A Little Bit of a Lot of Things

A glimpse at our life lately ...

It's SO pretty and organized.

Life with two schoolagers threw me at the beginning of the month. Our dining room was an explosion of markers, pads of paper, glue, stickers, and who know what. And pile upon pile upon pile of papers from school (how does SO MUCH paper come home?!?!?!). Then, when I couldn't take it anymore, blondes couldn't access the art supplies they needed and rather useful school papers wound up in the recycle bin. It was not working!
Some scheming, collaborating, and elbow grease later, we have moved Yogi's kennel out of the dining room into our room - and in that spot, we have a lovely organized art supply shelf. Blondes can find all.the.things when they need them. Self-service! Independence in art! The scissors are in a container that Declan can't open! There is even a shelf designated as a landing spot for school papers, mail, and receipts.
We also added a Command Center in the main hallway. A magnetic whiteboard holds key reference sheets/homework and a weekly calendar reminds us when library day is, who has soccer, who has a doctor appointment, who is working late ... The piles of papers still come home from school - but I feel like I'm getting a handle on what to do with them.

"hey mom, take our picture"

Fall is the best! It is easily my favorite season. But it also means that the great seasonal dresser shift is upon us [me]. Mike and I have spent a couple nights painting a dresser that we got on the cheap off Craigslist (and was not allowed in the house while it remained a milkwash forest green!) and will hopefully move it into the big kid room this weekend (reveal on the Big Kid Room coming soon) - to be filled with seasonally appropriate clothes that fit. Then maybe I can stop my daily conversations with Quinn around why she can't wear shorts today.
Fall may not be Declan's favorite season. I'm not sure I have a single pair of pants that fit him. They are either 1) too short or 2) too big in the waist. He is 27 1/2 months old. He wore 12 month and 18 month shorts all summer and they fit perfectly. I'm trying to put him in 18 month pants. He looks like he is waiting for a flood. And some of them still fall down when he wears them. 24 month ... puh-leeze. He takes three steps and they are around his ankles. Suspenders may become his signature look.
Since pants don't fit, a girl has to have fun! When he runs around in just a shirt and diaper, he tells me that he is "Risky Business" - because I jokingly told him he was when he was wearing a button-down and diaper. You must watch the video below. The best!

Good sportsmanship in the rain

This week was Kindness Week at Bugs' school. On Tuesday, they did a Kindness Walk. In trying NOT to be a helicopter parent, I didn't ask how long it was. I think it was between a half and full mile. I was curious if Bugs could do it, but knew her teacher was on it. She did the whole walk and said that her legs didn't even hurt. Then she played soccer in the cold/rain that night.
And the next day, she was wrecked! You know how you feel the day after you up your mileage running or work out a little harder than normal. Girlfriend was feeling that way! But - now that we know she can do it, we are going to make more of an effort to take the whole family walking (and make them walk instead of riding the stroller) to help her build up her stamina. It's an awesome sign that she did it. We just don't want her to feel so sore the next day.

Mike cheats. He and I were going to race one night during the kid bedtime prep. I took Declan (with a poopy diaper, I may add) and he had Quinn. Vegas odds are already on him. But then, he told Dec we were going to race - and said "Ready. Set. Go" and my race partner took off sprinting down the hall. Because we were racing. While Mike and Quinn giggled.

We are all excited for the next few weeks - this is our favorite time of year. Pumpkins in the Park, corn maze, apple orchard, hockey ... bring on Fall!

Short People Problems at the Fair

I think I've mentioned before that Mike and my teenage selves are super disappointed with us and the fact that we live crazy close to ValleyFair and have not been there in the 10 years we've lived in S-town. [Our teenage nephews have a similar disappointment that their uncle lives so close and they have not been ...]

We've delayed going because 1) it is really expensive to bring all of us, 2) our people have been too short to ride the rides without a parent (or in general), and 3) there are more of them than there are of us ... (see reason 2 and add "society frowns on you leaving someone unsupervised while you take other kids on the tilt-a-whirl").

Earlier this summer, I was talking to Fiona's friend Makai's parents at gymnastics. They asked if we had season passes to ValleyFair because Makai really wanted to go with Fiona. I said that we did not. And then they gave us four tickets to VF! Nate got them from work and they didn't need them because they had passes. It was just the kindest gift - and a great way to see how reasons 2 and 3 played out in real life without adding the complications of reason 1.

We finally were able to sync up our schedules and headed to ValleyFair a couple Saturdays ago - which also made it the "big event" for Fiona's birthday weekend. And big it was! You guys, there is not a ride that girl didn't like!!! Spinning? Yes! Flying? Yes! Coaster? Yes! We went on a cooler Saturday in September, so the crowd level was just about perfect. We rarely waited in line, and if we did, it was very short! Quite often, the kids got off and got right back on a favorite ride. One of the funniest moments was when we got off the hot air balloon ride (flying and spinning). My three loved it. Makai was less enthused (and basically trying not to cry/vomit). Fiona hugged him to make him feel better - and before I could beam at her awesome display of compassion, she promptly asked him if he wanted to go on it again. Note to self: work on compassion AND timing!

We were there when they opened at 11:00am, blasted through nap, and left about 5:30. We had a little tailgate picnic in the parking lot for lunch with Makai's family and then ate fair food for snack. Mike occasionally disappeared with Makai's sister - who loves the big roller coasters as much as Mike does and was happy for a companion! All our people were big enough for some rides, but it would be really good if everyone grew 2-3 inches before next summer! The girls are almost across the magical 42" threshold to ride the majority of things by themselves. Dec is closing in on the 36" milestone. But it wasn't too bad and the tall people got to ride "really fun" things like the semi-truck train.

Quinn and Declan were tapped by late afternoon, so I took them to catch the end of the "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" performance while everyone else shot balls out a cannon in the funhouse. When the little skit was over, they both went up to Linus to give him a hug. Then the three of us went back to sit down for a little quiet time. After all the other kids left, Linus came over, pulled Dec in his lap, and just patted his arm. Then he made room for Quinn too. It was really sweet and they were both pretty excited about it.

What we learned about ValleyFair during our trip ... 1) parking lot picnics are the way to go. Much more affordable lunch option! 2) going with friends (and having four adults) made it so much more fun. 3) Mike and Fiona are straight up daredevils! 4) the family center has a little quiet time room if you have people who are melting because nap went by the wayside. 5) Mike and I are a good complement for ride chaperones. He plummets. I spin. and 6) we really like places that are not crowded. Not sure how any of us would do on a crazy busy and hot July day.

We had the best time with Makai and his family! Hopefully we have many more trips there together.

Fiona Needs Two Hands to Show Her Age

I thought five was big. Until six came along. And you have to add a second hand to show how old you are! By the time the big day came along, most of us were ready for the Season of Birthdays to be over. But we gathered our birthday cheer for one last hurrah and had a great day celebrating our Bug.

As we watched her first official soccer game on the evening of her birthday proper, I couldn't help but think back to her birth six years before and all the unknowns. We didn't know if she would walk, how many surgeries that first year would hold .... it was such a wonderful and scary time. We still have a pile of unknowns (with all the kids), but it's also amazing to see how much she is doing with her peers. She has to work 10 times harder than her siblings on any gross motor skill. I don't think even she understands how hard she works to be where she is! We've simply forgotten to tell her that are things that she "shouldn't" be able to do. And she simply doesn't listen to anyone else who may tell her that.

She wanted make-your-own pizzas for her birthday dinner (since she likes pizza now!). We didn't have cake because it was soccer night, so we stuck a candle in her pizza and sang to her while she blew it out. She and Quinn got quite the kick out of the pizza birthday candle!

Some other thoughts about six:

• A birthday during the school year is a big deal. I got this story when I picked her up. And it's pretty much a direct quote. "Mom, Mr. Leonard [principal] said my name on the announcements. And when he was done, literally my whole class started singing to me. Like everyone. Literally. And they all wished me happy birthday all day. They like literally thought I was the best person. It was ah-mazing!"
• She used her birthday money to buy a Barbie house from a garage sale today. She is both ecstatic about her house - and very proud that she bought it with her own money.
• Fiona is getting so mature. She is earning more and more privileges and trust from us. While we still have to remind her to do some things, I notice more and more that she just does them. She's getting better at hustling in the morning and often will even pack her snacks for school while I am finishing up other morning chores. 
• She likes both independent play (do not look at the new Barbie house, younger siblings, thank you very much!) and playing with her sibs. She continues to have the most amazing imagination and it is so fun to see her art or listen to the stories she tells. We are working on controlling the imagination - even expanding our movie repertoire to Monsters, Inc. ("It has monsters in the name. It will be scary." It wasn't. She loved it.)

We can't wait to see what this year holds for her. She worked really hard in her 5s (braces, surgery, first year of school) to prepare herself for success in kindergarten. Here's hoping that Six sees the pay-off of all that hard work!

Superhero Dash

Best cheering section!

About a month ago, I got really exciting news that my nephew Ben was going to come down this weekend and do the Superhero Dash mud run in S-town with me. Ben and I have been wanting to do a mud run together for over a year (I mean, really - running AND mud!), so we were thrilled. Even more fun, my brother-in-law Kyle was also going to join us.

Then life happened. Or really, the start of school happened. And a wicked cold is going through the Bartholomew house. They waited as long as they could, but made the smart call and did not make the almost 4 hour drive, while feeling completely miserable, for a 3k race. I was really bummed, but also totally understood. And let's be honest, it sounded like a horrible cold ... and we really don't want it!

Fiona, Dec, and me in the big puddle

Even though he hates running, Mike was sweet enough to do the race with me so I didn't have to do it on my own. My sister was coming down anyway today to help celebrate Bugs' birthday, so she bravely watched the trio - during what should have been naptime - while we ran. "Kyle" (Mike) and I finished in just over 18 minutes. It was a pretty low key race. The obstacles were fun, but not very hard, and there was not a huge crowd of people. There was free face painting and balloon animals, which kept the kids entertained for Auntie.

Before our race, Dec was ticked off that he was not part of the mud run. So he jumped at the opportunity to be in the kids race once the bigger mud run finished. He would have run into the giant mud puddle before the kids race started if Mike hadn't stopped him! I was a bit surprised, but the girls decided to do the kids race too. Unfortunately Quinn and Mike had a bit of a slippery mishap in the giant puddle that left her covered in mud with a huge scrape on her face. She recovered enough to try the puddle with me, but soaked and covered in mud pretty much ended her day at the races.

Mike realized during the race that he has cracked the door of doing races with me - and that this would probably not be the last time I "tricked" him into running. He even said something tonight about "when we do it next year ..."! Now - we just need healthy relatives and the five pairs of shoes on the deck to dry.

Rainbow face paint

Hearts. And serious side eye

Monster face!

Labor Weekend

We took the Labor Day weekend off, relaxed, and played at the park. However, during all that relaxing, we finally found the bunk bed arrangement we wanted for the girls - at a good price. So bunk beds and mattresses were ordered. I've been telling Mike that once we made the move to bunk beds, I wanted to paint the kids' room. It was a newborn yellow color, perfect for a baby nursery. Except ... there are no babies in there anymore!

We didn't have plans last weekend, so we doubled down, made a team game plan with the kids, and got their room painted a lovely shade of smoked turquoise. We emptied a few things out on Friday night. Saturday morning was the big move and a lot of wall prep - washing, patching, sanding, etc. We got the first coat up during naptime. We let each of the girls paint a little V on the wall before Mike finished rolling it. They loved to be part of the painting! Quinn stood in the doorway for almost 20 minutes, just watching me trim and Mike follow me with the roller. She was really intrigued by the whole process!

Little painters

Since the room wasn't finished by bedtime, we had a family sleepover in the basement on Saturday night. We brought the girls' mattresses down and Dec got the pack and play. Once they were settled in, we painted the second coat. The late evening lighting wasn't the best - but we made it work. And it was worth it -  because everything was dry in the morning.

On Sunday morning, we hit our stride - aided by the 90s Pop Hits station on Pandora. We "amazed" the kids with our outstanding duet on Everything I Do, I Do It For You (formative years in the 90s. Knew every word, thank you very much!). Dec totally rocked out to Backstreet Boys (that's my baby!), Quinn was partial to Spin Doctors (she has good taste), and Fiona, as always, prefers Spice Girls (she makes Auntie proud). By D's naptime, all the furniture was back in the right spot. 

When your beds are in the living room,
you may as well watch cartoons from them

We haven't hung anything other than the curtains. We'll wait until all the new furniture is in place before we put holes in the fancy turquoise walls! The bunk beds came this week and hopefully Ben and Uncle Kyle will help with assembly over the weekend. The girls are super excited for their new beds - and a little more room when they sleep. 

Overall, we were so impressed with how well the kids did with the chaos and busyness of the weekend. They are so proud to have a new big kid room - and they gave us so much hope around getting some other projects done around the house. A little teamwork, a well-timed trip to the park, and some 90s pop go a long way in the V house!

No Labor Weekend

For the Labor Day holiday last weekend, we very much decided to not labor! Mike was on call and we were all fans of a slower, quieter schedule for the long weekend. We typically don't go north for the long holiday weekends that bookmark the summer - as the traffic is simply unbearable. Any fun we have is cancelled out by the stress of the drive.

But just because we didn't go north doesn't mean we didn't have fun! We explored a new park on Saturday afternoon, had friends over on Sunday to jump in the trampoline and grill out, went to another park on Monday - and finally talked Fiona into watching Monsters, Inc. We had a fun little family viewing party where we watched about half of the movie. And then we finished it this weekend. Fiona was delighted to discover that it was not as deathly scary as she had imagined it would be. We were delighted to discover that she did not find it as deathly scary as she imagined she would. Monsters coming out of the closet. Child with vivid imagination. It was a risky move!

It was just the right amount of busy to be fun, while being quiet enough to let us charge our batteries a bit. Because now through the end of October tends be light on the relaxation and heavy on the fall fun activities!

Princess Ice Cream Birthday

Observing the party

In July, I picked the date for the girls' joint birthday party ... the Saturday at the end of the first week of school. It sounded innocent enough. And you guys, no one told me that it was a bad idea!!! Luckily the girls made it easy on me. They wanted a make your own ice cream sundae bar and princess cupcakes. (Secret party theme: sugar!!!!!)

The morning of party day started out rainy, but cleared up enough for the afternoon. We occasionally partied in sprinkles - but it was at least cooler than the very hot birthday party Declan had. We had a great time with grandparents, auntie, cousins, and lots and lots of friends. I think we had around 20 kids running around the back yard.

Bugs' friend Makai ended up staying until almost bedtime because they were having so much fun. When Makai's mom and I wanted to take a picture of them, Fiona told us to stop, grabbed Makai's arm, pulled it around her shoulder, and then smiled for the picture. Help us! It was equally parts super cute and terrifying!

Her pose with Makai. I die.

The guest room bed is still filled with unopened presents (if you are reading and haven't received a thank you yet, know that we are grateful. We just don't know for what). One of the highlights of the present opening so far has been the influx of new art supplies. When you finally receive your thank you note, you may notice that it was written with one of the brand new gel pens!

[If you are reading and thinking, rats, we gave them art supplies - our thought is exactly the opposite. Art supplies are pretty consumable and we go through a lot of them. We are delighted at the new supply! And Mike is "excited" to be drafted into a redesign of the dining room for a better art supply storage system! The blondes will be happy that the answer to the reasonable question of "can we use watercolors?" will not be follow by a "no, because it will take me too long to get them out."]

Even though throwing a party at the end of a crazy week was a bit hectic, it was a great way to celebrate the blondes with some of our favorite people. And more importantly, the lovely birthday ladies had fun and felt very loved.

This Guy

Don't think that the blondes are the only ones growing up at rapid pace. Little brother refuses to be left behind and has logged some major accomplishments in the last couple weeks. Who needs school?!?! He's still got lots to do.

• His tennis shoes were getting tight so I looked in the bag from C and found an old school pair of Adidas soccer shoes. Dec loves them. But even better ... daddy has the same(ish) shoes!!!! Mind blown. He will only wear his soccer shoes now and expects Mike to do the same.
• I was holding him a few days ago, glanced in the mirror, and wondered where all that leg came from. A quick walk to our growth chart confirmed - he's grown an inch since his birthday!!!
• Declan and I got a little extra time together on Thursday as Ms. A closed early. We were sitting at the table having snack and he started making a face. I asked him if he needed to poop and he said he did. And asked to go in the potty. And THEN HE DID! It's a tiny step. He will ask to try once in a while. We aren't pushing him. But it was still a big deal!
• On Friday, Declan said "buh-bye, nookie" and we pulled the final "plug" from bedtime. Compared to when I pulled Fiona's plug, there was a lot less crying and drama. It was decidedly quieter. There was, however, much more bed jumping and throwing of crib contents at Quinn. 

There are moments when he is SO big. He carries on complex conversations (for a 2-year-old) and always wants to know what is going on. He's the family clown and delights in making us laugh. But then there are moments like naptime today, when he will still snuggle with me ... and I can pretend, for a minute or two, that there's a tiny bit of baby left in there.

School Daze

We are [almost] two weeks into this new gig of two school-agers. And, since you are never too old to learn new things (mom and dad, I'm looking at you and a smartphone!), here are a few things we've learned since the blondes headed to the classroom.

It's hard to be the little bro. Declan asks almost daily when he will get a "pack-pack" and go to school too. So we've started calling our cars the "mommy bus" and the "daddy bus" and the little dude sorta thinks that maybe he's not completely getting the short stick. But he's definitely not completely convinced!

When a stack of papers comes home in the backpack, you look through them before the kids go to bed. Or you may find yourselves going through magazines and cutting out red objects for the class poster while the Kindergartner snoozes away.

Quinn takes about two weeks to get fully used to a new environment. We have successfully transitioned from sobbing/screaming/clinging to death stare at anyone who dares speak to her to smiles at drop off. Thank goodness!

School stamina takes a while to build up. Bugs started soccer on Tuesday evenings. It's incredible to watch our baby (whom they told us may never walk) run around the soccer field. However, school - plus the hour that she has to get up before the sibs to do her flush - wear on a girl. She's wiped out at the end of the day. It's hard to run around a field for an hour when you are exhausted.

Quinn now thinks her name is officially "Quinn V." The blondes were working on thank you notes from their birthday party tonight and whenever I asked her to sign her name, she wrote Quinn V. She also really enjoys the free range on art supplies in the classroom!

Overall, everyone loves their new (or old) landing spots and we are adjusting to the new routine. But we are not going to complain about the long weekend ahead!