Omaha bound!

WE had a blast this week on our first family trip as a party of five!  We took Aunt Jessi with us since she was home for Spring Break, too.  We went up on Wednesday and spent about 3 hours at the Childrens Museum of Omaha.  It was a blast!  The boys’ favorite part was the science center which was a big conglomeration of balls and cranks and pulleys that move the balls around.  We spent the majority of our time here.  There were also fun things like the water table, grocery store, and fire engine where the boys really used their imagination.    When we go back to Omaha, we will definitely visit this place again!  It was a huge hit!  Maybe by then little Huddy boy will be able to enjoy it a little bit more!

The boys were able to swim at the hotel when we got home that night-always a highlight of vacations!  The next day (after a long night of not so much sleeping) we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo.  This zoo really puts the Kansas City Zoo to shame.  Most of it was indoors although we picked the perfect day to go!  It was overcast and just the right temperature.  We paused for a family pic in front of the waterfall in the Lied Jungle.I think that the boys’ favorite part may have been the penguins…or the chimpanzees playing with a box…or the Tigers…there were lots of favorites!  Here are a few pics of them:We loved this trip and can’t wait to go back again! 

Field Trips!

Today Jackson had his last field trip of the year.  They went to Mercury Gymnastics for a Fun and Fit Field Trip.  There was a lot of jumping, flipping, and running and the kids had a blast…all except Brady.  I took him thinking there would be something for him to do but it really was very focused on the Pre-K kids.  It all worked out okay because Brady got to go to McDonalds and play (and eat a cheeseburger-his fav!)  I’m feeling so much more at peace with our decision to let Jackson have another year of Pre-K with each passing day.  I met more parents today who have made the same decision for their son who’s birthday is June 30 (he will be 5 too).  I have no doubts that Jackson would be intellectually ready for Kindergarten but I worry about his emotional maturity.  It’s such a big decision that I feel will affect his whole academic life.  I see so much potential in him.  This kid has a photographic memory (not sure where in the world he got that from.  Couldn’t be from his Statistic-loving father???)  It’s just that he keeps coming home and telling me that he cried at school (but just a little bit) because he wanted his mommy.  His teacher assures me that this has only been since Hudson was born.  I can buy that.  It’s such a major life change to add a new sibling.  I just don’t want to put him in a position where he is the follower because he is more immature.  I think he will have so much more confidence if he is the oldest in the class.  We shall see…

Church Sundays!

One thing that I really wanted to do while I was on maternity leave this time was take the kids to church as often as possible.  This is by far the number 1 thing I miss the most about working weekends.   There are other things that bum me out like not getting to see my husband during the basketball season and not getting to go to family functions.  I miss church the most.  It’s not being in the church or the Mass itself, even.  It’s the extreme family bonding that I feel when we are all there together.  Man, is it a lot of work though.  Boys are just not made to sit still, and since I am surrounded by boys, there is not a lot of sitting still going on.  I come away from church with such a fulfilled feeling, and this weird feeling of confidence because ‘we did it!’ We survived Mass with 3 little boys!  I think that more than what it does for me, though, we are sending a more important message to the boys that we have so much to be thankful for.  I could very easily take them to the sunday nursery with the lady that watches the kids during Mass but that would not be a challenge   and I would feel very empty not having our complete family wriggling around in the pew.  This is what made me happy today!

Huddy’s 8 week check up

We went in this morning for Hudson’s 8 week check up.  It seems as though he might be a tad smaller than my first two boys were.  He was 12# 4 oz this morning (between 50th and 75th percentile).  I looked last week to see what Jack was at his 8 week appt and he was 14# 10oz!  What a chunker he was.  But, as my mom and I remembered, I did a lot more ‘comfort feeding’ to Jackson as he was very colicky.  This baby has just been perfect.  Today has been the roughest day so far.  He did not like getting shots this morning and has been very fussy and not himself since.  This should make going to Jessi’s game at Municipal tonight lots of fun!  Oh, what I would put myself through to go watch that girl play a game of basketball.  It’s quite the sight to see.  I wish I had an ounce of the gusto that she has in sports.  (That would mean I’d have to sweat though .

Where does the nakedness come from?

I consider myself a fairly modest person.  Although, I have to admit that I have much less modesty after having three children.  I guess being a nurse has contributed to that as well.  I find it very intriguing, however, that my children strip down to their nakedness to play basketball in my living room.  I get the whole shirts vs skins thing but the shirts team never seems to show up.  I guess I’m glad that they are comfortable here…It does make it extremely exciting when the UPS man comes to bring a package and my children run to the front door to see.  Its not that I don’t try.  I dress my children in full clothing  attire every morning.  Its just that the minute they step on their ‘basketball court’ they feel the urge to be free.  I must take a little bit of the blame.  My mother tells me (and I can remember this a little bit) that anytime I would get a drop of moisture on my shirt I would have to go change clothes.  This is exactly how Jackson is.  My only problem with this is that the amount of laundry we do every week is overwhelming.  I guess that is to be expected with three boys.  My only fear is how bad it will be when they are all teenagers.  I am enjoying every second of it though, because I know in the blink of an eye there will be no more laundry to do, and no more boys in their skivvies playing basketball in my living room.  I love my boys

Hide and Seek with an almost 3 year old!

Today is Tuesday which means that Jackson goes to Pre-K and Brady, Huddy and I have quality time together. We start out the morning by Braden telling me whether or not he wants to go to Target. I’m beginning to see a pattern that when he needs to go number 2 he wants to go look at toys simultaneously…the man thing starts young. Lately, though, he’s been saying he wants to go home, which is much better for our checking account

Our new favorite game to play together is hide and seek. My Braden has a fantastic sense of humor so I like to think of creative ways to make him laugh. Today it was as easy as standing in the laundry room and pretending to hide under the laundry basket. I treasure this time! I am so struggling with the thought of Brady being old enough to go to preschool next year. I think we have decided to do a Parents Day Out program a couple of times a week just to get him some social interaction with children other than his brothers. It will be nice to have Huddy and Mommy time but I will miss Brady when he goes to school.