Getting closer

We left Thursday to go to Chicago. Friday to go to New York. And now, today, we're waiting, waiting, waiting to head to Dominican! Shortly our plane will take off. So far...

Ava screamed immediately upon getting on the plane in Chicago for about 20 minutes. Full force tantrum through all of take off. Then she fell asleep and woke up 45 minutes and did the same thing. It was fun. Pray the flight today goes better!

The attendant guy at the pool in the hotel in NY was, well, interesting. No jumping, no splashing, no having fun, apparently. We made our own fun anyway!

But really, everything has gone really well so far. We've had no flight troubles, kids have been helpful, and everyone's ready to hit the beach.

See you on the other side!

A lot of work!

I know that no one feels sorry for me, but... getting ready for vacation is A LOT of work! I feel like the whole week has been spent shopping for vacation, or making a list of things I need to get for vacation, or making piles of things I need to take on vacation, or making a list of things I need to shop for to put in a pile for vacation! You get the picture.

But, I am so, so, so excited. I'm trying to ignore the fact that Ava screams now and then when we buckle her into her carseat, or in general when we try to restrain her when she wants to run. Instead, I just keep thinking beach, beach bed, swimming with dolphins, rain forests and sun, sun sun!

I keep thinking about this...

And I just can't wait to enjoy every moment!

What I'll miss

There's so many things that I won't miss when Ava gets big... I won't miss diapers. At all. I won't miss the food mess at every single meal (oh wait, Abby still has that, I guess I'll have it for awhile!). I won't miss the frustration of not understanding what she wants. But there's so much more that I will miss, that I'm sucking in with all my might, and hoping she just does for a little while longer...

1. I will miss Dora. Seriously. When Abby moved to bigger kid programming, so did Nolan. And Max. Now that I'm home with Ava and Max, we get to go backwards some and catch the kids' programming. I don't love Dora, per se, but I do love to watch Ava and Max (and even Abby and Nolan if they're not vigilant!) get sucked into the program and laugh and enjoy it.
2. I will miss the too-cute-uncoordinated-but-feeling-it-with-all-my-heart dancing that Ava does. Any time music comes on, or we sing, or she thinks she hears a beat, she's trying to dance the best way she can.
3. I will miss the learning to talk. While it's frustrating when she can't say what she wants, and she screams and I scream, I love trying to teach her to say things. More than any other of the kids, or at least that I'm noticing more, she tries to imitate. If I say "Say Abby," she watches my mouth and really tries to say it. Sometimes it comes out better than others, but her concentration around it is just awesome.
4. I will miss the realization that they understand so much more that I believe they will. Ava still amazes me when I say something, sometimes not even talking to her, and she follows through. I told Dave I needed to call someone, and she went and got her pink phone and started talking on it. It's scary how much she knows!
5. I will miss the open-mouthed-I-will-lick-your-face-all-over kisses. Every kid had these and they just crack me up as they try to learn how to give kisses back.

That's the list for now of the things I will miss. I know there are others, lots others, and I'll keep track and write more about them some other day.

Just days

Has it really been 8 days since my last post? So much has happened... the leperchauns peed green in our toilet and flipped over our chairs and stole the kids' money; the lot two down from ours broke ground on a new house so there's huge dirt piles the kids are exploring; Ava got a nasty cold in her eyes and she's so goopy it's disgusting; and, March Madness started!

I'm telling you, the excitement around our house is amazing. :)  You?

P.S. T - 7 days till vacation. How can that be so quickly??

Better than a groundhog

Today, after school, Nolan was playing outside. At one point, he came in and asked for a small ziploc bag, clearly up to something. A few minutes later, he returned, ziploc bag filled with rabbit poop. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I'm interpreting it as only two more weeks of winter.

I did it!

I remembered jury duty today! Yeah me!

We had jury selection from 8 this morning until 11:30. Fortunately, I wasn't picked. It involved a 48-year-old man as the defendant, accused of relations with a 12-year-old girl. Bleah. Not sure I could have been fair or impartial, really.

In other news, I'm a hero! Well, kind of. Tonight doing homework with Abby, she told me she didn't get her math that they showed her in class with fractions. But she didn't worry about it, because she knew I'd be able to explain it to her. I know everything. (Her words, not mine.) I wonder when she'll truly know different? Something tells me not so long from now.

Mama said there'd be days like this

Awhile ago, I posted about how I love Mondays. I lied.

This morning I was all ready to go. Same routine as every Monday... drop kids at school, drop Max at preschool, head to Y, drop off Ava at babysitting, work out. And then the phone rang at 8:10, just 10 minutes before leaving to start all of that. The caller ID said 'WA Cty'. Uh oh.

WA Cty?? That would be Washington County. Bells ringing in my head, something seems off. What could it be? Oh yes, that's it. I was supposed to check to see if I had jury duty today. Apparently, I did, and the nice lady was calling me to see why I wasn't there. Ugh. I told her I forgot and was home at the moment with my four kids, but could be there at 9. Would that be sufficient? She said she'd get back to me...

So, with the idea that it would be sufficient, I sent the kids running. While I changed from work out clothes to real clothes, and attempted to do something with my hair, I had Abby getting Ava ready and Nolan, well, just getting him out the door. I called Dave who didn't answer and left him a message and my friend Laura pleading for babysitting help. We were just about out the door when the phone rang. 9:00 wasn't sufficient, they needed to start before then. So, I was off for today, but needed to come tomorrow.

Whew. But now we're late for school! Throw my work out clothes back in the bag, shove the kids out the door, drop them off at school, call Dave to let him know, call Laura to go back to the original plan to meet for lunch, no babysitting services needed, get gas (lucky to make it to the gas station), drop off Max, drop off Ava at Y babysitting, go into the lockerroom, change back into my work out clothes, and...

Realize I have no gym shoes. I looked at my bag, took mental inventory of my van to figure out if I left an old pair in there, wished I had a swimsuit, and finally undressed, took a shower at the Y, got Ava and headed to WalMart for two hours.

We checked out the fish, walked the clearance aisle, and I even let her walk through the toys instead of strapping her in tight to the cart. She had so much fun playing with a ball up and down the aisle (no people around!) and then down the little kids toy aislie she pushed every button that sang, nose that talked and baseball that made sound effects. It was great to play with them all--and not have them in my house! Then we wandered through the electronics (may have bought a few), through the clothes, around to the shoes and finally did some grocery shopping that needed to take place. We really had a lot of fun! However...

Note to self. When attempting to waste time at WalMart, I should do my real shopping first, and then the fun stuff. By the time we actually got into line, then waited for the s-l-o-w-e-s-t checker ever, and the crazy guy who couldn't decide if he wanted the extended warranty on his Wii or not (his answer? Well, I guess I better, since this is WalMart) it was (past) time to pick up Max. Oops!

THEN (are you still reading??), I get to Max's school and run in, leaving Ava in the car (no hate mail, please!!) for the 30 seconds I know it will take, head in hands because I'm embarassed to be so late (5 minutes). His teacher was very nice about it, but then proceeds to let me know that Max wasn't accepted into the 4-year-old program (I knew that last week) because he doesn't participate at the level they need him to... except for this week, when he's apparently become Mr. Join In. Of course. Then she said I may want to think about whether, because his birthday is so late in the summer, he should start school Fall 2012 or wait until the following year when he'd be 6. Whoa! I was floored. Especially because Max always wants to play with bigger kids, and has always been physically adept at, well, everything. I told her no, I really hadn't thought about it, and probably wouldn't hold him.

And I was thinking ARE YOU CRAZY?!?

So anyway, after that it was a nice trip to McDonald's with Laura, where we spent 2.5 hours catching up while the kids played. It was nice and relaxing and who would have ever thought that my idea of relaxing and a good lunch would take place at the McDonald's Playplace? I guess that same person who never thought her life could get so chaotic she would actually forget jury duty.

Organized life or kids x 4. What's a missed civic duty now and then?

Silent

Have you ever had a lot in your head, but nothing to say? I'm kind of like that this week. It's all garbled up up there. So, I'll quietly introduce you to a few pictures.

You know Max...

 This is his girlfriend Rayva.

 She lives across the street from us. We're not sure who the crazy one is. Together they're a riot. When they're not destroying everything in sight. Oh, I'll give them some credit. It's been at least a week since they destroyed anything. That I know about.

 And you know Ava. Do you like her baby?

 Apparently, her baby had to pee. At least someone uses the potty.

 Have I told you we got new carpet? We did. But not before letting the kids have at it. Here's Abigail and Kyan playing hangman.

 Everyone had plenty of drawing room.

 Poor Kyle just couldn't bring himself to do it. He stuck to the white board.

Here's Nolan with his fish. Whale? Shark?

And finally, the littles. Max is teaching Ava everything he knows. Oh my!

THREE WEEKS UNTIL DOMINICAN!!!!