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Wyatt had Family Day at his school last week. This involved parents and no siblings and was held at 1:30 pm on a Wednesday...clearly a tall order at our house. Luckily my parents were visiting for Thanksgiving and were able to watch the other boys so that John and I could attend together. Wyatt showed us around his classroom, we checked out his latest artwork,
ate snacks, and then all played family games in the library. It was a nice event and we both enjoyed spending some quality time alone with our big boy!
As per tradition we put the Christmas tree up today. My brilliant plan last year of separating the ornaments by kid and putting them into tupperware bins with their names on them really paid off today! It reduced the fighting by at least 90% percent! Everyone cheerfully took their bin and proceeded to hang their own ornaments on the bottom two branches of the tree. It was such a pleasant experience. We sang some carols and read some Christmas books and enjoyed time with the peeps. Then they went to bed and Grandma and I moved the kids ornaments from the low branches so that the other 99% of the tree was decorated as well! It was a lot of fun being a part of all of their excitement!
From the Rodgers crew!
Sam got invited to a birthday party for a little boy in his class. Since Jonah and Sam are in different classes Jonah didn't get invited. I was actually very happy that the kids are getting opportunities to get out and be individuals every once in a while. Jonah wasn't in agreement, but I opted to let Sam go to the party by himself and he was pumped!
Tonight I took him to the birthday party which was at a bounce house place and I was a little worried that he might not feel comfortable playing at a new place all by himself. My fears were short lived, however, when Sam said "Ok, bye Mom. I see Joe and I am going to play with him!" and he ran off. He played for 2 more hours without even needing to check in with me. He had such a great time! Then as we were leaving he said (completely unprompted) "Good bye Joe. Thanks for inviting me, I had a great time. Happy birthday!"
I can not even begin to explain how different (and fun) it is to take Sam to a birthday party versus Wyatt! Wyatt is clingy and shy and needs constant encouragement to put himself out there. After Wyatt goes to a birthday party I am exhausted! It is so much work for me to take him to a birthday party that I don't even tell him about the invitations if I can get away with it!
Sam is like Wyatt's social polar opposite! It is so interesting to watch your own family dynamics develop as the kids get older. I suspect that Jonah would be more like Wyatt alone at a birthday party, but Shane may end up being a little Sam! We will see... They all have different strengths and Sam is certainly a little social butterfly!
It has been a while since my last post and so much has been happening around here! I need to document our milestones or they will be gone forever from my memory. My favorite phrase lately is "I used to be smart and be able to remember things...and then I had kids"!
Jonah lost his first tooth last week. He was really thrilled and Sam is incredible jealous. Sam and Shane keep wiggling their teeth to see if any have become loose. I was surprised that he already lost a tooth and he isn't even 5 years old yet, but his teeth came in early just like Wyatt's, so the tooth fairy is armed and ready!
Shane had his first dentist appointment last week. He was so stinking cute sitting up in the big chair all by himself. I can't believe that I actually forgot to take a picture of him!
But here's a cute one of him and Wyatt on a rare morning when only the two of them were home alone with Mommy!
So, Wyatt got his school pictures back and they turned out... kinda! John and I tried to keep a straight face when we saw them and suppressed the urge to ask "Why? Why did you make that particular face? Especially when we have never seen that face at home....ever! He was so proud of them and I didn't want to burst his bubble. On the actual school picture day Wyatt came home and told us "Mom, I must have done really good at the picture day because I got something special from the camera man that nobody else got! Do you want to know what it is? It's this....my very own comb! Can you believe how good I did?"
The innocence... it's priceless!
The kids have been enjoying playing in the woods behind our house lately. They haul shovels, rakes, and buckets out of the shed and dig for worms, rocks, and "dinosaur bones" all the live long day. The problem is that up until recently they were doing all of their digging in our neighbors yard. His wooded area is a lot more cleared out and the kids preferred to play there rather than in our woods.
So, this weekend John and I decided to clear out an area in the woods for the kids to play and dig that was officially on our property. We used all of our cutting tools and made a clearing and then a path back into the woods. We gave them a tour and gave them some ground rules and cut them loose.
They were in the woods for 5 hours today! They didn't even come in for lunch or naps! It was amazing. After an hour or so I went back to check on them and they had dug up huge rocks, put them in a circle, and built a fire pit. Then they broke up sticks and put them inside the fire ring in a perfect boy scout pyramid! (They rearranged things in between my first visit and when I snapped this picture with my cell phone) They told me that everyone had a job and they were using teamwork to get it all done!
After I picked my chin up off the ground I made my way back to the house and got a ton of housework done! I am loving the way that the kids are learning to play outside by themselves and I don't have to be worried about them getting hit by cars all of the time! I can not believe that we are at that point now! A few years ago it felt like I would be trapped in kid playland forever! "Watch me Mom!" "Look at ME!" "Mom, Why aren't you watching me?" "Hey here I am!"
Now I can get some stuff done while they are awake! Holy cow we have turned a corner! We are in good shape as long as the kids don't find some matches.....
ate snacks, and then all played family games in the library. It was a nice event and we both enjoyed spending some quality time alone with our big boy!
