hmmmm...

Q: what do these items have in common?

1. a rubber, star-shaped ball that goes into strobe effect when bounced
2. a ryan's room bendable doll house person
3. one cuff from a pair of plastic handcuffs (part of jack's police uniform)
4. a purple plastic monkey wrench, partially chewed by the dog

A: they were all found in the kids' clothes hamper while doing laundry.

thankfully i'm now aware that sam has this fun, new game where he drops stuff into the hamper. otherwise i'm afraid i'd be calling larry-the-applicance-guy on a daily basis. unfortunately, sam has gotten a few things by me before. like diapers. the disposable kind. NOT cool when you're washing dark clothes. i didn't have to call larry (seriously, that's his name), but i did have a mess to clean up and had to rewash the clothes. a couple of times.

uh-oh

if jack's behavior in mass this evening is any indication of how he's going to fare in catholic school we're in BIIIIIGGGGGG trouble. to be fair, his siblings didn't behave one whit better. not only did we have to leave our pew to sit in the narthex, but dan finally left for good, taking our oldest and youngest with him to the car. i weathered it out to the bitter end with luke and maria.

cut us a little slack... dan has to work tomorrow, so we had to attend the 5:30 p.m. mass this evening. NOT a good time for us. (see previous post regarding family pictures).

maria, ever hopeful, jumped into the car after mass and asked, "can we have a sucker?" uhhhhh... NO!!!

after arriving home we delivered the little boys straight to their beds and had jack and maria practice kneeling, standing and then sitting quietly for five minutes each. how successful do you think that was? not very. first of all, someone put them in the same room. (no names, to protect the, uh, innocent). we separated them and still they acted silly. after being reprimanded you'd think we'd beaten them they howled so loud. not one minute later (remember, we were timing things, so we know) they were at it again!!! it was all so painful i kept cheating on the time so we could be done with it and get them in bed.

aaaahhhhhhh. the silence of a house full of sleeping children!

p.s. prayers for jack's success in catholic school and for our next attempt at mass are greatly appreciated.

Kindergarten - HERE I COME!

well, today was it. the BIG DAY. kindergarten. was jack excited? let me put it this way. he was up and in my room before 6 a.m. "hurry up, let's get ready to go!" he says. ugh. by the time i got out of the shower, jack's at my bathroom door completely dressed, head to foot, new shoes (TIED!!!) and even the belt.

how proud i was that he did everything - all by himself! how frustrated i was that he did everything - all by himself! i mean, if he can do it all himself, speedy-fast, what is all the delay about on a daily basis?!? check back with me in a week or two. i have a feeling things aren't going to continue in this manner. one can only hope, though, right?

so we get to school - ALL of us, of course - and jack is already making a beeline for his friends and waving me off. what? he's acting as if he doesn't need me to walk him into his classroom. huh. sniffling moms and kids all around. us? not a tear. well, except for sam, but that doesn't count because it's from the eye drops i put in this morning.

with jack settled in, the rest of us loaded back into the van and headed home. we parked in the garage and before the key was even out of the ignition maria asked, "mom, when will jack be home?" i KNEW she'd miss him!!! (the other day i asked her if she'd miss jack while he was at school all day and she said, "no. i like luke better. i like sam better, too." whatever.) i was surprised that she misses him already...)

well... that's it. he's there and we're here at home. waiting it out.

i'm sure glad today's a half-day.

Alarming

to think i wondered if i'd have enough material to keep a blog going. ha. with four children five and under, i have an endless supply. fortunately or unfortunately :-)

jack is learning to tell time (on a real clock) and the other day he mentioned wanting an alarm clock. i filed that idea, but then i happened to come across these adorable, simple and cheap(!) alarm clocks at hobby lobby. (don't worry... i did NOT go there with my kids). not only were they cheap and simple, they also came in the requisite colors. yellow for the big boy and what other color is there for his sister (who is also learning to tell time because it's monkey see, monkey do around here)?

anyhow, when i gave jack and maria their new clocks last night you'd have thought they won the lottery. they were SO excited! it was cute. they couldn't wait to go to bed to be awakened in the morning by their new alarm clocks. ever hopeful, i set them to ring at 7:30 a.m.

my hopes were dashed this morning when here comes jack, alarm clock in tow, to the kitchen at 6:37 a.m. "it didn't go off," he said. i explained that it wouldn't ring until 7:30 and we talked about when that would be and where the hands on the clock would be at 7:30. he asked for oatmeal and set his clock on the table to watch it as he ate...

thump, thump, thump, thump... guess who's up now? with alarm clock in tow, here comes maria into the kitchen. "it didn't go off," she says. (can you here my sigh from where you are?) i gave here the same spiel i gave jack, but she was a little more frustrated, i think. "it's broken," she says. "no..." i say. "it WILL go off, when it's time."

oatmeal finished, jack announced he was going back to bed (to wait for the alarm clock to "wake" him) and maria set up to watch her clock as i fixed her some breakfast. while she ate and waited, i got my little boys up and dressed.

tick...tick...tick...

the clocks did eventually go off. as they were set to. unfortunately, though, by that time there was no one left to wake.

An Exciting Event

today is sunday. the first day of a very emotional week. on friday this little boy will start kindergarten. i can't believe it. of course, neither can any of my close friends. they all knew me as the one that would NEVER have kids. they probably all smirked when jack came along. i think they gaped when maria followed 14 months later. jaws dropped with luke and i think minds went blank when sam showed up. i don't think they believe i live in a real house and not the funny farm...

jack and i are both nervous and excited about his new venture. he's got his uniforms, new shoes and a big kid backpack. luckily a small fee covers his supplies. i don't have to buy them, which is a good thing because for the last three years i've hyperventilated any time i've had to pass through the school supply aisle at wal-mart.

oh, and jack's had his kindergarten physical. it went smoothly enough, but when the doc predicted jack would be the class clown i got a few butterflies in my stomach. i don't know that catholic school is the place for a clown, despite his many endearing qualities (like volunteering his sister for the first round of shots).

well, wish us luck as the countdown begins. i'm sure i'll be shedding a few tears on friday. come to think of it, his teacher might, too...

Uppercase Living

so... i recently became an uppercase living demonstrator. have you seen this yet?!? it is sooooo cool. i was actually in search of something like this for maria's room and when i found uppercase, i jumped right in with both feet. i've never sold anything (other than girl scout cookies 30 years ago) but i didn't hesitate. the product sells itself! these beautiful expressions can be easily applied to your walls, windows, mirrors or any other relatively smooth surface. and (drum roll, please...) they can be REMOVED without damaging the surface. what an awesome way to add something to your home, office, car, etc.

not only do i get to be the first to show people this great new product, but i also get to have some adult time in the evenings when i do demonstrations. i didn't realize how much i needed this. it's really put a shot of energy and excitement into things for me.

go check it out at www.uppercaseliving.com. my ID # is 832718 and token is "cheerio."

the picture here is of my little boys' room...