goodnight kisses

every night i go upstairs and kiss the boys goodnight.  most nights it's the same thing.  kiss.  hug.  i love yous.  sweet dreams.  see ya in the morning.

tonight was different.  i did all those same things, but as i was walking out tayte stopped me and asked a question.  then another.  baylee had a couple too.  15 minutes later we had talked about playing basketball.  i told tayte that each game you try something new and do something better.  today in his game he tried stealing the ball by swatting at it when his guy was dribbling.  so i told him that's your "do better" next game thing and try something new.  we talked about jump balls and how it's decided who gets the ball and how they keep track of that.

i made the comment that being a mom is the only job i've done well.  baylee replies, "i bet you did well as a teacher, you do well tutoring."  that made me feel wonderful.  i am so glad that my kids see that i'm not "just a stay at home mom."  i'm glad they see that you can do many things and do them all well.

we also talked about how blessed they are that they are taught something and they understand.  some kids don't always understand the first time.  or they don't understand it the way it was said.  i'm glad they realize that they have their strengths and what that can do for them.

i am really glad i do goodnight kisses.

tara

payton is on a roll tonight

payton has been at it all night with rules and funny things he has said.  so here is what i can remember:

• here's a good rule: pay attention.
• oh and another one ride your bike
• i took kayson's pacifier and he didn't cry but he started going uugghh so i gave it back.  i'm so nice.
• look kayson came and loved on me all by his self.  it's cause i'm so nice.
• you can't say butt, you can say the nice one though.  for example "i wanted to get new toys but, i couldn't get any."
• here's a rule: play outside.
• oh, got a good one be nice.
• can you print it because what if i forget the rules?

he is so full of comments tonight.  these are just some of them.  sometimes that kid listens so well but has a mind of his own.  it is so frustrating because he repeats everything but doesn't follow the rules.

tara

first day of school

regardless of whether we were ready or not the first day of school has arrived. luckily for us we were ready. well as ready as could be expected. every year lee and i tag team and make the boys breakfast. although i HATE mornings i am glad we start their first day of the new year off with a good breakfast. and that means i have to wake up super early. early enough to make bacon, scrambled eggs with sausage, pancakes and fruit, and to get myself ready to leave the house, and take first day of school pictures, and get to school on time. which this year since baylee is in junior high means a second campus we have to drop kids off at. honestly, that right there is what scares me. again i HATE mornings, am i going to be able to get all the kids to school on time at 2 different drop offs? and i know the campuses are side by side, but still....

it makes me happy that lee sits down and eats with them too. even if i wasn't taking the picture i wouldn't sit down and eat. there is just something about eating right after i wake up. i've never really been able to do it. unless i was pregnant and then i would have to. i guess i should have taken that as a sign of how much my children would eat.

i love how may baylee has his arm around tayte. he did that all by himself. and since he did that tayte did that to payton.  i am blessed because these boys REALLY love each other.  it makes me happy!  look how big these boys are!

notice in the pictures before kayson joined in that baylee wasn't smiling?  yep. that did not make me happy.  but, lee decided to take a bat thing we have and pretend he was about to hit me with it and then we get these pictures.

in the car on the way to school.

and there he goes into the junior high as a sixth grader all by himself.  look how little he looks!  i threaten to embarrass my kids for the way they behave, but truth be told i won't....or will i?  i didn't want to start his junior high years off wrong.  i HATED junior high.  i would rather be water boarded than have to do that again.  so, even though i don't cry at the first day of school, i was/am a bit nervous about this whole junior high thing.  he's a smart kid, and the smart ones have it rough some times.

i LOVE shots like this.  i LOVE that these boys are walking the same path as their daddy.  he is a great man.  a wonderful husband.  and a superb father.  he is showing them how to be a man.  i think that's why we have so many boys.

tayte is in the third grade.  he looks like a different kid with his glasses.  this is a big year for him.  lots of changes and by changes i mean standardized tests.  thankfully, these boys are brilliant.  i would say that about my kids anyway, but luckily for me i'm not lying when i say that.  so the tests aren't what bother me.  it's the stress of the test.  and with tayte i don't want there to be any extra stress.

there's payton hard at work already.  we held him back in kindergarten this year all because of where his birthday lands.  last year on the first day of kindergarten he was FOUR, this year he is six.  i feel better about sending a six year old to kindergarten.  side note: every day since his birthday, all 2 of them, he has asked me if i am glad he is six.  he's pretty excited about being six.  so he sat down and started working, i bumped him, "uuugghhh, mom you messed me up."  "sorry."  i'm afraid he's going to get bored this year.  but, that's not the part that makes me anxious, because quite frankly you do a lot of things in your life that could bore you, but you still do them.  i'm afraid he's going to act up since he's bored.  and his teacher, SHE IS FABULOUS!!! but, when we were trying to decide what to do with him she didn't want us to send him twice.  so even though she is A WONDERFULLY, BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL teacher, i don't want the "i told you so."  so payton may hate me by the end of the year, but that kid is going to be on his best behavior.  always.  oh and his teacher looks way to young to have a third grader herself.  and payton was pretty happy that patrick, the kid in blue across from him, was in his class too.  patrick and his family go to our church.

the good bye process:  daddy hugs, kisses and says i love you.  kayson kisses.  momma kisses, hugs, says i love you and have a fabulous day.  we did this in tayte's room too, i just didn't get proof.

and these two.  this is ellie.  neither of them know it yet but they have an arranged marriage.  so it's really sweet that they are starting school together.  and even sweeter that they are sitting right by each other.  i don't think their teacher knows about the pending wedding so that makes it better.  and, while payton is giving me "that look" i'm sure he will give it to ellie later in life.  hehehe.  oh, and when i rushed around to take this awesome picture i bumped payton again.  "uuugggghhh, you messed me up AGAIN!!"  i think he just wanted me to leave.


and this little stinker.  i was afraid he would have a horrible day without someone being at his every beck and call.  but, he LOVED being home with momma all day.  he loved on me.  danced around the couch.  sat on these steps over and over.  talked a ton.  laughed and smiled all day.  but, the thing i think he enjoyed the most: if he had a toy it never got taken away from him.  EVER!

it was a great way to start a new school year.

and after school we all loaded up and headed to amarillo for our tradition of getting ice cream on the first day of school.  we tried out frazzleberries, which i know is frozen yogurt.  but, really isn't it all the same?  

as for me this school year.  i have a list of things i want to do.  and on that list is to get back in the habit of blogging.  i look back at some of the posts i've made and i'm so grateful i did.  and then i think about some of  the things i've missed and i'm sad.  so here's to a great year!!!

tara

ready or not....

for the first time in 5 years i am going to have a vegetable garden.  and as lee told the couple down the street it's the first time in 5 years i've been outside.  which is not true, because i have had the swimsuit tan lines to prove otherwise.  but, anyway i am going to have a garden.  i am not sure if i am ready or not.  i keep telling myself i am, but just telling this story this far has the tears welling up in my eyes.  nope, strike that... a couple of tears have already fallen.  you see it has been 5 years since i've had a garden and 5 summers ago my dad was still here to help.  and by help i mean DO IT ALL, but the planting, some of the picking, and some of the canning/freezing.  those were my jobs.  and doing this i have realized a few things: 1. my dad did a TON of the work before he told me it was time to come help.  i like to think it was because he loved to do it.  at least i hope that's the reason.  and 2.  i didn't ask enough questions.  i am quickly realizing my gardening knowledge could fill the tip of my pinkie finger.  maybe there is more in there i just haven't pulled it out yet.  God, please let that be so!!

so, there are a few things with this gardening deal that i hope do not have my dad rolling over in his grave.  i mean even though we did it together, we did it his way.  but, since it was at his house, used his tools, and his money i guess we could do it his way.  so by that theory i can do some things my way since we are at my house with my money.  and some of my (and when i say mine i mean, lee's) tools, we did borrow the expensive tools.  i don't want to dive in, i mean what if i can't do this on my own.  i don't want to invest lots of money in tools i may not use.  right?!?!?  i've talked to the guy down the street who loves to garden.  and i've talked to his friend, who happens to be the husband of one of my new friends.  i'm stressing about the lack of space i have.  i am used to gardening in a space that some of my friends said was a small farm.  so since i am confined to a smaller area and both these guys talked about going up i think i'm going to give it a try.  difference number 1.  oh, and my dad never would let us grow carrots ("never grow anything you can buy cheaper at the store"), but the boys wanted to grow carrots, sooooo.... difference number 2.

so this is either going to be great and therapeutic for me or a giant disaster.  only time will tell.  i just hope that i don't scare off my new founts of gardening wisdom.  i wonder if they know how much trouble they are going to be in this spring/summer.  i'm coming in this with little knowledge and a lot of emotional baggage.  so say a prayer for me.  and maybe one for lee.  and i guess add the muirs and the tows for their patience.  and you should probably add my dad and my grandma to the list as well so i don't embarrass them too much with my lack of country knowledge.  i'm sure both of them are somewhere getting ready for a good laugh at my expense.  or maybe they are both in hiding so they don't have to hear about how they didn't pass on the gardening wisdom they both had.  i'll let you know how this experience ends up.  hopefully with jars and jars of canned goodness.

tara

payton and the wii

the past couple of days payton has been playing the wii, and since i've been confined to the couch recovering i've really watched him.  he has been cracking me up.  it's come battling game on wii sports.  he gets in his sumo wrestler stance, feet apart, knees bent, squatting down.  then he takes the wii remote and swings it like it's a sword.  swinging it wildly around like a crazy person.  that is funny enough as it is, but the things he says are even better.

i'm going to defeat you.  (remember he's 5)

take that!

i don't care if i die, i care if i beat him.

then after he had played for a while and his face was red from the workout, he comes up to me and says, "my hair is wet.  it's like i took a bath with all my clothes on."  and he had worked out.  maybe i should play that game.

tara

 

 

thankful: day 30

i am thankful that i did the 30 days of thanksgiving.  all though i was not good about getting things posted on their day i did spend several times thinking about what i was thankful for.  it was a good exercise for me.  i have many blessings and like so many others i get caught up in the "wish i had's" or the "everyone else gets to's".  it was a valuable lesson for me to learn.  to take time each day and think about what i was blessed with that day. the first days were gimme days: God, lee, the boys, friends..., but as the first week passed i thought maybe i can't do this.  it was a struggle for me to think about something on some of those days.  but, then one day came and i could come up with 2 things.  it's like when you make a list of all the negative things about yourself, the list is a mile long.  then, when asked to make a list of all the positive things it takes you longer to get going.  but really once you get going you start to see the positive about yourself.  this exercise was that same thing.  i got to the point where i would think about things i was thankful for several times throughout the day.  now, if i could just do this same exercise with other areas of my life.

tara

thankful: day 29

i am thankful that lee and i are on the same page parenting-wise.  for all the big things we agree on how we want them done.  we don't fight about which way to do things when it comes to our kids and how we want to raise them.  it's funny how this has worked because we come from different places.  some of the core is the same but for the most part our lives have been very different.  it makes things run so smoothly when we both agree and i am thankful for our similar parenting styles.

tara