First Day Report

DS#3 did fine today at daycare, of course. He was in the 6-12 month room. I joked about how he had "skipped a grade" since he had skipped over the 0-6 month room. *WINK* DH asked the teacher about whether or not DS had taken any naps. The teacher said that he had taken a 20 minute nap in the morning and a 5 minute one in the afternoon. DH told her, "That's why he's here." How does that baby survive on such little sleep?!!

Going to Day Care

DS#3 is going to daycare for the first time tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about it. DH and I wanted him to get used to kids his age. Kids his age won't wait on him hand and foot like his siblings do. He is very needy, too, and DH can't get anything done at home while watching him. What I'm not sure about is that women outside of the family will be caring for him for the first time. I not crazy about sharing him! :)

Thanksgiving 2007

Wow, I think this is the longest I've gone between blog posts! It's been quite a busy week. I'll just touch on a few highlights.

--I worked the night before Thanksgiving.
--We left to visit my family after I got home from work.
--DS#3 did not sleep during the whole car trip, but luckily didn't fuss too much either.
--We went directly to my sister's house. Her in-laws were also visiting.
--My sister's father-in-law got down on the floor and army crawled toward DS#3 who in turn started army crawling straight to him. It was so cute!
--DS#1 and DS#2 started playing Guitar Hero II on the PS2 with my nephew. That was their obsession for the rest of the trip.
--DD started playing dress-up with my niece. My sister could smell the lip gloss when they got near. They were such a contrast to the boys.
--DS#3 took a couple of short naps and that's it. He had a little trouble getting to sleep in the "new" crib and surroundings but did okay the rest of the night.

--On Black Friday, all of the kids got up early, so DH decided to go out to one of the local electronics stores (around 5AM). The checkout line was so long that he decided just to look around.
--We went to my youngest sister's house and "hung out".
--They had bought a tent and my BIL had already put it together in the living room when we first got there. Our boys stayed over there that night and they "camped" in the backyard in the tent. The temps overnight got into the 40s with thunderstorms. I still cannot believe that my scrapping sister failed to get photos of the three boys camping out for me!
--In the evening, we went to my younger sister's house because her DD was coming home from being with her father for Thanksgiving. DD spent the night there with her two girl cousins.
--DH and I were left with only DS#3 that night but he woke up at 3:30AM and kept waking up at least every hour or so. I sent DH to sleep in the other room since he was going to be driving.

We drove home yesterday. It was miserable, cold, wet day, and it wasn't a fun drive, but it was nice to be home. :)

My Oldest Son

I shouldn't forget my oldest son. I talk a lot about his siblings here because they're at a point where they're changing more quickly. I forget that he's changing, too. Today, I noticed in church that he was singing with a lower voice than I remember. He is still in the middle school choir because his voice hasn't changed yet. Tonight, I asked him if he noticed that his voice was getting lower. He said that he could still hit the higher notes but that he found the lower notes easier to reach now. Thank goodness that he can at least hit those notes, as compared to his father who always seems to miss those notes. *WINK*

I still sing to my oldest son before he goes to sleep. I'm happy that he still wants me to sing to him and he still even wants me to rub his back when I sing. I was doing that tonight and I was struck with an odd feeling. Here I was looking up to him as I lay in the bed with him. I found myself wondering if his feet were beyond where my feet were. He is taller than me now, of course, and it was weird rubbing the back of a boy who is bigger than me!

His face is changing too, as are other parts of his body that are not visible to me, I'm sure. He cares more about his hair. He'll ask to get a haircut instead of waiting for us to tell him it is time. His little brother made a comment the other day about how he is growing a mustache. Well, not really, and DS#2 IS prone to exaggeration, but DS#1's facial hair IS getting a little darker.

DS#1 spent the night at a friend's house last Friday. I really missed him. I saw him on Thursday night, and then I left for work before he woke up on Friday. We didn't see him again until Saturday afternoon. I caught a glimpse of myself in a few years, when DS#1 is off at college. I know my kids have to grow up and eventually leave my house, but I hope I can learn to cope with it better by then!

November Kit Layouts

I forgot to post these pages earlier. I posted one in October--Bobbing For Apples. Here's another one using the same Cast A Spell Kit for November from Scrapaddict. This uses photos from our recent Disney World trip.

This next one uses the White Picket Fence SDJ and photos from last fall's soccer season, during DS#1's game. DD was happily playing in dirt with the sister of another player. Her hands were filthy! She wanted to take home the dirt she was playing with. DH told her that we had our own dirt! :)

This one also uses the White Picket Fence SDJ and photos from last year. DD got this outfit as a hand-me-down from her second cousin. She was all giggly that her tummy was showing. I was just a proud Mama who was thinking of how beautiful her daughter was!

Last Soccer Game!

DS#2's soccer team played in a tournament this weekend. They played three games today--at 8AM, Noon, and 4PM. They won one game and lost the other two. What a long day! We left the house before 7AM and didn't get back until after 530PM. At least poor DS#3 was able to nap here and there, but he wanted to crawl around so badly that he would look at the ground when we were carrying him. We didn't make it to the next round, but DH and I are secretly thinking that isn't a bad thing because otherwise, we would have one and maybe even two games tomorrow, too!! I enjoy watching my kids play soccer, but enough is enough. I want my free time back!

The Search Is Over

The search is over. I wanted the elusive Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and DH found one today and bought it. He didn't even have to stand in line waiting for one. That would have been too much trouble. Now, I can't wait to play with it!

On a slightly different subject, I finally got a photo of DS#3's two bottom front teeth. Isn't he adorable?

Girls' Night Out

My friend Jen gets together with some other military wives once a year. It was her turn to host this year, and she invited me along. I have known all of them except for one through the ScrapAddict.com Message Board, and it was really cool to finally meet them face-to-face. Even though they had all known each other for a while, and I was the new one, they all made me very welcome. Thanks to Jen for inviting me, and thanks to DH for encouraging me to go and for watching the kids. :)

Good and Bad

Today was the awards ceremony at the kids' school. My oldest got a "Golden Arrow" for this quarter and DS#2 got an award for the first time--a "Silver Arrow"! Only students from the third grade on up can win those awards. "Golden Arrow" means an average of 94 in the core subjects. "Silver Arrow" means an average of 90 and above (I think). DS#2 actually only fell short about TWO points in ONE class or he would have qualified for a "Golden Arrow". DH and I were a little bummed for him, but he was still happy, thankfully.

Both boys also got the Reader Awards for their respective classes. That award is for the child with the highest number of Accelerated Reader points (from reading a certain amount of books worth a certain amount of points) in their class. We're so proud of our children!

Okay, so we have to have the good with the bad, right? Well, we also found out this morning that DS#2 earned a "mandatory" (which is basically an afterschool detention) for not having his math homework done. What a shock! That kid lives for math! He had even wanted to work ahead in math! He said that he forgot his book last night. That wasn't a very good excuse, but because of this, he has lost all of his privileges until next week. He didn't get to go out for a celebratory milkshake like his brother did because he was still at school!

DD doesn't qualify for any awards yet since she is only in PreK, but I would have bought her a shake. The only problem was that she was sent home form school after having thrown up her breakfast. DH said that she seemed to be feeling better at home, so she had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich--and promptly threw that up, too. She was very bouncy when I saw her at the awards ceremony, but she really only ate an apple this evening along with some water I made her drink. She went to bed at 6PM, and I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a better day for everyone!

Air Show

Today we went to the Air Force Base in town to watch the Air Show. Despite living here for five years, we've never been to one of these. DS#2's godfather was in town flying in the Air Show, so we made a point of going just to see him. These are some photos of the older kids with him and a photo of his plane. I guess when you're single with no kids you can have expensive hobbies like this one. It was great to see him again.

All Saints' Day

DS#2 was St. George, and DD was St. Michael the Archangel. DS got to read from index cards. DD can't read reliably enough yet, so she had to memorize her saint name and two facts. We started practicing daily last Sunday. I still had to prompt her, but I was proud of her. She said her lines loudly and clearly. Last year, she couldn't say a thing when she got in front of everyone. All she could do was give an embarrassed look and hide her face in her teacher's skirt.

I think they enjoyed dressing up more than anything else. :)

Costumes Part 2

This is the fourth year that my kids have been going to this Catholic school. That means that this is our fourth All Saints' Day at this school, too. On this day, all the elementary school kids dress up as saints and give reports about their chosen saint in front of their class. After they do that, they get to have a party. So, it's like Halloween all over again, except on the following day. This is the first time that I haven't had to "make" a costume. Do you know how difficult it is to find a ready-made costume of a saint?

The first year, DH and I totally freaked out when it came down to a week or so before the big day and we didn't have any saint costumes for the boys. Luckily, DH was able to find an adult monk costume that I cut down to fit DS#1. I had figured out that a monk costume could last a long time, and DS#1 wore that costume the following two years after that. This year he didn't have to dress up because he's in the middle school, and dressing in costume isn't required for them.

DS#2 wore a recycled wizard costume that first year. He was St. Patrick, so we tried to dye the dark blue costume green, but in the end, it still looked blue and we decided that it didn't matter. The following year, we again tried to find a monk costume (for DS#2 this time), but we had no luck at all. Again, we did this all at the last minute. Because of this, I spent about six hours the night before (which was Halloween) making a monk costume for DS#2. Sometime after I got home from work, I went out to the fabric store, bought a pattern, and the supplies to make a generic monk-type garment. I remember starting at about six and finishing at about midnight. That's with skipping dinner. That's with totally missing all of the Halloween festivities, including trick-or-treating. I actually haven't scrapped the Halloween pictures from that year yet because I still get upset thinking about missing all of it.

Last year, the boys already had their monk costumes, so we were set. I was so relieved! DD was only in PreK, so we chose a saint to match a ready-made costume. Target had these queen costumes last year, so she was a saint that was a queen. I can't seem to remember which one right now. More on this tomorrow.

Because of all of that past last-minute angst, last year and this year, I have requested call on the night before Halloween (so I would have Halloween day off) and a vacation day on All Saints' Day. That way, I can make a last minute costume if I have to. That way I won't miss Halloween again. That way, I can see my kids give their saint reports and help at their parties.

I'll have to share today's events tomorrow with the photos I took of their costumes.