Summer Summer Summertime!

Declan's new cheesy smile...he flashes this mug anytime the camera is pointing in his direction!

School is out, the sun is shining, we've dodged tornadoes and are doing our best to enjoy some early June PERFECT weather now.  Summertime is upon us in Kansas and we are loving every (almost) second.  Just had to share a few pictures of my little cuties soaking in the sunshine and good times. :)

Who doesn't think that ice cream is one of summer's most iconic mascots.  My little crew had a sampling today and definitely left the evidence behind.  Thank goodness for hoses! :) 

Give it back!!!

We finally got the whole family out on our bikes now that Gokey is an ol' pro on his big boy bike.  This was Jilly's and Squeaky D's first ride in the trailer!

Happily Ever After!

Bye Bye Thrashing Threes...Hello FANTASTIC Fours (Please???)

As I start this post, it is 5:47 p.m. on your fourth birthday.  At this exact moment four years ago, you had slipped fairly easily as births go into this world a mere 3 minutes earlier...and you were perfect!  Four years later, you are still perfect...and a challenge.  But you wouldn't be Gokey without the stubborn streak that nearly brings your momma to her knees!  Ironic that the one of my babies who came early, without intervention on his own is the one who is so stubborn now.  I long for the pangs of labor and delivery now if they would calm the wild child beneath that sweet exterior! :)

If only you were always this peaceful!

Terrible twos have NOTHING on the 3rd year of Gokey!  We were indoctrinated into this realization very early on in this past year.  Last June on a night when your very pregnant momma was sleeping in the guest bed with a very sickly baby sister, you showed how strong your will was.  In the dead of night you trudged up the stairs from your basement bedroom for some unknown reason and Daddy met you at the top step.  As if you were the one unwillingly pulled from a sweet slumber at 2:30 a.m. you were GRUMPY.  Daddy matter of factly told you to go back to bed, to which your reply was a steadfast, "NO!"  So, he told you that you couldn't sleep with him, but he wasn't in the mood to fight you, and he retreated to the comfort of his bed leaving you standing in the entryway at the top of the stairs.  He drifted off to sleep since you just quietly stood there mere feet from our bedroom door, but he jerked awake to your shuffling feet as you changed positions and looked at the clock to see that it was then 3:30 a.m. meaning you had stood there for an entire hour strongly standing behind your decision to NOT go back down to bed.  At that point a compromise was reached and Daddy suggested you sleep on the couch to which you eagerly obliged. It's no secret you are a fan of buttons, especially Mommy's buttons.  You know exactly which days her patience is running thin and love to watch the ensuing circus when you shove her over the edge.  You have been my greatest teacher of patience, and though I am learning every day, I think I am better for it...at least I am trying to see the silver lining in your steely armor of stubbornness.

Sweetness!

On the flip side...you are SUCH a sweet boy!  Despite your stubborn armor, you wear your very vulnerable heart on your sleeve.  You can muster up a collection of bottom-heavy tears to tumble from those endless brown eyes at the mere mention of disappointment or a stern look in your general direction.  Hugs of apology are strong and warm with sincerity and your teardrop laced eyelashes that are only like a mile long are enough to melt me into a puddle of mush.  And, I'm not the only one who has fallen under your spell.  You have a way of sucking people in.  You are adorable, funny, charming and debonaire in a way I have never seen such a small spirit display.  And, though you are so very sensitive your confidence in yourself when emotionally stable (when the threes haven't completely consumed you) is overwhelming!  You are rarely seen outside of the house without a fedora hat or one of your stylin' pairs of sunglasses and blue canvas shoes...and you wear them with authority, strutting your stuff.  One of your favorite personalities (yes, three year olds have multiple) developed in this past year is all-knowing.  You will proudly state, "I know everything," as an answer to...well, everything.  For example, "Gokey, why are you so cute." Your answer: "because I know everything!" Or you and X-man will begin arguing over whatever is so worth arguing about 47 times a day and you will eventually say, "I'm smarter than you," which for some reason isn't well received.  He will fall into the trap and say, "no you're not," and you will simply state, "I know everything."  At this point X-man will retort with a random math question (to which he doesn't even know the answer), such as, "what is 8 + 8?"  Your answer will come without hesitation..."7...see, I know everything!"

Such a doting big brother!

You must have gained all of this knowledge in your first year of preschool!  Yes, you are now two weeks from the end of this first year and how fun it has been. I think it has been all you hoped it would be.  Your teachers adore you (and your brother in the older class) and we were told after a few weeks into this year that they would be in PERFECT shape if they had classrooms full of Gokeys and X-men! :)  Apparently you are as charming within the realms of your classroom as you are within your family.  You also seem to be well loved among your classmates and are part of a rowdy trio of boys that often has to be put in their place, but we are told you listen well when this situation arises.  Being just a short 18 months behind your big brother, you are often competing for attention and time and you desperately want to be as cool and to know as much as he does (that's right...you DO know everything), but one of your strengths you have been gifted with is a great name-keeper.  Once you meet someone you remember their names instantly and forever.  It took X-man a full year before he could name some of his classmates, but you were all over it by the end of your first week.  You also have a gift for music!  You love to sing and we all know your affinity for DANCE!  Your moves continue to amaze us and we're not sure how you inherited such awesomeness!

There's so much more, but you know how busy this mommy gig keeps me...you would rather I sit and snuggle with you on the couch than record all of this nonsense anyway.  I love you, my sweet FOUR year old!  Happy Birthday...and slow down (sorry, I had to)!

Birthday treats for his class

First try on his NEW big boy bike!

Stella love!

Snowman love!

FIVE (and a few months...but who's counting?)

I suck at this blog thing...I have good reason, though, and I'm not apologizing.  Up until X-man's 5th birthday on October 27th, I at least did a good job of getting birthday blogs posted within a few days of their birthdays, but I have certainly faltered this time.  So...I WILL get this thing written even if I have to do it a bit at a time.  Squeaky D has finally nearly perfected his sitting up technique over the last few days (see? I wrote this forever ago...the dude is crawling and now wants to walk in the worst way) and is delighted to be able to sit and entertain himself for a bit here and there which has made my life infinitely easier!  So, my sweet 5 (and a half) year old...here's your very belated birthday post!

It's been another big year...lots of growing has been done, another baby brother has been added to our family and I continue to mesmerize at the boy you have become.  Let's talk about the growing. At your 4 year appointment you measured in at a very tall 43 1/2 inches, which is the 95th percentile!  I thought that was amazing until your 5 year appointment where you measured in at 47 1/2 inches, which is the 97th percentile...4 inches in a year!  You are now in size 6/7 clothing and it seems as soon as something fits you perfectly, you hit another growth spurt, marked by a bottomless stomach and heavy sleeping, and then I'm left trying to figure out what I can dress you in...and where my baby went. :(

The year of silly faces...

Would you just smile for me, boy? :) 

Seriously??? *melt*

But, it seems we have found a way to keep that fleeting infancy stage fresh in our minds...keep having babies! :)  Squeaky D arrived on July 31st after another long pregnancy and your brotherly skills have continued to excel.  Leading up to his birth you were also an excellent mommy care-taker.  Thank you for that!  I often had your little sister on one hip and a giant belly pushed to the other hip, so you were the best of helpers when I dropped my keys on the ground for the 87th time in a day, scooping them up almost willingly, with only a barely perceived eye roll.  You also took great interest in all things pregnancy and we talked about, read about and watched lots of videos about the subject...all of which absolutely fascinated you.  There were many questions, but my favorite was not, "how does the baby GET in your tummy," but, "mom, how do you STOP having babies?"  You have really taken this big brother business in stride, but it became apparent during this last pregnancy that you are beginning to feel a little crowded.  You have expressed concern that we may run out of room in our house if this baby-having routine continues.  It's OK, buddy, we have the same concerns. :)

A natural...

Sharing HIS box! :) 

Showing baby brother all of his new birthday toys...

Trying to calm him down...can you see him saying, "SHHHH"?

Your Big Brother skills are stellar.  You are (mostly) so kind and nurturing to all of them, but you and Gokey have certainly learned to battle in the last year and a half.  There are days when all the two of you do is fight, but when it comes right down to it, that little brother of yours is your best buddy.  Recently, the two of you were jumping on the couch in the basement when you lost your balance, falling into Gokey, causing him to crash to the floor.  It was immediately apparent that something was wrong with his arm.  He screamed in pain and said he couldn't move it.  As I tried to figure out if it was broken or just sprained and was asking him questions, you were just standing by, seemingly unconcerned.  But then I mentioned the hospital and that he might need x-rays and suddenly you were a puddle of tears and between sobs you cried, "I just hate that this is happening to him because he is my best buddy and I love him so much!"  To which Gokey began to sob, "your my best brother!" and I sat between you both trying to console each of you, when truthfully, the moment was so sweet I was unable to stifle my own tears.

Helping with the grocery list!

At four years of age, I wrote that we were bombarded with, "what does this do?" and "what does that mean?"  This year has definitely been the year of "WHY?" You question EVERYTHING...even the most mundane of things.  A short drive to school in the morning, which happens every day, will contain 40,000 questions about why that bird flew in front of the van, why those cars are speeding, why the police officer didn't catch them, why there are white lines on the road, why that house is painted green...those are all reasonable questions from a 5 year old.  But then we come to the more complex questions...why does Jupiter have a storm that never goes away, why is Venus hotter than Mercury if Mercury is closer to the sun, what is DNA???  You have made me WORK! :) I often wonder how I ever would have survived you without the internet.  Google and Youtube are visited daily in order to satisfy your unending desire for knowledge and then you back it up by absorbing it all...nothing gets by you.  At a recent parent-teacher conference, your teachers both expressed that they had learned more about space and black holes this year from you than they had learned in their lifetimes.  Mrs. Castello also said that she has learned to never make you line leader if the walk that day is going to be a long one because the incessant questions that fill that time leave her exhausted by your destination.  My brilliant boy...you will be starting Kindergarten in the fall and that terrifies me.  That milestone seemed SO very distant when I held you in my arms for the very first time, yet here we are...in a blink!  Another blink or two and I will be sending you off to college or watching you board a space shuttle on your very first mission.  I will be proud of you then, but none of it will surprise me...you are one fabulous kid and I am so proud of who you are already.  Let's slow down and take our time, OK?  Happy 1/2 Birthday, baby!

Fearless...and already a darn good driver for Auntie Brooke!

He is his momma's son! 

Have I said fearless???

Have I said fearless??????? :) 

1st romp in the ocean...the only one of his brothers and
sister that thought it was GREAT!

I did it! :)

So serious...but TYING HIS OWN
SHOES!

My sweet sweet biggest little man...

PLEEEEAAASSSSEEE Bring Me Some Spring

I'm exhausted.  Is this really a new thing?  Not so much, but I am desperately longing for warmer weather to chase these illnesses and cabin fevers away.  I was struggling with a horrible sore throat last week that I finally kicked over the weekend, but there's never been time to stop and rest.  J continued replacing linoleum in our house with new tile by taking last Thursday and Friday off to do so.  At the same time he was nursing a foot injury from a jog he had taken the previous weekend.  The injury seemed to worsen during his cleanup of the floor project on Saturday when he physically felt and heard a pop in his foot as he crossed the living room floor.  Ugh.  He was fine, but it was concerning. This was all while I was at a birthday party with Gokey for one of his classmates. Following the party I raced back home to scoop up the rest of the crew to welcome my G'ma to her NEW home HERE in Wichita.  She has settled in nicely, but after a fall she had back in January, she is still recovering from a broken femur, so we have taken in her little dog, Ramos, to help in her (and his) transition.

During all of this rush, J ended up mentioning to someone that we had finally had everyone healthy for a week and he was hoping that would be the last of our slew of sicknesses this season.  Thanks, honey. In the middle of that night we awoke to Jilly crying out and found her sitting in her own vomit and miserable.  The poor kid couldn't stop and spent the following couple of hours continuing that trend.  By morning, her tummy seemed settled, but then the fever spikes settled in for the next couple of days.  More sleeplessness ensued.  Then X-man began to complain that his throat was hurting and I am pretty sure he has the same horrible sore throat I fought for a week.  Another little boy with a reason to get up in the middle of the night.  THEN, Tuesday he and Gokey were trampolining on the basement couch while I was preparing dinner and ironically enough, J was at Immediate Care having his foot x-rayed to rule out a stress fracture (no break...yay).  The story has been recanted numerous times that X-man was jumping on one foot, lost his balance, fell into Gokey and poor little Gokey went flopping to the floor where he somehow crunched his little arm.  He came up the stairs WAILING, but since wailing is second nature to the kid, I was unconcerned initially.  But, then he wouldn't let me touch his arm, and though I was pleading with him to wiggle his fingers, he insisted he couldn't and would SCREECH if I tried to move anything on him myself.  I texted J that we might have to make Immediate Care a family affair for the afternoon.  :)  He finished up his appointment, came home, examined the little man, scooped him up and off they went...back the way he'd come.  Thankfully, he also was unbroken, but they do think he may have dislocated his radius at the elbow and he came home sporting a tiny little sling.  The guy is sore...making another reason for another little body to be up in the middle of the night.

That leaves Squeaky D.  Easiest baby on the planet.  At least he'll sleep, right?  Well, you see, he's mastering this crawling thing.  He finally figured out how to make it all work on the slick wood floors on Tuesday and he has been practicing all day, every day since.  By the end of the day he's exhausted and he will FINALLY pass out only to jerk awake, spring to his hands and knees and continue practicing.  Add to that the very uncomfortable fact that he's sprung two little teeth in the last week and there's another one trying to push through still and we have another sleepless camper.  This is where I should have listened better when I was pregnant with X-man and people said, "sleep now before the baby gets here." Nobody told me it would be 5 1/2 years later and I would STILL be up all night. :)  But then I watch a sweet little sister crawl up onto the couch next to a sore, somber big brother and watch her try to comfort him by running her fingers through his hair.  Or a great big brother cheering his baby brother on as he perfects his very slow, deliberate crawl to a faraway, sippy cup treasure only for big sister to swoop in, save the day and sweetly deposit said treasure into his tired arms.  I would trade a lifetime of restful slumbers for these sweet moments.  But still...BRING ON SPRING! :)

P.S.  I should mention that we DID go on a small stroll at the zoo after the snow fell when we arrived to pick up X-man from school a little early one day.  Strange to see the contrast of tropical flamingos amongst piles of fluffy white snow.  I also have to brag about my new kitchen floors.  I can't help but admire them every time I walk into the kitchen.  Thanks, baby! :)  And...one last thing.  We had a trio of ducks (male and female mallards and male wood duck) come and nest in our front garden last spring.  She laid 8 eggs and we had the privilege to watch the whole process and 4 weeks later watch 6 little ducklings hatch out and waddle off.  Our trio is back...presumably staking out her spot again.  I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks as they do their thing.  Have I said "hurry up spring" yet???

You Know...Tie Shades

Gokey: Holding up his little snack cup after eating his last morsel of cereal, "Mom, are these tie shades?"

Me: Utterly confused, "are they what?"

Gokey: "Are these TIE SHADES?"

X-Man: Seemingly understanding his little brother, "no...are they shreds?"

Me:  Giggling, "WHAT?  I don't understand...it's a snack cup."

Gokey: Pointing to the leftover cereal bits in the bottom of his cup, "no, these...are they tie shades?"

Me: Giggling again...

X-Man:  "What's he talking about???"

Then we ALL break down into fits of giggles.

Me:  "You mean those tiny cereal bits?  Those are crumbs."

Gokey:  "OOOOHHHHHH.  I thought they were tie shades."

And people wonder what's wrong with me?!  These are the conversations that make up my day...and I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Snacks & Naps

Jilly has decided that she wants to combine her snacking and napping into one event to keep things interesting (and to keep us entertained).  I don't know what it is about little kids falling asleep sitting up, but I find it hilarious and it cracks me up.  I especially love how she falls apart at the suggestion of a nap, though she's in the middle of one anyway.  Oh, how I wish I could fall asleep while eating...