The Gateway to the West!

A couple of weeks ago we got to visit Grandpa and Minka during the boys' spring break. We got to meet up with Uncle A and Aunt L there and had a super fun weekend of being spoiled and seeing lots of fun things.

Grandpa suggested Grant's Farm, which of course was lots of fun!

 All of the boys really tried to feed the goats but I guess they'd just been fed too much that day.

 That was no problem for J, though. He just put them in a headlock and tried for force-feed them.

 Wyatt was the only one who actually fed a goat. You can see by the large group with him that the poor goats were fairly accosted with milk.

 C HAD to ride the carousel, so of course Grandpa took him and E and (in front of E) even rode with J. Super fun (and very, very short). Minka even got the boys funnel cake and icies. Super spoiled!

By the third day there, C was still insisting that we go to the arch. We tried to distract him many times, but he was persistent. Of course, Grandpa said we could go (though there was no way Minka was going up - not that I blame her!)  Now, I haven't been in the arch in years and the last time I went up there I decided it was WAY to high for me. But he was insistent, no matter how many times we tried to distract him. Dad and I stood in line to get into the elevators and wondered what we were thinking. But the boys had a great time!

Starting to wonder what exactly they had signed up for...

E realized that this was a very small elevator.

They could chill up there all day.

 Here are a few pictures from outside of the arch. I think they look like a rock band or something. ;)

C likes to 'be' the arch.

Year In Rewind

Wow, it's been a year since I've posted on this site. So much has happened this year that it's been a little overwhelming to try to condense it all into a post and resume blogging. So I decided to give it a shot - literally, haha. Here is a bit of the last year in review.

So, where we left off last year was right before we decided to finally grow up and purchase our first home. Very exciting.

The best part of the house!

What could be better than a giant tree with a rope swing?! That was the deciding factor, for sure.

Shortly after we moved in spring was upon us and along with it all of the insanity that comes in April, May, and June. The boys finished out their school year and started baseball - with A coaching!

W warming up. That's right, number 1!

And E up to bat.

Then the boys and I set out on a massive trip to Chicago, Minnesota, Chicago (where we picked up A), Minnesota, Chicago, Fort Wayne, Home. Yes, that's how it went. But it was great to see everyone and we got to do a ton of fun things.

Wait! Are those the Vikings in your front yard, Grandma? Why, yes, they are!

Bowling with Aunt V and Uncle A is the bomb.

And there is nothing better than a nice visit with Grandma. 

Returning home unfortunately meant a return to school and not only sending W to 3rd grade and E to 1st, but C to kindergarten. I think it's always sad when another one goes off to school. Only one left! sniff sniff.

But we weren't bored for long. Aunt Sarah came to visit and that meant more fun and home-made personal pizzas for everyone. It truly doesn't get any better than that. You've got to visit again, Aunt Sarah et all!!

THEN, it was time for Grandparent's Day and Minka came for a visit, bringing with her Aunt T and Uncle P (the real reason the boys were excited - I mean, E even made P his own special Happy Grandparent's Day card!).

Minka helped E make a special project. A bat, of course!

I honestly am not even sure which one is cuter!

Kindergartners had a very special program.

And we even got to visit W's class.

Fall also mean Halloween, which was very fun. We visited the Zoo with good friends and then trick-or-treated around town.

A giraffe, a 'scary guy', Capt. Jack Sparrow, and the Great Old Owl.

A friend made this absolutely amazing costume and then lent it to us. Clearly he was a rock start in 

it!

Shortly after Halloween, the boys switched to a new and fabulous school that hosts very fun activities like dress up as your favorite storybook character.

A dragon in Where's the Dragon?

Firefighter, of course!

And can't go without a Narnia character. Meet High King Peter.

Insanely, I decided to try to make costumes for this event. Many crazy hours and a very messy house later we have a dragon and a king. I'm not sure I'll do that again.

Finally, Christmas arrived and for the first time since we'd been married, we celebrated it at home with just the boys. We missed our families, but it was still kind of nice to make our own traditions and memories. Ok, fine, most of the traditions are just copies of my family's.

Santa thought Christian might like to learn to defend himself, with two older brothers and all.

J wanted a dog of his own. So we got him Scout. :)

A got a giant morel. Who knew it could be so exciting?!

And W is rockin out with his gift from Uncle P.

Then we went to Minka and Grandpa's where we got super spoiled again!

Night vision glasses that even Grandpa thought were pretty cool. And an official fire fighter!

And one of the best things was E's official Saint Louis Chess Club chess set. And watching Uncle J teach him how to play!

And that was 2010 at our house. Winter was just one very cold dreary day after another. I can't think of much to report on there. And that brings us back to SPRING! Yay!!

Spoiled Me

Somewhere in the craziness that has been our life lately, my husband still managed to totally spoil me and allowed me to purchase the super expensive camera that I wanted. My sister has one like it and takes the BEST pictures of her kids with it. I suspect that some of it is just natural talent, but I convinced myself that if I had her camera, I could get pictures like that too. :) Well, here are a few of what we've gotten so far...

Look! A caterpillar! Oh wait... it's frozen. :(

See, I can give it up!

Mama, let me tell you something...Wet paint...
Grandpa and C playing Memory.
The favorite thing about the house!

Sniff Sniff

Today is a sad day. For me anyway. After 8 years of having baby stuff all over our house - cups, diapers, push toys, blankets, beds, rattles, teethers, and on and on - we're officially moving out of that stage of our life. Don't get me wrong, I am not interested in having any more children! Four boys is plenty! But watching A take the bassinet apart today and put it in the car, along with the exersaucer, was hard. Our bassinet was in perfect condition, as was the exersaucer. Like they had never been used. The bassinet was a pretty, blue piece with ruffles and a canopy and was probably the only piece of baby furniture we ever owned that was 'pretty'. A concession to me, the only girl in a house full of boys. :) A mother of all boys has got to have SOMETHING. A's grandparents had picked it out for us when E was born and it has been around the house ever since. I grant that it was taking up a lot of space and I,too, got a little upset with I would stub my toe on it... but that is SO not the point...

Well, as it is time to move (hopefully!) into our first home, it was time for it to go. As well as the exersaucer, which anyone who has had children knows, takes up an inordinate amount of room. I was on the fence about selling/donating/saving these items (secretly planning to try to get A to let me keep them...somewhere). So A up and sold them. Just like that. For a very small amount. Which I shouldn't complain about because they were both GIVEN to us. But still... Well it's hard to see them go. And it got me thinking, when I started writing on this blog, or at least when I started back to writing on this blog after some years, I was contemplating the expense of purchasing a floor toy for our youngest. And now he's veritably flown past floor toys, exersaucers, push toys, rattles, and will probably be sleeping in a toddler bed when we get moved! He even has a new potty chair and will be out of diapers one day soon!

It's amazing how time flies. You want them to grow up because, let's face it, it IS easier when they can dress themselves and use the bathroom. Well, except for the cleaning of the bathroom after 4 boys have used it... but that's for another post. But then you look at pictures of them when they were so little and snuggly and you just want to go back in time and give them a squeeze! Sigh.

So we're moving up and on in our house. W will be 8 in a couple of weeks and our youngest will be 2 this summer. Time as flown.

All in a Weekend

It is better to be busy. At least, I keep telling myself that. Things have gotten pretty busy around our house lately. But fun too. This weekend is a perfect example. First of all, this is the busiest time of the year for Anthony so I consider myself a single-mother for at least the month of October. He works from 7-8 in the morning until about midnight, at least 6 days a week. So everything I do I have to do by myself - with 4 boys in tow. Fun.

On Saturday morning E and C had their last soccer game of the season. Yay and bummer. They really loved soccer and are both getting to be pretty good. But it is getting pretty cold out there on the soccer field so Mama is glad it's over! Their cool coach gave them awesome medals - thanks Tom!!When that was over it was costumes on and off to Boo at the Zoo. Anthony's bosses were super kind enough to give us a 2 year family membership to the zoo!! Yay!! Definitely one of the families favorite places so what a great gift. We are going to make the best of it, starting with Boo at the Zoo. It lightly rained most of the time we were there, which was fun, but the boys didn't care and had a great time. I should mention how awesome they were, too. Totally stayed by me and I didn't fear of losing one of the even once! Wow.

As you can see, this year we have 2 commandos, one purple dragon, and one cute pumpkin. All of the boys have worn the pumpkin costume so it's special. We got home after dark that day (couldn't miss Captain America and Iron Man's talk about recycling!!) and everyone fell into bed. On Sunday morning we were invited to a baptism for a friend's baby. Yeah! Very nice baptism (from what I could tell between hauling the boys outside - it's hard to keep 4 boys sitting still by myself!) and then really, really yummy cake afterwards. We stopped at home long enough to throw a potluck dish together and we were off to the airfield for a kids day at the airport. A very nice couple from church invited the kids out for a ride on their plane and they were super excited. I didn't realize, as I had missed church for the baptism, that the airport excursion had been expanded to anyone from the church and soon many of our members began to show up. Needless to say, there wasn't enough time for everyone to have a ride. :( It was very sad. C was the most excited when the planes started up and flew by. He waited and waited for his turn but I kept saying, just wait, it's almost your turn.

W was invited by one of the other kids to go on the first ride - along with an adult member, her adult son, and his girlfriend. Wait, wasn't this for kids? Then another couple and their grandchild - who didn't go to our church? Then a family, who were kind enough to take E. Then another family from church. Then - wait - is that a group of the older adults from church. Huh. Ok, next time C! Oh, that's the last ride? I felt so bad. The couple that was offering the rides had promised the plane to someone else later that day and so we had run out of time. They felt really bad and have offered to take our family up sometime, but it wasn't their fault. However some of those adults could have made sure the kids had gone first? Maybe? Sigh. He handled it like a trooper - but I still feel bad. I need to learn to be more aggressive! Or something.

As close as J got to an airplane. :)

W after his ride. I couldn't get a good one of E because he took off running after some bug as soon as he could get out! But we have pictures JUST like that from when we were little. :)

It was a fun weekend. But tiring. And as this is Halloween week, every day is pretty much like this. Who said parenting was boring??

Apples, Apples and more Apples!

Any of you who are also followers of my sister's fabulous blog will already know that the boys and I visited Grandpa and Minka last weekend and had a great time! It is always fun to be home and especially when we find fun things to do. Actually, to be honest, it can be a little exhausting for mama to try to keep the boys contained in one area of my parents large house and yard, while keeping them settled down and nothing broken. But still, it's their favorite thing to do. Between my mother and my sister, we were fed yummy food, too - always the best part!

So my sister and I got the bright idea that we'd take the boys out to pick apples. Of course, it was probably the coldest day so far, but they don't care! So we bucked up and hauled them out to an apple orchard that allowed you to pick your own apples. They had the best time! We tried mightily to get them to pick apples that would be good for baking or eating, but basically they just picked any apple that was at their level and looked interesting. 26 pounds of apples! YES. They loaded up their bags until they couldn't carry them any more. And then Mama had to carry them. Of course. Which didn't stop them from picking.

We also were able to get some great pictures of them. There truly are few things more beautiful than an apple orchard in the fall.

At the end of the day, we made classic apple pie and a 'Becky Original' apple pie, both in my parents convection microwave - an interesting experience. But still fun. And yummy! I also made apple crisp and STILL have apples left... Fall is such a fun time of the year!

Oh, and the boys spent Saturday helping Grandpa move my sister's family into their new house. They worked so hard and Grandpa said they carried lots of heavy things and didn't quit once. He was so proud of them (me too!!).

Ready to go apple picking!

The boys' cousin with his apple.

My sister and baby checking out the apples.

School is HARD

Now that I have a 2nd grader, I am beginning to realize how difficult school has become. Honestly! I realized when W started kindergarten that he was supposed to know things that I thought we LEARNED in kindergarten. He struggled because he didn't already know all of his letters, sounds and numbers. I guess since most kids these days attend daycare and preschool, they've already spent time learning their letters and numbers. He did neither and was behind. We worked hard and caught him up and now I believe he's where he's supposed to be for a 2nd grader. He seems to be doing much better than last year, behavior-wise, and is completing all of his work. I don't even have to fight with him to do his homework.
But having real grades has been a shock after 1st grade's S, S+, etc system. I don't know what to do when he comes home with worksheets marked with C-'s, or even D's. If I thought he was goofing off or not trying to do his work, I would be mad but I don't know how to react when he's actually doing his work. He's a smart boy, I think, and doesn't seem to have trouble understanding his math or spelling homework. Here is an example of some of the questions he's expected to answer, on his own.
I celebrate my birthday by having a party. The word celebrate means _________.
A. to go shopping.
B. to spend money on something I love (Wyatt's answer)
C. to make a gift for a friend.
D. to do something fun for a special reason (correct answer)
I can understand why he said B. Over the last years, we haven't had big parties for the kids but they have gotten to go to the store with their father on their birthday and pick out something with their money from A's grandfather.
The other one he got wrong was 'What detail does NOT support the main idea?' I think this a confusing question, especially for a 7 year old. Because he got the 2 wrong, he got a C-. He got a D on another paper for identifying the subject of 2 sentences as Jason called instead of just Jason and The fire instead of The fire truck.
Another question - What does the word flames mean in this sentence? Firefighters help save people from smoke and flames of a fire.
A. hot air
B. the dark clouds that flow from fire
C. hot, bright gases given off by a fire (correct answer)
D. sticks that burn (W's answer)
During a fire, when people are safe, they are _______.
A. not in danger (correct answer)
B. in the way
C. near something that may harm them (W's answer)
D. ready to eat
Because he got those two wrong, he got a D+. He is doing well in most of his subjects but has a C in language, and I don't even know how to help him. Do these questions seem kind of difficult and misleading for a 7 year old? His teacher is wonderful and I realize that she is required to teach the material that is given to her. But it is very frustrating as a parent. And we are not the only ones. Another friend has expressed the same concern, after having a daughter that was ahead last year. Is continuing to push our children like this, going to cause generations of underachievers? Because we require them to understand things that they are simply to young for? And therefore they continue to fail?
Last year we struggled and struggled with Wyatt's reading. He couldn't seem to catch on and therefore catch up, and his teacher continually expressed her concern. I discussed this often with my sister, a reading specialist, and she assured me that he was fine and would catch on. Exactly as she predicted, by the end of the year he had caught up. However, he spent the entire year feeling frustrated and 'dumb' because he couldn't read very well.
Anyway, any suggestions for how to help him? How concerned should a parent be in 2nd grade? Is it ok as long as he gets by and works hard? Even with C's?