Horse Ride Backing

Yesterday was James Morris' first time "horse ride backing."  When he was little, and Joel Andrew took the lessons, I would bring James and walk around the stables with him and we would say hello to all the horses, and he would practice walking and talking.  Last year he asked me questions and wondered when he would get to go.  Yesterday morning I woke him up and told him we were going horse back riding today, and he said: "to watch Joelly?"  And when I said, no you get a chance - he was so, so excited!

He did a great job and had a lot of fun and said he wants to go back next week too.  I am very excited that he had Johnny, Joel Andrew was a little jealous that James got to ride on his horse.  That Johnny I tell you has been the first horse for many a kid I know in this area!

My House is Full of Men

The boys, all three of them, just got back from Karate.  Now Joel Husband is taking a shower and quizzing the two littles on Star Wars trivia.  It is quite interesting to hear in the background.  I am surrounded by boys.  Angus farts below me too.  I might need to plan a girls weekend soon.

revelation

Today I had a revelation, with the help of my co-worker.  For years I have been stressed now - time is going by so quickly.  I need to write it down, I need to appreciate it, I need to suck it up and enjoy every moment.  I'm going to be sad when it is over.  I am missing out each time I work.  I need to enjoy this moment.  I stress myself out with all of this.  All the time.

I tell people this, and they usually agree with me which stresses myself out more.  Write it down.  Take pictures.  Make sure you work less and enjoy your kids more.  Travel more.  I do travel more, I work "part time" but sometimes at the end of the day I beat myself up for wanting to sit on the couch or make dinner in peace than argue with my 5 year old about why he cannot have a gatorade.

We do have moments of pure enjoyment and fun and I do remember them, blog about them, take pictures of them.  And I should remember that, all is not lost.  I am enjoying the now.

But my co-worker said it best - he is not sad about the new now with his kids - high school age and growing.  He is excited for the next stage, he is excited for their little lives and seeing them grow and seeing what they are about to accomplish.

If I could just focus on that, and less on making myself feel guilty for missing the opportunity of taking a picture of my son holding a sign up that said his favorite color at age 2, then 3 then 4 - then maybe we all would be better off.

On that note, the kids are in bed 20 minutes early and I am going to rent a movie off my DVR.  But I will enjoy the time we have tomorrow and this weekend too!  And I will try not to be sad that the baby stage is over, and I will enjoy that my boys are wonderful, happy, healthy, sometimes mischievous, always loving guys.

They still better hug me when they are older though.

James Morris at 4

James Morris turned 4 yesterday, and I cannot believe how big he is.  He is a little man, still as sensitive as can be - still a good manipulator, and will still get really really upset if I cry.  Sadly, of course I use this to my advantage on him…  But still…  He is a love bug - my little love bug and is always very affectionate towards me.  He will snuggle with me in the morning, and blow kisses at me while I am driving, and randomly will demand a hug.  I can't get enough of all of it and I certainly am completely smitten with this little guy.

No one can ever love Joelly as much as James loves Joelly, he idolizes his big brother and wants to be where he is always.  He also likes to tease his big brother too.  The two of them will have full on conversations now about things that I do not even know that they are talking about - tv characters, or from a movie they watched.  They will share really well and play games really well, and watch TV together really well, until it is time for them to take a break, and then at this moment there is usually screaming and crying.  But luckily, I think we have this a ton less than other people do with siblings, I hope it stays that way.  James will run to give his brother a hug before bed.  And, Joel is the first person he asks about in the morning.

James remember Otter and talks about her all the time.  He is a good brother to Angus as well and as asked when we are getting another dog.

He is an all around sweetheart but gets the devil look in his eye too.  When he is over tired he is over handsy and whiny.  But we are happy to say that the terrible threes seemed to have ended with our trip to Europe, and he is much easier to talk off a ledge these days.

When asked right now:

What's your favorite color:   Yellow
Who's your Favorite Person: Mommy, you're my favorite person.
What's your favorite sport to play: I don't know (when I described sports, he went for the first sport I mentioned, soccer).
What's your favorite food: Mac N Cheese
What's your favorite drink: Chocolate Milk
Who's your girlfriend: "I don't know" - different story than a few weeks ago, buddy.
What do you want to be when you grow up: Policeman

Where do you want to travel to next: I don't know
What was your favorite trip so far: Disney World Hotel
Who's your favorite brother: Joelly

Keep being my sweet little man.  I promise in this next year we will have more Mommy-Jamesy time, we had almost a full year robbed from us and I will not let it happen again.  Next year you will be 5!  You will be going into Kindergarten, this is it!  I am so sad, and so incredibly happy and proud at the same time.

James Morris Parties for Year 4

 This weekend was James' birthday celebration.  My son chose to have a pirate/superhero/lego themed birthday party which made it very nice as we got some use out of some of the extra cups we had around from the pirate party years ago.  This also led to some great chances at varied games.  Of course we had the water slide, which has now become extra popular in our party offerings.  But I also had a build your own lego area, and we tried doing a superhero thing - in which the kids had to collect crumpled up balls of green paper "kryptonite" and without using their hands, bring it to the kryptonite dish.  My (elder) son nicely pointed out that since he is not superman he can just pick the kryptonite up.  Thanks, Joel Andrew, thanks.

James had a great time and loved being the center of attention.  He requested a menu of fruit, mac n cheese, chicken fingers and ranch dressing - oh, and Salty Chips too.  We totally let him have all of these and more and the parents loved it too.  We over estimated the amount of people who actually would attend though, and we still have tons and tons of food left.  Not to mention the slide still here - so we had party part two yesterday, who knows, maybe party part three today?

In the end, the backyard party wins over the party at another place any day.  WE love having the friends and family members over, everyone loves the slide and everyone loved the drinks!  We are just so thankful that we lucked out with good weather again!

Happy Birthday Party Day, James!

Mother's Day Tea

Joel Andrew's kindergarten class had a Mother's Day tea at school yesterday.  As per usual, I ran in 5 minutes late. But they waited for me to start. Which was nice and sad that I held everyone up. But still.  All of the moms, and one dad, sat in the little chairs in rows and we waited for our littles - who now to me look so big - parade in.  They sang us some songs and handed out some gifts and then we had tea and cookies and chatted.  It was lovely.

My little guy was a dirty mess - in his Vineyard Vines fancy outfit - as Heather and I were told by Mrs. Middleton that Laurel and Joel had emerged from the playground covered in dirt.  Still peas and carrots, those two - we took Laurel home after the Tea and the two played, and played, and dealt with James.

Below you will see some photos of what Joel made for me.  As you can see, although I can get mad at him, I am generally happy and like to run(?) and play a ton, and I wear floor length black halter dresses a lot too.  I laughed about the mad at me part - and then other Mom's started to share what theirs say, and we all had a good laugh.  Sometimes she doesn't cook.  Sometimes she yells at me.  I guess sometimes we all are not perfect.

What a cute event!  I was sad to learn that this Tea is only for those in Kindergarten.  And I look forward to James' in two years.  Next fun thing, Lads and Links.  Golf with your son.  They do a lot of things like this at our school which I am actually surprised about.  What if you don't have a grandparent for grandparent lunch?  Doesn't it make the other kids sad?

May 4th

That was the day that I gave up on having Joel wear "handsome clothes to school."  I made it all the way until the day after NH's spring break.  Honestly, the breaking the collar bone helped me make it this far, since he had to wear button downs and had no other way to get t-shirts on.

But now, with the spring, and with Jump Rope Club and Gym and all the other things he does - he can wear those ridiculous highlighter-hurst my eyes to look at these outfits color gym shorts and shirts all day long.  Just like his fell classmates and comrades.

Enjoy it now buddy.  Come September we are starting over with the handsome regime!

The Void

I am losing at my desire to post 10-12 times per month on this blog.  And wanted to explain the void, if the last post was not good enough for you.  Its been busy.  Filled with packing, unpacking, packing again, unpacking, forgetting things, eating whatever is in front of me, not running, not walking, lots of drinking, being crazy at work, feeling sad for all the days I am missing because of work, missing lots of regular days at work and being behind at work for that - but needing to conserve work hours, landscaping, buying too many raspberry plants and freaking out about how to plant them, planning for a 4 year olds birthday party (what?!?), trying to sell things online, finishing the new home "upgrade,"  cleaning out drawers, closets, leaving laundry in the dryer or washer for days, and more and more.  So, I hope soon I will come up with a few posts: Hilton Head, vacation style!; We hope my kids will continue to love Fruit; James is 4 (what?!); Mother's Day, 2015; and Trying to salvage 4 James & Mommy Days before school ends; along with a few one liners…  Stay tuned people...