First Day Of 3rd Grade And Kindergarten!!!

Great first day..Alina was greeted by about five girls screaming and talking about their new clothes and shoes...pretty funny. Courtney is in afternoon kindergarten so today Skip and I went in with her for an hour to do some fun activities. Now tomorrow will be her first day alone. She is very excited about it and was actually bummed that the time went by so fast today. I worry about her because she is so shy and sensitive but she is ready to go back! Way to go Courtney! Now if only I could somehow sneak Kenzie in there with her......

Girls Night

Thanks for the fun night out Steph and Lisa..I needed it.

Had dinner with two great friends tonight. Lots of laughs....Kids were asleep when I got home- husband is away fishing- A quiet house to myself...I'm in heaven!

A Few Summer Memories

Lake Tobias

Hershey Park

Backyard



Baltimore

FAO Schwarz-NYC

We also went to Rehoboth beach but the battery to my camera died down there- We lived at the pool this summer-all my kids love the water. Even though I'm ready for a routine I am sad though that we can't just pick up and go places anymore.

Chocolate Or Powdered?

Great morning breakfast...hey it's easy!

Amusing Conversations

This is a cute conversation with my 3 year old last night in bed.

Kenzie- "I think God and Jesus are brothers"

Me- "oh yeah?"

Kenzie- "Actually I think they are twin brothers"

How she came up with that I have no idea....


Then other days I hear her yelling at Courtney to "clean the damn sunroom".... oops that one is my fault.

Yesterday Alina and I were school shopping and she says, "when I get older I hope I marry someone handsome like daddy....just not as strict."

I need to start writing these down- oh how these girls make me smile!

Picture Perfect

Today my mom and I took the kids to get their pictures taken. It went pretty well. The first picture of them was taken at home right before we left.






Check that one off my to do list!!!

Just The Two Of Us

Today I had a few hours with just Alina. My dad took the other kids out for awhile. Oh how nice it was. At first I was going to stay home and get the house cleaned up but I knew as soon as Tyson stepped back into the house it would become a disaster again. So we did errands and I felt "free" again. It was great getting things done quickly. That doesn't happen too often. Alina and I went out for breakfast which is one of her favorite things to do because we don't go out to eat that often...would you with four kids??? So it was a great morning hanging out with my oldest daughter, and she enjoyed the quiet time just as much as I did...and once we got home she dropped me like a hot potato for her Justin Bieber CD. Guess I better get used to that- she's not so little anymore.

He May Be Little But........

Need I say more?????

More Than A Job

My daughter Kenzie had speech for a few months before turning three and I absolutley adored her teacher. Miss "B" just got my crazy household. She would come in early while I was trying to get Alina out the door for school, it was just pure chaos but she understood it because she has five children of her own....yes five. They are highschool age and older but she remembers those young days like it was yesterday. She would give me advice, expect my house to look the way it did with four kids and so on. When Tyson was in the hospital she came to visit him, made my family dinners..she is just awesome. I was so sad when Kenzie didn't need her anymore. We kept in touch thru email and I am happy to say she is now Tyson's speech therapist. I am so happy I am going to see her weekly again. She is great at what she does and I know Tyson will excel having her as his teacher. And she is just as happy to be back at our house.
I also love Tyson's OT and PT. They have been with him since he was a few months old and you can tell what they do is more than just a job to them. I got to know them on a personal level- we talk about other things and I love that. I have sat there and cried to them (which I don't like to do often b/c I hate to cry in front of people) and they listen. Having three of the best therapists made me realize how important it is to have a special relationship with them. I couldn't be any happier with them....oh and most importantly Tyson loves them too!!

Good Day To Be Doing This

So it is raining here today and I actually hoped it would so I could stay inside and get some stuff done....funny. But I would rather be doing what the above pitures look like. These are the days that sometimes I don't feel like being a mom... ok let me put it in a nicer manner- that I want to have some time alone because with four kids there is always at least one following me out the door. I like to think back to when I lived alone,staying in bed all day recovering from a serious hangover. Ahhh those were the good old days. Yep- old days. I couldn't imagine waking up with a hangover to four kids...that's a hangover itself! My best friend and I are always reminiscing about the fun times we had in our 20's. But then one of us gets interrupted to the sound of someone yelling.."mom, can you wipe me???" Back to reality.
Don't let the above pictures of Tyson fool you. That boy is down to one nap a day and only about an hour long. How does he do it?

Buddy rockin the new haircut

Girl Talk- I Love It

This is a conversation between Alina and her friend who is hilarious.."M" is also 8 years old and thru this whole conversation Skip was in the room with us-

Me- "So M are you ready for school to start?'

M- "No I hate school but I am changing up my style this year"

Alina- "what are you wearing...Goth?(gothic style)

then they both start giggling

M- "Instead of my usual sweatpants and sweatshirts I got some cool clothes this year- some peace shirts with scarves, jeans ect.."

then she pauses and looks at Skip(my husband)

M- "But my mom has to put cream on my legs because they rub against each other when I have jeans on..

Me- "How is your younger brother Maxie doing?"

M- "He's good but we're not aloud to call him that because that's the name of my mom's pad.

Skip shakes his head and proceeds to leave the room. Poor guy..he's never
going to win a battle living with a total of four girls in the house- he
better get that downstairs basement finished for himself(aka his apartment)

Happy 8th Birthday Alina!!

Today was Alina's birthday and we took her and Courtney to the Baltimore Aquarium. Their birthdays are 10 days apart so we wanted to do something this year with just the two of them. We had a fun and easy time. Easy because I did not have to lug around a stroller or even a diaper bag. It was a nice relaxing time with our oldest girls.I think the last time we were there was when Alina was 2. My wonderful parents watched Kenzie and Tyson for the day. Thanks mom and dad! I think the best part Alina likes about being 8 is that she no longer needs a booster seat. We love you Alina!

Playdate For Tyson

Tyson had his friend Finn over today -Finn is 16months old and just so adorable with his big brown eyes and long eyelashes. This was Finn's second visit with us. I overheard Alina(my oldest) saying no to hanging out with a friend at the pool today because she wanted to see Finn. She loves the fact that Tyson has his own little friend. And today Tyson is 22 months old!

Bad Cake=Extra Cash

Yesterday Alina had some friends sleep over for her birthday-(it is on sunday) I went to Walmart to pick up the cake I had ordered. It was $29.00! I was floored. I didn't expect it to be that much and I didn't need a 1/2 sheet but I figured I ordered it that big by accident. Maybe I just don't know but I thought that was expensive. The dye on the icing stained our hands and mouths and overall it wasn't good but I thought "oh well." Usually I am pleased with their cakes.

My husband comes home later and has a piece and tells me how awful it tasted. He told me to smell it and it smelled like rotten eggs. Real nice- I just fed this cake to my kids and her friends.

Needless to say my husband took it back(Walmart takes everything back) raised hell about it and in return he got the $29.oo back plus $20.00. I think I'm done ordering cakes from Walmart. Nobody seems sick this morning so hopefully we are all good to go!!

Like I Said..He Can Do It!

So today Tyson's OT was over and she was working on stacking leggo style blocks on one another. He ended up stacking 6 of them independently and 10 more with some help from her. The funny thing was when she tried to help him he swatted her hand away as if to say he did not want help. Fiesty little guy...we were both laughing. It was real neat to see him doing it all by himself. Proud momma here if you couldn't tell!

He Can Do Anything

Everytime Tyson does something new I'm always so proud of him. Well I'm proud of him everyday for overcoming so many obstacles. I was joking with my therapist the other day because she was telling me how well he is doing, how it was great he walked at 17 months and how she believes he is high functioning. I said to her." I know- sometimes I wonder if he even has down syndrome!" (I was joking of course) Kids with down syndrome eventually do everything that typical children do...it just takes a little more time. But he ceases to amaze me. I never knew how to discipline him because I was afraid he would not understand the word no. Well let me tell you he does. He looks at me before he is about to throw food on the floor because he knows he shouldn't....he actually waits for me to say no. So now he slides the food down beside his leg onto his chair thinking I won't know.....until I get him out and there is food all over his seat!!! I can't help but almost be happy he does that because he....he just gets it. He knows if he shouldn't do something he'll find another sneaky way of doing it. And I like that. I like that he is finding other ways to do things....even if it is a bad thing!!!