Up, Up and Away

Well, blogger has been uncooperative lately and so this message was started well over a week ago....hopefully I can get it finished today.


That's what's happening here. My kids are growing up:( Wah!!!!

AJ turned four last week. Wow! Four! I never could have imagined what a little man he would be at this stage. He's so vibrant and full of life. We had a great party. We rented a moon bounce and they ended up dropping it off Friday night and didn't pick it up until Sunday afternoon. So much for the eight hour rental we paid for, lol. I was starting to think we might get to keep it. The kids had such a blast jumping all weekend....even that big one we call Daddy:) We even managed to get Miss Mary and Mr. Blair in there. No pictures of them though, lol.

My cake, though truly chaotic, turned out okay. It was suggested to me that I could have just ordered a plain cake in the colors we wanted and put the little figurines on it. What a time saver that would have been. Anyway, here's the cake:



It's the thought that counts right:)

AJ had his first t-ball game on the 19th. Boy was that a hoot. Picture a bunch of small kids doing whatever they want but they get to have balls and baseball bats, lol. I got some great shots of AJ doing everything but playing the game. It brings me back to when Kayla played t-ball. She used to just stand (or even sit sometimes) out in the field and daydream. Here's the little man all decked out for his first game:



Here is the handsome prince daydreaming a bit:





We went to the park and I got a few great shots of the kids. I think this is my favorite though:



It's rare that boy sits still long. Preschool is coming to a fast end. He only has four more days of school left:( We still haven't decided where he's going next year. I have a good preschool picked out, but James is looking into a job at a local private school that has an excellent preschool program and he would get a nice discount. Of course with the discount it's still outrageous, but what they offer is huge compared to individual preschool programs run by the churches.

Little Ben turned seven months last Friday. I don't know why the passage of time is always so shocking to me, but it is. He's starting to be able to sit up unassisted and though he doesn't crawl per se, he has no problems getting around. He waves and gives kisses and his favorite passtime is still playing with his older siblings. I feel bad that I haven't been as diligent about keeping records of his milestones. Must be that third child syndrome:( I got an adorable pic of him Friday in his bouncer. AJ used to fall asleep in it all of the time, but this was the first time Ben ever bounced himself to sleep. Of course the pic hasn't been uploaded to the computer yet so you'll have to wait, lol. In the meantime, I got some cute pics of him in the swing at the Playground of Dreams in Arlington. I took the boys up there to check it out and I have to admit, it was well worth the drive. It made me miss the parks of Cleveland though.



Kayla is down to fifteen days of school left. I know she's sad that the school year is coming to an end. I'm quite happy though:) Of course, we all know nobody will be sleeping in anyway. Last week James and I went down and checked out St. Mary's school. I was really impressed. I don't know how we'll possibly swing it from a financial standpoint, but we're going to apply. Kayla goes down this Wednesday to be tested (they have their own tests they use) and to spend a half day in one of the third grade classrooms. She's pretty excited about it. I talked to her a little bit about the different things the school can offer her and we watched a video from the school together. While change is not always easy, I do think this is one change that could make a world of difference for her. She would not be singled out there. All of the students are top performers in one way or another.

Kayla's baton recital is coming up this Saturday. I know she's excited and she's worked really hard all year learning the routine. She would like to take tap lessons this summer so I'm going to look into that for her. I'm also signing the kids up for a bowling league this summer as well. The Pink Palace is giving out free three month memberships for the summer so Kayla is really looking forward to visiting the science center. I got some nice pictures of Kayla over the past month too:) Aren't my kids so terribly photogenic:)

Crazy Hazy Days

I can't believe it's really been over a month since my last post. March really got the best of us. I'm kind of sad actually because there were so many good things that happened to blog about and I don't remember half of them now:(

We had a great snow day. We got about four inches. It was crazy. The next day it was eighty outside, lol. The weather down here just cracks me up.

We spent over a week in Ohio. We cut the drive into two segments each way. It wasn't so bad. Ben actually did really well considering he's not terribly fond of the car. AJ gave us the hardest time. I think it's his age. I've termed him the demon child these days. The kids had a blast visiting everyone and playing in the snow up there. We got a lot of great pictures.

Easter was fun. I believe they were most excited about all of the webkinz they got. That Easter Bunny sure knows our kids well:) Believe it or not, most of the candy is still in the fridge. While they certainly don't need the sugar, I wish they'd hurry up and eat it. Another week or so and I'm going to consider it fair game.

On the ride home, Benny was anything but happy. We ended up stopping numerous times. When we finally made it home he was so whiny. I just thought he was really tired. Poor little guy. He threw up twice and woke up that night with a croupy cough. A visit to the doctor confirmed croup and an ear infection. Yikes! No wonder the little guy was so miserable. He was still "off" for a couple of days but has been back to his normal self for over a week now.

Last week Papa Bill stopped in on one of his runs. AJ had so much fun and was really sad when he left. Of course it rained the whole time he was here. I'm glad he was able to stop in a visit though. It was such a treat.

We got the test results back from all of testing the school had done with Kayla. Though I don't feel the number itself is all that important, Kayla shares her IQ with only 1% of the worlds' (tested) population. We always knew she was smart, lol. We had an IEP meeting and found it rather unproductive to say the least. The APEX teacher is very nice and I know Kayla has enjoyed her first two sessions so far. We all agreed that she would take the fourth grade think link exams to gauge where she is as far as base knowledge so we can consider possible subject accelerations next year. We are still considering other schooling options, but nothing is concrete at this time.

Little Ben is growing in leaps and bounds. He's learned how to blow raspberries and it's just too cute. He also just started making the "baba" sound and Kayla thinks she heard "mama" yesterday. I didn't hear anything so who knows. He's rolling all over the place to get what he wants. We also started him on solid foods, but it's been really hit or miss. I'm afraid he may have a sweet tooth coming, lol. Some days he wants to eat like a little pig and some days nothing. His sleep is not that great these days, but I'm starting to see a decent napping pattern.

AJ's going to be four on Monday:( Wow! Where did the time go? He's so smart it's scary. He can write most of his letters and all of his numbers and he's spelling short words. I think he may very well be reading by the end of summer. We signed him up for a kids day out program for the month of June. He'll go from nine to noon on Mondays and Wednesdays and then he'll go to a literature class geared towards his age from on Fridays. My understanding is that they read a story and then all of their activities are centered around the story that day. I think he'll really enjoy it. I also think it will be a nice break for Kayla to be home without AJ. She needs more one on one time.

I have a fabulous party planned for his birthday tomorrow. We're getting a moon bounce for eight hours and having the party from one to three. I got stuff to make a Power Rangers cake. I'm not so sure how that'll turn out but there will be pictures:) Some of his friends from preschool are coming and then some friends that we have. It's going to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately right now the yard has enough water to swim in. I certainly hope it dries up some. There's nothing like muddy kids in a bouncing house.

Kayla has her baton recital May 10th and then she's finished with baton. We have a new video camera that lets us upload to the computer so I'll be sure to post the video of the performance. We're considering a four day camp at camp Kiwani this summer. I'm not so sure she's ready so we'll see.

Other than that, we're just getting ready for summer.