Lonely chair

I remember that distinct moment a few years ago when it became clear that Nate and Nile were ready to "graduate" to the next level of seating at the table:

Now it seems Novak may have hit that milestone. He recently discovered that he can climb up into the counter-height chairs at the breakfast bar. And now that he has, he wants nothing to do with the booster mounted on the center chair. He wants only to sit in "Nate's chair" or "Nile's chair."

This morning, with Novak sitting in the chair previously occupied by Nate, I had to remove the booster so Nate could sit down for breakfast.

Once again, life has demonstrated to me just how little control I have over the passage of time. My baby is quickly growing up. :(

This is his "Perfect Piggies" smile (from the Sandra Boynton book).
There's a line in the book that says "No one around has a lovelier smile!"
He does this whenever I read that line.

The lonely chair

"Want to sit in Nate's chair!"

Snow buddy

I can't remember for sure if we had Novak out in the snow last year, but finally the weather was warm enough yesterday that I felt he could be outside.

As predicted, he was a little whiny and didn't like walking in his snow boots, but he got over that enough to have some fun.

Afterwards he got to have another first. Hot cocoa with peppermint marshmallows - in a "big boy cup!" He calls it coffee, the silly boy.

:)

I think these two like each other.

My printer can eat your printer

We got a new printer for Christmas. Our old one has been "dead" for several months. After looking at it sitting in the box for the last few weeks, and complaining about not being able to print, I finally decided to go ahead and set it up.

It's significantly larger than our old printer. I took a picture of them together for a comparison.

And it may have the most ink cartridges I have ever seen on a printer. Maybe this will mean that we replace them less, but my guess is we will have all 8 go out at once each time. :S

Hot cocoa...soda fountain style

Only Nile would have to drink his hot cocoa through a straw.

"Hey mom! I sucked a marshmallow up through my straw!"

Snuggling buddies

Not the best cell phone pics, but look how cute these two are together! Novak wanted to watch Nile play the "Cars game" on the Leapster. He crawled right up and snuggled in.

Subtraction Math Star!

Nate has been hard at work on his time tests all semester. He's struggled with the time tests, not because the math is hard, but because he was finding it hard to work quickly.

For the time tests, the students are given a set amount of time to solve 100 math facts. They have 3 minutes to solve 100 addition facts, and 5 minutes for 100 subtraction facts.

A few months ago, I told him I knew he could do it by Christmas. And sure enough, yesterday he came home a subtraction "Math Star!" He was so proud of himself, and I am so proud of him.

Now to work on addition!

Merry Christmas Solo

Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas Cubed!

Christmas Tree Decorating - 2012

I can't believe I got them all to stand together for a picture.

Charitable Giving

I'm pretty proud of my boys tonight.

This morning, as Nate was searching for a missing "wormie fuzzy animal," he tore apart his room, leaving it a complete mess.  When I walked in, it was overwhelming.

I talked with him about how he needs to be better about keeping his room organized, and was surprised when he was eager to "reorganize his room."  What more, he wanted to donate some of his old stuff.  I was happy to oblige.

Nate's clean organized room!

Then, after lunch, I asked Nile if he could do the same to his room.  To my surprise, when I suggested he and Nate do it together, they jumped at the chance and had his room clean in less than 10 minutes!

Nile and his clean room!

Maybe more impressive was the fact that they then went to the basement and cleaned it up as well.

our perfectly clean basement!

At the end of it all, we had a large moving box full of toys to donate to Goodwill.  To recognize all the hard work they'd done, they each earned two "mom points" and I took them out to dinner after we dropped off the box at the Goodwill Store.  

I'm pretty proud of these two tonight. :)

Rub a dub dub...

Three boys in the tub!

Mom = best job ever.

It's 9:15, I'm still in my work clothes, and I spent the last hour finishing up work that I hadn't been able to get done at work. I went to my room to finally change, and found this on my pillow.

If I wasn't so sick of working on a computer right now, I'd type up a long post about how much I love my kids, and how incredibly special they each are to me. I am so proud of each of them, and this little note just made my day. No, my week. Maybe even my month. :)

But, since I'm tired, this one sentence will have to do:

Being a mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Nile Voted!

Today Southwest School had an election. (I'm really posting this to show you the voter registration card...what a typically Nile-like picture!)

Jack-o-lanterns aglow

The boys wanted me to share what their pumpkins looked like when lit up on Halloween night.

Batman, cubed!

This year, Halloween brought three Batmans to our house.

We had the "Dark Knight Batman," the "blue Batman," and "black Batman."

Novak was a bit cranky from a long day with a short early nap, so only the older two headed out for trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin Carving

The boys carved pumpkins last night with Tom while I stayed inside with Novak. (He wasn't up to the task.)

Vermin

How do you go from the first picture to the second in 24 hours?

Head lice.

It's been a fun Saturday afternoon!

First book

We've entered the phase of kindergarten where Nile gets to start bringing home books to read each night.

I'm so excited, this is his first "real" book to read!

Interrupted

I spent all morning trying to get him to play so I could get a few things done. Instead, every few minutes he came up to me asking me to "key-u" (carry you). It was sweet and I loved every hug, but I grew frustrated that I couldn't even clear the breakfast dishes uninterrupted.

Of course, when I need them to get shoes on to go to school and I turn to find them, what is he doing?

Playing so nicely that I hate to have to interrupt him.

One family tradition...

Popcorn, apples, and Charlie Brown.

Showered and in pajamas by 5:15 pm.

Is there a better way to spend an evening? (If there is, don't tell me!)

This is one of our favorite things to do, especially on evenings where we had a larger meal earlier in the day. However, tonight is a special night. We haven't let the boys do this in the basement before.

(And no, they didn't appreciate my perfect apple circle...)

S'more fire fun

Last night we had a few friends over and we broke in the new fire pit. The kids cooked hot dogs over the fire, and then we made s'mores later.

We had a lot of fun, and the boys are already asking when we can do it again. Actually, Nate asked us today if he could cook dessert over the fire every night.

Nile, helping get the fire ready.

The kids, cooking hot dogs.

The "roaring" fire

S'mores.  (at least the marshmallow part)

What happens when I allow PBS on during breakfast?

This.

John Deere Fall Classic

This year, like every year but 2010 (I wasn't racing 9 months pregnant), we took the family out to the John Deere Fall Classic.

But this year, it was different. Why? Because everyone ran.

Novak "ran" the 50 yard dash.
Nile ran the .25 mile.
Nate (and I) ran the mile race.
Tom and I ran the 5k.

Thankfully Becky volunteered to come with us to "babysit" while we ran the 5k.

It was a great morning for running, and even better was that everyone finished and nobody cried!

Nile!  Look at that perfect form!

He was actually happy the whole time.

Novak, after his "race" (walk).

Poster Panic

This could easily be one of those "hey, look at this awesome thing my kid created" posts.  But, it's not.  It's a tale of parental panic.

Poster panic.

I knew that the day would eventually come when we "forgot" to work on a project.  What I didn't realize is how soon it would happen.

The first week of school, Nate's teacher sent home a note telling us that we were supposed to work on a poster about our student for school.  The note also graciously gave us several weeks to complete it.

Tuesday morning, as the boys were eating breakfast, Nate asks me, "Mom, what's today?"

"Well, today is September 4."

"My poster is due on September 5! That's TOMORROW!"

"What poster?"

"The poster about me!  Mrs. S has been reminding us, like, every day!"

"Honey, I think you should have reminded me, then.  I forgot.  Where's the instruction sheet?"

"Dad threw it away."

So, I quickly emailed the teacher and asked her for a new copy of the instructions, with a short joke at the end:  Guess I know what we're doing tonight!

While at work Tuesday, I went online and ordered some pictures to be printed to our local Walgreens.  To save time, I asked Tom to pick them up after school with some poster board.  

At 4:25, I get a phone call.

"Did you order the pictures?"
"Yes, at 1:15 this afternoon."

"Well, they don't have them."

"What? Maybe that explains why I didn't get an email confirmation."

"Can you reorder them?"

"Sure, hold on."

I resubmitted the order and let him know it was on the way.  

5:05 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Still nothing.

5:13 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Grrr. 
5:24 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Can you resend order?

5:26 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Never mind, hold on.

5:38 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Getting prints now.  Free.

What should have been a quick 15 minute run to Walgreens had turned into a 90 minute wait.  All the while, I am trying to keep Nate entertained by cutting out pictures from magazines to include on his poster.  While simulaneously trying to get Nile to do his homework, warm up chicken nuggets for the boys, and keep Novak from climbing on stuff.  

At one point, Nile asked me, "Mom, are you frustrated?  Because your voice sounds frustrated."

(Yeah, I was a bit frustrated).

Finally the requested lime-green poster board and pictures arrived (at 6 pm) and we started on the project.  It didn't take us long to put it together, and considering what we went through to finish it, I think it turned out all right.

But I'll definitely be sure not to forget another school project for a long time.  

Flashback

Remember this post?  When I went for a run with Nile and discovered what we called our "secret park?"

Novak and I ran there last Friday.  We got out to the bench and had a snack while we enjoyed looking at the water.

Funny thing is, I realized while we were out there having our snack, that Novak was wearing the exact same outfit Nile had on when we went here three years ago. So, for a direct comparison:  

Nile, September 4, 2009
2 years, 7 months

Novak, August 31, 2012
23 months

They are pretty much the exact same size.