Funny

Jonathan was lying in bed looking very puzzled and the following exchange took place.

Mom: "What's wrong Bud?"

Jonathan: "Mickey wears shoes, Goofy wears shoes, ClaraBelle wears shoes, Minnie wears shoes, Daisy wears shoes.....why doesn't Donald wear shoes?"

Mom (trying not to laugh): "I guess he needs his webbed feet for swimming."

Jonathan: "Oh yeah."

It's Fall!

The chill is in the air and I LOVE this time of year. I love the weather, it is perfect...not hot, not cold, just right. It is a bit harder to get out of bed in the morning though. We haven't really used our heat yet so in the morning it is chilly and I just want to stay under the covers snuggling all day. I usually can't do that though because my kids always want silly things like, "breakfast" and "clothes" to wear.

Jonathan turned six last week. We had a fun birthday filled week starting on Monday. The kids stayed home from school and Paul had the day off so we went out to birthday lunch and did presents at home. Tuesday Jonathan brought cookies to school and got to wear the "birthday crown" for the day. Thursday night Paul was working late so we went to Grandma and Grandpa's and had cake. Jonathan opened his presents from Grandma and the cake was Cynthia's first cake that she decorated all by herself. She was very proud!

Then on Saturday we had some friends and family over to play and have cake...again. We had a lot of fun!

School has Begun

I have gone through my mourning period as Cynthia goes back to school and Jonathan starts Kindergarten. Jonathan's school had a fire drill the second day. He has always been sensitive to loud noises. He came home and told me about it in detail then at the end told me he started crying when it went off at first. It makes me so sad that I wasn't there to comfort him but he is gaining confidence through experiencing things on his own. He is already a different boy than before he started.
Cynthia loves 2nd grade. She seems to enjoy her teacher and has made a friend that likes to play cowboy/cowgirl with her at recess.
Emma is a bit bored at home without her older siblings. She is glued to me and really cracks me up. Her imaginary friend Trixie is always having an opinion about what we're doing. "Mommy, Trixie wants to go shopping." or "Trixie doesn't want to have rest time." It is pretty funny. She also just told me recently that she has a '"bad" friend that knows where Belchertown is but she doesn't know where our house is." She does not like this bad friend because she is mean. She is really so funny!

More Summer Fun

Summer is almost over but we are pretending it's not. Cynthia learned to ride her bike and she LOVES it. She rides constantly and we have the perfect spot for her to do that. She makes Jonathan and Emma sit in lawn chairs and watch her from the driveway. I guess that's what big sisters do. Sometimes it seems as though they are her private personal "assistants"
Paul and I will be celebrating our 8th anniversary next week and plan to spend the day at the Temple. It has been way to long since we've gone and we both are looking forward to it.
Jonathan is starting Kindergarten soon and he is mostly excited to ride the bus. I am going through my usual mourning period before school starts. I miss them so much when they're at school and it feels like it is all going by so fast. I guess all I can do is try to live in the moment and enjoy them as much as I can.

Marriage

Hello Everyone!! We just got back from a nice but short visit to NH where Paul's lifelong friend Andrew was married on Saturday. It was a very nice day and both the weather and ceremony went very well. Andrew married Miranda who is actually from Granby, MA just around the corner from us. It was fun and Dawn and I had a good time dancing and waving to each other across the dance floor (Paul was part of the wedding party and so was seated at the head table without Dawn :( Oh well. It was a great way to see how our own lives have been touched by one another and remember how we felt on our special day almost 8 years ago. It is great to see how much we have grown together through good and challenging times, and how Love truly is remarkable. There was one thing the Priest said that I took to heart, and that was not to take each other for granted. That happens often these days and is reflected by the divorce rate in this country. Let's all remember to care for and love each other every day. Enjoy the pictures!!

Tie Dye and Rock & Roll

Well, we are certainly trying to make the most of our "stay at home" vacation. Dawn and I have been working on the house like crazy unpacking and organizing etc. But since this is our "vacation" we still need breaks to have fun with the kids and each other. Today we took a long break to have a picnic in our yard and do some tie dye shirts. It was great and the shirts came out really awesome!! The kids had fun and also have been enjoying all the toys we have unpacked in our playroom. It was like Christmas for them to see all these toys they forgot about. The rock & roll part is when Jonathan asked to have a Mohawk hair cut. We saw a little boy at the mall the other night that had one and he asked if he could have one too. He is still so young and it was a simple way to make him happy so I did it. I hope you enjoy these pictures from our fun day.

Balloons!!!

We went to Trader Joe's yesterday. Of course the kids all got balloons as we were leaving. I don't know what it is about balloons but kids love them so much. We got home with minimal fighting thanks to Trader Joe's gift to the kids. The moment we got out of the car Jonathan went outside and let his balloon go. He said he likes watching them float away. His sisters were flabbergasted. "Jonathan, why did you do that? You could have given it to me!" They did not understand why he would ever want to give his balloon up on purpose. He simply told them, "I wanted to give my balloon to Jesus." Cynthia wasn't convinced it would make it there. She was pretty sure it would pop first. Emma just said, "Jesus doesn't like balloons." Jonathan simply replied, "Sure He does!" and that was the end of that. It was so precious, I didn't have the heart to explain how impossible it was for the balloon to reach Jesus. For now Jonathan believes he gave His balloon to Jesus and maybe he did, any thing's possible.