Look Who Is Walking...

Well...looks like we're going to have our hands full(er) pretty soon...

Things They Say...

In a household of six, there's a lot of talking. 
Some conversations make sense, some don't and some I wish didn't (like when Nate put up a prayer card of Pope Francis against the face of a fellow parishoner with a shaved head yesterday and yelled, "Hey!  You heads match!!!")...

The occasional cuss word is dropped.   Usually by me.  Usually when I am frustrated beyond belief. 
I have *colorful* ways of describing things and most of the time I can work my point into a conversation without swearing.  Sometimes, though, my inner Truck Driver shines through.
I don't realize how much until someone short says those words back to me. 
Ugh. 

Thursday, Nate was on FIRE. 

This was our conversation before naptime: 
"Mom, I'm freakin' tired. I got to lay down. I need more pit polish first so I don't stink. I not stinky. Mom, you are stinky."
Luckily, after applying a bit of deodorant,  sleep was had.  

This was our conversation before bed:
"Captain America is awesome.  He got the bad guy.  He was scared as sh*t, but then he be brave and he won."
Very nonchalantly, we asked him to repeat himself.  And he did.  
Word for word.  

Guess I have some work to do.  
*facepalm*

First Day of School (Sam Edition)

Sammy-Lammy-Ding-Dong went to Kindergarten today.
Since we've moved to Maryland, he has always been my little buddy, even when he did go to preschool. 
I miss him. 
He was nervous, he was feeding his train a bottle most of the morning.  He also said yesterday that he thought his head would be warm and his stomach would hurt today so he couldn't go to school. 
Luckily, there was no mention of that today. 
We put clothes out for him last night.  But with Sammy being Sammy, he got out new clothes this morning and got himself dressed without any prompting.  He was willing to compromise on the shorts (thank goodness) - so he looked at least semi-presentable for school. 
He was the first one in line to get on the bus. 
I just found part of his lunch that I forgot to pack in the fridge.  I'm hoping he didn't notice. 
Sheesh. 
We'll see how he does this afternoon...

Nate is refusing to nap, but at least Benjamin is resting. 
That means after this, I have 1 hour to make dinner, clean the kitchen, empty the dishwasher, fold and put away clothes, pick up the house and get snack ready before the afternoon round up begins. 
Ready.
Set. 
GO!!!!

Time Keeps on Slippin'...

Second Grade?
Really?

Sunday Afternoon.

It's Sunday afternoon.
The one after the party and before school starts.   
Where my exercise mats have been pulled from the basement and put all over the family room because the Olders have decided they are pirates and commandeered all the baby's new toys in an effort to re-live their youth.  
The one where we're working on Thank You notes and puzzles while cleaning the kitchen.
We're putting away clothes and trying to get ready for the upcoming week.  
We're packing lunches and setting out clothes we just put away.
We're listening to the ballgame and sipping sangria. 
Watching Benjamin toddle pushing anything he can for stability and loving every step. 
So much possibility, starting a new school year is like pushing the re-set button. 
Just soaking it in. Life is so awesome.
All I can say is THANK YOU.

. 

Happy Birthday to Nate.

Dude. 
You made it to 3. 
It's amazing, considering all the stunts you pull. 
We love you very much. 
Happy Birthday! 

Happy Birthday to Benjamin

A couple days late.
A few dollars short (and don't even ask about college).
But it's here. 
What a year. 
A marvelous, amazing, scary, humbling, educational, tearful, joyful and incredible year. 
We love you Benjamin. 

End of Summer Fun

Summer vacation is (too) rapidly coming to a close. 
I know the kids will do great in school and we'll be amazed at what they're learning and how they're developing as humans...but for right now...I just don't want summer to end.
 
The kids have learned and changed and grown so much this summer. 
Not only are their pants an inch above their ankles now, even faces are different.  Caroline has thinned out and her adult teeth have grown in completely.  Sammy's hair has become a little darker and less hedgehoggy.  Nate has shot up in height and really thinned out - he is so much more a little boy and so much less a toddler.  Benjamin's hair is blonder and crazier curly by the minute!  He is starting to stand unsupported, but still has minimal interest in walking - crawling is much more efficient. 
Along with the physical changes, they have developed their thinking skills.  Yesterday Caroline and I were talking about Stonewall Jackson when I asked her how he died.  "He was shot by troops from North Carolina," Caroline replied.  I asked her if that struck her as odd.  She said, "No.  North Carolina is in the Nort - no WAIT! (glancing at a map) He got shot by Confederates?!  THAT'S a bat in the rear!"  She is putting pieces together and finding correlations and beginning to think critically and it's so cool to see.  Sam just read me an 18 page book with a minimal amount of assist - he is doing much better as sounding words out and not just saying what he thinks should be on the page.  Nate knows all his letters and is starting to write his name and draw pictures of himself.  Benjamin began today with unsolicited signing to try to get his point across in a conversation ("more" and "thank you"). 
I feel like I can barely keep up! 
In a good way, though. 

Today we went into Frederick City with our MOMS Club and made some pretzels. 
Fun was had by all and they tasted good (especially when we ate them later at the beach). 

After lunch, we headed to Greenbrier State Park for some swimming band beach time. 
It was only about 75, a bit chilly, but we all had a good time.  :)
What a bunch of turkeys...

Lexington, VA

It's official. I'm still playing catch up with the blog after our trip to WV. I was the kid in college with my assignments finished 5 weeks into the quarter. I do laundry every day so it can get washed, dried, folded, put away and DONE with.  So being behind on  the blog really bugs me.
 I'm glad the pictures are up, hopefully I will be able to manage my time that I can sit down and caption them soon.
On our way home from Beckley last Saturday we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to stop in Lexington, VA. Sam and Caroline saw the sign for the Stonewall Jackson house and were intrigued. They asked to stop and...well...when a 7 and 5 year old want to learn more about history, I can't say "NO". Lexington is an adorable little city. Both VMI and Washington and Lee University are there.  While I knew Jackson taught at VMI, I never put two and two together that he lived there.   Same with Lee - I associate him living in Arlington and nowhere else...little did I know.
The Stonewall Jackson house is amazing.  We toured the gardens.  Nate wasn't exactly being museum material, so we steered clear of going inside.  We wandered around the town and the cemetery (people left lemons on Jackson's grave) .  We found a cute little brewery and tasted some wicked awesome jalapeno beer..   
Then it dawned on us that Robert E. Lee must also buried in Lexington because he passed away while he was president of Washington University and no longer had the family home in Arlington. 
So we quested to find the grave. 
After a stop at the Visitor Center, we hoofed our way  up to the Lee Chapel. 
We figured we could just go in, take a look, pay respects and leave. 
WRONG. 
Apparently living south of the mason Dixon Line has not adequately prepared us for a visit to the Old Confederacy.  Maryland is "South Lite."  Never mind that Maryland was a border slave state with strong Confederate leanings that only "voted" to remain in the Union with the governor imprisoned and the State Assembly forced to vote with guns pointed at them, ready to go off if a wrong allegiance was voiced. 
None of this prepared us for Lee's Chapel. 
We had not realized how much Lee was, and still IS, revered in the Old South.  Held up as almost a messianic figure, really.  Kind of like when you go to visit your friend's grandmother in East Boston and there are pictures of Jesus, the Pope and JFK up on the mantle?  Well...in Lexington, the three figures above the mantle would have been Lee, Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest. 
We figured that people might have felt this way in the 1960s, but not now that the "Unpleasantness Between the States" *I kid you NOT* is now 150 years ago. 

We are still digesting what we learned and saw in Lexington.  Definitely worth a trip back.  

At Stonewall Jackson's grave.  You can see the lemons on the ground behind us. 

2 of my 4 favorite men

Lee's Chapel.  The crypt is in the basement along with his office, exactly as it was when he died and a small museum about all he did when at Washington University. 

Caroline, leaving a mitzvah for Traveler. 

Sam loved watching the horse drawn carriages give torus of the town. The driver of this carriage had seen us previously in the day when Nate doing his "bum bum BUM!!!" sound effects to announce his presence as SuperMan up and down Main Street of Lexington  and pointed us out to her tour.  Always an adventure, I tell you. 

heading back to the car after the brewery.