The Moving Animals

Yesterday I came home from work and the kids were waiting for me a the back door, with very serious looks on their faces. Dressed in jammies (already) with wet hair from the pool and rosy cheeks from standing by the fire, they stood there with big eyes telling me they were scared. Scared of what, I asked. Our animals are moving, said Asher. Then, in turn, they began telling me of how their stuffed animals had a way of moving from here to there without anyone moving them. I tried to explain that they couldn't move, that it was impossible and that someone had to have done it. They denied that outright and I couldn't convince them otherwise.

So, we were getting ready for bed, and Jamie told Avery to bring all her stuffed animals from the living room (where there was a pile of about 20 of them) and take them into her room. She clearly didn't want to either because she was scared of them at this point or she was being lazy. So, I promised her that she could leave them there all night long, and that if we woke up in the morning that if ANY of them had moved at all that I would clean them up for her. If they hadn't moved, no TV before school AND she had to clean them up. She agreed. I made Jamie pinky promise me not to move them anywhere because the kids really did seem scared- although it would have been kind of fun to mess with them a little.  

This morning we got up and thankfully none of them had moved. Except the horse. The freakin' horse. I have NO idea how it moved, and I'm not even sure it did but it totally freaked them out. And now Avery is trying to convince me *I* have to clean them up. I said that Charley probably moved it and she said that no matter how it got moved, it moved so I need to clean it up.  I asked her if I really had to and she said "1) the horse moved, and 2) the horse moved, and 3) the horse MOVED so yes you have to." I couldn't quit laughing, because I have no idea how she learned to enumerate things like that.

Needless to say, I'm headed home in a couple hours and I imagine I'll be cleaning up a boatload of stuffed animals off the floor.  But who knows, maybe by then they'll have made their way to her bedroom all by themselves.

DST withdrawl

Daylight savings time hasn't been kind to us.  It never has been, if I recall, although it's probably loads better now than it used to be. But, our kids are early risers on a good day (thus, the reason I instituted our "do not get out of bed until this number on this clock at least a 6" rule) and setting the clock back an hour doesn't do us any favors. Honestly, I try to get up at 5 and work out for an hour, before everyone else gets up. It's my ME time. It's the time I don't have to referee anything or feed anyone or answer a question. Granted, I'd rather be reading a book or soaking in a bath, but I need to work out and it's the best time to do it. So, Monday morning it's me and my P90X DVD started at 5:10 sharp and within 15 minutes I hear one of them pattering around upstairs. First down the hallway. Then in the bedroom.  Then on the stairs. Finally Asher peeks around the corner. Sigh. There goes my ME time. Then I feel selfish for being disappointed that he's up. So, I let him "exercise" with me and am only slightly annoyed when he continues to tell me that I'm doing something or other wrong. In fact, at one point he told me I needed to touch my toes. I told him that as I got stronger, I'd be able to get my feet higher and then would be able to... to which he replied that I simply needed longer arms.

Today he at least slept until the last two sets of my workout and he only distracted me a little by showing me how he could lift this giant iron weight directly over his precious little head. But I saw how happy he was that I let him exercise with me, and even showed him how to do some of them. My little buddy.

Avery's been good since Tuesday morning, but Ash is going to take a bit longer.  I don't want to look back at his coming down during my workouts as an annoyance, so really try to appreciate his desire to want to be with me. I do admit, though, that I'll be glad when daylight savings withdrawal is over with and everyone's obeying my clock rule again.

Space exploration on hold

My Asher... the boy who has given us the revelation that monsters live in Africa and the primary diet of skunks is coconuts.. continually cracks us up.  Just this morning he asked me how many days until we went up in a rocketship.  The funny thing was is that he's always asking how many days til Halloween, how many days til we go to the zoo, how many days til we see Granny and Papa, and he asked about our rocketship trip just as though it was as ordinary as these other things.

Where did the summer go?

I'm horrible at posting regularly. I go in spurts, but unfortunately (or fortunately, I suppose) we carry on with a myriad of post-worthy material. Hopefully someday I'll get better. Probably not, but I can hope. :) 

This week marks a year that we first came to Michigan and searched for housing. At this point last year, we knew where we were going to live beginning on October and all I had to do was go back to Missour and put in a few more weeks of work. Little did I know they'd be awful and filled with petty, unprofessional individuals doing their best to make it well known they were upset I was leaving them with my workload. A year later, I'm glad I did and I would do it again. 

We had a terrific first summer here in Michigan. We got to spend several weekends up at Traverse City. The kids loved swimming in the Lake and riding on the Mickey Fickey. We got to see Barb, Ben and Andy as well as Alex, Anna and Angie (yeah, we have loads of "A" names in our family) and Adam, Krystl and Addie, and George and Sue. Whew. 

Jamie did a great job being home with the kids. We now have chickens, so they made sure to go down every day and take care of them, and gather the egg(s). We planted a big garden and are now enjoying the fruits (and veggies) of our labor. 

Today marks the second day of the school year (I'll probably cheat and post something for yesteday and act like I actually wrote it yesterday). Avery seems to love her school and seemed pretty excited to find out she already knew much of what the teacher was telling them they'd learn. She told me this morning she sat and listened to the teacher talk a lot. I told her to get used to it, because that's pretty much what school is. Trust me. I was in 24th grade when I stopped going to school. This morning Asher went to Montessori. For the past nine months or so the kids have been going together twice a week. We're now sending Asher (alone) three mornings a week. That little dude never hung onto my leg as tightly as he did this morning. I think it will be good for him to get out from under Avery's wing, but it'll certainly be an adjustment. 

So, here's to a good school year, for everyone. :)

Avery's first day of school

Avery started kindergarten today. It was bittersweet to see my little girl all ready to go to school. I do think it was easier because she'd spent so much time in daycare and preschool. It was the backpack, though. She's never needed one, and it made her look so grown up. We had a special breakfast and made a big deal out of her going. I missed taking her to school because of work, but Daddy did a good job of taking pictures and keeping me posted.

Avery and little brother before she goes to her classroom. 

Our big little girl

Everyone gets pictures taken with our school girl. 

Asher's personality

I love Asher's sense of humor. He's not only very silly, but he's a right out there kind of guy, and it cracks us up. The other day he was looking for my iPod, on which he loves to play Angry Birds. I don't mind him playing in the car, or when we're waiting for something but I don't love him playing it when there are plenty of other, more stimulating things for him to be doing. So, sometimes I take it and 'hide' it from him. The other day, he asked me if I knew where it was. Well, it was on a ledge right behind him, so I took it and acted like I took it right out of his ear. He looked at me like I was magical, and asked me how I did it. I smugly shrugged and told him I could do just about anything. The next day he was looking for it again (the fact that he needs to look for just about everything is fodder for another post), and after I repeatedly told him I didn't know where it was he came close to me and asked me to look in his ear! Of course, I couldn't resist pulling it off the shelf again and pulling it out, only to hear him tell me that he KNEW it was in there. As funny as it was (I'm chuckling three days later), it does speak to his excitement and absolute trust that he has in what he sees. It's made it easy for us to trick him into thinking he has a magical finger that can turn the television on and off, as well as windshield wipers and even our car (thanks to the automatic starter). His enthusiasm and bright smile make even the silliest things seem special. We are truly blessed to have such a funny (and smart) little guy.

Asher turns 4

Today Asher turned 4.  This was a big day for him in a lot of ways! He'd been talking about it forever, and we'd been playing it up as the day when he would start being more of a big boy. So, to our surprise, in addition to being his birthday it was also the day he swam for the first time in the pool without a life jacket. He went all day without having a potty accident, and he woke up this morning with a dry pull-up.

We invited a handful of people over for his birthday party.  I try to make the kids' birthday cakes myself, and when I asked him what he wanted me to make, he told me he wanted a world cake. The world, really? Yep, the world. And he didn't waiver. So, I toyed with ideas of making a globe, or a flat map (which would have been infinitely easier), or a combination of the two.  Because he likes Diego,  I decided to incorporate Diego into the cake, and came up with this: 



Grandpa Ron, Aunt Linda, Uncle Richard, Michael, Nate, Katie and Max and Molly came over that evening. I made my famous (cop out because it's easy) shredded chicken and slaw for dinner and cake for dessert. Asher loved opening all his gifts and it was a very nice evening.

It's hard to believe that my baby boy is four. He is really a high energy little guy that always keeps us hopping- but he can be very snuggly and loving. He's always the first one up in the morning, coming to get me by tapping on me til I roll over or coming down in the basement to find me on the treadmill. He is shy in public and when he first meets someone but within a few minutes he warms up and acts like he's known you forever. I can't wait to continue to watch him continue to grow- learning things and becoming stronger. He's a light in our family and we all love him very much.