Up, Up and Away!

This afternoon, I was shocked to walk into Brian's bedroom and find him standing up in his crib. He's never given us even the slightest warning that he was preparing to do this, so his crib mattress has remained in the infant "high" position. When I entered his room, he was perched on his wobbly legs, clutching the railing, which was about level with his knees. He could so easily have flipped right out onto his head, so I am very thankful that I caught him in the act!

He's made great progress this week with his physical development. Besides his new-found standing skills, today he began to hold himself up on "all fours", and rock back and forth. He's still stuck in neutral, but I would anticipate that he might begin crawling sometime soon. Watch out, big sisters. All those precious toys won't be safe for much longer...

Home Again, Home again, Jiggety-Jig

We've just returned from a week of travels! We took a trip to Grandma and Pop's for their 40th anniversary party, and then we spent some time at Uncle Tom and Aunt Audrey's house at the beach. Of course, once again, we didn't take nearly enough pictures, but we did get a few shots of the kids playing in the ocean, which I will post after I manage to wade through the piles of laundry awaiting me downstairs. Unfortunately we completely forgot to bring the camera to the anniversary party, but cousin Tracey did manage to capture some moments, which I will share with everyone after I receive copies of her shots! We might need to patient, since I would imagine that she is buried in even more laundry than we are, after two weeks of traveling from Florida!

And now, I must return to the laundry room...

Stranded

On Wednesday afternoon, I packed the kids into the car and headed out for a quick trip to the supermarket. Having Beth home all summer is wonderful, but taking all four children along for errands is quite challenging sometimes! Upon arrival at the store, I methodically unloaded the kids, making sure that each one was holding onto another's hand, while I grabbed my purse and closed the car door.

Unfortunately, the door wouldn't close. For some reason, I simply could not get the van's sliding door to shut. I pulled and pulled, but it refused to budge. We have been having some problems with the car's battery and electric system, and the car was due to go into the shop the following morning, so I wondered if the car had somehow "locked" the door in the open position. After watching us struggle with the door for a few minutes, a kind young man walked over to see if we needed some help. He pulled and tugged, carefully checked the runners of the door to see if something was blocking it, and tried a few other tricks. He finally gave up, and suggested that I call AAA for towing.

At this point, I started to get a bit worried. Dan was not due home from work until 9pm that night, so I would need to find a way to get back home, with all four kids. I realized that I would have to remove all four car seats when the towing company came, and then re-install all four seats into someone else's car when they came to rescue us.

I called AAA on my cell phone, but just as the kind man on the other end was asking my location, the phone went dead. The battery needed re-charging, but I didn't have a charger, so now we were truly stranded.

By now, Amy, my resident worry-wart, was starting to get very concerned. She began to cry, sobbing that "we'll never get home! We'll be here at the store until Daddy comes home tonight!!" As this was not helping my stress levels, I ordered her to stop, hefted Brian onto my hip and dragged my sniffling chain of girls into the store.

The woman at the desk looked up with a smile, and gave the standard comment that I hear multiple times each day..."Oh my! Are they all yours?!!"

I quickly cut her off and explained our predicament. As she pointed out the pay phone and changed my dollar bills into quarters, Amy's sobs grew louder. By now, we were attracting quite a crowd, and one complete stranger even offered me the use of her cell phone to call for help.

Before placing the call again, I decided to try the door one more time. I dragged my crew back into the parking lot, and gave the door one last pull.

It closed easily.

The girls cheered. Brian gurgled. And we headed back into the store to do some shopping.

Now, that was a shopping trip to remember.

The Graduate

It's official. There's a First Grader in the family.

Beth's graduation was quite an event, filled with songs, prayers, laughter and a few tears. (The tears were from one of Beth's good friends, who missed her cue and didn't get to say the "line" she had rehearsed for weeks, because the music teacher started the next song before she made it up to the microphone. She bravely fought back those tears and choked out her line after the song ended, however. Now, that's bravery for you).

It was very, very warm in the church, but Amy, Erin and Brian were relatively well-behaved. I missed most of the diploma-awarding because I was desperately trying to keep Erin quiet. The poor child just could not figure out what was going on. Her voice was so loud, and her questions were endless. Finally, after a particularly rousing round of applause, she roared out in frustration, "Is it somebody's birthday??? Is that why we're here???"

Amy was fascinated by all the activity, while Brian slept through the entire event. Beth really looked beautiful, as you can see above. I particularly like the family picture, because by that time she was so desperate to get out of the church and go downstairs to the reception with her friends. Her frustration is quite apparent in the photo, I think. And Brian was obsessed with the tassel on Beth's graduation cap, as is also very clear in the picture.

And now, summer is here. Long, lazy days, where we can all sleep late and stay in our pajamas all morning.

Unless the kids wake up at 6:00am, like mine do.

But we did stay in our pajamas for full hour this morning. We didn't get dressed until 7:00am. Now that's relaxation.

Latest Milestone

Believe it or not, the young gentleman pictured below now has a razor-sharp little tooth poking through...

Any bets on how long it takes before he follows in his sisters' footsteps, and chips it?!!

I've Been Waiting All Winter...

...For a chance to finally use one of Brian's "little boy" bathing suits.

Well worth the wait, don't you think?!!

The Wheels On The Bus...

Yesterday afternoon, Beth hopped off the bus with her usual exuberance. She ran up to give me a hug, chattering away about her day's adventures. As the bus drove away, I noticed something.

"Beth, where's your backpack?", I asked her.

Beth's face registered shock, then horror, and then pure despair. She burst into tears.

"I left it on the bus", she wailed. "Oh, no!!! All my papers and journals from the whole year were in my backpack! Today was the day that I got to bring them all home to show you."

I felt a short speech regarding responsibility arising within me, but I quickly stifled it when I saw just how upset she was. Her wails grew louder and louder, as she slowly remembered all the treasures that she kept in her pack.

"My lunch box!", she shrieked. "And my snack bags! My thermos! Oh, I'll never get to bring a drink to school again. And, oh no!!! MY UNIFORM SWEATER WAS IN THAT BAG"!!

Try as I might, I could not console her. She cried during the entire trip home, and continued to sniffle through dinner. I'm assuming that it might be similar to the feeling we adults might have after losing a wallet or pocketbook. She was absolutely devastated.

She went to bed still mourning her lost items, and our reassurances that the pack would be waiting for her in the morning did not help. A full hour after she went into bed, she re-emerged, with tears in her eyes.

"I don't know what I'll put my drink into tomorrow", she sobbed. "We aren't allowed to use sippy cups, and that was the only thermos I have".

Finally, she drifted off into a restless sleep.

Later that evening, as Dan and I were readying Brian for bed, we heard a knock at the door downstairs. Dan ran to get it while I finished dressing Brian. He peered through the window and called up to me,

"It looks like...I think...I think it's Beth's bus driver!", he said, incredulously.

It was. This wonderful, kind lady had headed out into the night to return Beth's pack. She knows that Beth is only in kindergarten, and that therefore there surely couldn't be anything overly important in the pack. She knew that Beth could get her bag first thing in the morning, and that it wasn't an earth-shattering event.

But somehow, she knew just how important it would be for Beth to have her bag returned. We thanked her profusely. I then tiptoed into the girls' room and whispered the news to Beth. Relief flooded her face, and she cuddled up into her blankets and fell back asleep.

Dan and I spent the evening looking over Beth's science journal from the year, which came home in her backpack. We read about the amaryllis plant's weekly measurements and development, and laughed at Beth's spelling attempts. We learned about how the "catipillrs or hnhng". (Translation: the caterpillars are hanging!) We looked through her pictures and marveled at the improvements seen in her penmanship book.

And then, after making Beth's lunch (in her favorite lunch sack) and filling her beloved thermos with water, Dan and I checked on the kids and then headed off to bed. We all slept soundly. Even Beth. All thanks to a very special and very thoughtful bus driver.

Blessings

This morning, just as I was about to turn on the shower, I heard Brian's wails coming from his room. I turned off the shower and sighed, thinking..."I remember a time when I could get dressed in the morning without interruption."

But, I also remember a time when I didn't have a smiling, cooing Brian to greet me each morning with wet, drooling kisses.

As I readied breakfast, I noticed that there was a large, sticky, red spill on the bottom of the refrigerator. And I thought... "I remember when I used to have time to keep the house clean".

But, I also remember a time when I didn't have a six-year-old that could proudly "help" make jello dessert for the family.


Later in the morning, when Erin had a minor meltdown in the supermarket, I thought... "I remember when food shopping was a quick, easy task that could be accomplished without causing disruptions throughout the store."

But, I also remember a time when I couldn't pile little ones into the supermarket shopping "cars" and careen up and down aisles to the tune of loud giggles.

And this afternoon, when I tried unsuccessfully to read a few pages of my book, I thought... "I remember when I could sit and read uninterrupted, for hours at a time".

But, I also remember a time when I didn't have three little girls climbing onto my lap and begging for "just one more story..."

I remember...and I realize just how blessed I really am.