“Old Buckethead” in better days.  With unseasonably warm weather these last few days, the snowman that the kids built is no longer in good shape.  Let’s just say that he’s off to the North Pole to return again someday!  But how cute the children are!  There is nothing cuter than kids dressed head to toe in snow suits!

While I was on my self-imposed, not-on-purpose blogging break, lots of stuff happened.  One very important thing was that Ross had his karate test and earned two stripes on his belt.  It was his very first test and it was very official.  He didn’t know how he did until he went to his karate class the week following the test.  His Sensei had a little ceremony for the kids who tested and then congratulated Ross on earning two stripes. He then very officially added his stripes (just like orange duct tape - ha!) to his belt.

Here he is with his Sensei looking all proud.  Congratulations Ross - way to go!

Life with little kids is never dull.  I was running around yesterday trying to complete some chores and grabbed the hamper from the bathroom.  I was carrying it through the kitchen so I could bring it to the laundry room in the basement when I tripped and fell smack dab on the floor, spilling clothes all over.

When I looked to see what had tripped me, there was a highly complex contraption made from balloon string which was tied to the refrigerator door and weaved in and around and through the high chair and the kitchen stools.

When I asked what this was (okay - truth be told, when I yelled “what is this?”), Ross replied “it’s a booby trap!”.  Very effective.

I must admit that today I find it funny and quite creative.  Yesterday, not so much.

We waited a while for Francesca.  In a lot of different ways ways.  We waited to conceive.  We switched to science when our own attempts did not work.  We tried different scientific approaches, finally arriving at success with PGD and in-vitro fertilization.  When Francesca was around a year old, at the suggestion of her day care,  we had the folks from the Zero to Three program come out to evaluate her.  The teacher at the day care felt she wasn’t hitting the milestones she should be in basically all areas.  I had some concerns myself but had chalked them off to her being on the slower side of the “normal” range.  When I brought the concerns up to our pediatrician he said she was fine, we should wait, but he understood my concern and need to follow up further.

The program administrators sent out a slew of folks, from occupational and physical therapists to speech therapists, all of whom came to conduct an in-home evaluation.  I am pleased to say, as were they, that Francesca was doing just fine and would be hitting those milestones in her own time.  We just need to wait.  The speech therapist did suggest that if by 18 months she didn’t speak more we could have her re-evaluated.

She spoke a little more, but not much more at 18 months.  At this point, I was more comfortable in my own skin and felt that Francesca was just moving at her own pace and that it was just a tad behind the other kids.  We didn’t re-evaluate.   We waited some more.  Every so often I question where she is developmentally and before I have a chance to explore my concerns further, she goes and moves on up to another milestone.

At just over 3 now, she is talking up a storm.  Her sentences are not grammatically correct by any stretch of the imagination.  At times I catch myself wondering if she should have the syntax of grammar “down” a little more than she does, and then I remember that she will “get it” in her own time.  And we wait.   There will come a time, in the very near future that I will miss the little nuances and errors of her speech and grammar.  She will soon move away from those cute mixed-up phrases and be talking like a “3 going on 10″ year old. For now, she speaks like this:

“Who do that?”

“Mommy, this eye wake” (as she points to her eye), “this eye, tired” (as she points to the other).

“I hungry Mommy.”

“I no sorry!” (very popular after asking her to apologize to her brother for something she did to him)

I love the way she speaks. For now, I will cherish the words and phrases of a pre-schooler and

I will chuckle, to myself, when she talks as she does.  It will soon change.  I can wait.

We did it!  With just a small effort Francesca is potty trained.  She is a stubborn little one and has resisted for some time now, even though she knew the drill.  So I waited.  I finally revisited the whole potty training thing and within short order she was running to the potty on her own.

I still have her in pull-ups at night although she wakes up dry most mornings.  I should have let my 6 year old train her, because she looks up to him so much.  He suggested she use the ” big potty” (toilet) and lo and behold she has circumvented the potty chair and went straight to the big potty.  So much for transition.

It is so nice to not have to buy diapers anymore.  We now have quite the assortment of fancy big girl underwear.  Dora, Disney princesses and Fancy Nancy underwear are particular favorites.  Although with a big brother who is such a Star Wars fan, I think she might prefer Star Wars underwear.  She walks around humming the Star Wars theme and playing with his Lego Star Wars toys. Too bad they don’t make them for girls.

Hello. Hello. Anyone out there?  I didn’t think so.  It has been so very long since I’ve written here.  And I’ve missed it.  I decided that I can carve out a little time for me.  I need to carve out a little time for me.   Time for me to do what I love and time for me to do what I don’t love but need to do - hello exercise I’m talking to you!

I started grad school this past fall and it has taken me a while to get my groove back.  I have been so determined to make sure that my going back to school didn’t adversely affect my family or take away much time from them that I kind of lost me in the midst of it all.  Sure, school is for me, but it is also for them.  I think it’s been good for Sam and the kids to have their own time together on Tuesday nights when I am at school.  They watch movies together or play games.  The kids are just fine with me walking out the door and Sam has really enjoyed spending time with the kids, and they have loved having Daddy to themselves.

I squeeze my homework in when they are asleep or otherwise occupied and it feels good to be paving my path in a new direction.  With all the juggling though, I’ve lost some of the things I have enjoyed like writing here, and doing things for me.  Can’t recall the last time I painted my nails.  The gray in my hair is really noticeable by the time I get around to dyeing it.  I am not exactly the person people come to for fashion advice.  I have decided that I am going to make an effort to do those me things that I so enjoy.  So there you have it.  This here post is for me.  I am back.

My homework is done.  I have taken the first step by posting on this blog again.  While Francesca is still napping, I’m going to squeeze in a workout.  Then it’s dinner, off to Gymnastics for Francesca and a much anticipated trip to the library for the kids.  Maybe I’ll even find a book for me.  What a concept!  Missed you.

This is Ross and his sailboat, The Eliminator.  Sam and Ross worked together to put this kit together and then to paint and decorate it.  The Tiger Cub Scouts had their Rain Gutter Regatta, where all the scouts got to race their sailboat across a rain gutter.  The Eliminator didn’t exactly eliminate the competition but in the end, fun was had by all.  Lessons about sportsmanship, good and bad, were also learned.

He is really proud of the sailboat that he and his dad built.  The biggest joy was seeing them working together on building it.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com.

So we’re watching Cartoon Network the other night, and this comes on.  Thumb Wars.  I have never seen this and it was hysterical.  Ross is a huge Star Wars fan, we had just finished watching Clone Wars.  Thumb Wars is just like it sounds.  It is a show about the Star Wars characters made with thumbs.  Uh huh, you heard me right, thumbs.   The characters faces are drawn on thumbs.

It seems that this has been around for a while but since I never had a boy before and my girls were not  taken very much by Star Wars, this escaped my path.  Ross is smitten - I think Thumb Wars will be a new favorite in our house.  May the force be with you.

With Kiddie Land closing this summer, I thought it would be nice to bring the kids there for a first and last visit.  We used to go to Kiddie Land when my older girls were little and I remember going with my parents as a child.  We had a fun time, although we were supposed to meet one of Ross’ friends and his family.  They got there about a half an hour after us and literally could not park.  It was that crowded.  Even with the crowds though, we didn’t have to wait too long to get on the rides.  The kids had a blast and went on many a spinning ride.  I snapped this picture of the kids on one of the spinning rides, Ross looks like he is going to throw up.  When I asked him if he felt sick, he said “no - I just like to hold my breath when spinning”.  Uh, okay.

It’s kind of sad that they are closing up the amusement park.  At least we got to experience it as a family and will have the memories and the photos.  They are still open on weekends through the end of this month I believe.  We may try for one last visit since the weather is so summery now.

It has been a busy week for back to school this week.  We had been looking forward to Ross’ first day of Kindergarten today, but we were pleasantly surprised with the turn of events for other family members.  I went back to school on Tuesday, with a cohort program that will earn me my MATC, a Masters in Education Degree and Teaching Certificate.  Ashley also signed herself up for school by registering for her first class towards her undergraduate degree.  We are quite the scholarly family this week.  And while I do not have photos of Ashley’s first day or mine, I do have some of Ross’.

Ross and Francesca before firstbell.

What does a boy do when you tell him it’s too heavy?  He tries to prove you wrong.  Look at his face.  This lasted a few seconds before he finally turned over the backpack full of school supplies.

A hug for her brother, the Kindergartner, after his very first day of school.  It was a good first day for the class, no tears from any of the children.  I can’t say the same for the moms.