Back to reality

It seems strange to me that the past calendar year is over. I don't know why it's strange, as I was awake, cheering, and laughing with my friends and family at midnight. It, however, is strange.

I can remember so many things from early last year as if they were just a few weeks ago. That's a good thing I suppose. Some really great times, some really trying times. All in all, a lot to reflect on.

Rather than spending too much time reflecting on what happened over the past 12 months, I think I'll reflect on what I remember over the past 12 days. :)

Some of my favorite points with the kids of the Christmas and New Year's weekends are:

The kids tracking Santa on line
Watching lots of Christmas movies, even if one of them was Spongebob's Christmas - over and over and over again.
Kyla singing in front of an audience her Taylor Swift songs
Letting Kyla and Kade go to a friends house to play with out me. <--- that was hard.
Watching Kade become an expert at a few games on the computer
Watching Jack follow right behind him after his first try
Having amazing coffee from my new coffee grinder / maker ( it is that good to be thrown into the list! ) while the kids sip their hot tea from our matching mugs.
Kyla sharing her favorite cards with Kade.
Finding Jack sleeping in Kade's bed after I had placed him in his own bed just an hour prior
Me complimenting Kade in how good he cleaned his room, and him responding not with a "thank you" but with: "Kyla helped too mom, I didn't do it by myself." Then me proceeding to thank Kyla (separate from Kade ) for helping clean the boys room, and her answer also being: "I didn't make both beds mom, Kade did his own bed."
Sleeping in with my kids.
Picking up Kade early, taking him to Denny's, having strangers tell me he's gorgeous, then him proceding to grab my hands from across the table and say; "tell me about your day mom."
Kade giving me a wedding ring in a ring box.
Jack telling me that I'm his best friend, "but so is Daddy, and Kyla, and Kade mom."
Kyla teaching Kade math and praising him for his letter writing ability.
Kyla praising Jack for scoring good on games and coloring so well.
Jackie brushing my hair and pushing his nose in my neck and making humming noises.
Listening to my 3 babies giggling together and because of each other.

Kissing my husband, my daughter, my middle son, and my youngest son at midnight on New Years Eve!!

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton about the kids, and I've definitely left out the non-kid things I remember that bring so many smiles to my face;
Football, and the COWBOYS!
Friends at the doctors office, and friends to have spontaneous tea with
Friends on line, and friends celebrating the New Year together
Family meals on Christmas, and quiet time alone.

I think I'll fall asleep tonight with a smile on my face, and with hopes that everyone dear to me and dear to those that are dear to me, find their inner peace, their personal strength, and their pride in themselves to take as much control over their year as possible. I hope everyone holds tight to their family and friends and leans on those family and friends when they need a little help standing up. They will need you to help them stand up straight at some point too. That's the beauty of love, on all levels.

It has been a long day of football today and my kids have been so generous with their patience and independence!!! I adore them! Thank you beautiful children of mine!!

what to do, what to do...

1) Boys are gross. I just have to get that off my chest. At some point, all boys are just gross. Loveable yes, clean and sanitary, no. Ugh. What does it take to actually get the pee into the toilet and NO WHERE else? Seriously? How is that soooooooooooooo difficult?

2) Kade will not stop hitting his brother. It gets better for a while, then comes back with a vengeance. Jack's poor face is covered in scratches and is so red all the time. It really breaks my heart, and I can already see Jack acting out because of it. The poor little guy though, just adores Kade so much and even tells him how much he loves him all the time. It hurts my heart.

3) I have textbook cases of 1st, middle, and baby within my children. I can almost predict what my future holds in their upbringing and issues because of how exact they have been so far. Let me tell you, not all of it is bright! lol Kyla is the bossy, know it all, "responsible" one. Kade is beyond "lost" and has the "where do I fit in" aura about him already, and Jack - well Jack KNOWS he is the baby and uses that fact every single chance he gets. He's not even good at hiding it, it's in your face I AM THE BABY AND I WILL GET AWAY WITH THIS. ( sad thing is, about 50% of the time he does because his little smile and personality is absolutely amazing. When Kyla wants her way she is starting to be dramatic and gives us these puppy dog eyes and knows exactly what to say to guilt us into whatever it is she needs. On the upside of that, she can also be punished by pulling at her heart strings just like I always was when I was growing up. Now when it comes to my Kade, that's a whole different story. My gorgeous soft little Mr. Beard is so over the top charming and addicting, I think he's smarter than all of us put together! He can do something horribly bad, then 2 seconds later come up and hold my hands, rub my face, kiss me, and say something amazingly calming.

I'm really all over the place with this post. I knew I would be since I've been out of it for so long, but I just have to keep pushing through to get back in the groove. I miss writing. It made me so happy, and I need to be happy to be a good mom, wife, daughter, and friend.

I looked into pre-schools for Kade today. I'm going to do what I did with Kyla and send him 2 days a week for a couple of months. Seeing those poor mothers deal with screaming kids the first week of Kindergarten really really really freaked me out. I know he'll probably be ok, as he is much better for everyone else than he is for me, but it still makes me nervous. So nervous I feel like the worst mom in the world and missed out on signing him up for the baseball league we wanted. I think I'll do parks and rec though for him as soon as I can get him in for the spring.

I'm worried about going back to school, Kyla's sleep schedule was amazing and now it's all thrown off..... I guess she'll probably just have to be tired for the first week back like she was when school first started. I would send all of my kids to school right now full time if it meant they would all be in bed by 9 p.m. ( just kidding mom! )

OMG - Robert now is snoring so loudly. It makes me crazy and tense. I'm so putting that on our list of things to take care of this year with his awesome medical flex spending account that we opted for.

Now I feel like I could just keep typing forever! Typical.
I'll be back tomorrow........
YAY!

Christmas Pictures..

I have fallen into the trap of not blogging for so long that I don't know where to begin. I miss it horribly, and really think I will be a happier person if I take the time to write more. Now that Robert bought me a laptop, I think that I should journal my days as a way of winding down each night in the upcoming 2010 year. Of course that would require me not falling asleep in one of their beds first...... well, I'll work on it.

I'm going to end the year of blogging with a lot of pictures from Christmas -

The kids really really really got into 'Santa' this year. Kade sat on his lap, a self realized improvement from last year. Jackie was the same high spirited kid when he walked in as he was last year, and Kyla was as matter of fact as always. We tracked him on line even - so that added to the excitement.

There were infinite humorous, tense, crazy, great, horrible, amazing, joyous moments that have occurred with my wonderful family over the last month or two - and I'm ashamed that I didn't document them better. The kids seemed to have made so many significant changes and statements that it was almost overwhelming at how quickly life passes.

What was read at the assembly as written by her teacher

Kyla is such an ideal student. She is totally amazing to have skipped kindergarten and be at the top of the class in 1st grade. She seems to excel in whatever she tries to do. She's a fluent reader. She scores high on math chapter tests. She's a developing writer. Her homework is done well, complete, and turned in on time. What I really enjoy is that she has such a sweet spirit about her. She lives "the Golden Rule" and therefore sets such a good example for others. I'm sure her life will continue to blossom and have many, many successes.

I will post pics tomorrow... I'm the proudest mom in the world today!!
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Santa

Made an appearance at the soccer tournament!

My kids seriously have the cutest, softest, most adorable, precious toes and feet EVER! EVER.