The Great Debate

The great debate amongst the small people in our house... "Are dandelions flowers or weeds?"

Without doing any research (I mean really, it is a dandelion) we've tried to convince them that it would be okay to consider them both as a flower and a weed. That classification seems most appropriate.

They aren't having any of it. Spencer is dead set convinced they are definitley flowers and are most definitely not weeds. Ellie is equally convinced they are strictly weeds. No amount of our imput is going to change their minds.

I see this debate continuing as long as the dandelions remain prolific.

Good Friends

Just as soon as the bus pulled away this morning Carie realized that Ellie's already packed lunch didn't make it into her backpack. And while she could have most certainly chosen a hot lunch item (and frankly I'm surprised she didn't given the options), her cold lunch was already assembled and would go to waste. So, Carie ran it up to school and easily made it before the first bell.

Once at school Carie notices Abby sitting in line. She looked like she could use a shot of espresso to get her day going. Not that any of us drink espresso in our house. Carie pats her on her head and asks if she is okay, to which she was.

Then she couldn't believe what she saw next.

The boy sitting next to Abby is a really cute kid. Damian is talked about frequently in our home. As is his twin brother, Cameron, who is in Ellie’s class. Damian and Abby are in the same reading group and I think they get a chance to spend a lot of time together.

So what does Carie see… Damian patted Abby's head, put his arm around her, and she put her head on his shoulder.

Awwwww

Definitely... something

The boy loves the word definitely.

Gotta love it when your son says to you… “You are definitely wrong momma".

Even better when he quickly follows up with… “You are definitely wrong again".

Yes - insert the tilted head, scrunched brows, and cocky chuckle that implies it all.

Nothing new really, I was just reminded of how definitely wrong I was this morning as I was trying to “fix” his rocket.


One thing is for sure, he is definitely growing!

At his 4yr well check he was 44lbs (94%) and 43” (95%). He’s tall enough thanks, but how cool would it have been if he was 44”?

He had absolutely zero interest in changing into the gown, so he didn’t. No shots, hallelujah! I know we’ll more than make up for it next year. The Ped had a slight concern with his ears and lack of tubes… but we aren’t at the moment. It is his sister we are concerned about in that area. Everything else checked out perfectly.

We concluded the appointment with a thorough conversation on poop (with photographic evidence), both in regards to him and his other sister. It is amazing all the exciting conversations we can hold! Ears and poop, bring it on.

Happy Birthday Dude

Spencer Rylan,

You may not believe it, but you have just turned 4 years old. When asked you how old you are your standard reply is "4 1/2". You are so convinced that you are about to turn 5 that while we've been trying to plan your 4th birthday you are planning your 5th birthday.

While you may be able to pass as 5, I'd like to savor this next year please.

As we were browsing through pictures to get your birthday invite ready it really hit us just how much you've grown. I mean sure, you've grown and we've seen every single inch of it. But wow, to look at the growth over the past 4 years all at once is amazing and a little overwhelming. That evening we were in your room doing our nightly bedtime routine. I looked at you and I swear you had just grown some more.

I said "How have you grown so much?"
Without hesitation you said "Because I eat my vegetables."

Dude, we love you! Happy FOURTH birthday!

Sidelines Schmidelines

Yeah, it has already begun.

Carie & Spencer ran up to school this morning to take some fresh strawberries to Abby & Ellie's classrooms for snacks. As usual, near the end of the year the teachers’ snack supply runs low. Not to mention the kiddos are way tired of the usual gold fish crackers, graham crackers, and pretzels. We refuse to donate those items for a variety of reasons... one of which is variety people, variety. The kids are way tired of the non-nutritional usual and are way excited when we show up with snacks. We've never taken strawberries before but our local grocery store had a sale that made it doable. We did manage to hold back a couple pounds out of the 2 flats that went to school. I'm sure they'll polish them off! Gosh, it won't be long before we are supplying snacks for 3 classrooms. Ouch!

So I was hanging back at home waiting for the brownies to finish up in the oven. All part of the "baked goods" that we are taking for something... perhaps the "cake walk"? I figured I could hang out a few more minutes to wrap up the brownie and the marshmallow layers then head off to work. Carie would then finish up the top layer after it all cooled and again make another trip to school. Well, it took longer than I anticipated and I thought surely Carie and Spencer would be returning “any minute”... but they didn't. For some odd reason I began to worry. Unfortunately Carie didn't have her cell phone with her… which was entirely my fault.

So I go on to work but their whereabouts are still bugging me. They are often out and about but I couldn't think of anything that she had planned to do... except come home, shower and get some cleaning done. All of which you cannot do out and about. She hadn’t mentioned anything else and we had just gone to the store the night before.

Finally we connect and I'm so relieved. I don't know why, but this morning it really concerned me to not be in contact with her. Of course I feared the worst!

Turns out... Carie and Spencer helped setup several carnival games while they were at school. It sounds like Spencer had great fun filling up the lollypop tree!

Then she ended up leaving with an extra kid and she took Spencer & Jenna to lunch before finally returning home. She said she thought about calling me while they were at lunch but didn't borrow a phone because they would be home soon. Not to mention the whereabouts of her phone was bugging her.

One of the many things going on at school today is K roundup... and Jenna fits into that category. Jenna's mom is on the carnival committee and highly involved in key tasks. Carie already provides after school care for her 1st grade daughter. So we offered to take Jenna so she could more easily do her last minute carnival stuff. I believe I'll still call that "carnival help". LOL

Happy Birthday Carie

Today, Carie turns another year older, wiser, and more beautiful. On paper it is a "big one" but in reality she says it is just another day.

To celebrate her birthday we get to go to our school carnival. Doesn't that sound like fun!?!?!? While we've pretty much kept to the sidelines for this event there are still things to do. So far we are just running stuff up to school but I won't be surprised if we find ourselves engaged in something once we get there. As long as we can eat dinner together and get the kids to the games and activities they want to do, it is all good!

Because celebrating your birthday at a school carnival doesn't sound all that special to me... at least for an adult... the plan was to have our family celebration Saturday afternoon and an adult celebration Saturday evening. Then we would celebrate Spencer's birthday on Sunday, the actual day for him. Everyone thought that was a great plan.

Then yesterday afternoon we (the kids and I) decided to wrap Carie's presents. The plain brown Amazon boxes have been sitting on the fireplace for a good week now; it seemed time to pretty them up. The kids were involved in selecting her gifts. They were fully aware (at least at one time) what they were. They also typically do a great job of keeping it a surprise. But not this time. My luck had run out.

As I open one plain brown Amazon box (here was my biggest mistake) the kids take a look and Spencer belts out "Ohhhh A Wii Fit". Now, Carie is upstairs doing her thing. She was out of sight but totally not out of ear shot. She absolutely had to have heard him. As usual she did a great job of acting like she heard nothing and knew nothing.

But the thing is... I was pretty certain that Ellie had also blown it just the night before. We were eating dinner and a conversation about nutrition and exercise came up. It really was just a natural conversation (the kids seem to talk about this a lot) that innocently lead towards a conversation about their personal experience with Wii Fit at a friend’s house. I think it would have all be fine if the conversation ended there. But then Ellie asks Carie something about wanting a Wii Fit. Now, Carie had never really declared that she would want one. But she's talked about it and I thought it would be something she would enjoy and it goes along with her smaller gift that she did request.

So I was already feeling like the surprise had been blown on Wednesday night and by Thursday afternoon it was definitely blown. We continue wrapping and I'm thinking about alternate plans. I also decide that the other plain brown Amazon box was being wrapped as is.

Carie had mentioned that after dinner she would like to take the girls over to the consignment sale to try on some clothes. She and Spencer had been there the day before and scored on some great finds. But she felt there may be more options if she had the girls with her to check on sizing. So I convinced the girls of a new plan... and they were totally on board!

The new plan... Carie and the girls would go to the consignment sale. The girls would keep Mommy busy by trying on clothes! Then while they were gone Spencer and I would go get flowers and a birthday dessert. Then when we all got home we would celebrate Mommy's birthday that night... instead of Saturday. They were so stoked with the new plan that they didn't even care that they had to try on clothes!

Mommy was sure surprised! She loved the flowers. She opened her gifts and we had a small amount of the dessert with plans to enjoy the rest of it on Saturday.

The funny thing was that Spencer insisted that Mommy open the smaller package first. He practically begged her to choose the small one... because he didn't know what was in it! He already knew what the big box was but it was killing him to not know what was in the small box.

Now... on to the carnival tonight, soccer and swim lessons tomorrow followed by a date night for us. Then we’ll celebrate Spencer's birthday with a special trip to the Pizza Machine on Sunday.

Gymnastics Love

To say that they are enjoying gymnastics would be an understatement.

They asked me to take pictures last night. So here they are! The parent area is off of the gym rooms and unfortunately large glass windows separate us.

Abby & Ellie are in one room and Spencer is in another room. We setup camp in the corner and can watch all three of them do their thing. Every now and again they look over at us with the biggest smile ever and we exchange a thumbs up.

Spencer went right into class again without looking back. He did grab a teachers hand for their first activity, but that is what she did the first week and I think he really likes her. It appears that the feelings are totally mutual. Historically he’s wanted us to participate in his events and having us watch on the sidelines hasn’t been acceptable to him. Perhaps he is getting over that phase? He’s totally growing up!

After class last night one of Abby & Ellie’s teachers sought us out to tell us how they love our girls and how they are “good seeds”. It was really sweet of her!

Easter Goodness... In Pictures

Google & God

Conversation at the breakfast table...

Mom, what is the Erie Canal?

Carie: Well, its a place, but I don't know much about it. We should go google it.

What's google?

Carie: It's a computer company that has created a way to research questions on the internet. You type in your question and they give you a bunch web sites to answer your question.

Ellie: A bunch of answers...it's like GOD!

Abby: ... except you can see it.

OMG

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa Supreme Court announced its ruling in a landmark same-sex marriage case Friday morning.

The court's written ruling was to be issued on the Iowa Supreme Court's Web site, but traffic to the site crashed the server and took down the Web site.

The court ruled in favor of six same-sex couples who sought to get marriage licenses, but were denied. The ruling means same-sex couples in Iowa can now get married under state law.

The court was reviewing a lower court's ruling that overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriages.

... Advocates against same-sex marriage have said they would likely not (did I read that right?) appeal a ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, if they lose the case. A group gathered outside the court to pray as the ruling was announced.

Full breaking news here.

****************

No, we don't physically live in Iowa. But we are within spitting distance and we'll look into the options and see what hoops we'll have to go through to make it happen. I don't really see this side of the state line following suit anytime in the next decade.

We were already evaluating our options for 2nd parent adoption in Iowa. There are ways to make that happen! Unfortunately those ways are darn expensive. But wouldn't it be awesome if we could now take care of everything? Wouldn't it be awesome if we could legally be married and legally be our children's parents? Novel idea, eh?

It would be even more awesome if people could understand the importance of it all.

Doin Great

We are here and doing great!

I could say that there really isn't anything going on and I don't feel that I'd be lying. In the next breath I could say that we are damn busy and that would also be quite true.

As predicted, March 14th marked the beginning of our new/spring routine with many scheduled kid activities... swimming (currently A&E - S has asked to swim next session), soccer (A, E so far S starts soon), gymnastics (A, E & S). When I put our schedule down on paper I think holy sh*t. But in reality, it doesn't feel bad at all. And I think we are doing great at balancing activity time, free time, family time, and homework time.

Looking ahead, it doesn't slow down until mid-late summer (depending on their decision on baseball)... just in time for a good breather before school starts again. This has become our normal spring and summer cycle which is exactly why we took that break over the winter months.

But the activities are much enjoyed by all and we are having a great time.

Grandma also continues to improve each day. Carie, Spencer & Yia Yia stopped in to see her on Wednesday and it is amazing how great she is doing. While she’s anxious to get out of there, she’s also now realizing how sick she was and how much she needs to be there.

Spring break is next week… just in time for the 6” of snow we are supposed to get!