NOT a travel log - It was time!

Ashlyn always talks about "when I'm a mom..." It's not the usual excitement over babies, etc., it's more like "When I'm a mom I'm going to say to my kids 'Go take a nap'" or "When I'm a mom I'm going to make you (that would be me) change all of my babies' diapers." Today I was making her strawberry and chocolate milk (my kids like it mixed - yuck!) and she wanted to spoon it in. I told her that I got to do all of the exciting jobs because I'm the mom, but that I'd let her stir. So of course, that led to "When I'm a mom I'm always going to say 'No, I get to put it in.'" I then told her that when she's a mom, I'm going to be a grandma and that I would spoil all of her kids rotten and then send them home for her to take care of. She quickly replied with "You're not going to be a Grandma, you can just still be a mom and share my kids with me. That way you can take care of them when I want to go to the store and do things." Remind me not to live next door!

Carter's homework load has significantly increased from kindergarten to first grade and he's not loving it. You know, it takes five minutes to do, instead of one. Sheesh! One of the things he had to do yesterday was write who the characters were in his reading book in a complete sentence. It's on a worksheet that says "Characters:" and then is followed by a couple of lines for the answer. When I was checking his work, I saw that he only wrote "Bear and kangaroo" - not a complete sentence. After much boohooing, he finally brought me back his worksheet to check. Instead of erasing what he had written and starting over, he added a "The" in front of the preprinted "Characters" and a "were" after it. He was pretty proud of himself and I couldn't help but laugh. "Very clever," I said, "but nice try." School could get interesting with him....

Ian LOVES reading books. Especially with his Dad. The moment Eric walks in the door, Ian is following him around with a book. He can't sit down, or Ian will be on top of him, with book after book. It's not just a few. Last night was the same, but Ian is getting more demanding. Instead of going to Daddy, he expects Daddy to come to him. He grabbed a book, went and sat on the couch, made eye contact with Eric, and then starting patting the couch harder and harder - staring more and more intently with each pat - until Eric caved and went to him. Then he gave him a big smile and snuggled in for the story. He knows how to get what he wants!

Isaac starts soccer practice today. He's really excited and wants to do anything and everything he can to help himself get better. He's been riding his bike to and from school everyday and was ready to trade it in for his feet and jog, but I refused to let him. It's near child abuse letting him ride his bike in 110 degree weather, I'm not letting him run! Eric and I have been pretty quick on the uptake with this one. "Did you know that lifting trash bags and vacuuming is really great exercise and will help you get stronger for soccer?" This is going to be a great season!