Love notes

All girls love to have little love notes given to them by their sweethearts. 


It's a fact. 


So, all you boy readers, take note! It's a simple way to get on the good side of your girl (or mom or dad), just leave a little note professing your true love! 

This boy already has it figured out :)

Caught in the act...

My sweet husband told Agent P recently that I had eyes in the back of my head. Agent P actually almost believes that I do because I often know what he is doing without even looking.

More often than not, he is doing something he shouldn't be. Even though I told him not to. 17 times. In one day.

And then another 32 times the next.

(waving from stage)

He can't help it.

It is who he is.

So, look very closely at this very blurry photo. Look where he is going and the awesome expression on his face.

Yup, that is a microphone.

And yes. He is on stage.

With 120 other kindergartners.

With all their parents and siblings watching.

Tip toeing 3 steps to the microphone and say "hi". About 4 different times.

What can he say, he does live every moment to it's fullest. He makes no excuses and no justifications for his acts.

Truth be told, I would have NEVER placed him smack dab in front of a microphone. :)

But his teachers will have to learn the hard way :)

We've just gotta catch up!

I think that in order to catch up to present day events; I have GOT to put it all in one post. I am pretty sure that it will be quick.

Or not really.

You all know how I can take one simple event and make it into a very long post. I know, it's just a talent that I have, no need to be jealous of my ability to drone on and on about things and provide lots of useless information.

It's a talent that can't be bought.

Where shall we start?

Halloween?

Halloween it is.

I have a very sweet little boy who really struggles with things that don't go his way. He has a very clear cut idea of how things should be and often falls to itty bitty pieces when they stray from the plan. I pretty much have NO CLUE what the plan is. Just when I think I know, he changes the plan and our world is turned upside down.

Halloween is no different for him.

This is him last year:


Monkey absolutely refused to put on his bumble bee costume.



He is the one on the right - the one in a t-shirt. Yes, so is Agent P - but that is his custom costume :)

And then this year:

To my credit, I truly thought that if WE dressed up as pirates with the kids - Monkey would be all over that idea. (Let's not even look at the partially dressed "baseball player". I guess you get to a certain age and dressing up is not fun...until you get as old as your parents... :) )

Nope. That did not sway Monkey at all.

I did convince him to finally put it on when we went out Trick-or-Treating (however he refused to let me take a picture of him). Of course he couldn't wear it when we did Trunk-or-Treat at church or went to a Halloween party 2 days earlier. Now it is in the dress up bucket never to be touched by him again.

One of them really enjoyed Halloween...





And was the perfect pirate who wore her costume happily!

Next up?

Agent P's "Show me YOU" at school.

This is where the teacher sends a bag home and the kids put things in the bag that they love and is a reflection of them.  They get to show it to all the kids in class and talk about the stuff that they brought.

Agent P has been DYING to do this since the first week. 4 months later, it was finally his turn.

This is what he took:

I spy a Transformer, speed car of sorts, airplane and hot wheel. I also see a stuffed octopus and 2 shiny rocks/gems (orange and blue). Now take a look at the last item (top right). It is an empty box of Tazo Tea - Passion flavor (a personal favorite of mine).

I completely understand the cars and transformer. The stuffed octopus I'm on the fence about because I truly don't know why he took it. It's not like he sleeps with it or plays with it, but whatever. He packed it.

But let's talk about the empty tea box.

That he took from the recycle on his way out the door.

I asked his teacher how he explained the box. She said he told the class to look inside - that it was really, really cool. Yup. I've always thought kids just needed empty boxes. Forget the toys. An empty box will do it every time. Apparently he passed it around to the kids to take a look.

I think that about sums up Agent P though, someone who can look into an empty box and see something wonderful!

We have a visitor - 2 actually! :)

Grandma Joan (my sweet husband's mama) and "Grandma" Lynn (a dear family friend)

They are staying down at a State Park campground for 6 months and we couldn't be happier....especially the kids who are enjoying the endless reading that they have been doing. For some reason, there is no picture of Grandma Lynn with the kids - I think that I am so busy when they are here that I forget to take pictures. I will be better next time! 

I entertained the idea of putting the twins 3rd birthday here at the end - but there are a lot of really great pictures that my Aunt took and I don't want to deny you all the wonderful details of a party that revolved around 3 year olds - lol!

Cheers!

Make-up

My kids all know I wear make-up. I wear it so I don't scare people off. I don't wear a lot, just enough to look decent and ya know, awake. I don't like to spend a lot of time fussing with hair and make-up only to have my kids mess it all up anyway. This is totally not the point of this post. At all. I'll get to the point...

The point is that Agent P has been taking gymnastics now for about 6 weeks. The intent of the class was to wear him out. The boy has more energy than is necessary for any one person to possess. I keep waiting for the exhaustion to set it. And waiting and waiting and waiting....

Anyway, keeping to the point, they were closed on Labor Day and since his class is on Monday - he had no class. Now he has a class to make up. After class the other day, our conversation went something like this:

Me: You know, you have a make-up class we need to schedule.
Agent P: (after a pause) Is it just for girls?
Me: Nooo, why would it be just for girls?
Agent P: (another pause) Well, do I have to wear make-up?
Me: It's not a class about make-up - it's a gymnastic class that you get to go to, an EXTRA one.
Agent P: Are they going to teach me how to put on make-up?
Me: No sweetie.

And I ended the conversation there. I mean really...where else could I go from here? I was not successfully getting thru to him, so I quit talking and turned up the radio.  Music solves most issues in my vehicle :).

Peeing in public

I'm not talking about peeing in public restrooms necessarily, I'm talking about peeing in public - for all to see. If you are reading this and you know my kids, you already have a visual picture in your mind. (Go ahead and giggle, it's ok). If you are just completely appalled that people allow their children to pee anywhere but a toilet, you should go ahead and move onto reading something else....for me, I have 3 kids that constantly need to pee (and A-Dog is not one of them) - so sometimes, you have to bend some rules of society in order to survive!

Where we live, we capitalize on using the back yard as frequently as possible. Boys and girl. None (most) of our neighbors can see (not really anyway) and frankly, I'm pretty sure the little boy next door does it too!  We have saved at least $5 on water usage, perhaps more!  Not bad in this economy!

However, sometimes this can backfire. Agent P has dropped his drawers and provided entertainment more than once. It's now a standing joke at my cousin's house. But, I HAVE been working with him and attempting to curb his desire to just drop and go.  I mean, he does start kindergarten in 6 weeks. He should be housebroken by then right?

Well unfortunately, about a month ago I learned I had a wee bit more work to do (get it? WEE??).

We were at the baseball field for something - I don't think it was a game, I just can't remember it was so traumatizing. I do know it was A-Dog, Agent P and me. There was a game  or 2 going on - and of course I knew at least 75% of the people in attendance and throughtout the entire complex. I looked over, saw some kid's tush with his shorts at his ankles peeing in the rocks - right behind the scoring table, 2 feet from the drinking fountain. Then realized I recognized that tush.

Hindsight dictates I should have remained silent and acted as tho I had NO CLUE whose kid that was. Sadly, my reaction was to loudly say "NNNOOOOO". That unfortunate action prompted many, many people to look around to see what was so urgent that I would yell. Then of course, everyone saw.

I tried to stop him before he started the act. I failed.

I know what I will be doing the next 6 weeks... :- ) Wasting water!

He's one of a kind...

I've always said that "everyone should have one of these", ya know, an Agent P. Or, your own version of him.  He has 2 speeds. High.  And Off. That's it. Anything in between would be wasteful :- )! He is full speed from morning until whenever his body finally allows him to fall asleep. He talks constantly and it was no surprise to me that he started reading early (can sound out nearly any word he is presented) before his 5th birthday.

There is no reason everyone shouldn't be blessed with a kid like this. It is grounding and eye opening!  He loves every bit of life and loves it hard. He is rough on absolutely everything we own  - and things A-Dog had for 10 years have been known to disintegrate in his midst.

He is silly and goofy! This photo is him actually posing for it. This is an actual conversation I had with him this week.

As a premise to the conversation - we had just dropped of Alec's friend Nick after spending the afternoon at the County Fair. 

Agent P: I want a brother named Nicholas. A-Dog can I call you Nicholas?
A-Dog and Me: NO!
Agent P: Why not?
A-Dog: It's not my name.
Agent P: Mom, you need to pray REALLY hard to God.
Me: Why?
Agent P: So that he will give you another baby. It will be a brother and we will call him Nicholas.
Me: That's not going to happen sweetie, so let's just pretend Nicholas is our other brother.
Agent P: OK.

Tip of the ice berg I tell you. I could go on and on about conversations that I have with this kid and not a one of them did I actually come out the 'winner'. We go round and round and he just wears me down :- ).

I can tell you tho, I do win the conversations about getting another sibling. One day he asked me if Target sold older sisters because he'd like to get one of those too. Honestly, don't we have enough people in our family?? I decided today that is why God blessed him with twin siblings - one would have NOT been near enough for him! It is pretty much a tag team situation at my house where Agent P goes from one person to another until each person just can't take it any more :- )!

I would not change a thing about him tho. The kid is amazing, and sweet, and full of life. He takes our days to a level we would never accomplish without him!!

Agent P - you are a masterpiece that God has big plans for!  Never change for anyone :- )! We love you! We can't wait to celebrate your 5th Birthday next month!!!

Foreign Languages

Spanish classes. I spent 2 years in High School (which frankly I can't remember that far back) and 2 years in College (again, don't remember that either) learning this foreign language. I mean, it was the most logical language to learn, we do live close to the Mexico border. However, without continual use, I've lost my ability to speak somewhat coherently in Spanish.


You know, I can speak enough to get me some food (taco, margarita...), find the bathroom and order beer. Important stuff. Perhaps enough to negotiate price when shopping in Nogales...but even then I get nervous I might commit to something I shouldn't. And I certainly would never attempt an actual conversation with someone fluent in the language.


But when my 4 year old Agent P asked me if I spoke Spanish, of course I replied "Si senor, hablo espanol". Translated that means "yes sir, I speak Spanish" I explained to him.
 To which he replied "no it doesn't, it means 'yes sir, I speak Chinese' ".


Oh.  I guess my Spanish is far rustier than I had thought....

6 months from now...another one...

Will be going  to school! Come on people, what were you thinking I was going to say??? Seriously. I'm busy enough!

I'm talking about Agent P going to Kindergarten. His teacher has no idea what she/he is in for!!  I envision the first day being something of a routine day where I drive him to school (if he lets me-he's already talking about riding the bus! GASP!) and walk him to class (again, if he allows me to).  He is already going to preschool 2 days a week and barely says goodbye to us!
Of course deep down we momma's all hope for a tear or two.  I mean, really, let's be honest. I had to carry that kid around in my uterus for 9 months, birth him, and get him thru his first 5 years of life before handing him over to Kindergarten. I've endured RSV, ear infections, stomach flu's, other random illnesses, teething, potty training, talking back, and all the attitude that comes with an independent Taurus kid. Trust me when I say, I deserve a tear or two....don't I???

I'm afraid the only tears I will be getting will be the ones that either I shed, or the ones that Mini P and Monkey shed for leaving their brother at school and they don't get to stay.

Agent P is very independent and while I'm sure he loves us, can certainly function well without us. I am in the process of yet another room switching fiasco here. (A-Dog is moving into what was my office. Can you say "and then she had none"?????) When A-Dog asked Agent P if he was going to miss sharing a room he looked him square in the eye and said "nope". A-Dog was crushed. I had to stifle my laugh because it was pretty funny!

But that is how Agent P is. To the point. He is a very vivacious and articulate 4 3/4 year old. He is going strong from the time he wakes up until the time he finally falls asleep. He is creative and somewhat devious. If he doesn't like the answer you give him he will just persist and continue on with a rephrase of the question or statement. I have to give him credit, if there's a loophole, he will find it!

I'm not sure Kindergarten will ever be ready for him. We found out yesterday from his preschool teacher that he can read a minimum of 45 words. They aren't really sure how many because he was already sounding out words he didn't know so they stopped. I'm a bit nervous about that....when kids start reading-that is when you can no longer make things up!! Not that I'd do that of course, but if I did, I'd now risk being caught!

I'd love to share a photo or 2 but my sweet husband got me a Netbook for Christmas and all my photos are on the other computer that sits in a room that is nearly no longer mine. Short of the long - I'm too lazy to go in, turn it on, find and edit photos, move them to this computer and upload them. I have a house to clean today!

Goin' Under.....

We put a pool in our backyard this year - put UP a pool I should say, but it sounds so...cheap. Well, I guess we are cheap, or practical, but mostly just cheap. Anyway, we put UP a pool this year in our backyard.

A-Dog and a friend making the most of the day!

I have to say, it is a bit of work since I don't have *pool guy* per say (my pool guy is a very busy guy and *pool guy* just adds to his many job titles and frequently shifts those duties to the bottom...). We are the ones in charge of maintaining the level of chemicals, water, salt (because we invested in the salt water generator instead of the regular chlorine method), bugs...etc. And then once a week we have to pool vacuum the bottom. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I actually enjoy the pool vacuum. I'm a freak that way. I like vacuuming the house too. Again, I know, I'm a freak. Plus, no one can be in the pool with me while I clean it...an obvious perk!

This pool is used probably 5 days a week if not more. Since I can walk out my back door and hop in (after removing some floating bugs) - it has been well worth it! I don't have to pack up 4 kids and their significant amount of needed items just to find out someone isn't interested in swimming that day. My kids like the water a certain temperature and off a degree or two can make or break the deal.

ANYWAY.

Agent P is was not a swimmer. He happily spent his time on the ladder, on the side or in the warmth of someone holding him in the pool. That is until...A-DOG! A-Dog taught him how to swim last week.

After school and homework they go out to the pool together. Each day, Agent P showed more and more progress. He started putting his face in. He started getting his hair wet. He started going under and holding his breath. He started swimming while holding the ladder. UNTIL this happened:

(I know it's hard to see (not really), but can you see the proud look on A-Dog's face?)

Agent P is by no means an Olympic swimmer, but finally finally FINALLY he moved past sitting on the ladder! Next step is coming up for air :-). He talks about swimming now ALL the time and can't wait to get in the pool each day.

Except today.

Today the water was 78 degrees. Like I said, temperature can break the deal. 82 is tolerable if the sun is out. 78 was a might chilly!