The Graduate

Clare's Preschool Graduation!
The most beautiful grad on the stage! (If I do say so myself!)

Final Countdown

We're exactly:

4 days from Aidan's last day of kindergarten
less than 24 hours from Clare's preschool graduation
26 days away from #3's due date.

We are making the most of our time with the two "big" kids before baby arrives.
Here's the short list of summer fun so far:

Snowballs.
Rita's.
Swimming in the pool.
Swimming at the beach.
Cookouts.
Crabs.
Fireman's Carnival.
Playdates.
Catching fireflies.

SO FAR, SO FUN!

One happy Dad

Sean is a pretty die-hard Nationals Fan! Every stinkin night they play, the game is on in our living room. He gives me his own commentary on who's on first and what their strengths or weaknesses are. I have to admit, I do like baseball, when I go to the games! I find myself from time to time though being mesmorized by it, watching the TV and even asking questions. He LOVES watching the games, he enjoys when I sit with him and watch them.

However, if you ever want to see this guy's face light up like a Christmas tree in May, see how he reacts when Aidan or Clare comes in and sits on the couch to watch baseball with him. He gets so excited! It really is one of the sweetest things I get to see. His face lights up. He tells them all sorts of stats and explains who's who on the team. Clare calls them the "Nats" now because Sean does.

Tonight they both came in and watched with him and you would've thought the guy just won the lottery. In. His. Glory. (Even if the Nat's were losing to stupid Philly!)

The truth about me...

Through the eyes of my children.

In preschool, both Aidan and Clare made me books for Mother's Day that are all about ME. Well let me tell you, they nailed it. My achievements are great and my accomplishments many.

According to Aidan, "I'm very great and fun and cool." And Clare says, "I'm very grown up." Read between the lines people, that makes me a very well rounded individual. When asked what I dislike, Aidan said trout and Clare said cats. Both true, sort of. I don't actually know that I've ever tried trout but I definitely dislike cats. Both agree that I am 5 years old (pretty accurate at times), I like all foods (so I am good at hiding my disgust at some foods in their presence) and that my favorite color is green (totally).

Aidan says I'm funny when I "tickle him" and Clare says I am when I "call her chicken and when I'm silly about trees." Aidan's favorite thing to do with me is go to Sam's Market on his scooter and Clare's is painting and drawing and riding to school.

I love the books for so many reasons, mainly because they made them and are so proud of them. I also love them because they make me laugh and that's one thing we do well around here!

An ounce of defeat equals a mile of leg room

I am defeated!

For years, I have been able to pride myself on avoiding this very such thing!

As time has gone on and my ever growing belly gets bigger and bigger, I have learned to accept one very real fact...

My beloved Pathfinder is simply NOT practical anymore. Yes, there is a third row seat that folds up and down when necessary. However, I've realized lately that Aidan is actually too big to sit back there all the time and he's going to have to climb over the second row seat to get there once the baby is born. Now if you've seen the size of Aidan lately, you can imagine how many times Clare and #3 will have to take a size 3 foot to the head in order for him to get in said third row. Clare could easily climb over the seat with a little less effort, however, she cannot strap herself in her seat yet, since she's still in a harness. And for obvious reasons, #3 can't go back there either.

Lucky for me, my husband is not only an immediate gratification type personality, he also happens to be obsessed with Minivans! So I've given up and given in! I'm the proud new owner of a Dodge Caravan...with stow and go seating! I have to admit (after only driving it 3 times) I think I might be falling in love. It's very roomy, both the big kids are in the third row seat so if I turn up the radio just so, I can barely hear them. ha ha!

House of Pickles

Clare woke this morning, came to the stairs and said, "Mommy, guess what my dream was last night?"

"What?", I asked.

"Our house was made out of dill pickles and we were made out of bread and butter pickles."

Wow! I wonder what she ate and drank before bed last night.

WAR

Yesterday, Aidan learned how to play his first card game, WAR. I was so excited, Sean loves to play cards so I thought what a fun new thing to play with the kids. Sean found him a deck of cards last night when he got home. He's been bugging us to play ever since.

This morning as I was trying to steal a few more zzz's, Aidan was teaching Clare how to play WAR in his bedroom. He did a good job of explaining the rules to her. When they both put down the same card, Aidan explained how to do a WAR.


A: Put down 3 cards and say, I-DE-CLARE-WAR.
C: I-DE-CLARE-WAR!
A: That's it Clare, you won!
C: Oh yeah, I won! Go tell Mommy Aidan. I won this time! When you win you say, I-DE-AIDAN-WAR!


Ha ha! Pretty clever Buggy!