Coming Out of "Hiding"

It’s been about two years since I’ve regularly blogged. I could blame it on several things:

• Getting a new job (teaching third grade at the same school as Ryan--I love it!)
• Coaching track with Ryan and manning the weight room together in the offseason
• Different technology (camera hit by a basketball, phone hard to get pictures off of, have to log out of one account and into another in order to blog)
• Boys getting older and being in more activities (3 in baseball, 2 in basketball, 1 in choir and a running book club)
• Boys getting older and not saying/doing as many cute and/or bloggable things
• Laziness

The boys have asked to read old blog posts a few times lately, and we’ve all died laughing at their little-kid antics. I’ve been struck by the fact that I have forgotten SO much of our day-to-day life! And so, at the boys insistence (“You need to blog more!!”) and for the sake of preserving memories, I’m going to try to chronicle a bit more of our crazy life. Here’s a jumbled blob containing what I want to remember about our life from the past two years (what I can remember of it) and right now:

• Reed had a hard time adjusting to his new school. He and I braved third grade at the same time. It was an adjustment for both of us. He liked his teacher, made friends, and did well, but he still would’ve picked returning to his old school if given the choice. A few months into fourth grade, he finally felt like it was “home.” I knew this when he finally told me (with hidden tears) that it was ok to throw away his old school shirt-- It was a monstrosity - ripped like the Hulk.
• Calvin had a great first year in first grade. He didn’t really play with anyone at recess, but he, in true Calvin style, didn’t care. He said he was friends with a few boys, but they were playing “a stupid zombie game” at recess, and he didn’t want to play, so he just did his own thing. The friendships became tighter somewhere between then and now, and he has tight buddies (who now play basketball instead of stupid zombie games).
• Max has grown up so fast! I honestly don’t remember what he was like last year, and that makes me super sad. This year, and even these last few months, he has grown up in so many ways. He (sort of) ties his own shoes and has started doing big-boy math and reading. He’s all the time making up math problems (Two biscuits plus two biscuits equals four biscuits!) and he’s just started trying to read words (he sounded out “pause” - “paws-ee” from the treadmill in the weight room yesterday morning). He is super ready for kindergarten - and we are ready for him to be with the whole family (and save us almost 40 minutes of driving a day!)
• Coaching track with Ryan has been amazing! The first season is a bit of a blur, but it was crazy, stressful, successful, and usually fun. This season started super stressful, but went so well that I really only have fond memories! It’s been really nice to have a shared passion. We don’t always see eye to eye, but overall it has been really good for our marriage! I feel like we are a real team--more so in our community than even at home! This summer, I even started going to his cross country conditioning sessions and running with some of the girls. Distance running is SO not my thing, but I’ve really enjoyed it and gotten to where I can run much longer than I ever could before!
• We put new flooring in our living room, halls, and one bedroom and have done a few little improvements, but we’re starting to dream about moving--maybe even building--a little closer to work. Just praying and dreaming right now, but it’s fun to imagine the possibilities! The boys like to play a game where we each design (out loud, usually in a car) our dream house or backyard or car. Most recently, we perused Pinterest looking for the ultimate swimming pool. Calvin settled on one in the shape of a foot--with five hot tub toes. There would also be a slide, diving board, sunken trampoline, and nearby fire pit. This is the most realistic dream design we have created to date. Most of the other plans involve robot servants and teleporters.
• Life is great! I feel like I have arrived as a mother! The boys are self sufficient (they put away their own laundry, make their own breakfast, and have even started cooking supper together one night a week), portable (we take them with us to conditioning every day. They happily read or play at the park while we run and take turns looping around to check on them), and fun (they are creative, genuinely funny [sometimes] and so fun to watch in sports)! They are also loud, annoying, and fight like dogs. I oscillate between thinking I have the smartest, most talented, most wonderful young men on the planet and wanting to lock them all in a sound-proof padded room, not caring who emerges alive. Such is motherhood, I suppose...

Back to School

I'm actually typing this post in November, so I have the benefit of knowing the future, but when this picture was taken on the first day of school this year, our family was a mix of excitement and fear.

No, Max didn't take this picture. We figured a selfie was more reliable than a Max-ie.

Reed and Calvin were starting at a new school. I was starting the new job I'd been so hesitant to go for for so many years.  The new teacher orientation and professional development days had been great. So great, in fact, that I'd cried to Ryan on the way home one day that "I love our new life!" But the first day of school is where the rubber meets the road, man. Our boys had been to summer school, but that was with waaaay fewer kids then they'd be with today. As for me, every teacher is pumped about school when there are no kids around. Your lessons go perfectly in your head and your classroom is spotless. But introduce the munchkins into the equation and things can get interesting. And I would be working with shorter munchkins this year! Two years shorter! 

I have to admit, third grade took a month or so to get used to. I mean, the friendly sarcasm that worked so well on ten-year olds went right over the head of my eight-year-olds! But about October, I started to realize that the kids that seemed like tiny babies to me in August had made HUGE changes in behavior AND performance. Let's be honest, I had too. The learning curve is big in third grade - for the students and the new teacher. And the halls seemed to shrink, too. It's late November as I type this and I'm happy to report that all my doubts about making this change have been erased. Yes, I still miss the people I left, but I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be - and I'm lovin' it! 

As for the boys, Calvin has been flourishing this year! Reed's age and personality have made the transition a little harder for him, but he's doing well. He's made new friends and enjoys himself at school. If it ever comes up in conversation, he'll admit that he still wishes he were with his old friends, but it comes up less and less often. 

I remember my first year at my old job. A lot of the pressures were similar. Feeling a little out of place. Being scared that you weren't competent. Having to make everything from scratch. I told Ryan at one point that year that I loved the teaching part, but the minute the kids left the room I felt like I was drowning. Well, I have to say this year I feel a lot like the first-year teacher again - Only this time I have three kids and have to leave by 4:30 to get to the sitter's on time! But, Cross Country season ended a few weeks ago, and our whole family has been riding together. I grade while we talk and for the first time in months I'm feeling a little margin clear up in our lives. And I know from experience, it's just going to keep getting better!

And now, just for the viewing pleasure of the aunts and grandmas, here are the rest of the back-to-school photos we shot. I fully intended to put these up on facebook that night, but life got in the way and I lost the camera (in the console of the car) and didn't discover it until a few weeks ago. 

A Tale of Two Sickies

A bug has swept through our household, illustrating what we already knew -- these kids are like night and day. Consider:

Sickie A:

Is “sick” off and on for three weeks.

Sickie B:

Is “sick” only when they are currently throwing up - or don’t feel like going to summer school (never mind that this happened days before the first physical symptoms). 

Sickie A:

Misses two days of school, has nurse call me to pick him up early another day, and skips several of brother’s T-ball games.

Sickie B:

Misses a day of school and doesn’t understand why he isn’t allowed to play in his T-ball game that night.

Sickie A:

Spends his sick days home laying around moping, reading, not eating, and asking “How much longer will my stomach hurt?” 

Sickie B:

After vomiting and watery diarrhea, rallies and proceeds to don a Batman costume and attack his baby brother with plastic balls. Is unfazed by the series of toot-squirts that follow - other than expressing anger the “I didn’t have ANY warning!” and disappointment that his Wolverine jumpsuit has to go in the washer. 

Sickie A:

Carries a barf bucket with him EVERYwhere he goes for days after his last barf incident, “just in case.”

Sickie B:

Throws up in bed, doesn’t tell a soul, rolls around in it all night, then gets mad when I make him take a shower the next morning.

Date with My Little Man

I took a personal day today to be a mom on a field trip. Reed's class went to see a live performance of  Beauty and the Beast and eat at the park afterwards. The trip was fun - seeing Reed interact with his friends, watching him act like he didn't like the romantic part where Belle "kisses" Beast (actually, she gently caresses his fur mask, but who can tell when they're peeking through their fingers?), holding a friend's sweet baby through the entire performance, being one of the cool moms who brings fast food instead of a sack lunch, and yacking it up with other teachers and moms while only having to keep an eye on one kid instead of an entire class! But the best part of the trip was after I signed my boy out for the day. I had given him the choice of riding the bus back to school with his friends, riding with me to pick Calvin up after school, or going "somewhere" before we headed to pick both brothers up at the sitter's. He chose exactly what I thought he would: to go to Toys R Us. I let him ride shotgun and he nervously accepted after I told him we'd move the seat all the way back and I'd drive really carefully.

We decided to make an impromptu stop at the local nature center before we left the park. We read about arrowheads, pressed all the turkey call buttons, took a silly picture, and gawked at the two-headed snake, all completely uninterrupted by pesky siblings, impatient dads, or attention deficit-ed classmates (a completely rare phenomenon).

It was nice. Then, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through toy heaven, where I got a detailed explanation of several characters that, while it didn't particularly interest me, didn't annoy the ever-loving crap out of me (also rare lately). He debated and debated what to get with his tiny allowance savings, then melted my heart when he settled on three Pez dispensers, two picked out especially for his brothers.

I stopped at a gas station to use the restroom and treat us to a snack, wanting to buy something for my generous little man. He opted for peanut butter cups. I got Bugles. I shared mine with him and he politely asked if I would be violating my lenten promise if I ate just one peanut butter cup or one Pez candy. I regretfully declined, heart melted again! We had a philosophical discussion about sin which somehow morphed into a super-detailed movie description (or video game, I'm really not sure). Let's just say my mind wasn't fully engaged and I started to get drowsy, so I started a round of "Would you Rather...?" that entertained for miles.

Nothing that we did was super special, but I have a feeling by the way Reed acted, it was special to him. And me, too.  Without having to compete for attention with two rather loud competitors, he proved to me that he's not just a boy who never. stops. talking. He's actually a great conversationalist with some great things to say. Our date made me realize all over again what a neat little guy we're raising.

Eight

My biggest little baby turned eight today. EIGHT! I can't believe we've been parents for almost a decade! I can't believe this hairy little baby...

...has grown up to this handsome young man!

He's definitely in the in-between stage -- sometimes acting/looking like a little boy, but more and more seeming like a young man. So grown up, in fact, that I can no longer tell stories on him, as per his recent request. So, hypothetically speaking, if he saw a shaggy fur vest in a girls' juniors section and thought it was cool and wanted to spend his allowance money on it so he could dress up as a Barbarian and then his dad, who didn't hear his awesome plan, revealed that it was a very girly clothing item, I couldn't tell anyone about it, because that would be embarrassing. For example.  

But I can tell you what he's into/good at at this age. So I will:

1) Talking! He is very verbally verbose! And he can knock your socks off with some of his deep thoughts, too! 

 2) Engineering-type things - particularly building with Legos. Dude can build! Not only can he follow those crazy 80-page Lego instruction manuals, but he also freestyles with the best of them. This week he was making tiny Christmas packages complete with bows and decorative wrap-around ribbon. Next week it'll be some submarine/airplane concoction.

3) Socializing - Whether it's a little old lady in the nursing home (for real) or a little baby, he knows how to talk to his audience. He's very charismatic! We're just working on when to let others get a word in edgewise.

I'm so proud of my eldest and can't wait to see what kind of a man he grows up to be. Just not yet. Let him innocently wear teeny bopper Barbarian vests for a few more years...