Along with each milestone the Boy passes comes the growth into a little boy. Even at a very young age it is plain to see that boys are simply "wired" differently than the opposite sex. We have made it through the toddler stage with 3 girls and barely a scratch, but I will lay heavy odds that Lawson will be the first one we take to the emergency room. Not only does he seem to have no fear of anything except for water, but he is just rough and tough as compared to the other three. When the girls come to give him hugs and kisses, more often than not he responds with a swift hook to the head or he will come away with a handful of hair. To be fair I will accept my share of the blame as I finally have my Boy to wrestle with, throw around, and rough house with. In my defense though, I did that with the girls too because it was my way to toughen them up a bit.
Yesterday Lawson was going through his normal exercise routine of climbing the stairs every chance he got. He has become quite efficient at the process so we have become a bit too relaxed and quite frankly lazy because it is pain in the rump to follow him up the stairs over and over and over. Now he likes to play with the gate at the top of the stairs which puts him much greater jeopardy of a fall. Sure enough he tumbled down the stairs and luckily Kasey was there to stop him before he hit the bottom landing, but he did come away with some bloody lips. Did Lawson learn his lesson? Not a chance. As soon as he finished milking the extra attention he was getting, he was right back up the stairs.
Our kids love to dance and they will dance to just about anything. They love to dance to the Mickey Mouse "Hot Dog" song, and we regularly play music from the TV or our ipods that they will dance to. Just because they love to dance, doesn't mean they are good dancers. It is possible I have the "whitest" kids on the face of the planet though I will admit they are getting better. Some of the moves that Lily is starting to pick up make me cringe just a bit and could be considered a little too provocative. Lawson is no exception to dancing either. While making dinner last night I had the ipod going and I walked out into the living room, looked up, and found Lawson standing, holding onto the railing, moving back and forth and shaking his head like Stevie Wonder. The girls are already starting to rub off on the kid, we are going to have to go do something very masculine this weekend together. While shaking his head back and forth, he got a little too carried away in the music and slammed his head into the railing. When we put him to bed, the poor kid looked like he just took a beating from Clubber Lang.
Despite all the bumps and bruises, screaming and yelling, and chaos that occurs in our house daily, there are just as many and if not more fun and sweet moments. Lily usually goes to bed about an hour or so later than the rest of the kids. While putting her down last night we could hear the twins talking and breaking out into laughter over and over. We peeked in to see what they were doing and Abby and was saying something about Chloe being a naked jay bird. If you will recall my story several posts back about me using the term "what the" and then Lily telling me I should not say that, then you will understand that why we have told them they should not say "what the". I guess when the twins thing they are getting away with something and doing the complete opposite, they find it hilarious, because every time Abby said something, Chloe responded with "what the", and they laughed and laughed and laughed. They never even knew we were spying on them and they were having too much fun for me to interrupt so I just let them have there fun.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Rocky Balboa
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Lily Applies Her Sunday School Lesson
After a week long stay with her Mo and Aunt Lala, Lily is back home. During her stay she spent a lot of time with her cousin Karly is who is 9 years old and is so good taking care of and helping with Lily. Lily thought she was pretty hot stuff spending all that time with her older cousin. Sounds like they had a lot of fun while she was there, and Lily just could not make up her mind whether she wanted to come home or not. In her words, "Daddy I love you and I want to see you, but I love Mo too and she will be sad to see me leave." It's good to see she is learning some empathy I suppose.
Abby, Chloe and Lawson were very excited to see that Lily was home as well. The girls all gave big hugs and it was nice to see sisters being so sweet to each other. That lasted all of about 5 minutes and we were right back to our usual sibling arguments. Lawson Boy even joined in a little the only way he now knows how.....by hitting and grunting. But it's good to have things back to normal.
Sunday was a really good day. We got up and made it to church on time. In fact we were early enough to church to sit hang out a few minutes before services started to have a cup of coffee. After church we had Kasey's brother and his family over for brunch. Aunt Lala and Karly are still in town so they came over as well. We did the brunch thing and everybody except uncle Bubba went to the pool (still not sure how he swung that free time with a nice nap), and we had a great time. Lily saw her new friend that she had met at the pool last week, and she played with her the entire time. The little girl's mom introduced herself to us and she hung out with Kasey, Aunt Lala, and Aunt Mary by the pool. They just moved to Celina so I told Kasey to make sure and get their number so we can set up play dates for Lily. Apparently that is not kosher to ask for a phone number on a first encounter. I would have asked, but that is kind of awkward for me to ask for the digits from another lady.
Later that evening, Lily decided she was going to enlighten us with her knowledge from Sunday School. This is actually a big deal to me because I always ask her what she learned, and she typically responds with, "I dunno". I'm not sure what spawned the thought in her, but I think it had to do with the movie we were watching and making good choices. Lily told me, "Daddy, I know a word that means to stop what you are doing, turn around and do the opposite." Really I thought, you have my attention.
"What word is that", I said.
"Repent", she told me.
I was impressed and asked, "That is very good, did you learn that at Sunday school today?"
Indeed she had learned that at Sunday School, and I told her how impressed I was she had retained the new word and remembered the definition. Well not only did she understand the word, but she felt she could apply this to a real world situation. "Daddy", she said, "I think Abby and Chloe need to repent of the way they act."
We're going to have our hands full with this one.
It must be time for a bottle, the Boy is calling out. Have a great week all!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson "I devoured 2 full pieces of pizza last night" Boy
Abby, Chloe and Lawson were very excited to see that Lily was home as well. The girls all gave big hugs and it was nice to see sisters being so sweet to each other. That lasted all of about 5 minutes and we were right back to our usual sibling arguments. Lawson Boy even joined in a little the only way he now knows how.....by hitting and grunting. But it's good to have things back to normal.
Sunday was a really good day. We got up and made it to church on time. In fact we were early enough to church to sit hang out a few minutes before services started to have a cup of coffee. After church we had Kasey's brother and his family over for brunch. Aunt Lala and Karly are still in town so they came over as well. We did the brunch thing and everybody except uncle Bubba went to the pool (still not sure how he swung that free time with a nice nap), and we had a great time. Lily saw her new friend that she had met at the pool last week, and she played with her the entire time. The little girl's mom introduced herself to us and she hung out with Kasey, Aunt Lala, and Aunt Mary by the pool. They just moved to Celina so I told Kasey to make sure and get their number so we can set up play dates for Lily. Apparently that is not kosher to ask for a phone number on a first encounter. I would have asked, but that is kind of awkward for me to ask for the digits from another lady.
Later that evening, Lily decided she was going to enlighten us with her knowledge from Sunday School. This is actually a big deal to me because I always ask her what she learned, and she typically responds with, "I dunno". I'm not sure what spawned the thought in her, but I think it had to do with the movie we were watching and making good choices. Lily told me, "Daddy, I know a word that means to stop what you are doing, turn around and do the opposite." Really I thought, you have my attention.
"What word is that", I said.
"Repent", she told me.
I was impressed and asked, "That is very good, did you learn that at Sunday school today?"
Indeed she had learned that at Sunday School, and I told her how impressed I was she had retained the new word and remembered the definition. Well not only did she understand the word, but she felt she could apply this to a real world situation. "Daddy", she said, "I think Abby and Chloe need to repent of the way they act."
We're going to have our hands full with this one.
It must be time for a bottle, the Boy is calling out. Have a great week all!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson "I devoured 2 full pieces of pizza last night" Boy
Monday, June 20, 2011
We Were Just Trying To Make Lawson Look Pretty
Obviously I was very mad at the twins and gave them an earful on about ruining Lily's bedding. I had them both sitting on the floor where I could make sure they were paying attention to me, and right in the middle of my rant Lawson Boy comes crawling in with his Mike Tyson tattoo on his face and despite my best efforts, I couldn't help but bust out laughing. I did quickly compose myself by leaving the room so I could come back and continue my speech. One good thing to come out of it was I have never had an easier time putting the Twins down for bed. Even at 2 years old, they were well aware they had crossed some line and Daddy was not happy with their behavior. They were very generous with the hugs and kisses at night night. I can't be sure who started the whole thing, but based on some ramblings from Chloe I get the feeling she masterminded the event.
It should be interesting to see Lily's reaction when she gets home. She is spending the week in Midland with Mo and her Aunt Lala. Apparently she is having a good time since I haven't heard from her. So if you are reading Aunt Lala, make sure Lily calls me.
We are start to see the Twins mimic Lily more and more now. Lily's favorite phrase as of late is, "oh brother". It is basically her way of rolling her eyes at me already. So as soon as get Lily broken of the habit, Abby picked up right where Lily left off. We were at the pool and I told Abby it was time to go and she of course replies with an, "oh brother".
We had a wonderful time at some friends house this past Friday night where we had dinner and swam in their pool. Lily literally stayed in the pool for 3 hours and experienced her first 'shart'. She was standing in the pool holding her finger up saying something that sounded like I'm hurt, because she was holding the finger in a manner that made it appear hurt. After more investigation I learned she had checked herself and was saying, "I pooped". Luckily it was just a small hershey squirt that was easily remedied with a water hose behind the bushes. Not only did Lily 'shart', but we found Lawson eating the plants along side the pool, and Abby did her best Natalie Wood imitation. We had removed her floaties as we were getting out of the pool, but the slide going into the pool was simply too irresistible not to go down one more time. Though I didn't see her struggling 2 feet away from me, once Kasey pointed out our daughter was drowning I was in a good position to snatch her up.
Can't wait to see what the rest of the week has in store........
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Monet, Picasso, and Poor Little Boy Who Doesn't Stand a Chance With Twin Sisters
Friday, June 17, 2011
Fun With Lawson
Watching the kiddos this week I started to realize all the fun times that lay ahead for them as sisters and brothers. I had an older sister and remember many of the fun and dumb things we used to do, the games we used to play, and the pranks we used to pull. One of my sister's favorite stories to tell is when she convinced me to keep touching my gum to my hair until it was stuck in there bad enough it had to be cut out. Or there was the time she convinced me to keep tipping my milk to the edge until it spilled and I would get in trouble.
With 3 younger siblings, Lily is going to have a blast convincing them to do things I can only imagine. Poor Lawson Boy is in for a world of hurt with his 3 older sisters who will be dressing him up, and talking him into all kinds of mischief. Though there will be plenty of arguments and fights, there will be just as many fond memories for them to look back on over the years.
The funny interactions have already begun. Despite her moments of wanting to just be left alone so she can play with her Barbies, Lily is a very good sister and enjoys playing with both her sisters and brother. She and Lawson were cracking each other up the other day at my expense of course. Lawson was sitting on my lap and would literally slap me in the face which caused Lily to laugh uncontrollably. Her hugely contagious belly laugh would then cause Lawson to break into a belly laugh, and despite the pain I was enduring, caused me to laugh as well. This went on for some time and though my face hurt it was well worth it.
Though my next story did bring some laughs, it is not one we hope will repeat itself for obvious reasons once you read it. Lawson Boy was getting his diaper changed, and for some reason whenever one kid is getting their diaper changed the twins feel they need to be front and center lobbing comments. As an example, if Abby is on the table with a poopie diaper, Chloe is close by letting everybody know exactly how disgusting and stinky Abby's diaper is. "Ow Abby, you stinky. Abby poo poo. Gross Abby, you poo poo stinky. My diaper clean." Not sure how it happened, but they apparently compete to see who has the cleanest butt.
So as I was saying, Lawson was on the table in all his glory and sure enough the twins were close by. Abby walks up to Lawson, grabs his man parts, and says, "beep beep".
Not exactly the type of story I hope they will sit around talking about years from now, but pretty funny none the less. They are no where near old enough yet to realize what a blessing it will be to have so many siblings, but someday they will and I look forward to hearing them talk about years from now while one of them is spoon feeding their old man.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Beep Beep
With 3 younger siblings, Lily is going to have a blast convincing them to do things I can only imagine. Poor Lawson Boy is in for a world of hurt with his 3 older sisters who will be dressing him up, and talking him into all kinds of mischief. Though there will be plenty of arguments and fights, there will be just as many fond memories for them to look back on over the years.
The funny interactions have already begun. Despite her moments of wanting to just be left alone so she can play with her Barbies, Lily is a very good sister and enjoys playing with both her sisters and brother. She and Lawson were cracking each other up the other day at my expense of course. Lawson was sitting on my lap and would literally slap me in the face which caused Lily to laugh uncontrollably. Her hugely contagious belly laugh would then cause Lawson to break into a belly laugh, and despite the pain I was enduring, caused me to laugh as well. This went on for some time and though my face hurt it was well worth it.
Though my next story did bring some laughs, it is not one we hope will repeat itself for obvious reasons once you read it. Lawson Boy was getting his diaper changed, and for some reason whenever one kid is getting their diaper changed the twins feel they need to be front and center lobbing comments. As an example, if Abby is on the table with a poopie diaper, Chloe is close by letting everybody know exactly how disgusting and stinky Abby's diaper is. "Ow Abby, you stinky. Abby poo poo. Gross Abby, you poo poo stinky. My diaper clean." Not sure how it happened, but they apparently compete to see who has the cleanest butt.
So as I was saying, Lawson was on the table in all his glory and sure enough the twins were close by. Abby walks up to Lawson, grabs his man parts, and says, "beep beep".
Not exactly the type of story I hope they will sit around talking about years from now, but pretty funny none the less. They are no where near old enough yet to realize what a blessing it will be to have so many siblings, but someday they will and I look forward to hearing them talk about years from now while one of them is spoon feeding their old man.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Beep Beep
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Happy Birthday Ashee
Seeing as how Ashley Boyd was the first to follow the 6 Pack blog, it only seems fitting that she should get a special mention on her birthday. Ashley and Kasey work together and have actually worked for 2 companies together. It appears that when Kasey negotiates her deal there is an Ashley Clause that states that company must hire her as well. More importantly Ashley is our friend who adores our children and the kids adore her as well. We can't forget to mention her Foxy. Foxy is one of the reasons Ashley is so adored especially by Lily. When Lily was still crawling around on the ground, Foxy would come over and Lily would chase that poor dog all over the place. Foxy was a little afraid of Lily, probably because she is such a tiny dog. I've seen Lawson poop bigger than Foxy. The twins are not very fond of Foxy, but that is only because they are deathly afraid of all dogs.
Not only is Ashley a good friend of the family, but she introduced us to one of her best friends who is now our nanny. She has made pillows and other very cute things for the kids over the years, and she always has a positive comment about my blogs.
So Ashley, we wish you the very best Happy Birthday and want to tell you we love you and thank you for being part of the Strait clan.....and foxy of course!
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson Boy
Sunday, June 12, 2011
When Did He Get So Big
You would think after experiencing the first 3 kiddos going through the change from a baby to a toddler we would be ready for it with Lawson. All of a sudden he is no longer a baby though, he is a toddler crawling around, pulling himself up on anything and everything, responding with "so big" arms raised, and gaining quite the personality. The good side is we are only 2 months away from being done with baby bottles forever, no more, no mas, nada, done. The bad side is we have one more kiddo that is now mobile tearing things up and has not clue how to pick up after himself. His personality is gaining a bit of a temper as well. I don't recall what exactly he was upset about, but he was laying on the ground pounding his fist and feet into the floor. At one point he was so upset he literally popped his entire body parallel to the ground 6 inches off the ground. It was really quite impressive.
Lawson Boy has also started his stranger danger phase, otherwise known as separation anxiety. We dropped him off in his nursery class at church this morning and he took a good long look at the lady who was holding him and he looked back at me and broke down in tears. Though it breaks your heart to see him cry like that, I try to look at it as a cognitive breakthrough for him. As a baby he could care less who was holding him as long as the physical needs of hunger, sleep and a clean butt were wet. Now that little brain of his understands that some strange lady is holding me and mommy and daddy are about to leave me here with her. I imagine him thinking to himself, does this lady know when and how to make my bottle? Does she understand that when I grunt like a wild boar, it's because I want that cracker she is about to give to this pigeon toed kid next to me? Luckily his good nature still shines through and it doesn't take him to long to calm himself down.
Abby and Chloe are truly starting to master their conversational skills. Kasey was listening to Abby practice her skills while she was talking to her Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Lily used to do the same thing around this age when she would have conversations with her lovies. Abby told her Mickey and Minnie at bed time that "Lily get a spanking, Chloe get a spanking, but Abby no get a spanking." I guess she thought she was well behaved that day though that is definitely a matter for discussion.
To the faithful readers of our blog, I apologize for the lack of commitment to the blog in recent weeks, but I am making a concerted effort to be more diligent in the coming weeks. Thank you for reading.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Gap Tooth Mouth Breather
Monday, June 6, 2011
Happy Birthday Lily
Our baby girl turned 5 years old yesterday. Those memories from 5 years ago are still very vivid to me. We induced on the 5th because Kasey wanted to make sure that Lily was not a 06/06/06 baby, and she only made it by a couple hours. I recall that evening walking out into the hall and wondering why there camera crews there, and one of the nurses explained they were waiting for the first 06/06/06 baby. With a little help from the salad tongs Lily avoided the news crews, and something inside us was changed forever. There really is no way to describe the love you feel for your child when you first lay eyes on them, but I remember staying up until the early morning holding her and not wanting to let go.
Then they told us we can go home, and both of us looked at the nurse as if to say where are your bags, and why are you not coming home with us to help out. Somehow parenting instinct takes over and you actually survive the long nights, the spit ups, the crazy hormonal wife......I mean the recovery process, and then one day the baby smiles at you, crawls, says mama, takes a first step, and so on and so on. No way in hell did we think 5 years ago we would be waking up with 3 more kids. Lily was such a good baby though that we just knew way back then something crazy was in store for us. And sure enough it was.
Fast forward five years and we could not be more proud of the little girl she is turning into. What a wonderful big sister she is to her sisters and brother. I used to worry that she would not adjust well to going from the only child to having to share the spotlight with 3 others, and though she has her moments like any kid, she is very good about helping with them or going off by herself when she just wants some time to play with her toys.
I guess 5 is a big birthday, because we celebrated it about 4 times. She had her party early before school was out so more kids could attend. We celebrated when Mo and Big Daddy were in town at the restaurant, then at mama and papa's house, and finally yesterday on her actual birthday. Let's hope this does not become the trend.
We are full force in dealing with the trials that come with a mobile baby. The routine question at our house now is, "where is Lawson?" A good majority of the time he will be found climbing the stairs, and even all the way upstairs playing. If he is upstairs, the rule is make sure the gate is closed. Lily had a phone call yesterday to wish her happy birthday and in her haste to come down stairs she forgot to close the gate. Kasey saw him making his way down at the top step just in time to rush over and for lack of a better term, "field" him as he tumbled down a couple stairs. The woman is not that athletic but I've never a better Ozzie Smith impersonation.
As far as Abby and Chloe go, well they are still alive despite their recent attempts to commit suicide by parent. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say their schedules have been off and due to the birthday they have had too much sugar and leave it at that. Kasey took them with her to the pharmacy and they both turned into "that kid", you know the one you see at the store and say my kid would never act like that. She had to just walk out and abandon the task at hand. Chloe also decided morning should come about 4:00 AM last night, that was fun. I still maintain there is a light in that tunnel somewhere.
Happy Birthday Lily! You are a wonderful young lady, and words cannot describe our love for you.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson Boy
Then they told us we can go home, and both of us looked at the nurse as if to say where are your bags, and why are you not coming home with us to help out. Somehow parenting instinct takes over and you actually survive the long nights, the spit ups, the crazy hormonal wife......I mean the recovery process, and then one day the baby smiles at you, crawls, says mama, takes a first step, and so on and so on. No way in hell did we think 5 years ago we would be waking up with 3 more kids. Lily was such a good baby though that we just knew way back then something crazy was in store for us. And sure enough it was.
Fast forward five years and we could not be more proud of the little girl she is turning into. What a wonderful big sister she is to her sisters and brother. I used to worry that she would not adjust well to going from the only child to having to share the spotlight with 3 others, and though she has her moments like any kid, she is very good about helping with them or going off by herself when she just wants some time to play with her toys.
I guess 5 is a big birthday, because we celebrated it about 4 times. She had her party early before school was out so more kids could attend. We celebrated when Mo and Big Daddy were in town at the restaurant, then at mama and papa's house, and finally yesterday on her actual birthday. Let's hope this does not become the trend.
We are full force in dealing with the trials that come with a mobile baby. The routine question at our house now is, "where is Lawson?" A good majority of the time he will be found climbing the stairs, and even all the way upstairs playing. If he is upstairs, the rule is make sure the gate is closed. Lily had a phone call yesterday to wish her happy birthday and in her haste to come down stairs she forgot to close the gate. Kasey saw him making his way down at the top step just in time to rush over and for lack of a better term, "field" him as he tumbled down a couple stairs. The woman is not that athletic but I've never a better Ozzie Smith impersonation.
As far as Abby and Chloe go, well they are still alive despite their recent attempts to commit suicide by parent. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say their schedules have been off and due to the birthday they have had too much sugar and leave it at that. Kasey took them with her to the pharmacy and they both turned into "that kid", you know the one you see at the store and say my kid would never act like that. She had to just walk out and abandon the task at hand. Chloe also decided morning should come about 4:00 AM last night, that was fun. I still maintain there is a light in that tunnel somewhere.
Happy Birthday Lily! You are a wonderful young lady, and words cannot describe our love for you.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson Boy
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Where to Begin
Kasey and I took some time off this week to spend with the kids, and we went down to San Antonio. I'm not sure where to begin to describe all we did and the funny stories we experienced. So if it write in random thoughts and order, it is because I'm trying to share as much as possible.
We headed down last Saturday and met my college roommate and his family for lunch in Waco. He and I used to go down to the campus pizza parlor and grab a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza every night and I know we discussed many things over those pizzas including our future, but I'm pretty sure neither of us pictured meeting for lunch 15 years later with 8 kids between the two of us. The lunch was strategic genius on our part as the kid all racked out for a good portion of the remaining trip to SA. My sister, niece Morgan, and nephew Colin were already there as well and all were a huge help with the kids. Lily adores her cousin Colin and as usual she was right by his side the whole time. I have to mention that I was very pleased to hear that Morgan was getting a laugh out of the blog at school one day and shared it with her class who got a kick out of it as well. Keep spreading the blog Morgan.
One of the best parts about taking the kids to be with family is you get to spend time with the kids, but you have a lot of help doing it. Mama (who Abby and Chloe have turned into Me-Ma) took the bulk of the duties as Abby and Chloe insisted she change every diaper and feed them the whole time. I was chastised at one point for even trying to fill up their sippy with milk.
After nap time on Sunday we went over to some friends of ours to go to their pool with them and then eat burgers. When they invited us, I don't think they were aware of what they were getting themselves into. It's hard to describe the arrival of our family, but it's not hard to describe the look on people's face when we make an entrance.....horror. Luckily the kids were relatively well behaved and didn't break anything that I aware of.
Lawson Boy took no time at all learning to climb stairs. After testing the waters on the first couple of stairs a few times, you could see the pride in his eyes as he climbed all the way to the top. Great........
We spent the morning and early part of the afternoon at Seaworld on Memorial Day with Lily, Morgan and Colin. The little ones stayed home for obvious reasons. We showed up as the gates were opening and were able to see every show and ride every ride we wanted with no wait at all. We rode the roller coaster four time in the span of about 30 minutes. Lily had her face painted but only long enough for me to put her in the direct path of the Shamu splash which absolutely drenched her. I had a great vantage point of the splashing from 10 rows up so as not to get a drop on me. The little ones spent some time at the pool with mama and papa and I think Lawson Boy was able to get some quality time with his aunt Chelle.
With a couple days of vaca left we are back home to hopefully had some relaxing days of nothing much at all. The trip home was not as smooth as the trip down. Chloe melted down for reasons still unknown and she was very close to riding the rest of the way home on the roof of the car. She and Abby have given a new meaning to sibling rivalry. What started as a sweet gesture trying to calm Lawson Boy down when he was crying, turned into a war of who would calm him down. One of them would say, "shhhhhh, it's okay baby", in an effort to calm Lawson. And the other would respond angrily, "no shhhhh Lawson, I shhhhhhh Lawson." Wildly enough the bickering between the two of them actually calmed him down. I think the boy is starting to realize the crazy factor he is surrounded with and was entertained by the whole thing.
Lily has a bad habit of sneaking into bed with us in the middle of the night and has become so efficient that we do not realize she had done it until we wake up. So I have been explaining that she is now almost 5 years old and 5 year old little girls have to stay in their bed. I explained that upon our return from SA we would begin enforcing the rule and if she did not comply, we would start taking things away from her. So before bed time, Lily informed us she does not want to be 5 years old. When I inquired why, she told us that she wants to stay 4 years old so she can sleep in the big bed. She then proceeded to tell us that it is not fair that I have to go to bed and you and mommy get to stay up and watch TV. She made some pretty good arguments through the course of the conversation, but because she did not like my rebuttal to her arguments, she ended the conversation expressively, "I STILL DON'T WANT TO BE 5!"
She in not only one who can make a well thought out argument. Abby has learned to argue through suggestion. When I gave her the choose of chicken nuggets or grilled cheese, and she did not care to have either her argument was, "hmmmmm, how about pizza?" On one hand I like the fact that we are conversing as opposed to whining. On the other hand, the amount of debate over things is about to increase exponentially.
We still have a couple days left to do nothing, so I'm off to see what sort of shenanigans these kids can get into. I'm sure something of interest will be blog worthy.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and the StairMaster
We headed down last Saturday and met my college roommate and his family for lunch in Waco. He and I used to go down to the campus pizza parlor and grab a pepperoni and jalapeno pizza every night and I know we discussed many things over those pizzas including our future, but I'm pretty sure neither of us pictured meeting for lunch 15 years later with 8 kids between the two of us. The lunch was strategic genius on our part as the kid all racked out for a good portion of the remaining trip to SA. My sister, niece Morgan, and nephew Colin were already there as well and all were a huge help with the kids. Lily adores her cousin Colin and as usual she was right by his side the whole time. I have to mention that I was very pleased to hear that Morgan was getting a laugh out of the blog at school one day and shared it with her class who got a kick out of it as well. Keep spreading the blog Morgan.
One of the best parts about taking the kids to be with family is you get to spend time with the kids, but you have a lot of help doing it. Mama (who Abby and Chloe have turned into Me-Ma) took the bulk of the duties as Abby and Chloe insisted she change every diaper and feed them the whole time. I was chastised at one point for even trying to fill up their sippy with milk.
After nap time on Sunday we went over to some friends of ours to go to their pool with them and then eat burgers. When they invited us, I don't think they were aware of what they were getting themselves into. It's hard to describe the arrival of our family, but it's not hard to describe the look on people's face when we make an entrance.....horror. Luckily the kids were relatively well behaved and didn't break anything that I aware of.
Lawson Boy took no time at all learning to climb stairs. After testing the waters on the first couple of stairs a few times, you could see the pride in his eyes as he climbed all the way to the top. Great........
We spent the morning and early part of the afternoon at Seaworld on Memorial Day with Lily, Morgan and Colin. The little ones stayed home for obvious reasons. We showed up as the gates were opening and were able to see every show and ride every ride we wanted with no wait at all. We rode the roller coaster four time in the span of about 30 minutes. Lily had her face painted but only long enough for me to put her in the direct path of the Shamu splash which absolutely drenched her. I had a great vantage point of the splashing from 10 rows up so as not to get a drop on me. The little ones spent some time at the pool with mama and papa and I think Lawson Boy was able to get some quality time with his aunt Chelle.
With a couple days of vaca left we are back home to hopefully had some relaxing days of nothing much at all. The trip home was not as smooth as the trip down. Chloe melted down for reasons still unknown and she was very close to riding the rest of the way home on the roof of the car. She and Abby have given a new meaning to sibling rivalry. What started as a sweet gesture trying to calm Lawson Boy down when he was crying, turned into a war of who would calm him down. One of them would say, "shhhhhh, it's okay baby", in an effort to calm Lawson. And the other would respond angrily, "no shhhhh Lawson, I shhhhhhh Lawson." Wildly enough the bickering between the two of them actually calmed him down. I think the boy is starting to realize the crazy factor he is surrounded with and was entertained by the whole thing.
Lily has a bad habit of sneaking into bed with us in the middle of the night and has become so efficient that we do not realize she had done it until we wake up. So I have been explaining that she is now almost 5 years old and 5 year old little girls have to stay in their bed. I explained that upon our return from SA we would begin enforcing the rule and if she did not comply, we would start taking things away from her. So before bed time, Lily informed us she does not want to be 5 years old. When I inquired why, she told us that she wants to stay 4 years old so she can sleep in the big bed. She then proceeded to tell us that it is not fair that I have to go to bed and you and mommy get to stay up and watch TV. She made some pretty good arguments through the course of the conversation, but because she did not like my rebuttal to her arguments, she ended the conversation expressively, "I STILL DON'T WANT TO BE 5!"
She in not only one who can make a well thought out argument. Abby has learned to argue through suggestion. When I gave her the choose of chicken nuggets or grilled cheese, and she did not care to have either her argument was, "hmmmmm, how about pizza?" On one hand I like the fact that we are conversing as opposed to whining. On the other hand, the amount of debate over things is about to increase exponentially.
We still have a couple days left to do nothing, so I'm off to see what sort of shenanigans these kids can get into. I'm sure something of interest will be blog worthy.
Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and the StairMaster
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)