Update: September 2009

Our main computer is once again broken and with so much happening in our lives that I want my kids to remember and myself I thought I would blog it without pictures. I guess I can add pictures later when our computer is working again. In the meantime I am writing this on Ben's work computer and lots of words will have to do..

Harrison started school August 28th and it was a rough couple of weeks going into it. He informed me that he didnt want to go to school, he wanted to stay with me and go to lunch with grandma. Sam said the same thing last year to get out of preschool, it worked so I think Harrison thought it would work for him too. I informed him that I had to send him to school, ITS THE LAW, the police would get upset if he didnt go. That scared him a bit but he still managed a few temper tantrums before school, one of which made him tardy so he had to go to the office and get a late slip. My friend is the PFA President and she asked me be the Auditor of the PFA. PFA is the same as PTA but because we arent associated with PTA we get to keep all the money we earn throughout the school year. So I am now the Auditor of the PFA and have sent my mom, my brothers and Ben into hysterical laughing fits every time they think about me auditing the money accounts for the PFA. So math isnt my strong point, but serisouly how rude! Like I said the beginning of school was a rough start then 2 Wednesday's ago Zero the Hero* came to school and everything changed. Suddenly Harrison now loves school and less and less work is coming home with pictures of a crying boy drawn on it and I LOVE MOM written everywhere. I miss the I LOVE MOM written all over his work but I am glad he is enjoying school.
I am doing a co-op Preschool with 4 other moms for Sam. He loves it and gets excited for it every Tuesday and Thursday. He is more than a little jealous that Harrison gets to go to Kindergarten so Sam is showing his disgust in the best way he knows how, being sassy. I wonder where he gets it. Every day when Harrison comes home Sam immediately starts in, either in the car on the way home or he saves it for when we walk in the house. Here is how the conversation usually goes;
Sam- Harrison are you home from your boring school?
Harrison- My school isnt boring Sam!
S- Your teacher smells wierd and looks funny
H- No she doesnt Sam! Leave me alone
S- Did you do boring work and sit in a boring class with wierd kids?
H- Sam stop! (By this point Harrison is fuming and ready to pounce Sam)
S- (As he is walking past Harrison with no regard to how upset he has made him, he replies) That's not what I heard.
Which then send Harrison over the top and into tears. Sam gets sent to his room, which he is now getting used to and informs me that he is choosing to go to his room and take a nap, he's very tired because he's had a very exciting day.
I usually then distract Harrison and we start homework.
The other day Harrison got dropped off at home and when he came in the door Sam started his routine. Harrison's reply was classic and when I it has to be written down.
Sam- Harrison are you home from your boring school?
Harrison- Sam this is not what I want to hear when I come home from a hard day at Kindergarten. I want quiet and nice happy voices, not yelling and fighting. That's enough.
Sam immediately shutup and I burst out laughing. I wonder where he's heard that line before. Just replace Kindergarten with work, or anything that I do during the day.
Harrison is in a K/1 split. Which means he is in class with the 1st graders and go to the Kindergarten room for 1 hour each day to work on some type of craft, game, song, etc. I really like his teacher and I am getting emails asking for help to work in the classroom. My first time will be this week and I am so excited.

William is huge and is walking everywhere. He is a brut and pushes or knocks down everything in his way. He has a fluff of big blonde curls on the top of his head and he flashes his cheesy grin all the time. He just melts our hearts and has everyone wrapped around his finger, including his brothers. They will do anything he wants them too. Open the gate so he can get into the kitty food, bathroom cupboards, closets to pull out clothes, etc. They will bring him food in his bed while he is waiting for me to get him in the morning or after a nap. I often find Sam and Harrison in William's bed in the morning or afternaps, they cant leave him alone. Sam and William play all the time, today they were playing Dont Eat Pete. Sam was putting the Cherrios down while William was eating them and Sam would randomly yell "Dont Eat Pete!" The game quickly ended when all the Cheerios were gone and William and Sam decided to dump the entire new bag of Cheerios on the carpet. Yay for vaccuums. William loves to eat Harrison's Lego's and he doesnt mind. He hands him the big pieces while he fishes the little pieces of William's mouth or hands. Luckily no Lego's have been pooped out yet so I think I am doing a pretty good job of keeping it under control. William laughs all the time and was belly laughing a deep baratone laugh the other day while stacking two blocks on top of eachother and knocking them over. His brothers were cheering him on and encouraging him. Its so cute to see their sweet relationship between eachother. Its obvious they know eachother and are good buddies.

Ben is working a lot and is starting up Math tutoring again this week. He is really excited and I am exctied for him. He enjoys tutoring so much and sharing what he knows. Like I said he's been working a lot and has been coming home at 2 or 3 AM everynight this past week. I could tease him about having a girlfriend but he comes home smelling like a computer lab and has Coke stains on his clothes and since he comes home so late and leaves so early I havent had a chance to talk to him let alone tease him about a fake romance with Helda the computer lab girl. Oh well. I miss him when he's gone but am grateful he has a job and gets paid overtime. We are truly blessed.

I am doing well. I am trying to figure out my life/schedule with Harrison in afternoon Kindergarten. His school is from 11:05 to 2:35 M-F. It doesnt leave much tme to do anything in the morning other than get ready for school and it leaves just enough time for William to nap while Harrison is in school before we have to pick him up. Once he is home he unwinds for a bit then we start homework. Yes homework, for Kindergarten! Sight words, reading 10 minutes every day and Math homework he has to do a few times a week. This week the kids start Karate (for Sam) and Soccer (for Harrison). It will be interesting how that works into our schedule every day.

Life is good, I am amazed at how big the boys are getting and how we have gone from 2 babies, one who screamed all the time to 3 kids, one who is in school. Our life has definitely changes, yes Lynette, you were right! Its crazy!

*Zero the Hero, as Harrison explained it BEFORE he saw him, Is a superhero that has a cape and a big 0 on his chest. He comes to school and puts on a show. Zero the Hero AFTER Harrison saw him is a puppet who has a cape and a 0 on his chest. He came to school and talked about the 10th day of school. Apparently a man dressed as Zero the Hero comes on the 100th day of school and entertains the kids. We'll see what happens.

Disneyland Summer

This summer we purchased year round passes to Disneyland and we went a lot. Here are some pictures from a few of our trips. Sam in front of Disneyland getting ready to go in .

Harrison was picked for Jedi training. We have it all on video. Ben and the boys in Tarzan's tree house

Lightning McQueen, the boys really were excited

On the train, a tradition in our family

Katie, Canyon, Harrison and Sage waiting for the show to start in the Tiki Room.

William loves Disneyland, well he loves it when we hold him in lines and carry him all day.

Sam, Harrison and Canyon

Happy boy in his stroller

Katie and Sage, too cute!

My way of holding William at Disneyland

Sage contemplating what's next

Harrison and Canyon checking out the map, very important

Harrison in front of Disneyland!

Easter

We went to San Diego for Easter and spent the weekend at Jim and Lynette's. The kids had a blast. They played with cousins, hunted for eggs and played, played, played.

I promise we are still alive

Hi friends. Its been a long while since I blogged and I have a valid excuse. My computer died! How I am addressing you now? I am using Ben's laptop and am hoping that this week I can upload our pics and chronicle what is going on in our lives. Mainly so my kids will see what a wonderful childhood they had, because right now they think mom and dad are out to ruin thier lives. Case in point. Today at church Harrison was playing with his Legos, I asked him repeatedly to quiet down, he didnt so I took his Lego's away. He then drew a very unflattering picture of me with a circle around it and a line through it. Think of the no smoking signs, except in this picture replace the cigarette with a picture of me. How lovely. I am enjoying motherhood.

Conference Weekend

We really enjoyed watching conference together this last weekend. Ben had worked a lot of hours this past week and being home together on Saturday and Sunday was wonderful. However, by Sunday afternoon we needed to get out of the house and head to the park. We walked to the park right our house and it turned into an impromptu photo session. I love the way these two pictures turned out. It really captures how the boys interact with eachother. Sam and Harrison are in love with William and William is happiest when they are around and playing with him. Its very sweet. William's crawling and crawls over everyone, his favorite is to crawl over the boys legs, head, faces, belly, etc.

The boys and I

William trying to catch daddy

Snuggles with mom

William is starting to blow air through his lips, this is the face he makes before he does it.

Sam and Harrison being silly

More of the boys being silly, its hard to get them to take a serious picture

Silly Sammy

Sweet Harrison

We tried to get pictures of Harrison without his glasses but when he took them off he threw a fit so we let him keep them on and he was instantly silly again. I tease him that he is Stevie Wonder when his glasses turn dark in the sun.
This is the view of the mountains from the park and we have a similar view of these mountains from our backyard. One of the reasons I love living in Newbury Park is looking at these mountains everyday.

Bath Time

William has been getting a bath in the sink lately. I can clean him and clean up the kitchen at the same time. I think he likes it.

Ducky, must chew ducky.

The best part is Harrison likes to help me. He washes William, plays with him and keeps him happy. Harrison is the best brother.

William 8 1/2 months old

William started crawling and standing this week. He's been army crawling for a few weeks but finally got the "left/right" concept down. He's been sitting on his knees and then pulling himself up.

Yay for William! He is so proud of himself and so cute! He currently has 8 teeth and is eating solid foods like crazy. I am lucky to get 3 bottles in him during the day. He only wants to eat solid food and at the table with his big brothers.

William crawling. You are so cute Yum Yum, we love you and cant stop kissing those sweet cheeks!