Oh, Dear.

I didn't realize how long it had been. Really, I'm embarrassed that it has been almost a year since my last post. So what have I been doing since last October? Well, we just got back from a weekend trip to the mountains. We also had VBS last week. Seth has been working really hard at his school. I can see a HUGE improvement in his penmanship in just the past 2 weeks. His letters are actually legible now, and he has the desire to do his handwriting work. He is very proud of his accomplishments, and I am, too. My sister and her kids came down in late May for a visit. We had a blast with them! We also celebrated Seth's 5th birthday in May. Seth played Soccer this Spring and really liked it, so we'll be signing up for the Fall, too. We have also been hanging out with our Homeschool group at church. We just had a promotion night for all the kids, and it was really fun. Our organizer, Amy, is really great and goes the extra mile to make things fun and memorable for the kids. I've spent lots of time in physical therapy for my lovely plantar fascitis (did I spell that correctly?) and also had to deal with "runner's knee" and spent a good deal of time with a different physical therapist for that. I'm also the proud owner of orthotics. I can't go anywhere without them, and I will never be able to wear flip-flops again. I have gotten better, but I still have some pain. I still have to do my foot exercises every night and sometimes I have to ice my feet when the pain gets uncontrollable. I started going back to Jazzercise in April. It may be a long time before I can do high-impact again, though. I have to be very careful while I'm there, and I have to modify some of the moves to keep from straining my feet. I'm sure other things have been going on in the past year, but my memory isn't very good. I'm going to try to make it my gaol to go through my pictures and do some back-blogging of the things that I need to blog. So, wanna know why I'm so inspired to catch up with my blogging right now? My best friend from the 4th grade, Elizabeth, who I lost contact with after I moved from Charleston, found me through Facebook. I have so many fond memories of her! Anyway, I was reading her wallpaper and someone posted about her blog, so I googled her. I found her blog and started reading it. It has been so much fun reading about everything that she has been up to! It has really made me miss her, but it is so cool to see what she looks like and to see her kids and hear about all of their adventures! So, that is why I'm blogging. I want my friends and family to know about all the stuff we're doing, all the funny things the kids say, and so that I can look back at my posts and laugh about all the daily stuff that sometimes drives me nuts. Well, Luke is through with his nap, by the way, he is talking up a storm now that he is almost two, and I need to go get him. I need to make an entire post just about him and his personality. He cracks me up with all of his antics!

I have quite a job ahead of me to blog all of the stuff I didn't blog about since last year, and all the stuff that is happening now. If I don't get it all done, this really long post will have to suffice. I must go get Luke now, and vacuum.. I need to vacuum.

Fun in the van

So we're heading to BJ's and Seth says, "Hey, Mom? Can I tell you something?" From the serious tone of his voice, I was feeling honored that he was getting ready to share something profound from his young life with me. "Sure, Honey. You know you can tell me anything." Nothing could have prepared me for what he was about to say. "Mommy? You. Are a squirrel." It was all I could do not to spit my Diet Coke all over the steering wheel. He caught me totally off guard. The rest of our conversation to BJs went like this:

Me: Seth? Can I tell you something?
Seth: Sure.
Me: You. Are a stop sign.
Seth: *uncontrollable laughter*

Seth: Mommy? Can I tell you something?
Me: Sure.
Seth: You. Are a squirrel.
Me: *uncontrollable laughter*

Me: Seth? Can I tell you something?
Seth: Sure.
Me: You. Are a gas station.
Seth: *uncontrollable laughter*

Seth: Mommy? Can I tell you something?
Me: Sure.
Seth: You. Are a squirrel.
Me: *uncontrollable laughter*

Me: Seth? Can I tell you something?
Seth: Sure.
Me: You. Are a safety cone.
Seth: *uncontrollable laughter*

Seth: Mommy? Can I tell you something?
Me: Sure.
Seth: You. Are a squirrel.
Me: *uncontrollable laughter*

He's Bilingual!

Everyone likes to think that their kids are smarter than everyone else's kids, but my kid really is smart. I have absolutely no idea where he learned another language, but he sang an entire song to me in Spanish. It all started this morning when we were watching PlayHouse Disney. They showed a video of "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" and it was the Spanish version in honor of Latino Celebration Month. Later, Seth told me he wanted to sing a song to me in Spanish. I was quite impressed as he sang the entire song in another language. It went something like this:
Da doo dadda wadeoa Dadee wadeoa badebba!
Ma fa dooby dadda beedoo bippy flala ree roo!

When he finished, he had a huge grin because he knew that he was something special. I'm so proud of my little Einstein!

Catching up...

I have a stack of post-its on my desk of things I've been meaning to blog, so I'm going to do them all in this one post. Here we go:

Chyleen and her kids were visiting in June. Her kids were in the basement and the rest of us were upstairs. Matthew came upstairs to tell us Ashleigh fell off the bed and was crying. Then Ashleigh came up and the story unfolded. Apparently all of the kids were jumping on the bed. Ashleigh fell off. Then Seth said, "That's why no monkeys should jump on the bed." (It doesn't seem as funny now that I'm writing it down, but at the time it was quite hilarious.)

Seth was looking for a snack in the pantry. He spotted the bag of marshmallows and asked if he could have some. I asked him if they were junk food or if they were healthy. He said, "They're junk food. May I please have some?" He asked in such a nice tone of voice, I really couldn't say no. Thinking I'd be funny, I said, "Do I look like someone who would refuse a request like that?" He immediatley replied, "No, you look like the lady who's going to give me marshmallows."

We went grocery shopping and I needed hamburger meat. I don't buy it often, so its not something Seth is used to seeing. While I was looking for the leanest stuff I could find, Seth said, "Oh, Mommy! Can we take these worms home?" I was a little confused until I realized that hamburger meat does in fact look a bit like worms.

Seth is doing really well with his reading lessons. He continues to impress me by reading words the fast way when the book says the child should be reading them the slow way. Sometimes, though, he gets distracted, and likes to make jokes. The other day, I asked him to read a word. He tapped his finger on his chin and said, "Hmmm. Let's zoom in for a closer look." Then he planted his face right into his book. I thought I was going to bust a gut laughing.

I think that catches me up on blogs for Seth, so now I'll talk about Luke. What can I say? He is the cutest baby ever. He started pulling up this week. He is quite proud of his new trick. (He actually first did it while I was at physical therapy, and I wasn't here to see it! He did it three times while I was gone. Jesse told me about it when I got home, and then he wouldn't do it for me.) It won't be long until he'll be cruising. He will walk if Jesse holds his hands, but he won't do it for me. He tends to do his toddler stuff only for Jesse. Thats okay, though. I can't stand the thought of him not being a baby anymore. There are certain things he only does for me. Like when I pick him up from the nursery at church, he cries when I walk in the room and won't stop until I pick him up. He also prefers me over anyone else when he's tired. If someone else has him, he will cry for me to come get him. That's enough to make a mama warm on the inside.

Yesterday, Luke crawled under his exersaucer. I thought it was really cute, so I got the camera and took some really cute pictures. Then I realized he was stuck. Once he got in it, he sat up, so his head went through the seat part. In order to get him out, I had to push his bottom backwards and bend him forward. I needed five hands to do it, but I finally got him out.

  

Luke also loves the bathroom. Anytime he hears the door the open, he makes a beeline for the toilet. Know what he wants to do in the bathroom? He wants to pull the cap off of the screw at the base of the toilet. I have a 4 year old that doesn't have the best aim when he needs to pee. Ick. We're making special effort to keep the bathroom door closed at all times.

First Day of School!

Seth has been begging me to start school, so I've been busy getting all of my books and supplies together. This year we are doing Handwriting Without Tears (Pre-K), Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (we're already on lesson 34), and we'll be working out of some resource guides that I found that have art lessons and activities based on children's popular picture books. We also have an ant farm, beetle farm, and a butterfly canopy that we will fill throughout the year.

This morning we went outside and took our "First Day of School" picture. Then we went for a nature walk. 

We heard a bird in the woods and I asked Seth if he knew what kind it was. He said he thought it was a pelican (we watched Nemo yesterday). Then we found a tree that looked like it had been sawed down. I asked Seth what he thought happened to it and he said a Beaver ate it.

 

Then we found some ants.

 Seth stomped a few of them and then rode his scooter through the ant pile. We also saw some butterflies and some black dragon flies that I thought were really cool, but they were too fast for me to take their picture.

Seth's new game

Seth and I had a great time playing in the pool this afternoon. When it was time to get out, Seth was standing in front of the door and I was trying to give his towel to him. He started taking his bathing suit off, so I asked him if he needed to pee. He said, "No, I just want to play Geo Court." After he stripped, he took off running through the back yard. I was shocked and didn't know quite what to do, so I started chasing him with the towel. It really was quite funny and we were both laughing, even though I didn't like his new game. I finally told him a mosquito was going to bite his butt if he didn't put his towel on, so he went to the back door and let me put the towel on him. As I was putting the towel around him, he peed on my foot.

Things we hear everynight after putting Seth n the bed...

*creek* (Seth's door opening)
"Hey, Daddy! I forgot my vitamin!"
Me: "You had it with breakfast, go back to bed."
Seth: "Well, ummm, I think I need a little snack."
Jesse: "You already had a snack. Go get in your bed."
Seth: "Well, ummm, I think I need to do a reading lesson."
Me: "We'll do another one tomorrow."
Seth: "Well, ummm, can you bring me my sunglasses so I can wear them in the bed?"