I love having older children

As I ate dinner with my children tonight, it reminded me of dinners with my own family that I remembered. I actually had the food ON the table instead of serving my children from the stove. We had a conversation. My children (mostly) ate. The table didn't look like we'd been fingerpainting with mashed potatoes when dinner was over. It was lovely. Then, we cleaned up the kitchen mostly together, with me wiping counters and cleaning pots while they took out the garbage and cleaned off the table. It was beautiful.

I spent so many years with disastrous dinners. Lunches and breakfasts, too. I hated cleaning the kitchen at 8 or 9 at night when I finally got back to it after getting kids showered, cleaned up, and in bed. Cleaning the kitchen right after dinner was something that only happened when Derek was home, and only sometimes then. Now I'm writing this as the children are reading quietly in their beds, the kitchen is (relatively) clean, and I've folded a load of laundry. What heaven compared to years before. I miss my cute little chubby curly headed twin boys, and my sweet tiny Evin and the cannonball Ian. But I don't miss the mess.

My like and dislike for the week

Like: I have been converted to Dove soap. (Thank you Lynnette for having it in your shower when I visited.) After years of using the soap that Derek liked because I really didn't care, I have purchased for myself Dove pink soap that smells like roses. Now my boys will leave it alone. I hope.

Dislike: Derek bought a fog free mirror for the shower so he could shave in the shower and be more presentable more often (this is his new goal). While this is great for him, it's not so great for me. I don't really like to see myself in the shower some mornings. Yikes.

Maybe I'll start again

I have started my nine weeks of summer. Maybe I'll start cleaning again. Maybe I'll start cooking again. Maybe I won't do anything. We'll see. I don't think the boys are ready for what Mommy wants them to start doing, but we have swimming for another week, so I can't get too mean, there isn't time. Maybe I'll actually start taking pictures of my children since my phone is better than my camera now. Maybe I'll start projects. Maybe I'll go back to bed.

Eight hours in one classroom = Group Insanity

Apparently the nursing faculty is trying to see how our psychological states are, so they decided to schedule our classes one after another on Thursday. Sounds reasonable, only have class one day and clinicals one day, leaving three days "free" for homework. And, it must be easier for one teacher to move around than thirty students, so they scheduled all four classes in ONE ROOM. Here's a summary of our day:

Class one: Probably the hardest class (Adults with Common Disorders), with the most scattered teacher I think I've met so far on a college campus. Also talks quietly, is very short, and just starts class whenever she gets there: five minutes late, three minutes early, whatever. (She's very nice, I'm just waiting for some organization). We behave well. Mostly.

Class two: An interesting class (Mental Health Nursing), with a teacher who specializes in psychiatric nursing. He's a fantastic nurse for that area, I'm sure. Very patient. Talks very patiently. We all start to fall asleep.

Lunch. Try to wake up. People have started trying to see how fast they can get into and out of a restaurant.

Class three: A somewhat repetitive class (Care of Older Adults) that we've already studied quite a bit, but with the most fascinating teacher. We all stay very awake!

Class four: A somewhat pointless, yet important class (Health Promotion and Teaching). Should be the easiest class. Teacher funny and interesting, but we're on hour seven with each other in the same chairs in the same room. By four o'clock, we're done. Comments start getting very random. People either turn hyper or sleepy. She lets us out a couple minutes early, bless her.

I don't know what would be better, getting it over with, or splitting it up. Either way, I'm glad it's only once a week.

I have much catching up to do

I have been meaning to update this blog forever! But I didn't until this morning. If I'm late to church, well, the prelude won't be as long since I'm playing the organ. So I've gone through all my pictures since August, of which there aren't many. But before we review, first we have my Isaac. One night in the middle of Kaleb's miserable coughing, at three or four in the morning I got his coughing to stop enough to send him back to bed, and we found Isaac like this. I had to take a picture. Enjoy!

Ian's 5th birthday

Ian had a very strung out birthday this year. His birthday, sadly, landed on a Wednesday, the day of all horror. For his birthday day, he went to school, got picked up by Grandma Terry, then was picked up by me and suffered through his and his brother's lessons, getting home late. We did get Wendy's for dinner for the poor kid. At least he got a frosty and a toy! Then we opened presents on Thursday night at our house, then Friday he had his birthday time at kindergarten, and then Sunday we had cake and ice cream with Fulwiders. I'm not sure the kids knew when his birthday actually was, but he seemed to enjoy it!

Presents at our house:



Derek's invention this year: G.I. Joes against Star Wars. Hmmmm.

Blowing out candles at Aunt Nicole's house

Daddy time

Sometimes at Daddy time, the boys watch "how to" movies, or funny videos, or Derek shows them things he's bought, or things they're learning about. I just love how packed they all are around their Daddy.