Big News!

Our big girl lost her 5th tooth last night.  This was her first top tooth.  She was so excited this morning.  She opened her eyes and grabbed her little tooth fairy pillow.  She jumped out of bed when she found $2.  The tooth fairy was a little more generous than usual because this was a pretty big tooth to pull.  It looked painful.
She told me that she had a plan for school.  She would walk in and keep her mouth closed and act normal.  She was going to wait awhile and then smile really BIG!  She just cracks me up.  Here are some pictures of our big girl.

she has her tongue in that space in every picture

So excited to be going to school this morning...

A New Phase of Life

Well, for the first time in almost 7 years we don't have at least one of these in our house:



Last night Bobby took down the boys' baby beds.  We finally put up their bunk beds and they absolutely love them.  It is so funny because I always say they look so big but last night they didn't.  They looked so little sleeping in their new beds.  Nathan chose the top which is what we wanted.  He rarely gets up at night so we thought this was safer.  Noah chose the bottom which we were counting on because he is scared of heights. (that's about the only thing!) We were glad to see that both boys were very hesitant to climb the ladder.  For now our rule is that Mommy or Daddy must help you up.  We told Nathan that he had to call for us if he needed down for any reason.  We even practiced several times.  It feels a little like old times because we had the monitor turned up so loud last night listening for them.  They did great and went to sleep right away. 

I had to post the picture of the boys bed with Abby for several reasons. This was the age that  Abby went into a "big girl" bed. ( at around 2 1/2)  She was still such a baby.  We always thought of her as so much older than what she was.  I remember how she cried and wouldn't stay in her bed for a couple of weeks.  Transitions are so much easier on the boys because they always have each other.  The other reason I love this picture is that she had to "help" her daddy get the boys baby beds together 4 years ago.  Once again  she had to help Daddy with the bunk beds yesterday.  She is such a daddy's girl and she loves doing things with him. 

There have been so many changes around here this summer:

• Potty training
• Swimming
• Learning to play better together
• Big boy beds
• Boys going to school 3 days a week
• A big girl who is reading
• A first grader

For the past 6 1/2 years we have had babies and toddlers.  We have changed countless diapers and lugged around huge diaper bags.  I still think back to the days of preparing 16 bottles a day and I don't know how we did it.  We are starting a new phase and it feels a little strange.  I feel a little sad but it is also exciting thinking about all of the fun things we can do with our "big kids." 

Noah

Excited boys!

Nathan

Abby's New Bedroom

We have been working on redoing Abby's bedroom since spring.  We finished most of it in late spring but we were missing just a few touches.  Yesterday we found the last few things and now her room is done.  This is a great since we are about to get started on the boys' room.  She has the same furniture.  We changed the wall color, bought a new set of bedding and changed a few  accessories.   Here it is:

Preparing for Bunk Beds

We finally bit the bullet and bought the boys bunk beds last week.  We found a great deal that we couldn't pass up.  We had planned to store them and not put them up for awhile.  Bobby realized that we needed to go ahead and put them together because we only had 30 days to request missing or damaged parts.  So he started putting them together this weekend and they boys were sooooo excited!  I guess they all felt they need to "practice" sleeping in their bunk beds.  Here is where Bobby found all 3 kids today:

They took all of the toys out of the toy cabinet and they were practicing "sleeping" in it.  Obviously, Nathan knows he is in trouble.  However, Abby and Noah just thought it was funny.  

When Mommy goes upstairs...

Here's what happens when Mommy walks upstairs and leaves 2 little boys coloring with their markers.  Abby was with them so I thought it would be ok...

Noah (who looks quite proud of himself)

Nathan (at least he looks guilty and knows he is in trouble)

I was going to leave them like this for Daddy to see but big sister took pity on them and cleaned them up.  Thank goodness I only buy washable markers!

Nathan & Noah's First Day of Preschool

     The boys started their first day of 3 year old preschool this week.  They will go 3 days a week.  I won't know what to do with all of this time on my hands. They have been so excited because they just love their little school.  We had a lot of pep talks on going to the potty, sharing toys, listening to their teacher and most importantly not peeing on the grass on the playground.  We tried to stress the most important things. (haha)
Bobby took the morning off so he could go with us.  They walked right in, put their things away and found some toys to play with.  We stayed for a little while and took a few pictures.  Finally Nathan called me over and said, "Mommy, you are supposed to leave now."  I was a little sad that my baby was kicking me out the door.  He said,"You not stay at school Mommy."  So, we got kisses and hugs and left 2 happy little boys. The teacher said they had a great day.  Several moms were telling me how their little girls talked about Noah and Nathan all of the time at home.  Little Ladies' Men already!  They do love the girls which is a good thing because they are the only boys in the class. 
     We got another good report today from school.  They said they were being good listeners while their friends were doing show-n-tell.  Thank goodness!  This morning I asked Noah if he needed me to walk them to their classrooms.  He told me quickly that they were big boys and they were supposed to go in by themselves.  So it looks like we're off  to another great year!

Noah

Noah and Nathan

Nathan (getting ready for school by raising his hand?)

Nathan

Abby & Noah (which actually looks more like Nathan)

Such BIG boys!

Daddy is making us laugh!

Noah is giving Nathan a kiss and Nathan is not happy about it!

with Daddy at school

Noah and Ms. Mary, the music teacher

With their teacher, Ms. Jennifer

Playing happily when we left



Noah



Our Little Dancer



 Abby started her 4th year of dance this week.  This year she has chosen to concentrate on just ballet.  She is so excited because she is back with her original teacher that she had when she first started.  Many of the girls from that first ballet class are in her class this year.  It was like a little reunion.  (For the moms too!)  She already knew every girl in her class.  Of course we had a little photo session before we left.  I had to pull out last year's picture to compare.  Our little girl is certainly growing up!

Little Brother had to get in on the picture taking!



Love her new lavender color!



2010

2008



2009



The Benefits of Having a Big Sister?

The kids have really enjoyed playing together lately.  We still have our fights and arguments but  Bobby and I have noticed that they spend a lot of time upstairs in "pretend" play.  They are not playing with many toys but they are really using their imagination.  Every day it is a different theme.  Some favorites are camping, beach, babies, veterinarian, restaurant, birthday party and dress up.  Of course with Abby being the oldest she usually chooses the theme and guides most of the play.  The boys usually go along with her and are happy to be playing with their big sister.  There are a few drawbacks to this:

As much as Bobby didn't approve of his little guys dressing up he had to take some pictures.  If you look closely you can see that they are practically busting out of the neck and chest of Abby's dress up clothes.    

I told Bobby not to worry because they are basically using their magic wands as weapons like typical little boys.

A couple more funnies from last week:

-Abby came home from school on the first day and was so excited.  She loved every minute of it.  She was telling me all about it in the car.  Then she told me that the best part was that she didn't make any mistakes all day.  Oh my!  What a perfectionist!

-Noah and Nathan came running down the stairs yelling and screaming one morning.  Thank goodness they didn't fall!  They started chasing each other around the downstairs.  I finally caught them to find out what was wrong.  The problem was that they were playing doctor.  Noah wanted Nathan to check his ears but Nathan insisted he check his reflexes.  This cracked me up.  I sat them down so that we could take turns to do both.  When it was time to check "reflexes" Nathan knocked Noah's knee as hard as he could and said "Now laugh!". I tried to explain what happens when you check reflexes ( and that you don't almost knock your brother down).  Nathan just kept saying, "No, he's supposed to laugh."  Funny boys! 

-Daddy pulled out the music last night and let the kids dance.  They love my old 70's music.  As soon as we walked in the door from dropping off Abby this morning Noah insisted we dance (at 7:45 am).  I told him that we couldn't right now.  He's got a lot to learn about Mommy not being a morning person.  Boogie Town is not acceptable before 8:00.

Weekend Fun



We went to visit Mimi and Pawpaw at their campsite a few weeks ago and since then our kids talk about camping all of the time.  Bobby used sheets and turned all of their beds into "tents" last weekend.  They played "camping" for days.  They pretended to sleep in their tents and make smores.  They loved it!  When we said bedtime prayers this week, Noah said that he wanted to thank God for roasted marshmellows and Nathan said graham crackers.  So, Bobby decided to take it a step further this weekend and we had a campout in the real tent in the living room.  They were so excited about it.  They brought all of their stuffed animals and blankets down at about 2:00 that day before Bobby got home so they would be ready!  We even made smores (in the microwave)!  We decided to let them sleep in the tent with out us but Bobby slept on the couch in case anyone woke up.  We left the tent up all weekend for them to play and they had a blast.  Hopefully, we are taking a real camping trip in the tent this October so I guess we will have a few trial runs before that.

Yummy, messy smores!





Abby's First Day of 1st Grade

Today our little girl started 1st grade.  She has been so excited this week.  One major source of excitement is the fact that she will have her own desk so she can keep all of her own supplies.  Abby loves her own "space."  We went to Open House last night and she was thrilled that she got the teacher she wanted.  She also has her 2 best buddies in the class with her.  She has matured so much since starting school last year.  She talked to her teacher last night and insisted we visit all of her teachers from last year. (A few years ago she would have smiled but not talked. ) Mommy and Daddy (especially Daddy)  might have been just a tiny bit sad to see her walk in to her class this morning, get started and barely notice that we left.  Although after a few years of leaving her in tears at preschool we are thrilled at how much she loves school.

Sitting with her friends Mikayla and Jolie



Abby and her teacher  Ms. Boyter



First day of Kindergarten-I love to see how they've changed! (and grown 2 inches!)