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!!

This morning Tim took the big kids to church with him. Baby E’s fever is long gone, and his spots are minimal, but I didn’t want to freak out any nursery workers so I opted to keep him home with me this morning. I heard Tim and the kids leave, the door closing behind them while we were both still in the kitchen. I was straightening up from breakfast and doing the dishes. After a few moments I thought, “Wow, it’s so quiet in this house right now!” Wait, not quiet. Silent? That doesn’t seem right. 

I looked up from the sink only to realize I was standing alone in the kitchen. Where is Baby E?  I called his name but he didn’t answer. So I dried my hands and walked towards our living room. As I rounded the corner by the sink I got hit with a wave of warm air. Strange! The ac is on. Why is it hot? It’s almost like the door is… OH MY GOODNESS THE DOOR IS WIDE OPEN!!! 

I ran to the front door in time to see Baby E sneaking down the outside step and onto the sidewalk!!

Apparently Big E was the last to walk out the door, and when he closed the door behind him it didn’t latch. A gust of wind must have opened it and Baby E couldn’t resist the temptation to explore.

Needless to say I rushed over and scooped him up, disregarding his protests and carried his flailing little body inside, firmly latching and locking the door behind us.

I want daddy!!!! She screamed for the thirtieth time as we drove along. Her breathing was short and shallow between each new wail and with each outburst my patience got a little thinner.

We had just spent the past hour and a half at the park. We were all hot, thirsty, and tired. C skipped her nap this afternoon, opting rather to read books in her room. We had left the house shortly before what should have been dinner time and they had Rita’s on an empty stomach and the sugar high had been long depleted.

It’s not that I’m making excuses for her behavior, except that I am. We expect our children to be on their best behavior, to never melt down, and to be logical and rational. And to their credit, they hit the mark quite a bit considering their ages. But there are times when the odds are stacked against them, and guess who stacked them… we did. 

We set her up for failure. We set her up for this moment. And when I tell her to stop and she whines, I can’t, I for one believe her. We had disregarded the things her body needed to cope with her emotions.

When I am hungry, tired, and overheated I’m grumpy. Aren’t we all? And while we as adults have learned (at least to some extent) to contain the natural reactions to those stimuli, we can’t expect small children to do the same. Their reactions to things are naturally bigger, but add the additional stresses and things quickly get blown out of proportion.

As I drove along, I vacillated between breathing, praying, and sternly telling her to calm down- as her screaming sounded perilously close to nails on a chalkboard. Yet for ten minutes she screamed. But when she ceased to get a reaction out of me the screams slowly morphed into whimpers and then into sniffles. Five minutes from home and she started to speak softly to me.

And when I held her tonight in her bed, both of us squished in, a jumble of arms and legs, I stared in her eyes. They were red from the crying, but she smiled and snuggled closer. When you are done cuddling with Big E, will you come back and cuddle with me some more? I agreed, but she was fast asleep when I returned.

 

Baby E woke up without a fever this morning and maintained a good temperature all day!! He has blisters in his mouth and one near his bum, but otherwise seems clear. I’m not sure if others will start popping up, but I was pleasantly surprised that he was not miserable all day. The doctor said it would probably hurt a lot for him to eat, so he should drink juice to keep his blood sugar up.) He didn’t want to eat much of anything. He would take a couple of bites and then start crying and grabbing at his mouth. So then I offered him a cookie and suddenly he was more than willing to suffer through the discomfort!

The big kids were not thrilled that they didn’t get the same cookie treatment today. 

Tim got home late from work last night, so he slept in this morning, but when he got up, the big kids and I snuck away to the beach for an hour to get out of the house. It was hot and the sun was beating down pretty badly so we didn’t stay too long. C isn’t allowed near the water because her toe hasn’t fully healed from the great brick incident, so we stayed in the sand. Besides there are now jellyfish in the bay and the icky bacteria that we’d like to avoid.

They begged me to go to the farmers’ market this evening, but I told them that we still needed to keep Baby E away from people for another day or so, so instead we took a walk to our favorite stinky bridge and gazebo park. It’s been forever since we’ve been over there but it is really quite nice and peaceful.

We got home and had a short visit from some friends and then it was time for bed.

All in all, today was a happily nondescript day… and after the week we have had, it was exactly what we all needed!