A Fall/Winter/Spring Photo Recap...Because I Haven't Blogged in a Million Years

This has been the longest winter in the history of winters.  Ever.  It snowed every month from November to April, and that is a lot of snow for this Southern girl!  I kept hoping the thermostat would get above 12 degrees and spring would arrive.  It took it's sweet little time, but it finally did. 

And you would think that all that indoor time would allow me to clean my house or blog or write a novel or something awesome, but all I wanted to do was curl up under three blankets and binge-watch television shows on the computer.  So that's mostly what I did.  Except when I was working on my graduate classes.  Or when the kids were home for snow days.  Which was a lot.  Really. On those days we spent a lot of time at the library.  I think the kids have read through every Peanuts and Garfield comic ever written.  And thank you local public library for having the sense to carry such wonder things in very large books.

So, what have I missed blogging about on the 182 days of snow? Everything.

1. Kate became an expert bike rider last fall, but I didn't manage to get a decent picture of it until November.  Because I am that awesome.

2. Kate's first grade class studied Chinese New Year and performed a ribbon dance for the whole school.  She was amazing, of course.

 3. My kids love each other, even when they are fighting like cats and dogs.  Unfortunately the cats and dogs thing is more common than not.  Thankfully I caught them on a day when they were all getting along.  (I am sure someone got whacked on the head minutes after I put the camera away.)

4. Did I mention it snowed a lot?  This was one of the early days before we actually got bored with snow.

5.  The three bigs were in the church Christmas play.  They sang together as a trio and were 1940's kids who also dressed up like wise men with lampshades and hub caps.  I can't remember why.

 6. We celebrated Christmas, of course!  (I think they have already grown about 2 inches each since I took this picture.)  The favorite gifts this year were video games, puzzles, and books. 

7. In January Will told us that he had accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and wanted to be baptized.  We were thrilled and celebrated with him.  And Tim got to do the honors.  After which, we attempted to get a family photo, which only proved that we are not good at group shots.

8. It snowed some more. The kids built a snowman.

9. I celebrated my 20 year high school reunion.  It was awesome and weird at the same time.  That's what growing old is like.  And now you all know how old I am.  (I would post the group shot, but the photographer didn't push the button down hard enough.  I'm looking at you, Cooper.)

10.  Kate played basketball and had a blast doing it.

There is more, but for some reason the kids think I should fix dinner.  I guess they are hungry or something.  See, this is why I don't blog.  Next thing they will want clean clothes or something crazy like that.  Maybe I will write up the rest before the leaves fall off the trees.  Everyone hold your breath.

Swim Lessons, Part 2

As I am sure you have already figured out, summer is our busiest time of the year. There isn't a lot of kicking back and relaxing, what with four kids at home All The Time and a husband whose job kicks it up a couple notches when teenagers are out of school. Add to that doctor/therapy appointments, a visiting niece and nephew, and regular summer excitement, and things can get a little crazy at our house (or wherever we happen to be). 

My plan is write about all of these things, but you all already know how that will probably go down.  It may be next May before that happens.  So let's start slow.  Swim lessons.

The three big kids had swim lessons the first two weeks of June. Once again, Kate has been bumped up to the big kids' class because Mama is lazy (ie., the boys' class was at 9, and the class she was supposed to be in was at 11). I don't want to spend 3 hours at the pool chasing Jack, so they all have to do it together. I was worried at first, but she totally held her own, as usual.

The funny one, also as usual, has been Will. You may remember that he and Ben had swim lessons five years ago? Ben loved it, but Will complained pretty much the whole time.  They were 5 and 3 at the time. 

I called to schedule the lessons last month, and Will overheard the conversation and freaked out. I eventually calmed him down enough for him to tell me why he didn't want to take swim lessons:

Will: Swim lessons are scary!
Me: What is scary about them?
Will: I don't know, but last time I remember I was scared. They asked me to do things I couldn't do.
Me: Will, you were 3 at the time. Do you remember what they asked you to do?
Will: No.
Me: Well, they wanted to you put your face in the water, and that scared you. Are you still afraid of putting your face in the water?
Will: No, but...
Me: And they wanted you to swim in areas where you couldn't touch. Are you still afraid of being in the deep end of the pool?
Will: No...
Me: They also wanted you to jump off the side of the pool, and you were scared of that. Aren't you diving now?
Will: Yes (smiling)
Me: So do you think you can handle swim lessons?
Will: I guess so.

He now informs me that swim lesson are soooo booooring, because he knows it all. He doesn't actually know it all. For example, he has now learned to tread water, do the elementary backstroke, and bob to safety in an emergency. But he knows everything.

(And sorry I don't have a picture to share.  My camera spent the first half of the summer broken, until the good people at Canon sent me another one.  Thank goodness for warranties.)

All About Kate

I seem to have several short, Kate-centric anecdotes to share, so I thought I would combine them all into one post.

Story number 1:
Kate has lost her first two (non-cleft related) teeth.  The first one came out while she was playing July 2 at her buddy Olivia's house. (Yes, I am a belated blogger.) It was so loose I could've plucked it right out, but she insisted she wanted it to "just fall out."  And it did.  It bled a little bit, and she cried.  I asked her if it hurt, and she said that it didn't.  So then I asked her why she was crying.  She looked at me and said, "Oh, yeah," and immediately stopped crying and gave me a huge smile.

 

The second one came out between Sunday school and church one Sunday in August.  It just fell out.  No crying this time.  The end.

Story number 2:

Kate loves soccer.  In the spring she played in the 6-7 league with her brother because a) It meant less driving for me and b) She can totally hold her own.  So even though big brother Will moved up to the 8-10 league this fall, we left her in the 6-7 league, even though she is only 5 1/2. On Monday she played in the pouring rain (no lightening at all), and scored her first two goals ever!  The team won 5-2, and she was very proud of herself.

Story number 3:
At school, Kate was nominated for the "Take Pride In Your Work" award. When she came home with the paper and a note from the principal, I bragged on her and talked to her about what that award meant.  I thought she understood it, until her Mimi called an hour later.

Me: Kate, your Mimi is on the phone.  Come here and tell her what your award is for.
Kate: (shrugs) Being a little Chinese person?

Apparently I have done such a thorough job of instilling ethnic pride in my daughter that she thinks she gets awards for it.  Either that, or she has more personality than I know what to do with.

Story number 4:
Will wants me to add that he just taught her to play piano without any lessons.  Seriously, she is downstairs playing a song he taught her.  Good job, Will and Kate!

Another Bad Mommy Confession

We are still catching up on the Summer Activities Report with this one. Unfortunately, I have put off telling this story because I am totally embarrassed by it. Ahhh, confession time.

First, a little back story - As a kid, I swam constantly. Like, every summer weekday I was at the pool. Every weekend, at the lake. I spent about seven summers working as a lifeguard. I swam competitively for awhile (although be aware I am using the term "competitively" quite loosely here). I have been swimming so long that I don't actually remember learning to swim.

If you had asked me ten years ago, what is one thing your kids will know how to do before they are five years old? I would have said swim. Obviously, it is a very important life skill, right?

But all of a sudden, I looked around, and I had three children who were afraid of the water. Had I taken them swimming? Had I gotten them lessons? Had I worked with them myself? Yes to all three, but obviously not enough.

This summer, I decided enough was enough. I declared that this would be the summer that everyone would learn to swim! I told them that every chance we had to be in the water, we would be swimming!

It sounds like an excuse, but it really was a challenge to find a suitable pool. That has always been part of our original problem. Our local outdoor pool is freezing and only about three feet deep. None of my kids were going to learn to swim in water that shallow. The local indoor facility has one pool that is warm, but only about three feet deep, and one that is cold and reserved for swimmers doing laps. Again, not ideal conditions. We ended up doing most of our "lessons" in two locations: my uncle's pool in the next town over and in a tiny little pool (that is five feet!) in my hometown, two hours away.

So, a couple times a week I would drive to one of the above locations, put them in the pool, and work with them individually and as a group. We practiced kicking, holding our breath, blowing bubbles, and moving our arms. They were mostly willing to learn, but I'm not going to lie. Every one of us lost our patience more than once. We all got mad at each other those first few times.

On one particular afternoon in June, I almost had a mutiny on my hands. We were at Uncle Ricky's, and we were all upset. All three kids wanted to quit. One of them shouted that he would learn to swim when he was a teenager. I told them that no way, no how, were they going to be the 15 year-old kids requiring a life jacket to swim in five feet of water. They were learning. Now. Yes, Mean Mama, who was also embarrassed at what a bad job she had made of it, had had Enough!

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, they got back in the water. And they tried. And I tried. And on other days their dad tried. And Daddy John tried. And basically we all worked very hard all summer to not let one more season pass without them learning how to swim.

So, did it pay off? I am very pleased to report, that despite my ineptitude, my children did indeed learn to swim.
Ben is learning basic strokes, and can swim across the pool. He is even starting to learn to dive.
Will was terrified to swim without a life jacket in June. He is now doggy paddling all over the place, and loves to jump in the deep end. And he isn't holding his nose!
Kate NaNa still prefers to hold onto a float, but she can swim across the pool. OK, she can in the shallow end. She can't quite figure out how to come up for air without putting her feet down. But she is only four, so I can cut her some slack on that one, especially since she has conquered her fear of the water. She also has a crazy strong kick that propels her really quickly across the surface.
By the 4th of July, they were able to swim with their cousins without clinging to the wall. Or holding their noses. Or asking 18 times if they could put on their life jackets.

In the end, we still have a long way to go. And I am still embarrassed that I let this go so far. But at least I am now confident that my children will not drown. Or still be afraid of the water at the age of 14 (no offense to those of you who are older than 14 and afraid). We are going swimming at an indoor pool this week, and I am eager to see how much they remember from last month.
I'm sure if I lose my temper again that they would be happy to tell you about it.

T-Ball, Part 2

Kate was ready to try something new this fall, so she chose to play T-Ball instead of soccer. She even gets to be a Cubby like her brothers!
The coach pitches the first two balls, and if the child doesn't hit it, she gets to hit off of the tee. At her first game, she was the only kid on her team to hit a pitched ball. Can't wait to see what else this girl will do!

Spring Soccer

Yes, spring soccer ended ages ago, but I am slow on the photo uploading, so there ya go.

Let's start with Ben. His season actually started when it was about 50 degrees out and raining. I didn't take a lot of pics. Toward the end of the season, as the weather warmed and the rain stopped, I took my hands out of my rain coat pockets. I actually got out the camera and caught this one. I like it because, despite this kid's size, immediately after I hit the button, Ben stole the ball. Yes:)


However, he got tired of being the smallest kid out there. Tired of the weather. Tired of the practices. And kind of tired of soccer in general. He says there will be no more soccer in his future, but he may change his mind this fall. We shall see.

Will and Kate played soccer too. There was usually a game between their games, and we often spent about 3 hours at the field on Saturday mornings.

Will is really intense about his soccer.

After two years of waiting, Kate finally got to play. She had a ball. She also liked posing for pictures.

And in between the games, Ben and I did a lot of this:

We had a great soccer season. All three kids played hard and learned a lot. Well done, guys!

What My Kids Do For Fun

Because I am a proud member of the Mean Mommy Club, I do try to limit the television intake of my kids. That is not to say that they don't ever watch. I just try to make sure it is off most of the day. Some days I succeed more than others. Because of this, my children have been forced to create their own entertainment. Sometimes this works out well. Sometimes not so well.

At the moment, there seem to be three really popular games around my house.

The first one cracks me up because it is being played by the two children who live here who can't spell very well. One of them can't even read. But they insist that Hang Man is a fun game, regardless of their spelling abilities (or lack thereof).

I apologize for the poor scan quality, but this paper has been folded up and carried around the house more times than any Hang Man game should be. Notice the fingers. I wonder if every wrong answer got a finger, or if one wrong answer got the whole hand.

The next game just drives me a bit insane, because it nevah evah ends. It is called, "Mommy, if Obi Wan, Yoda, and Kit Fisto were in a fight, and they had fifty clone troopers on their side, and they were fighting against thirty droids, plus General Grievous, who do you think would win? Huh? Mommy, are you paying attention? Do you want me to tell you again?" This game is played by all three of my children, and has as many variations as there are combinations of Star Wars characters.

This is just a few of the many sticker collections around my house. Usually when this game starts, Mommy asks if there is anything good on tv.

Next is my current favorite game. This year, my kids are obsessed with March Madness. They have kept up with the brackets, the schedules, the seedings, all of it. And true to form, they have created a whole new game, called UK versus UConn. Or UK versus West Virginia. Or UK versus North Carolina. Or... well, you get the idea. Basically the kids stand on the parquet floor and toss the ball into an imaginary hoop. When they do, they cheer for UK, and give themselves a tally mark.

This is the score sheet Will kept from the UK/Duke game. (It doesn't matter that UK and Duke didn't play each other this year. They have heard the legendary stories of THE game.) In their version, UK always wins. (Please don't actually count the tally marks. It's an exercise in futility to argue with my children.)

He's Got It!

Biking

Kate has been asking to "go biking" for months. And for months I have said, "Honey, it is just too cold for biking today." But today it was about 60 degrees out, and again, "Mama? Can we go biking?" (And every. single. time. she says it I am amazed at how perfectly she says it. Wow.) I asked if it was ok for us to wait until half-time (it is March Madness, after all), and then we went out.

She rides on a big trike, kind of like a Big Wheel. I've let her try out her brother's bike with training wheels, but frankly, it doesn't go fast enough for her. She can really move on her trike.

We went to a street in the back of our neighborhood where there are only a few houses and about three blocks of wide open street. Will and Ben also came along on their bikes. My brother Jacob started teaching Ben to ride without training wheels last spring, but then he went home, and honestly, I am a terrible teacher. And what with me working and Tim being gone most of the summer, Ben never really figured it out. But he was this close.

So today we practiced his riding. Within about two minutes he was off and riding by himself. He made great progress with his balance and steering. I was so pleased, because there is a strong possibility he has my sense of coordination, which is ridiculously lacking. I plan on teaching Will this spring/summer too, and I have the same fears with him.
At one point I was holding the back of Ben's seat and giving a little push, when Kate went flying by on her trike.

As she passed, she shouted, "See ya later, chumps!"
I have no idea where she gets this stuff.

Fall Soccer

I am still amazed at how much I enjoy watching the kids' soccer games. I know absolutely nothing about the game, but it is a game with very little down time, which is where other sports sometimes lose me. What can I say? I have an almost infinite attention span for books and many movies and tv shows, but in sports I get incredibly bored if there are only 14 minutes of action in a 3 hour game.

And I am waaaaay off topic.

Anyway, the kids had fun playing too. Will liked to play any position where he got to run. Even when he was on the sidelines, his full attention was on the game. Yet, when the season ended, he was very happy to put his cleats away for the winter. And so was his mama.

Ben missed several of his games, but still got to play quite a lot. The field at his age is much larger, and my camera is not that fast, nor does it get good close-ups, so I don't have any action shots to share. Ben prefers to play defense, where he can focus on keeping the ball out of the goal. He had a lot of great blocks this year, and his favorite game was the last one, when he got to play goalie for most of a quarter.

He is signed up to play again in the spring, but I think he will enjoy the break too.

That is the great thing about soccer. You have fun while it is going on, and then you are happy when it's over. Perfect.

Kate, of course, spent most of the season complaining that she wasn't allowed to play yet. Next spring, baby girl, I promise.

Soccer is On!

This year both boys are playing on the same team through the Y. They are on a 6-7 year old league. We have had 2 big games so far:)

Ben's favorite part is playing goalie. He says he likes that he can concentrate on one thing: keeping the ball out of the goal. And he is pretty good at it too. He had several great stops tonight.

Will likes to be on the field where he can run. He has been using some of Uncle Jacob's tricks to turn the ball around. He is probably the smallest kid out there, but he can definitely hang with the big boys.

Most importantly, we are all having a lot of fun. Go Stars!

I didn't know they gave out gold medals for that.

The kids and I have been watching the Olympics for the past couple weeks with great excitement. We cheer for the US, we cheer for the Canadians, we cheer for the Chinese, and we cheer for whoever else we think looks like a good team to cheer for. We even found a Chinese aerial skier named NaNa to cheer for. Kate asked daily when NaNa was skiing again. (Li NiNa actually won silver in her sport.) Will and Ben have constantly asked, "Who is winning the Olympics?" It's hard for them to understand that there isn't one overall winner.


We are all very sad that we have to wait 2 more years to watch the Olympics again, but if they held them every year they wouldn't be nearly as exciting, right?

Friday, Will gave me this gold medal he got in Mission Friends telling me, "This is because you are such a good mommy."

You gotta love that kid:)

Soccer

I'm such a slacker. I just realized that I had never posted pics from Ben's soccer season. He played on a local YMCA team for 6 & 7 year olds, and it was a very positive experience. It was all about learning how to play the game and encourage your teammates. Thankfully the parents were all very well behaved, and it was a lot of fun. I had no idea how much I would enjoy watching little kids kick a ball.

(Ben being Spider-Man.)

These photos were taken during the last game of the season, in late October, and it was sooo cold. There were actually 6 other boys on the team, but they didn't make it to this game. In their defense, it was the middle of the H1N1 outbreak here. (And thanks to Grammy for the pics:)

These pics were taken much earlier in the season when it was still warm. Ben's favorite position is goalie. He got pretty good at it, too. I was very proud of how hard he worked at it:)