Playing Catch-up!

The weather has finally started to cool off a bit so we've been outside as much as possible lately.  The kids spent most of the weekend raking Ms. Summer's leaves.  They had a blast raking them up and then jumping in the piles!

This isn't even the whole gang... somehow I missed
James and Peter.  We are so lucky to live in a
neighborhood with so many young kids!

And when the kids weren't raking leaves, the boys were in battle-mode.  Note the father walking down the hill in the background.  He came to tell the boys to stop shooting his three daughters.  Oddly enough, later that afternoon his oldest daughter, Lauren, told me "it isn't as much fun without the boys chasing us."  Right.

James is totally enjoying football, even with two 2-hour practices a week and a "losing" game record to date.   Entertaining the little boys during those long practices can be tough but I try...

In other news, Clumsy Beth fell during a run with a friend on Thursday.  It seems silly but my goodness, did it hurt!  My entire left leg is bruised and swollen, my chest and shoulder and knees were bloody, and since I landed on my face, my chin has a bruise!

I forgot how much it hurts to FALL!  Fortunately I feel fine now and went for a long-ish run by myself on Friday and felt great.  Hmm... perhaps it is just a reminder to slooooow down.  Or maybe talking and running is just too much for me.  Ha ha!

Hope your week is off to a happy, sloooow pace!

Kindergarten news...

As with any new experience in life, there are ups and downs.  Kindergarten, for Henry, has been no exception.  What is interesting to me is how totally different he and James handled the transition into elementary school.  James cried for the first 2 weeks of kindergarten and it literally broke my heart to have to send him.  Henry has received several notes home for "talking too much and needing redirection."  Oh... what a difference.

Last week, on the same day Henry was reprimanded on the bus for being too silly with his buddy, Jonathan, I received this note home from his teacher...

"Henry is doing great and is so very smart.  In a few days, I would like to A.R. (Advanced Reading) test him if that is okay?  He was very talkative and needed to be reminded several times to listen and to stop talking.  They are working for extra recess, on top of normal recess, and if they receive a yellow/ orange/ or red, they miss out on the extra play time.  He was very sorry about getting yellow and I told him that I really hate to have him move his clip down but I also want him to know that I am not joking.  I am so sorry and we really love him and want the best for him.  Thank you for everything, Mrs. Keeter"

His teacher is kind and sweet, but firm.  Exactly what Henry needs.  That day he received "yellow" for his behavior but I am happy to report he has not gotten anything lower than "green" since that day!  Woo-hoo!!

As a reward, Henry was allowed to bring in his favorite stuffed animal to sit on his desk with him during school today.

As he was boarding the bus, he looked at his stuffed animal and said... "Prepare to be FABULOUS."

God, I love that kid.

Bwaaah---Haaa---HA--- hah.....

Imagine that said in a seriously scary, meniacle voice because....

DUMMMM-DUMMM-dum-DUMMMMM.

Peter and I decorated the mantel for Halloween while the big boys were in school today!

James wanted SKULLS this year so that's what we did!

I found this skeleton page in the recent Pottery Barn catalog and framed it in an orange frame.  (And a houseful of boys lends itself to finding snakes just lying around anyway so we plopped him in our candle holder.)

Wasssup, Martha Stewart??!  ;-)

Pete and I also decorated the bathrooms and the front entry room with witches!  And put out a new spider doormat and pretty fall wreath on the door too.  

I know it's early in the season to decorate but we were SO tickled today was finally under 80 degrees, we just had to bring it all out!  Next up... outside!  The big boys want it to look "scary."  Hmm... 

Cousins Reunion...

This past weekend Keith, Chris's dad, drove down from MD to visit us.

He brought the boys each a fun surprise... here he and James are playing with the new boxing gloves he brought James.

On Saturday morning James had his first football game!

Although his team, the Redskins, didn't win, James played great and almost scored a touchdown!  What makes it so nice is how much he enjoys practicing and playing the game.

The cheering section!

After James's football game, we all drove 2 hours north to Rocky Mount for a Taylor Cousin Reunion. There were a few folks there (Aunt Donna, Keith's sister, and her husband; Liza and Jason and their 2 kids; Sissy and Steve, the hosts and us) and enough food to feed an Army!  Literally... a ton of delicious Southern food.

Henry and Jason goofing around!

Haley (Jason and Liza's daughter)

Henry and Gabe (Jason and Liza's son)

For reasons completely unbeknownst to Chris and I,
Steve--the grown man in the middle-- suggested forming a pyramid.

The whole gang, minus Sissy.  

It was a nice afternoon together!

When?

When does the intense loyalty and unspoken "band of brotherhood" among boys start?  Surely as young as 4 or 5 years old because I've witnessed it with my own two eyes and ears more times than I can count.

The most recent example??

This $400 TV that is currently up in the boys' playroom.  Shattered.  Along with the broken wii and the 40+ games strewn about.

This afternoon, when we asked any one of the 8-9 boys who live/ play here what happened their response went like this...

"Um... huh... I don't know anything about that."

"There's a TV upstairs??"

"Wait.  I think that's been broken a lonnnng time now."  (For the record, that is false.  We played as a family within the last 2 weeks.)

Not one of the 8 boys had information as to who may have (albeit, unintentionally) broken either machine.  And the ONLY child they were willing to rat out was Pete because... well, wouldn't you too?

"We think we saw Pete hitting it with a wii remote a few days ago."

Now, I don't mean to throw any of my lady friends and sweet little girls under the proverbial bus but if there were a bunch of GIRLS playing up there, you can be DAMN SURE they'd know who did it, when it was done, and what she was wearing when the offense took place.

I don't know whether to be envious of the boys' loyalty to their friends even at such a very young age (think: Bachelor Party in 20 years... which is TOTALLY annoying, as any fiance can attest to), grateful the boys don't tattletale (I think I might be), or frustrated that everything we buy for them gets broken (okay, maybe a tiny bit).

In the end though?  They're just things and things don't matter.  I know it's cliche but I believe it to be true and really do NOT care about the broken things.  I just wish our boys would take better care of their things because it is also a sign of respect... and disrespect.

Hmmm... another "life lesson" for us to work on.  In other news, we've been going to church every week for the last few months and I'm hoping the lessons are mirrored there.

Fingers crossed... perhaps in prayer hands.  ;)

1st Day of Pre-school!

...went fabulously!!  I almost cannot believe it (and still worry that subsequent days may be harder now that he understands more) but today was great.

Waiting for the school bus with the big boys...

"I think you might be missing something, Pete!"

Better!

He was excited to hurry up and leave this morning!

Thankfully, Pete didn't shed one tear at drop-off...

At pick-up time, he was so excited to see me and immediately showed me all of the artwork he made!

He said, "Bye, teacher." as he left!  Ha ha ha...

See ya Friday!

With all due respect...

and love and appreciation, WHO (I repeat, who) buys a 2-year-old a motorized Mercedes Benz toy car?  I won't reveal her name but it rhymes with Fiji.  Pete received this for his birthday back in February and somehow I managed to leave it at... Fiji's... house until this last trip when Fiji exclaimed, "He won't even be able to ride it much longer with as big as he is.  You HAVE to bring it home with you!"  In her defense, it absolutely baffles me that the entire IDEA of a motorized car-- for 2 and 3 and 4 YEAR OLDS-- actually took off.

Sigh.  I lost that battle.

But this?!  This is winning! 

Love...

Thank you to Megan and T for introducing us to Ben Howard.  Certain music always reminds me of certain times and this album will always remind me of this summer, our anniversary trip to San Francisco, and you guys.  Love.

Open House...

On Thursday evening, we went to Holy Trinity for Peter's preschool open house.

He was nervous and shy in the beginning but definitely warmed up once he realized I wasn't leaving.  It was tricky getting pictures of him checking everything out because he was moving so fast between all of the different centers.

Here all three boys are checking out the play-doh center...

Pete did a "drive by" scribble picture...

All of the kids loved the cool barn...

and the quiet reading area was super cute!

I still think drop-off will be hard for awhile but I hope he settles in quickly.  Pete has several friends already in his class so hopefully the familiar faces will help his transition.  Fingers crossed!!