I lied. School sucks.

I spoke too soon. It hasn't passed. She's puked probably 15 out of the 20+ days she's been going to kindergarten. I know its nerves because she's not sick and she only throws up before she goes to school. I put her on the bus, she's fine maybe 50% of the time, the other 50% she is weepy and sad. Sometimes she even throws up a tiny bit on the bus. This morning I tried children's dramamine, but it doesn't seem to be enough or in her system enough to get her on the bus. I'll try again tonight by giving it to her before bed and again when she wakes, maybe i can get it into her system enough to prevent the puke. Even if I can't prevent the nerves.

I'm 90% sure she has a good day when she goes. She plays and has friends and sees her cousin every so often. She comes home and says things were awesome. But every morning she doesn't want to go again.

Gah. It sucks. I hate it.  I really hope this doesn't last all year...but I have no indication that anything is going to change anytime soon. What would make it better? According to her, if i go to school to be a helper or something, that would help. Ugh.

This too shall pass

And it has! I think. I hope..I forcefully WILL it to be so. I put her on the bus this morning with no tears and no sadness, just a big hug and a wave. She was chatting up her neighbor friend before they got on and it was fantastic. I could tell she was starting to come around after school on Friday. She was saying things like 'I don't want to go to school...but I have to.' and then she'd talk about her classmates and she's remembered more names than I ever will. This morning was fantastic.

I also acquired some echinacea drops to give her periodically to help build her immune system as well as some organic vitamins with extra C and Zinc to help her fight whatever she does catch. Let's hope we can stay ahead of all the colds those kids like to pass around.

So. YAY for Kindergarten now. I am so relieved after that bus load...my entire day is going to be fantastic. I can work alone, which I always knew I'd love when I got back to it, but I can also really focus because I'm not worried about how my baby is doing. She's great!

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the last one. That was a rough week.

Sad Kindergartner

I put the 5yo on the bus this morning, crying. She doesn't want to go to school anymore because she misses me and doesn't like leaving me. She asked why I can't be her teacher, or a helper teacher, or ride the bus with her, or something! Gah. Breaking my heart. It will get better..won't it ?

School is IN!

Hooray for the first day of school! I have been waiting for this day for about three years now. I work from home which is awesome, but it's a little bit difficult sometimes to balance the kids with my work schedule. Today is the first day in five years that I won't be fetching someone juice or yelling at anyone to stop fighting. My oldest is now a fifth grader and she got on the bus this morning at 7:15 without any problems, she was pumped and ready for it. The Kindergartener was a little more hesitant, processing things as she goes, but her grandpa drives her bus so that was comforting for her and he called to let me know she got off with no problems. She climbed on at 8:05 with a weepy face, but no crying. Her cousin also goes to her school now, and so her uncle saw her get off the bus all smiles. So I feel like this is a beautiful beginning.

It's Official

I now own a fifth grader. Fourth grade promotion day today.

Hey Batter Batter

The 5yo's first t-ball game was tonight. It is the most adorable thing ever. There are no outs, everyone bats every time, and they go for 5 innings or one hour, whichever comes first. It's too cute not to share.

Lexi T-Ball from Melissa Anderson on Vimeo.

Lexi T-ball - Batter up from Melissa Anderson on Vimeo.

Lexi - T-ball - Catcher from Melissa Anderson on Vimeo.

The Loft

So, the oldest has a lot of stuff in her room. She has her bed of course, and dresser and nightstand. She also has a desk and the barbie dream townhouse. It all fits...but not well. We had to turn her bed so it extends into the room so the desk would fit next to it. It doesn't leave a lot of space for playing or entertaining friends. So..after a search, we found plans for a loft bed by OP Loft Beds and the husband got to work last weekend. It was hard work, but so far..totally worth it.

She LOVES the bed. She can't wait to come home every day from school and take her friends up there to play and read and hang out. She loves to sleep in it too. I love all the floorspace she has now and her desk fits well enough underneath I think we won't bother building more than a shelf or two in front of it to hold some desk items. It's pretty awesome. I still need to talk her into purging some stuffed animals, but, let's just take this one step at a time.

Yes, the ceiling fan is a problem. We'll be replacing it with a regular light fixture and working out some other fan solution. She has a small clip on fan up on the bed for sleeping (and for ambient noise) but she'll need more airflow in the summer up there, we'll work it out. We also have plans to find an awesome bean bag chair and add some peace sign stencils to the white woodwork, to girlify it a bit :)

And no, I did not know that OP = orgy proof. Check the "How We Got Our Name" section of their site to learn more about that.

Stop growing

This one is just getting too big. Someone is going to have to ask her to SLOW DOWN PLEASE!

Ah kids

Says the 5yo. "Two things are different about daddies. They stand up to pee and they don't wipe"

Same 5yo. "One of my boogers is watching Spongebob, the other one is playing webkinz. "

She's hilarious, but super offended if you laugh.

I'm just so lazy

Hey. Not me, this isn't about me. This time. We decided to go to Applebees for dinner Sunday night. End the weekend well, eat well, not clean up after ourselves. So I told the girls we're going.

The 10yo exclaims "OH MAN! I wish I'd charged my iPod ! It's dead."

 I say "why don't you charge it right away, when it dies, take it up to your charger, plug it in".

She says "Because I'm just so lazy!"

Ha. There you have it. At least she admits how lazy she is.

Slacker

Wow. It's been awhile I guess. I sometimes get ideas for a blog post, but it turns out I'm pretty lazy. Finding time to sit down and write it, find a photo maybe, be funny and charming. Gah. Too much work. So the blog sits. Sorry.

November 1st the great grandparents moved close to town. They were in Illinois, about 3 hours from us, and now they're about 15 minutes away in an assisted living retirement place. It's pretty awesome. I can't tell you how much the girls hated driving 3 hours to see them, and we didn't do it very often. Now we see them all the time, as often as we want and it's so easy to pop out there if they need something or to pick them up and bring them over for a holiday or a visit or whatever. They love it there too, they have their own apartment and space and they brought their dog with them. There is a nursing staff keeping on top of the diabetes involved which is great because he can't slack off or they'll get on him about it, so it's better for them as well. It's pretty awesome.

November 17th we moved the in-laws into their new house. It is a beautiful ranch style home with three bedrooms and two baths and a full unfinished basement. It's really wonderful. I love all the choices they made for finishes and now I'm so jealous I have started plotting how to upgrade my own home :) It is so nice to be able to pop over there now - they're only 4 minutes away, less than 2 miles. Previously they were 2 hours away. The girls LOVE this new drive to see Grandma and Grandpa. LOVE IT. So the 17th we got up early, took the girls to my dad's house for the morning and we headed to their old city to load up the moving trucks (actually moving boys did that) and head back here. We got in the car at 930 to head out of town and we passed my father in law in the first truck about 10 minutes outside of their old city. We got to the storage place, I got into the driver seat of our truck, the husband got into the other moving truck and we headed directly back home. It was the fastest we've ever taken that trip. Then we sort of watched the movers unload and helped direct. The 5yo wasn't feeling well, so it turns out I took a sick kid to my dads and she threw up (mostly snot) about five times while she was there. She has a really weak stomach, so a cold = vomit, nearly every time. She was mostly recovered by Sunday and we helped settle the in-laws into their home more. Moving furniture, assembling beds and arranging their basement a little bit so it was another usable space. It's really really nice and we couldn't be more pleased that they're hear. Since then, they've called a couple times to borrow something (a lot of their things are still in boxes and kind of hard to find) and they say whenever we have a minute to bring it by. It literally only takes 4 minutes (it'd be less without stoplights and signs or traffic) so we always just pop over there for what they need. I think they're not used to that, but it's huge for us, we love that part. The whole point of them moving here was to be closer, see us more..pop in. It's pretty awesome.

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind. Since all our family is all in town now it's easy to schedule and figure out what we're doing when. So we had Thanksgiving with the in-laws, great grandparents at an aunt-in-law's house. It was great food and visiting and we got to Skype with my sister in law and see that squishy baby she's got. It was a great day, and we were home before dinner time. That's both a bonus and a drawback. Bonus because we had time to start on our Christmas shopping plans but a drawback because we had no leftover turkey. Friday we headed over to my brother's for another Thanksgiving. Their new house is nice and big and the kids can run off and play and we can hardly hear them. We played pictionary and catchphrase and it was a pretty great day. Saturday and Sunday we caught up on things around the hose and tried to pin down our Christmas gift plans. Ideally we wanted to be all done with the shopping by early December.

We succeeded mostly. We've only got to find a couple more gifts for the girls, pickup something for my nephew and new neice and figure out stockings. We've got a date planned for this Friday to leave the girls with the in-laws OVERNIGHT and finish up our shopping, have dinner and a night of our own. I hope nothing gets in the way of that. It seems like every time we plan something without the girls..it gets interrupted by puke or something. So I'm really hopeful we can do this. It's just an overnight and Christmas shopping, but I could really use that.

I'm looking forward to Christmas. My sister in law is coming for nearly a week and bringing that squishy baby girl and I cannot wait to see her in person and get some squeezes. It'll be so much fun to hang out with them and to have everyone so near by and avoid the inevitable driving they end up doing when people are spread out. This way we can gather at my in-laws easily throughout the holiday and get our fill of each other. It's going to be awesome.

In unrelated news I have this odd pain in my upper back. Sort of below my shoulder blade, but it feels more...inside. I'm terrible at explaining it and I blame it on sleeping on a MyPillow that was too fat for me for a week. It feels kinda like there's a little bouncy ball in there..and so if I just sit normal, it's fine. If I reach for my nightstand light..or breathe super deep, or sneeze, gah the sneezes...it feels like the bouncy ball doesn't fit anymore and it hurts a bit. I convince myself that its a muscle pull most likely..most of the time. I dunno. I saw a chiropractor who called it weird and I'm not sure it's really that big of a deal or worth seeing an MD so they can say 'yup, muscle pull'. So, I dunno..it seems pretty ok right now, so I'm just going to live with it for a bit. If it's a muscle pull it'll eventually improve...right. How long is eventually..that's the question I guess.

TEN. TEN!

This is what TEN looks like. She was born TEN years ago, at 6:08 am weighing in at 8lbs 6oz..see that. 8-06 at 6-08... She's smart and beautiful and caring and sensitive and loves soccer and her friends and school. She's fantastic. We'll have a small party tonight with just us because she has church group (Awanas) and then Saturday she's having a party with her friends followed by a party for family. It's gonna be super fun.

Family Photos

Sunday we headed out to Palisades State Park for our annual family photo session. It was preceded by the same whining and complaining as every other year. Then we said we could take the dogs with us...and they suddenly thought it was the best idea ever. We took some pretty great pictures, in spite of not being allowed to go near this particular tree with a giant knob on it - the 5yo wouldn't get near it. The girls posed on the railing in the park and we all sat in some leaves. I even walked in dog shit on my way out. Who does that..leaves their dog's poop in a state park for someone else to walk in, jeez. Anyway, we then headed over to Navajo park in town, to take some pictures of the girls on the playground equipment. Then we headed home and they jumped in the pile of leaves until the husband sucked 'em all up.

Thong vs Wedgie

Kids are so funny. My youngest is five and she's turned out to be really hilarious. She's super observant and smart which I think comes from trying to keep up with her almost-10-yo sister. So, Friday night I'm putting them to bed and she puts her clothes in the laundry and then comes over to me and says, 'gotta keep my wedgie' and pulls her panties into her butt, 'like yours she says'. I had to explain that my panties are made that way, and hers are different. It's not a wedgie - it's a thong. The husband was having to really contain himself in the hallway. She's hilarious - but if you laugh, she does not find that funny.

5 Reasons Kids Should Play Organized Sports

So the Listable Life...list..for today from momof6 is ...

5 Reasons You Think Kids Should Play Organized Sports

1. Socialization - My kids are at home with me a lot. I work from home, so they've grown up just hanging out with me while I work, waiting for neighborhood friends to come home. Playing on a team of strangers helps to get them used to meeting new people and learning how to interact.
2. Exercise - Duh. Running around chasing that soccer ball is great exercise. At the end of the game, the girls are soooo exhausted its hilarious. They no longer care about the game and just can't wait for the whistle that ends it. 
3. Responsibility -Joining a team teaches my kids about obligations. Not in a drudgery sort of way, but in a 'hey, these people are my teammates and I owe them my best effort'. It's been really good to teach my oldest that she needs to try her best and work hard, for the other girls on her team.
4. Parental Responsibility - Honestly, I'd rather not go anywhere or do anything that didn't suit me. Going out, visiting with strangers, watching our children play together - not my thing. I like to stay at home, organize a drawer, take care of things around here. I tolerate the kids playing with other neighbor kids, because it's my job, as a parent, to encourage them to branch out, to be friendly, to have fun. 
5. Fun - sometimes it's just plain fun. The oldest has now decided she might also like to try basketball. So now I'll have to find a local basketball clinic type thing for her to try out. She likes shooting hoops on the playground - playing Knockout. I don't know what that means. She also likes shooting hoops after Awana on Wed. night at church, so I think that has piqued her interest.
 

Whew. Five things was a lot to come up with.

Summertime

Summertime is over. School started Thursday (the 16th).

This post is going to have a lot of pictures. We tried to make sure our week off, our vacation at home, our staycation if you will was awesome. We didn't want to spend too much so we decided to stay home, but ended up spending plenty of money anyway at the fair and local shopping and mini golfing and bowling. It was a great week though.We started by trampolining at my brother's house. They're moving and not taking the trampoline with them, so we need to get some jump time in on it before its unavailable.

That's the 4yo jumping with her cousin

Next up, bowling! The 4yo had never been bowling and the 9yo had been with her school. So we took some free coupons we had from their reading program at the library and went and bowled just for the cost of shoe rental. That was pretty sweet.

Daddy helping the 4yo to bowl

The 9yo is clearly a pro

I can do it myself!

After bowling we saw the weather was going to get a bit hot. So we got up a little earlier the next morning and went mini golfing. It was perfect, hot enough we didn't want to be there long, but nice enough we could get through 18 mini holes. We even took a break in the middle to cool off in the a/c and take a potty break. I couldn't decide which photos to post..so I'm posting all the good ones. I did mention this was a photo heavy post, right?

Since it was so hot that day we came home, had some lunch and rested for a bit. Then we headed out to the pool. We're pretty lucky to be able to have a pool and the girls love it. They always find ways to make games and play act things out.

 We took a break for the go go go on Wednesday and then we headed out Thursday to do some horseback riding and visit the Iowa State Fair. The 9yo loved horseback riding and I hung with the 4yo while we waited, which was fun too. So much crazy good food and things to see at the fair and we found some pretty cool products to buy as well. I'd actually like to hunt down the nandymemoholder.com people so I can buy more. I also found sudsysoapcakes.com and haredo.com . We spent too much of course, but it was a lot of fun.

making spin art

the finished spin art

ice cream is so good

Friday we took it easy again and then the weekend was sort of full with adult plans. The husband took a long motorcycle ride with some friends (Poopy's Triangle) and then I had a bachelorette party and Sunday the husband golfed and I had a bridal shower. All in all it was an excellent vacation. 

I also thought it'd be easier this summer to exercise, and do things with the kids and do this and do that. I was wrong. Summer break made it harder to get all the things I wanted to do done..I'm too busy playing with my children in all the free time.

Fourth Grade

I have another post about our vacation in the works with a ton of pictures etc, but I just can't get to it yet. So instead, today is the first day of school for our district. I now have a fourth grader. FOURTH GRADE!

So big and smart and beautiful

I promise

There is a post coming. I just keep running out of time to do it. I have taken a ton of pictures of some of the things I've been cleaning and organizing around the house. I'm sure it's much more exciting for me than it might be for you but I intend to post about it soon. I had hoped to post my progress on the list I'd made of things to do around the house...but I got distracted by all kinds of things. 

A sort of partial list of what I got through:
- clean out drawers, mine, husbands and both girls
- photograph stuff to be donated (half done)
- touch up ceiling paint in whole house
- look for large red vase for front yard ( no purchase yet, i hope soon)
- power wash house (husband did this)
- swim (we swam on Sunday, super hot outside, pool a nice 83 degrees)
- shop for new sandals for girls (done)
- hang out with my dad, his girlfriend with her kids for Memorial Day
- new swimsuits for the girls
- kitchen drawer and cabinet organization (about half done)

Things still to do:
- figure out solution for pots/pans cabinet
- pick/buy/plant big red vase for front yard (go to Earl May)
- paint exterior front door trim (white)
- make chore charts
- spray yard for bugs (husband)
- finish photos of donation and take to Goodwill
- order piggy bank for friends adopting
- clean master bedroom headboard/footboard, prep for sale
- get new cfl lightbulbs for girls fans
- balance 9yo ceiling fan (it shimmies so much, and makes so much noise, she refuses to use it)
- clean/organize under sink
- take down master bedroom art
- fill holes in master BR walls from art
- get new desk rubber mat (this plastic thing is crap and lasts all of 2 seconds)
- dust the house (this might never get done)
- research new bedroom sheers
- research blackout curtains for girls rooms (can ivory/white curtains really be blackout?)
- get gate kit for pool deck (husband)

GAH. That's a lot more TO DO than I got done. That's a little discouraging. Oh well, some of the things I got done were pretty satisfying, and going shopping with the 9yo, just she and I, was pretty great on Sunday. Anyway...more to come.

If you're bored, while waiting for my next awesome post, read my friends as they travel in S.Korea and pick up their son. It's been a long road and I am so very excited that it's finally coming to a point where they have him with them. Read about it here.

A New Week. Without Naps.

As much as I hate Mondays, I'm glad for a new week. The 9yo has conquered the pukes and the 4yo seems to just be fighting off the remains of a cold. The last couple of days she's fallen asleep around 3-4pm and slept for an hour or so. Bedtime the last two nights has not gone well. Something like this maybe...

Moooooommmmm.

What.

I can't sleep.

Just rest your eyes and try.

Ok. (mom goes downstairs, settles into couch for blogging...)

Moooooommmmmm.

What.

I need my back rubbed.

Grrr. Ok (rub her back, pat pat, ok go to sleep)

3:30 am. Clunk. Sliiiidddee (imagine a sliding closet door, open....clunk. closed.)

(husband) What's she doing? (me) oh, just getting a new stuffed toy probably. at 3:30am.

Then I hear rustling very near our door. Ugh. I get up, and say 'go get back in bed'. I pick up the stuffed toys she's crafted into a bed. Head in to tuck her in again, at 3:30 am. Did I mention the time? She's wide eyed. Like I CANNOT POSSIBLY SLEEP WOMAN! Thankfully, she goes back to sleep.

NO MORE NAPS. Seriously, no more naps.

In other news, I can't wait to see Oh Dawn's new house. I hope there are loads of pictures. I may be moving vicariously through her move to a new house. 

Filmmaker

I'm not considering this my real post for today, but I had to share. Adorable 4yo in adorable GAP sweatshirt singing Lazy Town song. Also, this was recorded on her vtech camera, so not the best quality but still super cute.