Gabriel had his 8th birthday this weekend. I can't believe he's closer to 10 than 5! I say this weekend, because yesterday was technically his birthday but he had continued celebrations today. He had a nice birthday dinner with one friend and Aunt K. last night. We all went down to his new room first thing yesterday morning with a balloon and a bag full of presents to sing "Happy Birthday" and wake him up. The babies gave him their little presents that they picked out. He was very happy with the playdough I directed Gracie to, as opposed to the princess puzzles she originally picked out, lol! Today, he had three more friends come over to play games. Richard took over duty for this one, taking everybody to the park. I was done, having spent all night up with two little girls who ate too much cake and ice cream and had upset tummies. Fantastik was our friend, cleaning beds, carpets, and our room from their explosions. To go to sleep and wake up every 15 minutes for an 8 hour period is worse than not sleeping all night, in my opinion. Richard and I took turns with them, so he got as little sleep as I did. But I took morning shift and he slept till 12 or 1pm. But I was done as soon as the first kid arrived. I couldn't even think straight, so I handed it off to him and he took afternoon shift. I went to bed and didn't see the world again until 5:00. When I woke up, Richard was ready to crash again, so I took the evening shift while he went back to bed. Now I'm ready to crawl back up to my room and we both might get a decent night's sleep. I am assuming Gabe had a great time this afternoon with his friends. I heard about play sword fights with Daddy and a great trip to the park. I feel bad for missing, but really no one would have wanted a grouchy zombie mommy around all afternoon. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. There's no predicting life(or nights!) with toddlers. Well, I'm gonna run upstairs and make sure everyone's got something to wear to church tomorrow, then I'm off to beddie-bye!

Train tracks, school zones, stop signs, curbs....When all of these things become barely noticeable, insignificant incidentals--it's time to get a large iced coffee and WAKE UP! So I did.

Taking a little morning schoolbreak...Gabe is resting his eyes on the couch, the sun is shining, Beethoven is gracing our home, the babies are happily playing with their toys, I'm enjoying a cup of tea. It is nice to be home with nowhere to go during the day. Aw! I just looked over and Gracie is waltzing to Beethoven with her baby doll. :)

It was sweet to see Richard taking part in homeschooling last night. Gabe was struggling with his math page and I was going to just let it go until the next day. But Richard said, "Hop up here and let me see it." So for the next half hour, Gabe snuggled up next to Daddy and got math help. Richard was actually a natural, helping him in that aspect better than I could. They got to spend time together and accomplish something at the same time. After we sent him to bed, Richard mentioned, "I bet I could help you more with school. I could help with hard math pages, things like that." I told him that he was actually better at that than me; he was able to make math fun in a way I can't sometimes. It was like he realized he could be part of our homeschool, not just on the outside. Which is wonderful to me, because homeschooling should be a family endeavor. :)

 I think James has a crush on his preschool teacher. When I dropped him off yesterday, he took her a little picture he had made. With a shy smile back over his shoulder at me, he said, "Here, Miss Aleassa, I made this for you!" His pretty, blonde-haired, blue-eyed teacher gave him a bright smile, "You made that for me! Thank you so much, James! Here, I'll put it right here on my drawer, so every time I open it I will think of you!" James flashed her the biggest smile and looked so honored. It was adorable.

Well, I began this post two hours ago. At this point, we finished up morning school, I did some shapes and numbers with James, Grace, and Jane, we had lunch, and the babies are having their rest time now. Gabriel is working on his creative writing, learning how to express his own thoughts from his head onto a piece of paper into a sentence. This is a struggle for him but he is starting to get the hang of it. He says Second Grade is harder than First, lol. Working independently, thinking for yourself....gotta learn these skills, buddy!

 

Oh, what a nice birthday I've had! Just returned from dinner out with my husband. We tried a new, quiet little Italian restaurant with amazing food. Then we got a banana split to share from Peter's and a little coffee from Timmies. I had birthday fun with the kids throughout the day. They made the sweetest cards for me and Gabe 'gave' me some of my own potholders :) and a picture of himself(one of

my favorites). And they all gave me some new music--hours and hours of my favorite classical composers! I'm so excited! I miss my composers. I got four cds of Mozart, 4 of Beethoven, 4 of Strauss(my happy music!), and 4 of Gershwin(he's actually new to me, so it'll be fun to hear some new stuff). I used to have classical music playing most of my waking hours and now I can again. I'm so happy. I get a little tired of preschool music, lol!

Happy Veterans Day to the States and Happy Remembrance Day to Canada! And Happy Birthday to me tomorrow, tee hee hee! :)

"Have you been watching infomercials again?" was my amused question when Gabe came rushing down exclaiming about "this cool thing where you don't even need a spatula for eggs or pancakes or anything!You just....":D He cracks me up, taking these products he sees on tv SO seriously! At one trip to the grocery store, it was "you gotta buy Hellman's(mayo), 'cause I'm telling you, it'll make your chick

en so juicy! They said so..." And of course, there was the self-esteem dasher when he told me about "this stuff(Proactive) that will make your face look just like his!(up popped Justin Bieber) But you gotta call NOW, while the number's on the tv!" (I've never had acne in my life, and I have no desire to look like Justin Bieber.) Gabe's a character! I think we will have plenty of discussions about the snares of propaganda as he gets older, lol. :D

I think sleep is vital to performing mom jobs. I had a big day yesterday and a bad sleep last night. When I woke up this morning, I did not even feel like being the mom. I just wanted to be left alone and not be talked to, not talk to anyone, not listen to anyone, and I especially did not want to be called 'MOM!' at the top of anyone's lungs(i.e.Mommy!I need wiped!Mommy!I need out of my highchair!

Mommy!Me too!Mommy!What's for breakfast?Mommy!I'm hungry!). I did not feel like listening to ANY two/three year old tantrums; if they started, I just cringed and wanted to crawl under a chair. While stumbling around trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, the babies kept going behind me to get into things...hot chocolate, sugar, and then a whole pitcher of orange juice dumped on Jane's head & all over the kitchen. I managed to get them all fed. Then I put up the gate and stretched out on the couch. My mommy radar that never sleeps supervised them and I rested for two hours while they played. And it's amazing what that bit did for me. I feel like Mommy again! I still have much to do, but now I feel capable of trying. I actually feel human and able to communicate with other humans instead of wanting to crawl into a cave somewhere. :) Here's hoping the rest of the day follows this positive note!