End of PreK

The last couple weeks have been so busy at Jaxson's school. I am SO lucky to be able to be to attend all of the events they have held. We want Jaxson and his teachers to know that we will try to do whatever we can to help them and the kids have a good experience during the school year. Dave was able to attend almost every Tuesday for PACT time, a twenty minute activity they have for parents to do with the kids in the classroom. And recently they have jam packed the calendar with one activity after another.

First we had the school wide walk around downtown. It was to encourage physical activity for all the students. The weather was beautiful and we walked with the entire school for about an hour all around town.

Next on the agenda was the school musical. It was the cutest. thing. ever. They read a story and sang songs with it. Jaxson has been singing the songs for days now since the musical. So much that I am starting to learn the words. Anne, Ava, Dan, Elaine, Roy, Grandpa Mike, and of course little brother, were along with Dave and I to watch the show. Jaxson loved looking out in the crowd and seeing all the faces he knew.

 This is Jaxson's favorite song from the musical. He has been singing it non stop and knows all the words to the solo. Also, the little guy singing the solo is Jaxson's best friend in class. Who would think that Jaxson, the shy one, and Carvel, the "spirited" one in the class, would become best friends. You can go to about 1:00 minute to get to the actual song.



Next up was field day. We enjoyed the sunshine and watched all the kids play fun games on the lawn at the library. It was such a fun day!! As I always knew Jaxson is super competitive and takes tug of war more than serious....

The last activity planned is the preschool graduation on Thursday. Then I officially have a Kindergartner.... omg...

Sunday Funnies...

We get the Sunday paper. I am not sure why but we do. We usually don't read it and sometimes go through the ads. But lately Asher has been loving looking at the comics. It is almost reason enough to keep paying the $5 a month for just the Sunday subscription.

He gets so excited and points, oohs and aahhs, at all the pictures. He is pretty adorable eating his breakfast and reading the comics at the table. It makes me smile no matter how early it is. :)

May Day

Every year on May Day we have taken flowers to Dave's mom. Jaxson loves to knock and hide. This year she was out of town so we needed a different target.

We decided on Anne and Ava. After we got home we made a cute hanging planter thanks to Pinterest. Filled it with flowers. And another with popcorn and M&M's. We drove over. Snuck up to the front porch. Knocked on the door. Hid just on the side of the door.

Then nothing. Waited. Still nothing. Knocked again. Still nothing. Knocked louder. Still nothing.

We then realized she must think we are crazy people and she is calling the cops. So then I text her to answer the door and that it was just us, and most importantly we weren't trying to kill her. She came to open the door with her best surprised voice to see Jaxson there.

She then admitted that she saw the May Day basket but thought it was just a ploy to get her outside and kidnap her. Lol... At least next year she will be expecting it. So just to warn you ahead of time Anne, if your reading this, on May 1st if someone knocks on your door and you see flowers open it!! It is probably just Jaxson hiding behind the steps... :)

Our Helper

Asher has taken a liking to cleaning up. He is Dave's dream child when it comes to this. He will sometimes spontaneously start cleaning up or if it is time to go will say "clean up first!" which Dave loves. If he spills he will get (anything within reach) and wipe it up. I am sure this is just a phase and it will wear off but in the mean time I am taking advantage.

He also loves to do the dishwasher. Unload and load. He doesn't really care. So I just pull up a chair and give him the silverware (with all dangerous items taken out of course) and let him go to town. Now if we can only get Jaxson on board who has fallen off the clean up train pretty badly...

Bath Time Nerves

Asher had an unfortunate incident that I am sure all kids go through at some point. (He went #2 in the bath) Big brother was less than accomodating acting as if the house was falling through a sink hole and he was going to be swallowed up. Literally. I mean the screams and shreaks coming from that kid were unbelievable. 

So from that point on Asher would not take a bath because he was so scared he would do it again. He would scream and cry. Clutch   onto my arm as tight as he could and try to crawl out of the bath. He hated it. I thought he would just forget about it after some time. Two weeks later nothing had changed. So at that point we had to do something about it. So my idea was to have an "all your favorite things in the bath day."

There were balls, glowsticks, bubbles. And we ended with a bang. Popcicles. Right there in the bath. He couldn't believe it and most importantly he was happy and not screaming.

Luckily it has done the trick and we are back on the lovin' bath time train again. :) :)

Mother's Day 2013

I love waking up to flowers and balloons, gifts, and extra hugs and kisses on the actual holiday of Mother's Day of course, but really waking up every day to two little boys who call me Mom is the light of my life.  I am sure mother's before me, and much better writers, have tried to put it in words what being a mom is all about. And many of them I am sure have gotten very close. But to live it, I believe is the only way to know how special it is to be someone's mom.

I would love to say that being a mom is always rainbows and butterfly's. It isn't. There is poop involved daily. There is screaming, crying, and fighting. Not just by the kids. There is second guessing yourself pretty much constantly. You feed them less than nutritious lunch because you were less than prepared. To make up for it you try to feed them only carrots and broccoli for their next meal and they are less than impressed. There are moments that you know you made the wrong choice. You get mad and yell even when you shouldn't. You find yourself not following your own rules and not leading by example.

But then the one time your "baby" helps a friend or makes the right choice and you feel so proud you can actually feel your chest swell with pride. Or when you watch them take their first step into your arms and it is more exciting and meaningful than every step you have ever taken in all your years prior to that moment. Snuggling with your chubby baby in the wee hours of the morning and you find yourself fighting the urge to close your eyes to be able to watch them sleep. Watching them be themselves and make new friends puts the biggest, cheesiest grin on your face that it embarrasses them completely. Trying to not step in and help them (when you know you shouldn't) while watching them struggle takes more strength than any physical endeavor you will encounter. Knowing when to step in and when to let them learn on their own is more difficult than any subject you could ever attempt to learn. And watching them succeed is more powerful than any drug could ever attempt to be.

Being a mom is difficult and beautiful all in one. Some days more of one than the other.

I love being a mom but more importantly I love being their mom. And I want to try to be the best one they could have gotten since they didn't get a choice in the matter. ;)

Bandaid Barry

 Asher had a little scratch on his toe but he was very concerned and requested a bandaid. Not once but around 10 times. I finally gave in even though it wasn't really a necessity, I could tell he wasn't giving up on this one.

Once the bandaid was on he was all smiles and kept showing it off. He couldn't go two steps without checking it, touch it, making sure it was on, or trying to show it off. It was so cute and it reminded me of the first time Jaxson had a bandaid for an owie. Almost to the day two years ago.

This is the stuff I want to remember.....

Here is Jaxson's story.... 
http://jlbarry.blogspot.com/2011/05/band-to-aid.html

Must Learn Mowing

Ok, so I have only mowed a lawn once. I know, I know. It is crazy to think I haven't done it but I haven't. Dave went on a trip a few years back and the lawn needed mowing. My dad was actually over helping me with some yard work. I told him I wanted to do it, even though he planned on doing it because it would have gone faster he let me have it my way. After a few passes Jaxson (who was still young) needed help so my dad took over. Really... I didn't just give up. Anyway, I can't say it was my favorite thing to do. My mom likes mowing so I thought maybe I was missing out on something. I decided I wasn't. :/ Now that I know I could do it if I needed, it is important to just keep teaching all the boys in my world how to do it so I don't have to for awhile still. Isn't that part of the perks of having boys anyway?? And I want my boys to be the ones that offer to mow their grandparents houses and shovel their driveways. I just think that is something grandsons should do. Maybe it is because my older cousins always came to my grandma's house to mow her lawn and she always looked forward to their visit.

So lesson one went well. Jaxson was all smiles and felt like such a big boy. After his two passes he sat back down next to Asher (who really wanted a turn but wasn't allowed obviously) and explained that you had to be four to start to learn but that he will teach him when he has his fourth birthday. He loves "teaching" his little brother stuff right now. The good and the bad. :/

Daddy's Boy

So Dave has it easy. All he has to do is walk in the door and he is the coolest thing ever! I take them to play dates, the zoo, storytime, the list goes on...... but all Dave has to do is pull in the driveway. The way they both light up when he walks in is pretty special. They look up to him so much and luckily have a great role model to learn from.

New Bathroom!

In about a week or so we will have a second bathroom. Yay! With two boys who will soon enough want to shower in the morning it will be quite handy to have a second bathroom. When we have guests it will be awesome. To have a finished laundry room will be amazing. And with a bathroom in the basement that will eventually turn into the boy zone will be nice for when they have friends over and what not. And it is such a great improvement to the house in the long run. You probably can't tell I am excited. :)

 It all started that my dad was in between jobs and likes to keep busy. He has built stuff for as long as I can remember and anytime he wants to keep himself busy building stuff at my house is fine by me!

 And since my dad has been over nearly every day for that last couple weeks Asher has become his shadow. He stands and watches him work. My dad lets him help and doesn't ever get irritated always having to watch his step to make sure he doesn't step on little toes. He is so patient and silly with him making him giggle which is always music to my ears. As soon as Jaxson gets home from school, assuming he isn't grumpy (which has happened alot lately) he wants to play catch and color Grandpa a picture to take home with him. I love to see them have such a good relationship with their Grandpa! And now I just need my dad to teach them how to build all this stuff so they can fill in when he and Dave don't want to do it anymore!!