After a rough week at work a tired Mommy tucks her 3 children into their beds, provides milk and snuggles and kisses, and finally retires to her own cuddly nest to wind down with a show on TV.  As her head hits the pillow and her finger hits play a call comes from the other room followed by another.
“MOMMY….. I need to go potty!”
“MOMMY….. I need to go potty, too!”
One boy can take care of the situation all by himself.  The other one cannot.  Since Daddy has already holed himself down in the man cave for the evening, Mommy has no choice but to extract herself from her cozy abode and help the small child go potty.
She assists in the removal of his clothes, and after the worlds’ tiniest tinkle, reapplies the overnight diaper and jammies before sending both boys agreeably back to their beds with extra kisses.  She once again settles back into her bed; her program may commence.
Approximately 4 minutes later she hears a muffled call once again coming from afar.  She must pause the TV and strain her ears over the ridiculous sound of the audio drum test coming from the man cave in order to hear a tiny voice calling “MOMMY….. I DIDN’T FLUSH.”
She knew this was going to happen.  As soon as she sent the toddler back to his bed, she realized her error in not reminding him to flush.  But he went back to his bed so sweetly, and who really needs to flush the worlds’ tiniest tinkle?  We can conserve water.  But he remembered, and once remembered the task MUST be completed.  It’s in the potty training best practices.
So Mommy must once again leave her cocoon in order to help the tiny child solve his problem.  With one more kiss and a warning of no more stalling she sends him back to his bed.
There have been no more interruptions during the writing of this post.  Does she dare to push play?

Today Preston turned 6!  Wow, how time flies!  This past year has been another fun adventure for him!  He got a baby sister, graduated Pre-k, started Kindergarten, and broke his leg!   It has been the year of the prehistoric landscapes and scary dinosaurs.  He was a volcano for Halloween and wanted a volcano birthday cake.  Scary dragons and dinosaurs are his favorites these days.  He also made a HUGE transition from loving all things YELLOW to red and black as his new favorite colors.  
 
His birthday weekend was full of celebrations.  We managed to pull off a seamless swimming party for 15 kindergarteners and a little brother.  We had a good mix of old daycare friends and new friends from school, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  It’s amazing how easy a party can be when there isn’t any set up or clean-up!  

​He also has 2 wiggly teeth! 
 
From Preston:
 
The Friday before my birthday Mom surprised me and my whole class by being the Mystery Reader at school!  It was so special to have Mommy come visit my class.  She got to sit in the special reading chair, and I got to sit right next to her the whole time.  She read “We Are in a Book” by Mo Willems, which is a super silly book.  And then we donated the book to the classroom library so we can read it as a class again sometime.  When the book was over I got to call on all of my friends to tell us which part of the book they liked the best.  They all loved the part where the pig says “BANANA.”  You should read the book so that you can find that silly part, too!  When Mommy was all done I go to walk her back to the office to say goodbye.  It was a really special day.
 
Preston’s Birthday Quiz:
 
What’s your favorite color: Red and Black
What do you want to be when you grow up:  A scientist
If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would it be: A blue jay
If you could make any discovery, what would you discover:  Dinosaur Bones
What does Mommy do at work:  work in your office – and sing
What does Daddy do at work:  Eat lunch
Who is your best friend:  Patrick and Quentin
What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend:  play at home, go to the fish hatchery, the pet store, and Dorney Park
What’s your favorite song on Grandpa’s playlist:  The pirate song (the muppet professional pirate song)

From Luke:
 
Now that Preston planned and executed his whole party it’s time for me to plan MY party.  I want to have my party at school with pretzels, chips, cheese balls, and… pretzels.  And I want a scary LION cake… RAHHHH!  It’s almost MY birthday.  I will be 3!  I have so much fun at school, and I love to play with puzzles and brio and Thomas trains.  I am having a hard time coping with the speedy mobility of my baby sister.  She always wants to play with the same toys as me, and I don’t really like that.  I want to have my own space.  I love to help Mommy in the kitchen, and do whatever my big brother is doing.
 
Preston and I both do gymnastics on Saturday.  I’m in a class with Daddy and Preston is in the big boy class!  Preston needs to get stronger so that he can do more of the equipment, so Mommy and Daddy to exercises with us every day.  We all stretch together and then we each take a turn picking out an exercise to do.  I always pick “run in place” because it’s my favorite.  Preston likes to make up his own moves using the hand weights or rolling around on the ground, and Mommy and Daddy pick normal things like planking and squats.  Sometimes Alyssa joins in, but she usually just crawls all over us while we are trying to do our exercises.  10 minutes a day of healthy family time is a great way to get stronger!
 
From Alyssa:

I didn’t get to go to Preston’s swimming party, because Mommy decided she didn’t want an extra little person to keep track of.  Grandma and I stayed home and had a fun time together.  I got to play in the basement with our other full set of toys that I normally don’t get to explore.  Then I took a little snooze while snuggling with Grandma.  Sometimes it’s nice to have my own space without my brothers around.  But they sure are fun! 

​I still don’t have any recognizable words, and I don’t have any interest in walking, but I am awesome a eating big girl food, using my sippy cup, scooting around and crawling, and I can pull myself up to standing (but I cry because I can’t get back down again.  I started napping on a cot at school this week, and I sleep through the night EVERY night, which is pretty amazing for Mommy and Daddy.  I LOVE bathtime, the kitty, playing so-big and peek-a-boo, making kissy noises, and Daddy!  Sometimes if I’m fussy at bedtime Daddy will take me down to the basement to “Nora” me: he plays Nora Jones albums until I fall asleep – I can’t resist it.  Mommy’s go to soothing song for me is Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers.”  Acoustic ballads get me SO sleepy.

This was Alyssa's day.  How was your's?