You never really know what they day is going to bring with your children from one to the next. You do the best that you can by providing a regular routine and plenty of sleep, but every once in a while they just wake up and decide they are going to be trouble for the day.
For instance, Chloe woke up yesterday and you could just see it in that stubborn little face of hers that she was in no mood to cooperate. This is really my fault for posting in my last blog that we were noticing the light at the end of tunnel. Chloe did not want to eat, she did not want Abby or Lily anywhere near her, she did not want Abby to even look at her, and when any of these things happened she let it be known that she did not like it. Of course sisters being the loving and kind sisters that they are instinctively pick up on the sour mood Chloe is in and begin poking and prodding the monster. If Chloe did not want Abby close to her, then Abby would snuggle up to her. If she did not want Lily to touch her cup, then Lily moved her cup. And this was just the start of the morning.
Now all the kids love to get out of the house, but especially Abby and Chloe because they do not go to daycare and they can become a little stir crazy. We have to be cognisant of this and make sure we plan something for them to do out of the house. Yesterday was a trip to the mall with Mommy and Ms. Lauren, which they love to do because they have a play area there, they usually get to eat lunch while they are there, and they can generally run around expending some energy. Apparently yesterday that energy was stored up for some tempor tantrums to be thrown, and I'm not just talking from Chloe, but rather all of them. The way it was explained to me is that Chloe was on the ground throwing a fit, Abby was ticked off at Lily about something and attacked her so they were both screaming, and Lawson Boy was hungry. Similar to never feed a gremlin after midnight, you don't let the Lawson Boy get hungry. Ms. Lauren said it best, "Abby and Chloe just don't seem in sync today." That was an understatement.
By the time I got home, I could tell Mommy was done with the heathens and needed a little break. Problem is they can pick up on that too and then give you anything but a break. Due to a lack of nap, we were able to get them down early and survive the day.
Let's hope today is a little better since we will all be in the car together for 5 hours.......my head hurts just thinking about it.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and The Bottomless Pit
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
A Little Motivation
It's almost 5:30 here and the sun is just about to peak over the eastern horizon. My original plan was to go for a run, but the blog needed an updated post and frankly it's been a long week and I'm tired. My company put on a charity golf tournament earlier in the week so I was leaving early and getting home late, and did not have the time, energy or the material necessary to post any good stories. I should have Kasey post some Mommy vs Kids stories as she has been pulling the majority of those duties this week.
Yesterday was Lily's last day of pre-school and she is officially on summer break. She has been talking about wanting a haircut and I have been encouraging it because I hate brushing the tangles out of her hair. So on Wednesday of this week, she and Mommy had a girls day out and got haircuts together. She got about 7 inches cut off and it looks really cute and it only takes seconds to brush as opposed to minutes. The only downside is it made her look very grown up. That on top of the knowledge that she starts kindergarten next year make me realize my little girl is not a little girl anymore. Her vocabulary continues to amaze me as well. I cannot for the life of me remember what word she used the other day, but it was quite impressive for an almost 5 year old.
Of course we have been taking advantage of pool. Lauren and Kasey tried to take Abby, Chloe and Lawson during the day yesterday, but it was closed due to "fecal contamination". As Abby now says, "GROSS". After a super chlorination it did open at 5:00 so I made sandwiches and we went out to swim and eat dinner by the pool. At one end of the pool there is a little wading pool that gradually descends. This is where the Lawson Boy can usually be found sitting just at the edge of the wading pool splashing himself in the face over and over. Somehow he is gradually works his way down a little deeper and will come to the realization that he needs to scoot back up. As was previously mentioned, he has mastered the art of the army crawl and get from point A to point B in a surprisingly quick fashion. Problem is the army crawl in the wading pool puts his face in the water, and he now realizes he cannot breathe under the water. The Boy found himself in this very situation last night getting deeper in the pool and instead of looking for one of us to come scoot him up, he rolled over and in an effort to keep his face out of the water he surprisingly found himself in a crawling position and scooted on up. The ability to breathe can be a very motivating factor. He still has not quite learned how to get himself back in the seated position so I had to help him a little there, but upon returning home we noticed that he was practicing his new found talent of crawling on all fours.
We are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with Abby and Chloe and the terrible twos. It just a little light, but some light nonetheless. The fits are becoming less frequent as they are mastering the English language and are able to tell us what they want. When we don't understand what they want they are becoming more persistent about repeating it over and over as opposed to getting upset because we don't understand. This little exchange can be quite humorous when they are asking for something 50 times and you still cannot figure it out. Usually we have bring in Lily relief and she will figure it out for us.
We are taking some time off next week so not only should have some more time to update, but we will spending more time with the kids and I anticipate some fun and craziness so stay tuned.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy
Yesterday was Lily's last day of pre-school and she is officially on summer break. She has been talking about wanting a haircut and I have been encouraging it because I hate brushing the tangles out of her hair. So on Wednesday of this week, she and Mommy had a girls day out and got haircuts together. She got about 7 inches cut off and it looks really cute and it only takes seconds to brush as opposed to minutes. The only downside is it made her look very grown up. That on top of the knowledge that she starts kindergarten next year make me realize my little girl is not a little girl anymore. Her vocabulary continues to amaze me as well. I cannot for the life of me remember what word she used the other day, but it was quite impressive for an almost 5 year old.
Of course we have been taking advantage of pool. Lauren and Kasey tried to take Abby, Chloe and Lawson during the day yesterday, but it was closed due to "fecal contamination". As Abby now says, "GROSS". After a super chlorination it did open at 5:00 so I made sandwiches and we went out to swim and eat dinner by the pool. At one end of the pool there is a little wading pool that gradually descends. This is where the Lawson Boy can usually be found sitting just at the edge of the wading pool splashing himself in the face over and over. Somehow he is gradually works his way down a little deeper and will come to the realization that he needs to scoot back up. As was previously mentioned, he has mastered the art of the army crawl and get from point A to point B in a surprisingly quick fashion. Problem is the army crawl in the wading pool puts his face in the water, and he now realizes he cannot breathe under the water. The Boy found himself in this very situation last night getting deeper in the pool and instead of looking for one of us to come scoot him up, he rolled over and in an effort to keep his face out of the water he surprisingly found himself in a crawling position and scooted on up. The ability to breathe can be a very motivating factor. He still has not quite learned how to get himself back in the seated position so I had to help him a little there, but upon returning home we noticed that he was practicing his new found talent of crawling on all fours.
We are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with Abby and Chloe and the terrible twos. It just a little light, but some light nonetheless. The fits are becoming less frequent as they are mastering the English language and are able to tell us what they want. When we don't understand what they want they are becoming more persistent about repeating it over and over as opposed to getting upset because we don't understand. This little exchange can be quite humorous when they are asking for something 50 times and you still cannot figure it out. Usually we have bring in Lily relief and she will figure it out for us.
We are taking some time off next week so not only should have some more time to update, but we will spending more time with the kids and I anticipate some fun and craziness so stay tuned.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Bring on the Summer
The good part about the impending heat that is knocking on the door is the pool opened yesterday. Obviously we enjoy the refreshing coolness the pool provides on hot days, but there are several other benefits that I didn't realize a pool offered until recently. The neighborhood pool is close by and provides a great source of entertainment and allows the kids to get out of the house not only on the weekend, but it gives Lauren something to do with them as well during the week. The sun and pool is a great recipe to wear out a child, and they always take extra long naps after they have been there. Though I don't claim to be proud of the next benefit I mention, it is a benefit none the less. We don't feel like we have to give them a bath before night time if they have been in the pool. It's kind of like a bath.........
Lily has been waiting for the pool to open ever since the day it closed last September, and we have been counting down the days until it opened. Towards the end of last summer she was doing a great job swimming in the "big pool" all by herself, and I thought it may take some time for her to get back to that point. Opening day, she and I made our way out there during the rest of the kids nap time and she started off in the kiddie pool just to become acclimated. It didn't take her long and she was back in the "big pool" swimming just as well as where she ended up last summer. Did I mention the water is still very cold at this point. As usual, once you get in you get used to it pretty quickly, but I'm always amazed how kids just jump right in and the chill of the water doesn't phase them a bit. I almost forgot to mention that Lily did forget when putting on your swimsuit, you should take off your panties first. She was very proud that she got ready for the pool all by herself, and then it dawned on her that something just didn't quite feel right.
Today the whole family spent some time out there in the sun (they are napping soundly right now) and everybody had a great time. Lawson Boy wasn't too sure about the whole thing, but by the end of it he was sitting in the wading pool splish splashing around having a great time. He literally sat there and splashed water in his face over and over for a good 15 to 20 minutes. He was feeling pretty brave until he tried to turn over and start crawling in the water and realized he could not breathe under water. He is a tough guy though and was back splashing around in no time at all.
Abby is a little more adventerous than Chloe and once she had her floaties on, she was right in the thick of things. Chloe was her usual timid self and eased her way in, but got up the nerve to go out in the deep end with me and even let me throw her along with Abby. It's going to be a good summer and I look forward to watching them further their swimming skills along with the great naps of course.
Earlier this week Lily had her preschool graduation, and it was very cute. The kids sang a couple of songs and then walked the stage to get their diploma. As each kid exited the stage, the teacher explained what they would like to be when they grow up. Lily would like to be a princess when she grows up. I guess when they were practicing their walk across the stage, the teacher handed them something and then the child would give it back for the next kid to practice. Lily walked the stage, shook hands, received her diploma, took a few steps, and then as Mrs. Matiko was stepping to the microphone to explain Lily would like to be a princess, the princess was tapping her on the leg trying to give the diploma back to her. Practice makes perfect I suppose.
It is not too often that I get to spend some one on one time with Abby or Chloe. It just usually works out that where one goes, the other one goes. I know it is good for them to get some one on one time with both Kasey and I, and it probably doesn't hurt for them to get a break from each other from time to time. So I decided to take Chloe with me this morning to run some errands. This did not make Abby happy one bit, and upon arriving home, Kasey informed me that Abby stood at the door pounding on it and screaming for daddy for 20 minutes. That did not make me feel especially good, but the short time Chloe and I had together was a lot of fun. Unfortunately they are too frequently identified as twins and not separately as Abby and Chloe. They really do have unique personalities and it is a lot of fun to enjoy the unique person they are when they are by themselves. I never fully understood what a jabber box Chloe is. She did not stop talking for a second the whole time we were out. The time together reminded me alot of the couple of months when Kasey was in the hospital expecting the twins and Lily got to spend so much quality time together. So I'm making it a point to do something one on one with each of them going forward, and Abby is next on the list.
I'm off to join the rest of the crew in a few minutes of afternoon slumber. The pool and sun tend to take it out of me as well.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Aquaman
Lily has been waiting for the pool to open ever since the day it closed last September, and we have been counting down the days until it opened. Towards the end of last summer she was doing a great job swimming in the "big pool" all by herself, and I thought it may take some time for her to get back to that point. Opening day, she and I made our way out there during the rest of the kids nap time and she started off in the kiddie pool just to become acclimated. It didn't take her long and she was back in the "big pool" swimming just as well as where she ended up last summer. Did I mention the water is still very cold at this point. As usual, once you get in you get used to it pretty quickly, but I'm always amazed how kids just jump right in and the chill of the water doesn't phase them a bit. I almost forgot to mention that Lily did forget when putting on your swimsuit, you should take off your panties first. She was very proud that she got ready for the pool all by herself, and then it dawned on her that something just didn't quite feel right.
Today the whole family spent some time out there in the sun (they are napping soundly right now) and everybody had a great time. Lawson Boy wasn't too sure about the whole thing, but by the end of it he was sitting in the wading pool splish splashing around having a great time. He literally sat there and splashed water in his face over and over for a good 15 to 20 minutes. He was feeling pretty brave until he tried to turn over and start crawling in the water and realized he could not breathe under water. He is a tough guy though and was back splashing around in no time at all.
Abby is a little more adventerous than Chloe and once she had her floaties on, she was right in the thick of things. Chloe was her usual timid self and eased her way in, but got up the nerve to go out in the deep end with me and even let me throw her along with Abby. It's going to be a good summer and I look forward to watching them further their swimming skills along with the great naps of course.
Earlier this week Lily had her preschool graduation, and it was very cute. The kids sang a couple of songs and then walked the stage to get their diploma. As each kid exited the stage, the teacher explained what they would like to be when they grow up. Lily would like to be a princess when she grows up. I guess when they were practicing their walk across the stage, the teacher handed them something and then the child would give it back for the next kid to practice. Lily walked the stage, shook hands, received her diploma, took a few steps, and then as Mrs. Matiko was stepping to the microphone to explain Lily would like to be a princess, the princess was tapping her on the leg trying to give the diploma back to her. Practice makes perfect I suppose.
It is not too often that I get to spend some one on one time with Abby or Chloe. It just usually works out that where one goes, the other one goes. I know it is good for them to get some one on one time with both Kasey and I, and it probably doesn't hurt for them to get a break from each other from time to time. So I decided to take Chloe with me this morning to run some errands. This did not make Abby happy one bit, and upon arriving home, Kasey informed me that Abby stood at the door pounding on it and screaming for daddy for 20 minutes. That did not make me feel especially good, but the short time Chloe and I had together was a lot of fun. Unfortunately they are too frequently identified as twins and not separately as Abby and Chloe. They really do have unique personalities and it is a lot of fun to enjoy the unique person they are when they are by themselves. I never fully understood what a jabber box Chloe is. She did not stop talking for a second the whole time we were out. The time together reminded me alot of the couple of months when Kasey was in the hospital expecting the twins and Lily got to spend so much quality time together. So I'm making it a point to do something one on one with each of them going forward, and Abby is next on the list.
I'm off to join the rest of the crew in a few minutes of afternoon slumber. The pool and sun tend to take it out of me as well.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Aquaman
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Through the eyes of a child
It is hard to remember what it was like to look at the world and new things from the eyes of a child. Everyday seems so busy with everything going on that you start to lose track of time, you get a little older and a little more jaded and a little less willing to stop and enjoy things. I have to constantly remind myself that they are kids and they need to act like kids and not have to comply to all my "rules" I would like to impose on them to make my life easier. So after my run yesterday, I took some time and spent it in the backyard with Abby, Chloe and Lawson and just watched them for a while as they played.
Lawson had Cheetos stains all over him from lunch and was just crawling around the grass, eating grass, and having a great time familiarizing himself with the great outdoors. Abby was standing there and all off the sudden quickly looked to me, looked back up to the sky and said, "oh my goodness!" She and Chloe with as much enthusiasm as the most fanatical fan in a sports arena, waved, greeted, and danced for the airplane passing over head. As it faded off out of sight they just kept waving saying, "bye bye airplane". It's hard to remember the last time I got that excited about something, but I am going to make the effort to do so because it looked like so much fun.
At the age of 2 they have not learned all the dangers that are out there even in our backyard, but their ignorance led to a fun encounter with a bug that in the near future they will not be so open and willing to engage with. Chloe had found a beetle crawling around in the grass and without pause picked it up and brought it to me stating that she had found a ladybug. I figure if it had not bitten her by now it wasn't going to so I went with the ladybug thing and they had a great time throwing the beetle up in the air over and over trying to make the poor creature fly.
Later we discovered that a bird had built its nest between the posts in our fence and when we went to look closer there were 2 tiny eggs in the nest. I did have a conversation about not touching the eggs, but I told them we would go look every day until the baby birds were born. To say they were intrigued is an understatement, they wanted to look at those eggs over and over. I just pray when Lily is looking at it she doesn't start asking about birds and bees.....if you know what I mean.
One thing God did not build into the eyes of a child is a sense of clothes coordination. We were getting ready to go to dinner last night and asked Lily to get her shoes on, and she shows up at the top of the stairs wearing white shorts, a matching shirt, and her rain boots. She stated she was not sure what shoes to wear so would these be okay to wear? Now I'm okay with letting them express themselves while playing around the house, but this was just embarassing even for me.
Once again, my kids are teaching me lessons far more valuable than some of the lessons I try to force upon them. Hopefully as this day gets going and I'm dealing with everything else that makes up our day, I will try to remember to have as much enthusiasm and fun as they do.
As a quick note, Lawson is a big fan of Blue Goose Mexican Cantina and I call "not it" on his impending diaper this morning.
Have a great day!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy
Lawson had Cheetos stains all over him from lunch and was just crawling around the grass, eating grass, and having a great time familiarizing himself with the great outdoors. Abby was standing there and all off the sudden quickly looked to me, looked back up to the sky and said, "oh my goodness!" She and Chloe with as much enthusiasm as the most fanatical fan in a sports arena, waved, greeted, and danced for the airplane passing over head. As it faded off out of sight they just kept waving saying, "bye bye airplane". It's hard to remember the last time I got that excited about something, but I am going to make the effort to do so because it looked like so much fun.
At the age of 2 they have not learned all the dangers that are out there even in our backyard, but their ignorance led to a fun encounter with a bug that in the near future they will not be so open and willing to engage with. Chloe had found a beetle crawling around in the grass and without pause picked it up and brought it to me stating that she had found a ladybug. I figure if it had not bitten her by now it wasn't going to so I went with the ladybug thing and they had a great time throwing the beetle up in the air over and over trying to make the poor creature fly.
Later we discovered that a bird had built its nest between the posts in our fence and when we went to look closer there were 2 tiny eggs in the nest. I did have a conversation about not touching the eggs, but I told them we would go look every day until the baby birds were born. To say they were intrigued is an understatement, they wanted to look at those eggs over and over. I just pray when Lily is looking at it she doesn't start asking about birds and bees.....if you know what I mean.
One thing God did not build into the eyes of a child is a sense of clothes coordination. We were getting ready to go to dinner last night and asked Lily to get her shoes on, and she shows up at the top of the stairs wearing white shorts, a matching shirt, and her rain boots. She stated she was not sure what shoes to wear so would these be okay to wear? Now I'm okay with letting them express themselves while playing around the house, but this was just embarassing even for me.
Once again, my kids are teaching me lessons far more valuable than some of the lessons I try to force upon them. Hopefully as this day gets going and I'm dealing with everything else that makes up our day, I will try to remember to have as much enthusiasm and fun as they do.
As a quick note, Lawson is a big fan of Blue Goose Mexican Cantina and I call "not it" on his impending diaper this morning.
Have a great day!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Lily 5 Year Birthday Party
The stomach bug decided to infiltrate our household this week starting with Kasey, then Abby, Lawson, and yours truly. Luckily this bug flushed out of your system quickly so once the kids threw up, they were pretty much over it. We have been keeping an eye on Lily and Chloe and waiting for it to hit them. My ability to see into the future can be a curse because I said that Lily would come down with it the day of her birthday party. Sure enough, she tossed her cookies around noon today. That gave Lily just enough time to go take a nap and get enough energy for her Woga party. As soon as she woke from her nap she was full of pep and ready to go.
The party was a success, and Lily had a great time. I'm pretty sure that Lou and I had just as good if not a better time that the kids running and jumping into the foam pits. After an hour of play time it was apparent that Lily tried to come back from the bug a little too fast. She didn't get sick again, but she had the look that you get when you just don't feel very good. Keep your fingers crossed Chloe stays strong.
Lily's birthday isn't for another couple of weeks, but we wanted to have the party early before everybody took off on vacations. It is hard to believe she is going to be 5 soon and then off to kindergarten and I suppose the time will just keep flying by faster and faster. Abby and Chloe aren't slowing down either. They each have decided that their new past time should be testing us and seeing just how far they can push us.
Lawson had his 9 month check up and weight 24 lbs. He is 82% on height and 92% on weight.......Fat! Oh and he has a ginormous 98% head size......fat head! It's a very cute fat, and his charming smile will win anybody over.
Hopefully this week, we are all back to full strength and I will be more diligent keeping up with our stories.
Straits
The party was a success, and Lily had a great time. I'm pretty sure that Lou and I had just as good if not a better time that the kids running and jumping into the foam pits. After an hour of play time it was apparent that Lily tried to come back from the bug a little too fast. She didn't get sick again, but she had the look that you get when you just don't feel very good. Keep your fingers crossed Chloe stays strong.
Lily's birthday isn't for another couple of weeks, but we wanted to have the party early before everybody took off on vacations. It is hard to believe she is going to be 5 soon and then off to kindergarten and I suppose the time will just keep flying by faster and faster. Abby and Chloe aren't slowing down either. They each have decided that their new past time should be testing us and seeing just how far they can push us.
Lawson had his 9 month check up and weight 24 lbs. He is 82% on height and 92% on weight.......Fat! Oh and he has a ginormous 98% head size......fat head! It's a very cute fat, and his charming smile will win anybody over.
Hopefully this week, we are all back to full strength and I will be more diligent keeping up with our stories.
Straits
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Lessons from our Kids
What a beautiful morning here in North Texas. We had some rain come in last night and cool things off a bit so I'm sitting on the back porch enjoying the quiet before the rest of the crew wakes from their slumber. In an effort to get back into shape via exercise and eating healthy, I have cut down on the caffeine consumption but now is not the time to give it up completely. Coffee good.
It's been a few days since my last post so I should have plenty of material to pull from., but for some reason I am having trouble conjuring up the stories from those days. This past weekend was Mother's Day, and I think Kasey enjoyed her day. Per my post last week, Lily made some things at school and created a few more drawing for Kasey. Abby and Chloe slipped in a "Happy Mother' Day" somewhere in between "I hungry", "I pooped", and " I want pancakes". We actually made it to church on time which given my rigid stance to be on time made it feel like Father's Day to me.
Now that I'm writing, things are starting to come back to me. Saturday morning is typically relaxed and we try not to schedule anything too early, but this Saturday we had to be at the practice soccer fields to take Lily's team soccer picture. From their we headed to the soccer game where Lily was actually putting forth some effort. She put forth more effort giving the stink eye to the little curly head girl that kept pushing her. At one point (right in the middle of the game) she came over to me on the sideline to complain "the curly head girl" was not nice and she keeps pushing me. I was paying attention this week because I don't put shoes on Lawson any more, and the little girl was being very aggressive. I can't say it was one of my finer parenting moments, but I got down on Lily's level looked her straight in the eye as if I had some serious words of wisdom and I told her, "if she touches you again, push her down". It's not in Lily's nature to be harmful like that, but she exacted her revenge on accident when her feet got tangled with the other little girl and that child face planted right in the dirt........made me proud even if it was an accident. We celebrated this being the end of their season, and I finally realized that these end of season parties are not for the kids, they are for the parents. We just found several extra hours in our week, at least until the next activity starts.
Saturday afternoon I was cooking for the kids (I use the term cooking very loosely as it was really heating up Spaghettios) before the babysitter came over and Kasey and I met some friends for dinner. In my haste I dropped something and uttered the phrase "son of a". I did not finish the sentence though we all know what comes after that. When I say we all know, that includes a certain 4 year old little girl who after reflecting on what I said for about 5 minutes, looked at me and told me, "Daddy, you shouldn't say son of a bitch, because then I might say it". Good point Lily, thank you for bringing that to my attention.
So as I go back and reflect on the last 2 stories, a realization sets in that my 4 year has taught a better lesson than I have.
There are certain things that you know are going to happen with your children but you still do not look forward to it. You know these things because they happened to you as a child and our kids really are a chip off the old block. One of the rights of passage if you will for a child is learning to use scissors. What better way to learn than to experiment, right? Most of us probably have a story from our childhood in which we cut something we shouldn't. For me it was my own hair and a doll we had that mysteriously got a flattop. So I wasn't surprised when Lily came home from school yesterday with a chunk of hair missing and a whole in her brand new dress. I'm sure when Kasey brought her in to my office to show me what she had done, Lily thought she was going to be in trouble, but this was one of those times where you just explain why you shouldn't play with scissors and shrug it off as an inevitable occurrence.
Sometimes we just have to let kids be kids.
The crew is awake, let the day begin.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy
It's been a few days since my last post so I should have plenty of material to pull from., but for some reason I am having trouble conjuring up the stories from those days. This past weekend was Mother's Day, and I think Kasey enjoyed her day. Per my post last week, Lily made some things at school and created a few more drawing for Kasey. Abby and Chloe slipped in a "Happy Mother' Day" somewhere in between "I hungry", "I pooped", and " I want pancakes". We actually made it to church on time which given my rigid stance to be on time made it feel like Father's Day to me.
Now that I'm writing, things are starting to come back to me. Saturday morning is typically relaxed and we try not to schedule anything too early, but this Saturday we had to be at the practice soccer fields to take Lily's team soccer picture. From their we headed to the soccer game where Lily was actually putting forth some effort. She put forth more effort giving the stink eye to the little curly head girl that kept pushing her. At one point (right in the middle of the game) she came over to me on the sideline to complain "the curly head girl" was not nice and she keeps pushing me. I was paying attention this week because I don't put shoes on Lawson any more, and the little girl was being very aggressive. I can't say it was one of my finer parenting moments, but I got down on Lily's level looked her straight in the eye as if I had some serious words of wisdom and I told her, "if she touches you again, push her down". It's not in Lily's nature to be harmful like that, but she exacted her revenge on accident when her feet got tangled with the other little girl and that child face planted right in the dirt........made me proud even if it was an accident. We celebrated this being the end of their season, and I finally realized that these end of season parties are not for the kids, they are for the parents. We just found several extra hours in our week, at least until the next activity starts.
Saturday afternoon I was cooking for the kids (I use the term cooking very loosely as it was really heating up Spaghettios) before the babysitter came over and Kasey and I met some friends for dinner. In my haste I dropped something and uttered the phrase "son of a". I did not finish the sentence though we all know what comes after that. When I say we all know, that includes a certain 4 year old little girl who after reflecting on what I said for about 5 minutes, looked at me and told me, "Daddy, you shouldn't say son of a bitch, because then I might say it". Good point Lily, thank you for bringing that to my attention.
So as I go back and reflect on the last 2 stories, a realization sets in that my 4 year has taught a better lesson than I have.
There are certain things that you know are going to happen with your children but you still do not look forward to it. You know these things because they happened to you as a child and our kids really are a chip off the old block. One of the rights of passage if you will for a child is learning to use scissors. What better way to learn than to experiment, right? Most of us probably have a story from our childhood in which we cut something we shouldn't. For me it was my own hair and a doll we had that mysteriously got a flattop. So I wasn't surprised when Lily came home from school yesterday with a chunk of hair missing and a whole in her brand new dress. I'm sure when Kasey brought her in to my office to show me what she had done, Lily thought she was going to be in trouble, but this was one of those times where you just explain why you shouldn't play with scissors and shrug it off as an inevitable occurrence.
Sometimes we just have to let kids be kids.
The crew is awake, let the day begin.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Muffins With Moms
It will be so nice when Abby and Chloe learn to stop throwing fits. Somehow they can work themselves into an uncontrollable crying tantrum. Many times it happens when they wake up from their naps as is the case right now. I'm not sure if they just get scared when they wake up and they can explain why they are crying because they can hardly breathe. The positive side is the only way to calm them is to cuddle with them as I am doing right now with Abby, and she will hold tight for a long time. It may be the only time of day either of them sit still for more than 10 minutes.
This morning the mighty duo exercised their ability to carry on a conversation, though I would probably characterize it more as an argument with a hint of tattling. The exchange went something like this:
Chloe (yelling): Abby, you go poo poo!
Chloe (yelling still): Mommy, Abby go poo poo!
Abby (yelling back): No, I clean!
As you may have gathered from the title of today's post...........oh crap. Sorry for the interruption, but Chloe just ran through the living room with what I can only guess is Kasey's makeup all over her chest and legs.
Let's try this again. As you may have gathered from the title of today's post, Lily's school invited the moms to join the kids at school for breakfast and they shared some projects they have been working on. The first assignment is called My Mom is Special where the kids were given a statement and they finished it. Here are Lily's answers:
My Mom's name is.........Kasey McCain Strait (spelled incorrectly, but good answer)
She is special because..........she is my girl power.
I like it when my Mom.........give me some treats.
My Mom can do many things! I think she's best at....... working and stuff (Kasey wasn't real excited about that answer).
My Mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by.........hugging her.
My Mom is pretty as a..........flower.
My Mom is smart! She even knows...........how to cook.
I'd like to tell my Mom............that she is the best!
The second project was a compilation of the kids favorite recipes in which they created a cook book. From what I can gather, they went through all the responses from the kids, but were not able to use all the responses. Luckily, Lily made the short list and was able to share her favorite recipe along with the heart and soul that goes into creating such a delicious dish. The recipe reads like so:
Spaghettios: She picks up spoon and brushes them out of the can and puts them in microwave. Yummy! - Lily Strait
Too bad Lily, tonight we get Daddy's favorite, meatloaf!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abigail, Chloe and "touch my food and you will lose that finger" Lawson
This morning the mighty duo exercised their ability to carry on a conversation, though I would probably characterize it more as an argument with a hint of tattling. The exchange went something like this:
Chloe (yelling): Abby, you go poo poo!
Chloe (yelling still): Mommy, Abby go poo poo!
Abby (yelling back): No, I clean!
As you may have gathered from the title of today's post...........oh crap. Sorry for the interruption, but Chloe just ran through the living room with what I can only guess is Kasey's makeup all over her chest and legs.
Let's try this again. As you may have gathered from the title of today's post, Lily's school invited the moms to join the kids at school for breakfast and they shared some projects they have been working on. The first assignment is called My Mom is Special where the kids were given a statement and they finished it. Here are Lily's answers:
My Mom's name is.........Kasey McCain Strait (spelled incorrectly, but good answer)
She is special because..........she is my girl power.
I like it when my Mom.........give me some treats.
My Mom can do many things! I think she's best at....... working and stuff (Kasey wasn't real excited about that answer).
My Mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by.........hugging her.
My Mom is pretty as a..........flower.
My Mom is smart! She even knows...........how to cook.
I'd like to tell my Mom............that she is the best!
The second project was a compilation of the kids favorite recipes in which they created a cook book. From what I can gather, they went through all the responses from the kids, but were not able to use all the responses. Luckily, Lily made the short list and was able to share her favorite recipe along with the heart and soul that goes into creating such a delicious dish. The recipe reads like so:
Spaghettios: She picks up spoon and brushes them out of the can and puts them in microwave. Yummy! - Lily Strait
Too bad Lily, tonight we get Daddy's favorite, meatloaf!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abigail, Chloe and "touch my food and you will lose that finger" Lawson
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Old Lily Posts
As was mentioned on the Welcome page, part of the reason the blog was created is because I mad an effort to write some things down when Lily was younger and this would be a good way to keep track of the things we want to remember about the kids as they grow. I found where I had written some things down about Lily from a few years ago and thought I would share a few those this evening.
Things must have gotten pretty busy after that because I quit writing once the twins got home. One thing I will never forget are the sounds Abby and Chloe used to make as infants in the middle of the night due to their horrible acid reflux. It sounded like a herd of pterodactyls squawking at us........
Tomorrow should be some more up to the minute info, but it was fun to read back on some of Lily's younger days.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abigail, Chloe and Lawson (aka for the last few days, snot rocket)
September 10, 2008 – I’m traveling in Tulsa today and Kasey has just picked up Lily from Octopus Garden
September 19, 2008 – Lily used the Big Girl Potty at school today for the first time!
September 28, 2008 – Surprise, Lily is going to be a big sister to Twins. Not sure how to react to this one.
October 9, 2008 – Lily at breakfast with my swim goggles on this morning and still has them as she is playing in the play room.
December 25, 2008 – All Lily wanted for Christmas this year was chicken nuggets, so along with some toys she got a plate full of chicken nuggets which caused her to break into the “chicken nugget” dance!
January 27, 2009 – They are here! Abigail Claire was born at 12:11, she was 4 lbs 5 ozs, and Chloe Belle was born at 12:12 and was 4 lbs 9 ozs. They are amazing. Lily has mixed feeling, I tried to show her some pictures of them and she kept closing the picture book on me and saying, "no daddy." She has a lot going on with everybody in town and the babies here, but she is going to be such a great big sister.
February 8, 2009 – We brought Chloe home today, Abby is another day or 2 away from coming home. I introduced Chloe to Lily for the first time when Lily woke from her nap, and she did very well. She thought Chloe was so cute and "shiny" (?), and she thought she made very funny noises. Lily tried to take her from me at one point because she wanted to hold her, but she settled for a kiss on the cheek.
Things must have gotten pretty busy after that because I quit writing once the twins got home. One thing I will never forget are the sounds Abby and Chloe used to make as infants in the middle of the night due to their horrible acid reflux. It sounded like a herd of pterodactyls squawking at us........
Tomorrow should be some more up to the minute info, but it was fun to read back on some of Lily's younger days.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abigail, Chloe and Lawson (aka for the last few days, snot rocket)
Monday, May 2, 2011
Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes
Another weekend has come and gone, and we are back to some sort of normalcy around the house. Quite the historic weekend though with a new beginning for two royal love birds and the death of the most wanted terrorist in the world. Lily loves to hear and talk about Princesses so we discussed that over the weekend. Obviously she is not ready to have a discussion on terrorism, but I look forward to the discussions we will have as all the kids grow older. As Lily will tell you when you ask her why she asks so many questions; "because I'm inquisitive."
Friday night we had some friends and their kids over for a cookout, and both couples had all girls so I believe the total number of screaming girls on the trampoline at one point was 8. What a piercing noise that was. Kasey had to work Saturday morning so once it again it was Daddy squaring off against the monsters in the morning. Normally they are only allowed a certain amount of television per day, but I pretty much threw that out the window Saturday just to get a few things done without hearing one of them chirping Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, over and over and over. It is annoying just reading it.
I managed to get everybody fed and dressed and in the car to go to Lily's soccer game without too much trouble. As far as the soccer game goes, I don't really have a report to share because Lawson uncharacteristically melted down on me. He was sitting there eating grass like he always does at the games and just started crying. He is a pretty simple kid; he likes food and he does not like to be left alone. The bottle came out, that didn't work. A cereal bar came out and that didn't work. All the soccer moms were starting to worry because they had never seen him cry and you can hear the rumblings. One mom asked if she could try and that didn't work. It was pretty hot so by this time the poor kid is sweating, red faced and just plain pissed off. All I could think to do was walk until he fell asleep so we walked and walked. Lawson would close his eyes and then after a couple seconds would start back in squirming and screaming.
To break from the story for just a second, when Kasey was prego with Lily, I read one book and one book only because I don't put much stock in the books they put out for expecting parents. The book was called Mack Daddy and basically gave some ideas on how to make being a Daddy cool. One of the tips that stuck with me (except when it mattered at the soccer game) is that children cry for many reasons. It could be they are hungry, tired, in pain, or uncomfortable just to name a few. The example the author gave was his kid was crying and he finally figured out the tag was still on his clothes and was poking him in the back.
Back to my story. Unbeknown to me the soccer moms were racking their brains on what they could do to help, and they came up with an idea. So one of the moms simply asked if she could take his shoes off. You can probably figure out the rest of the story from there, but sure enough the boy quit crying immediately and turned right back into the lovable little Chiclets smiling kid we know. I think the marks on his feet from his shoes being too small have finally gone away as well. Guess who showed up 2 minutes after the tantrum? Mommy got to spend some quality time with the kids the rest of the day and Daddy went and got out of the house for a while by himself.
Until tomorrow,
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Bigfoot
Friday night we had some friends and their kids over for a cookout, and both couples had all girls so I believe the total number of screaming girls on the trampoline at one point was 8. What a piercing noise that was. Kasey had to work Saturday morning so once it again it was Daddy squaring off against the monsters in the morning. Normally they are only allowed a certain amount of television per day, but I pretty much threw that out the window Saturday just to get a few things done without hearing one of them chirping Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, over and over and over. It is annoying just reading it.
I managed to get everybody fed and dressed and in the car to go to Lily's soccer game without too much trouble. As far as the soccer game goes, I don't really have a report to share because Lawson uncharacteristically melted down on me. He was sitting there eating grass like he always does at the games and just started crying. He is a pretty simple kid; he likes food and he does not like to be left alone. The bottle came out, that didn't work. A cereal bar came out and that didn't work. All the soccer moms were starting to worry because they had never seen him cry and you can hear the rumblings. One mom asked if she could try and that didn't work. It was pretty hot so by this time the poor kid is sweating, red faced and just plain pissed off. All I could think to do was walk until he fell asleep so we walked and walked. Lawson would close his eyes and then after a couple seconds would start back in squirming and screaming.
To break from the story for just a second, when Kasey was prego with Lily, I read one book and one book only because I don't put much stock in the books they put out for expecting parents. The book was called Mack Daddy and basically gave some ideas on how to make being a Daddy cool. One of the tips that stuck with me (except when it mattered at the soccer game) is that children cry for many reasons. It could be they are hungry, tired, in pain, or uncomfortable just to name a few. The example the author gave was his kid was crying and he finally figured out the tag was still on his clothes and was poking him in the back.
Back to my story. Unbeknown to me the soccer moms were racking their brains on what they could do to help, and they came up with an idea. So one of the moms simply asked if she could take his shoes off. You can probably figure out the rest of the story from there, but sure enough the boy quit crying immediately and turned right back into the lovable little Chiclets smiling kid we know. I think the marks on his feet from his shoes being too small have finally gone away as well. Guess who showed up 2 minutes after the tantrum? Mommy got to spend some quality time with the kids the rest of the day and Daddy went and got out of the house for a while by himself.
Until tomorrow,
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Bigfoot
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