The Itsy Bitsy Spider . . .

Before I had kids, I never understood why people wanted to send their kids to preschool. You're going to have a lot of years of school, anyway, right? Isn't it a glorified form of day care? And now that I have kids, well, I can't wait to send them off to their respective schools.

There are lots of reasons. Social interaction for them. Preparation for all day school when it comes. Learning to listen and follow directions. Participating with a group. Learning to share and take turns. A little break for me. Speech and occupational therapy for the twins. Like I said, lots of very good, logical reasons.

And, the boys are actually learning something every day that, let's face it, I would probably be too tired or too busy to do at home on a daily basis. That said, I absolutely love the projects the kids bring home. The kids have amazing teachers who keep them engaged and create fun projects for them to work on with their friends. Today, Connor's class did a lesson on the Itsy Bitsy Spider. How cute is he, playing with his pretend spider and rain spout while we wait for brothers in the car pool line?

Yeah, preschool rocks.

Just Here

Enjoying the warm fall weather while it lasts, despite the sniffles . . .



Brothers playing. You have no idea how nice this is to see. We hope someday Sawyer will want to join in and play, too.



Buster trying to draw Sawyer into a fun game of tug-o-war with his favorite rings. Sawyer is having none of it, of course.




And so the puppy inevitably comes to me. Mommy will play, he knows.



And earlier in the day, while brothers were at school, a big boy dreaming of summer fun. Do you see it? It's a swimming pool (the big splotch) with a multi-colored beach ball, some umbrellas and beach chairs, and even a lifeguard chair (under his foot) and a slide (top). Big boy, big imagination.

It's Hard to Be Me

It's hard, coming back home after being spoiled since last Wednesday. Here is Mr. Pitiful at the end of our day, playing outside just before time for bed (early, if you're wondering). Trust me, after the day we've had, we both needed that early bed time.

Here's just a sample of the attitude I heard from him today.

"I still tired. It's too early." You know, at 8:30 this morning when I was trying to get him up and dressed so we could get him to school at 9.

"We never do anything. I haven't done anything ALL WEEK!" Upon being told he would not be playing video games today.

"I'm just gonna quit! I not gonna walk anymore!" As he attempts to stomp and fuss while simultaneously riding his Big Wheel around the block. He was tired, you know, five seconds in to the walk and wanted to "rest for a little while."

"I not gonna do it!" He says defiantly, to his mother who's already making him stand in the corner for being mean to his little brother. Rest assured, he did do it. He turned and faced back to the wall and screamed bloody murder while doing it. When he stopped, I let him sit down and have dinner with his brothers after a few tearful "Yes, ma'ms."

"It was Xander." A little white lie, when I asked him how the Lightning McQueen trucks made it all the way downstairs from their storage (okay, hiding) spot on the third floor. You can probably guess his second and third lies (Sawyer and Daddy, respectively). We faced the corner for lying too, if you're wondering.

There was also fighting with his brothers over the swings (meaning he tried to physically push them off so he could swing). There was hoarding of toys, in which he wouldn't let his brothers have ANYTHING to play with. There was whining for candy every five minutes (note to self, buy Halloween candy much later next year). There was complaining about the DVD selection of the afternoon. There was constant begging for computer game playing. There was constant disobedience and smart mouth responses.

Sigh. It's been one of those days.

Hopefully a good night's sleep does us both some good.

Snapshot Sunday

Two cousins. Two big imaginations. One good time.

Welcome to the Lake

Because I'm sure some of you thought I was joking when I talk about popcorn and Pepsi every night. I'm not.