Snuggle Fest

Tuba, Busy Guy, Cam and Mr. P all snugged up for bed.

I work hard to get my kids to sleep in their own beds. When Tuba was little it took some time to get him sleeping in his own bed. I sat on the edge of his bed and sang to him....for a LONG time each night. I'd lay next to him and then creep out when he was asleep. Then something happened. I got a job teaching at night at the community college. It became Cam's job to put Tuba to bed. Hmmmmm. In about a week's time Tuba no longer slept in his own bed! I'd come home and find the two of them all snuggled up and asleep in Cam and I's bed. I tried to explain to Cam that someday Tuba would be 40 years old and still be sleeping in our bed. Cam looked at e all confused and shrugged his shoulders and said, "so". Great! I cannot sleep with kids in my bed. They wiggle and snore and wiggle and sweat and wiggle and talk in their sleep and wiggle!!! I wake up each time. Ugh! So, I've worked really hard with each kid to have them sleep in their own bed.

Last night Cam and I put the kids to bed and then Cam went to bed and I went to the livingroom to read. When I came to bed this is what I found! Oh, good grief. As I carried Busy Guy to his bed he sleepily told me, "no, Daddy said we could have a snuggle fest". LOL.

School Is OUT

Summer is here. Today was the last day of school for the kids. Yeah!

Poor Mr. P is sick and missed the last two days of school. He has big swollen glands and sore throat, fever, and basic yuck. Mr. P is counting the days until he can return to school and go the WHOLE day...and have lunch at school, and have more recess, and more PE! He loves school. He is ready for 1st grade.

Tuba is now officially on to high school. I am so nervous and can't believe he is that old already. He had the BEST teachers in the world at the middle school...and grade school too so the bar is set pretty high. He will be missing school over the summer.

Busy Guy is so sad that his pre-school year ended two weeks ago. He is already missing school and really misses Mr. P. Now, they can both be home and PLAY!

The toddlers are thrilled when the sun is out and can run and play outside...well, they love it when it's rainy too but I'm a mean mom and won't let them play in the mud. ;)

Being the crazy anal planner that I am...I'm already trying to figure out the schedule for the Fall. Yes, I'm nuts and probably need meds...seriously. I'm trying to just relax and plan instead a bunch of fun things for summer. We are going to be missing Cam and trying to fill the days with fun. Tomorrow I've promised to scrub out the pool and let the kids play in it. A few more things we have planned....beach days, swimming lessons, park days, play dates, birthdays-4 of them, library days, backyard fun, outside lunch (my favorite...no clean-up), bike riding, pool/sprinkler fun, making jam, Children's museum, picnics, zoo, nature walks, 4th of July fun, and every Fri. (which is the only day Cam will be home) we are going to do something fun together. Ahhhhh....summer! What's your favorite thing to do in summer?

Humor

I love to laugh. And...if you ask my hubby he'll say I laugh like a pirate....and so do my mom and sisters. Yep, that's us...a bunch a cackling (that's Cam's other term for my laugh) pirates! Hey, I do love to laugh. The crazier life gets the more I seek out a good laugh. The few TV shows I watch are ones that make me laugh. I love comedy movies too. I don't have time for the sad or scary. There is enough of that in real life.
I follow a bunch of different blogs. Some are friends through the adoption world, some are friends from church, some family, and some through the grapevine. One of my favorite blogs is Heart Condition. The blog's writer is Erika...I went to high school with her hubby. They too have "almost twins"...two boys only 4.5 mos. apart. Let me say that Erika's blog is THE funniest thing ever. Some days her posts are serious...like the ones detailing her boys' adoptions. Get the kleenex while reading that series. Erika is an excellent writer and has the BEST sense of humor. Her husband tells her she should write a book...and he is right! Check out her blog and you can have a daily dose of humor...and use your pirate laugh like I do.

Graduation

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Cam's graduation. On Sat. we went to the university's graduation brunch. We had a sitter so it was a nice day date. The food was yummy and we sat at big round tables with other families. It was fun to chat with the other people at our table....well, it was fun until a woman sat down next to me and asked if I was a mom of a graduate. WHAT? Ummmm, No....I'm a wife of a graduate student was my nice reply. But...in my head I was thinking something more like....HELLO! I'm only 39...and I think I look pretty good for that age!!!! Do I look old enough....yikes....I need a makeover....a face lift....some botox! Okay, I guess I could actually be a mom of a college graduate but I'd have been 17 when the child was born. Yes, it's possible...but I have two babes in diapers so I just don't see myself at the stage yet. Sheesh!

After the brunch we went and got the kids and went off to a picnic with Cam's classmates. It was fun to meet everyone and show off our kids. It was at a park on a lake and the weather was lovely. We played in the sun and had a picnic under the trees.

Sunday was graduation. We started the day off with church. So nice to have Cam home for the weekend! The graduation ceremony was held in the big city at an arena. Cam's parents, my mom and step-dad joined Cam and I along with Tuba, Mr. P and Busy Guy. The babes stayed home with a sitter. It was a long ceremony but our kids did great! We cheered SUPER loud for Cam. We are so proud of him!!!! After it was over we went home, picked up the babes and went out to a lovely dinner to celebrate with everyone. Yummy dinner and fun time with family.

Yeah Cam! So excited to be......almost done. Yes, not quite done yet. It is the anticlimactic graduation. Now, 8 weeks of clinicals and then....DONE. This week is the break and then next week starts the last quarter. Three days a week Cam will be working in the ER of a hospital....located 60 miles from our home. Yes, at least a 2 hour commute each day. Good grief. We do live in a major metropolis and have at least 15 hospitals located closer. One day a week he will be working in a family practice office on the near by Indian Reservation. Two days a week he will be working his paying job in the ICU. And...yes, left is ONE day a week to see us. :0 It's going to be rough...but it's the END!!!! Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Rowdy Bunch

We went to Costco today with the brood in tow. Yes, I was asking myself "why?" after about 5 seconds. The boys were super hyper and running around, clowning it up, giggling, constantly ignoring what I was saying, and getting into everyone's way. Now, if you ask my hubby he would say they were fine, great, just having fun. OH! I stopped and asked Cam if the kids were driving him nuts...he just shrugged and said, "not really". So, basically it's a good thing kids are usually given parents with somewhat different...okay, completely opposite tolerance levels. :) I decided to just loosen up (this is good for me) and enjoy our time. I saw a lady giggling at my cart. As I turned around I saw Sis and Liam were licking each other....on each other's tongue!!! The were hysterically laughing and as I tried to scold them and tell them not to do it I started to laugh too. We were all cracking up which only made them do it more. OH! When we got into line to pay we looked like a 3-ring circus. Mr. P was leaning into Busy Guy and making him laugh. All of a sudden BG smacked his hands into Mr. P's mouth and ripped out his tooth. Yes, it was a loose tooth. Mr. P was so shocked. He stood there with blood filling his mouth and then realized he didn't know where the tooth was. Cam quickly spotted the tooth on the floor and I scooped it up for the tooth fairy. By this time we had attracted even more attention and Cam and I were laughing. As I paid for our loot the checker asked "is it always this chaotic?". HA! Even more I told her while still laughing.

Brave Girl

Our little girl is one brave girl. She is tough. She is determined. She is pint sized dynamite! She torments....ummmm....I mean loves our kitty. Actually, our kitty is not the friendliest cat. I often get bit on the foot during the night. My great offence is turning over and moving my leg. She is often called Kitty Brat. So, needless to say she isn't very tolerant of the kids. She likes Mr. P the best and will occasionally snuggle on the lap of any kid sitting to watch TV. Sis of course LOVES the kitty and relentlessly chases her around the house....pulls her out from under beds...kisses and hugs her a bit too tight. On this fine morning Sis was combing the kitty's hair. It was amazing that Kitty Brat held still for as long as she did. Good Kitty!

Wedding Date

Cam and I were invited to a wedding on Sat. Yeah! I love weddings. It's a night out for us. Nice dinner, nice drinks, nice company, fun dancing. We had a sitter and were very excited to get dressed up and go. I bought a new dress...and shoes. Fun! It was an evening wedding in the big city with a cocktail hour and sitdown dinner. I figured my closet of church skirts and sweaters...and my staple of sweats and jeans would not cut it. I needed a DRESS!

Luckily Cam was home a bit more this week so I headed to my favorite store, sought out my favorite sales-gal and got to work trying on dresses. Actually, before I hit the dress department I hit the foundations dept....that's bras and undies. Let me just say that my underthings were so old, so worn out, so not fitting me that if I had been in an accident I would have died before I let a paramedic cut my clothes off and see those ragged things! Seriously! Can I just say too that getting a new bra...one that fits...is like losing 10 lbs. or getting a new body. I felt so great! I was looking in the mirror thinking...Oh, now I remember where my breasts are supposed to be....and it's not down around my stomach. :)

Off to try on dresses. Basically, I tried on dozens of dresses. Yes, that's right. I can tell you that I was sweaty and so overwhelmed by the time I narrowed my decision to 2 dresses. The worst and most embarrassing part is that I woke up the next morning....sore! Great. I'm so out of shape that wrestling with dresses caused me to be stiff and sore. My lack of fitness...well, that is a topic for another post.

Okay, so I decided on a gorgeous dress...basically The Little Black Dress. Of course I needed shoes to go with it too. Love, love, love...I'm in love with my smokin' hot shoes! Okay, so I can't run in them...or walk faster than a turtle but they are gorgeous.

My handsome hubby got a new shirt....and looked so great in his dressed up attire. Really, we live in sweats/work-out clothes/jeans and yes, mostly me in flannel pj pants. So, it was fun to dress up. We clean up pretty good.

The wedding was super fun. I got to meet lots of Cam's co-workers. We ate, drank, and danced...and came home by 10:00. I don't know if we are getting old but we have wee ones that will be up by 6:00 am. No, they will not care that we stayed up late.

The best part of the night was the bouquet toss. The bride and groom asked all the guest to gather on the dance floor. They announced that the person who catches the bouquet would be blessed with children. They called it the Fertility Bouquet. I looked at Cam and told him to duck and roll if it came near us. Side Note: Not that we have made any final decisions about adding to our family (no more pregnancies but adopting again hasn't been decided) BUT I/we are a bit taxed at the moment with our little ones. It's a busy house with some very busy bees.....I mean toddlers. Anyway, I was planning to dive out of the way of this flying flower bundle. Apparently, Cam had other plans/feels different than I do/or had one too many glasses of wine. My tall hubby placed himself in the center of the crowd and as soon as those flowers left the bride's hand Cam jumped into the air like Michael Jordan. He nabbed that Fertility Bouquet right out of the air....much to the disappointment of about a dozen young couples. The crowd roared with laughter as they all know that Cam has 5 kids. And...to this crowd 5 kids is A LOT. It was hilarious.

Any time I get out with my hubby it's a fun time but there is something really romantic and fun about going to a wedding. Anyone else getting married soon....anyone who wants to invite us...anyone want to toss the Fertility Bouquet for Cam?

A kind word

Baby George with his buddy George. They were born within days of each other, were baptized together, and share the same patron saint of Saint George.

Our parish is full of kids. Seriously we have something like 40 kids under the age of 10. Our parish is not that big so that many kids is A LOT of tiny bodies in a small space. Many of our families have 4+ kids. Of course we have 5. Little kids are hard to keep quiet in church. It's just the nature of being little...and wiggly....and noisy...and fussy...and hungry. I'm all of those things too but I have lived longer and know how to focus....well, most of the time anyway. The kids are still learning.

I want my kids to grow up to love and worship God. It can be hard to find the balance of making sure my kids are keeping quiet and well behaved and learning about God...and then stepping over too far into the realm of being too strict and stern and making my kids not like church. It is a balance that I wibble wobble back and forth on. It's hard! We do not have a nursery or children's church. In the Orthodox faith children are part of the worship service. I truly like this because at some point/age you will be bringing your child to the service. Our kids have done it since birth and it's all they know. I love to stand with my kids and worship with them. They have hard times but for the most part they engage and sit still and participate in the services.

I'm wandering away from what my original point was going to be. What I wanted to say was that being a parent is hard. Taking small kids to church is hard. Combine the two and well, it's hard...er.

I can tell you there have been times when people have criticized me, my parenting, or my kids' behavior. Hmmmmm. That never sits well with me. Not really helpful. Of course there have been times I agreed with what the person was saying but I didn't need to hear that from them.

On the other hand there have been many more times that people have complimented me, my parenting, or my kids' behavior. So nice, so helpful and so much appreciated.

When you see a parent doing a good job...tell them. When you see kids behaving well, tell them and their parents. It's such a nice thing to do. It only takes a moment and it can make such a difference. It's nice to be acknowledged. And...it focuses on the positive.

Side note: This is not a ploy for compliments on my parenting. :) Just a little reminder (for myself too) to take time to compliment and encourage others.