Ian's First Day of School

Well, as much as I hate it, the day finally came: Ian's First Day of School. I've been prepping myself for this since March when I first toured his school. We had a bit of an unofficial countdown going on here at home. Ian could not wait for school to finally start, and this morning it finally did. Yay for Ian, boo for mom.

When Ian woke up this morning he was ALL smiles. Couldn't wait to walk to school. We finally walked over (we only live about four blocks away), Cole had to literally run home after we dropped him off in order to make a 9:00 a.m. meeting in Decatur, and so began life with a student. I don't like it, I tell ya. I don't! However, I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we have made the right choice for Ian. It is the right time for him to start school, and going with a Montessori education was absolutely the best opportunity we could have given him.

SOOOOOO excited!!!!!

Li-Li insisted on making this ridiculous face.

Chum 1 and Chum 2

A little time with Dad before school

Getting ready to head in for the first day

I spent the morning running errands with Chum 2, and oh boy, did that feel weird! It is so easy to only haul around one child, deal with one car seat, one set of bathroom breaks, etc. Tomorrow, when I don't have a list of errands to tend to, I'm sure the four-hour school day is going to seem MUCH longer.

We picked Ian up on foot. He was VERY quiet. I was a little concerned. After about a block and a half, he dropped to the ground in someone's yard and said, "I just need to take a rest. My school wore me out, and the grass is a great place to lay down." I was astonished. I couldn't believe how tired he was. He finally asked me to bring the car tomorrow because "a car is faster than people."

When we finally got home, he walked inside and said, "I love my school, but it sure is good to be home." I thought for sure he would actually take a nap today, but he didn't. He did chill in his bed for about an hour though. I think to make it through the school week he is just going to need a very, very early bedtime. Hey, whatever works for him.

All I know is that today was a complete success, and as much as I hate that the first four years have gone by so quickly, I'm so happy that he is excited to be a student.

The Camp Out

Ian and Eli got sleeping bags for Christmas. Eli has absolutely adored his and sleeps in it every night. Ian has stuck with his regular bedding because he HATES change. Do not try to switch things up, he will only hate it and be surly for days on end. But since they got their sleeping bags, they've wanted to go camping. Well.....I don't camp. Neither does Cole. But the requests just kept coming, so this week I told them they could camp in Eli's room on Friday night.

As I got them all snuggled in last night, Eli was upset there was no campfire. (silence) Anyway, they eventually fell asleep around 9:30 last night because they stayed in there chit-chatting for an hour and a half!!!! I knew they would go to sleep late, but I was okay with that.

Well, this morning at 6:00 they were wide awake. Surprise, surprise. Our kids do NOT sleep in! No matter what. Cole and I laid in bed for a few minutes, snoozing, when suddenly we heard horrible crashing that just didn't seem to want to stop. We flew out of bed, and ran to Eli's room. Ian was bawling, Eli was yelling at him for ruining his room. Ian had climbed onto the arm of Eli's rocking chair to try to get something off of a shelf. The rocking chair tipped over, and, I'm assuming, Ian clung to the shelf hoping not to fall but instead ripped the shelf off the wall and landed in a big heap of furniture and stuff.

The brackets of the shelf remain in the wall

The shelf hangs no more

Ian was shaking like crazy as I tried to comfort him. It clearly scared the hell out of him. Most thankfully, Ian and Eli were both fine, but it's going to be a LONG time before we have another "camp out." 

The Waiting Game

Six weeks is SUCH a long time to wait! It's almost unbearable! But, alas, wait I must. I know it will be totally worth it in the end. What am I waiting for? My new necklace that is being made! I am SO excited about this.

About five years ago, a coworker turned me onto Gemstone Roundtables at a local jeweler. I was instantly intrigued, and once I attended my first show, I was in love! I am a jewelry junkie. Straight up, hardcore, without a doubt. If I'm out shopping, I can resist buying almost anything, except for jewelry that I fall in love with. Once I find something, I. MUST. HAVE. IT!!!!! For years and years I ONLY wore "real" jewelry. It had to be real gold with real stones, or it wasn't going on my body. However, as I've gotten older, I've grown to love costume jewelry as well. It can be soooooo much fun! Check out Exhibit A...

A gigantic airplane bangle. Tell me that isn't fab!!! Go on; I dare you.

Anyway, my jewelry style is kind of over the top. The bigger the earrings, the better. The glitzier the bracelet, the better. As the jeweler said last night, when it comes to jewelry I'm a "live wire." So true. The gaudier the better, and I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit it.

My true weakness is cocktail rings. Oh. My. GOSH!!!! I adore cocktail rings, and I'm constantly adding to my collection. Some are considerably more expensive than others, but I adore them all!!!

The crab's claws open and close!!!! Isn't that awesome? It is! And the frog is wearing a crown!

My sister, Whitney, was absolutely repulsed by the toucan. I believe her words were, "Who the hell would buy 'Toucan Sam'?" I whipped my head around, and basically screamed, "Oh, my god. I would! What size is it?!?!?!" I couldn't buy it quickly enough.

Side note: I am in LOVE with the yellow nail polish. It's so awesome. I can't believe I lived so long without yellow nail polish!

So, back to business. Even though I adore costume jewelry, my heart truly belongs to the "good stuff." I had a ring made a few years ago and the whole process was so cool. I had about 20 different measurements of my hand and finger taken, I approved the wax mold of the ring before the actual ring was created out of metal, and then I got to pick my baby up. A ring that is absolutely one of a kind and will never fit anyone else on Earth the way it fits me. And once you've had something custom made, and I mean custom as in making something from absolutely nothing but an idea and a loose stone, you become a little bit spoiled. 

Last night with met with our jeweler (I'm fully aware of how pretentious that sounds, but I don't know how else to word it.) We designed the most gorgeous necklace of white and yellow gold to showcase an opal I bought there probably three years ago. The best part is the design is going to make the opal "removable" so if I fall in love with another loose gemstone, which, let's be honest, is gonna happen, I'll be able to have the new stone bezel set as well, and also wear it in the necklace! The man is a genius! I have a "paper doll" mock-up of the necklace, but I don't want to post it because I don't know what his policy is on design copyrights and what-not. But don't you worry, once I have it in my possession, I will TOTALLY be posting a picture. Now I just have to make it through the next six weeks without going crazy with anticipation!

The New House Rules

Ian starts at Montessori on Monday! I'm very, very excited for him because I know this is a match made in heaven. The school, the staff, my child, and most importantly, the Montessori Method are going to be the positive equivalent of The Perfect Storm. I am really excited to see how much he changes over the course of the next nine months. I'm certain it will be absolutely astounding! I'm even more curious to see how our family, as a whole, changes over the next nine months. I'm sure that change will be even more astounding!

I want to make sure that we do as much as possible at home to reinforce what is going on at school. Luckily, the staff at the school will come to your home, look everything over, and then tell you changes to make to adapt your home life to make it align with the teachings of Maria Montessori. I'm looking forward to this, although, I must admit I'm slightly apprehensive to find all of the things that will need to change. Eek!

To get us started in that direction, I recently rewrote our house rules which means Cole and I are also adapting to a new parenting "format" (I don't know what word to use). We are trying to eliminate "no" and "don't" from our corrections and instead correct the boys' behavior with a positive statement.

For example:
Instead of saying, "Don't yell in the house," we are saying "Use a gentle voice in the house."

"No running in the house" becomes "Go slowly in the house."


We also went from six house rules to just three. And the three house rules cover EVERYTHING! It's short, simple, easy to remember, and most excitingly, positive! I feel like much less of a nag with this new reinforcement, which of course, I love! I rewrote the house rules, placed them on the fridge at the boys' eye level, and went over them this morning.


Ian immediately CRACKED UP and said, "Look at that funny corn!" Ok. So I can't draw very well, but that isn't the point. Look at how simple, yet thorough, the rules are. I'm in love, and sounding a lot less like a nag these days.

If You Plan to Whine, Then I'm Going to Need Some Wine.

Dear lord, it's been one of those days. And I don't mean this in an everything's-coming-up-Dani kind of way, although I did get a check for $21.10 as a payout for some class-action lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart (I have NO idea what it was even about). I mean it in the, "I chose to have children?" kind of way.

I am a patient person. I am a calm and relaxed person. But, I am also a person with functional ears, and therefore, this day has been a challenge. There are so many things I can tolerate. Fighting, bickering, getting lashed across the neck with a fishing pole. But the one thing I absolutely, positively, with no exceptions CAN NOT TOLERATE is whining. The very nanosecond I hear the beginning of a whiny statement, I'm ready to go absolutely bananas. There is nothing in the world that sounds as bad as a whiny kid, and today, that's what I've had. Whiners. This makes for a very long day as I will not answer or respond to a single request that is said with the slightest hint of "whine" to it. If it takes the boys 50 tries to spit it out without making me hope to be stricken temporarily deaf, so be it. I. Do. Not. Tolerate. Whining!!!!!!!!

I think I've heard more guttural noises and low-toned "mehs" than actual words come out of the boys' mouths today. It makes me want to run away and not stop until I'm back down to my "date weight" (you know, when I weighed in the high 120s when Cole and I started dating) and that would take damn near forever. I often hear that girls are notoriously whiny. If my every day life included whining, I would wear ear plugs plus shooting earmuffs all day every day and just learn ASL. I can't handle it.

Having only boys, I can't be too sure if that's true. If it is, then all I can say is, "Praise God that I was given boys!" because I would be in a perpetual bad mood. And you know what they say, "If mama ain't happy; ain't nobody happy."

A Collection of Updates

SCHOOL
With summer winding down I find myself in panic mode. I feel like I haven't gotten enough time with Ian before he starts school! I know this probably sounds insane considering he is a four-year-old, and I've been a SAHM since he was born, but it's the truth. He's never gone to preschool or any other program, except Little Sages, and it's going to be a huge adjustment for all of us. So, we've been trying to make the most of our last few days before we have a (gulp) student. Yesterday we spent 2 1/2 hours at the park in the morning, came home for lunch, built Lego models for about two hours, napped, had supper, volunteered at Ian's school for two hours, and then went down to the H.S. for a "track meet." The boys' new tennis shoes (which are GIGANTIC by the way: sizes 11 and 12) came in the mail yesterday, and I promised we could go to the track to test how fast they are. Ian....the boy has some serious speed. It's pretty awesome. It definitely didn't come from his mama. Eli...he runs when he isn't distracted by the flora and fauna or, more often than not, his own imagination, which isn't very often.

BASEMENT
With this summer being so darn hot and spending SO much time inside, my desire for more space has grown immensely over the past few months. Our house is about 1400 square feet, a mansion by no means, but so much larger than our first apartment which was about 530 square feet. We plan to be in this house for quite a while (I see us being here for, at the very least, another 10 years), so the good news is we do have room to grow by utilizing the basement. The "big room" is 600 square feet, bigger than our first apartment! The bad news is, the basement needs a lot of work. I painted half of the ceiling yesterday, and today I am miserably sore. The ceiling is only seven feet so I just used a regular hand roller and today my neck, shoulders, and back are all cramped up like I slept in a toddler bed all night with a toddler also in said bed. Yes, I'm speaking from experience. However, I know I just have to power through because this will be a one-time-effort kind of thing, and once it's finished, I am just going to be positively glowing. To have all of the toys and mess-making activities out of the main living areas of the house will be amazing! And the boys can not wait to have a "toy basement."

Now, if any of you who plan on commemorating my birthday with a gift are reading this, and remember, this year is a big one: 30, please do NOT buy me anything. If you REALLY or even just really or even just eh, kinda, want to do something for me for reaching a milestone year, come help me in the basement. Please, please, please, please, please, I am BEGGING you, I would LOVE to have your time and energy as a gift much more than anything else. Remember, you aren't just giving us a usable space, you are giving me my sanity.

TV
During the Olympics we watched So. Much. TV. It was sickening, really. It got to the point that even the boys were complaining about how much the TV was on. Don't be fooled...just because Cole and I don't let the boys watch TV doesn't mean they don't LOVE TV. They do. They just got really, really sick of the Olympics. However, one event was popular with the boys. Diving. We even got a great little funny exchange to remember forever...

Cole: Hey, boys. Come here. Diving is on.
Ian: Is it the boys or the girls?
Cole: It's the girls.
Ian: Good. I only like watching the girls.

So after a few weeks of letting TV absolutely consume our lives, we are back to no TV. The boys can't handle TV in moderation so we just have to say none, I definitely can't handle the boys when they are in foul, TV-induded moods, and we are all better off this way.

VIDEO GAMES
We don't play video games around this house, and our kids really have no idea what video games are really about. In the past, there was an old garage door opener with one button that the boys called their video game. Recently, however, the video game has "evolved." Now, the boys climb the drawers in the kitchen while bracing themselves against the island. That is the new video game. Sometimes I think we are making them a little too out of touch with the rest of the world, but oh well. Someday they will understand that we thought we were doing what was best for them and our family, and that we were coming from a place of best intentions.....it's just going to take a few decades to get to that point.

TWILIGHT
Speaking of being out of touch, I recently decided to "see what all the fuss was about" and started reading the Twilight Series. When I made this announcement Cole and Ross were both quick to bust my chops because, hello, the books are seven years old! Oh, well. I've read the first three, going to the library to pick up the last one today, (and, yes, I do feel like a total ass reading a book with a gigantic "TEEN" sticker on the spine), and I'm really enjoying them. However, Bella....uh, can you say massive whine bag who might just be the neediest person on the planet!!!! I don't remember being 17 all that clearly, but oh my gosh, I PRAY I was not like Bella. She is just....wow. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I'm Team Jacob. Even though nobody on Earth still gives a $#!*.

ANNIVERSARY
Cole and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. It was great. I arranged a last minute weekend getaway while the boys chilled with Nina and Papa (my parents) and then Aunt Jess and Uncle "Bread" (my older sister and her husband, Brad). I picked Cole up from his office, and away we went to the magical state of Ohio. We want to visit all 50 states and Ohio and Iowa are the only two left on our "short drive" list. Cole LOATHES surprises, so initially his feathers were a little ruffled. I knew this was going to be the case, but I also knew it would pass. I offered to drive so he could convalesce while the shock wore off, but he declined. On the way we had this discussion...

Me: I wanted to walk in blasting Eddie Money. (Two Tickets to Paradise)
Cole: Ohio is paradise?
Me: When you have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, paradise is anywhere you can sleep past 6:00 and don't have to wipe anyone else's butt.
Cole: Well said.

And, really, what parent would disagree?

Ian is 4!!!

Over the weekend we celebrated Ian's fourth birthday. It was awesome! It was also a little sad, of course, because I'm pretty sure he manages to have birthdays with more frequency than any child of mine should have. This year's party was a space theme. Ian loved it, I loved that he loved it, and every single guest loved it because it was inside this year.

After the awesome party, we drove over to Fairview Heights and went to Build-A-Bear and then met up with Uncle Ross during our trip to Monkey Joe's. The boys were absolutely EXHAUSTED by the end of the day, as was I, so we were back in Flora by 8:00 pm with two boys, sound asleep in the back seat.

Cole later told me that he and Ian had the following exchange earlier in the day:

Cole: Well, you won't actually be four until tomorrow.

Ian: No. Today I'm four.

Cole: No, buddy, today's your party and tomorrow you'll be four.

Ian: Do I get an even BIGGER party tomorrow?!?!

Cole: You're four today.

When we got back to Anytown late Sunday night, I carried my sleeping little boy into his room and sat down with him in the rocking chair. (Yes, we still rock every single night.) I just held him and rocked and rocked and rocked while he slept on my lap. I thought about how for the first, oh, three or four months of his life once he woke up in the morning, usually around 7:00, I didn't put him down until his afternoon nap around 1:00. I had a rocking chair in the living room and one in his bedroom and I would just hold him and rock all through his morning nap and play time and snuggle time and feedings.

Cole and I then finished out the night with our birthday ritual: watching all of the videos of the day Ian was born. Nothing graphic, I swear! Every time I hear those newborn cries I just bawl. We then moved on to first belly laughs, learning to crawl, learning to walk. Everything Ian. All in all, just a fabulous day!

The invites. This year I wised up and bought scrapbooking punches for the construction. Smartest. Move. Ever.

I decided to be crafty for the goodie bags.

It took HOURS of painting, but...

...it was worth it. Little outer space play scenes to remember the party.

My first attempt at decorating with fondant

Everything came together in the end

Themed snacks, of course. Milky Ways, Star Crunches...

...and ASTRONAUT ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!

Alien goodie bags. The little rocket shooters to the left of the bags were Ian's "must have" for the goodie bags, and they were the absolute favorite of all the kids' treats!

Stupid stars. All but one fell apart on the trip to Flora and then the glue dots holding them together stuck to the plastic bags I was carrying them in. Total mess, handled beautifully by Aunt Jess.

I was pretty happy with the cake.

He asked me, "Did you put Play-Doh on my cake?"

It didn't matter; he's still the most perfect little boy in the world!

Big wishes for the fifth year of life

Ian named his bear, wait for it......Ian Matthew.

Ian also named Eli's rabbit for him. The rabbit's name....Eli Matthew.

Ian's FAVORITE part was the bathtub.

Ian: "It's like a travel pillow!"

Brand new Build-A-Bear.....nah, I'll just snuggle with this giant piece of hard plastic.

On our way back home: Eli in jammies, a Burger King crown, holding a train whistle, and his new Build-A-Bear bunny, while snuggled in a pillow case.