Junior Orange Belt

This past weekend, Luke tested for his Junior Orange Belt in Karate and passed! He came all smiles and excited to show me his belt and certificate. Mike was out of town this weekend, so I decided to share some parental responsibilities with another family. My good friend Melissa had to work, so her hubby would be toting all three of their kids to this event, and I would be toting two. And it was going to be a long afternoon. So I said, "Why doesn't Hubby drop the other kids here and just take the two boys to the test?" Because honestly, I didn't want to go to this thing. And before you get all super judgmental, let me just say that the event was closed to spectators. So I would have had to sit there and entertained Gavin for almost 2 hours in the smallest waiting room known to man. Getting through half hour once a week is bad enough.

So he dropped the two girls here to play with Gavin, and off I sent Luke. It was great. The kids had a great time playing together, and no one had to endure the dreaded waiting room with small children. After, we decided to celebrate and go to Friendly's together. I thought all the kids were going to explode with glee.
Below is a pic of the kids. I told you Star Wars has exploded in this house.


My friend's DH took pics of the boys getting their belts. I'll have to get those from him.

Big Boy Toys

Saturday, we celebrated Luke's 5th birthday with a trip to Pump it Up with all the kids from his preschool class. Unfortunately about of third of them came down with that awful Stomach Virus that has been infiltrating everyone's homes. But they all had a great time, and I was able to "sell" back all the juice and goodie bags that weren't used. Bonus.

One of Luke's best friends is into Star Wars—really into Star Wars. And since his mother is also my best friend, she rescued me last week by keeping Luke for the afternoon while Gavin and I were pooping and barfing our brains out. They spent the afternoon playing Lego Star Wars on XBox—and they had the best time ever. I have not introduced video games to the kids yet, and plan to put that off for as long as possible. We have a Wii, but we have never let the kids play it. I'm trying to keep them innocent for as long a possible—and keep toys and experiences age appropriate. It's not easy. And I would think its even harder for the parents of girls. Some of the clothes I see in stores for "little" girls. Really horrifying.

Anyway back to Star Wars. And with a name like Luke, why wouldn't Star Wars be a favorite brand of toys. It certainly was in my house growing up. And now that Luke has shown interest, all those memories and excitement of playing and watching Star Wars are coming back to me—and I'm starting to feel like a kid again. It's kind of nice to be able to share that with them. Especially since I won't be sharing my love of Barbie or My Little Pony with them. So I broke down and let him pick out a Light Saber for his birthday. Something I said I would never do. I did however put my foot down when he requested the Darth Maul Double light saber. All I could see was a broken TV and lights everywhere. He adores it. He slept with it the first night he had it, and brought it to school the next day to show everyone.


Now he is also requesting to watch Star Wars. The only Star Wars cartoon is the Clone Wars, which I think is kind of dark for a 5-year-old. But Episode I is fairly benign so I let them watch it. They didn't sit through the whole thing and seemed to loose interest towards the end, and have not asked to watch it again. However, Luke's light saber came with a mini DVD with light saber battles and they are addicted to that.

So it is the beginning of the end of Preschool TV and toys swapped for Big Boy shows and Big Boy toys. And Gavin is following right along.

Getting Babies

One of Luke's classmates became a big brother right before Christmas. This gets the gears in Luke's head turning. One night after stories, he says me, "I want to have a baby. So, when are we going to get a baby?" ME: Luke, you don't just "get" babies. You don't go to the store and buy a baby." Which was a really dumb thing to say on my part becasue then it led to the next question I wasn't prepared to answer; "So where do they come from then?" Super. Not the conversation I was looking to have at 8pm with an almost 5 year old. Quick, think of something quick and easy for a 5 year old to understand that won't involve having the "sex" talk right this second. My answer, "They grow in mommies tummy." Luke: "How do they get in there?" Super. another dumb thing to say. Me; "Mommies and Daddies decide to have babies and they are made from love. Then with God's help, they grow in Mommy's tummy." Luke: How do they get out?" SHIT! This is NOT going well.
"Umm... then they are born when they are done growing. " Luke: But HOW do they get out?" Me: "OK time for bed. Love you see you in the morning." And then I sprint out of there as fast as possible.

The subject of "Getting babies" has come up again, but I have been able to steer the conversation away from "where babies come from" to " You know if we have another baby, then you have to share your room with Gavin." That seems to end the baby conversation and leads to the, "Can we get bunk beds?" conversation. Nevertheless, there are NO babies on the way here now or in the future, no matter how much Luke begs. I believe my final answer was, "When you are 30, with a wife, job, and house, you can have as many babies as you want."

Some Time Away

Some time away seems like the obvious for this post, seeing as I haven't posted since October? Crazy. Funny how I thought that I would have MORE time after the kids were in school—even part-time. What a lie that is. I seem to be busier now than I was before. A different kind of busy, but busy just the same. I spend less time cuddling and doing things for the kids and more time refereeing and chauffeuring them around to birthday parties, soccer, karate etc. Then there is the never ending list of all the things I dreamed about having time to do when the kids were at school. Mostly, I dreamed about going grocery shopping alone. Sad, but true and any mother will understand the luxury of this. A shopping trip with the kids ends up taking twice as long and cost twice as much as snacks and toys seem to enter the cart in an effort to get out of the store as quickly and quietly as possible. Bribe is such an ugly word, I prefer to think of it as incentive. Yes, sometimes I'm "that" kind of parent. Not all the time, but sometimes. And I'm OK with that.

OK Let's Catch UP!
Me: Teaching Zumba is going really well. I teach 4 classes a week at the Curves in my town. One class a week at the YWCA in Worcester, and sub a Zumba Toning class once a month. I plan to pick up more next fall when both kids are in school MORE (there I go again with my dreams) but Luke will be gone 5 FULL DAYS! More on that later. Christmas was crazy as usual, and I had a full house of guests. My In-Laws came, which was great since they had never spent a Christmas with the kids (or us). I cooked a Turkey AND a Ham (for the first time) for dinner and sat down with 13 members of my Family. It was wonderful.

I'm currently getting over the worst stomach bug in the the history of the world and would not wish this on my worst enemy.

LUKE: Luke is still enjoying Karate, and will be testing for his Orange belt in a few weeks. He turned 5 this week (!) and is very excited about his Birthday party. He will attend Kindergarten next year and is excited about riding the bus. Kindergarten is 5 full days here, so even though I think it is a long day, I'm looking forward to having more time. He is such a good kid and really wants to be helpful. I'm really enjoying this age.

GAVIN: is three and a half…and he is good at it. He is enjoying school and seems to be coming into his own. He doesn't seem to want to participate in activities unless he can do them with Luke. I'm planning to organize some playdates for him so that he can start making his OWN friends and not just be the "younger brother".

MIKE: Is busy consulting and still travels a lot for work. He is currently putting together a conference with his Business partner to be held the end of April beginning of May in Las Vegas. It's a lot of work, but good exposure and they are already sold out! I'll end up doing some design work for it as well, which is nice for me too. I'm very proud of him.

I'm hoping I'll have more time (there I go again) and motivation to keep posting. I know some of you have missed the humorous tales of Luke and Gavin. Here's to more Posts! Cheers!

The Dentist

Today was Gavin's first visit to the dentist. When I asked my dentist when I should start bring the kinds for cleaning, she asked, "How are they at getting their hair cut?" At the time, they screamed bloody murder. Her advice—wait. Wait until they are no longer screaming at the barber, then bring them here. Well, the last several haircut have gone great so I decided it was time to go.

He came with me last week to watch me get my teeth cleaned, took a ride in the chair, got a balloon and a prize for behaving so well. And today, he did GREAT! No tears, hopped right up into the chair, opened his mouth when told too, and was had fun learning about all the tools the dentist uses to clean his teeth. His teeth looked good, plenty of space between them for his adult teeth to come in. She also mentioned that he might lose his teeth a little earlier than most because of all the space, they aren't wedged together and may loosen more easily. He was excited to get a new toothbrush, a green balloon and a purple squirt gun from the treasure chest.

Next up—Luke. His appointment is in two weeks. Never a dull moment.

Karate

At the beginning of September, I signed both boys up for Karate. The first two classes were free, so there was nothing to lose and I was hoping to find an activity that Gavin would enjoy since he had no interest in soccer. The first class is a one-on-one with the instructor to assess which class they will be in and there ability to follow in class. The both loved it. Luke would be in the little Tigers class and Gavin would be in the little Dragons class. Luke loved his second class. there are two other boys in his class, and one of them is his best friend. Gavin, on the other hand, decided he didn't want to do it unless he could be with Luke in his class. So we are waiting until he is older and ready to do it on his own. But Luke is loving it and doing really well. This past weekend, he tested for his yellow belt and passed! I'm very proud of him.
Here he is in his uniform and white belt.



Soccer is winding down for the season. Luke really enjoys being the goalie, and is pretty good at it too. Last practice was last night, and the last game is on Saturday. Following the game, is the end of season pizza party at 12:30 and then Luke has a birthday party at 2pm. Whew! And here I thought things would get easier as they got older…and it does in some aspects, but then you are running from here to there blah, blah, blah.
And it's only going to get worse when Gavin decides he wants to start activities too.

Day Trips

Last weekend, October 1st, Mike and I took the Kids to Edaville for "Day out with Thomas" where the kids get to ride a train pulled by everyone's favorite engine. It was a fun trip and the boys had a blast. The forecast was rain, but we lucked out and the rain had ended before we got there. The grounds were wet and a bit muddy, but that really doesn't matter to preschool boys. Edaville is a train themed amusement park, so there were plenty of other rides to enjoy after their trip on Thomas. Here are some photos from our trip.







This past Saturday, with the weather being like summer, we decided another day trip was in order. So we hopped in the car and went to the Dinosaur State park in Connecticut. We saw real Dinosaur fossils, mined for Gems, pet some kind of Blue-Tongued lizard, and went for a hike in the woods. There was a craft room and each of the boys made a dinosaur door hanger with their names on it. It was nice to spend time together as a family. We are enjoying having Mike home for the next 2 months.