First grade

He was all smiles for school this morning.  I went in to wake him up, and found a little tiny bundle of 6 year old boy.  So tiny in his queen size bed.  While I feel like he is growing up so much, seeing him this way was a reminder that he is still so very young...which was so very good for my mama heart.  It is a tough thing, the first day back at school for both kiddo and mama.

I walked him to the bus stop, which was quite the happening place this morning.  Every school aged child had a parent nearby.  This first day of school is not just a right of passage for child, but parents as well.  Some parents are tearful (like me), bummed to send their kiddo off trusting that they will have a good day, and steer clear of mean kids.  Some parents, are eager to have their solitude, jumping with joy the second the school bus door closes - a guarantee that the next 7 hours are child-free time.  Some apprehensive about the empty-nest feeling.  This mama, however, I totally felt a piece of my heart leave when he took those three steps onto the bus.  While it makes me so happy to see him independent of me, it also is a sore reminder that he is mine for such a short time.

He came home from his first day tired, and cranky.  Expected.  But as soon as we made that 4 minute walk home from the bus stop, his mood changed.  A promise of trampoline jumping after eating snack did the trick.  Then we watched a Redbox DVD I rented with the intention of getting my tired school aged kiddo to sit still for a bit.  The Batman Lego movie wasn't a big hit.  But my boys sat still for a total of 30 minutes - which is a win in my book.

He said he likes his teacher, and that "she is kinda like you mom, your age and size, has glasses like you wear, and she smiles a lot too."

Back to school blues

My favorite firstborn goes back to school tomorrow.  His first day of first grade, and this was his response when I asked him how he felt about it.

Here is to hoping he wakes up more chipper in the morning.

Jumping for joy about the new "toy"

P and I decided to tackle the trampoline setup right after we put the kids in bed.  We kissed them all and promised in the morning the trampoline would be set up and we could jump right when they woke up.  After tucking them in, we had to get the boxes pulled into the yard - they were so heavy, but we were careful and used a "team lift" approach per the box.  We're cool like that.  

I tired to get a picture of us together, on our way outside, for operation-trampoline-setup, and this is what my Mr. does...

Whatever.  I guess his silly facial expressions matches his out.of.control.hair.  When asked what he is planning on doing with his hair, "I don't have a plan, it is the only thing in my life that I don't have a plan for, it is just...there."  And so it is.  He did have a mini-pony tail on the top of his head earlier today, but I my camera skills weren't cheetah fast enough to get the photographic evidence.  Just imagine white skinny sumo wrestler hairstyle...

Back to the trampoline.

The boys were spying on us out of K's bedroom window, just two tiny heads peeking out.  They couldn't contain the excitement and wanted to watch us build it.

P and I were cruising along, after sweating in the humidity for 40 minutes, we had the majority of it all set up.   Then I realized either a)I suck as the team leader of operation-trampoline-set-up or B) the directions were made in China and terrible to follow.  For the sake of my pride I am going with option A, my husband might disagree.  Be he was kind, and gracious, and didn't say a single negative thing as he used his muscles to disassemble each of those 96 springs that he had just finished putting on - no easy task.  I swore, he said "be quiet the neighbors can probably hear you."  I figured that if they had just put together a ginormous trampoline the wrong way, and had to disassemble and reassemble it while getting bit by a gazillion mosquitos and attempting to do so before the sunset they would probably swear too.  So SHIT, that sucked.  But it is together now.  Finally.  We kissed, and did a victory dance.  Then we gave those trampoline springs a run for the money as we tried it out for the first time.  And to clarify, because I know there are some minds going there - we were, in fact, JUMPING people, we live in a sub-division after all.

Of note, I didn't grow up with a trampoline, so I am not a master of that double bounce action.  So P kept bouncing me super high in the sky.  And after having kids, let me just say my bladder isn't as young as the rest of my 28 year old self...moving on.

J woke up bright and early at 7am,

"Mama I go jump on a trampoween now?  It is the morning, I went a sleep, and now it is trampoween time!"

 Not wanting to be "that neighbor," you know the one who lets their kids go jump on a trampoline during the wee-hours of the morning on the last few days before school begins, I chose to keep her inside until 9am.

Once P was up, I took her excited little self out.  Girlfriend can jump.

Not long after, the boys followed.

My sweet K just waiting patiently for use to join him...

 and then R was the last one up, and came out right away.  Good thing I've got mama muscles, my shorty 6 year old needed a boost up.

Some crazy bouncing had K doing a face plant.  So I enjoyed his moment when he needed mama snuggles.

With the heat and humidity, it wasn't long before we needed some sprinkler action to keep the trampoline fun.  So R got it all set up, and we had so much fun.

This moment my Mr. captured , right here, makes my heart burst with love for him to the moon.  We are just so, so very blessed to have these three loves.  How lucky we are to share this life together.

This mama can handle boys, here is the proof.

And a final pic of K and his exaggerated pointer fingers that go wild whenever he gets really excited about something.  He is so very animated, this boy.

The trampoline - best "toy" investment.  Ever.

Lets go fly a kite

In an attempt to bring some newness to his last week of summer break, on a budget, we found our little troop on an outing to (my least favorite store) Walmart.  It is the closest store to our country home, and R requested an adventure outing.  So we went.

We came home with a $3 kite.  Angry birds because that is about the coolest thing ever if you are 6 and almost 4 years old.

Knowing the afternoons of fun we've had with this silly thing, and the way it has held up so nicely, I would have paid much, much more for it.

The beauty of it...it was fun, it made them learn about wind and angles, they ran off lots of energy, and discovered the magic of figuring out the fine skill of kite lift off.  They ran, oh goodness they ran.  Wind sprints up and down our large yard, in attempts to obtain lift off.  I had to break up the periods of crazy kite running in the 94 degree heat with bouts of slip n' slide play and Gatorade pit stops.  The first to master the kite lift off skill, my easy going middle little.  And his smirk of victory - cutest thing ever.

R might have been super frustrated that K figured it out first, but in an attempt to not be out shadowed by his little brother, he kept at it.  His face of determination - tongue sticking out, furrowed brow, sweat dripping down his little body...so boyish.  Seeing these little guy faces the first moment they got the kite to "lift off" was priceless.

These two boys, oh goodness, their giggles of joy, their smiles over the simple things.

 I love this stage.  Truth is, I've loved every stage of these three littles development.  Motherhood is seriously amazing.

There energy is amazing.

touchable bubbles

The boys were inside playing legos.  J wanted to play outside.  So I kept popping my head in to listen for them, make sure that there wasn't any scuffles going on while I was outside bubble blowing with my girl.  For 45 full minutes it was magic...the boys played "solo" with legos, getting along so well, and I had some one-on-one time with J.  

The beauty of exploring from the perspective of a two year old, it is what parenthood is all about.  Learning to catch bubbles, and to try and keep the container upright so that the magical solution doesn't spill out.

Discovering that 1/3 of the bubbles "they just sneaked out mama"

and then searching in the grass to find the spilled bubble solution, learning that once spilled it cannot go back in the container.

She quickly discovered they were "touchable" and she was amazed.  Now our bubbles that are not "touchable" frustrate her.

and once we blazed though that tiny container of bubbles, she was cheesing it up for me so I had to snatch a picture.

 I love these tender moments.  I want to keep them vivid, forever.

Summer normalcy

I love the surprise of unexpected images on my camera when I download them onto my computer.  My Mr. captured motherhood for Summer 2013 perfectly.  Days spent enjoying the tippy swing set, mama in her usual frumpy sloppy pony tail, running clothes and Chaco sandals.  Sweet J girl in her "princess swim suit."  Both boys shirtless and in basketball shorts.  The smell of sweat, sunscreen and bug spray on all of us.  Hours spent outdoors.  Alternating between playing in the water, on four wheelers, soccer in the yard, or swinging.  With the swings, since there are only 2, there is always a constant plead of one little fussing - "is it my turn yet," which is settled by the beeping of a cell phone time yielding swing switch out.  Oh these simple, normal moments at home.  I love them.

Beautiful Sunday

Had the best shift at work last night in the history of ever.  It was refreshing, and good, and made me love being a RN.  A type of shift that rejuvenates a bedside RN, a reminder that it isn't all stress, and poop, and tired feet.  An evening of talking with patients, hearing their life story, and making a difference instead of just running around "putting out fires."  And so after a great 12 hour work night, to celebrate, I stopped before making my way home and went for a run.

66 degrees, no humidity...a  perfect set up for this former Oregonian runner.  Despite tiredness I had to take advantage of this breath of fresh air, lace up my shoes, and hit it hard.  It was good, and fast, and my lungs felt powerful.  Fit is the new sexy, so is sweaty and a time of 44.03 for 6 miles - which is a (fast for me) ~7:20 min/mile.

After a declaration by J when I walked in the door "mama you sweaty, you need a shower" I quickly agreed.  Gave the 4 loves of my life swift smooches on the head, and made my way upstairs to shower and sneak in 4 hours of sleep (since I had been up for 27 hours with just a 2 hour nap the prior day before work).

1:30pm rolls around and I'm up and getting things ready for our outing to go enjoy a local kids sports center.  This place is kid paradise.  Their grand opening allowed my three to run off energy for 2 hours, free.  They were all quick to bypass the swimming pool (because that is old business for the boys since they go swimming every Wednesday).  As much as I'd of loved for J to jump up and down in excitement over the girls in princess like attire prancing around in the dance class, she quickly bypassed it for the colorful gymnastics area.  Truth be told, I would have too.  So for 2 blissful hours my kids ran their hearts out exploring, twisting, somersaulting, jumping, and smiling.  We will return, of this I'm sure.  A new favorite outing for my 3 littles.

Future gymnast in the making?  Not sure, but girlfriend has some mad balance beam skills.

Thankfully amidst the chaos of multitudes of kids, my boys wore the same colored shirt.  A total accident, but worked in our benefit.

Favorite firstborn rocks the beam too.  His smirk of hesitation quickly turned to confidence as he ran down that bean like it was just a line on the pavement.

 This ginormous slide was the cause of hesitation and tears from J, but after a quick pep talk by her protective big bros, she quickly ran up the tall stairs to get to the top.  The entire way R reassured her "you're doing it J."  She quickly became a fan and proceeded to go up and down several more times.

Videos of the fun...
K rocked this trapeze bar, his description "I holded onto a pole then jumped into some squares, super cool"

 Jumping beans...

Tarzan has nothing on my boys...

After the excitement we came home and enjoyed smoothies, popcorn, couch snuggles and the movie "Despicable Me."

Then dinner, and then an outing just me and my favorite firstborn to get school supplies (reality check that it starts Aug 13...) and a special birthday gift for his favorite little brother.  We planned on the calendar to go out just mommy and R on "day 5 of August" per his request.  I surprised him for a special stay up after bedtime outing, and his smirk, oh his sweet smirk, says it all.

This is the life.

Our life.

And I am in love with it.