My 3 1/2 year old

For the last two weeks, Caleb's been going to preschool and oh, how I wish I could be a fly on the wall during those three hours. He gets in the car after his day, smiles and tells me it was "good" and then no matter how many questions I ask on the way home, he doesn't have much more to say...until he decides he's ready. Brushing teeth before bed the other night he told me they say "different prayers" at school, "A B C prayers". On another random occasion he said, "Mom, Joshua was wearing a Handy Manny shirt at school!" Or, "Mom, I did my first painting at school today." If he's in the right mood, I can usually get a few more tidbits of information out of him like how he used purple, not yellow paint. One time it was "Mom, did you tell Mrs. Dunston AND Mrs. Johnson that I could go to the bathroom by myself?" He hadn't said his teacher's names until then, and it caught me off guard!
It makes me so happy that he is having a new experience with different people that he is beginning to trust. My heart overflows with emotion when he kisses me goodbye and jumps out of the car, holding on to his teacher's hand and not even looking back. I am proud of the 3 1/2 year old he's become and yet, wow, is he already old enough to be walking away from me like that? We saw one of his teachers in the hardware store and he was a little shy as she talked to us, but I could also tell he was so pleased that we saw HIS teacher. My Caleb is growing up so fast!

It was Caleb's request last spring that we grow a watermelon plant along with our tomato plants. The plant ended up taking over our small garden area, but produced only one good sized melon. It was pretty sweet, very juice and extremely fun to watch him eat what we grew!

Is it already time to eat again?

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, this is just a journal entry for myself so I can look back on it and be grateful I am past this stage (although I think this activity lasts for years...) It seems like I get both girls cleaned up (which includes hands, faces, ears, necks and hair) after they eat, along with their trays, their chairs, and the floor and I turn around and it's time to do it all over again! Also, other than the fact they are adorable and great eaters, the actual activity we do 3 times a day isn't all that enjoyable for me either. I haven't figured out how to feed three kids and myself all at the same time. Usually Caleb is whining, both girls are screaming for more and I'm running around the kitchen like a maniac. So, does anyone have any helpful suggestions?

A Mover and a Sitter!

A mover and a sitter! It's a good thing it's not two movers because I have really needed the refresher course on what a mobile baby means - and I'm glad I'm relearning before I have TWO eating dog food, going for the staircase, hanging onto my ankles and getting caught under the furniture!

Good purchase!

Because I can't realistically take all three kids to the swimming pool, I thought it would be fun to purchase this water playmat I saw in a catalog...I think it's going to be the best $19.95 I'll spend all summer! And yes, I bought the fun water thing before I bought bathing suits for the girls! When the hose is hooked up to it and turned on, water sprays up everywhere. That was Caleb's favorite part of course but the girls couldn't decide. They loved just hanging out in the little pool of water after the spray was gone, kicking and splashing. We all had a great time!

Our neighbors have a great swing set that they let us use whenever we want and in the late afternoon the trees in their yard provide some shade. So we braved the humidity and the mosquitos (yes, it's only the first week of June!) and had some fun taking pictures. The girls love to swing, especially when Caleb pushes them!

Here are "during" and "after" bathtime shots of Avery. Don't you just want to squeeze her? (I do all the time!) Now that the girls are sitting on their own I think I'll be able to give them baths more often (I think). The poor girls hardly know what it's like to be in the water cause I don't get them in the bathtub more than once a week! I still can't bathe them together though and I didn't feel comfortable taking my hands off Presley yet to get a good picture of her.

An eventful couple of days

Our good friends Josh and Kristina Rolph came to stay with us over the weekend. They live in Virginia, near DC and they made the 5 hour road trip down with their 17 month-old twin boys, Michael and Sam. So, we had five fun kiddos in our home. Caleb loved the boys and they loved him back. He definitely got a taste of what it's like to share all his stuff with busy little toddlers, which he'll be doing a lot of in the next year! We had a great time catching up with Josh and Kristina (after all the kids were in bed of course!)

Then on Monday afternoon Caleb was trying to tell me there was a hole in the carpet at the top of the stairs. I kept telling him there couldn't be a hole, and he kept insisting. It turned out the hole was the indentation in the carpet from the water drip that was coming from the ceiling. To make a long story a bit shorter, it turns out our water heater has caused a lot of damage. The ceiling and wall by the girls room and even the carpet was soaked. So some insurance restoration guys came this afternoon right after the girls had fallen asleep. I had to wake them so they could cut the wall, pull up carpet and install huge fans to dry everything out. So tonight I put them both to bed downstairs in the playnpacs in the guest room and we are still waiting for the water heater people to come and install a new one (they were supposed to be here 3 hours ago!). Who knows how long the fans and the mess and people coming to work on everything will be happening, so I guess my girls will learn to sleep together again...:)Anyway, we're a bit misplaced, but fine, and thankful for insurance and thankful that it didn't happen Saturday morning when our guests were arriving. We all would have had to go and get a hotel room together, ha ha.