Black Sheep

There is a black sheep in every family, right?

 

Ours was spotted by 'Brown Bear' in Jaxon's Kindergarten class music show last Friday...

 Probably one of the most comical performances I've seen in awhile.

 Our son being one of the primary reasons...

 Afterwards and into the next day, I heard from several parents that they enjoyed the entertainment value Jaxon provided.

 At least we know he isn't shy!

 What a fun day to see him in action with all his friends at school!

Next time though, I want to see a little more Jazz Hands out of you Jaxon!

Happy Birthday Jaxon!

Dear Jaxon,

Yesterday you woke up and said 'Mom, I think I might be bigger today, because now I'm six.'

Um yes, you definitely grew up overnight.

Happy Birthday to my big six-year old! I still remember when you were born.... coming home from the hospital six years ago was much like it was yesterday- a big snow storm, freezing cold temperatures, and everyone bundled up. I still remember pulling up to our house, your dad getting out to shovel us into the driveway, and me sitting with you in the backseat... completely TERRIFIED!

 

Flash forward to today.

You are the spitting image of your dad. You remind me so much of him in so many ways.

You like to talk-a lot. You are so personable and charming in your cute boyish way. You are kind and caring, but not without a slight temper. You love your steak and rice and could eat at Osaka Hibachi every day and be the happiest kid in the world. You also love the Raiders or whoever we're rooting for that day. You're into sports, but not obsessed with them- I think even you know you probably won't win a scholarship for basketball. You're short, but you really don't let it bother you. What you lack in size, you definitely make up in personality!

 
You have a big heart. The other night you climbed into bed with Kiley, covering her with your arms, and said it was because you didn't want her to get hurt if there was a fire. You have so much LOVE for your sister, it is amazing to watch.

And you are so funny. I love to watch you dance. Your facial expressions. Your attempts to be 'cool' and the 'big kid'. Your ability to be silly, sometimes girly, and not really care what other people think. I love that.

 
You are so smart too. You like to spell everything, read everything, and constantly ask me what 4+4, 8+8, 16+16, 32+32 is... and on and on up to a million and everything.

You're also very strategic. You sometimes make moves in games that I wouldn't normally make, but you have your own strategy and way of doing things. It's sometimes cheating though, and so we need to work on that. But most of the time, I think you actually know what's going on.

You love to have a good dance party, so that you get from your mama.
Crank it and shake it. Why not?

And you seriously make every day so much fun. Every day seems like an adventure with you and you're always up for something. I can only imagine the smiles on the faces of your teachers every day...

I so enjoyed my time with you on Monday- I love to take a day off for your birthday each year and just have quality time with you. When we were shopping and spending your money from grandma and grandpa, you just seemed so grown up. 'This is actually a really fun day mom. I'm having the best time with just you and me. Even if it's not the nicest day out, it's still just the best day.' You have no idea what those words mean to me. I cherish those days.

I have so many hopes and dreams for you. Thanks for filling my life full of happiness and joy.

Happy Birthday,
Mom

catching up a bit

So, time to catch up.
Let's do a quick recap of the past two months.

Perhaps I stopped writing because I was too exhausted mentally, emotionally, physically- the whole nine yards- after that first couple weeks of kindergarten. Man, is that an adjustment. For all of us.

I started flexing my time at work to help so we don't have to pay for before and after care. Secretly, it's just because I wanted to spend more time with my kids and less time at work. I somehow managed to package the best of both worlds into one amazing scenario- get Jaxon on the bus in the morning at 9, work from home or go to work at 9:30, be home in time to get Jaxon off the bus at 4.

It's been great, most days. Except those first couple weeks, but I seem to have blocked them out.

Here's a quick recap from my iphone.

Jaxon grew a mustache. He thought he would practice for MoVember.

 

I visited Jaxon for lunch at school. He is doing so well by the way. Did I mention he is reading? He read a book to us tonight and I think I helped with one or two words. I'm just amazed and dumbfounded at how quickly he is learning to read, do math, and so many other things. It is AMAZING.

Um, oh yeah, we bought and moved into a new house. It was a little dicey, and probably the most stressful closing we've been a part of, but so, so exciting to finally have a place of our own again. And what's even better is that it really is our own. I feel a sense of pride in knowing we built it, picked the selections, etc. Now, do I wish we'd have done some things differently? Sure. But it sure feels like home and I love what we've been able to do together.

 
Kiley really enjoys dressing up and choosing her own clothes these days. This is just what she wore to school on a typical Wednesday. I'm sure she paired it with her winter boots too, even though it was end of summer when I took this.

 We've also discovered that Kiley's favorite vegetable (this month) is edamame.

 And, this Halloween, we had a Beuticorn and a Race Car Driver visit us. Kiley, for weeks, was saying she wanted to be a Beauticorn. I'm not sure if she just couldn't say Unicorn or if she really made up her own word to be a Beautiful Unicorn. Either way, I loved it. And Jaxon decided to be a race car driver because he's just so fast.

 Okay, and this one is just because she is so darn cute. I bought her this vest and skinny jeans for family photos, which we had scheduled in October but the kids were both sick so we cancelled. But she is just my sweet little beauty and I captured this one day when she was watching me get ready. She loves to guess which makeup is going to be next and then use my brushes to put on her own.

 

And that's about it. Well, I'm sure there is so much more, but that will be for another day, hopefully not too far away!

K-Day

K-Day. It's like D-Day for mothers.

I knew this day was coming. We've been to the open house. The new parent orientation. We finally went to Target and bought a million and one school supplies. We had a home visit from Jaxon's new teacher. We did his first homework assignment.

All of these things were supposed to help ease the transition for Jaxon to start Kindergarten.

But nothing prepared me for putting my little boy on that big yellow bus today.

I mean, you hear all the country singers sing about it in their sad songs, about kids growing up way too fast, and before you know it you're walking them down the aisle. And all of a sudden, before I knew it, I am in that sad country song!

What happened?

This happened.

 



My little boy grew up. Way too fast. 

 And now he rides the Bird Bus.

 And he packs his own lunch. And requests things like steak and ribs for packing in his own lunch.

And he gives me looks that say, 'Mom, I love you too, but I'm a big kid now and I have an image to uphold, so if you cry again or take one more picture, I am going to roll my eyes at you and walk away.'

And he makes his own decisions.

Like that he can walk to the bus stop all by himself (again with the 'I don't need You stuff!'). Twenty minutes before it is even supposed to be there. Which is really like thirty minutes on the first day while the bus practices his route.



And though I know we are hovering right on that edge of losing his innocence and having already lost it to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman (really, have you watched this show lately? I never knew there was so much romance in Batman!), I am hopeful we still have a few more good years.

Before the eye rolls turn into fights. And the walking ahead of us turns into slamming doors and running out of the house.

For now, I will answer his questions the best I can (or make up answers where required). I will play baseball after school even though I should be checking my e-mail. I will slip notes that say 'have a good day' into his lunch box, even if it means he hides it from his friends.

And I'm still going to cry at the bus stop and tell him to have a good day. How embarrassed can a five year old get, really?

And even though I might be really sad today, mourning something I can't quite explain, I am also beyond excited for him.

He's going to go off and do AMAZING things.

I mean, he had his lunch code memorized ten minutes after he got it. I can hardly remember my password to log on to Blogger.

So in my heart, I know that he is ready. And I'm getting there.

 

I might be living a sad little country song, but that Jaxon. Man he is rockin' to his own tune.

summer 2.0

It's becoming painfully clear to me that keeping up with a blog for a 3 and 5 year old is one of those 'extra duties as time allows' in the job description of a mom. It's not supposed to make you feel guilty, right? But sometimes it does. Especially when you look back and realize you have a million photos of your first born and nearly three whole years of posts dedicated to him, and then you have a few snapshots of your second child, with a few comments here and there.

 

And let's not even get started on the scrapbooks. There's a whole bucket of mom guilt to go with those.

 

I do think we've been doing a pretty good job in the required job duties though- provide opportunities to learn and explore, buy donuts and doritos, and go on long walks in the woods. Oh, and encourage active team participation, good sportsmanship, and listening to Auntie Jenny.

 

Allow me to catch you up on the second half of our summer in photo montages (let's face it- I will not get around to a post for each of these fabulous moments; my only hope is that someday I will scrapbook about them separately, but for now, here is the quick and dirty):

 

Camping with the kids for the first time went something like this:

 

Kids, you want to go camping and sleep in a tent?

Yes, yes yes! And can we bring our sleeping bags? And stay up late? And play outside? And will there be kayaks? And bears? And can we sleep in puppygrandmaandgrandpas camper? And, and, and!

 

Once at the campsite:

Okay guys, we need to set up the tent.

Look at this big stick Kiley! Wow, mom bought us donuts! When are we going to have dinner? I want a donut! Can we start a fire? When can we go in the tent? Why aren't there sprinkles on the donuts? Is it time for a hike? Where are the kayaks? 

 

 

 

After getting lost in the woods for a bit on a much longer and more treacherous hike than we anticipated, we did the Smores, burned a bundle of fire, played some 'Go Fish' and went to bed. Let's just say nobody got a ton of sleep that night! All part of the experience though, right? 

 

 

We also had the soccer season come to an end where Jaxon's team won 0 games and lost 0 games and Scott got to hone in on his coaching skills again. They sure had a lot of fun on this team even if they didn't learn much about how to play soccer. At any given moment, you could find this team wrestling on the field, breaking out into song ("I don't care! I love it!) and strategizing a way to not let the other team score- 'Okay, I have an idea! (Says Jaxon). Let's all get in a line and then when they come with the ball, charge!!!").



 

We've also been able to spend some time with Auntie Jenny. These photos are from a day trip to Minnehaha Falls where we rented a Surrey bike, waited far too long in line for food at Sea Salt Eatery (well worth the wait) and took goofy pictures by the waterfalls. What a fun day!

 

Stay tuned for my next post where I will no doubt be typing through tears (of joy and sadness) at becoming a mother of a kindie-gartner. Hope you have all had as fun a summer as we have!

I don't need you.

I've been hearing these four words a lot lately.

And today, during a nice long 12 mile run, I came to the startling realization that I don't like it.

Not one bit. You could tell by the tears and sobbing that happened in the middle of the Colby Lake trail, right around mile 7. That's sort of when it hit me.

That I'm in complete and utter denial.

Let's start at the beginning.

Last Wednesday, I went to dinner with some girlfriends. We all have kids around the same age and my friend Sarah was talking about how she is going to be that parent that cries the first day of kindergarten. She is dreading sending her first born to school.

I had a slightly different feeling (at the time). I was thinking- 'oh, this will save us some money, Jaxon is totally ready for it, it's so fun watching him grow up and learn and all the opportunities...'

Plus, I'm not around him all day like Sarah is with her daughter since she stays home so I sort of figured it wouldn't be any different than sending him to daycare every day, right?

Flash forward to mile 7. That's when I realized that everything is changing. So fast, before my eyes. And that there is a reason that the Back to School supply list has been sitting on my counter for a week without a trip to Target. I LOVE Target! And I LOVE school supplies! So, then. Why haven't I begun the annual 'back to school' tradition yet?

Oh yeah. Denial.

Let's get back to how things are changing.

 

 

This morning, Jaxon says "Mom, I'm just gonna hop in the shower quick.". And then he proceeded to take a shower, wash his hair, and get dressed all on his own. Then he combed his hair, blew it dry with Kiley's fake blow dryer for her dolls, and put his own gel in. From the bathroom I heard him say, "Mom, I messed up. I need to start over." I mean, really, it's Sunday- who are we trying to impress?

Lately he has been taking a shower in our bathroom while Kiley takes a bath on her own. He serves his own food and plays video games. I bought him some BeyBlades and you would think he was like the world expert on Beyblades. I mean, he is compared to me, but how does he even know this stuff?

Yesterday I took both kids to a movie, figuring I had nothing else to drop $17.00 on at the time and fully expecting Kiley to need to leave within the first twenty minutes. Jaxon kept telling her, "Kiley, you're doing so great. Now if you just keep it up, we can stay for the whole movie!" He's totally her big brother/mom/dad.

And just because Kiley is two years younger, doesn't mean she needs me any more than Jaxon does. In fact, she lets me know ALL the TIME that she does NOT need me and that I should just go away!

Go away mom, I'm coloring.
Go away mom, I'm going potty and I don't need you. I will wipe my butt really clean.
Go away mom, I can get my own water.
Go away mom, I'm playing.
Go away mom, stop looking at me.
Go away mom, I don't need you.

So, I'm not sure if it was a Justin Bieber song or Miley Sirus that struck during mile 7, but all of a sudden, I couldn't stop thinking about how quickly my babies are growing up! And that pretty soon, they are going to be even more independent and on their own. Moreso than they are now.

Of course, I know they still need me.
I know it when they ask for help opening their applesauce squeezers.
I know it when they need me to buckle their carseats.
I know it when they ask for a book at night and a cuddle/gobble/gickle/smithle/hug/kiss (oh yeah, we do all that before bed).
I know it when they can't quite get all the food items on the right conveyer belt when we play the Whole Foods app.
I know it when they need a hug or kiss on their owies (they can do the band-aids themselves though- go away!);
I know it when they feel sad and miss their friends or their family and need someone to listen
I know it when they crawl into bed in the middle of the night because they had a bad dream or they woke up and saw a weird looking shadow on the wall.

Of course they still need me! They'll need me forever!

I guess I'll just stay in my river of Denial a little while longer before picking up that list and heading over to Target... (then I'll really be in trouble!).

summer days

Summer days are the best. They make me feel like a kid again. And it's even more fun seeing summer through your children's eyes. How amazing life must be to them!

You know it is Summer at our house when...

...a waterfight could break out at any moment.

... fireworks come from a box in the garage instead of the store.

...ice cream and popsicles are a daily menu item.

...taking your clothes off in the driveway is just a normal occurrence.

...a trip to the pool is how we cool off after dinner.

... strawberries!

... and lots of sunscreen...

This summer, I really wanted to embrace the fact that I have a lot of excess vacation time (which I attribute to my kids blessed immunity to all illnesses known to children now that they've finally come of age and have had them all). And so I've decided to take my vacation on some random days when I can and enjoy making memories with the kids.

So far, so good.

(Oh, and just to be clear- it was Kiley that took her clothes off.)

A few weeks ago on a fairly nicish night, the kids seemed antsy to get in the sprinkler, so we made it happen. Of course, as soon as I got everything hooked up and sprinkler on, everyone just stared at it and tried to figure out how to get to the other side without getting wet. Which, if I'm not mistaken, is the point.

 Eventually, after playing with the sprinkler for a whole five minutes, we had to switch it out to a different one. Pretty typical.

 We liked this one much better apparently. That caterpillar is just too crazy!

 Of course, it didn't stay on the ground long.

A couple weekends ago, we had some of Kiley's (and Jaxon's) friends to the Lake Elmo Beach for a little birthday celebration...

 We flew a kite to let everyone know where we were at!

 

 While Jaxon and Scott were getting the kite going, Kiley was sitting with me at the picnic table. She saw bugs. Thus the scared face. Apparently we are going through a love-hate relationship with bugs. She seems to enjoy watching 'baby ants', but if it flies, it ain't cool.

 I mean, she's still cute though, right?

Then it was time for the beach! Auntie Jenny got there and took right over. She is the best!

 Party time would not be complete without cupcakes (and a pretend candle).

 And keeping with tradition, we went to pick strawberries last week at Pine Tree Apple Orchard. Last year I think we did about ten pounds. This year I was ambitious. We went for twenty.

 We had some good helpers. Though they enjoyed a few too many I think!

 Aren't they pretty?

They turned into 13 half-pints of strawberry jam, 10 half-pints of strawberry-rhubarb jam, and 4 loaves of strawberry bread, with two bags of frozen strawberries to spare. Anyone want some jam?

 

 

Just because:

And then it turned into a 90 degree, hot, sticky day. And we got the water out. And Kiley got naked. How could I not take photos?

We also could not forget about the 4th of July- Scott's favorite holiday besides Thanksgiving (because of the turkey and mashed potatoes).

 These guys were hilarious. They certainly know how to have fun together!

 

And to top it all off, we ended up at ValleyFair for a family fun night. I just love this picture of Kiley and I, going on the Snoopy Rocket RollerCoaster! She had so much fun, thanks to her daddy for teaching her to stand on her tippy toes when she got measured- just barely 36 inches and tall enough for most of the kids' rides!

Jaxon was beyond excited.

 

And that's our summer so far- and it's only July 8th! I can't wait to find out what other memories we will make this summer.