Four, my favorite

We are settling into our school routine; it's been a total change of pace. A nice, quiet, productive one. Connor has had a very smooth transition to 3rd grade, and Isabel is crazy for kindergarten, even if she has been a bit tired, subdued and less chatty as she adjusts to this new excitement. It's a big step in one's young life.

Things will pick up next week with the start of preschool (Lucas); dance (Isabel); Chess Club (Connor); and soccer (Lucas). But these past couple of weeks have been blissful as I pick up the pieces of our lives ravaged by Hurricane Summer. I am loving spending more time with my two little dudes, who are just beautiful, delightful little boys.

It's totally obvious, with Connor and Isabel out of the house (although she's only gone 2 1/2 days/week) that a majority of the noise has gone out the door with them. The two little guys are so independent and easygoing. And crazy. Joyfully, wonderfully, crazy funny and imaginative. Especially my Lucas. Did you know 4 is one of my favorite ages? Well, it is.

(Just a couple of turkeys at the county fair)

The things coming out of that child's mouth keep me entertained all day. I had to record a few. Although Brian would like to forget one instance in particular, it's one of my favorite kid quotes ever, and therefore, I'd like very much to remember it.

- As I was cleaning out the dryer filter, Lucas walked in an asked, "what's that?" "Lint," I explained. His face lit up. "Oh yeah, I know what that is! Dad grows it in his belly button! I don't know how he does it, but isn't that amazing???"

- One of Lucas' favorite little toys-of-the-moment broke, a little plastic fish. He didn't seem too upset about it, so I asked where the fish was. "In the recycling," he replied matter of factly. I asked why he put it there, and he replied, with such naive faith in the recycling program, "because everything you put in recycling gets made whole again!" I'm wondering if PBS would like to explain to him that this does not, in fact, mean that broken toys get repaired and returned in their previous condition.

He loves his older brother and sister, but also relishes time alone when they're gone. I asked him the other day if he misses them, and without missing even one fraction of a second, said, "not even a little bit." Independent, that one.

Let me introduce you to a sampling of his 4-year-old vernacular. These are a few terms that Lucas has created, and the subsequent definitions in his own words:
- Lovehead: "a person that you really really love like a mom or a dad."
- Stemmy: "something that you call mean stuff that are not supposed to be nice, and your face is a flower and your body is a stem and your hands are leaves." It is a not a positive thing if Lucas calls you a "stemmy."
- Slab-dab-da: "you're stuck wherever you are forever and you eat garbage. The king of all mean pirates is the meanest of all and he's a slab-dab-da. It's for mean pirates that are not supposed to be nice."
- Gingk Gingk: see definition for stemmy
- And if he refers to something as a "stemmy stupidy slab-dab-da" you KNOW he means big time bad trouble. It's all so very black and white at this age: either you're good, or you're bad. And there ain't no messin' with the middle.

And now I'm really going to lay on the crazy: Lucas and Connor have personified our large
recycling and garbage containers. They have given them each a specific voice and like to "feed" them (by taking out the trash and recycling). I mean, it's really something else. The voices are HILARIOUS and they make them say "thank you'" whenever they've been "fed;" they also make them have conversations. To make them talk they actually make the lids up and down like they're puppets. I can't decide whether to file this under crazy or creative. It's interesting, to say the least.

Back to School 2011

I always love back to school time, and not just because my days get a little quieter, although that's a major perk to be sure. I love the school supply shopping, meeting teachers, the whole shebang. And this year was doubly fun as I sent two off to elementary school!

We continued the traditions I've been doing since Connor started kindergarten 3 years ago. It was fun to have Isabel join us this year for the school supply shopping and dinner at Red Robin. The picture is terrible, but the evening was delightful-

We did our Hugs and Kisses, wherein we make pretzel hugs treats (some for teachers, some for school lunches/after school treats). The children made them all entirely by themselves this year-

We read The Kissing Hand, about going back to school, and the kids made their own Kissing Hands to tuck into backpacks to remember how much mom loves each of them-
But after all the anticipation, I only sent one child to school when the big day arrived. Connor missed the first day; he had been sick for days, including 6 days of a fever, and then developed serious breathing problems. I took him in, and after 2 nebulizer breathing treatments and a chest x-ray and a rather worried pediatrician who told me he has a "little wiggle room but not much before he'd have to consider hospitalization," he determined that Connor had a virus that triggered severe asthma problems that developed into pneumonia in his left lung. His oxygen level was between 90 and 91 percent; 88 percent is grounds for hospitalization. After antibiotics and oral steroids and nasal spray and inhaler he improved quickly, thank goodness. He was able to to on the 2nd day of school.

Isabel on the first day of school. It was the culmination of months of waiting. She.Could.Not.Wait.To.Start.School. She reminds me so much of myself; I loved everything about school and just savored every experience. I love watching her start this journey and know she is going to do amazing. Her teacher is really nice, we've heard great things about her. She only has part-time kindergarten, and goes all day M and W and half day on Friday (mornings). I think she would have done great with all day, but what do you do? And not sure why my classroom pics are so blurry-

When my mom was here last month, she brought me a bunch of clothes that I wore when I was younger. As I went through them, I was totally flooded with memories; included in them was the dress I wore on my first day of kindergarten, and the outfit I wore for my kindergarten pictures! My mom sewed all of them; when I was young we didn't go back-to-school clothes shopping, we went back-to-school fabric and pattern shopping. Isabel and I had a blast looking at the pictures of me in the clothes and then she tried them on. I was having trouble scanning these, but you get the idea. Isabel said she loved one of the outfits and wanted to wear it for the second day of school. I said, "but don't you think it's kind of old?" To which she quickly replied, "it might be old to you, but it's new to me!" ***AND FOR THE RECORD, IN CASE OF ANY CONFUSION, NO SHE DID NOT WEAR THESE CLOTHES TO SCHOOL OR ANYWHERE ELSE IN PUBLIC FOR THAT MATTER; WE JUST HAD FUN PLAYING DRESS UP***

My first kindergarten pictures outfit, me and Isabel-

And my first day of kindergarten outfit, me and Isabel-


Couldn't resist this-

And Connor's first actual day of third grade, on the 2nd official day of school. We have also heard great things about his teacher, and I am anticipating a great year for Connor. He is most excited to start cursive writing and has been waiting all summer. On his first day of school they got to write a letter in cursive, and he was so excited. Although I am getting less and less info from his these days; at times it's like the proverbial pulling teeth. When I asked him how his first day was, his response was, "why do you always ask me so many questions about my life?" So I have learned to wait a bit and let him tell me things in his own time. If I could combine Connor (not inclined to share much) and Isabel (oversharer) it would be perfect. Perhaps it will result in a Lucas? That could be determined when he starts preschool in September.

I am thrilled that the school year has arrived.

Remember when?

Dear Connor, Isabel, Lucas and Mason,

School starts in just two days. TWO DAYS! I can hardly believe it. I'm fairly convinced just a week or two ago we were sitting at Connor's end-of-second-grade picnic, and all of a sudden... WHAM! Summer is over and we just delivered all your new school to school and met your new teachers. I am so excited for Connor to start 3rd grade, Isabel to start kindergarten and Lucas to start preschool. Such fun times, for you AND for me.

This has been a busy and fun summer made up of a lot of fun memories and new experiences. It was the summer that you boys turned 8, 4 and 1. It was the summer Connor got baptized and Mason started walking. Of course there was lots of service through Club SOS. And you got some great exercise through track and field (Connor and Isabel), and we spent some hot hot hot Saturdays cheering for you in this new endeavor; and Connor you learned to swim this summer - hurrah for private lessons! You all went to the top of a 14,000-foot mountain for the first time, and spent lots of time swimming at pools with friends and splashing around at spray parks. I took you on weekly field trips called Learning Adventures of the Week, and we explored some new places that you loved learning about. You loved having grandma and grandpa visit, as well as Aunt Kristina and your cousins Nolan and Parker. You enjoyed a brief but fun visit with Aunt Kelley and Uncle Leo and cousins Cameron and Parker. And you loved when Nanna stayed with you for a couple of days and took such good care of you while dad and I went to Breckenridge for our 10th anniversary.

But it wasn't always so busy. We had a lot of quieter moments, which filled some days with hours of sun-drenched fun. And these were some of the best moments of our summer.

Remember when the hot air balloon festival filled the early morning sky one weekend with colorful hot air balloons that we could see from the backyard? You loved pointing out the different colors, shapes and patterns.

Remember when I made these lemon-slice cookies to celebrate the official first day of summer? They tasted just OK, but were really fun to look at!

Remember when we discovered the joy of grilled pizza? You especially loved it alongside some good homemade strawberry malts. And remember when I told you grilled pizza is fun because it's not a specific shape, and therefore I could cut your pieces into any shape (and by that I meant triangle, rectangle, etc) and Lucas asked for a horse-shaped piece? Remember how hard we all laughed?

Remember when we had crazy monsoon storms every afternoon for weeks on end? The wind, the heavy rain, the hail, the thunder and lightening... it was really something to behold. And it sure made for some beautiful clouds! You all love spying cumulonimbus clouds (and saying the word), and there were certainly many to spy!

Remember when you played for hours in your little pool? And Isabel, you pretended to play the steel drum to give it a more "beachy" atmosphere?

Remember when I was out jogging and found this snail, and carried it home to you because I knew you would just love it (and you did!) because you are crazy for creepy crawlies?

Remember when you would bring toys on the deck and play there for hours so nicely and quietly, and when you would involve water then it really became fun?

Remember when dad discovered a love for gardening (dad is rather nurturing and loves to take care of things, including you!), and taught you how to care for a garden?
You loved planting tomatoes, pumpkin, watermelon, peppers and more and watching them grow.

And you especially loved the huge raspberry patch in the backyard. Sometimes I couldn't find you in the backyard, and then I'd notice just the top of a head partly emerging from the thick bushes and then I'd see your red-stained smiles.

Remember when we had to cancel the camping trip we had scheduled for the week before school starts, because Connor had a fever for 5 days straight (which continues tonight, worrying me about the 1st day of school)? So instead, you camped in the backyard and we did s'mores and pancakes on the grill.

and after the campout we took you on one last little adventure of the summer: we rode the Light Rail to downtown Denver and walked around the 16th Street Mall, had a little lunch, saw the Capitol building and more. We had so much fun! And there was so very much to see.

Locals call this the "cash register" building; Isabel has always called it the printer building; either way, she always gets excited to see it when we drive by-

In front of the Capitol building-

This makes me want to sing, "feed the birds, tuppence a bag..."

So goodbye, Summer. Thanks for all the fun. You kids are going to have a great school year. I'm excited for what's ahead. But I'm grateful we can remember what has passed.

Love you! Thanks for the memories and for being such superstar children-
Your mom