I'm the QUEEN of procrastination

Someone please tell me WHY I procrastinate?!?!

As is usual at the start of all school years, both of the big girls came home with a folder full of paperwork that I needed to fill out. I, as is my nature, set them aside on the counter to be dealt with later this weekend. Later never came.

I suddenly remembered the paperwork at 7:40am today. The girls go outside to wait for the bus at 7:50am. Needless to say, only one girl had her folder of completed paperwork to return this morning. The other will have to wait to hand hers in tomorrow.

I pray I'm not the only parent to not have completed the paperwork!

Mom, if you're reading this, I don't want you to worry that your lesson about procrastination went in one ear and back out the other. I've been chanting, 'procrastination is the assassination of motivation,' over and over and over again in my head this morning! The lesson has never been lost, it has just not been processed through the brain yet!

church quest

For a couple of years now I've been wrestling with what to do about our church-going situation. We have been attending a Methodist church about 15 minutes from our house. THE ONLY Methodist anywhere near our house.

Once upon a time, the church was a good fit for us. Not so much now. Even though we've made some long-lasting, GREAT friendships with other members of the church, I really feel like it's time for us to move on.

Our other options aren't making this decision and move easy on us. Like I said before, this church is THE ONLY Methodist church in the area. I've wrestled with trying other denominations, but really feel like we belong in a Methodist church. Still, the idea that we could attend a local church where the children go to Church School with friends from school would be a dream.

My plan had been to take the summer to explore our options by attending other churches. As is my usual, things didn't go along as planned.....we got consumed in doing all things summer and have only atteded church twice since June. One of those two attendances being Dad and Pauline's church in KY. Not the commute I had in mind.

Hopefully we'll find the perfect church for us soon.

First week almost done

The big girls are both finishing up the first week at school. Both have had a great transition back into our school-year routines. Both seem to have made a few new friends, as well as reconnecting with some of old ones. A great week for both.

Poor Will, on the other hand, is feeling sort of left out and lost. Each morning, after we've gotten the girls off on the bus, he has asked me when it's time for him to go to school. He's just ever so anxious to get to have fun and be a big kid too. Soon enough it'll be his turn. His classes begin again on September 14th. Then, for 2.5hrs every M-W-F, I'll be down to only one child by my side. I'm sure I'll feel a little lost at first, but I'll get used to the freedom that will enable me in no time!

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for the '09-'10 year. Right up until two days ago, I was saying I wasn't ready for school to start. I felt like the summer had simply been too short -- it really flew by.

But then two days ago the impatient, shrieking, lunatic-like Mommy reared her ugly head. I was blown over. I wasn't expecting the household chaos to accelerate to a point where she was needed so quickly. I guess it was kind of like a sneak attack -- one that surprised me as much as the children.

So I quickly reassessed my thoughts on the impending arrival of the big yellow bus. I decided it might not be such a bad thing for the girls to go back to school now. Anything to help keep me from being hauled off to jail in handcuffs for Murder One maintain a level of calm for both myself and the household at large.

Now that the girls have gone off to greet their teachers and friends once again, I think all is right in the world. William is watching a movie he's been dying to see. Nora is already down for her morning nap, I'm listening to her lullabies play over the baby monitor. And I just finished eating my breakfast with the luxury of being able to do it in more than three bites!

Here are a few pictures from the morning...

Because everyone got up waaaaaaaaay early this morning, we were ready for the bus with lots of time to spare.

The girls don't look too pleased....I think it was more because I demanded requested they stand next to eachother on the front step so I could take their picture.
See? They're much happier here!

The whole neighborhood gang

They didn't even take one backward glance....just kept going up the stairs like it was any ordinary day

Pictures from the weekend

My life should be complete

I knew I was tempting fate, but I secretly took pride in the fact that I was a mother of four who had never experienced the whole poop-in-the-tub phenomena.

Until last night.

Nora must have realized my life simply would not be complete unless I experienced the horror related to witnessing this disgusting feat. Or maybe she simply felt the bathroom needed a deep cleaning with lots of bleach. Because she made it happen last night. Just for me. Sweet, no?

So now my life is complete. I guess. ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

We're back!

The kids and I returned home from VT a few hours ago. I'm just winding down from a whirlwind weekend, happy that all is safe and sound, sorry that the weekend is over. I've got pictures to share, stories to tell. Not alert enough to do anything more now.

Heading North for the weekend

The kids and I are heading north to Vermont for the weekend. One last hurrah before the girls start school again next week. Grace invited her best bud, Rachel, to go with us. Nana suggested that my niece, Caroline, might like to go to keep Dianna company. (I won't have room for Caroline in my car, so both Caroline and Dianna will ride in Nana's car)

So we'll have a houseful of girls! I hope Dad's prepared for all of the girly mayhem that's sure to ensue...

My mind is still swirling around the fact that school officially starts again on Wednesday. Yes, this coming Wednesday, August 26. I've been saying for a while now that I'm just not ready for summer to end.

Don't worry -- I'm perfectly sane and healthy.

It's just that this summer seems to have flown right past. It doesn't even seem like it's been but only a couple of weeks since we returned from Kentucky and West Virginia. How can we be at the end of our summer break?

So, for the first time in my career as Mother, I won't be excited to greet that big yellow bus next week. I won't dance a jig as Ms. Debbie drives back down our street, on her way to safely delivering my two eldest to their school. I'll probably count down the hours till they return home in the afternoon, but I'll get used to the daily schedule that schooltime requires.

Beach pics!!

Because Mom was so disappointed to not see any beach pics, I decided I needed to put my cleaning duties on hold for a few minutes. That way I could upload the pictures from my camera and post them here for everyone to see. Way to go Mom, encouraging me to procrastinate!! ;)

I thought it was so cute to see Will digging in the dirt like that....I missed getting an 'action' shot where the sand was flying in the air, but you get the idea....

posing after they buried Jeremy

They turned him into a mermaid!

Nora climbed right up in my sandchair and took over!

Both girls took the opportunity to read at the beach, one of their suggested summer reading activities they were sent home with from school in June...

Dianna, all buried in sand

Curious minds want to know

I know that there are quite a few people who read my blog. I can see the blog traffic by looking at the feedjit list on the right side of the blog page. Unfortunately, the feedjit addresses aren't always the most accurate -- whenever I visit the blog, it shows that my location is Hamden, CT. In reality, Hamden is well over an hour away from where I live.

So, while I can guess at who is visiting my blog, I'm not always certain. Like I'm pretty certain the Lexington, KY visitor(s) are Dad and Pauline. I'm also pretty certain the Pheonix, AZ visitor(s) is Gordon's sister Kathy.

But the person(s) who shows up as 'UNITED STATES' could be almost anyone. And the East Hampton, CT address could be any one of a number of friends and family.

Anyone want to 'out' themselves and wave hello by leaving a comment?

A day at the beach

Yesterday the kids and I went down to Hammonasset with Mark, Lisa, and their crew. This is the first time we've gone to the CT shoreline this summer -- a suprising tidbit for sure. Normally we're at the beach on at least a semi-regular basis. Just too busy this year, I guess.

The kids took turns burying first Jeremy, then Emily, and finally Dianna in the sand. From their neck all the way down to their toes! Dianna didn't complain about it much, but Emily said she ended up with sand in places she didn't know she had.

I learned the hard way that I need to be uber-concientious when it comes to applying my sunblock. I was the good Mommy who made sure the kids and I were all slathered with the skin-saving lotion before we even headed out the door. It's just that I didn't do such a great job in rubbing it all over my exposed skin. I ended up with a couple of splotches of red at the very top of my thighs, right by my armpits, and a little pink on my back (where I couldn't reach if I tried!). All in all, I'm not hurting much -- the burns aren't too bad, and I DID get the majority of my exposed skin covered with sunblock. Better yet, the kids all seem to have been saved from the harmful UV rays!

Of course I took pictures but they're still on my camera -- in the car. I won't have a moment to get them uploaded today. Hopefully I can get them up to share sooner than not.

**SUBJECT CHANGE**

The kids and I are heading to VT again this weekend. One final trip north before school starts next Wednesday. Grace has invited her best bud, Rachel, to make the trek with us. This is the first time I've had a child not related to me go north with us. Amy (Rachel's mom) tells me that Rachel is excited about going away with us. She's loving getting to be a BIG big girl.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Hayley took a picture of Gordon, Grace, and I just before we headed out for Grace's special (belated) birthday date.

Grace all dolled up for her birthday date
Friday night we camped out at Amy & Sam's for their annual Campout Under the Stars....we all got to see some of the Perseids meteor shower!

Gordon and Nora enjoying our new pool

Dianna showing off in the pool

It seems the pool got set up just in time!

After having a summer of weather that made us wonder if we were stuck in April, the Northeast is finally experiencing some HEAT! Multiple days of 90+ degree heat. The weather forecasters are even debating whether we're in the middle of a heatwave.

So I guess it's a good thing we had the pool set up when we did. It's certainly getting a LOT of use!

My house is CLEAN!?

Remember when I posted My kids do chores without me nagging!? ? It was back in June of 2008, shortly after school let out for the year. Feel free to go back and re-read it, to refresh your memory. (I inserted a hyperlink in the first sentence of this paragraph)

This summer has been on the lazy side. At the start of the summer, I told the girls we'd wait to start up the daily chore routine after we returned home from Kentucky. But we didn't.

When we returned home from KY, we jumped straight into swim lessons and the chaos of constantly running from one activity to the next. And I was getting more and more tired and frustrated with how 'lived in' our house was getting. There was only so much I could do to combat the messes and still remain social director/limo driver/caretaker extraordinaire. The dust began piling up on the tables. The toys were strewn all over the floor more often than not. There were stray shoes laying in the livingroom rather than in their proper resting place.

I was slowly going crazy with all of the clutter closing in around me.

This morning I decided it was time to regain a bit of calm in the house. It's time for the kids to start helping out around the house without my reminding them and without my nagging them. So I printed out a copy of our household chorelist from last year. I called the girls into the kitchen and showed them. We talked about how it works (to make sure everyone remembered) and I told them that starting this morning we're using that system once again.

And the girls got right down to business!! I now have a much cleaner home than I've had all summer long. It's so freeing to know that I don't have a bajillion chores looming and no motivation to do them myself.

The best part of all? The kids and I can spend the afternoon lounging in the pool without a care in the world!

Re-decorating

Back when we bought Will his Big Boy Bed, Gordon and I made the decision to invest in a set of bunkbeds. We were pregnant with Eleanor. We knew we'd eventually be in the market for one more twin-sized bed. Though we didnt know what sex our youngest would be, we rationalized that a set of bunkbeds could be separated and used in different rooms if we didn't welcome a second boy to our family. It just made sense to buy the bunkbeds.

You know....why put off today....

So William has had an extra bed in his room.

Scratch that. William HAD an extra bed in his room. Yesterday Gordon and I removed the top bunk from Will's bed set and set it up in the big girls' room. While we are nowhere near ready for Nora to be sleeping in a Big Girl Bed, the bed will be getting lots more use in the girls' room than it ever did in Will and Nora's room. For the time being, it will act as a spare bed -- ready and waiting for when the one of the girls' friends comes for a sleepover.

Even though we moved the bed so that it can be used as a spare, Gordon and I can't help but marvel at how it won't be long before Eleanor will be using it herself. It's almost mind-boggling to think at how quickly our youngest is growing. Literally right before our very eyes!

A night off

Grammie just celebrated her 78th birthday this past Wednesday. In honor of her special day, she wanted all of the adults to go out to a nice dinner with her. So I made arrangements with my sister Rachel for the four kids to spend not only the evening, but the whole night.

It's been *so* long since Gordon and I have been without even one child. It truly was nice to spend a leisurely time enjoying the adult conversation and good food without worrying about the kids or watching the clock (and quickly calculating how much money the babysitter's fees were racking up to).

The best part by far is that Gordon and I were able to sleep in until 8am!!

PLEASE don't wake me if this is just a dream....let me enjoy the quiet house for another half hour or so. ;)

Belated Birthday Gift

Gordon and I took Grace out to dinner and a movie last night as a belated birthday gift. We went to Ruby Tuesday then across the parking lots to the Cinema 12 to see Aliens in the Attic. A great night, for sure.

I think Grace really relished getting to go out with Mom and Dad for this special one-on-one time and acting like an adult. She even wanted to push the adult thing a little further and asked about ordering from the regular menu, not the kids' menu. I showed her the regular menu and mentioned that I figured there wasn't much she would be up to trying, to which she agreed, so she happily ordered burgers and fries from the kids' menu.

Why did this event happen so much past Grace's actual birthday, you ask?

I was working on a different gift for Grace, but that all fell through. I can't mention what exactly I was trying to coordinate here, because Grace sometimes reads my blog over my shoulder and I think it's best if she never knows my original plan. But I'll suffice it to say that the other gift option would have elevated me to Mom of the Century if not Coolest Mommy on the Block.

It became glaringly apparent that option A wasn't going to fall into place just last week, so Gordon and I were scrambling with what to do. I had told Grace that I was working on her birthday present, and that she'd need to wait for a couple of weeks after her birthday to find out what it was, but I didn't want to push it much further. And it was definitely looking like our first plan was a true no-go.

So we needed a plan B. And we needed that plan B to come real quick!

All in all, I'm pretty sure Grace had a great time and was sufficiently happy. She kept commenting on the way home how 'awesome' the movie was and how 'cool' dinner had been. She also mentioned that she wishes we could do this a lot more often.

I just won't get to be the Coolest Mommy on the Block any time soon......maybe next year I can come up with something that will earn me that coveted distinction.

mind-wanderings...

I was just looking through my archived blog posts. I miss sharing my thoughts and our goings-on on a regular basis. Shortly after I started the blog, I made the conscious effort to try to add an entry on an almost daily basis. I didn't want the blog to get stale or lose interest. The best part of updating the blog often, I was constantly taking an outside look at what we were doing/saying, in search of what would be 'newsworthy enough' to share with the blog-audience at large.

Now that we're a busy family of six, making me the VERY busy mom of four, I haven't made the time to sit and reflect like I used to. And I'm suddenly missing that. I realize now that I've been slacking in the blog department!

I hope to get back into the swing of things, and start updating my blog more real soon. I'm sure that once school starts I'll have a little more time to play around with this very task.

A Day at the beach

Yesterday Gordon played hookie from work in the afternoon so that he could join the kids and I on a trip to the Rhode Island shoreline. We were heading there to visit my friend Tracey and two of her kids.

Tracey and her family camp right on the beach all summer long. Yes, RIGHT ON THE BEACH. As in there is sand directly underneath her camper. You literally drive right past the state parking area for Misquamicut and the next thing you see is a campground. Tiny, yes, but well worth it to be able to park right on the sand!


Anyway, here are a few pictures of everyone enjoying the day:

Helen, Dianna, Dalton, Grace, and Marina working on building a big sand castle

(Helen and Marina are Tracey's girls....Dalton is Tracey's nephew)

Will and Danyel G. (my sister Becky's eldest) collecting water for the big sand castle build

Nora had a BLAST playing in the sand!

I wish I'd thought to take a picture of the finished sand castle. It ended up being a huge creation. Very cool indeed.

pool pics!

For those curious, here are a few pictures to document the pool being installed. If you need help picturing where in our backyard the pool now stands, check out this post from two years ago. The smoldering area in the background (where our forsythia bush used to reside) is almost exactly where our pool resides.

And here are the pictures I took on Tuesday as the pool was being installed:

The final product:

We wasted no time in 'breaking in' the pool -- we all jumped in Tuesday evening as soon as we got back home from visiting with Dad!

Our pool is coming!

A couple of years ago we were given an above ground pool, complete with filter, heater, the works. Gordon helped his friend disassemble the pool and brought all of the pieces here. We weren't ready to have a pool yet, so the pieces sat in our shed until very recently. After much discussion, Gordon and I decided it was time to pull it all out and finally have a usable pool in our backyard.

Long story short, Gordon realized we were not going to be able to reuse the old pool so we decided to just bite the bullet and get a new one. Just this morning Gordon got the call that our new pool is in and will be delivered and set up today! Perfect timing, considering this summer weather we're finally experiencing!!

Our day at the fair

As promised, here are a couple of the pictures I took yesterday at the fair. (Yes, I DID remember my camera!!)

This first one shows Grace's chocolate chip cookies (green arrow) and my zucchini bread (pink arrow) on display

Will simply would NOT look at the camera during his train ride!

Grace and Bryce raced down the giant slide

Then Gordon, Will, Laurie, Cole and Dianna raced Nora and Cole playing in the corn kernels at the Family Fun tent

(yes, Nora tried more than once to eat the corn...she wasn't too happy when I swiped it out of her mouth) Grace on the jumper thingy Dianna did flips on the jumper...I swear, that girl has NO FEAR!

The Fair's been pretty good so far

This fair weekend has been pretty darn close to perfect thus far. I managed to get all of our exhibits and the chickens all checked in on time. The weather has been sunny and beautiful. The kids loved the demolition derby. It's been a fun time for all of us all around!

(The girls didn't even give me lip when I told them we weren't doing rides for sure Friday and Saturday, and may not even do them on Sunday!!)

Today Grammie, Laurie P, Bryce, and Cole may come up to go to the fair. Laurie called here last night to ask if we'd be at the fair today and to see if we'd mind them coming along too. I told her that the kids and I would definitely be at the fair (Gordon's been working on a couple of projects, so I wasn't sure if he'd have the free time to join us). I also said that I was certain the girls would have a blast showing off their exhibits to everyone, pointing out their projects and making sure everyone saw the ribbons each of their exhibits earned.

I have to say I'm quite proud of how my girls did with their exhibits. Not so much that they've won, because they didn't win first prize on most of them. It's more because the girls are so tickled pink to have their things on display. They're taking pride in their hardwork and are delighted to have everyone and their brother come look at it on display.

The four bantam chickens all took first place. Now, for those of you who are now scratching your head, wondering how it is that there can be FOUR first place finishers, lemme explain...

The chickens are judged on what's known as the Danish system. They are not compared to eachother, but instead are compared to what the standard for their particular breed is. So the closer to being a perfect picture of their breed, the more likely they are to get a first place. Apparently our four bantams are good replicas of the standard for each of their breeds.

So we'll all be heading back to the fairgrounds later today.....I'm delaying our trip there because we'll need to be on site at the end of the fair to be able to claim our exhibits and prize winnings. I'm hoping to NOT forget my camera today, as I have both of these last two days. I'd like very much to get a picture or two of the girls' projects on display.