the kind of kid that looks out for the other kids, even though she is the youngest. The kind of kid that makes friends with the outcasts and the lonely kids. The kind of kid that stands her ground to defend what’s right. Because that’s who she is and I love her even more for it!

So good luck tomorrow, C. Mommy and Daddy are rooting for you! We love you and we know you are going to have an amazing day!!!

Sometimes you just need some cousin time!

Even though we live literally three doors down from Tim’s sister and family, we actually barely saw them all summer! Our schedules never really seemed to coincide- we’d be away for a weekend and the next one they would be. But finally this morning we got some much needed cousin time. Baby E has been wandering over to their door several times a week eager to play with Baby Bekah and today he got to, so he was pretty happy! They usually like to annoy each other, but today they played very well together and it was adorable. The big kids enjoyed their cousins as well! Nothing beats family… and having them so close is the best!

It’s official, my girl is six!!

I’m not going to get all blubbery on here and sob about the good old days… I’ll leave that for Tim when he gets home from work!

We had an amazing day, though. We started off swimming with some friends this morning.

C was a champ in the pool, while Big E played on the steps. He did let me take him out into the water a few times, but swimming isn’t really his thing as he is afraid he is going to drain (i.e. sink.) Baby E spent a little time in the pool, but he was much more interested in playing with the water table and shooting himself in the face with a water gun.

At lunch time we ate, and then we had cake and Rebecca gave C her birthday present.

C has been begging Ms. Rebecca for months for an Easy Bake Oven for her birthday. (Seriously, I think she started asking back in March.) So she was pretty excited to open up her gift and find one!

Seriously, this was the highlight of her day and she couldn’t stop talking about it. She kept asking when we were getting home so she could make us something. I told her she would be in charge of dessert this evening.

After the pool, it was time to head to C’s school for the “Peek at your Seat” day, an opportunity for her to meet her teacher and see her classroom for this upcoming school year. So far, we love her teacher. There is only one kid in her class that was in her class last year, so she is going to have to make some new friends. Thankfully the girl assigned to the seat next to her was a friend she met in aftercare.

I’m really excited about this upcoming year. I can’t believe that next year we will have two in school! 

I had to fill out some after care paper work, which turned into some great daddy-daughter lego time.

After that, daddy went to work and we headed to Rita’s!

Seriously, we had so much sugar today. (Ugh!)

We drove through burger king, (because we had already made such great culinary choices already!!) and headed for the boys. Once we got them we got home and C started on dessert!

She did the whole thing, with just a little bit of help from me. I have to say, Easy Bake Ovens have gotten pretty industrial since we were kids. I never had one growing up, but I remember people talking about them and how they were pretty much just a lightbulb and it would take forever for anything to actually cook. Well, this thing is much more like an actual oven. It takes 20 minutes to preheat and then actually gets pretty hot. The cookies took 12 minutes to bake. When they came out, she got to decorated them and then we all gobbled them all up. She was pretty proud that she could help out this evening.

After that it was bedtime, and trust me, after all that activity, we were all ready for it!

I still can’t believe she is six! Time has really flown.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!

 

 

I had asked C to unbuckle her brother from his car seat while I unlocked the front door, but I had barely cleared the van when an unholy shrieking came from within. My adrenaline pumped as my mind ran through a list of scenarios that would warrant such a sound. Had Big E bitten her? Unlikely, as he was excited to get out of the van himself. Had the buckle somehow hurt her? Perhaps, but that scream seemed too dramatic. And suddenly Big E was screaming too, the same high pitched squeal. But by the time I had gotten back to their door, their screaming was so loud they couldn’t hear me ask what was wrong.

As C stopped to take a breath she looked towards me, but not directly at me and started screaming again. Seriously, what is going on?!?

And then I saw a brief fluttering go past my face. It was fast, but clumsy. A moth??

C screamed again as whatever it was alighted on Big E’s pants. Big E, still strapped in his car seat, begins screaming hysterically again. And to add to the commotion, Baby E pipes in as well.

So there I am, stuck inside my van with three screaming children and a flying insect holding them hostage.

I grab C and pull her out of the van, only to notice the bug has landed on my arm. Definitely not a moth. It’s dark outside, but I can tell it’s big with long legs and a triangular body. There are spots on its back. It’s legs are tickling my arm. Making sure I am completely outside my van, I shake him off praying he flutters away from the van and my hysterical children. I unbuckle Big E and usher the big kids inside as they sniffle and sob. I get Baby E, who is no worse for wear, out of the van. He babbles on and on about a bug, the cargo (the word he uses for car), Big E, and tops it all off with a screaming noise and a large smile. At least one of them was amused.

Thankfully, it would appear that my kids have survived the Great Bug Incident of 2016 relatively unscathed. 🙂 At least they come by their fear of bugs honestly. I’m not one for anything that crawls, or scurries, or flies without feathers.

*****

Tomorrow is a big day. C gets to go to school in the afternoon and meet her new teacher. School starts in just a few days and she is starting to get excited about it. It is also her sixth birthday. This evening I laid in bed next to her and rubbed her eyebrow with my thumb as she was falling asleep, just like I did with her when she was a baby. She nuzzled her head into my neck and I listened to her breathe.

And in that moment, the world was perfect.

 

“Time is a game played beautifully by children” ~Heraclitus

The first time I held this hand, it was so small. When I grasp it now I feel her strength as she wraps her fingers around my own, holding tight. She’s growing so quickly. I can’t stop it. I can’t bottle these moments, but maybe through all of these pictures I can capture the ghosts of them. There are precious few pictures of us at this age- and even fewer of our parents.

I’m very proud of the girl this little one is growing up to be. Her kind heart and her desire that everyone should feel loved is truly priceless. She loves her brothers and has taken on the role of big sister well. She’s incredibly observant and works everything out in her mind, making sense of the world around her. Her smile, with her perfect little dimple, can brighten my darkest days, and knowing that I have the love of that little girl and her brothers makes me feel like I could move mountains. She is my sweet one, my pretty girl, my bug.

And in two short days, she will turn six!

1. Why does Baby E look so surprised?

a. He just found out C’s birthday is this Friday, so that means cake!

b. He just heard the ice cream truck, and though he doesn’t eat ice cream, he does think it’s a jolly good tune.

c. He isn’t actually surprised. He is yelling at me to stop taking pictures of him.

2. Big E decided he did not like his sunglasses and he will only wear them when…

a. his head gets larger.

b. it starts to rain.

c. he wants x-ray vision.

3. Baby E is a very clumsy baby. In the past 24 hours, what has he not run into with his head?

a. a doorframe

b. a box of tools

c. the dishwasher

4. The kids wanted to play spies tonight. The spy names they gave themselves were…

a. Chrystal Spy and Catboy Transformer

b. Annie McSpygirl and Spiderman Flash

c. Emma Jean and Tyrannosaurus Pants

5. When Baby E wants more food he uses this word…

a. More!

b. Money!

c. Mama!

6. What will my children pull off of their pizza while simultaneously eating the same thing from a bag?

a. shredded cheese

b. pepperoni

c. cut up green peppers

 

So, how do you think you did? Comment with your answers and I’ll let you know tomorrow! Thanks for playing along!!