back to school

Well, the day came. As much as I begged it not to, it reared it's ugly head. I can't say that it came as a surprise but it certainly was not welcome. I started back to work on Monday. My alarm went off at 5:30am and the kids' lights were flipped on at 6:10. A huge reality check for all of us :(  Now don't get me wrong, I totally get that I am blessed to be able to spend my summers at home with my kids. And I'm blessed to have a job to go back to. But I'm pretty sure I could be a stay-at-home mom.

It feels good to be back into a routine. We had lost all sense of normalcy around here. It might change as our bodies adjust, but this week we have been putting the kids in the bathtub shortly after dinner. Paxton struggles from the time we get home until bedtime, the poor kid is just so tired. He has been in bed before 7:00 every night. In fact, last night he was in bed by 6:30 and he slept the entire night!  The twins have been in bed around 7:30/8:00. And let me tell you....it feels good!

Both kids went back to daycare completely potty-trained!  That was my goal this summer and Kenley finally nailed it the last week before going back, whew! The other goal I had this summer was go get Kaden out of our bed at night. See, I don't do well being home by myself without Cody. Ok, really, I'm a huge chicken. I'm afraid of the dark and terrified of any little sound that I normally wouldn't think twice about if the hubs was here with me. Well last year, when Cody was out of town for the week, I let Kaden stay up with me after the other two went to bed (he's a night owl anyway). And when it was time for bed, I thought it would be easier for ME if he just slept with me :) After that, that's where he thought he belonged. Every night. At first it started with him waking up in the night and making his way into our bed and then it just became easier for us (again, I emphasize US) to start out the night by putting him in our bed, and that's where he slept the whole night. But I am happy to say, Kaden now sleeps in his own bed. He doesn't always sleep through the night, but when he wakes up and comes to our room he now gets walked back and put into his own bed (and sometimes this is very frequent) ugh! All the kids though have done awesome this week sleeping through the night. Waking up early and playing hard at daycare wears the tikes out.

As hard as it is to make the adjustment, it doesn't take long. And when back at work, it feels as though we've never left.

Here's to another year!!!

July...

Whew, what a busy month! Even though it's been busy, we've enjoyed it and we're sad to see it go.

*Paxton officially became a "walker."  He had been doing a lot of practicing, but his main mode of transportation was still crawling. At 13 months, he figured out he can get around a lot quicker on his feet!


*We always spend the week of July 4th at Lake Herman, camping with friends. What a great time!

*July 8th we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. Actually, we didn't really "celebrate", it was like any other day at our crazy house :)

*We spent lazy days by the pool:

 *Brewster Fun Days.  What can I say? ....it was fun :)

{here the kids are waiting for the parade to start}

*July 21st we celebrated Kaden and Kenley's birthday with a party at our house. We were so thankful for those who were able to make their day a special one.

 {Kenley got some new make-up, thanks to auntie Kris :) She pressed that tube of lipstick to her lips and round and round she went. This, I think, was her favorite}

{The day was perfect!!}

*July 22nd...Kaden and Kenley turned **3**!!

{because their birthday was on a Monday night (and we had already celebrated with their party the day before), it was only Kaden, Kenley, Paxton, myself, and Kris and Khloe. We were in Brandon (more on that later). But we decided to order pizza and have more cupcakes :)



 

 

 

*3-year well child checks:

I still can't believe my babies are three years old. I know I will forever be saying that, but my eyes well up with tears every time I think about it. Here are their stats at age 3:

 

Kaden:  weight: 33lbs. (65th percentile)

                      height: 37.5 inches (45th percentile)

 

Kenley:  weight: 39lbs. (97th percentile)

                       height: 37.5 inches (56th percentile)

I had some pretty hefty concerns, so our visit seemed as if it took forever. The dr. goes over each child individually. He starts and ends with one and then moves on to the other. So we are literally sitting through two individual appointments, so it really does get long. And it always seems so hot!

Things are at a stand still right now with some of my concerns, so I will save that for another post :)

*The last two weeks of July, my parents went on vacation. They left for Florida the day of the twins' birthday party. Some months ago, (I still can't figure out why), but my sister and I agreed to work for her and watch the daycare kids. So the kids and I packed up and spent the next two weeks in Brandon. Actually, the days weren't too bad, it was the single parenting in the evenings that I didn't care for. Cody and I have such a team routine, that when I'm by myself things tend to get a little out of control. It felt good to finally be back home and have our daddy back :)

*Larsonfest:  a good time always spent the last weekend in July with friends, close to home on some farm land. Words (even pictures) don't do this "camping trip" justice.

{this picture shows Kenley on the ground throwing a tantrum....and Marcus joined her}

 

 

*July 30th....we celebrated Cody's 32nd birthday. Grandma Deb was so gracious to take the kids that day and even kept them over night. I was still in Brandon, so Cody came out after work and we were able to go out for dinner and run a few errands - kid free. And it was awesome!

 

*July 30th...also the day that we said goodbye to Cody's sister and her husband. They apparently decided they needed to move across the country, to Virginia. We knew the day was coming, but to have to actually say goodbye was rough. They are fulfilling dreams of their own. And although we wish them nothing but the best, it doesn't make it any easier to have them so far away :(  Ok, I'm not going to lie, it literally makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. Plus, she's going to be having my new niece/nephew in a few short months, and that's really going to kill me!





So there ya have it, our July wrapped up in one long post. Of course I wasn't looking forward to August, because that only means a few short days until we have to enter the real world again....back to school, aggghhhh :(