Sunday, June 28, 2009

home again

We're back home finally. We originally planned two days of driving to get home, but because our kids are such awesome travellers we drove all 16 hours yesterday and got home at about 2am this morning. I am so sad our Florida trip is over, but am glad to be back home. We had a great time even though it was incredibly hot. Here is a quick run-down of the last week and a half. We left thursday evening at about 7pm and drove all night and got to Daytona Beach around 11am on Friday. We stayed in a hotel on the beach for Friday night and hung out there on Saturday. Saturday afternoon we drove to our house we rented in Orlando. Sunday was Sea World, Monday was swimming in the house pool, Tuesday was Disney, Wednesday was Aquatica, Thursday was another swimming day, and Friday was Downtown Disney shopping day. It really was the perfecct mix of hitting theme parks and just relaxing in the pool at the house. Of course I took a ton of pictures again, and hopefully I'll upload those later tonight.

Friday, June 12, 2009

6 months old

Jackson is 6 months old today. How is it possible he's been part of our family for 1/2 a year? He is so laid back and easy-going, and his baby days are slipping away and will be over before I know it. In the past couple weeks he's been pushing up on his hands and knees and actually crawling a tiny bit. Since he took so long to roll over I figured he'd be behind on everything, but I was very wrong. He is getting much too mobile for my taste. I like that he stays put when I lay him down on the floor. He is till working on the sitting thing. He is very wobbly and can only sit unsupported for about 20 seconds on a good day. But, all well, it's not like he'll be 5 and not know how to sit. :) We go to the doctor next week for his and Nathan's checkup so we'll know how big our little chunky monkey really is after that.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Jackson's Christening

Sunday was Jackson's christening. I know I'm terrible for waiting so long, but I'm a procrastinator, what can I say? It was storming during the service, but it was so odd because every time the priest would say Jackson's name or touch him it would thunder really loudly. We were not the only one's who noticed it. The priest made a comment about it and all the other families noticed it as well. It was quite odd and kind of freaky. Anyway, it was still a good day and Jackson didn't cry at all, and even though he's quite the chunky monkey he still fit into the family christening gown. All the older kids had a good laugh at Jackson's expense though, and the boys were convinced Jackson was wearing a dress. It was kind of funny how they all reacted.
Here are a couple pictures my sister-in-law took.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

single digits

Oh my gosh! We leave for our trip in 9 days!!!!!! We are all so excited, (and yes I'm still freaking out).

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Happy Birthday Nathan

Yesterday Nathan turned 5, and he was convinced all day long that he would be starting kindergarten today. Imagine his disappointment when he realized we were serious that he had to wait until the end of summer to start kindergarten. I think he had a really good day though. My mom came over and stayed with Megan and Jackson while Sean and I took Nathan and Emma to see the movie "UP". It was such a cute movie and the kids had a good time. Nathan got scared of the mean dogs, but he's deathly afraid of dogs, so that wasn't too surprising. We didn't even get to have cake last night though because we had to hurry to leave when dinner was over and by the time we got home last night the kids were too exhausted to stay up for it. So I guess we'll have cake tonight. I'm a slacker mom and I didn't plan a big party for Nathan this year. I feel bad, really I do, but it was just impossible to fit it in with everything else that is going on. I really hope he won't hold it against us, and maybe later this summer we can have a belated party with everyone. There won't be presents involved then, but I think he cares more about being with everyone than the presents. My mom asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, "Whatever people want to buy me." I was shocked because Emma always has a list a mile long when you ask what she wants.
As the kids get older time just moves faster and faster. It's so sad that they are getting so old, but I love watching them grow more independent and learn new things. Being a parent is so weird.
As always here are pictures form years past.

When he was born

His first birthday

His second birthday

His 3rd birthday

4 years old with a new bike!

and now he's 5!

Last day of school

Yesterday was Emma's last day of school. After quite a rocky start the year turned out to be a good one, and I'm amazed at how Emma progressed. They had a little book that they had to journal in all year. They started out drawing a picture and then "writing" what the picture was. Her teacher told us about how kids learn to write. When they start out they know words are made of letters, but generally only write the letters they are most familiar with and not letters that would correspond with the words they are trying to say. So Emma's first page is a drawing of her and dad, but the word is her name with the letters in the wrong order.

Then they had to tell their teacher what was going on in the picture and the teacher wrote that out. By the end of the year the pictures were completely gone and Emma can write several sentences that are completely understandable. The spelling is phonetic, and so not everything is spelled the "right" way, but you can definitely read it now.

Emma can also read really well now. She loves Dr. Seuss books, which is great because those are ones I don't mind listening to over and over. I'm so glad she had such a fantastic year and I'm hoping when she has to go back to school in the fall things will go smoothly.
Here is Emma on her first day of school:

and here she is on the last day of school

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

freak out

I'm starting to freak out about our trip. The sad part is I'm not worried about how the kids are going to behave during the long drive, I'm worried about how I'll handle it. Admittedly I'm a terrible traveler. I get pretty cranky/antsy after about 5 hours of driving, and now I'm faced with a 16 hour drive, that I'll have to handle twice in 10 days. YIKES! I'm actually really glad we're planning to leave late Thursday evening at around 9 o'clock. I'm a night owl, so hopefully I'll be as happy as can be for the first part of the trip, and then I'm praying I'll be tired enough to sleep for a few hours. Sleep always make a road trip better. The trick is sleeping while the kids are quiet or asleep. Generally when I try to sleep in the car, someone starts crying. I don't know why, but I swear they just can't let me sleep. Thank goodness we have a dvd player with wireless headphones for the kids to keep them occupied for a while. I have also been amassing new toys and coloring books to occupy them. And, when all else fails, I'll just give them food. Snacks are so helpful on road trips. But I can't just eat the whole time, so I need some ideas of how to keep myself sane when I'm not driving or sleeping.