Summer has Begun!

Which set of children looks harder to parent?

Today is our official first day of summer.  Basically, I am going from having two children all day to five children all day.  Which do you think is easier for me?  Surprisingly, having all the children home is easier.  For one thing, there is no way I'd be able to sit at my computer with little interruption if I only had the youngest two home.  Did I tell the older kids to watch the younger kids so I could fool around on the internet?  No.  They naturally want to play with each other and look out for one another.  If a child needed me, I would of course stop and take care of their needs.  For now, I am enjoying this moment of alone time and writing this post.

Having a toddler and older children naturally makes me think about the toddler years of my older children.  The more I look back on my memories, the more I realized that life was harder with less children than it is with more.  My house was messier and it took me longer to keep it from being a complete wreck.  There was more fighting and less sharing.  I was constantly putting someone in time-out.  Basically, life was more stressful and hectic in general.

I was "done" having children after my first two.  I had my boy and my girl, plus nauseous pregnancies with both, so why bother having another?  They were close together (17 1/2 months to be exact), so life was busy the first couple years.  Then when my second was about 2 years old, I had a change of heart.  (I say "I" because my husband had always wanted three.)  I am so grateful I listened to my heart, and had another child.  It has been to best parenting decision we have ever made.  As you can tell, we did not stop there, and we went on to have two more after that.

While my husband and I are not "trying" to have any more right now, I will never be "done" again.  What's the difference between "not trying" and "being done"?  One always leaves the option open and one completely closes the door.  We are constantly changing as human beings, and I can only speak for the 36 yr-old me and not the 40 year-old me.  Who knows how I'll feel in the future?  Last I checked there is no crystal ball that can tell me, so for now, I will try to follow my heart and see where it leads.

Is my house loud?  Yes.  Is it busy?  Yes.  Am I saying everyone is meant to have a large family?  No.  All I'm saying is for my family two was the hardest number.  If you are on the fence on whether to have another child, go for it.  I have never heard anyone with grown children say they wish they didn't have that last child.  I have only heard them say they wished they had another.  If you do "go for it", be careful because the floodgates might open like they did in my house!  ;)

Moments like this are the best part of a new baby in the house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving at Tommy's parents' house this year.  Unfortunately, Tommy's sister couldn't come at the last minute because her kids were sick, so our group was relatively small.  We still had a nice visit--we have much to be thankful for!  To see all the pictures click HERE.

Since Thanksgiving fell later this year, we celebrated Alyssa's birthday that Friday. 

Mia's Solo

Today was Mia's solo during the pre-K and Kindergarten Thanksgiving performance.  She looked nervous the whole 35 minute show, but I think Tommy and I were more nervous than her.  We didn't want her to have a bad experience from school performances at such a young age.  The music teacher had her sing last, but thankfully, there were a bunch of songs she sang with the rest of her class to get her nerves out.  Afterwards, Tommy helped clean-up when Mia was already back in her classroom.  Her music teacher said to Tommy and I, "Ahh, Mia.  Do you think she'll always be so brave, or is it just because she doesn't know any better?"  I have no idea!

If the above appears blurry, click HERE.

Out of the mouths of babes...

A few weeks ago Mia's music teacher emailed me this:

Yesterday during Talent Time, Mia surprised us all by singing “We Bow Down”.  She got right up in front of everyone and sang the whole song through, with motions.   It was a beautiful, holy moment.  Thanks for sharing your faith with your daughter in such a lovely way.

I immediately replied, and told the teacher that I didn't teach her that.  She learned it in Vacation Bible School--I couldn't take credit for such a nice compliment.

It turns out, after watching Mia sing, the music teacher is having Mia perform a solo of the song for a Thanksgiving show next week.  I asked Mia if she was nervous, and she said she wasn't.  The music teacher has had Mia perform in front of other classes--I guess to see if she gets stage fright.  Apparently, she doesn't.  The school's music teacher is awesome, so I'm sure she knows what she's doing.  Plus, the teacher definitely isn't the type to push a student into doing something they're not ready for.  I hope Mia doesn't get too nervous or upset next Thursday for the show.  She seems excited to sing on stage, so I'll just support her and hope she has fun.

Last weekend when they were playing on the iPad, Alyssa made this video of Mia singing the song she's going to perform and Matthew decided to "dance" along.

On another note (pun intended ;) HERE are some pictures from Halloween.

Which one of these is not like the other?

Besides the obvious fact that Matthew's pose is different (more on that in a minute), Matthew is BLONDE!!! Dillon had lighter hair, but it was not this light!  I see Matthew everyday, and I still get surprised how light it is especially when I catch a glimpse of me holding him in the mirror.

This is the only picture of the kids that I try to get the same exact things--age, outfit, background, even what basketball they are holding.  Matthew's favorite thing in the world to play with are balls--any type--footballs, baseballs, basketballs, etc.  Therefore I thought this picture was going to be easy.  I thought, "He loves balls so much, it'll be easy to get a good smile."  WRONG!  He loves balls so much that he was mad I made him sit down with one instead of get up and throw it around.  I did sit him in the chair with the ball, and he'd get up so fast to play with it that I couldn't even get a picture!  He did not like that sheet either, so he was mad about that.  I only took a few pictures before I decided to stop torturing the poor guy.

I decided to try to take more pictures a couple weeks later that were less staged--just him playing with the ball in the driveway.  Here are those.  Since I used to play basketball, the first one is my favorite because it looks like he is actually playing.

Also, here's Brooke's first day of school.  (I did not send her barefoot, in case you were wondering :)

First Day of School!

Dillon-4th grade, Mia-Kindergarten, and Alyssa-3rd grade

I'm a big kid now!

Brooke doesn't start preschool for another couple weeks.

Charleston,SC

We took a small trip to what I've decided is my favorite city--Charleston, SC!  I've been to a lot of places--DC, LA, NYC, Miami, San Francisco, Houston, Honolulu, Manila, Hong Kong, and others--to me, they all pale in comparison.  If I had 1 million dollars lying around, I'd easily buy one of the smaller old homes near the Market. The large trees, the old Charleston-style homes, the water, the history, the courtyards, and the restaurants are all reasons I love it.  Those reasons don't even describe the unique charm the city has--you just have to go there.  This was my third time visiting, and I think I love it more each time.  Here's a little peek at our trip.

At one of the old mansion's gardens

At the Battery

Admiring the view

Looking at the water