Casey's First Day of Preschool

I sent my little boy off to preschool this morning. Getting out the door with all 3 kids by 8:00 was quite a challenge and we will have to keep working on that one. I woke Casey up about 7:30 to eat breakfast and get ready. He was fine and ready to go by 8:00. The other 2 were a different story. I have decided that Audrey is not the kind of kid that can wake up quickly and just jump in the van. When I woke her up she proceeded to fall as dead weight onto the floor. After I finally convinced her to get her pull-up off, she insisted that she needed a bagel to eat in the van. I really didn't have time to make her one so I told her a banana would have to suffice. Oh....let the whining begin! Needless to say she needs some wake up time so I think for Wednesday I will plan to wake her up when Casey gets up. Chelsea happened to wake up before we left as well, and I don't think she was all that fond of the fact that I didn't feed her before we left either. I gave her some cut up bananas in a bowl to eat on the way. About halfway to school bananas were everywhere in her carseat and on the floor....o.k. so maybe that wasn't a great idea either! We got to school and of course couldn't find a parking place because everyone else was dropping off their kids. After making a trip around the school and then finding a parking place, Casey did eventually make it to his classroom about 5 minutes late. So a little tweeking to the morning events and hopefully we can make it on time on Wednesday with a little less fussing. He went right into his classroom and plopped down next to Taelor on the story carpet. I said goodbye and gave him a kiss as he was already engrossed in the story. After I left I took a deep breath and could have shed a few tears but I didn't. The time he was there went quickly. When I picked him up he told me all the things he got to do....play with Lego, play with the trucks, play on the playground, read some books, and get his whole body traced. Sounded like he had a good day and he said he's ready to go back. So although it was kind of a rocky start at home, I think it ended up being a good morning.

Chelsea's First Birthday

I can't believe that Chelsea turned one today. I was thinking back a year ago when I had just delievered her and was sitting in the hospital room just glad that labor was over. In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday but in other ways it seems like she's always been here. There were some pretty crazy days in the last year. I definitly think that going from 2-3 was harder than 1-2. But I'll take the crazy days to have my second little princess around. She is really developing her own personality and she is so much fun. Into everything and a mind of her own but she's cute even when she's being naughty! Her birthday party included a trip to the Randolph Fair. She enjoyed seeing most of the animals but she got a little too close to the pigs and needed a little extra secuity from Daddy! We had a good night at the fair visiting all the animals, and letting the kids ride the kiddie rides. Her party was small...just Grandma and Grandpa Miller but she enjoyed herself anyway. She made a mess with her cake but I guess that's what you're supposed to do when you're 1! She dove right in, picked up the whole piece of cake, smushed it, and had cake everywhere. Some did manage to make it to her mouth too! By the end of party time we had 3 very tired kiddos. It was bathtime and bedtime and I'm pretty sure they were all sleeping within minutes of hitting the pillow. I want to get to bed here soon too so I can fall asleep to the rain. I love to hear it rain on a warm night like tonight when I can leave the windows open.

Emotional Week Ahead

I've been feeling a little emotional these days as I think of sending Casey off to preschool. I guess for me it's his first realization that the world can be a cruel place. I'm just afraid for him to get hurt by friends, experience disappointment, and know that mom will not always be there to intervene. I know they have to grow up sometime but it seems that it has come all too quickly. But on the other hand, I'm excited for him to make new friends, learn new things, and develop more independence. It will probably be a harder week for me than for him!

Chelsea's one year birthday is coming up too which makes me again...sad but happy. My little baby will soon be running circles around the house instead of wanting to be rocked by mommy. Why is it so hard to watch them grow up? Yesterday at the doctor's office I saw a very tiny little baby. All of a sudden I'm ready to have the next one. What am I thinking? I don't even have Chelsea sleeping through the night and I'm ready to be up every 3 hours again!? No not really...it's just the realization that I don't have a baby any more. She is quickly turning into a toddler. I'm glad that God gives us seasons of life because with each season that passes another new season begins. It's just starting that new season that is the difficult part.

Chelsea's First Ponytail

Last week I noticed that Chelsea's hair seemed to be getting too long and kind of starting to get in her eyes. Barettes just seemed to fall right out of her fine hair. So along comes the first ponytail...the fountain. Here is a picture of it nicely in....and then after naptime....it comes out! Talk about some crazy hair! Chelsea also had her first goose egg this past week. Her newest trick is standing up on the little chairs we have. She had a little rocking chair she was standing on and it happened to be a little too close to the fireplace. It fell sideways and she knocked her head on the fireplace, pinched her finger in between the chair and the bricks, and bit her tongue. Needless to say she was not happy. Did she learn her lesson? Um...no! In less than 20 minutes she was back up on the chairs!

Our New Swingset

A couple of weeks ago one of our neighbors approached us and asked if we would like their swingset. Their kids had outgrown it and it just needed a good cleaning and a couple new swings. Finally on Saturday we were able to get it set up. We had been thinking for awhile about getting a swingset or a trampoline. This just kind of fell in our lap and it was the right price....free! The kids have been enjoying it but I'm sure the newness of it will wear off eventually. At least they still have a few months to enjoy it while it's still nice outside.

A wrap up of the weekend....

Friday - I spent a lot of the morning in the kitchen making desserts for our Sunday School picnic. Then Friday night we went to Gary and Charla's house for the picnic. The weather turned out to be beautiful which was nice. The kids played outside on the swingset, rode bikes, and went fishing in the pond.

Saturday - Casey and I ran some errands in the morning. It was sooooo much easier to run errands with just 1 rather than 3 kids. We got stuff for our MCC school kits, some screws to fix the swingset, and a few groceries. We were home most of the day working outside on Saturday. It was a nice day to work as it wasn't so hot. Saturday night, Jr. and Syl, and Matthew and his friend Damon, came over to cook-out. It was a chilly evening and rather windy so our fire was really struggling. We all sat outside shivering wondering if it was August or October!

Sunday - We all went to church then I headed up to Solon for a baby shower for Matt and Heidi. They will be going to the Ukraine in the next 6 weeks to get their 2 kids. It was a fun shower and kind of made me want to adopt kids....just a thought. It was a nice time to get away from the kids for a couple hours and talk to friends without interruptions. T and I rode up together and we saw Jodi, Ellen, Dawn, Danielle, and others from Malone. Matt and Heidi are in for some serious changes here soon but I think once they make it through the transition period they will be fine. From the shower we headed over to Steve and Holly's for Taelor's 5th birthday party. She is such a cute little girl! The boys played outside most of the night while the girls stayed inside playing with Taelor's new Polly Pocket toys. They all played so nice...I don't think there were really even any fights! All in all busy but good weekend.

Summer Fun

I love this weather for playing outside. The kids are not going to know what to do when the snow starts flying. On most days the first words after breakfast are "I'm going outside" or "Can you put the garage door up?" They have such great imaginations that outside keeps them busy for many hours. Yesterday they spent probably a half hour cutting up paper tickets. Then Casey probably spent a half hour shooting his slingshot at the wastebasket that was a rabbit. FYI for anyone reading this, I did supervise this activity as we don't want to end up in the emergency room with a slingshot wound! They also spend many hours riding bikes and giving their stuffed animals rides.

Chelsea loves playing outside too. One of her favorite thing to do is play on the slide. She likes to see if she can climb up it. She usually just ends up sliding down on her belly. Other than the slide though she is content just to be outside. She gets into her share of trouble as she tries to eat rocks, or climb up the porch steps. She is beginning to take more steps. The most I've seen is 7. Seems like she gets a little better each day. I have a feeling her days of crawling are coming to an end soon and before I know it she will be running! As you can see from this picture of her she is also enjoying eating food other than baby food. She loves chewing on corn cobs. The other night she was double fisted but I didn't get a picture of that one.

Chelsea's First Steps

Chelsea has started taking a few steps over the last week. She is up to about 4 before she plops on her tushie. She gets so excited with herself that she just falls. I think it won't be long now before she takes off walking though. We'll see if she gets the hang of it before she turns one. She is still working on popping some teeth through. I have never seen teeth take so long to get through. I feel like I have been able to see them through her gums for weeks now but they don't come through! I can see 3 of them coming. She is also turning into a little beggar. She begs for anything anyone else is eating. It is impossible to eat a snack, lunch or anything without having her pulling on your leg. Casey and Audrey are pretty good at sharing dates, crackers, or pieces of fruit with her. One of her favorite foods is cheese. I wasn't too sure how she would do with me being gone on Friday but she did amazingly well. It was probably good for both of us. I don't know what I'd do without her blanket though. She sucks on the corners of her blanket to go to sleep and that is the best calming trick for her. Sometimes if she's mostly sleeping but still halfways nursing I'll take her off and stick the corner of that blanket in her mouth and she calms right down! She is still a little stinker about sleeping at night as most nights she is still up to eat at about 3 o'clock. I have news for her that very soon that will stop! At 11.5 months she doesn't really need to eat after only sleeping for 6 hours. It's just so much easier to just feed her and put her back to bed. It will be a struggle for both of us when I decide that she is done with that feeding!

Fishing on Lake Erie

I thought I had to post something about our trip to Lake Erie since it was a first for me. On Friday, very bright and early, Ryan, Steve, Jr., and I toook off for Lake Erie to do some perch fishing. We were meeting my mom and dad somewhere close to Toledo at 7. Ryan was very excited and had a hard time sleeping the night before. I had a hard time too but not that I was that overly excited...just a little nervous about leaving Chelsea. We got there in plenty of time and by shortly after 7 we were headed out on the lake. As we were going out the 12 miles to the place where we would fish the waves were 2-4 feet a little larger than the boating forcast was calling for. I thought it was kind of fun.....like a really long ride at Cedar Point. By the time we got there some of the others weren't thinking it was a very fun ride. But it got worse. Once we anchored, and were rocked back and forth by the waves, mom, dad, and Jr. knew they were in for a rough couple hours. It just was really unfortunate that they all got so sick because it was a beautiful day. After several hours of leaning over the side of the boat, the waves started to subside a little but by then the damage was done. They were already sick. We fished until we got our limit which for the number of people on the boat was 175 perch and we headed in a little before 1. Maybe next time we should all take Dramamine that didn't expire in 1993!