Summer in One Post

Oh how I miss blogging. It has been so long. We've had birthdays and summer and now we have started school. So much to catch up on.

 We had a double birthday party at a park near Boppy's house for the kids' birthday with family. I think these parks are being called splash pads? The kids love being in the water.
On their actual birthdays, we had presents and cake at home. On Caius' day we went to Toys 'R' Us for the first time and each of them got to pick out a present. On Rayne's day we just went to Walmart and they each got something again.

 I can't believe my baby girl is 5. I remember everything about her being born quite vividly. She's such a spunky monkey that I sometimes want to just kick her little tushy. She really keeps me going. But all the time, I look at her with such awe. She is so incredibly beautiful and moves so gracefully and with such strength. She has an amazing mind and is quick to solve problems, even if it's just using her imagination. It seems like she has a solution for everything.

 And my beautiful, beautiful boy. He is so incredibly sweet and cuddly. I feel like he's always been who he is but then I think about him being a baby and can't believe how much he's grown. I love his smile. The way he talks, his voice and the way he uses words. He is silly and likes to cheer people up, especially his sister. Three years old! Just let me hold you a little longer.

I honestly look at my kids and think that, objectively, they are so beautiful and so smart. I wonder if all moms think that of their children because I'm just sure it's true of mine. Sometimes I think I could just explode I feel so much love for them.

This is a picture of the minion cake I made for Caius' birthday. I had seen some on Pinterest but am proud to take full credit for figuring this out on my own. I think he turned out pretty cute. For Rayne, I drew a cheetah on a rectangle cake. It didn't turn out as cool as I wanted it to but I was still pretty proud.

This last summer, we took on a babysitting job. Our neighbors have three boys ages 12, 10 and 6. They have been wonderful friends to my kids and the mom was my visiting teaching partner. I started picking the younger two up from school on their early day as a favor but that turned into doing it every week for a bit of money. Then we took care of them over spring break and that worked out so well, I asked what she was doing with the boys for the summer or if she knew anyone that needed a sitter.
By summer they had moved so it was a little drive to their house but it was kind of fun. The kids would play and we would mostly go to lunch at an elementary school with a free lunch program. That was hard on my little Rayne but I think it was a good experience that they might remember fondly one day.
The job ended earlier than expected when the grandma decided she wanted to have the boys to help her with some projects around the house. I was ready for it to be over. Honestly five kids arguing and whining for more than a few hours a day was taking it's toll on me and my kids. The money would have been nice though and my kids have missed "their boys."

I am very excited that this summer my little brother and his family have moved back to Utah. They've lived out of state so long we barely know his three boys. We have been trying to all meet up at our mom's house on Saturdays and the last time we were there the kids finally seemed to be getting comfortable and Rayne LOVED playing outside with the boys and their swords and fighting the bad guy grown ups.

I've also tried to get my kids into the pool at Boppy's each Saturday. This was a needed activity and my kids are taking quite well to the water becoming quite independent and sometimes a bit too brave! When we were babysitting I really enjoyed this time to just play with my kids and have some time with them.


And now we are into September. Rayne has started kindergarten which we are doing at home online. For the most part it's good but it seems everyday starts with her screaming at me that she hates it and quits. If I can get something fun pulled up on the computer to start her lessons, I can suck her into it. Then her teacher does a "live lesson" each day except Thursday. This allows her to see her teacher on the computer and go through some songs and activities with a class. She can't see the other students but we sure can hear them. I feel like a lot of the time is spent with people trying to get microphones working and muted etc. It is quite frustrating and I don't blame her for hating it. But there are some good parts of it too I'm trying to get her to participate more with. It's a challenge!
It makes me think we did the right thing choosing to keep her home. I can't imagine what would happen if she was in the classroom with the teacher giving directions and kids making noise! I'm pretty sure she'd "go postal" and start hitting anything and anyone she could! And yet today I wondered if we didn't just get her through a few days or even weeks of it, if she wouldn't be better off? Doing it at home where she can take it all out on me may not be the best for either of us. We will see.

I am trying to draw the line and be even more firm with some of her behaviors. It's hard for me to not see the emotion behind it and try to reassure her that it/she's okay. I just feel that it's to the point that I have to stop her from things like hitting and screaming at people no matter what is going on inside her poor little self.

And that is us. I'd really like to blog more but I won't even say that because it hasn't been happening.