A few weeks ago, we decided to participate in the pictures in the park in hopes of getting some family photos. It was a hot day, but a nice breeze helped keep everyone semi-happy during the pictures. While Claire was not as willing to participate, we did get some cute pictures. Enjoy!
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To mark the end of the school year, we met with the boys' teachers for parent-teacher conferences and then we receive a written report. In the fall, we went in with expectations that the boys act like they do at home and were surprised when we received opposite reports. This time, we were very surprised to learn that the boys have different interests at school (some of which may be the age difference).
Connor's teacher continues to rave about Connor's new found maturity this past school year and how serious he takes his school work. He has picked up more challenging works in the areas of math and language and fully expects him to be reading by the end of the summer. She said he is very mathematically minded. For the next school year, he will officially be a kindergartner and will have the opportunity to "mentor" the younger kids on all the areas he has mastered the last two years (which involves learning patience). She said there is the occasional times when he picks out "busy-work" so that he can look busy while socializing with his best buds, but she lets it slide since he is usually focused. We love to receive these excellent reports...I look forward to what Kindergarten holds for Connor.
We then met with Brady's teacher. Quote from his report - "Brady is a sweet boy who is eager to please, happy, well liked by his friends, and full of energy". We couldn't agree more! She said Brady is very independent and continues to be interested in geography which explains all the various maps that are brought home daily. He has also learned to write his name which was an important achievement and has picked up a few challenging works that he has already mastered. He is not as interested in math or language, so that will be his goal for summer school into the new school year.
They will spend the next couple months in the school's summer school program, which is really just an extension of what they have been doing all year with some added flexibility for field trips and swim lessons. In August, they will kick off the new school year with their current teachers, friends from school that will return, and some new students.
Look how big I am getting! Since Claire has shown an interest in sitting up more than lounging, we decided to try out her bumbo seat. She seems to really like it since she can visit more easily with her brothers and watch what they are doing.
Here are a few stories to share....
5/1
Connor said to me "Babies are hard to take care of - you just never know what they want". Ha Ha....half the time I don't know what the preschoolers who know how to talk want (of course their list of wants are much longer)!
5/3
One evening, Connor asked me what the drops are that we put in Claire's bottle. After I told him they were gas drops, he responded "Well, they aren't working as she farted on me the whole time I was feeding her."
5/6
Connor and Brady have already planned their honeymoons. Connor is taking his wife to Australia while Brady is taking his wife on a multi-continent trip to Italy (South America, Africa, then Europe). I wonder if they would take me with them??
5/8
Why is my kid always planning for adulthood? First Connor has his honeymoon planned and now he has picked out his college roommate (Carac). Hopefully college comes first...
5/12
Question from Connor: "How do you say no to someone that asks you to marry them that you don't want to marry? No thank you, No way, or No I don't". I then had to explain that usually the answer is yes because a couple date for awhile first and then he asked how daddy asked me to marry him and how I knew his name. Why am I explaining dating and marriage to my 5 yr old and did someone already ask him?
5/16
Genuine smiles, sometimes instant satisfaction when cuddled, and cooing from Claire...makes all the other "stuff" that goes with a newborn totally worth it!
5/17
What are the chances that this morning's routine will work when I return to work??? All three kids up and dressed by 6:30 and ready to go on time. It helped that we used Claire as motivation for the boys...Connor took care of Claire while we got dressed. So it is all up to Claire to hold off until morning for her feeding.
5/18
As we are serving dinner and the boys are complaining (as usual), Connor said "Can we just do like at school and be a cold luncher?" Uh no....we can never get our kids to eat anything different or healthier!
5/20
Yummy breakfast for dinner which guarantees everyone happily eats and a hilarious game of Riddley Riddley Ree. ESPECIALLY when Brady's guess for the color silver was daddy's hair! Daddy was speechless and was actually referring to something other than his hair. Now we know what color Brady thinks daddy's hair is!
Our little Claire is starting to be more alert these days and with that comes a lot of interaction with us, which I absolutely love! She is learning that she has hands and fingers as she now sucks on those and has even started holding onto her Paci. She has flashed a few smiles that I believe are genuine smiles at us to show us she is happy. She has started talking to us - not with words, of course, but by cooing and making gurgles and grunts.
I hope you can see this video of Claire "talking" to me...
Once I found out we could go to Holiday World on opening day for free by participating in the JDRF walk, I said sign us up! I knew my boys would love to kick off the summer with a Holiday World outing as they had already been asking for months. What was even better was that our friends, the Johnsons, would also be there that day. Yay - the boys could ride rides with their best friend!
Since I was up for the outing by mid-May, we decided to make an outing with just the boys. Claire got to spend the day with Mimi, which I am sure included a lot of cuddling. She loved showing them how she has started interacting socially with her cooing and smiles.
The three boys (and the adults) had a blast, notwithstanding a few preschool meltdowns over which person they could ride with next, who was walking too close, or what ride to ride next. To make an even riding group, usually an adult always rode with the boys and there were several negotiations throughout the day. We even found a ride we didn't know was there...the Gobbler Getaway which was a dark turkey hunting ride. The boys said that was their favorite ride! Chris and Ben decided they needed to check out Pilgrim's Plunge since there was no line (since everyone was on the new Wildebeest) and they got SOAKED! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day - the sun was shining, temps were in the 70s and we only had a 20 minute rain shower. I can't wait to return with the boys (and maybe Claire) later in the summer...next year, we may have to consider purchasing season passes and make a monthly visit.
See the slideshow below for more pictures of our fun day....
Our precious Claire turned one month old on May 13th! While she is all girl to us, she has shown us already that she can keep up with the boys. She has shown strong weight gain to 10 1/2 lbs in one month. She can burp (repeatedly) with the best of them. She has healthy lungs when she wants something - based on her "get this diaper off" screams, she should be pretty easy to potty-train.
We have had an enjoyable first month with our Claire! The boys absolutely adore her and have welcomed her into the family with open arms...and lots of smothering kisses and hugs. Connor has especially been helpful with taking over a feeding from time-to-time. They both look for her in the morning for their goodbyes and then after school, first thing they both do is look for her and ask about her day.
Claire is starting to settle into a steady routine, which I am sure she will change as soon as we get used to it. She usually has an extended nap in the morning and the late afternoon. She loves her paci, her bouncy seat and the swing. She goes to bed in her bassinet around 10ish each night and gets one more feeding before we go to bed. Then, she's up once or twice in the night for a bottle, but usually goes back to sleep. She's definitely becoming more alert and is really working on holding her head up.
She has been a sweet little baby that seems content and happy! She seems especially comforted by the loudness of her big brothers - that is definitely a good thing!
The week leading up to Mother's Day, I heard all about the gifts the boys were making for me at school. Also, Brady said that on Mother's Day "all moms everywhere get to sleep in while the kids get the gifts and breakfast ready". Very sweet - I couldn't wait! Plus, this was my first Mother's Day with Claire!
Mother's Day morning, I did get to sleep in (if 8:30 is the new sleeping in) while the boys were very quiet in the house. I received my Mother's Day presents from my precious angels - homemade and the ones that daddy picked out. Connor made a decoupaged pot for planting some pretty flowers. Brady had a personalized photo frame and earlier in the week I had also received a bird house from Brady. Daddy picked out a new necklace charm to represent Claire to add to the necklace with the boys charms. He also got me a new CD player that my MP3 player could be connected to (Yay!). They were all very nice presents from a great group I get to call my family.
That afternoon, we spent a relaxing afternoon at Mimi's (Chris's mom) and Papa's enjoying the beautiful weather with the family. The boys learned how to fish and enjoyed spending the afternoon with their cousins. That evening, we ventured to Grandma Darla's (my mom) for dinner. It turned out to be a very nice day and Mother's day.
Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and family that are moms! We are lucky to have so many of you in our lives! I hope you had a wonderful day with your loved ones!
On Mother's Day, we spent the afternoon at Mimi's house. Mimi lives on a lake and has been looking forward to the day when she could see her grandsons enjoy fishing as much as their daddy did. After a few "lessons" from the adults, the kids had the hang of it and were enjoying casting their line and bringing it back in. At one point, Brady decided to give me lessons with step-by-step instructions. He wasn't impressed when I cast my line...very close to the bank!
They had a blast fishing, so I guess it is time to invest in their own poles.
