Sunday Fun!??

I have a confession to make. I don't know about the rest of you but Sundays are hard days around our house. There I said it. At this point in our lives Sundays are not the restful days they once were. Often before we leave for church it is crazy before we even get out the door. We try to get things organized the night before, but there is still a certain level of chaos that can't be avoided. Plus 9:00 church is never easy with four little ones. Then when we get home from church the kids just seem to go a little stir crazy. We try to think of reverent activities, but at some point our high energy kids just seem to loose it. Tempers start to flare and teasing, tears, and tantrums ensue, and then there are the kids reactions :)

Today we still had the dreaded triple three appear, but for a brief moment there was also laughter and bonding as a family. No there wasn't anything spiritual during this brief moment, but we did have fun as a family which is much better in my opinion than having to break up a squabble. Below are the products of playing around with photo booth on my Mac.

Gotta love a Mac.

We love the above the photo of Ken because we think he looks like a disney cartoon character.

We are seriously considering the potential of a future family Christmas Photo.

What do you think?

We even got Little Miss to participate when she woke up.

Remember how I said Sundays are hard. We had just gotten the kids to bed and breathed a sigh of relief that we had survived the day and Leo came flying down the stairs crying. Once we got him calmed down he told us the toilet was flooding. We raced upstairs to find the entire bathroom flooded. When Ken raced back downstairs to get tools to shut off the toilet he came back upstairs to tell me the water was coming through the ceiling in the kitchen and dripping on to the dish washer of clean dishes that I had just opened the door of to let the dishes dry out. Seriously what is it with us and Sundays!

Family Life From the Eyes of a Six Year Old

Earlier this week we had the Open House at school. When I went into Leo's class the teacher had me sit at his desk and this paper was lying on it for us to read. Leo wrote this himself and drew the picture. The writing says:

"I like my mom and my dad. My mom and dad play tickle monster."

The game tickle monster is a very elaborate game with complex rules. It involves mom and dad running around the house trying to catch the kids. The kids must run as fast as they can to avoid getting tickled. The game ends when either a kid or parent collapses, whichever happens first. Isn't it always interesting to see your family through the eyes of your kids. The drawing shows the couch in our sun room, which plays a very important part in the game because this is the safe place for the kids to go. Of course they only get 10 seconds to rest!

The boys

Watch out world Huck is sitting up. He is so proud of himself.

He is so funny at times for the previous week he looked like a

topsy toy trying to keep himself steady.

I have been wanting to take Leo out and do some photographs. I feel like over the past six months he has changed so much. Part of it is because he has gotten four of his front teeth (which he is going to have to have surgery to fix the gap next summer). I also feel that he is losing his little boy looks and he is turning into a young boy.

When you take photos of Woodward kiddos there is always a lot of goofiness.

This below picture perfectly captures his personality. I get to see this face several times a day. He loves to be silly and make us laugh.

I finally convinced him to let me do his hair and put on a nice shirt.

I literally chased him around the backyard with gel and tackled him.

I had to capture this moment between these two. Leo went around and gathered roses and flowers for his sister Little Miss. She ate up all the attention from him. As much as she drives him nuts she adores her older brother and soaks up his love. Now if she would just stay away from his Star Wars and legos toys I think he would be more patient with her.

Preschool Time

Our little Miss has been waiting for this day for so long. She was so upset last week when she had to take her older siblings to school and it wasn't time yet for her preschool to start. Four other moms and myself have created a co-op preschool called Gimme Five.

Her Uncle Patch gave her this backpack and she loves it.

Mimi gave her these new shoes and we love them.

Little Miss really wanted to bring her puppies along. We convinced her to leave puppy and Rainbow in the car. She positioned them like this and told them to wait for her while she was at preschool. Then she gave each of them a kiss and told them to be good.

Here's the whole gang.

The little cuties.

When they arrive they check in.

Greet their friends (some still needed to get dressed - 9:00 AM is early!)

play with puzzles

Circle Time

mark the calendar

talk about the weather

and check out the goodies in the treasure box.

When I came to pick her up at the end of the first day the kids made a little book reading group on the front porch. She had such a good time on her first day.

New Happenings

It is always funny how you work on something with your children for a long time and then all of the sudden they get it. We have been working with Leo on shoe tying for several months. All of the sudden today he came to me with tied shoes. Way to go bud.

This is our cute little bug girl. She has such a knack at finding amazing animals.

This time she found a preying mantis in the backyard. The kids had so much fun playing with it.

First day of school

Our kids started school this week. Sorry Huck it isn't time for you to leave mommy yet.

My sweet Leo headed off to 1st grade. The entire day I kept telling Ken he looks older. How is it possible he has grown up in 1 day. We measured the kids and Leo is 4 feet tall and he weighed 52 pounds he is growing so much.

A letter to each of my children:

Leo my sweet boy, you are turning in to a young man. You are so free to show love to others. You always give me a hug and a kiss. You adore your big sister Midge and will not go to sleep unless she is in the room with you. You are such a reflective little boy and we will often find you pondering things. You have an amazing ability to organize and conceptualize how things are put together. You like to study things and observe things around you. Being a gentleman is something that comes naturally to you, and you often hold the door open for me or help me carry things. You are always perceptive to the needs of others and you have a calming way about you that helps others feel reassured. You are naturally gifted with intelligence and learn new concepts quickly. Your easy going nature draws people to you. I love you so much and enjoy watching you accomplish new things. This is going to be a great year for you. I know that you are going to learn so many things. I can just feel that you are on the verge of learning how to read and do simple calculations in math and I am excited to watch you master these skills. We love you and we are very proud of you.

Midge weighed in at 55 pounds and is 4 1/2 feet tall.

Letter to my oldest daughter:

You have grown up so much this past year. This was a huge year for your maturity growth. I have watched you overcome many challenges and you have taught me so much. I feel more than ever we have grown closer and we have a wonderful relationship that I cherish. You are such a beautiful girl and so talented in a variety of areas. I know that you have so many dreams, and at times I want to just hold you in my arms and have you slow down because you want to take on the world. You have always had such an empathetic heart. You are so perceptive to others around you and want everyone to feel loved and comfortable. You are a natural born leader and such a creative individual. An obstacle is simply a problem you haven't yet solved. Your fiery temper is something that you have struggled with in the past, but this year I have watched you more often than not learn to control it. You have a sweet love for your siblings and you are an example to them of what it means to truly love your family. I know that this will be a great school year for you and that you will learn so many new things not just academically but also socially and emotionally. We love you and are proud of you.

Leo is in the classroom next to his beloved kindergarten teacher Mr. Jordan. He enjoys going next door to say hello.

Leo's teacher this year is Mrs. Pinson and Midge's teacher is Mr. Bonar.

This above shot was Leo looking back at me just before I left. On the second day of school I asked Leo, "Do you want to go to your teacher by yourself, or do you still need me to take you." He looked up at me and said, "Mom I still need you" and then he gave me a hug. (Gulp and hold back the tears - how did he know that is exactly what I needed him to say).

Little Miss had such a hard time with Midge and Leo going to school. All day she kept asking, "When am I starting preschool?". The next day we got the kids and moms together who are going to be in the co-op preschool we are starting and she started crying when she found out we were just doing some play time and not the actual preschool. She isn't going to start until next Monday and that is just torture for her.