Just Got Told

I was just on a lovely walk with the three little monsters. Ben was tutoring tonight and the kids and I turned our sit n stand stroller into a triple decker.




They were adorable. Max was sitting on the little bench and Lexi was standing on the platform. Let me tell you, though, it was quite the workout pushing almost 90 pounds of child up and down our hilly 'hood. While on the walk, Alexis started talking about kindergarten. I reminded her that Wednesday was her day to go back to her new school for a screening. I asked her if she would please talk to the person who was working with her. Her response "I don't know, mom. I will try, but I can't promise anything". Well, what exactly do you say back to that. Poor kid!!!!!


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Wild Weekends

Our weekends are such prized possessions these days. We have found ourselves so busy lately that we cherish time when we can just hang out with our family. This weekend is full of beautiful weather and lots of time to just be together. There are moments when the two older kids are bickering or tormenting each other, but there are other times when they are so sweet and kind. Like last night at Relay for Life.....Ben has to attend with school an monitor his students, although he doesn't spend the night anymore! But we have gone for the past several years and it is an inspiring experience. Seeing so many people affected by cancer is humbling and seeing kids come together for a greater cause and come up with creative ways to raise money is motivating. Alexis and Max had a grand time with all the high school girls playing duck duck goose, freeze tag, and hide and go seek (free babysitters!). It was quite humorous seeing 16 year olds play duck duck goose. They jumped on the inflatables. Alexis always waiting for Max and holding hands as they came down.



Ok so they are not holding hands in that picture but you can still believe me!!!!!

This morning we went to Home Depot to buy our garden supplies. In our never ending quest to eat more naturally (always room for improvement), we usually have a garden. This year we are planting cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, basil, cilantro, and Rosemary. Can't wait to cook with those herbs!!!!!




Ben is in his glory!!!!!

Then we headed to Taste of East Cobb. Great idea and well planned except they really underestimated the number of people so it was all really close together when they could have had a whole parking lot to spread out. But we did try some good food and the kids has fun. They even got to make their own guacamole at Chipotle! It was pretty good too!



Next event is tonight. We are having a Kids Night Out at my office. Good for promoting Ben's DJ venture and good way to make sone extra money. Not many entities out there for watching and entertaining special needs kids for a few hours on a Saturday night. So tell your friends people!!!!!!!!

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Kindergarten Crisis

Yes, I have a rising kindergartener. And yes, I cannot believe I am saying that. I remember her birth day like it was a week ago (especially since it was quite a tale!). I remembering hearing "it's a girl" and crying as they swept her away. It was a few painful hours until I got to see my new sweet first baby girl. But when she finally arrived to our room as a bundled up little package, I was in love and I knew that I would never let her go. And now almost 5 1/2 years later, I have to let her go. To kindergarten. Out of the comfort of her small homey preschool where I know all the teachers and all the students and all the moms. Out of the comfort of spending a few hours together in the morning and a few hours together in the afternoon just us while everyone else naps. And out of the comfort of being able to control what she does and doesn't do and the people who she is around. She will be off on her own.

Her school is quite smart and does a kindergarten sneak a peek and it happened to be yesterday. It was brilliant for Alexis because she is quite shy and sensitive. And if she is not prepares for a situation, she will FREAK out. She has cried and clung on to me for dear life numerous times and numerous places. When new people talk to her, she pretends she is either mute or deaf and doesn't answer. And while this can all be very frustrating for me, it does have some irony to it. I'm pretty sure that I did the exact same thing. The only difference was that I didn't even talk to people I did know. But sweet Alexis is very gentle, mature, and kind. All traits to admire. She is an amazing sister to two very lucky little kids. You can just look at her and see her sweetness.





Anyway, back to sneak a peek....she asked 15 times if I was leaving and didn't believe me when I kept saying no. As we arrived and were greeted, people talked to her and naturally she didn't answer. I don't think she uttered a word that was not whispered in my ear for the whole time we were there. But she got a whole tour of the school and hopefully next time we are there it will all be a little more familiar. She did already inform me that she will cry the first day, and I already informed her that I was going to leave anyway. At least we got that cleared up.






Looking forward to kindergarten and a new adventure with my first baby!

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Crazy Maxwell

I asked myself several times lately if I should be worried about Max. As I was looking through the pictures on my phone, I noticed that last three pictures were all of Max. Here they are and you can judge for yourself:










Just today he had an accidental explosion at school and when I picked him up he was in his spare shorts. He came back to the office so he could take a nap there while I took Alexis to dance and proceeded to load his pants for a second time. Since he already used his spare clothes, he had to wear Lexi's shorts. This, however, was not a punishment but a reward. He happily exclaimed "I look like a girl!!!!".

We have come to the conclusion that he can name all six princesses but no superheroes. He will dress up like a ballerina but doesn't know the first thing about dinosaurs. We know he will develop his "manly" side but having two sisters make this quite difficult!!!!!! We love you Max man!!!!!

I'm Baaaaaaacccccckkkkk!!!!!!

I officially took a blogging hiatus! And now I am officially back. I got an iPhone back in September and as a result don't often get on my computer anymore. I couldn't figure out how to blog from my phone but someone recently introduced me to BlogPress. So I paid the $2.99 and now I can blog from my phone. Hmmmmm.......this should definitely increase my number of posts!

I'm not including any big update or anything. We will just pick up from here! So consider us back on line :)

Here are the three munchkins that have occupied my time in the last five months.







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One of those Times

For all your parents out there.....

Is there ever a time when your kid wants you to pick them up, but for whatever reason you just can't pick them up in that moment? And what usually happens? A temper tantrum? Crying? Pouting? Here's what happens in our house:

Our child passes out. Literally. This is Max post-pass out. Really....all he wanted was for me to pick him up, but I couldn't. Stubborn much?

MAX - a Synonym for T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I have learned several valuable lessons from my adorable son these past two days.

Yesterday, we arrived home from school. Alexis was not with us because she went home with a friend. Step one: We pull in the garage. Step two: I drop my keys inside my bag, hop out of the car, unsnap Maizy, and unbuckle Max. Step three: I proceed to tell Max to get out of the car, but he ran to the opposite side. I had Maizy's carseat in my hand still so I couldn't exactly jump in after him. I had a brilliant idea....I'll bring Maizy inside and then come back out so I can properly "handle" Max. BAD IDEA! When I came back out, the door was closed and Max was happily bounding around the front seats. I go to open the door and it won't open. His button happy little fingers apparently hit the lock button.

So I don't freak out yet, but try to coerce him to push the button again.

He tries, but mostly ends up pushing the window button or the seat heater or the other random buttons on the door. Even when he would push the lock, he was not pushing it hard enough to unlock. I come inside to look for a spare key and can't find one. Max, by the way, thinks this is hilarious and the best time of his life. Here is some evidence of that.

I call Ben and he thinks a key is upstairs. Nope, can't find it. Enter, panic mode. I am frantically telling Max to push the button while he continues playing and this scenario is playing in my mind: Me calling AAA and telling them my 2 year old son is locked in the car in our garage and them silently berating me for being a terrible mother. Only problem......AAA card was also locked in car. Just as I was coming inside to get the phone number off the computer, Max finally pushed the button hard enough and crisis was averted.

Lesson learned: Don't ever leave Max alone in the car unbuckled for ANY reason.

You may think this is the end of the story, but, ah,, my friends, 'tis not!

This morning a friend of Alexis's was dropped off at our house so I could bring her to school because her mom had to be somewhere. With 4 children 5 and under in my care, we load up and head out (on time even!!!). We back out of the driveway and I thought my car felt a little funny, but there were tons of wet leaves in the street so I thought that was the problem. We keep driving and it seems fine. But every time I turn, my wheels won't turn all the way. I start freaking out, and turn very, very slowly and carefully. It seems like it is only happening on left turns. Luckily only a two left turns to school. I call Ben because I didn't know what to do. No answer. I call again. No answer. We have a rule that he keeps his phone on silent at school, but if I NEED him, I call two to three times in a row and then he knows to pick up. So I call again. No answer. I text him. NO ANSWER. I drive a little in the parking lot and it seems okay. So I drive to the dr.'s office because Max has an appointment to get a shot and from school to the dr. office is only right turns. As I'm driving, I quickly realize it is not ONLY left turns. It is any time I turn the wheel more sharply than just a gradual turn.

Freak out again. Call Ben again. Still no answer. I now start realizing that this is going to be very problematic because I can't get three carseats in a regular car if someone else were to have to pick me up or I were to have to use someone else's car. I call Ben about 3 more times and text him 2 more times, and email him. NOTHING! By now, I'm desperate, so I call the front office at his school and ask them to have Ben call me ASAP. He finally calls and he says he is going to come over and call AAA. Wow, second time in two days. Great! So I go into the dr. and Max gets his shot. When I come out, Ben calls and asks me to look under the radio and see if the knob is turned to the 2WD or not. Sure 'nuf, it's turned to 4WD. Little mister happy hands, turned the knob for 4 wheel drive when he was messing around in the car. Ben arrives, gives the car a test drive, and it was perfectly fine. Geez, Max!!!!!!!

Lesson learned: NEVER LEAVE MAX ALONE IN THE CAR FOR ANY REASON!!!!!!

Side note: When I ask Ben why he did not answer after I called probably 16 times, he replies, "well, my laptop was in my lap and I thought the buzzing was just my laptop humming". ARE YOU "BLEEPIN" KIDDING ME??????????

Ahhhh, now on to the rest of the day.