Wordless Wednesday

Really?

In the car on the way home this evening, Joseph proclaimed that lima beans are his second favorite food. Number one is cucumbers. Charlie countered with tomatoes as favorite (no surprise there) and radishes as second favorite. Really? We don't even eat lima beans or radishes at our house. Surely they don't eat them in preschool?

Memorial Day Weekend - Ready for Summer!

We had a great Memorial Day weekend, and I think we are officially ready for summer.

We started out by celebrating our eleventh wedding anniversary on Saturday. I'm stealing Cort's Facebook post, but I think it's an appropriate sentiment for both of us:

11 years

4 kids

2 dogs

2 houses

2 jobs

1 best friend!

We are not perfect, but we love each other more each day, and we work to make our crazy lives fun, enjoyable, and full of love and security for our family.

We began our anniversary celebration by taking the family to our favorite place in all of Houston: Costco. Many delicious samples were enjoyed by all, but particularly the kids who were not limited by phase one of the South Beach diet. We also bought the super-cheap Costco lunch and made it last two days. Is there anyone who doesn't love Costco?

Then we paid an electrician $50 to tell us that the light that has been broken in our pantry for over a month is actually just burnt out. This is proof to me that having four kids takes as big a toll on Cort as it does on me. We love it, but it takes up so much energy that your brain doesn't work like it used to. Cort is pretty handy, and in years past I have no doubt that he would have actually checked for the burned out light possibility before calling the electrician.

Saturday afternoon, three of our four children took monster naps. Joseph, who doesn't sleep during naptime anymore, ended up falling asleep on a beanbag while playing in the floor of his room and slept until after 4:00. Helen slept until around 4:45. And Will, who never sleeps late, napped until 5:15 when we woke him up! But most exciting is that Charlie, who did not fall asleep, got out of bed at 3:00, went downstairs by himself, and watched the Astros game for 50 minutes without disturbing us. So we got to nap until 3:50! Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

Next, we got out the water table for the first time this summer, and it was a big hit. It also spurred a lot of outside spring cleaning. We are now ready for summer!

All four kiddos playing at the water table. Man, was this thing a good investment.

Sweet Will posing while he plays

With all this water, surely the plants need watering. In fact, I hope they survive our little waterers.

You can bring out new toys, but eventually it's always back to sports with Charlie

Doesn't matter which sport, as long as it involves a ball

With all the water around, it just made sense to do a major spring cleaning of our back porch and yard area

Will is an incredible cleaner

The ball bin got cleaned out too. We've got a LOT of sports equipment.

The cars got cleaned too. The bottom third of our cars are the cleanest in the city.

Will, still working hard at cleaning up. Does this kid really have our genes?

We ended the day with dinner for the kids outdoors, and yummy watermelon for dessert. Then Mom and Dad had our own anniversary dinner at the slightly more upscale Capitol Grille, where we blew the South Beach diet on a scrumptious flourless chocolate cake. (We had to, it was complimentary for our anniversary.)

Dinner on the picnic table (which, incidentally, was another great Costco purchase)

Will working on his watermelon

Helen certainly enjoyed hers!

Sunday morning immediately after breakfast Helen announced, "I need play in water." So back out came the water table, and we finished cleaning both inside and out.

Joseph and Will helped Dad scrub the deck

Joe and Charlie got the railing clean

Did Helen help? I can't remember. But she did provide bubble entertainment.

Sunday afternoon/evening we tried to invite the neighbors over for Memorial Day burgers and hot dogs. But no one could come. So instead we invited over two couples who are close friends. Between us we now have ten kids, so it was still a decent little party.

Monday morning, Memorial Day, we got out the water table AGAIN, and added the kiddie pool into the mix. "Our own water amusement amusement park!" Joe said. When we find something that occupies all 4 kids, we utilize the heck out of it.

Helen likes a pool as long as it is just her size. She's not too thrilled with big pools though. Swim lessons next week should be interesting.

Once again, it doesn't take long for Charlie to get back to basics

After lunch I introduced the little kids to starfall.com. They loved it. Maybe if we get them to do it occasionally, they can catch up to where the boys were at that age. (Actually, I guess the boys were a little bit older. Maybe Will and Helen have some time after all.)

"C. Computer."

Then Cort went to work, the kids napped, and I cleaned the house and got organized to go back to the work week and reality.

After naptime we had some popsicles, and Helen and I made a mother-daughter Target run. Incidentally, does it mean anything that she screamed for a book when we passed the book aisle, so I picked up a book about using the potty - I've been thinking for awhile about getting her one - and she thoughtfully looked at each page and then said, "No. Put it back."

Mmm. Popsicles.

We had a South-Beach-diet-approved dinner, pulled the cars back in the driveway, did a major cleanup both inside and outside the house so we're back to normal. Bath. Books. Bed. Whew.

Will helping Daddy drive "Mommy car" back into the carport

Our Back Yard

First base


Second base


Third base


Home plate


Pitcher's mound


The rest of the lawn

Bragging rights

We get "progress reports" from the boys' teacher. Usually, they aren't that positive. Not because the boys are having problems (I don't think), but more because her style is to always look for things that each child needs to work on. Then work hard on challenging each child.

But, I guess in the spirit of the occasion, we got much more upbeat progress reports after graduation. Here are our favorite comments:

Charlie (mathematics) - I believe that math is Charlie's absolute favorite area to work in. It appears this way because he's always choosing work from it or asking if he can work in math. He likes the challenging, lengthy lessons such as fractions, roll of numbers, exchanging of large numbers, and multiplication. It's amazing how quickly he learns these concepts and how well he understood them too.

Joseph (reading) - Joseph has a high reading level. He can read practically anything that is in front of him. He makes me smile when I listen to him read. He doesn't just read through quickly, he adds expressions and enthusiasm to the story. I thought introducing homonyms might give Joseph a little challenge. Boy, was I wrong. Once he received a lesson he took off.

Joseph (mathematics) - How old was Joseph when he started understanding the value of money? It appears he enjoys counting money. Quite often he chooses lesson that require counting of money. He also understands that the combination of many different coins can make up the same value. WOW!

Charlie (personal growth) - I feel Charlie has challenged me this year as much as I have tried to challenge him. He has made me think of new and creative lesson extensions that will spark his interest. Thank you, Charlie. It was good for me to have to be creative on a new level. I will always remember you and the sports talk we shared on a daily basis. Enjoy your new adventures. I'm sure your new teachers will be in awe of your academic abilities.

We are so proud of these boys!!

Who's Your Daddy?

For some reason, Will has taken to calling Cort, well, "Cort." Except it sounds more like "Cuht."

As in, he loves to identify our cars (he really loves cars right now). He points at them: "Mommy car. Cuht car."

As in, last night during the boys' t-ball game when Cort was coaching and Will couldn't go on the field, he kept whining, "Cuht, Cuht, Cuht, Cuht, CUHT!!"

As in last night when we were putting them to bed we had this "conversation" with him:

"Say night night Mommy."

"Night night Mommy."

"Say night night Nonny."

"Night night Nonny."

"Say night night Daddy."

"Night night Cuht."

Makes My Monday

Often, it's the little things that make my day. Like the fact that I just realized that now that Will and Helen are two, I can quit buying whole milk. I am hoping that this means that instead of buying six gallons a week (three whole and three 1%), we can manage on just five gallons of 1%. Progress, and simplicity. It makes my Monday.

Graduates

The boys graduated from Cathedral House on Friday. I'm not sure when they started have graduations for preschool, but nevertheless it was cute. Their class performed the pledge of allegiance (to the Texas and U.S. flags) and a few songs, all while decked out in caps and gowns. Then each child was introduced, and the elementary school they will be attending was announced.

Afterwards there was cake (not so great for us, since we are on the South Beach diet right now, and not so great for them, since it spoiled their lunch, but oh well). And they were "dismissed" at 12:30. Well, technically they could stay--it's a daycare, after all--but they put up a notice saying that none of the kids were planning on staying, "so please let us know if your plans have changed and your child will be staying." In other words, if you are going to be the only parents who leave their kid all alone in class while everyone else takes their kid out to celebrate, um, okay we'll take them.

As a result, we took the boys to lunch at the Downtown Aquarium, where we spent way too much money for a mediocre lunch they hardly ate, but the boys enjoyed the aquarium fish a lot more than I anticipated (and apparently, they can identify sharks, stingrays, and eels). Then Cort returned to work, and I took them to the newly renovated Children's Museum. The renovations are really fabulous, and we had a great time. We almost let the time get away from us and forgot to pick up Will and Helen!

So it was a great day, and we are very proud of our boys. It was a touch poignant too. But then we remembered that they are right back at the same school on Monday, so we got over any emotional aspect pretty quick.

Joseph and Charlie in the graduation processional

The Cathedral House graduating class of 2009

Charlie, as he was introduced and then shook his teacher's hand

Joseph, as he was introduced and then shook his teacher's hand

Our two proud (and very cute) graduates

And a closeup, just because they're that cute

Proud parents with the graduates

The boys with their buddy Aidan

Another family pic, this time with just Mom

The boys with their teacher, Ms. Sherry

The boys with another of their teachers, Ms. Tanzie

The boys with Ms. Myriam, the teacher they have the biggest crush on

The boys with Ms. Teri, the director of the school

Way back When-esday

I needed this picture today for motivation. This was taken last year during our family vacation in the Caymans. Today, we start back on the South Beach diet, phase one. Two weeks on phase one, two months on phase two. And then, we'll be back in the Caymans! Yippee!

Mother's Day weekend at Lost Pines

We spent a long Mother's Day weekend at the Lost Pines resort in Bastrop, Texas. It's a great place for a family vacation. We spent much of our time at the pool (meaning either the baby pool, the water plume area, the "big" pool - which is shallow throughout, the lazy river, or the 2-story water slide that both the boys surprised us by doing over and over and over). The kids also ran around a LOT, and as always it was nice seeing them play together. The boys enjoyed some impromptu soccer and baseball games, and the little ones enjoyed the play structure and slide. We also had a nice, albeit too expensive, Mother's Day brunch, and the kids roasted marshmallows each night and had s'mores. And most importantly, it was just nice and relaxing (okay, relatively speaking - four small kids on vacation is more relaxing than four small kids during the daily grind, at least).

Basically, as Cort observed, Lost Pines seems to be just a place where parents can take their kids and drink. But hey, that in and of itself is a pretty good concept, and we had a great time.

Gransan and Mom with the kids on Mother's Day - four kiddos that us moms are very proud of!

Birthday celebration

Poor second children. Especially when they are actually the third and fourth children. Meaning that they really don't have any chance to have an actual birthday party.

We celebrated Will and Helen's birthday by going out for Mexican food. So it wasn't much different than any other weekend night.

Gransan did, however, splurge for a small cake from Dacapo's. When we got home, we plopped Will and Helen down on the kitchen counter and sang "Happy Birthday."

Chocolate birthday cake, since Gransan was paying

"Happy You You!"


The birthday boy is all smiles


Birthday girl digging in

We also opened presents. Oddly, even though neither Will nor Helen has ever been to an actual birthday party to my knowledge (they were sick for the boys' party, and they haven't been able to attend any of their classmates' parties yet because the boys' t-ball games have conflicted), they seem to know what it's all about. The mere sight of a birthday cake, and they start saying "Happy You You!" (or, as Will even more adorably says, "Happy Woo Woo!"). And as soon as we brought out the presents, Helen started screeching, "Presents! I want presents!" We asked her if she knew who the presents were for and she exclaimed, "Yes! Joe Joe and Charlie!" So that's when we remembered that even though they missed the boys' party, they watched them open presents, so I guess that's where they learned about that aspect.

Joe giving Helen a lesson on how to open birthday presents


And Charlie showing Will the present-opening ropes


Helen checking out the pink car that Joseph got her (he got Will a dinosaur)


Charlie showing Helen how to use the baseball glove he got her (he also got Will a glove)


Now that they've got the hang of things, they're looking for more presents (they also got new backpacks from Gransan and Grandad, and a puzzle toy from Mom)


And they got their own little basketball goal from Dad, which Helen wore as a necklace for awhile


Then Dad put it on the fence at just their height and tried to show them how to shoot it


Helen finally got it - slam dunk!

All in all, not a fancy birthday, but a very enjoyable evening nonetheless. Happy birthday Will and Helen!