Preparing for the big trip

The trip to Nashville is looming and we are very excited and also freaking out.  I have prepared by finally figuring out how to download Newsweek which we have had a subscription to for many years and which I have read every page of as part of a ongoing procrastination lifestyle. Hmm, make dinner or read this article about a country whose name I can't pronounce? Sorry kids, sandwiches again! Anyway, Newsweek went entirely digital a few months back and I never got around to figuring it out until now. So now I have mastered it and downloaded all the back issues that I plan to read on the long drive to and from Nashville. Grand plans that certainly the children won't allow. Like child birth, I block out all memories regarding past road trips. Sean tells me that the children are very high maintenance and require constant attention. This is why he drives.

I did start reading one of the issues already; the most recent one has an article about the advantages to getting married younger. Lucky me! Of course I like to read self-congratulatory articles about things I happened to do, like the current crop of articles about how you need to give your children more time and space to play on their own and develop coping skills. I am the master at that! How do you think I find time to read so many Newsweek articles?? Neglecting the children! I am accidentally following some parenting guidelines, whoo-hoo. I also make them work out their own fights most the time because I am too tired to deal with it. That too is a good thing, or so I read. Now I avoid all articles dealing with things I don't do for the children, like teaching them dedication and teamwork by putting them in organized sports. Patrick is starting a little bit but only because he begs to do it. We are dreading the day we have to decide to take it to the next level with him because it involves so much time and money. One perk to Nashville would be more options for less intense teams.

I am keeping an open mind about Nashville per Sean's request and thus have lined up some beautiful homes to see there. Can't get too excited because it's too early to actually decide on a home if we end up moving, but it will give us an idea of what the market is like. I think it will be good for us to rediscover what life in a big city is like too, we tend to forget factors like traffic. It would be nice if we could get a real feeling for the city, I keep looking for the big sign telling us what we should do. Maybe it will just be a feeling, finding home. Maybe it will be pulling back into Manhattan then.

I do remember getting in Sean's car on our first date and feeling that I would be spending a lot of time in that passenger seat. Maybe I just liked Volvos? Or maybe it was a glimpse of the future... just didn't know how challenging it would be with four kids in the backseat demanding snacks, games, movies, drinks. Ironically enough, in the passenger door compartment on our first date there was a Capri Sun drink, I think he said it was Leo's. So every time I would get in his car after that I would ask him if he wanted a Capri Sun (as it was still there) and he fake laughed. Wow, if that wasn't some foreshadowing... my stupid jokes and Sean putting up with them. Of course now I would never offer my kids a Capri Sun, no, not because of all the sugar (another parenting trend I accidentally follow) but because I don't like me and my car getting sprayed with sticky juice. The car is trashed enough as it is, juice would just take it to the next level. The final level is sour milk. We do not risk that. Ever.

So we will see just what we figure on the trip. And we'll see how many articles I can blow through while letting the kids work out their fights in the back seat...

ps This photo demonstrates how good the kids can be sometimes... for a few minutes. I was getting the car ready for the trip with a stop at the dealer for maintenance and Patrick had a great time in the waiting room. Then after this photo they all started fighting and I canceled taking them out to lunch. Thumbs down.

What would a pinterest mom do?

I was feeling somewhat guilty after yet another low effort lame summer day for the kids. I took the girls for their haircuts and as I was driving them home to boring house, I decided to do a pinterest mom type thing and stopped to buy them flowers to plant. Anna has been begging to do this but I didn't want to deal with the mess or them doing it wrong. Yet at the same time, I didn't feel like doing it myself this year as the flowers alway die whenever we blow town for a week. So I have done some planters with succulents, hoping to beat the system this year. However they are not as pretty as flowers so I figured what the heck, let the kids do their own pots. We certainly have plenty of empty ones laying around, specifically by the side of the garage if anyone wants to come take some for themselves. I didn't even buy them, they came with the house, the house that keeps on giving...

Anyway, I gave up all control and worry and let them do it all themselves. They had fun, kind of cleaned up their mess and in the end the plants look decent. We'll see if they survive next week without water. Maybe we will get some rain. Looks like that's going to happen a lot this week at least. No tornados or anything last night and at 1030 when they were ALL still awake I canceled the basement sleepover. I figured if I got the tornado text in the middle of the night then I would drag the kids down there. At least they would get some sleep in the meantime. So, FYI to anyone who likes to text in the middle of the night or early morning, my phone is on and wakes us up as Sean assumes he is getting called on to work. The kids do sleep in now, shocking, so sometimes we are actually all sleeping until 9am. Try not to hate. Also, try not to text early...

Emily is showing the effects of staying up late last night and has been breaking out her super whine voice today. Lots of irrational behavior, including standing here in the kitchen while I blog/cook dinner, eating a peach while naked with wet hair. Yes, planting turned into sprinkler time and 3 kids are dirty and wet now and ready to go watch a movie. Whatever, leave me alone until food is ready. Sean did work on and off all night so he is up resting and avoiding this nonsense in his office. Good move. Here are the planting photos now...

 Patrick so enthusiastic...

Anna so serious...

How to be productive while sitting at the computer

Megan whips through books so fast that we just can't keep enough in the house to occupy her. I hate spending much on books that only last a day or two, even if we have three more readers coming up. Of course the library is closed today so we couldn't just go browse for books so instead I pulled up Goodreads, which I apparently belong to but have never used, and I found lists of books for middle school students. I pulled up descriptions of books, figured out what should interest her and then requested them from the library so I can swoop in and just pick them up when they are ready for me. The ones I couldn't find at the library I found for free or 99 cents on amazon for her kindle. My kind of prices. We cannot figure out how to "borrow" books for her kindle from our library. I even asked Sean to look into it and he gave up. I suspect he is thinking that he makes good money, how about I just do a couple clicks on amazon and buy them...so I did.

Another part of being lazy today involved figuring out what chores take up the most time and could be done by children. Turns out most of them can and should be done by the kids so training has begun.  The girls grudgingly will load and unload the dishwasher now, all the while complaining about how often it needs to be done. Yep, I know. Oh how I know. Anna is also in charge of making ice now since the ice machine only worked that one time when the repairman turned it on. I realize I can go buy ice but remember, I am lazy. If we just remember to make it and bag it, that is easier than getting in the car, especially if I have to take Emily with me. Can she buckle herself? Depends on the mood. Can I get all four in the car and have them not fight over who sits where? Nope. I am getting ready to teach Megan how to make the bread as that is another frequent chore and involves being home at specific times so it doesn't raise too long. So simple to do, so it's time to pass it on.

A storm may be brewing with tornados and baseball sized hail, so I'm definitely not washing windows this afternoon. Instead I am searching online for what kind of windows I would like to replace them with if the hail comes. It's good to be prepared. I want the ones that tip in so I can wash them all from inside. Why make any other kind?! Clearly mine will never be washed from the outside as that involves a ladder and maybe being in bushes with possible snakes. Never.

Well, I should come up with a plan for dinner. Kids will be hungry after all that work. I've been eating bon bons all day obviously...

Faux productivité

I meant to type productivity but my computer insisted on changing it to the above title. Sounds fancier and a good way to describe the few projects that we sort of accomplished this weekend. I have a way of taking a simple project and dreading it for years, when I could just do it in 30 minutes and forget about it. This time I have an excuse for that though, I needed to be sure that Emily had outgrown her scribbling on the wall phase. This phase was so successful for her that she defeated the Magic Eraser. I had to repaint walls, which meant I had to find old paint cans, discover that they were empty or moldy or both, and then go buy the exact same paint to match what we had. Thankfully it was a perfect match and I didn't have to repaint entire walls, just the bad parts. Anna was hoping I was going to paint her room a new color but it turns out that using the same color and not having to be careful and do around all the trim saves days of work. So no one will ever notice the difference besides me but I will tell you anyway: the pink walls are perfect now. The scribbling was extensive and annoyed me every time I walked in the room. It's hard to be OCD with kids but I'm sure giving it my best shot. Hang on, I need to go vacuum the kitchen AGAIN.

Our other project we kept putting off because we are cheap and lazy. The last time we mulched the yard we paid someone else to do it, to the tune of $2000. So naturally we haven't wanted to repeat that. We had one area that had to be done though because I killed the grass there last year and the cheapest way to remedy that was to toss some mulch on it. Mulch that didn't match and wasn't deep enough so weeds appeared. Since Sean is home this summer I have even less excuse for the yard to look terrible so we splurged on enough mulch to do the front yard at least. $60. Seriously? And it took us all of 20 minutes to toss it around. Took more time to drive and pick it up. Again, something I should have done last summer but I was too overwhelmed to deal with it. Now the backyard it a whole other project which is where paying someone else to do it starts to make sense. I have high hopes that the hostas won't all die this year because the trees have filled in where the ones we cut down used to be so it is all shady again. Shady and protected from the wind, such a gift. After two days at the windy pool I am having a hard time thinking of building a new house in the wind zone. Seriously, wind is the main reason I love looking at photos of beach houses instead of being on the porch of a beach house.

We did have a good time at the pool both days this weekend, had to relax after doing 50 minutes of projects you know.

 We also made the kids play outside a lot because this is that brief window between winter and too hot.

 Emily noticed that her suit kind of matches Megan's suit so she said, "look, we both Megans".

 The word at church today to inspire good behavior was "goggles". Patrick was desperate for a trip to Target to buy new goggles. Totally worked. The people around us may have wondered why I kept hissing "goggles" though.

 Emily warming up.

 Nice when the pool is so empty that Megan can just shoot baskets by herself.

 Oh look at all the pool toys we left at the club over the winter... didn't want to store them at my house, ha.

 Anna's favorite pose these days. We will discuss Nixon soon.

 Patrick has many rules for squirt gun fights and thankfully Miles is used to being bossed around by his siblings so he tolerates this.

The constant adjusting of the goggles. He loves them so.

I guess school is out?

Somehow the school year has ended and the kids are all out of sorts being off schedule now. Emily and Patrick in particular are being challenging. I need a long quiet weekend to recover from this last month of extra events and schedule changes. It has been too cool to go to the pool yet but the kids are spraying each other with the hose outside. Loudly. Neighbors must adore us. Wait until Sunday when we completely neglect the children to binge watch Arrested Development....

We have next week free because I hate to throw the kids right into a camp or activity so soon and then we head to Nashville for a week (Lego camp, movie making on the iPad, and art camps). After that we get the kids busy with golf, superhero gymnastics (for real), basketball, volleyball, piano and something else I am probably forgetting. Oh yes, soccer. Then we have a big trip to Michigan and perhaps the girls will head to Virginia. School starts early next year and we just found out that the issues in Megan's class have been resolved so that is a relief. Sixth grade is a huge one academically so the fewer distractions, the better.

I am tired just thinking of all this and one perk to a boring weekend at home is that I can go to bed early. Total honesty, no fake bragging about an exciting life here!

Field day at MCS

 I think I see some leg muscles on this long jumper. Who knew? Other team eating some sand there.

 Before.... (we call ours a baby giraffe, FYI)

 After. Not sure how he managed that.

 This was the best game, partner blindfold spray bottle water fight. Megan and Chandler were paired up for most games and it looks like they actually touched for this one. 5th grade is a funny time.

 Megan clearly loved this game.

 The cheer squad. Next year the boys will both be kindergarten and they can't wait to participate. In fact, Patrick was pretty mad that he couldn't join in this year.

 Anna was on Megan's green team and she too loved this game.

 Aim problem?

 The glasses over the blindfold were an interesting look.

 Littles screwing around.

 3rd grade girls have no problem doing the 3 legged race together. They will even hold hands.

 And here we have the boy/girl team from 5th grade. Cannot touch! I wanted to remind them that I know they text message each other... mostly about math assignments.

 Tug of war, always a favorite. Anna is ready to go.

 Working her form here.

 Look at all those baby giraffes, ready to show their strength.

 They really care so much about this game as it pits each class against the other in their grade.

 The boys getting coached by Mr. Brockman, the intense math teacher.

Thrilled to win, all arms and legs...

More end of year stuff, bear with me, catching up

 The girls before Megan's band concert. Photos inside never turn out, plus we can't even see her from our seats so I never bother trying to get some shots. She plays the flute, for the record. Anna had her vocal music concert the week prior but I forgot to get a photo. This is the outfit she wore though, so let's pretend this is from her concert also. Patrick had soccer the night of her concert, so that complicated things. The boys showed up in time to hear Anna sing though, it all worked out.

 Patrick's end of year picnic for FUMC pre-k class. He adored his teachers, Mrs. Bahner and Mrs. Queen. They were very patient with him and most impressed with his lego building skills. He may be disappointed by the lack of lego time in kindergarten next year...

 Sean used up some of his leave days so he could be there for some of these events. Here they are looking at the class photos. Patrick is wearing his art visor in an interesting manner.

 I can't believe he ate his lunch. He usually just goes and runs around with his friends.

 Anna is frequently neglected in this blog so I will post something I normally wouldn't because it is so braggy. She got the citizenship award for her class this year. Megan also got it in 3rd grade (delay brag). My main concern as a mother is teaching them to be kind and have good manners, so I'm glad they practice that out of the house. You never know... This is Mr. Hulshoff giving it to her and he is the most amazing principal. Has really turned MCS around, an exciting place to be these days. Uniforms next year!

 We got advance notice so we were able to be there for it. Again, a good day for Sean to be off work. He missed so much last year that we are making an effort to make up for that.

One of our most favorite teachers at MCS, Mrs. Murphy! We really have loved all the teachers we've had there though. These people aren't there for the money obviously. Mrs. Murphy told me she stays because of the families. It's different when people choose to send their kids there and no one is there by default. I've been a room mom here and at the public school and the responses I got for help with parties is vastly different here. Not that it's perfect... still waiting to hear how one problem will be resolved.

Little Apple Soccer Academy

Patrick loved playing soccer this spring and was angry whenever it was canceled, which was frequently due to weather. Noticing a trend here? The last game was perfect weather at least and I finally got some photos.

 Emily was watching intently. When the weather was bad this season she either cried until I let her sit in the car or I just left her home. I suppose someday I will sign her up and let her try soccer too. She is pretty tough from playing with Patrick.

 Double goalie, best defensive strategy ever.

 Looks like he is talking trash here. Seriously, he started going off at one point and the people next to us were cracking up but we had some counseling with him immediately. I have no interest in his athletic skills, we are putting him in sports for the life lessons so that is what I'm going to hammer into him.

 I know nothing about soccer but this looks like basketball defense to me.

 Looks like a good crash about to happen here. I love how other kids are oblivious to what's going on, typical for the age.

 Check out the sweaty, crazy hair. Proof that he was running hard and getting tired. That's the other reason we put him in soccer. Get tired!

 There is no official goalie at this stage of soccer but Patrick often would take on the position because he is so competitive and doesn't want the other team to score.

 This is when he pulled his jersey over his face and was showing his teammates that he could still see them. Fascinating. Get back to running.

 Incredibly proud of his participation medal. Seriously, it is ridiculous how much this means to him but he is young so they can all be winners if it means no crying or trash talking.

So goofy.

3rd Grade Agriculture Day

After many years of not getting to do anything with Anna's class, I finally managed to go on her field trip a couple weeks ago. So many things were canceled and postponed this spring due to winter hanging around, but thankfully I made it on this one. The kids got to learn about all sorts of farming stuff at Cico Park, which included petting animals, so Anna was thrilled. I didn't touch any, just took the photos for her.

 Piglet

 Approving her friend Emma's photo taking skills.

 Chick

 Cow. Okay, horse, just checking to see if anyone has read down this far. These are just for Anna someday as she loves all animals. Poor girl lives in an animal-free house.

 Everything on this table has ingredients that come from a cow.  Vegetarians take note.

 Goat. I think.

More pigs. Oh so close, trying so hard to reach them...