All Hockey, All the Time

D has a little owie on his forehead that he was worried about ~
D: I can't play hockey today, my forcehead (forehead) won't let me!

Looking at his place-mat with his name and picture ~
J: Mama, this is my good friend D!

Me: Are you guys excited to play hockey?
J & D: NO!
Me: Well, let's give it a shot.
J: No, Mama, I don't want a shot!


(9/22)  Work day for Dad and me and school for the boys.  I hit the gym after work and got home at bedtime for littles.  D requested just 100 kisses, and JJ wanted 2.  They're so silly.


(9/23) Preschool for the twins and me today!  Wow, what a difference a week makes.  The boys went in, washed their hands, got a mat, and sat down.  They said I needed a mat to sit on too, and made sure I behaved myself.  They painted, and played, and really seemed to have a good time today. We went home for lunch, and had a nice, relaxing afternoon.


(9/24) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys. C had hockey today, so Dad had to get the boys, then head to the rink, and juggle the three of them there.  I went to an event this evening, so stopped briefly by home and then headed out.  Dad made Manicotti for dinner tonight and it was delicious!  Glad I didn't miss out!


(9/25)  Work day for me, school for C, and Dad had the kiddos.  Dad treated us to dinner out after I got done.  The boys were so good.  J is coloring really nicely - he colored in a couple of things on his menu and stayed pretty close to within the lines.  They had ice cream for dessert with their meal and were bouncing off the walls by the time they got home... but they were fun!

D (L) in orange; J (R) in gold

(9/26)  Hockey, hockey, hockey!  Allllll day.  C had practice at 8a and then the littles started at 10a.  Dad took C down for his practice, and then I brought the twins.  We got the littles in their uniforms, and they decidedly need more practice on their skates, because even walking to the rink was tough.  They both refused to go on the ice, so we let them watch from the side, and then had them sit just inside the door on the ice.  J crawled right back off every time, but D stayed out there for a bit.  I bribed them with playing Mario on the DS when they got home, so they were rewarded for an attempt at hockey. It took C a number of practices to be comfortable out there, so this was a decent first step.  The rest of the day was spent running errands, and then Nanan came to watch the kiddos so we could go to dinner, and hang with friends.


(9/27) Nanan stayed overnight and then watched the boys for me this morning until Grandma & Granddad came to take over for a shift. I "ran" the Bellingham Bay Half Marathon.  I haven't run a half since this run last year, so I speed walked the last half. So fun to be out there again.  I've missed it!  I do admit to spending the rest of the day holding down the couch, while the children ran amok....  Must actually train.

The grandparents ....

wore D out

(9/28) Work day for us parentals, and school for the boys.  C has hockey tonight on top of everything else, and I'll go grab the littles from the rink so they don't have to stay the whole time.

You Can Dance If You Want To

Me: Everyone gets to go to school this morning! Even Mama. Mama's going to be teaching today.
D: And Mama, you don't want to dance.

Me: Just what you always wanted; a JJ on your head!

C: Not specifically.

D: The fork will save the day!

Me: You have crazy hair today.

D: No, it's brown. And busy.

D: I'm not a big boy anymore!  I have no pees!  (commence dramatic fake crying)

Me: 1....2....
J: No Mama, I four! 

(9/15) Work day for Dad & me, school for C, and Amanda had the littles.  D told her that they needed to go to the Haggen store get groceries, to Safeway to get jello, and then to McDonald's for chicken nuggets.  He has a busy day planned out. I'm surprised he didn't throw Winco in there for the grocery store trifecta, or "the Fred Meyer" (I love the "the" in front).  

(9/16) Today was the first day of preschool for the little men.  J was surprisingly shy. He complained of a headache later, so maybe he wasn't feeling quite 100%.  D fell apart when their teacher told them they didn't have to be in the sibling room, which is where they used to hang out when they went to school.  Sitting / following directions proved to be a challenge.  But it's preschool. There's time to learn all that.  D was mortified that I danced along to the songs, in my attempt to coax them into joining us. I'm not that bad of a dancer!  Sheesh.  All in all, it went okay. 

(9/17) Work day for Dad and me, school for C, and Amanda had the boys.  C had hockey slated for right when I get off work, so Dad took him and the littles.  I hit the gym on my way home and got home in time to kiss little heads before they went to sleep.

(9/18) Work day from home for me, school for C, and Dad had training again today, so the twins went to Amanda's.  They were very concerned that C didn't go with them today.  C doesn't quite need the same monitoring that they do though.  

(9/19) C had hockey this morning, and I took the littles to the gym with me.  After the gym, we got cleaned up and headed out to attend my nephew's second birthday.  The littles love his house with all the toys, and today was no exception.  They played with all the kids and ate lots of sugar.  C went to a back to school party today with Dad.  Dad bought him cotton candy.  I felt bad for the babysitter tonight, but she said they went down okay.  Shew!

(9/20) C woke up feeling awful, so we stayed home from hockey practice.  We spent the day grouching at each other.  The littles were terrors and it was definitely a 'counting the minutes until bedtime' type of day.  J took a long nap in the middle of the day, so was up predictably late into the night.  Tomorrow should be fun.

It's Monday.

(9/21) Work day for Dad & me, and school for the kiddos.  Sounds like preschool went pretty well for the littles.  Amanda said they zonked out afterwards.  Preschool is hard work!  D says school is exciting, and J says he'd rather stay home and watch TV.  Getting up in the morning is tough (see above)!

After all, today

3rd grader!

OOTD: Shorts, t-shirt, hat, & blanket

D: After all today, after all.
D mutters this constantly.

D: Today, I got to go to high school!
Skipping ahead a few years there, kid.

Me: You are full of naughty beans today.
J: I not naughty!  I busy!

D: The ice is too slippery; it makes our heads come off, and that would be bad.
Me: Yes, yes it would.

Me: JJ? Do you remember trick-or-treat? When you knock on the doors, say trick-or-treat, and get candy?
J: Yeah!
Me: After your birthdays, then it will be trick-or-treat time.
D: No, Mom, it needs to get dark and then we can have trick-or-treat today.

(9/8) Work day for Dad and me, and then Dad got the pleasure (ahem) of taking all the kids to orientation night for C's school.  It was a complete cluster with parents milling about, and new drop-off/pick-up procedures to learn, not to mention a new school for us.  C was also signed up for 2nd grade, not 3rd like he should have been.  /headdesk.  But it's all good now, and we're ready to kick off the school year.

School bus was too loud

J: Mama, I need to be quiet!

(9/9)  Got to put my boy on the bus for the first time today.  The bus drove past us and then came around and picked kids up the second time by.  The route sheet has our stop listed twice, so I dunno.  But C was successful getting to and from school, and had a great day to boot.  He really likes his teacher and his bus driver.  I took the littles to their school for set up today.  I mainly got to hang with them since she with the most kids gets to do child care.  They are going to have a great time at preschool.  Just being there brought back fond memories of C's time there. We capped off a fun day with dinner at IHOP tonight.


(9/10) Work day for me and Dad had the kiddos.  C went to school and had another good day.  While he was gone, we got a new dishwasher delivered before the old one rattled its way out to the curb on its own. I finished up the night by hitting the gym and coming back in time to tuck the littles in bed.


(9/11) Work day (from home) for me, school for C, and Dad had the little men.  D still maintains that I can only have "2 works," and then get to be done.  I don't know if that means 2 coffees, or 2 breaks, or what... but yeah.


(9/12) C had hockey tryouts this morning, to which Dad got to take him. The twinsies and I hit the gym, and then came home to watch some engrossing kid TV. After Dad came home, I went out to pick up school supplies for the littles... cuz I'm on top of things like that.  We then had a sitter come over after dinner so Dad & I could go play.

Deedle selfie!

(9/13) C had hockey tryouts again this morning and then we met up with Nanan for breakfast at IHOP. I totally did not realize it was Grandparents' Day ~ glad we got to at least see one out of the bunch!  We were all punchy this afternoon/evening, and I may have counted the minutes until bedtime.


(9/14) Busy week on tap.  Work for me, training for Dad (all week), school for C, and the littles start preschool.  C has hockey tonight too.  Ready squetti go!

The Doc Is In

D: Daddy, my butt is falling off.  I need a fluffy, new diaper.

D: I need water after all, Daddy.  I need it after all.
"After all" is his new expression as of late.    

C: This is the kind of cheese I like.
Me: Good ol American cheese.
C: No, it tastes different than the cheese we buy.
Me: Yeah, it's extra processed.
C: Can we buy more of it?
Me: ...

D: Mama, there's burps in my bed.
Uh-oh. D got sick in the night.

D: Daddy has pokies (stubble) for I can scratch my itchies!  Mama, you have no pokies because you're a grail (girl)!  *commence horrified fake cry*


(9/1) Poor Deedles is still feeling crummy, so I kept him home again today.  We were out of everything the boys wanted to eat for breakfast, and it was just a very.long.exasperating.day. I high-tailed it outta there as soon as Dad got home.


(9/2) Hallelujah! D is feeling better, and we made it out the door to the gym this morning.  We had a pretty low-key day.  Watched a lot of Doc McStuffins, and I put on Despicable Me when I couldn't stand to hear "The doc is in" one more time.  I attended preschool orientation tonight.  They start school soon.  Littles are not so little anymore.  Sniff.


(9/3) Work day for me and Dad had the kiddos.  He took the twins out shopping for appliances, and they got to drive the flat bed cart around.  So basically, best day ever!  I got home in time to kiss sleepy twin heads as they drifted off.


(9/4) Worked from home today.  The twins were up bright and squirrelly today and came down saying I didn't wait for the green light (they have a stoplight clock that turns green when they can come out).  I turned them over to Dad and went downstairs to work.  Dad made homemade ramen tonight and it was delicious!


(9/5) How I've missed our Starbucks runs! I ran out to meet Sarah and we circled around for coffee and took the long way home.  I am loving the almost fallish weather too, and am ready to break out the long sleeves.  I rented Home for the kids tonight, and Dad too, since he hadn't seen it.  Such a cute movie.


(9/6) Today was pretty gloomy, so we decided to stay in and watch the "new movie" (the rental from last night).  That is until we all got cabin fever and were barking at each other.  I decided to take the boys out to the museum to burn off some steam.  C was "soooo bored" while we were there, and followed me around like a lost puppy.  The littles had fun though, and we managed to last about 1.5 hours.

(9/7) Happy Labor Day!  Granddad came over to hang with the boys so I could join Grandma & Shannon for shoe shopping at our favorite haunt (DSW).  Not that I needed more shoes, but I needed more shoes. We had a fun time shopping, and it was so nice to visit without chasing after helping hands that point out "CUTE!" things and relocate them around the store. The twins were wired for sound tonight, and crashed within minutes of going up to bed. Shew.