Castlewood Canyon State Park

1. I am thankful for days in November where we can go hiking. The weather today was fantastic yet last week we had a pretty crazy snow storm!

2. I am thankful that we live in Colorado. It is such a beautiful state and we have so many places to go on the weekends with the children.

3. I am thankful that my children shout for joy when we suggest hiking and a picnic as a weekend activity.

4. I am thankful for a healthy pregnancy where I can go hiking in rocky terrain without much discomfort.

5. I am thankful for a cosy house to come home to when I am tired and have sore feet.

Make a Smilebox greeting

I am thankful.

1. I am thankful that this morning during the two hour delay before school, Leia made herself a crown out of paper with Queen Elizabeth written across it. And then she wore the crown to school. She wore it proudly on the school bus. She doesn't seem to let what anyone else would think bother her. I hope she is always like this.

2. I am thankful that Gary took a good portion of the Halloween candy out of the house today and it's not going to be wasted. I'd rather he and a friend eat it during a game night than have to fight with the kids about it for who knows how long.

3. I am thankful for my car pool and the two girls I do it with. The trip to Nathan's pre-school takes about 15 minutes one way and without the car pool, I would have to drive Nathan to school and back three times a week. As it is I only have to do the journey once a week and then on my off days, like today I can take a nap if I need to. That's gold to me right now. I slept well again last night but when 12.30pm rolled around I could hardly keep my eyes open. Growing a person literally sucks all the energy out of me.

4. I am thankful that Gary and I decided to try civilian life. I can easily credit the military with helping a very unfocused 20 something Gary to make some goals and follow through with his education but with what's going on in the world right now, I know that we made the right decision for our family. We can be together and the kids (especially the boys) who desperately need attention from their father always have it.

5. I am thankful that my kids will eat healthy food. Tonight I made a pork roast with potatoes and carrots. I also steamed some broccoli on the side. I serve the kids first so their food can cool a little. While I was serving Gary and myself, the kids were sitting at the table with their plates. Usually they'll wait for us to join them before we begin. By the time I had served Gary and I and we sat down, Nathan had stuffed all his broccoli into his mouth and was looking guilty as if he had sneaked some of my chocolate chips I use for baking. I couldn't be mad.

Jigsaws, teeth, sweet boys, yoghurt, pancakes?

I'm really tired today even though I slept well last night. I think it's going to be this way for the next few months whatever I do. I keep meaning to get started on the baby's scrapbook but by the time 4 or 5pm rolls around I just want to get on the couch and stay there all evening. I've started all the baby's scrapbooks before they arrived and with Leia, Spencer, and Nathan I even made about 50 handmade birth announcements which we mailed out. Thinking about that this time kind of makes my head spin. I think for birth announcements it's going to have to be an emailed smilebox or something. Anyway I digress.........


1. I am thankful that Nathan would rather sit down and put together a jigsaw puzzle than watch TV. I have been guilty of using the TV as a babysitter so I can get things done and while he will happily watch Tom and Jerry or Spongebob, he'd much rather be doing something else. I am so looking forward to finding him a fun puzzle or two for Christmas. Today I found these Spongebob puzzles for just over $1. They were Halloween merchandise and were intended for handing out as Treats.


2. I am thankful for the simple joy of a tooth that under the pillow will bring Spencer some money to put toward a Transformer he's been saving for. When he came to me saying it was ready to come out, I gave it a wiggle and realized that it wasn't ready. He was not to be put off. He wanted that money. He convinced Daddy to get it out. He didn't flinch or cry or anything. Gary had to really put some elbow grease into it and he said he heard some snapping/popping sounds as it came out. I didn't witness the extraction if you're wondering. Maybe we have an entrepreneur in the family?

3. I am thankful that whenever Spencer prays he says "Please help Mommy's baby come out safely" and if one of the other kids is praying, he makes sure he stands next to them to whisper this line in their ear so they don't forget to say it. Underneath all the power struggles I've had with this stubborn little boy he is so sweet and loving. I can't wait to see him with his new brother.

4. I am thankful for Whole Foods. Not only do they sell fantastic fresh organic produce, they also sell Greek Style Yoghurt, something I haven't been able to find since leaving England. If you've never had Greek Style Yoghurt you need to try it. I'm on this probiotics mission right now as I tested positive for group B strep when pregnant with Nathan. I had to stay an extra day in the hospital and it was horrible. If I could leave hours after having the baby I would. I'm hoping against the evidence (my doctor said that eating yoghurt wouldn't make a difference) that regularly eating yoghurt will hopefully help me test negative this time. And since I'm not a huge yoghurt fan, at least not the flavored kind, I am grateful that I can get Greek Style yoghurt because I could eat it every day of the week. Also, I figured out that Nathan's missing jacket was lost when we were there last week and sure enough we were able to retrieve it when we went there today.

5. I am thankful for scheduled late starts for school. This morning I was just not ready to get up at 7am. The kids were quietly watching TV and the breeze coming through my window felt great. Tomorrow, I expect the kids will wake up and decide to have a disco downstairs but at least I won't have to rush around. Breakfast might even be pancakes if the kids are lucky!

Day two.

Day two. I've been thinking about this on and off all morning. Nothing really jumped out at me but here goes.

1. I am so thankful for my children. It's actually very easy to feel an outpouring of love for them when they are all three at school and I have been wandering around Hobby Lobby! I decided to go and get the new baby's scrapbook today and get started since I have all the great ultrasound pictures of him. As I was walking around the store, the little guy was jumping around and I was reflecting on the privilege it is to be a mother and to be able to experience being pregnant.

2. I am thankful for my Snoogle pillow. I have been having a hard time with hip pain at night and am frequently turning over to get relief as well as going back and forth to the bathroom. I was about to buy a used pillow on ebay but then decided the germ-o-phobe in me which is actually not that dominant really needed a new one. The only place in town to get a Snoogle as far as I know is at Burlington Coat Factory for any of you that are interested so we headed out there after Gary got home from work. It worked great. My discomfort was reduced by 80% overnight. I just have to get used to less space in bed with me Gary and the Snoogle.

3. I am thankful for my favorite radio station, BPM which is commercial free and plays only music I love all day long. There's just something about driving down the road with the music turned up loud which makes me feel on top of the world.

4. I am thankful for sharing interests with my daughter. Last night we watched Dancing with the Stars together. I love it when she snuggles with me and she still has her thumb in her mouth after 8 years.

5. The random things that make me think of Dad. More on that another time.

As I read back over what I've written it sounds like a an ad for body pillows and radio stations but sometimes it's the little things that we forget to notice.

Challenge

A friend is blogging about five things a day this month that she is thankful for. She said she would love to have others do the same and after a hard year for me I think I need to do this myself. I'm not always that peppy positive sunshiny person I should try to be more like. I know this frustrates Gary as he is often left to do the positive thing for the both of us. I'm not going to play catch up for the last few days but just get started from here. I'm going to be serious most of the time but throw in a few things that are just for fun.

1. I'm SO thankful for an offer on our house. After 15 months characterized by stress, financial craziness, renters from hell, and many unwanted tears and fights, the inspections have been done, they still want the house and there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. (Here comes my pessimistic side thinking I hope it doesn't go wrong now I've finally articulated what's going on in a public setting!)

2. I am thankful for the sunshine in Colorado. It brightens my day when gloomy thoughts want to get in. There's nothing worse than grey skies for day after day. This is the first place I've lived where it seems to be as sunny in Fall/Winter as it is in Spring/Summer.

3. I am thankful for a niece with beautiful dark hair. Me, my sister and brother are all blonde (with a bit of red on my brother's noggin). Then I produced three unmistakable blondies. My sister then had Max who is blonde with another hint of red. We were happily surprised when baby Cate came out with dark hair. My sister had a short labor and is recovering so well which is another thing to be thankful for.

4. I am thankful for Nathan, my little buddy who is with me most of the day and keeps me laughing. Whether it's going to the store in his dog costume when it's not Halloween or sitting and laughing his head off at Tom and Jerry, he really is a mood enhancer (until 6pm when he won't sit still and eat dinner - then I need my adult time back!).

5. I am thankful for Borders Rewards. Every week I get a 30% off or 40% off coupon for one item. I've been buying books and things for the kids for Christmas here and there without ever having to pay full price or shipping. I hate last minute scrambling in December and this makes me feel organized and thrifty. Now if only I could get everything for Christmas in Borders!

Trick or Treat!

Leia, our Monarch Butterfly

Nathan, our spotty dog.

Spencer, our Wolverine.

All ready to go.

Off to a strong start.

They were racing from house to house. Candy helps with the energy levels.

Our friend had hot chocolate and marshmallows to roast on his fire. Nathan preferred to add his marshmallow to his pumpkin.

Updating me on his stash.

Our friend's beautiful dog.

Nathan ran out of steam early. I brought him home and all the way he kept saying he wanted to drink root beer before bed. I kept telling him we didn't have any and he said it was in his pumpkin. Sure enough he had a can of A&W in his pumpkin. A great way to end the evening. He was SO tired and fell asleep immediately after!

The Pumpkin Fairy.

About a week ago we had a visit from the pumpkin fairy (aka our friend Rosalia!). It was just in time for us to plan our annual pumpkin carving night. Everyone was in truly high spirits, even Nathan who came home from school with a temperature. It looks like he is the third and final child to succumb to the dreaded bug going through the family. First of all we made some caramel apples. They are so yummy. We used sour Granny Smith and the sweet/sour taste is wonderful.
Then we got to carving. I was so proud of Leia and Spencer who each carved their pumpkins solo this year. Gary carved a great design and I helped Nathan with his.
At the end of the night we all enjoyed our apples before we tucked the kids up in bed. As much fun as this undoubtedly is, the mess and planning is incredible. I am SO exhausted and have a low back ache. I'm surprised I even did this post but then again all I've had to move for this is my fingers. THANK GOODNESS!

3D Ultrasound take two

Well tonight we went back to see if our little stinker would give us some better pictures. This time I was a lot better hydrated allowing for some better pictures but unfortunately he wanted to keep his hands protectively up by his face. At one point we put an ice pack on my stomach and he briefly put his hands down but most of the time he just wanted them right there. So we are going back one more time to see if we can get some more face shots. After that we are going to accept the fact that he is not ready to put on a show just yet!


Here he is with his hands up in front of his face.


One good thing about him having his hands up in front of his face is that we got to see all of his little fingers.


A partial face shot with a bit of arm obstruction.


And this was the best shot of the night. He smiled (just a reflex no doubt) but lovely to see all the same.

My Leia

When searching for the words to describe this girl who just exploded into our lives 8 years ago, I thought of that song in The Sound of Music called "How do you solve a problem like Maria?". How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?, might be an appropriate question to ask when assessing how to help her to channel her energy. Once again, and this seems to be a frequent occurrence, she forgot to bring home her homework today or to write down her homework in her planner. Sometimes I wonder if we expect too much of our 8 year olds but still we keep trying to institutionalize them.
If left to herself Leia would spend all day inventing alternate universes in which she is either a mad scientist or a magician. I asked her the other day what her favorite thing about school was and she said that it was Science, particularly doing experiments. She was truly captivated by the Planetarium event they had at school. It led to several conversations about Mars and aliens which led to a bad dream last night and a few hours of fitful sleep for me as she ended up in our bed.
If she is not writing spells on every random piece of paper she can lay her hands on she is rescuing frogs and mice from the window wells. From what I have just written you might assume she is a total tomboy but on Sunday she wrote a story about Princess Leia who meets her handsome Prince and lives happily ever after. She alternates between reading Princess Stories and Roald Dahl, and listening to Hannah Montana and Michael Jackson.
When I saw this picture it brought home to me how fast she is growing up. On one hand it's exciting for me as she is such a fun person to spend time with. I can share things with her that are important to me and I can feel that we will always be friends as she gets older. Probably not, I can hear some of you saying but then she has the open, trusting and forgiving personality that Gary has.

(Sidenote: I just glanced over to the table where she is supposed to be doing Spanish vocabulary and she is searching the internet for pictures of planets it looks like. She just told me she is looking at Neptune pictures which are "really cool".)

I'm sure you can tell how much I love this girl that is not a lot like me. As much as watching her grow is an adventure, I feel sadness that she is no longer a baby. But she'll always be my will o the wisp, my flibbertigibbet and my clown!

My Spencer

This guy just melts my heart. With the tooth missing and his glasses AWOL, I look at this picture and it makes me smile. He is so stubborn and when things don't go his way he can't deal with the emotion. His little hands clench into fists and his face looks like thunder. And on the other end of the spectrum, he is just downright adorable. His skin is so soft, he is so helpful and smart, he loves my cooking (well most of it!), and he is so interested in life and all that it has to offer.
Sometimes my heart aches at how fast he is growing up yet he is still just a baby. I want to protect him from all that the world is going to throw at him but he is so independent. I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to be his mother. I pray every day that I can help him be the best person he can be and that he will always be happy.

First Glimpse

Today Gary surprised me with a lunch date and then to get a 3D ultrasound of the baby. He knew I had been wanting to do it and I should know better than to tell Gary these things because he will just disregard the cost and get me what I want. Anyway it was so nice. We had a long lunch and then headed over to the ultrasound place. And that's where it wasn't so great anymore. The baby was fast asleep and kept snuggling further and further into my uterus until he was facing my spine. She managed to get a couple of pictures before all we could see was the back of him or a hand right up in front of his face. Like my other kids he seems to enjoy having both hands by his face. But we saw his boys bits in complete clarity as well as his little mouth making sucking motions and his little fingers and toes. Luckily, they give you a repeat appointment for no extra charge if the baby doesn't cooperate so we are going again next week. I am excited. Now I just need to research things I can do to make him wake up during the appointment. Caffeine makes them too jumpy we were told so it seems that I need to be extremely hydrated (not sure what else I can do in that arena since I've been drinking gallons of ice water right from the beginning of the pregnancy) and maybe eat something in particular before the ultrasound. I did eat a lot of carbs for lunch today and perhaps that made him sleepy. Anyway here are the few good pictures we got and hopefully next week we will have a lot more!

Happy Halloween

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24 hours in my life

Yesterday was a really busy day. I had my carpool responsibilities which basically is two 45 minute - 1 hour round trips when I pick up and drop off boys at home and school. First thing in the morning I realised that it was our turn to take the snack for Nathan's class so we had to go to Target before the day had even really begun. Nathan has lunch about 10.45am on car pool day as we leave the house by 11.10am. By the time I was on the road I hadn't done a whole lot I guess but I hadn't stood still either. During the two hours before I'm back on the road again, I have to get things done. I have been trying to nap but not yeasterday. I was doing a pot roast for dinner. Not hard or anything but it requires plenty of time standing in the kitchen. While I was getting that in the crock pot I noticed that I had several bananas not really good for eating straight anymore so I had to make banana brownies and banana bread because I hate to throw them away. I was back on the road by 2pm and home by three. I continued baking until Leia and Spencer came home at 3.45pm. I was then loading and unloading the dishwasher between getting stuff out of the oven and helping with homework.
After dinner I felt exhausted. At the end of the day my body just sort of feels wrong, there's no other way to describe it. When not incubating another person I can relax fairly easily but right now the tension just seems to remain until I wake up the next morning. Even laying down in bed at night it's hard for me to get comfy and my legs are restless. I let the last round of dishes from dinner sit in the sink (planning to hit them later) and just collapsed on the sofa.
Gary is always very good at bedtime. I can rely on him to bathe the kids, make sure reading goals are met and have everyone quiet/asleep usually by 8pm at the latest. As I was sitting there I recalled that today is school picture day and Leia's hair hadn't been washed in a couple of days. I said to Gary and I quote "Please can you make sure Leia washes her hair because it's picture day tomorrow". "Sure", he says. About half an hour later all the kids emerged in pajamas and wet hair and so nothing seemed amiss. I had checked to see if the shirt I wanted Leia to wear was clean. It was folded in her drawer so I assumed it was clean. I have no worries with Spencer as he persistently wears the same thing over and over so I knew he had loads of clean clothes in his drawers.
The kids were in bed by 7pm and I stayed on the couch all evening. Gary even did the last load of dishes and I was thinking what a stand up guy he is. Until this morning.
**************************
My plan on laying down to sleep was to get up half an hour early and that would give me time to straighten Leia's hair and maybe do something else to it. I could also make sure the kids didn't miss any spots on their teeth and were wearing the clothes I wanted them to wear. I dragged myself out of bed at the appointed time and plugged in the flat iron. I retrieved Leia and brought her into my bathroom. I brushed through her hair and noticed it wasn't looking the way I had expected it to. I separated it a bit and began to straighten it. It was really oily looking at the scalp and very limp and lifeless. In fact it looked a lot like mine would if I decided not to wash it for a whole week and I'm a 30 year old hormonal woman. Leia swore up and down that last night in the shower she had washed her hair. And of course Daddy was supposed to have been supervising the operation. I asked her to get me the bottle of shampoo she had used. She brought me a bottle of conditioner. I asked her to read the bottle. She said "oh". Yes, "OH CRAP" was more like it as 15 minutes of my cushion had gone and there was no way she was going to school with hair like that.
I had to stick her over the tub and give her hair a good wash. Of course at this point it got a little frantic. The water was too hot, her neck hurt, the hairdryer was burning her ears. I had to tell the boys to pour their own cereal and so even though I didn't have to do that, I had to pick cheerios up from off the kitchen floor. Gone were the grand ideas of putting her hair up, I just had to be content with having it clean shiny and blown dry with a few minutes of the flat iron for good measure. Then we went to her room to put on the shirt that I assumed was clean since it was in her drawer and not in the dirty clothes.
I'm sure at this point you can guess what's coming next. These are the times when I literally want to scream. I provide two baskets in the laundry room for colors and whites. Gary assures me that every night he makes sure that the kids look at their clothes and put the dirty ones in the appropriate baskets or else they get folded up and put away in their drawers. More often than not, I realise that I haven't washed anything belonging to Spencer in a couple of weeks and I find he's putting all his dirties back in his drawers night after night. Or I go into the laundry room and all the clothes are laying on the floor inches from the two baskets.
Leia's shirt was not filthy but it should have been washed. I wearily went to the bathroom to try and sponge off the more noticeable bits. Fortunately I know the format of the school pictures - head and shoulder shots so I knew even if the spots were still there they wouldn't be in the picture. Still it's the principle. It doesn't take much for Gary to really supervise these things. I think that he often can't be bothered and justifies it by saying they need to learn to do these things themselves which I agree with although I need him there in the background making sure of it.
Well they are both clean, tidy, and safely at school now. I can take a breath. The thought of cooking today is hideous but I'm not going to be able to get out of it. Or of cleaning. One look at the kids bathroom downstairs this morning as I was sponging Leia's shirt makes me think once a week might not be enough. Looks like a toothpaste bomb went off down there. And it's laundry time again. Of course this time I perhaps won't trust just what's in the laundry baskets. Looks like I'm going to have to go through three chests of drawers as well! I'm tired already.
And thinking ahead to Jan/Feb. I'm not quite sure how I could have squeezed anything else into my day over the past 24 hours. What on earth am I going to do when I also have a hungry screaming baby to also take care of. I thought I was fairly organized but it looks like I am going to have to seriously raise my game.

A peek at the new resident of Crazy Town.

A little foot. Long like Daddy's.


I love how they always have their hands by their faces. Those first few weeks you are always fighting to prevent them scratching their faces.


A closer up of the profile and arm.


His little face. Of course on a regular ultrasound it's a little skeletal looking. But I can already see he has the Asp face shape!

Well the baby might look a little like........

or maybe a little like.......



That's right, Leia and I are soon to be outnumbered two to one!

I went to my ultrasound appointment this morning and it was so exciting. I'm only allowed one ultrasound during pregnancies so I hadn't even gotten to see a peanut yet. It's strange going all the way to 20 weeks before you get a peek. But the 20 week peek is so wonderful. You can pretty much see everything really well. The little heart got magnified and I could see all the four chambers and see it pumping away. Everything was measured from the brain to the femur. For the sex he wasn't being co-operative for a long time but she finally tracked down the evidence and said she was 100% sure. Can you be 100% from ultrasound? I have always taken it that way and bought gender specific things which is what I did after my appointment was over.
All the measurements were as expected, the placenta looks healthy, as does my fluid level. The doctor even said that since I have had three previous negative tests for gestational diabetes and I have no risk factors then we can go ahead and skip it this time around. SCORE! So we are on for February 4. It looks as though we are going to schedule an induction around a visit from my Mum. This will hopefully be the first time in four pregnancies that she can be around for the birth. I'm very happy about that. The kids won't have to stay with friends. (not that there's anything wrong with that but there's no one like Grandma!)

On a side note, my thumb didn't appear to be getting any better and it's been 6 days. It's been painful and irritated and I just felt that there was something not right. Originally I had decided to go without the antibiotics but after looking at it on Sunday I went to get them because it was not looking good. I decided to ask my OB about it. He said that it was not infected but that the stitches were so tight they were kind of sinking into the wound and preventing it from healing. He said they needed to come out straight away and did it right there for me to avoid another trip to Urgent Care. He's so great! Now they're out the relief is significant but I am a little annoyed as the scar is going to be quite big as a result. It hasn't knitted together at all well. But people are human and my skin was hard to sew. It's very thick!

Gary still has all the pictures from the scan so I'll post them separately later.

The quest for good literature!

Wow I just feel drained. Leia had to be at school this morning at 7.30am for choir practise, I had to go to Walmart for a few things, and then I had my carpool responsibilities for Nathan and his two little friends. By the time I had finished all that it was about 3pm and I was about to relax. It was my birthday yesterday and a package had arrived in the mail containing a present from Gary. It's a novel that has long been out of print and so I've really been looking forward to getting it. I suppose I wasn't really thinking and just grabbed a knife from my block to slice open the tape on the box. It slipped and I cut my thumb in an awkward spot. I stopped the bleeding as best I could but I couldn't bend my thumb without the skin pulling open.
Of course you don't always think of these things as blessings at the time but Gary literally walked through the door at the moment when I was scratching my head about how to deal with it. We had a friend who agreed to meet the kids off the school bus and we headed to urgent care with Nathan in tow.
So here I am, three stitches, one tetanus shot and a thumb splint thing later. I feel nauseous. I have had cold sweats and been sitting by the toilet but no throwing up yet thank goodness. I think the fact that on my car pool day I have to eat lunch at 10.45am has contributed to this feeling. Since I couldn't cook dinner, we ordered pizza and it's still not here at 7.30 after being ordered an hour ago. 7 and a half hours without eating doesn't generally agree with me even when I'm not pregnant but the feeling that sent me to sit by the toilet bowl seemed a little different.
I looked up side effects of the tetanus shot online and it seems to fit. Hopefully after eating (if that ever happens) I will be able to rest and maybe have a look at that book. It's called Wyllard's Weird by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Kind of a gothic Jekyll and Hyde type of mystery.
But I'm REALLY tired. Will I be able to keep my eyes open?

Letter to teacher

More and more I find myself asking the question, "Why do my husband's genes seem to trump my own both in looks and personality of all our children?"
I'm not saying this to brag and you can call my Mum to confirm this. I was a VERY conscientious student all throughout school. I wouldn't have dreamed of having a conversation with my neighbor while the teacher was talking or when I was supposed to be doing something. I recently looked back in my very first journal that I wrote when I was about 7 or 8 or something and my handwriting was very neat. Not a very interesting journal certainly but neatly written.
In 3rd Grade at Leia's school, one of the discipline techniques is for the offending student to write a letter to the teacher explaining their behavior. When this happens, the parent gets a copy of it. When I read Leia's letter I had to suppress a smile. She has such a big personality. No wilting violets here!

Dear Mrs. E

I was talking because I sneezed and told Virginia. I am a chatter box. Please forgive me. I am totally sorry. Can I make it up to you?

YOUR BEST STUDENT EVER
Leia

I also had a chance to speak to her teacher and she told me that it's not a big problem at this point but she does spend a lot of time talking. If she doesn't have a neighbor to talk to she will simply talk to herself. She also does everything in a hurry, ready to move on to the next thing.
Sometimes I have a hard time understanding the bright, vivacious, beautiful little girl I have the privilege of calling mine. I admit I don't really know what to do to help her focus at school and talk less. But I do know that she's probably more fun to hang out with than I ever was at her age. And she has been writing a journal lately. Since I peeked into the one I wrote when I was about her age and almost fell asleep I am glad she is who she is. Her journal is a laugh a minute!

Mommy's little helper?

It's book club tonight at my house. That means it's brownie baking time. Nathan showed a lot of interest in the proceedings. He pulled up a sponge block to stand on and decided to hinder help me. I'm such a lucky girl!

Gummy grin

Tonight, one of Spencer's two front teeth popped out at teeth brushing time. This is always cause for celebration as the Tooth Fairy has been known to be quite generous when at our house! Spencer kindly posed for a photo for me and then as the kids were ushered to bed, Leia wanted to whisper something in my ear. She said "I know the Tooth Fairy isn't real. You and Dad give the money". I was quite pleased that she is finally mature enough to have a clear understanding of myth versus reality. But I still found myself saying, "Don't be ridiculous, of course the Tooth Fairy is real." There's no need to rush these things after all.


What a cutie pie. I really like a gummy grin and it took me a while to get used to Leia's two new tombstones!


I can't possibly take out my camera without Leia being in a picture. What was I thinking?

Today and Father/Son campout

Today has flown by so quickly. My anxious feelings surprised me as I watched the kids get on the school bus. I think it's a throw back to my own feelings on the first day of school. Fortunately the kids were beyond excited and so after the first pang watching them drive off I was able to go about my day quite happily. After dropping the kids off at the bus stop I spent the morning doing some overdue cleaning in the kid's bathroom and the kitchen. I decided on the week's menu and I am going to be doing some more real cooking. Nate played on his smart cycle and followed me around. He's so adorable and when we went shopping he walked so nicely by the cart that I didn't have to put him in the seat. After putting away groceries and getting started on dinner, Gary got home so I could hurry to my OB appointment. I got another listen to the baby's heartbeat. After looking at my stomach, the nurse asked me if this was my first baby. When I said it was my fourth she looked surprised. That certainly didn't hurt my mood. I got home from the appointment and the kids were so excited to tell me about the first day of school. Spencer is straight into Spanish and had a word he needed to practise. Leia did some sort of experiment that I couldn't quite get the gist of but she was in a group with two friends which is of course the most important thing. And a boy she likes is in her class this year. JOY!
We had a nice family dinner and FHE and the kids were so tired they went straight off to sleep. I'm starting to plan tomorrow, something I haven't done in weeks.

So here for your viewing pleasure are pictures from the father/son campout which was the last hurrah of summer.

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