First Day of Kindergarten

At 6:45 this morning I heard the beep Owen's alarm clock, and no more than .2 seconds later he was bounding down the hall yelling "Wake up guys. It's the day I go to kindergarten!!" Talk about excitement! We all headed out to the bus stop, which lucky for us is just next door. Owen knew his best buddy Tyler would be waiting on the bus for him, so he was very anxious for it to arrive. When we finally saw the "butterfly bus" pull up he bounded on it so quickly I didn't even get to snap a picture. Now I'm already waiting for 4:13pm when he will get off the bus so I can hear all about his day.

Here are a few shots of his before school this morning.

Owen is reading!

Owen read his first book yesterday! I ordered the Bob books for him after seeing them recommended in several places, including our pediatrician's office. The first set arrived last night and Owen was anxious to get started. We spent about 10 minutes reviewing the letter sounds introduced in the first book, and within 20 minutes he'd read the whole book aloud to me & Marshall all by himself! I can't remember ever seeing him look so proud.

These photos are from this morning when he read the book to Cole and Jacob. We didn't review at all this morning and he read it perfectly.







Also, last night Marshall & I went to kindergarten parent orientation. There are 19 different kindergarten classes and Owen was lucky enough to be assigned to a class with 2 of his best friends from preschool. His teacher seems really nice and he's anxious to start riding the bus with his buddy Tyler. Tuesday will be his first day & I anticipate it will be a great year for him.

It's hard to believe how much he's grown! Some days it feels like these were taken last week.

Boys will be boys

This morning the boys decided they wanted to paint. For some reason I didn't pull out the mess-free Color Wonder paints and used the real stuff instead. About 30 minutes into his masterpiece Cole decided he wanted to paint a costume on himself. We had a good laugh, took a quick photo, then headed to the tub.

Jacob wasn't really messy but wanted to bathe anyway.

Of course Diego followed us into the bathroom...he follows us everywhere. :-)

Still Obsessed

It's no secret I am obsessed with the cute, funny & awkward ways my children sleep. Last night I went in Jacob & Cole's room to turn off their light & check on them before I went to bed. This is what I saw:

When I walked over to fix his leg I got a peek at this:

It always amazes me how wild, rambunctious boys look so sweet and peaceful when they're sleeping. I love it.

Superheroes

These 3 would wear costumes all day if they could. We have a costume box that is overflowing with capes, masks, and superhero attire of all kinds. They take their roles as heroes very seriously, flying through the air from the chair to the couch, chasing the furry villain (the poor dog), and anything else they can dream up.

And here's the gist of the conversation that took place on the way to Lee & Carey's Saturday. It's no secret that Owen loves babies, and he was really looking forward to seeing Anne Marie & Catherine.

Owen: When are we going to have our baby girl?

Me: What? Why do you want a baby girl?

Owen: I want a baby to hold all the time. We need a sister.

Me: Well what would you think if we had another boy?

Owen: That would be fine, I just want a baby to hold all the time. I don't want to have to come to Uncle Lee's every time I want to hold a baby.

Marshall: Well, I don't know...we might have 2 babies again.

Owen: Then I'll just have to hold 2 babies all the time. That'd be fine.

Yes, he brought that up completely out of the blue, and no, we are not having a baby any time soon. But it makes me so happy that he loves being a big brother so much. :-)

Meet Diego

Meet Diego, our new puppy. Here he is sitting in his favorite spot - under my desk chair. I was a bit nervous about getting a puppy right now, but he fits into our family perfectly. He's great with the kids and is very laid back.

For those of you who are curious, he is a Havanese. They are fantastic family pets and the best part is they don't shed! We plan to keep his hair short in the "puppy cut".


And here are a couple of the kids from this morning. I'm going to miss these lazy days when school stars in a few weeks!

Puppysitting

Bourbon has been staying with us for a few days while Lee & Carey are out of town. All 3 boys (and Izzy) have been enjoying him so much. Marshall & I have enjoyed him, too. He's given us lots of laughs and entertainment, including rooting around in the toy boxes to find tennis balls (he LOVES to play fetch) and roaming the house giving us kisses at night. Oh, and he claimed the white couch as his bed - thankfully it's slipcovered so we can just wash it.

Here are a few photos of the boys helping bathe him.




All clean!

Bendaroos and Coffee

Owen spotted the Bendaroos on top of the fridge this morning & the kids have been playing with them most of the day. It got interesting when Marshall got home and started getting requests to make butterflies, insects, and hippos (which he understood to be "hairbows" and promptly refused to make). He was doing pretty well until Owen requested a scary mask. Well, that turned into glasses and of course they all had to have a pair.

Owen
Cole
Jacob
Jacob again

This afternoon we were in Baton Rouge making a quick delivery. Since Jacob & Cole were sleeping I decided to introduce Owen to the fabulous world of Starbucks. As soon as I rolled down the window he asked what that yummy smell was. :-) He got a Frappucino (DECAF!!) and loved it! All our kids love coffee - they're constantly trying to steal sips of my morning coffee. Some days they'll even demand their own, which consists of mostly milk with a splash of coffee and Coffee Mate French Vanilla creamer. So here are a few shots of them sipping away on some Starbucks.




Oh, and we've finally gotten around to changing the music on our blog to something other than Star Wars. Now you can hear some of our favorite Jack Johnson songs if you click through to the actual blog from your e-mail or Google Reader.

Today

Owen has officially taken over the use of my small point & shoot camera. I think he caught the photography bug while tagging along on a photo session with me yesterday. He did a great job making the baby smile and he got some cute shots, too! This morning he decided to get some photos of Jacob & Cole playing around the house. He was not happy at all when the batteries died and it took a few hours to recharge them!

Cole. He wears the cape everywhere, even to the movies. :-)



Jacob trying to hide from Owen.

Cole in the laundry basket.



Notice the underwear??? That's right - we're potty training! Normally they might actually have clothes on during the day (or maybe not) but it's much easier to make those quick trips to the potty when we don't have to fuss with pants. They've both been completely clean & dry all day today!

My new best friend

I've been wanting a steam cleaner for a while now, but Selena's post on her Hill Family of 4 blog convinced me to break down and order one. In case you're wondering, steam cleaners allow you to clean & sanitize without the use of chemicals and can be used for 1001 different things. Let me tell you, I'm impressed!!! It arrived last night as we were walking out the door to swim lessons so I didn't really get to play with it much. I did use it on our shower before bed and was completely disgusted. I'd scrubbed the shower per my usual routine yesterday morning, and last night with minimal work with the steamer dirt & grime just dripped everywhere. Ick!

Needless to say I was steaming first thing this morning. My victim today: the kitchen floor. The grout in our kitchen has been black since we moved in 4 years ago. Several times over the years I've spent hours on my hands & knees with a grout brush & grout cleaner trying to revive it with no luck at all. As soon as the steam hit the grout this morning dirt starting pouring out of the grout lines. Again, ICK!!! The process is a little time consuming, but it's definitely not hard & it requires very little elbow grease. I've managed to clean most of the grout in our kitchen before lunch today, including taking several breaks to play with the kids, make snacks & refill the steamer. Here's photo proof:



See the difference in the color of the grout in the back of the photo?!?! Obviously that's the section I haven't cleaned yet. Yeah, gross. It's making me regret that we ever allowed the 5-second rule w/ all that dirt, food and other disgustingness ground into the grout.

So there you have it. I'm now madly in love with my steam cleaner, and replacing the kitchen floor is not quite as high on the priority list anymore!

Swim time!

Here are a few short videos of Owen & Jacob showing off the skills they've been learning at swimming lessons. Cole opted out of swimming today, but he does a great job, too!

Please excuse my commentary in these. ;-)

(the random streaks in this one are sun flare that I just couldn't get rid of and still get the video.)









They don't wear any type of floaties or life vests at swimming lessons, but we put them on Jacob & Cole at home for our own peace of mind. With 2 adults & 3 kids we just can't be too safe!

Oh, and here's a shot of all 3 boys in their swim goggles. They love these things!

Just a few

Yesterday morning we took Owen out to get some pictures of him. Five is a big year for kiddos, so we wanted to capture him at this age before he starts to look even more like a "big kid". You know, with missing teeth & bored expressions.





And here's one of all 3 kids (kind of).


As usual if you visit the actual blog & click the photos you can see them bigger and clearer. Obviously the effects of Blogger's photo compression drives me crazy. ;-)