The Make-sure-everyone-has-their-share Boy

One of the things that makes Nathaniel unique and special is that whenever we have a treat or some kind of dessert, he makes sure that anyone that isn't there gets some.

For instance, when he goes to Cub Scouts and there is a treat, he asks if he can bring home extras, usually enough for his brothers and sister (the one that eats solids). He loves to share treats with them.

Yesterday, I promised Eliza and him that we would stay and play on the playground after school. That would've been great, except there was a huge thunderstorm in the morning. It stopped raining just before school got out. So I told them that instead of playing, we would go home and make cookies (one of their most favorite things to do with me). When we were finished making them, Nathaniel put two cookies in a bag and put a note on it. Then he went outside and put it on the hood of my car. He sat and watched the bag of cookies on and off (mostly on) for about two hours. He said he didn't want anyone to take them. When it got dark and Michael still wasn't home (he went to "Back to School Night" for the elementary school), Nathaniel went out and got the cookies and brought them in. As soon as Michael came home, Nathaniel handed them to him. He wanted to be sure that he got them. And I have to admit, sometimes Michael doesn't get treats because he doesn't eat them the day that I make them.

I love you, Nathaniel!

Terrible or Terrific Two's?

Sometimes I think I am raising twins. Not because he gets into as much trouble as two kids (okay, so sometimes he does). Anyway, there are times he is this screaming kid that I don't recognize, just because he can't have what he wants (see video in "My Two-Year-Old") or he's tired or someone older is bugging him or I help him when he doesn't want help.

So this is how he looks when he's tired:

This morning he was mad because he didn't want his picture taken.

Other times he is the sweetest, cutest kid on the planet. He gives the sweetest (and juiciest) kisses.

Also this morning, this is him being cute and hiding from the camera behind the curtain:

(That's his breakfast on his pants)

There's no way I can be frustrated with him when he looks at me like this (even if he's just spilled his entire bowl of cereal on the floor again)!

He's my terribly adorable, terrific Timmy!

Day 1 of 180

I sure hope ALL school mornings aren't going to be as stressful as this morning.

Actually, the most stressful part was trying to get Jonathon and Christian out the door before the bus came at 7:35. Katie wanted to eat half an hour after I hoped she would, Jonathon was finishing up his summer work, I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, and my mom came by with donuts (now a tradition - thanks mom!). I was finishing packing the kids' lunch when the bus came, so Christian took a lunch and Jonathon bought his. Luckily, the bus stop is just a couple of houses down, so they made it to the bus in time.

Nathaniel and Eliza were up at about 7:00, so they had plenty of time to get ready. We took the stroller and walked them to school at 8:30. I took Eliza and Nathaniel inside to sit with their classes in the gym. Eliza did fine and didn't look upset or anything when I left.

I guess Timmy had a hard morning. He fell asleep at 11:30 under Katie's swing of all places!

When Jonathon and Christian got off the bus after school, they ran home. They looked pretty happy to be back!

As soon as Jonathon and Christian got home, I left to pick up Nathaniel and Eliza. Both Timmy and Katie were still asleep, so I didn't want to wake them up. When I picked them up, both of their teachers said that they had had a good day.

It was nice to have an early closing on the first day of school, but I'm really looking forward to six whole hours of mostly peace and quiet!

Summer Comes to an End

The past couple of weeks before school starts has been expensive, but fun too.

The expensive part was shopping for school supplies (for 4 children it was about $300). We also went shoe shopping (almost $200). I took Eliza to get a haircut yesterday, but that was only $10. I've also started stocking up on food to go in their lunches.

The fun part was somewhat pricey too, but well worth it. We didn't go on vacation this year since we have a new baby, but we managed to have fun this summer anyway.

On Saturday, August 23, we took the kids to the shore. Our only trip to the ocean this year. Our beach umbrella broke last year and since this was our first trip this year, we tried to buy an umbrella. Unfortunately, every place we looked were sold out. It was a nice sunny day with a cool breeze, so we were comfortable, although the sun was a little bright. All of us, except Katie, ended up with sunburn somewhere on our faces. Michael looked like he had leopard legs.
I stayed by Katie (she slept most of the time in her car seat) and Timmy stayed by me the whole time. He didn't seem to have any interest in the water (whew!). All in all, it was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed ourselves...that is until we had to drive home. Michael had to pull over for a short nap and my car was making some weird noises, so I pulled over for a few minutes, too.

Last Tuesday, Ashleigh spent the night. She and Eliza had quite a bit of fun (as was obvious looking at her bedroom floor). Then on Wednesday, I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and got 3 pizzas and about 350 tokens. Whitney, her kids, some friends met us there. We had a great time spending all the tokens! Eliza liked playing a racing car game.

Then, on Thursday, we went to the park and had a picnic. The kids found a small grove of trees and climbed them. Nathaniel got the highest.

On Friday, we went to the ward campout. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so I don't have any pictures.

This summer, we bought package season passes to Six Flags Great Adventure, Hurricane Harbor, and the Safari. Michael has taken them several times. On Labor Day, Michael took the 3 oldest boys to Great Adventure. They left at 10 a.m. and got back about 11 p.m. They had a great time!! Jonathon's favorite ride was the Great American Scream Machine (and Medusa and Batman), Christian's favorite was Superman (and Medusa and Batman), and Nathaniel's was "all of them". This picture was taken on the Great American Scream Machine.

So, it's been a fun-filled couple of weeks and I think we're ready for school to start!

The writing is on the wall...

Literally.

And on the house.

And on the fence.

And on the floor.

And on Timmy.

My kids are messy!!!

I'm Ready!

It's been coming on for a few days.

It started with the kids turning on the hose and making mud puddles in the back yard and then tracking it in the house. Then, of course, they make their own snacks and forget to clean up, I can't find the family room floor (I know it's under the mess somewhere!), the toilet overflowed twice this past week (I had to use an auger because the plunger just wasn't enough), and the family room, bathroom, and Jonathon and Christian's bedroom were decorated with black marker (thank goodness for the Magic Eraser!), not to mention the normal everyday spills that happen multiple times a day. And it's only Tuesday.

School is only a week away and it will be nice to have most of the day with just 2 kids. However, 6 hours of mostly peace and quiet comes with a price. Life will be crazy starting at 3:30 p.m. when Jonathon and Christian walk through the front door and take off their backpacks, coats, shoes, socks, and whatever else and leave it wherever they are standing (most likely just inside the door). Then, Nathaniel and Eliza will come home at 3:45 p.m. and walk through the front door...you know the rest. Then there will be the snack time mess, homework chaos, dinner to be made and eaten, clean up, bedtime routine, and kids to have in bed at a reasonable time so that we can have them up on time for the morning craziness. And it's even harder on nights when we have Family Home Evening, Young Men's, Scouts, soccer or karate.

On second thought...I don't think I'm ready after all!

On the Appalachian Trail...

Over the last few months, Jonathon has been working towards the Backpacking merit badge for Boy Scouts (Michael has been tagging along). It requires 3 backpacking trips of 3 days each and 1 trip of 5 days. Here are a couple of pictures of the 5 day trip, which Jonathon completed on Saturday 8/16/08. He has been hiking the Appalachian Trail in NJ, this last trip began south of the NY/NJ state border and ended at the border. He was nervous at first, because backpacking is not like camping out of your car. You have to carry everything on your back, including all of your food, water, shelter, bedding and clothes. Because of the difficulty, Michael told Jonathon that these trips would help him to grow hair on his chest (fortunately this hasn't yet happened, we're not ready for that). Jonathon is also the youngest (and shortest) to get this far along on the merit badge, his final trip towards completion of the merit badge will be some time in the fall. To date, he has backpacked over 65 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

This trip featured hiking to the point of highest elevation in NJ (about 1,800 ft. All of you westerners can stop laughing now) to High Point, NJ (very original, I know). We also slept our first night in a lean-to that was home to some very friendly bats (we like bats on the trail because they eat the mosquitoes). We also endured some rain on a couple of the days, but were well-prepared. I have to say that there is nothing like a nice cup of hot chocolate after hiking in a rain storm. We also met some interesting people on the trail, most of whom had decided to leave behind their lives for a few months to hike the entire Appalachian trail, which stretches from Maine to Georgia, over 2,100 miles. Can't imagine asking the boss for a few months off to go and do that, but there you go. There was plenty of other wildlife, as we also ran across some deer, hawks, many orange salamanders, and even a bear.

The first picture is Jonathon and Michael on the trail, at the NY/NJ border. Jonathon is the one without the beard.

The second picture is Jonathon straddling what we thought at first was the border, but turned out to be an arrow pointing to a side trail known as the State Line (S/L) trail.