New Months

I love the start of a new month. Especially one that starts on Monday. It is such a great opportunity to start a new goal, or start over on an old one. I know that sounds silly, but to me it is just wrong to try to start something new on a Wednesday, even if it is the first of the month. I would have to wait til Monday. So Monday the first is always fun. New months always seem fresh with so much adventure ahead. I like to look at an empty calendar, for at least one day, before it suddenly fills up. I have found myself looking at my calendar this year with lots of " if I can just make it through..." take August, with that one the boys went back to school. Then I needed to make it through October so baseball and soccer would end. I love watching the boys play, it is just so time consuming and we hardly get to be together at night. Now I made it through November, which this year, is great! So, Monday, December 1 was really exciting today. I can officially say I will have this baby this month! I looked at my calendar and today was the only empty day this week. I filled that up with an eye doctor appointment. The next 2 weeks are out of control busy with church events and my turn to teach Cannon's joy school. Then it slows down. If things slow down in December! I made a list of all the things that are required to be done before this baby gets here. Since I only have 3 weeks, I better get cracking.

I have to admit, I did not make any goals for this month, beyond my list. I am really just waiting for this baby to be born. After 2 crazy busy weeks, I will really be counting days. This Monday the first all I am thinking is that every day I get through gets me that much closer to this baby. I am not worrying so much about finishing December.

Maybe someone else loves Monday the 1st too and will make great plans for this month. I sure wish January started on Monday. That is really just perfect!

Happy December 1st!

Girls

I always feel like I need to post pictures with my writing, that is why I haven't done anything lately. My friends held a baby shower for me on Saturday. It was fun. I brought home lots of cute pink things for this little girl. I am going to have to go to church when she is 2 weeks old just so she can wear some of the cute dresses. The boys laughed at the hair bows and put them on like bow ties. Matt was amused by one particular outfit that is a cute little jumper with matching shirt, tights and hair bow. He is not used to coordinating accessories. I spent most of yesterday washing baby clothes, took 3 loads of laundry, cleaning the car seat and getting the bassinet ready. I sorted the clothes by size and type, you know, jammies, pants, shirts... I put everything in Matt's side of the closet. He is now the one being overtaken! I do think it would be great fun if I had an empty room I could be decorating for her. I guess I will be patient and do it when she is older and I can really have fun with it. I was talking to my parents and Dad said he just can't wait to see how I respond to a girl after all my years of boys. The boys need different tactics, and I am afraid there will be a bigger difference in how I respond to a girl then just different boys. I hope she won't always drive me crazy like most girls do. I know I will love her since she will be my girl. Now that I have everything ready, I am anxious ofr her to be born. Not only am I really tired of being pregnant, but I can't wait to meet her and love her and see the changes she brings to our house.

Brother, where art thou?

Sully went to a birthday party this afternoon. They went to the Duke vs. NC State football game. He left around 2:00. Madsen has been looking at the clock, asking how long a football quarter lasts and when will Sully be home? He has been Matt's assistant in the first bathroom floor tiling project, but he keeps asking about Sully. It has been 5 hours. Just a couple of minutes ago he said, "I want Sully back. He must have been really bored when I was at Scout camp." Yes, he was. I think back on the crazy times we had when Madsen was not even 2 years old and Sully was a baby. It was hard with those two little guys. But what a blessing! They are best friends. They really get a long fabulously, very rarely fighting with each other. And when one is gone, the other really is lonely. They often talk about wanting their own rooms someday when we have a bigger house, really? I don't think they would like it. It will be interesting to see how the 4 years of missions go. It just was a tender moment to see how much those brothers mean to each other.

Report Card Day

The boys brought home their first quarter report cards today. I was not surprised by anything on them.

Madsen's school uses this great website where I can check all his assignments and grades every day if I want too. I check all the time. Madsen does not think it is so great when I have to gripe at him for his science grades. Although I understand struggling in Science, he is his father's son and has no excuse. So, Madsen's 5 A's and 1 B, not a surprise. A little disappointing since he set a goal to get an All A's All year certificate at the Academic Awards this year, which he blew in the first week of school. Oh well.

Sully has a 4 in Reading and 3*'s in everything else. I think the Standard Based grading is ridiculous. He is smarter than average and should get credit for it. Heaven forbid we hurt any feelings. At least this teacher actually gave him a 4 in the first quarter. I was told once that they are not allowed to do that. So, Sully did exactly as I expected.

Declan has all 3's. I guess he is just average! His teacher comments were that he is quiet and timid in class and reluctant to share his writing and ideas. Shocking from 2 parents who probably received the same comments. She also said he is working at grade level but "quite bright and capable of doing more." So his interventions are all designed to help him reach his potential.

It was a good showing for the boys this first quarter. I am going to take them to Wendy's for frosties to reward them. All their friends probably get paid per A/4. My kids get free junior frosties. We don't reward for doing what we expect. I guess that is what they get for having high expectations!

Good job, guys! It does make me happy to have good, smart kids.

I will stop bragging now. Really the most impressive thing about this blog is that I managed to change my background without anyone helping! :)

Hallwoeen II

I know that my original Halloween post did not have a picture of Sully. I had a hard time finding it in all the pictures Matt puts on the computer.

Here are our pumpkins.
I think the pumpkin carving kits have hindered creativity.

Declan and Cannon did create their own faces.


Madsen and Sully used patterns for their faces.

The pumpkins are still out frront, moldy and gross.
The boys get to throw them in the forest when they get home
from school today. Yet another thing I refuse to do!
Here is our scary spider in his web.

My neighbor girl told me yesterday that Halloween was over. I think
that was her way of telling me to take down the spider.
And here is Sully. He was Percy Jackson from the Lightening Thief books.
I just did what he told me to!

We sprayed his hair black. He looked really funny with dark hair.
I prefer his blonde!

Our Halloween

Carving pumpkins. They were not thrilled about pulling out the goo but I refused to do it for all of them. Cannon asked what is that smell and refused to touch the stuff.

This is the only picture I have of Madsen dressed up. I think Matt took more, but I could not find them. I do not know who he was, some character from a book. He went to a freinds house that night, so I never even saw him in his complete outfit.

Declan was a mummy. He decided it was not much fun and will make a different choice next year.

Cannon was a ghost. We had a hard time getting the costume to stay in the right position so he could see and breathe. He is already making different plans for next year. He also told me that I can not go as a plain old mom, I need to be a doctor.

10 minutes of light

Declan and Cannon have been asking for 10 minutes of light each night when they get in bed. They are supposed to read books for those 10 minutes. This is what happened the other night. The above picture is where their matchbox cars are supposed to be.

This is where the stuffed animals are supposed to be.

This is where the boys were supposed to be.

This is what they did. They lined up all the cars, then all the animals and all the other things on the floor. They also locked the door so we could not get in to stop them. Needless to say, the next night they did not get 10 minutes of light!