My sweet little boy

I can't remember exactly what you have to do to earn a trip to the prize bin at school but I remember its a reward for good behavior and a big deal when you earn something. This week Collin earned his first trip to it. They keep it stocked with cool toys and pencils and stuff the kids like. Collin had his choice of whatever he wanted and he chose a green pony tail holder with 2 white daisies on it. For me! He was so excited when I got him from my neighbor's after school. He gave me a huge hug and told me he had something for me in his book bag. Then he got it out and gave it to me and told me he picked it out from the prize bin at school. Of course I cried. I'm an incredible sap and I cry over everything. How could I not cry over such a thoughtful act? It also made me immensely proud that he would think of someone else besides himself once in a while. All those moments where I question my parenting ability faded away for a while because we gotta be doing something right if our kid can be that thoughtful.

Of course then he turned right around that night while we were out to eat at Red Lobster and decided to delight us with a new little ditty he picked up from a friend. He points at each of us as he sings "Skunk in the barnyard. P.U.! Somebody farted. That's YOU!" I giggled. I couldn't help it. It was hysterical. I then had to get myself under control and tell him that while I found the song thoroughly amusing it was completely inappropriate for a restaurant. He can sing it as much as he wants at home but no more when we're out in public. Interestingly enough, I haven't heard it since. I'm sure I will though. Both my kids love music and singing and Nick was listening intently as Collin was singing. I'm sure I haven't heard the last of that skunk song yet.

Fall Begins...

Collin's first day of school after he rode the bus home. That smile says it all!

Collin waiting to be "sponged" back into the game. I don't know why he calls subbing sponging but he does. I keep reminding him that its sub not sponge so maybe by the next game....

Coach Daddy and Collin (#6).

So much has been happening lately and its been hard to find an extended period to sit down and write about it all. The biggest happening is that Collin started kindergarten. There was much trepidation leading up to this event, mostly on my part but a fair amount on his as well. It was all for naught. He seems to love it. His teacher is very nice and he has come home every day with a smiley face on his behavior chart. In typical little boy fashion, its like pulling teeth to get him to tell me about his day.
Me: Tell me about your day. What did you do?
Collin: It was good.
Me: Tell me what you learned.
Collin: Nothing.
Me: Ok, who did you sit with at lunch?
Collin: Jacob, Tackle and Mystery.
Me: Who??
I've met Jacob but I have no idea who Tackle or Mystery might be. He's come home with some new songs and several awards for good behavior which he is very proud of. I'll have to shoot video of him singing the "Tooty-Ta" song. It is hysterical. He likes school because its fun. I like school for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it has made bedtime a breeze. He goes to bed like an angel now because he's actually tired. I also like it because I only have to get one kid up and ready to go in the morning now so my mornings are easier.

The boys are both playing soccer and taking swim lessons again this fall. Nick is doing the junior striker program that Collin did at his age and I'm very impressed with how well he's doing. He is engaged and follows directions from the coach with absolutely no prompting from me. He was so excited to go to the first practice. Collin had his first game today. He is very excited because Tim is the assistant coach for his team. He calls him Coach Daddy. Their team got crushed today but they had tons of fun and I don't think they realized it because there is no official score. The other team had a little kid who probably could have played with the 7 and 8 year olds and fit right in. I was proud of our team because they all gave it their best effort and had a great time.

Collin is also starting Sunday school in a couple of weeks. Tim and I will be taking turns being the second teacher in one of the classes. I don't know if it will be his or not yet. We're looking forward to that as well.

Its going to be a very busy year for us. There is certainly more than enough to keep us busy! I will try to find more time to blog and keep things a little more updated than I have lately.

A night with my kids

Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was bringing home this tiny, helpless, little baby. Today I took a very independent young man for his kindergarten assessment. He was nervous at first but by the time they were through he was having a great time, probably because it was all stuff he knew. They asked him about the alphabet and did some numbers and simple math like which picture has more things. He was also given a list of site words and he knew quite a few and the ones he didn't know he tried to sound out. Some of the other tasks included writing his name and listening to a story and being able to tell the teacher what happened. He came out and told us everything the teacher asked him he knew the answer to. The teacher didn't have too much to say afterward. She wanted to know if he went to preschool and when we said no she seemed pretty surprised and said we must work with him a lot at home. She also mentioned that he told her he uses flash cards. Mostly what she said was that he was more than ready for kindergarten and he will do just fine in the fall.

So we took him to Rita's afterward as a reward for trying hard and we let him play a little wii because he found a new level that I'd never seen before and he wanted to show his Dad. You'd think he'd be good the rest of the night right? Ha! At some point during his bath (I didn't bathe him tonight) he dumped an entire bottle of body wash down the bathtub drain. And it wasn't a little bottle, it was one of the giant ones you get at BJ's. Apparently if you dump an entire bottle of body wash down the drain and then flush the toilet the basement toilet and tub fill with bubbles! We had no clue what was going on. All we heard was this gurgling sound and when we went to check it out we found the basement toilet gurgling and full of bubbles. Tim googled the situation and came up with the possibility of air in the lines. That's when he found the empty bottle of body wash. Collin fessed up when we confronted the boys about it. Thank goodness my husband is so smart and patient because he figured things out and spent quite a bit of time running water and flushing toilets to get rid of all those bubbles!

Then it was bedtime. I put them both to bed no problem and went downstairs to watch Dancing with the Stars. It wasn't long before Nick came down. I sent him back up then Collin came down. I sent him back up. Then I heard Collin say he couldn't sleep because of Nick's nightlight. I told him to shut his door. This conversation was followed by a series of screams and both children coming downstairs. Turns out instead of shutting his door, Collin removed Nick's nightlight. I took them both back upstairs, plugged in Nick's nightlight again and told them both if they got out of bed again I was going to shut and lock their doors. On the way out of Nick's room I happened to glance at the wall. "What's this?" I asked of the lovely green scribbles now gracing Nick's wall. "A bird" he replied. Of course it was a bird, why wouldn't it be a bird? He answered so innocently and proudly as if there was nothing wrong with drawing a bird on his wall in green crayon. I reminded him that we don't draw birds on the wall, we draw them on paper. That's when Collin fessed up, again! He had drawn a person with a box in a bubble on his wall in green crayon as well. What the hell were my children thinking tonight? So it was 9:30, they were both still up and they had defaced their walls. They will be scrubbing their walls in the very near future. Maybe not tomorrow because we have appointments at the eye doctor and a t-ball game tomorrow, but very, very soon.

Way to Go Tim!

It has been crazy busy around here for the past couple of weeks. Tim finally took his very last final a couple of weeks ago and I decided I couldn't wait until he walks across the stage next May to celebrate so I threw him a surprise party. My original idea was to rent a pavilion at the park but they were all booked so I held it at my house. For the last several weeks I have planned in secret and cleaned like a fiend and did my very best to act normal so I didn't ruin the surprise. It wasn't easy. I thought I blew it many times like when Tim tried to give Jane our moon bounce and I said "no, we can't give it away, we need it....I stopped before saying the next weekend for the party, instead I said something about Collin being upset that it was gone. Then another time I was at my mothers discussing the menu and the guest list when Tim arrived. The windows were all open and I had no idea whether or not he heard anything before he walked in. Then there was Brady's Baptism where Tim walked in as I was telling Scott about the ipod I got him for graduation and talking to Jane about the party. There was the notation about his party on Patrick and Eve's calendar when we were at their house the weekend before that I was sure he saw. Then there was the trip to Wal-Mart to buy the screen tent ($40, you couldn't beat it and it worked so well it was the best $40 I've spent in quite a while) that Collin couldn't stop talking about and the trip to the party store to buy decorations and order balloons. I thought for sure Collin would manage to spill the beans. How many things is that? I've lost count. I didn't actually mention the word party to Collin until after Tim had left that day because I was sure he couldn't help but talk about it. Anyway, Tim met my Dad and Max at the movies to see the Dark Knight (for the 2nd time) because my Dad wanted to see it. I had about 4 hours to get everything put together. Thank God for my Mother and Tim's parents who got there early to help because I could never have done it without them. Tim's parents were part of the surprise, they stayed with his Aunt for 2 days before the party so he wouldn't know they were here. If I ever throw another party, I will definitely think of a reason to get the person out of the house more than 4 hours early. Anyway, the party was a surprise and tons of fun. I am so proud of Tim for all the hard work he's put in over the last several years. He's already applied for his master's program so our journey isn't over yet but that graduation party won't be a surprise. I wish I had taken pictures of the kids. They spent all day in the pool and the moon bounce and wouldn't even come out long enough to eat. It was so nice to see our family and friends again and to watch the kids playing. I'm so glad that everything worked out. Congratulations Tim! I am so proud of you!