Zoo pictures

I am going to keep my words in this post to a minimum after reading what I wrote last week, especially this quote:
"Sometimes it takes us 2 hours just to pick up a bag of birdseed or a birthday present for a friend, but we get out of the house and spend time together and the rest of the day I feel a sense of accomplishment."Could that sound any less impressive? If I had to fill out a resume today I doubt any potential employer would be blown away if I listed my recent accomplishments as: "Managed a trip to the Stop and Shop with 4 children without laying down mid-aisle in surrender"

So, here are the promised pictures from the zoo, including the ones Ace took before figuring out that the camera was backwards (you can click on them to enlarge)

Spring Break Part II

Some days just the thought of taking all 4 kids to the grocery store exhausts me and if I do attempt to run errands with all of them in tow, it easily unravels and ends in tears and humiliation (both mine). Other days, when the sun is shining and we are all full of happy energy, I love driving around town listening to Ace sing along to the radio and Lucy yelling at large trucks (she doesn't like them, I have no idea why). We don't get too much accomplished and I usually forget some essential items at the store. Sometimes it takes us 2 hours just to pick up a bag of birdseed or a birthday present for a friend, but we get out of the house and spend time together and the rest of the day I feel a sense of accomplishment. Last week I was lucky enough to have a lot of those days. We went to the park a few times, we went to the bookstore, the grocery store, soccer practice, the pet store. It was a great week. Friday Andy had the day off which was the best news because even though the week had been fun, by Friday I was exhausted and out of ideas for entertainment. We drove to Boston to go to the Zoo. It was small enough that we could see all the exhibits in just a few hours. After the zoo we went to Red Robin and watched Lucy tear her food into small pieces and then try and sneak them onto everyone else's plates. We even made it to Walmart where we got some things we really needed, like crates to put away the Christmas decorations that have been on the table in the basement for months. The kids all got to pick out one thing, 5 dollars or less as long as they could think of two reasons they needed it. Ace got a headlight because 1. All firefighters need them and 2. It would help him if he wanted to go in a tunnel. Julia and Hayley got watches  because 1. Hayley could tell us what time it is if we are outside with no clocks and 2. Julia found one that had Belle on it and wanted to wear it every day. Lucy got a baby doll because 1. Maamaa! Babbbeee! 2. Babbbeeee!!
Saturday after sports I declared that the rest of Spring Break must be dedicated to resting up for the return to school and the kids mostly cooperated with my declaration, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.
I bought a disposable camera for the zoo and let Ace, Julia and Hayley take all the pictures, I'll get them developed and try to post them tomorrow. Ace took at least 5 pictures with the camera backwards so I'm especially looking forward to those close ups of his face.

Big Doings

It's school vacation week and so far, Mother Nature has cooperated and given us 2 beautiful sunny days to enjoy. Unfortunately, I still have no camera to capture these days. That might not be the worst thing. I've had fun playing with the kids and following them around the park without rushing to get my camera or catch the perfect shot.
My parents were in town this weekend and we had a great dinner with them on Friday at the 99. Lucy is out of the phase now where she is constantly trying to escape the highchair and we don't have to bring her own food with us which makes eating out a fun outing rather than a chore again. It was sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go home on Monday so to cheer everyone up we went to our favorite store to create our own Spring Break Survival Kit. One of the items we got was a huge roll of paper so the kids could color. Usually a roll that big lasts us a few weeks but yesterday the kids decided to spend the afternoon drawing a zoo and used up the entire roll on animals that they taped along the wall of the playroom. I am not one to discourage their creative endeavors (and I got to watch last weeks DVRed episode of Glee) so I don't mind, we'll just go back for more paper tomorrow.
Today our only errand was to buy a bag of birdseed but on the way we decided to go to the big park and then we spent a half hour or so checking out all the animals at the feed store except the lizards. I told Ace the lizards gave me the willies and he was confused and asked the clerk why they named the lizard Willy. Then the clerk was equally confused and I didn't want to hurt her feelings by explaining that I found her lizard creepy so I asked what the cat's name was to change the subject. The cat's name was Misty. Ace kept calling her Willy. He was obviously more confused than I realized.
Julia was on tv this morning. She did the Barnyard Boogie with Danisha on the Sunny Side Up Show. If you have a child that likes PBS Sprout I highly recommend submitting a picture of them for the Barnyard Boogie dance. I have never seen Julia so proud, we've already watched it 3 times today.
Lucy is going through the 18 month sleep regression phase. For the past two weeks she has been screaming her head off whenever we even approach her crib at bedtime. And she still wakes up multiple times at night. Yesterday we skipped naps and she went down without much fuss at 8 and stayed in her bed until around 11. Then she woke up and I brought her to our bed where she proceeded to stretch out and take up the entire queen sized bed. After a few hours of clinging to less than a foot of space I tried (unsuccessfully) to take her back to her crib. At 2:30 Julia came to the bed too and I was considering just giving up the bed completely and sleeping on the floor. Instead,  Andy took her to sleep in the couch. We are all exhausted.

I don't really know how to wrap up this entirely too long update, so here is the picture we submitted for Julia's television debut. Seriously, if I had known she would really be on tv, I would have spent a lot more time choosing the photo. This just happened to be the first picture of her face that I had on the desktop. She didn't mind but Andy was confused as to why in the world I would have picked this goofy shot for her first chance at stardom.

Long days

I took the kids to the park a while ago and was busy snapping pictures when Lucy demanded that I take her down the slide. Smart cookie that I am, I stuck the camera in my back pocket and took her down the slide. The camera objected to being pressed between my butt and the slide and has not worked at all since. I'm bummed because it was 2 days before Easter so I had to take our Easter pictures on Andy's crappy camera phone and now I'm missing all the great photo opportunities that Spring brings.
So what does this mean to you? It means that instead of cute and precious pictures of the kids, you get  my sappy ramblings about how cute and precious my kids are.
Or maybe not. I had a bad day Friday. It was rainy and we had no plans for the day (besides a mountain of laundry that I had put off for almost a week). The kids had no idea what to do with themselves. My day sounded a lot like this: "MommyI'mthirstyMommyI'mhungryMommycanwewatchamovieMommyIwantanotherpretzelMommyIthinkthatispooponthe couchMommyI'mhungryagain"
Seriously, it was nonstop. I sent the kids to bed at 7:45 and Saturday and Sunday were much better. But Friday, that was a doozy. 
That is life with 4 kids, some days just suck the energy right out of you. Even on those days, I can at least count on a few laughs out of them. Friday it was the fact that Ace was wearing underwear that were 2 sizes too big and kept losing them when the fell down into his pants. He didn't want to admit his underwear were too big so when I asked what he as doing he shouted "Give me some privacy!" while standing in the middle of the living room with his hands down his pants. And Lucy, who fought bedtime everyday last week but fell asleep on the couch and started snoring so loud I thought it was the dog.
That too is life with four kids, the laughs and joy they bring me can transcend even a mountain of laundry and 12 hours of whining preschoolers.
(I'm still dreading the next rainy day)

Take me out to the ballgame.

Now the commotion of Easter weekend with five house guests is over and Spring is kicking into high gear here in New England, we are getting ready for...da da da da... Spring Sports! No one is more excited about this than I am because, well,  no one else is excited about this. Ace was excited about T-Ball until he found out that Greyson and Jack are on the Royals and he is on the Marlins and now he asked if we could just stop talking about T-ball altogether. Hayley keeps forgetting what sport she is signed up for (soccer) and Julia is bummed that she isn't four yet because there are no sports for 3 year olds. So, Saturday is not a big day for anyone but me. I love the routine of getting up early(ish) and heading out the the ball field and I love that after the practice and game and celebratory stop at Dunkin Donuts are over the kids are so pooped out that the don't mind if we spend the rest of the Saturday watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians and laying on the couch (and by "we" I do mean "me").
I love Spring. But then again, I love almost all the seasons, especially in the early transitional days when I really appreciate the new-ness of the season.
And because the seasons change but some things never do, Ace still loves everything related to firefighting. In fact, just tonight he informed me that he does not have enough gear. When I asked what he still needed his number one request was the jaws of life.

8

Dear Hayley,
First of all, I'm very sorry that this birthday tribute is 4 days late. Second of all, I'm sorry that it does not yet include the super awesome picture that I took of you on your birthday with you newly pierced ears. Third and finally of all, I'm just flat out sorry that your mommy is so lazy.
Anywhoos, now you are eight. Can you believe it? I sure can't.  You may not know this but your birth brought about some kind of freaky deeky time warp and now the years fly by at super speed. I can't explain it but trust me, these 8 years have gone by in a flash.
Your seventh year was a challenging for us both, there were so many big changes. Sometimes I think I pushed you too hard to be responsible and mature and I should have let you get away with more. We butted heads some but not really that much  because you are such an easy going girl, it is incredible. You allow me room to make mistakes as a mom and are so fast to forgive. You allow your brother to be pesky and still love him unconditionally. You understand that your sisters are still little and don't understand the world as well as you do and you take time to teach them and guide them. I could not be more proud of who you are right now, exactly as you are.
Your sense of humor is still one of the most beautiful things about you. You laugh and make others laugh along with you.  You are beautiful. Your smile makes a room light up, (even with your missing teeth!).
I know this year is going to be another great adventure with you leading the way. We love you so much, our little Peep.

Sunny days, chasing the clouds away...

I haven't updated much because we've been out in the sunshine welcoming the first signs of Spring. I hope you are finding the sunshine wherever you are, and soaking it up.

I have to warn you ahead of time that this post is going absolutely nowhere. I have no theme whatsoever to write about and the kids have not done anything story worthy this week (except Ace got this new fighter pilot coat and he strutted around the library to show it off and double high fived everyone he saw because he felt so awesome. But that doesn't translate well in writing. Trust me, it was so adorable it made 2 people cry and only one of them was his own mother.) Where was I? Oh yes,  so I have no real focus here but I feel like writing and have 45 minutes till I have to rush to claim a prime spot in the carpool lane.
I'm so tempted to nap because I've had this awful cold for days. It started as just a little itchy throat and I thought it would pass and I'd just have the stuffy nose that the girls have had for days  but instead it transformed into this horrible body aches, sinus headache, feeling like I've been hit by a truck cold. I spent much of yesterday in bed and now I'm much better. Then, since I spent the day in bed, at night I didn't know what to do with myself and was up until well after 2am. That sucked, what else can I say.
I was listening to a morning new shows on the radio and they were interviewing Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The interviewer asked him how his faith in God has changed as he got older. The closing line to the answer was about how he used to go to God with his long "shopping list" but now has learned to block other things out and just be with God. He compared it to sitting by a fire in winter. He said you don't have to be smart, you can just sit close to the fire and it will warm you. I was so moved  by that, I've been thinking about it all day.  Faith can be such a simple thing. I tend to complicate it by trying to find answers to everything big and small or worrying over different philosophies or interpretations. It was like taking a deep breath, to accept that being close to God can be as simple as just holding still and feeling the warmth.
Lucy is up now, she took such a short nap because Andy let her fall asleep on the couch while they watched CMT cribs.  I'm always mad when he does that because she wakes up when he moves and then won't finish her nap but they look so cute cuddled up that I don't have the heart to move her.
Our DVR has ruined Julia for regular tv. She's screaming at me now to start Yo Gabba Gabba over again because she knows they are wrapping up the show and doesn't want it to end. I can't seem to explain to her that I can't just rewind it.
Well, don't say I didn't warn you, this is quite possibly my most random post to date. I will try and make it worth your while by addind a picture of Ace in his new jacket tonight.
Edited to add: In order to finish up this riveting piece of writing I got Lucy out of her crib and sat her at the table with a spoon and a little bowl of hummus. I just turned around and every inch of my girl is covered in hummus except her right hand. That is because she is using that hand to hold the spoon at a safe distance from the hummus so it too is spotless. And I just saw her stick her entire face in the bowl. Neatness and decorum matter to Lucy.

Focus

Lucy has been in the bathtub for almost 20 mintutes. She has a tiny plastic cup and a Wall-E toy and she is filling the cup and pouring the soapy water on Wall-E. I ask what she's doing and she says "Wash" and continues on. It soothes me to watch her. She has a skill I don't possess, to focus on a singular task for such a long time and block everything else out. I want to spend a few moments in her mind and I wonder if I would be surprised. Is she really thinking of nothing but Wash? Or are there dozens of other thing running through her mind? Instead I just watch and she brings me a quiet moment to start our day.

The worst of me.

I'm not much of a morning person, I  hit the snooze button over and over again in order to grab hold of those four extra minutes of sleep. That makes our morning routine rushed, to say the least. On mornings that my only duty is getting Hayley to school on time I stay in bed until the last possible moment, directing her from my half asleep state to get dressed, find her homework, find her shoes and socks. Then I roll out of bed, fix her breakfast, throw on something halfway decent and drive her to school. Not much quality time there. That process wakes me up enough that by the time I get home I have energy and motivation to get out of the house or play with the kids here. By the time the afternoon fade kicks in Ace is off to school, Lucy is down for a nap and Julia is either tired from her morning preschool or happy to watch Yo Gabba Gabba so I have some downtime. So with the little ones our days have a good rhythm and I feel like they get the best of me, we play and laugh and there is plenty of quiet time during the day to spend with each of them, cuddling and talking and being together. Then, when Hayley comes home we kick back into high gear. We have a few hours for errands, extracurriculars, dinner, homework, baths, stories, and bedtime. In between there are sibling squabbles to settle because everyone is tired and cranky and constantly hungry. Again, not quality time. It makes me feel horrible because that is what Hayley gets from me 5 days a week, rushed morning and hectic evenings. It is hard for her to get a word in edgewise to tell me about her day, much less have my ear long enough to tell me her deep feelings. I would like to keep her up later than the littles so we can talk and have "our time" but she has the longest and most exhausting day of anyone so she is always the one the most ready for bed. I feel like she gets the worst of me.  I know the day is coming at me fast that there will be even fewer opportunities to be at my best for her, she will be doing more with her peers and less with us, busier with school work, less likely to chose an afternoon with us rather than a chance to hang out with her buddies. I want to give her my all every chance I get and instead I feel like she gets the leftovers after a long day of meeting the needs of her younger siblings. But, I'm going to keep on trying, maybe tomorrow I will do a little better.