How did time go by this fast?

Okay, so I just realized it has been a LONG time since I wrote an entry and I have no excuse except this. We are having way too much fun to stop actually having the fun and write about it. We have spent the last couple of months swimming, hiking, reading, kicking, shooting, tossing and reading. If it involves any sort of movement, count us in. The beauty of having 4 boys who are getting a little older means that I am more comfortable going places by myself. The first of those is the POOL!! My boys love the pool. They willingly let me slather them with sunscreen every hour (yes, every hour people – I married Casper and had his children and NONE of them got my skin) and wait patiently for me to get the puddle jumpers on them and off they go. I actually got a picture of my legs propped up in a pool lounge chair while all the boys were swimming the first day we went. The water was too cold for Mommy but not them! Of course, I am never out of eye sight or even arm’s reach really but it is nice to know that they don’t “need” me in the water with them. I got tired of being a personal flotation device for 3 toddlers last summer. See, another thing people without multiples don’t think about. Last summer they were just a little too small for their puddle jumpers so if they wanted to go in the water, I went with them and had to help them balance themselves and learn how to float. Last summer, Chase was just learning how to swim and now the kid got his yellow band at the YMCA (swam half a length with no assistance or goggles, jumped in and went under water and then tread water for 30 seconds). Big deal because it means he can go on the water slide at the YMCA even though he isn’t tall enough. He can also swim (not with perfect strokes) up to 250 yards (10 laps total) by himself. He is smart about where he goes and if he gets tired he heads to the shallow end and hangs with the littles. All three of the little boys have progressed to jumping into the pool standing on the side. Anthony was the first to take the leap (no surprise there) and then Jack joined in the fun. Graham really wanted to but was hesitant so we started with him on the steps jumping by himself and then moved to a seated position on the side of the pool and then finally standing and jumping toward me and the grand finale was a jump all by himself without me there to catch him. All of this is possible because of the puddle jumpers (flotation device they wear). I have heard people comment that wearing them means they don’t learn to swim on their own. Well guess what, I don’t have enough arms to have them swim on their own right now. It would be easy if I only had one kid to hold on to or take to a swim lesson but there are just too many at the same age for that to happen so I do what works for us. They don’t seem to mind and I am at ease because they are safe and having fun. Sorry, I’ll get off the soapbox now but sometimes it aggravates me to hear people make comments about how I do things with my boys when they don’t live my life. What works for me, works for me so butt out. 

Strolling the beach - while they don't love the ocean, they do enjoy the beach itself

Yes, Mommy gets to sit poolside this summer for the first time in over 6 years!

Getting ready to jump!

Splash house at Grandma's pool

  Then there is our love of anything sport related. I wish I could say that this is just about Chase but Anthony has the bug worse than Chase does! And Graham isn’t afraid to mix it up either. Jack is a little more reserved but in the last couple of weeks has decided that his brothers are having way too much fun without him and Mommy isn’t always that interesting (I guess dishes, laundry and ironing have a place in my life!) Chase is amazing with the boys and somehow knows that he can be SUPER competitive with Anthony, a little less with Graham but not at all with Jack or he will get upset and leave. He will play to each one’s level and make it enjoyable for all of them. Along with soccer, basketball, Frisbee and baseball (which all the boys can hit being pitched to and not off of a tee) they have now decided that cornhole (beanbag toss) is AWESOME and golf is pretty cool too. For Chase’s birthday, he got new golf clubs from Popi and Meme and the Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Nate and the girls sent him a golf flag. Needless to say we have been practicing our putting and chipping in the backyard on a regular basis. (plastic clubs and wiffles balls for everyone except Chase who gets to use his real clubs)

Yep. They are old enough for soccer at the YMCA so they are now athletes too, trophies and all!

First year playing t-ball but it was actually coach pitch and he rocked it! He now spends his free time pitching to the littles and they then try to pitch to him. Makes my heart melt....

Golf camp - birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy

Hit it to the green from the tee! (about 80 yards I think I was told)

 

Golfing with Daddy on Grandma's 9-hole course

 

Tennis lesson for his birthday - he now thinks he can "beat Grandma!"

We go hiking around Falls Lake when it is too hot outside without the cover of the trees. Go to the library for preschool story time and to check out library books. Chase will check out 9-10 books that he is able to read himself and then finish them that night. When he is passionate about something, it sticks. We read a book before bed every night and the person who picks the book rotates on a nightly basis. Chase has been picking his library books to read to all of us which is great and the littles have sets of books that they “read” to us as well. They are short stories that we have all heard so often they are memorized but I think it is sweet when they “read” to us. They each insert their own personality into the story-telling and it melts my heart.

The biggest news around here is Chase starting Kindergarten! UGH@ how did that happen! I can honestly say that having him in the Transitional Kindergarten last year was THE.BEST.CHOICE.EVER! He was ready for this next step. I was confident in his ability to succeed in this next step and it has been less traumatic than I expected. The first week went off without a hitch. He is in a modified year round charter school which means he starts in July and goes to school for 9 weeks and then has a 3 week break. This continues all year long with adjustments for holidays and such. The charter school part of it means that it is still a public school in terms of no tuition and public funding but he wears a uniform, doesn’t have a cafeteria so they eat in their classroom and he is exposed to higher levels of learning, smaller class size and more one on one attention (should he need it). We are now in week 2 and there have been some tears in the morning – not happy tears either. The novelty is wearing off, he is tired and this isn’t all fun and game, but school, so you actually work and have to sit in a chair for most of the day (except when he is changing classrooms). I am hoping this phase will pass quickly because my excited, chatty boy is solemn and teary-eyed on the ride there in the morning. He is fine when I pick him up so I am hoping that once he gets into the building things get better. He has also mentioned that he misses me and his brothers (sniff, sniff) and is afraid he is missing out. I spent so much time this summer trying to go and do and make memories that I didn’t think about the impact of that when he was “left out” or so he thought. Needless to say we have been talking lots about what we do during the day and I explain that Mommy is home doing laundry, cleaning, running errands – all boring to him and he is having more fun at school. Not sure if it will convince him but I am trying. Will keep you posted on how that goes.

 

First day of Kindergarten, July 2014! Still excited even though it is EARLY!

I will end for now but only because I have a birthday post to write about a certain 6 year old! Hang in there friends, I promise to try and get it done sooner rather than later!