Her Daddy

Look at this cute picture I just found.  This girl absolutely adores her daddy, and always has.  But she holds grudges, so if he isn't around enough, she will give him the coldest shoulder she can.

She follows the stereotype, and talks about growing up and marrying her daddy. Her older brother tries to explain why that can't happen, but all she knows is she loves her daddy.

First day of summer

There was plenty of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth on the first day of summer vacation but that is to be expected. I have lofty goals this summer, only one hour a screen time, and doing at least one fun thing a day. Anything from playing a board game, to eating cookies, to going to the park or swimming. Oh yes, I'm an over achiever. First day we found Zuckerman's famous pig.

Wilbur himself

Charlotte 

Her Web

Don't forget to find baby cakes, in the above picture. I even let him play, instead of sitting in the stroller the whole time.

The kids like (Alice and) wonderland better.

Cheshire cat

I should add on the second day of summer after Memorial Day, we had no crying. I made a schedule that starts at noon, and leads us through our screen time. Clear expectations. That being said, it doesn't include Tv, I'm not that brave, so some days they will have more than a hour. But my max is two shows or one movie. I've never included devices, like phones or tablets into screen time before, now I have. The day was so much more pleasant.

Last day of school

When I was volunteering my one time in 1st grade, after bubble day was over I had 20 minutes to burn before preschool was over. So I was filing for the teacher. The class lined up for recess and one of the little boys in class said, Mrs. Hunt I wish you could be our teacher in 2nd grade and 3rd grade too. I couldn't help myself I said, I agree. I had been thinking that very thing the other day. I got so sad a few weeks ago when I realized she wouldn't be J's teacher forever. But it's for the best because you never want a teacher you don't like forever. Plus I'm pretty sure most teachers you don't like aren't bad teachers they just aren't a good personality mix for you and your child. Anyway, here is J and his fabulous 1st grade teacher. 

Did I ever mention she use to teach in the town I grew up in. She taught elementary there when I was in high school. 

The last day of preschool was at the park. Unfortunately it was cloudy and in the 40s. 

At 7 am when I checked the weather the sun was suppose to come out at 10 and warm up to the 50s. Yeah it didn't we were not prepared for the weather. Lucky I know were we live and I keep extra layers in the car. We still froze. 

When we picked J up from school, he was one of the last kids to be picked up like always. I have 2 kids who hate to sit in the car, I can't sit in line for 45 minutes to pick him up 5 minutes earlier. His teacher walked him over to the car and we chatted a minute. I could tell she was just as sad as me, but j is not one for emotion so after minimal chit chat he said good bye and shut the door. I'm sure she  later got a good chuckle later on. 

Then we went to Fro-yo. I told J I would take him. 

And now it is summer. 

End of preschool

Nan finished another year of preschool. She doesn't turn 5 until December so she'll have three years of preschool under her belt before kindergarten. My opinion is that is too much preschool, but it's what she's needed in her life. Sometimes or all the time your children prove your opinions wrong, and life makes you eat your words. 

They had a big end of the year program. Which I loved. J only had one year of preschool and we moved a month before it ended so who know if anything happened. And there was jack squat at the end of kindie I was very disappointed. 

I pulled my oldest out of class to watch. Preschool is in the elementary school, I love it that way. He wasn't pleased, but I told him he was apart of a family and that's how life works. 

Every birth order place has different benefits. As the oldest he hasn't had many chances to just deal with it while a different child gets the spotlight. His sister was so pleased he watched her. 

Volunteering

For a long time a felt guilty I wasn't volunteering at the school this year. But i really don't like leaving my babies. Then my mom pointed out J has lots of years in school and baby A is only a baby one year. But finally in the last week of school I volunteered. At bubble day. 

Big tub

My baby is getting so big. He gets himself to standing. He can sometimes stand without support. He stands whenever possible. Like in the tub!

Last time we used the baby tub he kept standing, and crawling out. So today he graduated to the normal tub. What a menace he is becoming.

Yes, these pictures are blurry because I had to be fast the tub is slippery and I didn't want him to get hurt.

PS I love his little Red head

Throw-Back

Remember back in the day when everyone blogged and they would post realistic pictures of their life about .01% the time just to keep it real.  Well that is what I'm doing.  I'm keeping it real, here is a picture of me Easter morning while my kids were hunting Easter eggs. 

 I brushed my teeth but other than that, I'm au natural baby.  These were some of the clothes I found on my floor, and threw on. Yeah, I'm a slob like that, I keep clothes on my floor.  Clothes I've already worn but could probably been worn another time or two.

Abroad

We are getting ready to go to Costa Rica.  Kids and all.  Its slightly overwhelming to pack for four people.  I think I might go insane.  When we drove 9 hours in the car for Christmas, I did a terrible job of packing.  It was my first time packing for four people, plus school was busy because of December, I had a small baby and I was packing for Santa.  Oh many it was a lot.  Terrible job, some people had too many pants, others didn't really have any shirts.  I'm pretty sure my daughter had three sunday dresses, we were only gone for one sunday.
This time everyone gets four shirts, two pairs of shorts and two pairs of pants.  One fleece jacket, and one rain jacket.  Except the baby, my husband told me to make my life easier and pack twice as much for him, he is the messiest and his clothes are the smallest.
Did I mention we are going abroad?!
I'm super overwhelmed about food.  Its fun to travel and eat food that is different that normal, but there comes a time when you stop in McDonalds because food from USA sounds so appealing (even though you hate McDs in the the US, and its not the same it doesn't quite taste right.  Well I'm taking small children, small children don't like to try new things (we totally have tried so hard to teach our children to eat adult food, like adults, it failed).  Small children get tired and have a melt down when food isn't quite what they are expecting.  I'm nervous.
But there is lots of fruit in Costa Rica, so I think we should be good.
Sometimes I forget that I lived a charmed life, and not everyone has traveled internationally.  My husband was a teenager first time he flew internationally, as was I.  He lived in Chile for two years.  We went to Argentina when we were newlyweds.  Everyone in my family has traveled internationally.  I forget this isn't the norm. Then again you save money, look for deals, there is plenty of international travel for the same price as popular vacations in the US.
We use to dream about travels, then my second baby hit.  Life got extremely overwhelming  I had a high maintenance baby, my husband worked full time, and did a MBA program.  When he would dream about travel, I would get angry.  All I could think of was 12 hour international flights, breaking out in hives on the way to Paris, or morning sickness in Buenos Aries, and trips to DFW with two small kids and no husband.  I can't list the amount of time I've been barfed on or peed on in an airplane. The last thing I wanted to do was fly internationally with children.
But my husband did something to insure his dreams would come true.  We paid his MBA in cash, but first we paid the the tuition on an airline credit card, then paid it off before it charged interest.  Along with four tickets to San Jose, I also went to my cousin's wedding on miles, and we have enough miles for another trip sans kids.
When he explained you can travel to Central America in just a few hours, I let him spend a year planning his dream family vacation. Now that my husband is home at least half the nights to help with dishes, and bedtime, I THINK I can handle flying with my kids.  He will be on the plane with us.

Being in a upper middle class household is all about priorities. When some find out we are going to Costa Rica they ask how can we afford that.  Usually we responded oh we saved, or we have frequent flyer miles. But really the answer is priorities.  Traveling internationally is a priority for my husband so we made it happen. My husband always talks about moving, but it will be a very long time, our house is relatively cheap, and relatively small. Our boys share a bedroom. He would much rather travel than live in a bigger house, plus I don't want to clean a big house.  My husband drives a car that is 14 years old. When my husband was in Peru a few months ago, once his business part of the trip, he left the nice hotel and went to a hostel. We are not staying a hostel, but we are hardly staying in a 5 star hotel.

By the way I get to drink Fanta from a foreign country, in two days.  Fanta is so good outside the US.

Lastly, you know when you read packing lists and it says one pair of jeans, you can wear pants indefinitely and they don't get dirty like shirts.  I think that is crap.  You need two pairs of pants, pants absorb smells too.  You need one to wear and one to wash/dry.  That is at least my opinion.

Tithing

I think I may want to remember my four year in two different shades of pink barefoot with her thumb in her mouth, turning in her tithing. Oh let's not forget her blonde bob, with her dark pink bow.

Busy Bees

My daughter and I have been busy bees all morning. We made 5 teacher appreciation cards complete with original watercolors. Pink cookies, per the preschooler's opinion. Then we decided to finish up the morning making Mother's Day cards for grandmas.