I’ve taken a bit of a blog break the last few months, and in some ways I regret it, but in others it was refreshing. I’ve been doing a lot of whatever-I-want-to-do, and also taking care of the kids. I spend a lot less time at the computer, so it’s not front of mind to be typing away. We’ve had an up-and-down sort of spring. The kids are all doing great with lots of sweet moments mixed in with the craziness of 3 pretty small people. We also decided to sell our house of nearly 10 years to gain some square footage and a bigger garage. It was a whirlwind, we sold our house in 6 days, and bought a new one a few weeks after that. Today is the last day that the kids will spend in this house, the one they came home to when they were born. We have loved this house and done a lot to it to make it special for our family, but we are outgrowing it. It only gets smaller as the boys (and I suppose tiny Alyssa) get bigger. Because this blog is a chronicle of the things that we have done in this house, I think it’s necessary to honor its walls with a sweet goodbye. While it is a place that I love and cherish, it is only walls and a roof, and the memories that we made here are the important part. Our new house will bring us joy and adventures all the same.
Updates from the kids:
Alyssa is a very busy little girl. She keeps up with her brothers and plays hard, even though she is tiny! She is trying to potty train, but hasn’t quite figured it out yet. I’m being patient, but I really hope it clicks soon. She LOVES to swim and has no fear of the water. It’s a good thing and a bad thing, and luckily she is pretty good at obeying boundaries once they are set up. We have been back to the pool a few times this year, and now she is constantly asking me to go to the “baby pool.” The first time we were there I put her swimmy vest on and set her loose with a watchful eye. She figured out how to slide into the baby pool on her belly, and then took a few cautious steps forward. When she lost her footing and fell face first in the pool I could see a moment of panic on her face, until she floated with the swimmy. That was when she got a BIG knowing smile on her face that she OWNED the pool. Two trips to the pool later and she has now ditched the swimmy entirely and splashed around the baby pool like a pro.
She also has already mastered the loft ladder at the lake. I’m not saying that her brothers couldn’t do it when they were 2-and-a-few-months old. I think I let them try and they either chickened out or didn’t want to. Maybe I freaked them out, too, with all my rules, but both of them took an extra summer to master the ladder. It was always my rule that you had to be able to do the ladder, up and down, unassisted before you could be up in the loft. The full story goes that Grandpa and Grandma were in charge of Liss and Luke for a few hours at the lake until John, Preston, and I joined them that night. Grandpa told Alyssa that she was not allowed to climb the ladder. But while Grandma and Grandpa continued to unload the car, Luke climbed up the ladder, Alyssa climbed up the ladder, Luke climbed down the ladder, and Alyssa climbed down the ladder. Then Alyssa marched over the Grandpa and said “I ALLOWED to climb the ladder, Papa.” And because she did it unassisted, I suppose that was the truth.
Luke finished pre-school and then went to a week of pre-school camp at the beginning of June. He had a great year, and is learning all about numbers and letters. He can help me with the produce scales at the grocery store by punching in the numbers for the fruits and veggies that we buy. I’m very proud of him! He’s also a good swimmer in the baby pool, but prefers to wear his swimmy. I think he likes the way it helps him float while he keeps his face in with his goggles on and looks for toys on the bottom of the pool. He is doing GREAT on his balance bike, and now prefers to take his bike on our walks. Luke got to take a special trip to Dyken Pond with Grandma and Grandpa when they opened things up in April. When the weather was rainy they decided to take a trip to visit Liora and Talia, so Luke had a very special day with his cousins! It’s tough to get time by himself when he is the middle child, so it was a nice break for him. Next year he is going to go to the same preschool. It’s a longer drive, but we like it, and it will be fun for him Plus, I don’t want to shop around for new preschools and get waitlisted and whatever else.
Preston finished first grade with a good report card! The last week of school was mostly playtime for him, so he calls it his “camp.” He was jealous that Luke got to go to school camp after his school was done. He’s excited to go to cub scout camp later this summer, and all the kids are spending a lot of time at the lake. Preston can be a very sweet kid… at times. One afternoon the boys were chasing around and being wild a crazy like usual. They were up and down the stairs and all over the place. Preston took something away from Alyssa which made her cry, so of course I had to go comfort her before I went upstairs to scold Preston. But as I got upstairs Preston jumps out at me and yells “Ta DA.”
And then Luke yelled “look Mommy, we made your bed!”
Preston explained “We wanted to make your bed to be nice to you, and look we even put chocolates on your pillow! I had to make Alyssa cry to distract you so that I could sneak the chocolates and bring them up here. Wasn’t that a great idea?”
What is a Mom supposed to say? We all ate the chocolates.
We were at the pool the other day waiting for John to join us after work. I had packed dinner and needed to grill some burgers. The kids were getting hungry and cold, so I decided to get a head start on grilling. I told them they had to get out of the pool so that I could focus on dinner. Of course Alyssa didn’t want to come out of the pool. So I asked Preston if he could take care of her while I fired up the grill. I could see the whole thing happen. Preston climbed in the baby pool and held his sisters hand while he coaxed her out of the pool. Then he took her over to our towels, helped her get her floaty off, and then wrapped her up in a towel and gave her a water bottle. Then he marched over to me and said, “Ok, Mom, I got Lissie out of the pool. What can I do now?”
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