What's Going On...

School is almost out for us--but it's nice weather (aside from the thunderstorm we had tonight. We've had a fun month--well some of us have anyway.
I don't think this was Cameron's month-though it was his birthday month. Starting out-Shawn and I finally got "away" for our anniversary for a night. It was fun to hangout with just us, and it was WAY quiet. Cameron got a large lego star wars space ship for his birthday. I was concerned about buying it-you know, you buy it, they are excited and they put it together, Sam goes to play with it without permission and there are all 4000 pieces on the floor. Then you lose 1 piece and you can never put it back together again. So I advised Shawn to get some glue and while assembling--glue it. It has worked like a charm. Sam has dismantled it a few times--the wings come off and the guy in the cockpit comes out but that's as far as he has gotten. That was money and time well spent! Cameron also got so much needed clothing-there are never hand-me-downs for oldest children. I'm now finding out that there aren't really any other hand-me-downs because the boys are so hard on their clothes we are lucky if they last through the season. Of course the ones that do last are the ones they never wear because for some reason or another they aren't cool. And well the birthday was the fun part for Cameron. He went for a routine dentist visit and found out he had to have three teeth pulled-one that had a crown silver thing on it and the tooth was rotted underneath (it smelled and looked like a science project gone mad). He wasn't too happy about it when he came home (I told him it would take 15 minutes). Then the tooth fairy forgot about him for two weeks...and then he found out that the tooth fairy isn't real...which meant that Santa, Easter Bunny,etc. weren't real either. He was crying! I felt bad but well he all out accused me of lying to him for 9 years...what can I say? I'm not sure how to explain that-I tried but he refused to listen. So Cameron's world of mythical creatures has come crashing down.
Kimball is reading better now as we have started reading "The Indian in the Cupboard" to him. I haven't read that one for a long while and it's awesome. Cameron also got the Harry Potter books 1-4 for his birthday and is reading number 2 right now. He didn't think he would like it but I catch him getting up early or staying up late to read. Kimball is catching up in reading and what he really likes to read are silly sentences I write on the paper for him. So after school I make up sentences using spelling and vocab words. It's fun to hear him laugh and read at the same time.
Trenton is asking every day if it is his birthday and is he five and can he go to school yet? He knows all his letters and when we walk somewhere, he has to point out every letter on every sign. We've been going to school to eat lunch with Cameron and Kimball, we also went to the Economics Fair (for Cameron's class)--which was just a big candy fest that you could buy with fake nickels. So Trenton is getting more and more excited. He's in morning kindergarten-I'm not sure how that is going to go getting three kids ready for school but we'll see.
Sam. I could devote an entire newspaper to this kids antics. It's a good thing he is cute! Some of the highlights: while walking into the backyard to turn on the hose, set up the sprinkler, then coming back inside, he smashed a dozen eggs right in front of the fridge, goes outside to play all the time-tries regularly to get into the cars to play (we lock the doors now), takes the stroller for walks, bike rides all the time-in addition to trying to bike to school with the older boys, broke and twisted Shawn's glasses almost beyond recognition, attempted to play with the camera and camcorder, tried to help Cameron by scribbling on his old homework, claimed Trent's sword, tried several times to break Cameron's spaceship, and so on. He has a hammer and screwdriver he uses to "fix" things and if you take either of those toys, the people in China will be asking for earplugs. Sam is talking more-and yes you can only understand only 1/3 of what he says. Mostly about "bad guys" "darth vader" "moon"--and I've been teaching him to say, "please" and then "Mommy is cool". (We all need some uplifting comments occasionally and well who said they have to come from responsible adults when you can coerce young vulnerable children to giving you compliments?)
I'm still running weekly-I must confess I did miss last week but I did alternate exercise. I feel so good running after I make it through the first mile. I've been running two miles then walking for a minute or two and then running another mile. I usually walk/run the last mile I do (4 miles in total)to keep my dog Kia from hyperventilating. I've also been stricter about keeping her running right next to me so she doesn't go as fast. I really enjoy getting out and trying to push myself although it is tough when you don't have someone else to help motivate you. I have been running with two friends and that went so fast! Our schedules don't always work so we've been having to hoof it alone. My goal is to run five miles three times a week by the end of August. Then I'm going to go to four times a week..and on and on. Or I'll take a sabbatical for the winter and then get back on track. I haven't thought through the winter yet. I would love to be biking too but my bike has been reassigned to my 9 year old. He has outgrown his and has now taken to mine. Is this how it feels to share cars? I don't mind though because Trenton isn't confident enough to ride for long periods on his two wheeler so I can't go on long rides anyway. (His 50+ pounds doesn't fit into the bike carrier anymore).
Well, that's what's going on with us so far-I'm sure I missed quite a bunch but--I just remembered that May was mother's day--I have to tell you this--I told Shawn that I wanted him to take the boys out to buy my flowers for mothers day. He was busy the whole day before and he didn't. But that didn't stop the boys from picking off each and every one of my tulips and giving the tops to me. I got flowers--just not in the way I was expecting. Isn't that how lots of things are?