Ringing in the BIG 3-0!

Well, this past weekend I made the big plunge out of my 20's and into the world of the 30's.  In all honesty, it doesn't bother me the least bit.  It is almost nice to be 30.  I always seem to be the youngest in a crowd.. maybe now I'm finally catching up and won't be considered so "young" anymore.  Ha,ha.

We kicked off my birthday on Saturday night.  My parents came to town to watch the kids and Jon and I took our first ever night away from kids SINCE KATELYNN WAS BORN!  Yes, you read that right.  We have not left the kids overnight (except for hospital stays during births) ever since we became parents in 2006.  It was about time, right?  We got a hotel in uptown Charlotte and lived the city life for about 16 hours.  It was pure bliss.  We were able to walk from the hotel to dinner with friends and then out to the bar and walk right back to the hotel.  If we didn't have kids, I would love living in the city!  It was a great time.  As much as I love every second with my kids, it was very nice to have adult conversation for a night!

Part of the hotel plan was supposed to mean getting to sleep in and get uninterrupted sleep.  That was a little less than successful.  I guess I just couldn't fully turn off my mommy-mode.  We didn't get to sleep until after 3:00 a.m. and I was wide awake by 8 a.m.  I seriously kept trying to fall asleep but my body felt so rested... I mean a full five-ish hours of sleep without getting up with anyone?  Yes, that hasn't really happened in six years either.  Of course that isn't really enough sleep though so I still felt tired by the afternoon!  Oh well! 

We came home before lunch to spend the day with the kids and my parents and brother. They had the house decorated in tons of balloons and cake waiting. We took advantage of Firehouse Subs kids-eat-free Sundays paired with a birthday sub for free for lunch and then just lounged around the house all afternoon and evening. It was a great start to my 30's!

Time-Out Corner

Have I mentioned how many times I am amazed by the amount of things Ryan understands and takes in at his age?  I can't deny that my big kids have their fair share of causing trouble and that often leads to trips to the corner for some time-out.  Of course Ryan has already started to stick up for himself and we find him pushing his big siblings away when they try to take something and sometimes hitting when he isn't getting his way.  For now, I just tell him that hitting is not nice and we have to be nice.  Today when he hit, Justin immediately told him, "No, Ryan.  You have to go to the corner!!"  My mouth about hit the floor when Ryan immediately walked to the corner and actually stood facing it!!  It was really hard not to laugh out loud!

Apples, Apples, Apples

We may have already went apple picking, but that hasn't ended our fun with apples just yet.  Justin has been doing an entire themed week on apples at school so every day he has come home with some cute apple crafts.  My favorite this week has been his apple tree that included his handprint!  I am a sucker for handprints!

Today the kids and I decided to put some of those apples to use baking.  We made apple muffins (which weren't that awesome) and some apple-zucchini bread (which was amazingly yummy!).  The big kids had fun making all of this!

Sunday Funday = Birthday Party Fun!

Today Katelynn and I left the boys at home to play and went to one of her friend's birthday parties.  It was what every six year old loves.. pony rides, cake, and face painting.. oh and a hayride too but we didn't talk that one up too much since Justin would have been very sad to have missed that part.  It was nice spending some time with just my girl for a bit.  I get time with the boys bit not often with Ms. Katelynn.

Family Apple Picking 2012

So we took what I was hoping would be our "annual" trip apple picking today.  This may sound crazy to many people but it takes us TWO hours to get to a decent apple picking location here in North Carolina.  My husband thinks this is indeed crazy, but I think it's well worth it.  Maybe it's because one of my great childhood memories includes going every Fall to an apple orchard in Michigan.  I want my kids to get to experience that too.  But, since it is so far away and great orchards are few and far between here in Charlotte, it is beyond crazy at the orchard.  Last year Jonathan didn't get to come, but we were able to go on a weekday and it was great.  Now that Katelynn is in school, we no longer have that advantage.  Whether it was an abnormally crazy day or not, I'm not sure but crazy it was.  It took us probably 20 minutes or more to pay for our apples once they were picked, and then the donut line (because donuts and apple cider is a must when going to the orchard, right?) was probably an hour to an hour and half wait.  Heck, it may have even been longer.  I stood in line for about 15 minutes before I had to give up.  I couldn't convince my dear husband that the wait was worth it even though I still think it was.  Haha.   The views alone at this orchard are spectacular!

 

 

 

We convinced Jonathan's parents and Matt and Anna to join us on our venture to Hendersonville, NC.  We started our day at the orchard with the apple picking of course!  At first, we had trouble finding some ripe apples and had to look up pretty high to get them....

 

 

But we finally found some great ones at a good height for the kids.  The kids could have picked apples all day if we let them... well, Katelynn and Justin anyway.  Ryan could have just continued eating a few bites out of every apple and then tossing it down all day long. 

 

 

Note:  I have no idea what is going on with blogger.  I have been trying to post this since the day after our trip and have had no luck getting the pictures to upload.  A week later and this is the best I can do.  Hopefully most of you have facebook to view more of our pictures from our trip!  I'm off to investigate how to fix this problem so I can post more pictures of our last week for everyone!

First Full Week of School COMPLETE!

Even though this was the third week since school started, this week was our first full week of school where Justin was gone four mornings of the week and Katelynn was gone five full days. Everyone is doing great, and we are starting to get adjusted to our new routines. Here's a recap of what has been happening this week in our house!

Ryan

Ryan gets three hours of JUST Mommy time four days a week now. In all honesty, my plan was to do most of my errands and grocery shopping during this time since I would be two less kids, but so far that hasn't happened. I attempted to do this yesterday and ended up leaving the store due to a tantrum-screaming one-year old. I am chalking it up to being overtired though and am hoping we can spend one day each week doing errands in the near future. Along with a first full week of school, this week marks the end of nursing for Ryan. It has been some very hard nights where both he and I have gotten little sleep, and, therefore, he tends to need a morning nap before Justin is picked up. We have been at home after preschool drop-off just playing most of the week. In addition to his love for playing with balls, Ryan has started taking an interest in coloring with sidewalk chalk outside. I am honestly amazed at how young he is picking up on everything his siblings do and trying to participate in them. He will color on the driveway for a good 15 minutes before losing interest and never once attempt to put the chalk in his mouth.

Ryan also continues to be quite the dare devil. While his older siblings probably have a lot to do with his skills, we are still dropping our jaws at his attempts at climbing. I am pretty sure I was excited about Justin getting up on a step stool at 14 months of age. Ryan was up on the toliet seat the other night and is on our kitchen table at least once a day before we manage to get ahold of him. He's fast! Adding to that this week is his flexibility during diaper changes. I couldn't stop laughing this week when he was putting his feet behind his head during a diaper change!

As much as I miss the big kids while they are in school, I think it's going to be a lot of fun having one-on-one time with my little guy this schoolyear!

Justin

Justin is growing and changing everyday he goes to preschool. We are so proud of how well he is doing. The teacher says she wishes she had ten of him in class. He has been great at following directions and listening at school. He gets so excited to tell us all about his day and what he and his "friends" did at school. One of my favorite moments these past weeks is not just listening to what he has to tell me, but listening to Katelynn and Justin tell each other about their days when Katelynn gets home. Justin has started to bring home his schoolwork. This is by far my most favorite thing about preschool. His very first school project was a necklace that he made for me out of pieces of straw and dental floss. I had him model it since it was his very first piece of art he brought home.

One day this week Jonathan picked Justin up from school instead of me, and the minute he got home, he ran inside with this huge look of excitement on his face saying, "Mommy, Mommy, I have HOMEWORK!!!" This coming from my little boy who loses interest in learning to write the letter "J" after about three minutes. He wanted to work on his homework right away. There were two sheets and he sat and worked on them with me until they were completely done (which was not required that he finish both that night). He was very proud of himself and couldn't wait to show Katelynn what he had done. He also talked a lot about the science experiment they did at school where they put an egg in vinegar and were going to see the changes the next day.

Katelynn

Kindergarten is a big hit for Katelynn. She loves pretty much everything about it. I have to ask a lot of questions to find out what all is going on each day at school for her, but she is making friends and enjoying herself a lot. The friends I have been hearing about the most so far are Zachary and Mindy.. and sometimes Maggie. I honestly don't know any of the parents or kids at her school at this point but hopefully I will get to know more as the months go on. So far she is doing a lot of review work more than learning (and has been complaining about that.. the other day it was, "I had to write my numbers AGAIN and I already know my numbers, mom!"), but today she brought home a drawing of her family, and I was impressed to see how much her artwork is improving already this year. She used to make stick hands on people (even just last week) and now she is drawing hands and shoulders! Currently this piece of artwork is my favorite!!

While I am enjoying our new school schedule, even moreso that I thought I would and really love hearing about the kid's days (seriously one of my favorite parts of the day), I can't say that I'm sad the weekend is here. It will be nice to spend the next two days together as a family of five!

Bike Riding Family Fun!

Now that the temperatures are not ridiculously hot here in North Carolina, we have been wanting to take a family bike ride. It seems like every time we plan for it though, the weather or another activity has stopped it from happening. While the kids were still in school, Jonathan finally prepped the bikes in hopes we could finally take that ride today. It has literally been since I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Ryan since we have riden. Last year Ryan was too tiny to put him in the bike trailer. The kids were so excited that we were finally going on a ride! We hit the greenway as soon as Katelynn got out of school.

I was a little worried I wouldn't survive the ride. Not only has it been almost two years since I have gotten on a bike, but I don't really get a chance to regularly exercise either and I was pulling two kids in the trailer at any given time... first Ryan and Justin and then at the end Katelynn and Ryan so Justin could try out the tandem bike too (Katelynn is almost ready to start riding on her own bike with us for the family rides so Justin can use the tandem but she has to get a little more comfortable with the hills now that she is without training wheels.)

The mile markers on the greenway from our end are a little confusing, but it looks like we rode between six and eight miles today! Of course, the kids had us stop several times for water, snacks, and a park playdate too.

I might have been a bit slow at the end of the ride, but I made it, and I feel great! I love riding and it's even better when I can do it with my family. It's times like these that I will always cherish and rememember! <3

Pretty Uneventful First Day of Preschool!

Wow! I am one shocked mommy today! Justin's first day of preschool was today, and it went nothing like I had expected. It was soo much easier than any of my wildest dreams! Any of you that have been around me and asking about Justin attending preschool for the last year have known how much I have worried about this day. Justin has always been my more sensitive little guy. While he is more talkative when he is around me, he does take a lot more time than Katelynn does to run off and go play with friends without me by his side. I had no doubt that preschool was going to be a hard adjustment for him. I fully expected to have him clinging to me, screaming, and my heart feeling like it was being ripped away as I had to be brave and walk away from my crying little boy. In fact, I didn't just expect this the first day. I expected to endure this horrific event that I had all played out in my head for at least a week. So, with all that in mind, imagine my surprise when we arrive at preschool, put his backpack in his cubby, and I walk him into his classroom to find that he went immediately to sit at the table with his friends and play with a puzzle. I told him to have a great day and we would pick him up in a few hours. He barely said goodbye to me as I walked out of the room. It was amazingly easy! There was even a little boy screaming and crying, which I thought would make Justin more scared of being left and it didn't phase him the least bit. Whether it was all the preparation this summer and the excitment we created when we talked to him about it constantly over the past few weeks or the fact that he knew the school from being there the past two years and watching his big sister come and go each day, but one way or another my little man made me one proud mommy today! When we picked him up, he was so excited to talk about his day. He loved playing in the gymnastics gym and he keeps talking about "his friends" and how he helped a little girl in the pit today because she couldn't touch and he could. His teachers said he was a great listener and cleaned up his toys when they asked. He also was very proud to have participated in the weather today by hanging up a storm cloud on the board. He can't wait to go back tomorrow! Here's our proud new preschooler!

Today was also my first day where I really start feeling like taxi mom. My schedule four days a week now goes something like this: Leave the house at 7:50 a.m., Drop Katelynn off by 8:05 a.m., Drop Justin off by 8:30 a.m. Then I head back to pickup Justin by noon, back to get Katelynn around 2:30 for a 3:15 p.m. dismissal. Ryan has yet to get used to this new fun ride in the car. By the time we got to preschool this morning, he was DONE riding in the car! Hopefully he will adjust soon!