Hanging Around

Look closely and you can see the daylight between his bottom and the seat. And no, he's not resting on his feet. Ever since he came home at 19 months he could get himself onto a swing this way, using just his arms to pull himself up and onto it. It's probably not unusual anymore since he's 3 now, but it still cracks me up to see him lift himself so easily. For this shot I asked him to lift himself up and hold it there, and I think he could hang around all day like that. He must be in training, because he can also do the monkey bars by himself, though I refuse to move away and not stand underneath him even when he commands it (going through a bossy stage these days).

Slugger

Liam with his game ball from a few weeks ago. He has been hitting very well lately, and his mean 'ole Coach (Jim) didn't give him the game ball when he had a fantastic game on the day of his 8th birthday. But he got it the next weekend when he had another great game. I'm especially proud of how he is slugging the ball considering that he has gone through a little growth spurt and is now downright tall and wispy in stature. Imagine what he could do if he had some meat on those bones! We had his well-check visit today, and the doctor did notice that his weight had dropped in proportion to his height, and BMI is a bit below normal range. She wasn't too concerned...asked about his appetite (uh, the boy has never HAD an appetite - he's like a food camel - a couple bites and he can last forever without mentioning hunger), and said maybe we should try some shake supplements or protein smoothies. I wish I could just find a way to give him some of my appetite. If I don't eat regular, full-sized meals I swear I feel like I'm going to pass out.
Proud of my little Slugger!

Circle of Life

Here are some things that are growing around here.
And don't tell Jim. He prefers just greenery with no flowers, and yet somehow we sneak them in...

And the children, of course, are growing like weeds. Or maybe like flowers.

Things that are broken around here:

* Our wooden privacy fence. It's hanging on by a thread. Or a toothpick. With all the wind, it's taking weeks to get a date for them to fix it.

* Our water heater, and various other household plumbing issues. I hate.love.hate plumbing.

* The gas tank on the van. Now it takes two people to shut the door. One to push the "open" button on the driver's door and one to physically push it shut. The kids think it's fun.

* A random, hideously shrieking belt on the van. It only happens when it is most embarrassing, and they say the belts are all tight.

* The wallpaper border in Liam's room. Completely falling off.

*One lightbulb after another. They always seem to go at the same time, don't they?

*The backup sensor on the van. Jim didn't tell me that he had turned it to Off a while back (ahem...he is SO lucky I haven't backed into something because I have been assuming that it will beep before I hit something!). Now of course, the button won't work to it back ON.

*The automatic rear door lifter mechanism on the van. For quite a while now I've had to pull hard when it starts to open or else it will shut.

*My good vacuum. Dang.

*My laptop is also hanging on by a thread after I dropped it..hard..on Friday the 13th.

*Come to find out, when I plugged in the external hard drive to try and back up my laptop before it totally gives out - the external hard drive is also gone.

I think things are falling apart around me about as fast as they are growing up around me.

First Lost Tooth

Is it just me, or are things speeding up around here with each child? Natalie lost her first tooth! I swear Liam was well into first grade before he lost his first. Natalie will be 6 months or so older than Liam was in Kindergarten, but still...it seems so early! She's also reading books by herself already and Liam had her doing his 2nd grade math worksheets the other day (he said he needed to prepare her for Kindergarten...hmmm...can't tell if he was truly trying to be helpful or was looking to stress her out). At this rate, when Owen starts Kindergarten he will be studying Physics and have grown a full beard. Someone slow down this ride!

Natalie even let Jim pull the tooth out before it was truly dangling by only a thread. Don't get me wrong - it was loose, but not flopping out the front and lying sideways loose like Liam lets his teeth get. Natalie just wanted it out because it was bugging her. She was very brave. And then...the Tooth Fairy fell asleep and FORGOT to come! Aaagh. This is what happens with child #2. Child #3 will have to dig in my purse himself. Jim made up some story about how it was his fault because he was supposed to send the Tooth Fairy an email to give her a heads up about the tooth, and he forgot. Natalie seemed to forgive the fairy easily enough.

Mother's Day

One of the best things about Mother's Day is hearing the sweet voices say Happy Mother's Day!

The next best thing is seeing Jim herd them around the house cleaning up in order to avoid my usual "Sunday Snit" when I realize that the house is a complete disaster, Monday is looming, and everyone else in the family seems to be lounging around relaxing. Cleaning up was the best present ever.

In preschool Natalie made a very cute picture frame with her thumbprints decorating it. It was lovely, but I loved even more the picture she drew on Sunday for me. She didn't say it was me, but she said it was "a girl holding up a cloud" and I figure that is pretty darn close to a mother's job. Except maybe the cloud is actually more like a planet for a mother...but in any case, it was a wonderful image.

Owen just loves celebrations of any kind, so I heard Happy Mother's Day from him about a thousand times. And first thing in the morning he climbed into bed next to me and snuggled right under my arm and gave the sweetest smile when he said it. It doesn't even detract from the sweetness by knowing that he wished every single person at soccer on Saturday the same thing, repeatedly. Every mother or grandmother at the soccer game thought he was extra sweet, I'm sure. The fathers were probably just confused. He is already preparing for Father's Day now. I think he's told Jim Happy Father's Day a few times already.

My Eight Year Old

My original Mother's Day (a few days early) present, eight years ago. The sweetest gift.

I love the age eight because:

Liam is not too old to tell me, after watching some of the movie in Music class, that, "Mom you have GOT to see Mary Poppins. It is the BEST movie. They sing, and it's funny. Really, we have GOT to watch that movie." And after we rented it for movie night, Liam laughed and laughed over the funny parts, even rewinding them to watch them multiple times. The boy has always been a fan of slapstick humor, and watching someone get a puff of black smoke on their face from a dirty chimney just made his day. I imagine a few years from now I won't be able to force him to watch movies like this.

He and I went out to watch Thor at the movie theater last night, and had a very nice time. He was old enough to sit through some intense battle scenes, and young enough to only cover his eyes once - during the one and only kissing scene. Afterward, the evening was so warm and balmy, we parked by a fountain (the picture above) and chatted. Liam told me, "I think this is where you and Daddy should have gone after your wedding." ha ha He was right - it was very romantic. Watch out ladies - he already has a sense of romance at the tender age of eight!

He acts excited if I play the Lego Star Wars video game with him, even though I'm always accidentally killing his guy and doing things that slow him down or make it harder for him. He takes pity on his poor mother's gaming skills. And he loves, loves, loves to read the great big books that give tips and tricks for those games. Nothing excites him like a gaming manual.

He is growing so tall, and stretching out so thin. I look at pictures from last summer and he seems so much younger then. I can see shades of the pre-teen that Liam will become.

Liam is becoming more adventurous with age. He is trying more foods (he has always been quite picky) without my prodding. He willingly jumped on the trampoline at the mall, with bungee cords attached to a harness, so he could jump really high. Lately it seems that he surprises me with the things he wants to try.

He is becoming more confident in his baseball skills. This past weekend he had one of his best hitting games, and he really enjoyed himself. I'm so happy to see him get enthusiastic like that, and really push himself.

Still, he's not too old to play with his siblings, especially Natalie. No one can make her laugh like Liam. They sit in the back of the van sometimes and just talk and giggle and goof off. I'm so happy that Natalie has such a great big brother to set the bar for future men in her life.

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy, growing up too fast and yet so beautifully!