The Princess, The Mad Scientist and The Tank

My children.

Some days I look at the three of them and think, "Therapy is going to be really expensive." I second guess and question myself everyday.

My lovely daughter is going through the beginning stages of puberty and has her poor Daddy bewildered. Having been the youngest of four children, and one of three boys, his sister was in college before he realized there was a difference between boys and girls!
She has a sharp mind and she wants so badly to be involved with "grown up" topics, but she is still a little girl clinging onto her innocence. I want her to keep clinging for as long as possible. She isn't ready to give up her baby dolls and princess fantasies some days and that is okay with this Momma. In some ways she is so mature and others, so naive that she is having a hard time finding her way through life right now. My oldest son has been diagnosed with a learning disability. It is hard, as his Mom, to not have major guilt over this. I was, and still am, his earliest teacher and maybe I screwed up somewhere along the line. The school is hesitant to label him, but from my research and what I know of my Mad Scientist, I think he is dyslexic. It is frustrating as someone who reads for pleasure to know that my son may never pick up a book just for the fun of it. He is so smart and comes up with some amazing theories and topics about science and history. We need a way to bring is skills up to par with his knowledge. My youngest is my Ferdinand the Bull. At just 8 years old, he is already 54 inches tall and weighs around 95 pounds. His is a solid brick of a boy - rough and tumble and plays hard. BUT he is also super sensitive and when he is redirected, he loses it. It is hard at times to remember that he is only 8 and because of his size, I catch myself expecting more of him. He is a sweetheart and loves to help in the kitchen. HE has all the ladies at church wrapped around his little finger! There is never a quiet or a dull moment in our house.

Getting Overwhelmed!

Things have been crazy around here this summer - and school starts back up in just 3 weeks!
Ashleigh is going to a summer day camp run by our local community college. The class "teachers" are all volunteers from the area and I would say that at least 50% of them are high school students. I think that it is really neat that these older kids would give up part of their summer to teach younger children about topics they are passionate about!
Ryne is counting down to kindergarten. He wasn't too thrilled about the idea until we bought his backpack! He was so excited to get a new "big boy" backpack that I keep having to hide it from him so that it stays in one piece before school starts! It is huge on him and makes this momma a little teary-eyed that her little man is ready for school.
Sean is just being himself - a ball of energy. We had a trip to the ER a few days ago to get him bandaged up. Let's just say that top bunk + ceiling fan + a little monkey jumping on the bed = 4 steri strips and some surgical glue on the noggin. Never a dull moment when Sean is around. I think he is looking forward to having me to himself once the older two go back to school.
I am working! I got a job doing admin work from home for a local business. It is difficult right now, not the work but figuring out a new schedule to accommodate everyone in my house and the work and my other outside commitments. It will take some getting used to, but I'll get it figured out.
Jeff is now working two jobs. He still works for the Mouse, but on his days off he is working for the same company I am. I know it sounds crazy, but we have a plan!
I have a massive to-do list today, so I need to get going! More on that later...

Sorry - Its been a while

In my first post, I promised not to be boring and here I go forgetting to update my blog!!!
Things are a little crazy here. All three kids have had dental work done on a weekly basis for the last two months! They all had various procedures that needed to be done and of course, we wouldn't want to do everything in one visit. The Tank had an appointment this morning and the Princess has one this afternoon. The good news is that she is done after today and Tank has one more visit. The Philosopher is done for now.
I am a Girl Scout Leader with Princess's troop and things are in full swing there too! We had a Halloween party last night! There was enough sugar there to put a team of dentists in shock!!
The Sci-Fi guy and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago by going to the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT. It was a lot of fun, but would have been better if we could have spent the whole day there like we did last year. Last year we did an overnight trip, so we were able to meander through the shops, revisit some of the booths we liked and just play. This year, we only did a day trip and I was feeling the pressure to get home in time to rescue MIL who was baby-sitting for us.
I won't bore you with more details, but I promise to post more frequently!

First Day of First Grade

Today was the Princess's first day of First Grade. She has the same group of teachers that she had last year, so only her homeroom was different. She looked so cute in her uniform with her lunchbox and backpack. She even came home tonight with homework!

When did she get so grown up??