Worst Mom ever...

As I've said my kids have been going to vacation bible school all week and on the 2nd day a leader handed me 4 iron on transfers of the week's theme. Well...I couldn't see going to the trouble of going to get shirts, washing the shirts, ironing on animated test-tubes that are going to peel off in a day and needing to wash them daily to wear the next day. Besides the boys didn't mention that they wanted to wear them and they knew that i had them. The boys have cute clothes in their closets...they can wear them. Fast forward to today....the actually ask to have shirts made. There is ONE freakin' day left of bible school but they asked so Logan and I went to buy shirts tonight. I get the shirts...wash and dry them and now I can't find an iron. I cleaned out the back hall closet earlier this year and put in new shelves...surely I didn't throw away the iron? Maybe I did....I don't iron typically...everything goes to the drycleaners....so here I am at almost midnight trying to decide whether i should run to Meijer (the only place that I can think of that is open and has irons) and buy a new iron. I've looked everywhere I can think of in the house....UGh....I don't want to explain to the boys in the morning why they don't have shirts. I'm a bad mom.

Edited to add: Borrowed Kelly's iron....did the shirts and here is a photo...do they look like they appreciate all of my hardwork?

My "graduates"

Every year I take a picture of the boys to give to the teachers with their end of the year gift. Here is this years. On a side note...I hadn't really thought of "graduating" from preschool but since we have gone to several graduation parties this year Landon apparently has given it some thought....His question...? "What about me Mommy?" I guess he thought food, cake and gifts seemed like a good idea!!

Vacation Bible School

The boys started VBS yesterday and of course Logan was NOT going! "I don't want to learn about God" was an exact quote! I have to admit to saying an immediate prayer that he wouldn't express that once he got to the church! He whined and cried until I found his group and pushed him in the leaders direction. I usually feel bad if they are nervous about something but I still had Lake clinging to me crying like a 2 year old so I was distracted. I finally got him off of me and headed for the door. Of course when I got back they were all excited and had a great time. Today the drop off went much better except Landon was stressed when he had to go into the big room where the acoustics really mess with his hearing. He loves the parts in between but doesn't like the beginning or ending. I have to figure out how to solve that issue by tomorrow. I'm thinking maybe taking them late and picking them up early. Great...my free 3 hours is getting trimmed down and we aren't even half way done yet!! They are learning so much and have so many questions when they get home it is really cute. Lawson said to me on the way out to the car today "Thank You for bringing me to vacation bible school!" I thought that was so sweet and then even sweeter when I read their "homework" which talked about how they could honor God...one of the things was to thank the person who brought them to VBS. This kid is quick! I am happy he likes it because he spent the whole morning on Monday worried that I wouldn't remember to pick them up! Another thing to honor God was to take a walk (which in our house...the boys decided to drag the bikes out) and pick 5 things that we are grateful to God for. Logan brought a pencil and paper (which of course I had to carry) and stopped to make his list.
1. trees
2. grass
3. birds
4. pine cones
5. friends
Another cute moment today was Logan was in trouble and was banned from a birthday party he is to go to tomorrow. Lawson then spilled his orange drink and Logan said "Lawson...I will clean it up!" He then looked at me and said "God wants us to help people." I was quite impressed and told him that I was proud of him for helping without expecting anything or being asked. He had earned back the privilege of the party. I think he was really proud of himself too and I hope that he learned a lesson out of it. On another VBS note yesterday Lawson came home and complained to me that I forgot to send his snack. I explained that I wasn't supposed to send a snack and that they would give him one. He said that he wanted an M&M cookie and they wouldn't let him because he may be allergic an they made him eat pretzels. I didn't think much of it but thought maybe I had written down his allergy to eggs and milk. WEll today comes and I go shopping and my cell phone rings. I answer it and it goes dead. I immediately get nervous and head to the church (just in case!) Sure enough....they had accidently fed Lawson and Landon chocolate pudding. After they were finished someone remember/noticed that this would have milk in it at least. I reassured them their allergies aren't life threating so were are all good. I am now nervous for Logan because his allergy to nuts could be more serious. he won't be going tomorrow but I will talk to his leader just to double check the procedure for him and send in his own snack. Other than these little incidnets....the boys love it and love the crafts, songs, etc and can't wait to go back! I wish that it could last all summer!!

Are they all yours?

Boys....Whenever we go out we inevitably get asked one of two questions, but usually both, at least 14 times per hour. The first question being, “Are they all yours?” and the second one being, “Are they all boys?” and the third one being, “Are there any twins?” and the fourth one being “How far apart are they?” and the fifth one being, “You must be tired.” and the sixth one being “Wow. Four boys. Wow… Four. Wow.” and the seventh one being, “All boys? How sad!” (at which point I usually decide it’s about the right time to tear someone a new … something!) Then the comment that comes up in almost every conversation is "Oh..do you ever watch that show John and Kate plus 8?" like somehow if they watch that show it makes them know EXACTLY how life with 4 kids or 8 kids is. Or the endless commentary that we receive where ever we go as if we were the Duggar family or something. (And for the record in case you haven't noticed I do NOT wear a jumper or have 30 foot long hair!)
People always ask me “Are they all yours?” as if I would sit down right there in the aisle of the store or on hard bench at a school event and get right down to how many fathers they hail from and the whole sordid story behind each conception if that were the case. I’ve always sort of wanted to shock someone with a story like that just to see their reaction. Fortunately/Unfortunately I just can’t bring myself to do it. And more than anything as my little banshees are running around the racks of clothes or food depending on where we are....or whacking each other in the shins...."Would I really choose to take 4 little boys that aren't mine to a place of business!? It's not like an amusement part....and they typically are dressed alike...so IF I was going to bring extra kids along on an errand would I really take the time to dress them alike?!

And then we seem to also always get the question, “Are they all boys?”

Umm…yea....call me crazy but do dirty jeans, snot on a sleeve, shirts with remnants of lunch, banged up knees, deep gravelly little voices and buzzed haircuts not tell you anything? I understand this question where androgynously dressed infants are involved but at this point, I look at my sons and I start to wonder if the askers are smoking crack or maybe are just possibly legally blind, in which case I would not fault them. However, when I get this question, I smile and nod and give them the kind of reply that they are clearly expecting rather than what I really, deep down, want to answer… What I would really like to answer to someone who asks this is to suddenly hush them and pull them aside and whisper to them that we’re not really quite sure what they all are but that we really don’t like to talk about it in public…. But, go figure, I never have done this either.... and I guess I probably don’t think I ever will.....call me a coward.

Yes, they are all ours and they are all boys and they are all boy and we had them on purpose!! And we wouldn’t change a thing…

Special People...

I've been busy working on a million projects for the last few weeks so I'm really behind in posting things. I'm going to try and catch up this week on some recent happenings....Since school was ending soon the classes (at least some of them) had end of the year events. Lawson invited me to visit his class and so did Lake. Landon didn't have anything and Logan's was an ice cream party without parents. Here are some pictures. I did get photos of important people so the boys can put a face to the name when time goes by and things get fuzzier. We were blessed with some very special teachers who took great care of the boys and genuinely love kids. Poor Landon has been going around for the last two weeks saying "I'm going to miss you mommy...." I'm guessing that he has heard this at school for the last month or so. I've explained that I'm not going anywhere and neither is he so we are good!

Survival

We have officially completed (and survived) our first full week of summer "vacation!" Let me just say that I am worn out!! We have done the dentist, the pediatrician (4 shots each for the little boys) the eye doctor and a week of golf lessons for Logan. Add in our usual chiropractor visits 2-3 times a week and our speech/OT appointment you definatly could say it has been busy!! I was looking forward to summer where I could get some projects done around the house and wouldn't have to be running between the schools all day. Maybe next week will be slower? Logan really enjoyed his golf lessons though so it was all worth it. While he golfed with the Coyle brothers the other boys along with baby Charlie explored Philips Park. We went to the small zoo there, visited the playground, and walked the sunken flower garden. They loved it and all looked forward to going there each day. We filled our spare home time learning about the Ocean and things that live in it and will continue that next week too. We have been making "Ocean" books and practicing our letter writing along with reading. We dug for seashells in the sand and will be making some ocean in a bottle next week along with some blue edible aquariums complete with candy fish. Logan even spent several hours making an Ocean diarama (that was fun! NOT!) We also checked out some books from the library about fish ...only 74 more days to entertain these guys before our tax dollars go to work!!

Check this out!!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=190+S+Oakhurst+Drive+aurora+illinois+60504&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=58.816238,108.28125&ie=UTF8&ll=41.752331,-88.24881&spn=0.000858,0.001652&t=h&z=19


While reading a blog this morning, I discovered a cool (albeit, a little creepy) new feature on Google Maps. They have taken the satellite images one step further and added a street level view of houses, buildings, landscape, PEOPLE.

It's called Street View. I typed in my home address while in Google Maps and clicked the little icon that says Street View and voila... a picture of my house....detailed enough to see the playhouse that was in our backyard last year and the top of the clubhouse/swingset. Creepy? A little. Cool? A little.

So, what do you see when you type in your address?? I'm going to waste a lot of time. I can sense it.