The Gauntlet...The Kindergarten Gauntlet

But we totally dig it. By the numbers....

73 hand crafted pieces of artwork created
57 pieces of paper have come home in the folder
32 pages of homework completed
27 days of school completed (1 absence)
26 letters and sounds to identify in order to get on the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree
15 checks written (you don't want to know the total)
12 pencils sharpened
5 sight words learned (see picture above), he may or may not know more. We won't know until we see sentence #2, now in production.
4 Lunchables consumed (why can't I have one every day?)
3 new friends who happen to be girls with names that start with "A" (I'll catalog the rest of the friends at some point but don't you think that it is interesting that these "A" name girls are so drawn to Patrick?)
1 PTC meeting
0 Bad behavior check marks

I would call the Kindergarten workload a 100 fold increase over Preschool. For us that is, I don't know about Patrick. I'm too busy writing checks to ask him how he is handling Kinder.

Patrick has been hoping and praying that I would come and work in his class like the other mommies. (Dear Other Mommies, Stop making me look bad in front of my kid wouldja. Love, This Mommy) If you could see my schedule you would gasp. Peeling away for an hour is difficult at best. I miraculously had time this Monday that wasn't scheduled. First I went to see my adorable new nephew and then I headed over to K-1.

It was fun but honestly the best part was Patrick's reaction. When I picked him up after school I asked him what the best part of the day was (which I always ask) and he said, "You coming to work in my classroom." My heart melts and I email his teacher to commit to volunteering as many days as I can squeeze into my schedule.

Kindergarten is fun, let's do it again.

Guess what? The art wall is finally finished. Kevin had to help me with the final pieces, there was a bit of confusion with the measurements (note to self: don't talk on the phone while having wood cut at Lowe's. You might just walk away with pieces of molding that are 8 inches too long.). Anyway, it is magnetic paint, which is a really cool invention. This is Patrick and Keith's (eventually Keith since he gave Grandpa his first masterpiece as a birthday present) place to showcase their talent. Because Mommy wasn't digging on Daddy and Patrick trying to hang things up on the wall in the kitchen.

It's gonna be a long month

"Mom, it smells like Halloween!"
This was Patrick's declaration after we dragged the Halloween bins out of storage last weekend. And with that scent of potpourri (which has been in my Fall rotation for YEARS but hasn't made it out of the Ziploc since we lived in Sacramento but penetrates everything Fall nonetheless) firmly under his nose, Halloween was on in our house. I didn't actually unload the treasures until this weekend. Owning this much Fall stuff is a tad overwhelming, I have to work up to it. And then there is the problem of TOO MUCH HELP.
Pumpkin Snatcher (I was taking a break from decorating to practice with my camera and the only subject that will stay still, until said subject was kidnapped)



Fall Vomits in My Dining Room

and Leaves it There Until the Next Day or two.

I Love Fall. And it looks like we might finally be getting a taste of Fall weather this week! Feeling optimistic, I put the duvet back on our bed and ordered the boys new sweatshirts (and sweaters and fake Uggs).

Patrick had a special prayer tonight: "Thank you Jesus for the gift of Halloween, Amen."

And the fake spider trick never gets old. And we have Martha back in rotation. We love Fall!

Cleared That Hurdle

Patrick has been to the dentist four times. Patrick has had his teeth check, counted and cleaned by the dentist once. That's right, four trips, one successful cleaning. If I had one word to describe taking Patrick to the dentist it would be: torture. And I've only taken him once. Kevin has taken him 3 times.

MOM: 0-1
DAD: 1-2

But now....oh now we have a dental-pro on our hands. While Kevin and I have been working on the same trial container of dental floss for 5 months, Patrick has officially polished off a whole one on his own in a little under 3 weeks. Impressive? He is floss obsessed. I thought he would be excited when I brought home the new ($7) Martha Magazine and he was. He was extra excited (in a bouncing off the walls kind of way) over the new package of Glide. I'll have to remember that! Whatever works.....

You know you are the mother of boys if.....

your 5 year old plays at least one Jedi mind trick on your 2 year old every hour. And your 2 year old screams "LORD VADER!" at the top of his lungs in response.

And by Jedi Mind Trick, he means relentless teasing about candy, toys, etc.

"I threw your silky out of the window Keithy........."
"Lord VADER!"
"haha Jedi mind trick, I have it right here."

Like I said, he rocks

Is it Fall yet? Not pretend Fresno Fall, I mean full-blown Autumn. MMMM...... Autumn. The air conditioner broke in one of the 4 zones in our house. It just happened to be the boys zone (wing).

Usually, our air conditioner is very Johnny-on-the-Spot with the cold air. The boys and I are known to cuddle under blankets while the air conditioner is working to get the temperature from 83 degrees to 81 degrees. Anything cooler than 81 and you have to put a sweater on (and a beanie and mittens). So when the boys' zone was holding steady at 84 even though I had the air set at 81 I knew we had a problem. Kevin didn't (want to) believe me. For some reason the air conditioner would work when he was there and as soon as he went back to work it would stop working (just like the mechanic).

The point of the story is I finally convinced him that the combination of the non-functioning air conditioner and the (close to) triple digit forecast for the weekend meant we had to call the air conditioner guy.

He came, he saw, he charge a hundred bucks. A hundred bucks to guess that the problem was a faulty flapper (how very 1922). A hundred bucks for a guess, I'm definitely in the wrong business. How about another $420 to actually fix the (hypothesized) problem? Sure. I know the economy is bad because 4 years ago we would have just bought another house. Instead my man climbed up into the attic and started banging around (with the help of one of his buddies via iPhone).

I was his Tool Girl, running up and down the stairs (luckily I can use the climb), bringing tools and switching from one zone to another. And I discovered this real estate right above my closet. Just what I need, more storage.



Anyway, after seventeen trips up the stairs. A number of adjustments. He fixed it!!!!! for now

Kevin really is amazing. He will still have to replace a part but he just saved us hundreds of dollars in labor at the very least.

How about this for music to my ears:
"Is there anything else you want me to take care of?"
"I'll do some laundry."
"I already took care of it."
"It is all put away."
"I made you coffee and packed you a snack."

Trying to wrestle the beast.

The junk/paper/chaos beast that slowly takes over the corners and crevices of our house. The beast fills up drawers with junk, covers counter space with odds and ends and drapes itself across any open area. FlyLady says these are Hot Spots. With the amount of paper we receive for Kindergarten and our general life of chaos, our laundry room is a HUGE Hot Spot for the beast.

It is not strange for this room to look like this.
BOYS LOCKER

I think the problem is about TOO much storage. Too much counter space, too many drawers (two junk drawers in this room, another one right outside and 4 more in the kitchen), and too much counter space.

I wish this was all laundry on the floor. It is some combination of dirty clothes and random things that need to be taken care of. And you can see the top of our locker....
We needed help. With all of this storage we were still struggling to keep track of everything coming in and out of the house during the week.
So after a lot of thought and shopping, I bought this.....
The point of this is to sort, organize and plan. Papers, uniforms, borrowed/forgotten toys to return to friends, out-going mail, coupons, etc. is organized into the day that it needs to be handled. It is also a good way to keep track of homework, not to mention a quick way to know what to grab in the morning. If I am traveling early in the morning, everything Kevin needs for the day is right there. On Sundays I write checks, sign forms, prepare mail, and coordinate the weeks activities with this thing. No question, a good use of $20.

The other problem is the lingering mail situation. So I bought this.....

This came from Lillian Vernon and is a tool to keep the other Hot Spot (that drives me crazy because there is not a door to shut out the chaos), the kitchen counter. Mail and school papers and toys and phones and keys love chilling on the counter. When Kevin is working I pile stuff up there for him until it makes me so crazy I move it to the laundry room (productive, I know). Kevin leaves behind bits and pieces for me when I am working. This is a place to not only leave incoming mail but also put magazines and kindergarten newsletters and other propaganda that needs to be considered. So I added this...



This is not a storage facility. Everything in this thing has to be dealt with on a regular (if not daily) basis. Read it, deal with it and move it along. Things with a longer shelf life (BILLS) go right into the bill organizer to be handled at the end of the month. Receipts go into the receipt organizer to be dealt with or tossed.

More than these new fixtures, I am trying really hard to get us to just deal with things right away. Otherwise the beast is going to move back in and I am going to leave for the loony bin.

Wonders you can cease now, I'm amazed

Today at a birthday party Patrick wanted to ride the ride that goes straight to the ceiling and bounces around. Frog Jumper...or some such thing. 8 tokens (!).... are you sure? He was sure.



Maybe he'll be my roller coaster buddy yet.

A room of one's own

This summer we had to make a change. Keith was climbing out of the crib every night but we were still shopping for furniture. So, his mattress came out of his crib and onto the floor. Safer than the base jumping off the crib right?


Then I had a nervous breakdown. My child who was previously a great (no Mommy exaggerations here, he was down by 7:20 pm and I had to wake him up at 8:00 am) sleeper would not stay in his room! I tried everything, longer nap, earlier nap, no nap, earlier to bed, later to bed, reading in bed, milk in bed, extra silkies in bed, no silkies in bed..... One very teary night (for both of us) I remembered something I read in a friend's blog. I got out the screwdriver and swapped the master bedroom locking door handle with his non-locking door handle.
And I locked my son in his room. For real, don't try this at home. The screaming and crying was one thing, the room thrashing was a whole other thing. He tore things off the wall, he broke his night light and his soother, he destroyed anything he could reach. At that point I moved everything within his reach out of his room. A couple nights later he went down much better and has been more (relative term, eh?) cooperative ever since. He's persistent though, he checks the door every night, if we forget he will meander downstairs and make himself comfortable on the couch. So we lock it every night and unlock it before we go to bed.

Not to be outdone by his mother's ingenuity (borrowed though it might be), Keith committed himself to locking me out whenever the opportunity presented itself. This is especially funny in the morning while I am trying to do a million things to get ready. The height of funny occurs when he locks me into his bedroom. Ask Kevin, it was hilarious (so funny, I forgot to laugh).

But now, now is the time for a transition. He's going to the boys' east wing (as opposed to the baby west wing, where he was. Don't you think calling areas of your house "wings" is kind of high faluting? The North Wing oh, yes that's the children's wing....). This project has been in progress for quite some time. Long enough that these flooring photos were difficult to find and any pictures (I know they exist) of the painting process have proven to be elusive.


The length of the project and Keith's fondness for sleeping half on and half off the crib mattress means I am so ready for this room to be done. One might even say, excited.
The room isn't even close to being completed (wall hangings, window coverings, closet, bedside table, etc.) but I love it. Patrick called it "fabulous". And he spoke what I was thinking, I want this to be MY room.

The blue trundle was on sale for $99. Despite my (limited on the English but long on the design advice) delivery guy's judgment, I like the blue trundle.


This little corner will be his reading/hiding spot. He loves making gates and nests and corrals for himself.


He already parked his cars in his closet.



And he was excited to get comfortable. Especially with the BIG surprise, silky sheets.

This weekend we potty train. If you want us, we'll be right here... potty training... all weekend......

Early Intervention

What's grosser than gross?
Finding the your five year old's life-long booger collection. Early stages, but a booger collection all the same.

What's grosser than that?
Finding your 18 year old's life-long booger collection. Try cleaning that one without a chisel. Kind of gives me something to look forward to, no?

Mother of boys.... every boy has one, the key is early intervention.