The problem with Santa Claus . . .

Thanksgiving is over. Again.  Here we go again.  Again.  Even before we paused to give thanks with our family, Riley was running around the house practicing the songs he will sing in the Pre-K Christmas performance next month.  The invites for our annual Christmas cookie party were in email boxes before we had fully outlined who was bringing what to whose house last Thursday for our November feast. I barely paused long enough to inhale a second helping of green bean casserole and cornbread stuffing while I hashed through my black friday shopping plan with my relatives.  I've told you before how I am not a huge Thanksgiving fan since I try to be grateful every day, and how much I love Christmas.  Not a surprise.  I am ready to go people.  It's my favorite time of the year.

And yet . . . here we go again.  The kids watched Elf and Home Alone this weekend which was great fun.  We all had a bunch of great laughs.  I do have a 5 and 6 year old though - so now the questions are coming at me full blast.  You know 'How does Santa . . .?'  and 'Why does Santa . . .?' 

It is truly amazing to me how if I was standing in front of you today and trying to tell you a bold faced lie I could not do it.  I mean, I totally suck at lying.  It's not my thing.  I'm really bad at it, I have terrible tells like stuttering and rapid eye blinking and shaking hands.  Not to mention the fact that I just don't like it.  However, when it comes to Santa and my kids the lies just pour out of my mouth in waves.  I don't even stop to think about it - the crap I come up with in order to keep the dream alive is truly remarkable!

I am almost (in)famous for some of the tales I have woven in order to keep my kids believing as long as possible.  In all fairness, I might not have gone to such lengths if my kids were closer in age.  But part of me wanted Tyler to hold on to his belief in magic long enough to share it with his younger brothers who were 6 and 7 years his junior.  I also grew up in a house where Christmas was a big deal, Santa was super duper magical and if you ask my dad today, his only reply will be a gruff 'We believe in Santa!' grumble and that's that, people. I have passed it all right down the line, even down to telling Tyler when he was let in on the secret 'As long as your brothers believe, Santa will still come' just like my parents did.  Tyler is even more zealous about protecting his brothers Santa-vision than I am.

I've done my best over the years to intertwine my favorite parts of the secular portions of Christmas with our spiritual beliefs.  It's not too hard to explain that we give gifts to each other because God gave us the most precious of all gifts, Jesus.  Why we have stockings? - that's a little tougher. I'm great at covering the secret-revealing scenes in movies that my kids are watching or coming up with stories about Santa's helpers in malls and elves spying on children to see if they are behaving.  Seriously, people, I could write a book on how to keep the magic alive.

But . . . oh the tangled web we weave . . . right?  This morning as I drove little Riley to school he started asking more questions about what Santa could see or hear him doing.  I know I said something like 'Well, he's not God, he can't see everything all the time, he just checks in once in a while'.  A short time later he asked me why Santa didn't want to give kids on the naughty list presents.  I started explaining about rewards for good behavior and treating each other with respect and listening to mommy and daddy, etc.  And then, Lord help me, this is what actually came out of my mouth: 'Santa just wants to give presents to children who deserve them.'

There are so many things wrong with that statement that I immediately started throwing up a little bit in my mouth.  And yet, that is what we are singing when we say 'you better watch out', what we are teaching when we buy and read 'the elf on the shelf' and all the other stuff that goes with it.  Never mind that there are deserving children all over the world who would be grateful for a meal on Christmas Day, much less a doll or a truck. For all the good we do during the season, giving to others and sharing our love; For all the work I put into making sure my kids understand the real reason for the season; For all the joy that comes from giving and praising and knowing - it can all be undone with one careless comment spewing forth from my poisonous tongue (James 2:8) without thought.

Of course, I backtracked.  I started telling Riley that his dad and I give him gifts at Christmas regardless of his behavior because we love him and because there is nothing he can do to earn our love just like there is nothing he can do to lose it.  Just like God.  Just like Jesus.  He is the gift to the world that none of us ever deserved or could ever have earned.  That is why we give gifts on Christmas.

I often think that if I was starting this parenting journey over now, I would do some things differently.  Like no sugar anywhere in my house ever and maybe no tv's, right?  One thing I would do differently is Christmas.  I sometimes think I would have done three gifts for each child because the wise men brought three gifts.  Or less gifts, anyway, than the crazy that happens around here.  I wonder if I could do Christmas without Santa like some of my friends do and I am honestly not sure that I could. 

I do think I would change things up though.  Santa would play a much smaller role, maybe fill the stockings and bring one gift while Scott and I did the rest.  I certainly wouldn't try so hard to keep the magic alive of Santa and put more effort into the glorious generosity of the true gift, our Savior.  And I often think that I can't go back now.  Not with a 5 year old - it would ruin everything!!!!  It's like a deep dark hole we dug for ourselves.  But maybe we can backtrack a little and ease our way out by the time they figure everything out on their own. 

We do our best around here, most of the time.  Tonight we begin our 2nd year of the Jesse Tree Advent and I am so excited about it, especially since even I understand it better this year than I did before, having gone all the way through it once.  "But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom" Isaiah 11:1.  It's the story of how God had a plan, from the very beginning.  It's a tale of understanding that no man is big enough to mess up God's plan and that He can use anyone in any way to see it through.  From creation to Christ's birth, the Victory is God's.

I love Santa.  I'm not abandoning Santa.  I'm not one of those people that think the whole thing is lying to your children or tricking them. Children believe in magic without our help, it's okay to use Santa as a tool to teach them about generosity and love.  Santa surely doesn't get anything back for flying all over the world and delivering presents to children he has never met.  Tyler hasn't been hurt by his belief and neither was I.  Through maturity we learn what is real and what is make believe and through God's word we learn what is Truth.  Believing in Santa didn't damage Tyler's belief in God anymore than believing the 'Force' in Star Wars was real for a while did.

It's just that the problem with Santa Claus is that he turns me into a blubbering idiot of a mom who doesn't think before I speak.  If I let myself get too caught up in the Santa-crazy, I might say something that sticks with my children that I don't want them to remember.  I will be praying every day through this season that God guides and guards my tongue so that I do not cause my children to stumble in their belief of the eternal and everlasting, even while we enjoy the fun of the season.  And I think that Santa will be bringing my children less stuff this year while their dad and I gift them with more than just 'books and clothes and stuff' as Scooter told Riley just yesterday when he told me what toy he wanted me to get him for Christmas.

Oh my!  Parenting these boys is slowly making me a better person, it's just taking a while!!!!!

God Bless!

October Madness . . .

I know it's been a while, and I apologize.  I've been busy.  Yeah, school has added to my schedule and things aren't as clean or orderly around here. This time of year gets pretty hectic too with events and birthdays (I had one too, but I'm just pretending it didn't happen since I am now less than 350 days from the big 4-0) plus we threw a baby shower for my sister and held a big multi-family garage sale last weekend.  Whew!  Crazy.  AAAANNNDDDDD . . . The absolute best part of the birthday that I'm trying to ignore is that Scotty's sister gave birth that morning to our newest nephew: Benjamin Wayne.  I absolutely LOVE that I get to have him as a birthday buddy.  (In fact it occurs to me that next year we can focus on his 1st birthday and forget about my 40th altogether!!)

But the thing is - I've been mostly busy just being a mom and for some reason lately, that's been busier than usual.

Where to start - Riley got put under general anesthesia for the second time this year in order to have 8 cavities (yes, you read that right my friends - molars very tight together does not a happy mom make) filled and crowned.  He's also very busy learning one memory verse a week for school, one memory verse per month for Church, keeping track of his weekly library book and also picking up Spanish from Miss Dawn at an almost alarmingly fast rate (I might have to invest in Rosetta stone for this kid!).  I took him on Friday for his 5 year check up a couple weeks early and found out that since his surgery last spring he has gained 4 pounds.  I can't remember the last time he gained that much in one stretch.  He also grew an inch.  Both of these accomplishments have officially moved him into the 'able to sit in a car booster seat with a tall back' bracket (he always wants to be in Scooter's seat when Scooter isn't in the car so I feel way better about this now), but he still dropped 2 percentage points for height to the 17th percentile. His weight gain made him jump from the 10th to the 18th percentile so that was a plus.  He's just a peanut still, but he sure is tough.  He's still running around scoring goals like crazy at soccer and keeping up with kids much bigger than he is and he's the fastest swimmer in his class of four kids (including Scooter) and everyone in there is at least 5 inches taller than he is.  Overall Riley is doing just awesome, keeping me hopping.  Right now we are planning his pirate themed birthday for which he wants all the kids to have an eye patch and everyone to say 'ARRRGH!'

Scooter - We had a rough adjustment to school starting this year.  I just got his school pictures back and they crack me up because he was so determined to NOT smile you can see it on his face.  Someone else might not think it is a great picture, but it is sooooo my kid, I'll take it.  He's still having a little trouble getting in the door in the morning, but it's a lot better than last year and we have made it through the first full round of teachers so everyone is familiar to him now.  His first report card was spectacular and I heard at our first parent-teacher conference that he's talking in class and responding to the teacher and classmates, but he got very quiet for the 2 weeks that they had a student teacher in the classroom.  Pretty par for the course, I guess.  We are pursuing an official medical diagnosis for Scooter now, but the wait to get into a neuropsychologist for an assessment is kind of ridiculous (at least for one tied to a therapy center so we only have to do it once).  That might take a while, but I am okay with that too - one step at a time.  Doing homework has been an adjustment and there are days he doesn't want anyone else besides me to hear him do his 'reading', but we're making it work and he is doing so well.

Tyler - I feel like Tyler has aged 3 or 4 years in the last month.  We have definitely entered the 'adult in training' part of the program here and he's not even officially a teenager yet.  His first report card this year was stellar.  He's taking the SAT (or ACT we haven't decided yet) in January for the Duke Talent Identification Program.  He is improving on the violin by leaps and bounds since he started private lessons.  He's first chair and got elected to orchestra council.  And he talks politics and world events like a little scholar.  And then it all becomes too much and he has tear filled moments because he is still just 12 and not really ready to be grown up yet.  Poor guy. 

Tyler's been kind of interested in the election and although he doesn't watch non-stop, he likes to listen to speeches and watch some of the debates.  Last night I heard him say several times 'He didn't answer the question!  Why isn't he answering the question?' about both candidates and he also said more than once 'I don't understand why they can't just say what they mean instead of complaining about what the other person does'.  He also had a few comments about interruptions and the fighting over the rules.  Tyler's been trying to figure out what each guy stands for just by watching these highly 'staged' presentations of the conventions and debates and he can't puzzle enough together to make sense of either candidate.  Pearls of Wisdom people.

I am so proud to be his mom. 

And I am totally overwhelmed.  I took him to half-price books to pick a novel for his next Language Arts project (he just finished The Hobbit so he was looking for something a little lighter) and I was really startled at just how many series of books and individual books were romantic vampire sagas, or witch/wizard or something with obviously strong sexual content.  I am all for imagination and fantasy and science fiction, but some of the pictures on the covers of these books made me blush and we were in the teen section.  Why is there a picture of two teenagers in a shower with no clothes on a book in the junior section?  Really?  We don't have enough to worry about these days?  He asked me about the 'Shades of Grey' books a few weeks ago because he sees them everywhere and I have to explain to him that they are adult content and not-in-a-good-way adult content.  I go to the grocery store and see magazine covers about these 'teen moms' all the time.  I don't know who these people are and I don't understand how they are famous because they got pregnant and had kids while they were still kids!  Why are we glorifying this kind of behavior?  What is wrong with us as a culture? I am so grateful that for right now Tyler isn't interested and he still cares what I think about situations and morals.  I am grateful that I still have influence, and I worry about the days that I won't anymore.  I am starting to see that with a teenager in the house there will be no room for 'grey' areas.  Our views, beliefs, morals and rules have to be as clear as possible and vocalized often so that we can outshout the media and all the 'crap' he is being bombarded with.  Wow - this is going to be harder than I ever thought it would be.  Prayer.  Lots and lots of prayer.

So that sums us up for the first few weeks of school.  Halloween is looming and I refuse to buy a costume until just beforehand since my kids can't make it an hour without changing their minds about who they want to be.  Any and all 'Avengers' top the list.  Riley is about to be 5!!!! which is insane since he's my baby.  I am trucking along at school.  I've done well so far, but now I am kind of in a mid-semester funk and wondering what the heck I am doing this for! I will keep on though.

Much love & God Bless!

Be who you are . . .

Hi friends!  I am very excited today because I am not blogging at home, or my home site, or whatever you would call it.  I have been selected as a guest writer at one of my very favorite websites 'The MOB Society' today so come visit me over at The MOB Society and let me know what you think!

God Bless!

Back to School 2012 . .

And so it begins, again . . .

We are beginning our 3rd week of school around here so I thought I'd give you a quick update on how the kids are faring with our new routines.

TYLER -

Oh boy - we have started junior high.  JUNIOR. HIGH. PEOPLE.  I am pretty sure that I was more nervous about this than Tyler was.  He did kind of break down the night before school started so we spent some serious time praying about his anxieties and placing both of our fears in God's hands.  As you can see, he was totally fine the next morning.  How awesome that his faith is so strong, that once he gave his fears to Jesus, he left them there and did not pull them back!  I admit, I am not so strong so I spent the day praying he wouldn't be one of those random kids chosen to be cyber bullied for no reason.  So far, so good.

Tyler would tell you it's just school so he doesn't really like it.  I remember middle school being pretty traumatic though since I had to do things like change clothes in front of other girls in a locker room so from what I can tell his start has been pretty smooth so far.  Some highlights:

1 - His Latin teacher didn't speak a word of English for the first 4 days and barely any since then.  This teacher sounds so fun - Tyler has enjoyed figuring out the 'puzzle' of what his teacher is saying and he comes home singing songs in Latin that help him memorize what he needs to remember.  He knew more Latin words after two days than I knew Spanish in 3 weeks of beginning high school.  He is totally ENGAGED! 

2 - He has his very first 'coach' for a teacher, predictably in Texas History.  Tyler does not understand why he will get in trouble for calling him 'Mr. whatever' instead of 'Coach whatever' as he can't relate the earning of this title to something like 'Dr.'  I'm with Tyler on this one, but I'm encouraging respect even while I crack up over the stories he's bringing home about mixed-metaphor lessons. This is a teacher Tyler likes, but doesn't get.  I can't wait to meet him.

3 - Tyler was most worried about pre-AP science, but it is taught by his absolute favorite teacher.  This guy showed so much respect and care for his students from the very first day, treating them as mature beings that Tyler noticed a difference right away.  His desire to not disappoint this instructor is outweighing any doubts about his ability to perform.

4 - It looks like Tyler got lumped with the higher group of players for Orchestra class so he'll have to step up his practice schedule on the Violin, but he's ready.  I have him signed up to start private lessons soon and then I about cried when I saw the Orchestra schedule for the year.  Yikes!  That's a lot of dates.  We are going to be busy!

So, other than a little broo-ha-ha that has led to Tyler being in every lunch slot at least once so far and now settled into one that includes no close friends, he's doing great.  It's going to be different and hectic around here with the changes, but I think we're ready.  He has more homework than we are used to and already had to complete a project over 2 novels that we weren't quite prepared for, but nothing traumatic or horrific. 

SCOOTER

Oh my little man.  Every change is so challenging for this guy and I just ache for him.  No pictures, sorry.  He's not ready for me to take one yet.  The first day of school was more like what I expected last year, tears and clinging.  I knew it was going to be rough when we went to meet the teacher night and he wouldn't talk to anyone, even his speech/socialization therapist.  He tucked his chin down and wouldn't look anyone in the eye.  Finally by the time we made it through the school and reacquainted him with every room and teacher, he let his Gym teacher hug him and make a fuss and nodded in response to her, still not looking directly at her.

So the first week met with tears and clinging and our familiar tug of war to get him to stay in class.  Once in the door though, Scooter likes his new teacher and there are some familiar kids in his class with him.  He's doing great once inside.  Since the 2nd grade teachers had the first rotation of door duty (and they don't know him), I was pretty worried by that Thursday that the next few weeks were going to be really hard and I expressed my concerns to Ms. Stella, the school therapist.  She called me later with a plan to introduce Scooter to all the teachers and give them a heads up that I was going to need their assistance in the coming weeks and talked to me about doing a social narrative at his first session about this particular issue.  Ok.

The next morning Ms. Stella happened by the door just as we were coming in so she decided to take Scooter to his class.  Normally she sees him within the structure of his day so she was totally not prepared for the screaming that followed.  I turned my back, clenched my fists and walked away like I am supposed to do.  Strangers were asking me if I was okay.  It sounds horrible but it was probably the best thing that could have happened.  I have never seen such quick reaction at a school before.  I got phone calls and emails filled with action plans and comfort.  The counselor spent time with him that day and read him a special book that came home with him as well.  When we went back the next week everyone was ready for him and it has been a lot smoother.  No more tears, but we're still doing the tug of war to get him inside.  And he's resumed his 'I don't want to go to school' chant at night and in the morning, so I say 'I know, but we have to go' every single time.

We had our first tears after school on Thursday and again, this is more of what I expected last year, and that never happened.  He was over tired and stressed by all the newness and held it all together during the day, but once he saw me he fell apart.  We relaxed and talked it through and had no major issues the next day.  His teacher said he's doing great though and a model student in class.  It's just another example of Scooter's issues with transitions.  He can do A and he can do B, but getting from A to B is the hard part.

Your continued prayers and support are so appreciated.  Scooter is so special and sweet and smart.  When he is 'on' he is soooo 'on' and he amazes me.  My biggest prayer for him is always that he can show the world who he is, not just us.  One step at a time, one day at a time, we're gonna get there.

RILEY

Riley had to wait an extra week to start school so he was very, very ready.  Decked out with a new backpack and lunchbox he could not wait to have his turn for a picture under our big pecan tree out front on his first day of Pre-K.

Riley told us the night before he was 'a little bit happy about school and a little bit not happy', but those were just nervous jitters.  I have given the 'first days make everyone nervous, even me' spiel so many times now with these boys and I know I am nowhere near done.  We prayed and I reminded Riley that unlike last year, he wasn't the 'new' kid and it was everyone's first day in this class.

I always wondered how parents got their kids to do stuff without being shy or too quiet.  Now I know it has little to do with parenting and more to do with who the kid is - Riley's a pro.  He loves his new school and his new class.  He's getting a little worn out, but he'll be used to everything soon.  I try not to compare the kids too much since I know firsthand how different they all are, but I do admit that I was pretty relieved to have this easy start for at least one of my little men.

And school wasn't the only thing Riley started this week.  He really wanted to play soccer and when our indoor league didn't reform this year, he told us he didn't care if he played inside or outside, he just wanted to play.  Back to the YMCA we go.  Since we coached him last year, I wasn't sure how much I'd have to coax him into listening and joining in, but again I should not have worried.  Riley just went on the field and got right in the mix at the first practice and for his first game.

He is the oldest kid on the team, and the smallest boy.  There's one girl shorter than he is by maybe half an inch.  He just plowed through though and during his first game the coach's son and Riley fought each other for the ball more than the other team, but they are working that out.  Ha!  He scored three goals and assisted his team on several others.  I am so grateful that Riley has this little something that is just for him this fall and for once the other boys are coming to wait around for him instead of the other way around.  He's waited a long time for all of this.


We are still getting used to our new schedules and the new car routes and everything else, but the year is looking good so far - just very busy.  I've been reading this book lately that is messing with every idea I ever had about poverty vs. wealth, luxury vs. necessity and want vs. need.  It's messing with me so much that I've been feeling more like I fit the role of Scrooge than I ever thought possible.  However, that being said, I can verify with utmost certainty that having a functioning air conditioner in your vehicle in Texas is not a luxury, it is a necessity.  Especially when you have three school pick ups and the temp outside before heat index is factored in is over 105.  The kids air worked fine in the back and they were aided with tinted windows, but I was not so lucky.  Last week was very long and very hot.  I am repaired now, sort of, and can run my air on high or nothing.  The van doesn't know it yet, but it's on it's last legs wheels.

Hope your school year started off well and that you are enjoying the break in weather we've had.  You know, right after I got the air in my car fixed.  Sigh.

God Bless!

Unforgettable Summer . . .

Hello Friends - I've missed you, but oh my have we been busy this summer!  I definitely had a few moments where it occurred to me that I should be blogging, but most of the time I admittedly was just too busy doing SUMMERTIME to sit down and blog about summertime.

I just looked back at my last post of the school year and my lofty plans to make sure kids were on a schedule, practicing handwriting and violin and reading all summer . . . wow was I optimistic!  None of that happened.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.

I could give you lots of excuses, but I won't.  Instead I'll just fill you in on what DID happen:

Before school was actually out, we enjoyed a weekend at the family lake house, relaxing with family.  My sister came up for a day, which made the boys super happy.  They love fishing, swimming, playing and just being there.

Scooter and Riley jumped right back into weekly swim lessons the first week of our summer break.  They had only had one week off between sessions and it fell during Memorial Day week.  This marked a full year of lessons with Miss Paige.  The consistency of weekly semi-private lessons throughout the year was undertaken for Scooter's benefit and he has certainly blossomed.  He's still not a big fan of swimming by himself through the water from point A to point B, but he loves going under and diving to the bottom to retrieve toys while lightly holding onto an adult's finger for a sense of security.  It's slow going, but a year ago Miss Paige spent weeks getting Scooter to put his face in the water willingly and this summer she was working with him on jumping off a platform three feet above the water into 18 foot depths with her assistance.  Both boys now warm up each lesson by swimming with a floating barbell across the length of the pool (with Ms. P. of course).  We are getting there.

Riley, being the youngest doesn't have Tyler's "first born" sense of cautiousness nor does he have Scooter's natural anxiety.  He is usually ready to try anything and he's also very much a Barrow, which in my house reads as 'natural born swimmer'.  Once the idea of holding breath plus kicking and moving arms at the same time clicked for Riley, there has been no turning back.  He is now progressing into a pretty decent swimmer, far ahead of where I would have thought a 4 year old without a pool in his yard could get to.

Here's a video of Riley swimming across our friends pool in early July and one of Scooter jumping with Ms. Paige at his lessons.  They have just gotten more brave and ambitious as the summer has progressed.

(I hope these loaded correctly.  I've had issues with this in the past, I am trying y'all!)



The second week of summer found me and all three boys trekking to church each morning for VBS.  It was Scooter's first year to participate and I volunteered so that Riley could go along as well.  Tyler is, of course, past the age for VBS, but he is old enough to be a helper.  Tyler assisted in recreation and games and after helping with registration and gift shop the first day, I became a floater and got to help in some different areas, including preschool as Riley's teacher a couple of days.  It was a lot of fun for all of us and I was so proud of how brave Scooter was for the experience.

 After VBS was over with, we had a whirlwind weekend getting Tyler ready for both camp and vacation since they would occur back to back by minutes.  So we bundled Tyler off to camp on a Monday and I watched Twitter feeds and Facebook posts for pictures of him and his friends and literally yearned to be at camp.  The yearning had little to do with Tyler and more to do with always knowing that since Junior High was so hard for me, I was going to be really good at helping others through it.  I guess God has decided the time has come because I know that if it is at all possible, I am going next year to middle school camp as a counselor, whether or not Tyler goes back.  Tyler had a pretty good time too despite preferring to sleep in pitch dark and ultra quiet rather than in a big room filled with bunk beds occupied by 12 year old boys.  I don't blame him for that.

While Tyler was gone I took Riley for a dental check up and cleaning and discovered that all those close together teeth with areas we were supposed to 'watch' developed into cavities.  Eight. Cavities.  Seriously.  They are recommending silver caps to protect the teeth from further problems and they want to put him completely under at Children's Hospital for the whole thing.  I cringe just thinking about the bill, but I haven't heard from them since they started working on coordinating dental and medical insurance issues so who knows when we'll get around to getting the work done.

Somehow I got everything ready for the five us to travel cross country by Friday.  My parents picked up our rental car, we had some drama involved in less trunk space than expected, Dad and Scott got the travel igloo propped on top of our Expedition (which wasn't the EL that was ordered, hence the drama), I picked up Tyler from the camp bus and we hit the road.  We arrived in Appleton, Wisconsin about 21 very looooong hours later.  Thank goodness the hotel had a pool, and thanks to the social story I made for Scooter before we left he did a pretty good job of making some new friends.

After one night in Appleton with some much loved family and friends, we headed to Waupaca for a memorial service for my sweet Uncle Wayne and a family get together.  I was too busy talking all day (hold all laughter please, lol) to take many pictures, but I did get one of Tyler with his Grandpa and our cousin Tyler, his two namesakes.  I try to grab one of these each time the three of them are together so someday I can put them all together in a frame:

From there we headed down to Milwaukee and almost immediately had lunch at Solly's, our favorite burger joint followed by checking out the brand new Beer Garden at a park on the Milwaukee River.  And yes, that is a jacket Riley was wearing.  In late June.  Oh it was gorgeous.

Scott and I also took the boys to the zoo I had grown up visiting.  For some reason I had become obsessed with my kids being able to see a real live Polar Bear, which they cannot do in a Texas zoo, among other things.  It was a really fun day though and it turns out they sell beer there too, something that would be shocking down here.  Scott and I did have one and also enjoyed a good laugh when Tyler said 'You can't buy beer at a ZOO!' and I told him 'You can in Milwaukee!'  A favorite moment was watching the Tigers in the new Cat House where one kept coming face to face with Scooter through the glass.  It was impressive.

We did go to Summerfest too, where I forgot to take my camera.  It was so hot, but it was so much fun and the boys really enjoyed the live music and the opening night fireworks over Lake Michigan, for which we had a front row picnic table.  The best part of the week though was seeing my kids get reacquainted with all their cousins and my yankee (and some of my best) friend's kids.  We hosted a picnic one day (yeah, either no camera or too much talking, but no pics of that either!) where the kids played together and adults got to visit.  We also went out for a fish fry on our last night in town with my cousin and her boys who had become fast friends with our kids.  My favorite picture of the week was this one of Scooter and cousin Brady who is also 6.  Those smiles are priceless.

The next day we had one more lunch at Solly's and then got on the road to go home.  Who do you think was the most worn out from our trip?

Once we were back home, I barely had time to unpack and do laundry before I was working on getting our house in order to host my mother-in-law's 60th birthday party with Scott's sisters.  The party was that next Saturday night.  The girls did most of the shopping for food and decorations and we held the party at my house, so Scott and I were busy cleaning and prepping.  Overall, we did a good job of dividing the work and pulling off a fun party.  I think the birthday girl was pleased.  Even Bella ended up with a party decorated collar and painted toenails, but that was not on the original agenda.

Tyler left the day of the party for his month with his dad and the little ones and I began July with some weekly visits to see their brother in Denton.  The second of those visits included an extra passenger in my van, my niece who was up from Austin for the week.  It was a lot of fun having the kids together, but little Jocelyn sure likes to try and keep the boys running.

After being gone two weeks, Tyler was returned to me because he was suffering from a severe ear infection and as big as he is, when he's sick he still wants good old mom.  It was so bad, I am glad his dad and I opted for this choice so we could see his normal doctor and I (his worry wart mom) could keep an eye on him.  It was so swollen the doctor couldn't even tell what kind of infection it was or where in the ear, so we attacked on several fronts and covered all bases.  Just as Tyler started feeling better, Brian got switched to all overnight shifts for three weeks so it worked out better to keep him here at home and see his dad on weekends.  This is our first week of back to normal on that front and I know everyone is relieved, especially Brian. 

The rest of the summer has been spent in renovation mode.  I had got trim in my main rooms at the end of the spring semester and had emptied the front bedroom that had been serving as play room for the last year and a half since the big 'boys' room had been finished.  The plan, though, has always been to redo that room for Tyler as a 'teen' room sometime before he went to Junior High.  Well folks, school starts next week and Tyler finally moved in last week.  I did his room first, but then Scott and I moved in there so I could do our room and then the office moved in there so it could get done and now, finally, all is done.  Well, almost done.  When I say done, I mean walls patched & painted, electrical outlets, fixtures and switches replaced and floors in.  No trim or curtains or anything yet.

So here's the before and after of Tyler's room.  Trim is done in his room, but the closet is gutted in anticipation of new closet rods, shelves and doors.  His bedding, which is solid red, will be here next week and eventually the dresser will be gone because the bed will be built as a captain's bed and take it's place.

Our room had not been touched since Scott bought the house.  The owners had slapped flat paint on all the walls.  You should not use flat paint in a light color if you have either dogs or children.  Here's why:

Urgh.  I can still feel the grunge.  Also, please note that washable crayola marker is not washable on a flat paint surface.  It will require two coats of primer and 3 coats of latex paint to cover it up.  That's green up there if you can't tell through the five hundred layers of dirt.  Anyway - our new bedding is on it's way as well and trim is coming, but we are already enjoying having clean, painted walls in a soothing color.  What an improvement!

It's hard to tell, but it's a slightly purplish grey color and it might not seem like much to you, but you are seeing two new rods and an added shelf in that closet which more than doubled our closet's functionality.  I am one happy momma!


The office was once the baby room.  It was yellow, with blue diamonds that I painstakingly measured, taped and painted when I was waiting for Scooter to be born.  That was the hardest thing to paint over.  I am finding my way to being okay at not having more babies.  I really am enjoying my nieces and nephews and then I'm enjoying sending them home.  But it was still sad to let this thing go, especially because Scooter was sad and wanted them to stay.

I am hoping to add some kind of sleeper sofa or futon for the occasional guest in here and a new desk is in my very immediate future, but I'm very pleased with how it's turning out so far.  I don't miss the diamonds either.  Well, mostly.

So for the last week I've been moving furniture and stuff to spread us back out into all of our space again.  I've purged and cleaned and organized, all in an effort to be somewhat ready to go back to school.


Changes are coming.  Tyler will be in Junior High, which I've come to terms with, I thought.  Then I drove by the high school yesterday and started hyperventilating because I realized he would be a freshman in two short years.  Scooter is worried about first grade, but not for his normal reasons, only because the neighbor kid told him he wouldn't get clues from the teacher on his math tests.  Whatever that means.  Riley will be in Pre-K 3 days per week with an optional 4th day at my discretion.  I'll probably opt in for a lot of those extra Fridays because I will actually be taking some classes myself.  That's right, come Monday I am a student again.  I'll be in class 2 mornings a week and for one lab and the rest is on line.  I'm sure it'll be an interesting change around here and quite an adjustment, but we're ready.


School supplies are bought.  Bedtimes are slowly backing up.  Everyone's had a back to school hair cut (and color for mommy!).  Next week it's time to bring back alarm clocks and navigate school zones again. 

This summer was so busy, but it was also very nice.  I'm sure if I gave it 30 seconds I could remember all the drama and issues and problems we had over the summer, the anxiety, the worries the crazy.  Certainly I could tell you all the things I wish I would have gotten done or that I'd done better.  But I don't want to remember our summer that way.  I want to remember the fact that I actually made cookies 3 times this summer just for the heck of it and so I could have a cookie with my kids.  Who cares if we didn't practice handwriting and violin?  We did have moments like these:

Those are all priceless moments and they made Summer 2012 one I wouldn't change and hope to never forget!  I hope you had an unforgettable summer too.

Thanks and God Bless!