Summer is here. The school year ended happily, but with a tiny bit of sadness because of the wonderful teachers and school staff that made the kids' year the best yet. I will miss my co-workers and the families and kids I work with also, but after a crazy work year, a break is a welcome treat for me as well. It feels like we have been on break for a month rather than 1/2 of a week. We are sleeping in (as long as the furry one year old friend sleeps in), hanging out in the back yard, tennis and baseball have started and quiet time, my favorite time of the day, has been instituted in the afternoons.

T-ball started last night, Charlie's first year. Imagine how cute 3-4 year old kids look trying to figure out how to hit a ball, which way to run, etc. It is even cuter than that! Charlie is THRILLED that he can play. He told me he wanted to hit 16 home runs. He came close to it, all the kids make home runs in 4 year old t-ball!

We stopped at our first garage sale of the year. The kids LOVE finding treasures. I had to laugh when I realized what each of my kids walked away with; it says a lot about their unique personalities:
NICHOLAS: a bottle of hand sanitizer that can be hooked to a belt loop (he said that he will only use it when he is camping, "There was NO good way to wash my hands on the last boy scout camping trip."
EMMA: about 10 books ($.25 each), one about optical illusions, Hamlet, and a brain teaser book for MENSA members, that is Emma, my little genius
LUKE: a book and materials to do magic tricks
CHARLIE: a matchbox car "still in the package!"
I bought about 15 books for me/the kids as well as a few pair of shorts for N and L. Emma said that she WOULD NOT wear something that someone might have peed in...

This afternoon, Emma went with her best friend, Emi, up to Emi's grandparents cabin near Duluth. She has been looking forward to this trip for weeks. It is her DREAM to have four UNINTERUPTED days with her buddy. Is it wrong of me to take a deep breath and sigh that the drama of Emma would be directed toward her friend instead of me for a few days?

OVERALL, the summer has been great so far. I am looking forward to a long, uneventful break with the kids and Tom, and hopefully, a bit of quiet time for myself!

FLOWERS FOR MOM! Isn't Charlie sweet? I couldn't even be mad that he plucked them, right in front of me, after I had told him that the flowers need to stay in the ground. He is always saying the cutest things. Today he was listing the things he likes. "I like penguins, Lightening McQueen, macaroni and cheese, ... and you, Mom." Tom laughed and said, "Even if you are behind mac and cheese, at least you made the list!"

So, it has been a while since my last post... I just have issues with doing things on a regular basis, I guess. Even something fun like posting cute pics and stories about my little ones.

HERSHEY IS 1!

We are all doing great here, glad that spring is here and we are thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather. We have spent a lot of time outside in the backyard as well as at the dog park. We now spell d-o-g p-a-r-k because the brown fuzzball gets so excited when he hears us say the words. He LOVES playing with the other dogs and it wears him out, can't get better than that! When Hershey doesn't get enough exercise he wakes up at around 4:30, yes, in the morning. Ugh. He is now one year old and is still a crazy, wild puppy. The kids adore him. Luke dedicated his poetry book--To Hershey, because I love him very much. That is why I wanted our family to get a dog, and even though I grumble about the two walks a day, endless chewing and a fair amount of naughty behaviors, I am still glad he is here, and he is very cute, to say the least!

Funny Charlie story: Recently, Charlie has been askind TONS of questions, mostly, "what does _____ mean." or "why do they call _____, ________." For example, today he asked, "Why is the snow called snow?" "What does, 'risk' mean?" He is also the fourth child and just to make it easier for mommy, she does a lot for him. Most of the time, he likes to be doted over, but sometimes he wants to do things "by himself". Well today, he asked for cinnamon toast, so I made it for him. He wanted to butter it himself, so I gave him a knive and the butter. It only took seconds of me watching him clumbsily moving big chunks of butter around on his toast before I asked him if he needed help. He gave up the knife without much of fight and I proceded to butter his toast for him. He watched the asked, "Mommy, does help mean do?" He got me!

Also, when he came downstairs this morning, he saw his birthday presents on the table. One, a train table, was too big to wrap so Tom just put the box by his chair. He looked at the corner of the box where it said "3+" and he said, "THAT table is for three year olds!" He definitely does not want to be three anymore, he is moving on to bigger and better things. He loves the table, though. We played with trains and did his new "cars" puzzle on it.

Happy New Year! I have added a few birthday pictures for my two January birthday boys. Luke on 1/7 and Charlie on 1/11. Tom is the family's offical cake creator, the kids order and he somehow gets it just right! In the past, Luke has asked for a train cake, pirate ship and death star from Star Wars cake. All extremely challenging and Tom didn't let him down. This year, Luke said, I think I want a sun cake. Tom and I looked at each other and without words, said, "Fabulous, that will be easy." A few moments later, he said, "maybe a SOLAR SYSTEM!" So that is what he got! See pic below. There wasn't any doubt what Charlie would ask for, he is our 4 year old, penguin CRAZY kid. We were all thrilled with how the penguin cake turned out! Unfortunately, Charlie had a stomach bug for the past three days and just started feeling better today (his b-day). Yesterday, he said, "Mom, I don't think I want to be sick on my birthday."

So, today, he got to stay home, which he REALLY enjoyed. Tom was home with him this morning and I came home for the afternoon. We read lots of books, cuddled and watched tv and both fell asleep watchin movie. What a nice day!

Oh, I must report why Tom should once again win the "best husband of the year" award. I mentioned that my feet were cold during dinner. Before I even realized he had left the table, here he comes with my slippers, warmed by the hair dryer. I definetely don't deserve him!

This post will have NO pictures, we all look gross. Emma threw up repeatedly for about 15 hours, starting at 1:00 AM. Poor thing was just miserable, as were the rest of us who had to listen to the repeated trips to the bathroom! She is starting to feel better and a few of us are questioning whether we are sick or just imagining/wondering "when will it be my turn?" So, the day wasn't a complete disaster. Charlie and I had lots of together time, once again. We did more puzzles and the weather was beautiful, so we played in the snow for a few hours this afternoon. It was about 20, sunny and no wind, a perfect outside play day. I pulled him in the sled, up and down the front yards of our very close neighbors, with Hershey on a leash in the other hand. He wants to be included in the fun too! I am sure, once again, we looked like quite a sight for the neighbors! Free entertainment, I say!

Tom and I are off to watch a movie that I fell asleep to last night, I think I saw about 5 minutes! I was tired. I am guessing I will not get much sleep tonight, waiting with one ear on gaurd ready to jump out of bed to help another to the bathroom. Unfortunately, Em is the only kid of the 4 who can make it to the potty all the time, the rest just puke where they are and yell for me! Lovely.

Charlie and I did puzzles for about 1 1/2 hours tonight. He is taking after his big brother, Luke, who is crazy about puzzles. Here is a picture of him almost done with Thomas for the third time. At schoool this morning, Charlie went on a field trip, on a SCHOOL BUS! He was very excited. They went to the Children's Theater to see a play. When I asked him how he liked it, he said, "It was VERY FUNNY!" Tom is out with Luke, Nicholas, and three of Nicholas' friends. They went to a movie then out for pizza. It is what Nicholas wanted to do for his birthday (which was two months ago...) Nicholas was excited, saying many times this week, "I can't wait till Friday" Nicholas rarely shows the emotion of excitement! Glad it is the weekend, I need a few days off from the craziness at work. By Sunday, I will be looking forward to getting back to work to get away from the craziness of home. Funny how that works! Here come the boys now, oh, boy!