End of Jan. Activites

We survived Coleman's 8th b-day although he got in trouble the night before for "not listening" ( for the upteenth time that night )I was decorating the house that night while grumbling about ungrateful kids but when he got up the next morning and said "wow" all was forgiven. He loved his 500 facts about animals book and the bag of Dove chocolates. I told him he could have as many chocolates as he wanted that day. Of course, he asked "Can I have one after I finish my sausage biscuit?" To which I replied, " of course it's your birthday". His smile was brilliant. I must describe his favorite breakfast which is 2 biscuits, 2 sausage patties, cheese slice and honey. He compiles all this into a double decker sandwich which is very messy We decorate the house esp. the kitchen with streamers, balloons, and decorations. The tackier the more the kids love it and we put banners outside with balloons...they love to look at it when they come back by on the bus. (we always wait about 4-5min. for the bus to turn around and head back to the school and we stand on the porch and wave.....I'll be so sad when they don't want us to wait and wave to them....and most days I get teary eyed watching Coleman waving both hands as fast as he can and Olivia waving and as far as I can see them as I walk down the front walk...I keep waving until the bus is out of site in case they can still see me....I've gone off on a tangent :D...AND they are both still not embarassed to kiss and hug us at the bus stop before they head off...it's absolute sweetness) OK , back to the day. Paul ran up a cookie cake for his class and Walker and I went up at lunch and smuggled in Chick-fil-A (i take it out of the bag and put in ziploc baggies in his lunch bag ...while I have my large Chick-fil-A coke walking in...so far...we haven't been "caught". It's ridiculous they serve pizza, chicken nuggets, fries , and ice cream in the cafeteria but you are not "allowed" to bring in fast food. All right , there is my rant. Rest of the day was preparing for his rib dinner and making his cake ( my 2nd attempt...my last attempt was his 2nd birthday and it looked AWFUL) so I've always bought cakes so in the spirit of Dave Ramsey I made a sheet cake and after consultation with my sister-in-law and Jennifer (the great cake decorating queens in my life) made a jersey cake with M&M detail ....it turned out great (I will have to say Paul help me ice it and gave me a great start ). Dinner was great with Nanna, Poppa, Uncy, Aunt April, Zoey(the ever popular cousin), and our family. It's nice to have family close to celebrate. Coleman loved all his gifts.. $ from Meme and Aunt Sherri, outing with Nana Poppa, volcano and space shuttle kit and the surprise whittling set from uncy, april , and zoey, and the Wii star wars lego set from us. Walker was obsessed with presents and kept asking where his presents were. I also received a birthday gift as Walker went home with Nana...at one point when we were getting things ready for them to leave I couldn't find Walker and my dad said he's already in our van ready to go...he loves to go to their house and my very generous sister-in-law took Caleb home. It was lovely to get the 2 older kids in bed and Friday by myself was GLORIOUS to run errands and meet a friend for lunch.
Stone/Snow Mountain..........3 friends came over at 3:30 to go play in the snow and tube. While we were packing they were playing Wii and they decided to skip Snow Mtn. and stay at home and play Wii....IF I had only known that would have been great but rustled them into the van b/c I had paid for the tickets with a promise to return early and play more Wii. It was a fun time b/c the boys had fun..but I thought about how many parties my mom had planned -paybacks ;D. I was exhausted by 9:00 and in bed while Paul took the boys home and so relieved it wasn't a sleepover. Birthday week-end continued with Coleman having unlimited t.v., Wii time, and no chores and freedom over food choices (within the house)

Things I want to remember about Coleman:
1) He'll come up behind me and rub my back and say "How are you doing mom?"
2) He'll come up to just get a kiss
3) He'll spend hours working on small clay creations...birthday cake, grapes, pizza
4) He is very generous with the younger kids...making them laugh, helping when they are crying, helps buckle/unbuckle, helps hold Walker's hand in stores and keeps Walker from having a melt down.
5) I think he tends to get frustrated like his mom with new activites if he doesn't right off understand it.
6) I love lying in bed, snuggled up watching t.v.
7) He tries to cheat for me in Sorry so I won't lose
8)Watching him interact with Olivia-they seem close and love playing with each other (for the most part)
9) Comparing our hand sizes
10)Talking about getting older...and he'll move away someday..." no I won't mommy..I want to live with you"
11) Telling me how he took up for his friend on the playground who was getting ganged up on.
12) says crashcan, lose instead of use, injury instead of energy

Success with potty training....Walker has been out and asked to go to the potty ..no accidents while out but does have some accidents at the house....he is totally trained it seems with the poop...celebrate the small victories. This morning he was negotiating it seemed to go to Monkey Joes if he went to the potty. He listens very well (alot of the time) and asks or brings me a fruit bar /fruit snack and asks permission to eat it. Says please/thank you without prompting alot. I really enjoy running errands with him by ourselves (caleb at home napping with dad working at home). Walker enjoys getting out, seeing the world, asking questions, talking to everyone he sees...he delights me and makes me laugh. He likes to snuggle after nap time..."hold you too, or hold me too" Although when tired, he is known to throw himself on the floor with drama.

Olivia is very tuned in to my moods...which is a sad thing sometimes. When I am stressed or getting on to them..she very quickly apologized and gets to whatever I've asked her to do and she usually fits in a quick.."thank you for this delicious food" "or thanks for being a great mommy" ( and not in a manipulative way) all of which make me look at my attitude and tone....meanwhile Coleman is usually in full melt down trying to explain why he did what he did instead of saying "sorry " "yes m'am" She still prays for Grandmas G. in heaven that she'll be nice and not throw things at people and pray for Po that he'll be OK in heaven and not lonely. She seems to take in the life lessons I occasionally try to teach...we are working on inward beauty...it saddens me she already doesn't like things about herself..that have seemed to come from her peers on how she is different. She wants straight hair and desparately dislikes her curly, frizzy hair and unfort. she has the Ussery hairy arm gene which all the women.....aunts, cousins have. I try to explain that she is in good company and if it wasn't her hairy arms it would be something else. I guess she said "I was the hairy-est in K and now in 1st grade" and made some comments that her friends had made. She was trying to describe something that you could put on her arms to take her "fur" (that's what she calls it) off. I explained she was too young for that but someday she could do that. I said well at least it's blonde hair. We did the whole it's not what's on the outside deal but inside.

And lastly, Mr. Caleb started officially walking Jan 27th. Even after the 1st 3 kiddos it's still just a thrill to see them learn to walk and maintain balance and then swagger around bowlegged. He has been taking 1 step but went b/t Paul and I with 2-4 steps several times. He is developing a temper of sorts. He will crawl over and get on 1 knee and reach up for you to pick him up. Takes it all in..esp. when the older kids are home. He loves to go in their rooms and play...esp. when they are there. Switched him to a forward facing car seat about 10 days early and he seem mesmorized by his new view. He is eating mostly table food with some Stage 3 thrown in for convenience for me but his fave right now is just a piece of bread broken up in pieces.

Whew...that was a long one but got some good memories down.