quick update

It's been a busy couple weeks. Saige is loving school, she loves her teacher and her old and new friends. Some of them are real and some are fake, lol. The fake ones are kids that have the same names as some of her old friends so she refers to the old ones as "the real such and such" It's funny and no amount of explaining will help, I have tried. It's very weird having her gone all day long, she gets off the bus at 4. But, it's kind of nice at the same time. I miss her, but Rylan goes for a nap when Robby leaves for work and I get a couple hours of me time. THAT is very nice :) It took me a while to get use to it. So my fingers are crossed that the little man does not decide to give up his nap anytime soon.

We had Open House at school tonight. She was SO excited to go. We had to walk through twice, the first trip was her practically dragging me through the whole school to see everything pointing and running to the next thing before I could even see what she was pointing at. Then we went back through and I got to check out some of her projects and a get a closer look at stuff. I can't really remember Kindergarten but I sure wish I could... it had to have been fun. Yesterday in the car totally out of the blue Saige asked if she could be a scout. So I signed her up to be a Daisy scout tonight. That should be a lot of fun as well.

Rylan spent the first couple days of school wandering around sad and lost. All he said was "where's Saigey"... over and over again, all day long. By the second week he was loving the one on one with mom and dad. He has been so good during the day (knock on wood) of course the fighting starts the second she steps off the bus. It's really great and a huge relief to see more of the good side of Rylan. He is still talking more and more by the day. He isn't quite where he should be yet but he is getting there. His speech is getting a lot clearer as well so not only is he talking, we understand him a lot better too.

My kitchen is coming along nicely. Actually sort of faster than I expected. I know it's going to be a long time before it's done but I'm getting excited. We now have two finished base cabinets with self closing drawers and doors and the third on is underway. I love my hubby, he has done such a great job on them. I think they are nicer than most we looked at, not to mention thousands and thousands of dollars cheaper. Plus they are truly custom built just for me :)

Last week our water was out for whatever reason and it blew a pipe under the sink when it came back on.... and it ran full blast all night long. We heard it turn back on in bed at 12:10 am, at no time did it occur to me that I should go check anything, and Rob didn't say anything so I rolled over and went to bed. Saige appeared at 7:40 and said dad someone left the water on and it's all over the floor and pouring out. Thankfully that wasn't a new cabinet under the sink yet, but it went through the floor and rained into the basement for 7 1/2 hours. I suppose it's a good thing that I have made Robby move so many things around that there were holes in the floor from old pipes and wires so most of it went to the basement. It was pooled in the kitchen and soaked through the drywall and under the walls into the bathroom but most of it went down through the floor. The laminate floor in the kitchen is a bit warped but dried up a lot better than I thought it would. The basement is finally dry but everything that wasn't in plastic totes got ruined. Some holiday decorations, books, and ALL off my important paperwork, like tax returns and such that I had filed in boxes all shot. AT least an extra 10 loads of laundry of clothes I had stored down there. Fortunately it could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately we have public water so the bill will be extremely painful when it shows.

First Day of Kindergarten

As I expected, last nights anxiety was gone and Saige was excited about school this morning. The new outfit I had set out for her was way too big. I made her try on everything about a week ago... except that one outfit. She looks like a turtle in her giant book bag. It is much lighter than it looks. She was packed to the max with a pillow and small blanket for quiet time and a package of napkins for snack time.

It's over

Summer is gone and I have no idea where it went. There were suppose to be way more lounging around relaxing days than constant on the go days. Saige has been really excited for school to start... right up until bedtime tonight. Out of no where, while I was tucking her in she went from telling me how she was going to see her best friend again and make me stuff, to throwing her arms around me and crying. Begging me not to make her go. She will miss me, she will miss the dog, she will even miss her baby brother. What if I need help with Rylan? Who is going to watch daddy (lol). If we love her why do we want her to go away all day? At that point I was crying too. I finally convinced her that if she went and made an effort to have a good time we would make a toad house for the garden when she gets home. I really hope she was just overtired and is ready to go in the morning. I KNOW that she will be fine once she is there, she loves school and I KNOW she will love Kindergarten and seeing her friends again. But, it sure wont be easy on me to send her off if she still doesn't want to go :(

One kid showed up for soccer practice tonight. We are already down to 4 on the team, I knew one wasn't coming but the other was a no show as well. No phone call, nothing. Thankfully the one that did show up was the only one who hasn't played before but it was hard trying to prep them for a game of 3 on 3 with only two players. I have to say, for never playing before, he is pretty good. Saige is doing really well, a definite improvement from the Spring. I hope she keeps it up for the games. We had fun though, when they weren't starring at the sky looking for airplanes and flying saucers. Next weekend should be lots of fun, lol.

Rylan has been talking up a storm this week! I am so happy, he has been adding words left and right. I knew it would start happening eventually, but knowing that doesn't really make you worry any less. For a kid who doesn't talk much, he sure is bossy. He talks in complete sentences when he is telling you what to do, lol. He was so excited to go to bed tonight, he knows the school bus is coming in the morning for Saigey. He loves school buses, tractors, motorcycles, anything on wheels. I'm hoping if nothing else that will cheer her up and get her going- she'll get to go on the bus and he can't. He had a blast yesterday at my MILs riding the dune buggies with daddy. So much so, that after the belt broke on the one, and the big kids weren't giving up the other, he got daddy to spend the entire afternoon pushing him around on it. I fear the boy is going to be a master manipulator.

The Ben Franklin Institute

If I had to chose my favorite from Philadelphia, this place would be it. I love Science museums and this was the ultimate one. We almost skipped it. We thought the Academy of Natural Sciences would be more fun and interesting. But when we got there it was closed for the day and this place was right next to it so we said WTH and went here instead. We did end up going back the next day to see the dinosaurs but it was nothing compared to the Franklin. There was SO much to do and see. The first thing the kids did was walk through the giant heart, taking the path of blood through it. They had this really cool thing that took your picture and aged you. You could see what you would look like at any age. The line was so long we never got to it but we did watch others for a while. I'm not sure I would want to know what I will look like in 40 years, I prefer to let that little horror be a surprise, lol. I wont bore you with every detail that would take pages but I will subject you to just a few of the pictures ;)





This was a real train, Robby and Rylan rode it (it only goes a few feet) while the rest of us watched a movie in the planetarium.

That is Robby, Vin, and Kayden building pipes to get everyone wet. This was the section just for little kids. They had a ship with different activities, caves, a maze of mirrors. I dare say the big kids (aka men) found it far more fun than the little ones did.





There were paper helicopters flying everywhere, Rylan didn't know what to do, lol.




The sports part was really neat, the kids surfed, played games, tested how fast they throw different balls, and raced wheelchairs. Rylan LOVED the race cars, in fact he sat in them the entire time and screamed bloody murder when we made him leave. I took him straight to the bathroom- None of which were equipped with a baby changing area :( to change him and let him calm down. He was still screaming so loudly and awfully, I had people opening the door to be sure I wasn't pulling his skin off of him in there. Other than that he was really good for the 4 days so I wont complain to much.

Philadelphia part 2 The Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo is the oldest zoo in the US, and by far the best I have been to. We were there for hours and still didn't see everything, we missed quite a bit including the elephants (but we have those here at home) and the zebras.





Saige and Kayden on a camel ride.



The rabbit village





I had never seen an ant eater before and had no idea they were this large.


No, we were not crazy enough to go up in this thing.





The hippos were the best part, I had never seen these in person either. I could have watched them all day they are such neat creatures.

Philadelphia part 1

I've been procrastinating on this post, there is just so much to say and too many pictures to add. SO I will break in down in a couple posts.

Last week we went to Philadelphia with my in-laws and it was awesome. I wish we had more time. I was quite sad to come home, there was so much more I wanted to see but there wasn't enough time in the days. First stop was the Aquarium in NJ. It was fun, they had hippos! They were hard to see though and I got no good pictures. Rylan LOVED the sharks. Saige petted sharks, stingrays, and a jellyfish. The jellyfish were really cool. I had a hell of a time trying to get my camera to take any pictures you can see with all the glass.

We watched the Spongebob 4D movie. I really thought Rylan would love that, he does love Spongebob. He did alright but he was tired, it was loud and he did not care for the water squirting at him- at all. He spent the whole movie against my chest with me covering his ears refusing to wear the glasses. The rest of the kids thought it was pretty neat though. He was mesmerized by the giant fish mobile and loved watching the fish.

The kids all discovered a one eyed fish in one of the giant tanks, I think they all spent more time staring at that than anything else. No doubt it was their highlight of the aquarium. Boys are strange creatures, lol, and Saige would follow Kayden to the end of the earth in back. She loves her cousin. We probably could have taken them to the county dump for vacation and she would have been happy as long as he was there.

Summer is quickly coming to an end. We go to Philadelphia Monday with lots planned including Sesame Place. When we get back soccer starts. I agreed to coach Saige's team. I know nothing about coaching, and very little about soccer should it should be interesting. It seems no one was willing to do it, and that left me. I had signed up for team parent, hand out teeshirts and organize snacks, that sort of thing. Something that I could do and still wrangle in Rylan. Now I am both. I have zero patience and have no idea where I am going to find some, it will be needed. It's a bit chaotic and unorganized, I have my players list but no schedule yet. I got a practice slot but the coach training isn't for 3 more weeks, in the mean time I just have to wing it. So far I have only gotten a hold of one kids parent. One of the girls was on her team in the Spring and her little sister is on the team too. We have 3 5yr olds and 2 4 yr olds but were told to be prepared they may add more. Gulp. I am scared, wish me luck.

We will miss the Kindergarten orientation because of vacation, but did get a chance to meet Saige's teacher this week. She was really great and I think it will be a great year for her. She is a bit disappointed that only two or three of her old classmates will be in her new class. But, there may be more. There are two classrooms that have a dividing wall between them and they do a lot together and the wall is usually open. Mostly disappointed that her "best" friend isn't in her class of on her soccer team. I am a bit relieved, they can be troublesome together. I am still going to miss her like crazy being gone all day but will be there as often as they will let me and can't wait for all the projects she brings home.

Saige is swimming like a pro, she has made so much progress since swimming lessons ended and I have been swimming with her. It's hard to believe she is the same girl who wouldn't touch the pool without her floaties 2 months ago. She hasn't used them since. She can swim across the pool, she jumps off the board, swims underwater and gets better everyday. We've been working on diving. Even Rylan is doing great. He wears his floatie suit but LOVES the water. He goes all on his own and doesn't want anyone touching him or getting in his way. He is quite determined, his little legs go a mile a minute and he goes back and forth. He likes the diving board too. I bet he is swimming on his own next summer. He has none of the hesitation Saige had, and there is no stopping him when he wants something.

On a funnier note (poor hubby, lol) Summer finally caught up to us and it has been HOT. Saige strips down first chance she gets and runs around the house in her underwear. The other day she wanted to go out but we told her she needed to get dressed first. She asked Rob why.
Saige- "Why do I have to wear a shirt?"
daddy- "Because you're a girl"
Saige "but why, you don't"
daddy- "Because girls have boobs"
Saige- "Then you better put one on too, yours are way bigger than mine"

Kids are so funny :)

Elmo here we come.