Little bit of background

John and I met while I was a freshman in college. T came a year later, jo another year later, M 18 months later, and Van 3 years later. We live in a nice small town town, are huge football fans, and my husband is going to med school. He likes to play frisbee golf, go to the gym, and watch, talk about, listen to, debate about and play pickup games of football. He is a huge help to me and loves being a dad. the kids think he is the greatest thing, and love the way he plays rough with them.



mad b/c he cant get in highchair...
fine b/c camera is on him
happily entertained w/ camera

nice shot

So, this is our baby. He will be 2 on the 23rd of next month. The past 2 years have gone so super fast, it has been unreal. He is the youngest of our 4 boys. When in public, I often get asked if a. they are all mine (of course they are, do you think I am stupid enough to take other kids out...) , and b. how do I do it (hahaha). Here is what life is like in our house:

6:30 am. Awoken to blinding light from T turning on bathroom light. I forgot to shut the door that separates our bedroom from the bathroom that also opens into the hall. DH staggers into the shower

6:31- pretend to still be asleep as Van starts calling for us

6:45- DH has gotten baby and let him down in living room

6:46- baby and brothers are fighting. can no longer pretend to sleep. get out of bed and get them to the table for breakfast. They are thankfully mostly dressed and ready for school

7- threaten again to take food away of they don't sit down and eat.

7:01- Jo spills breakfast all over himself.

7:02- same ds spills milk all over table

7:10- finish breakfast, Jo goes to change into 2nd outfit of day, i head to shower

7:20- hear kids screaming. regretfully leave shower. break up fight. direct T to homework. Jo has accident. now on third change of clothes for the morning.

7:21- head downstairs to start load of laundry

7:23- get dressed

7:25- wrestle baby into clothes. he wipes dirty face on me. head off to change shirt

7:30- prayers as DH leaves for school for the day

7:31- clean up breakfast, park kids in front of tv. kick oldest out of room as he has been grounded from tv for the week and send him back to his book

7:32- send T BACK out of room to the sounds of but camp lazlo is my favorite blah blah blah...

7:33- threaten to ground him from tv for the rest of his life unless he leaves now. hand him his book again.

7:34- ohhh... still need to brush teeth. pry kids away from tv to brush.

7:37- sopping mess of water and toothpaste has to be cleaned before I can get ready for work. I love sharing the bathroom with 4 boys. Van insists on standing at the sink the entire time I try to get ready eating toothpaste. (its safe to swallow!)

8:00- warn the boys we will leave in 15 minutes. you will not be able to watch the whole next show, just a part. do you understand? a chorus of yeses follow. I realize one of the voices was oldest son. take tv away for the next day. pry him back out.

8:01- baby has soaked his shirt and is now rubbing toothbrush in his hair, on the sink, and on the floor. wrestle the little einstein brush away from him, reminding myself to buy a new, identical one later on this week.

8:02- while frantically trying to dry my hair, baby is standing at the door giggling every time i turn the dryer on him and screaming my turn when i try to use it. giving up on dry hair, i head to the living room- 8 more minutes, get backpacks, snacks, etc.

8:05- baby has found snack drawer and NEEDS yogos and fruit snacks. hoping to avoid a tantrum, open yogos on living room floor

8:07- looking for car keys and shoes. look to second son. no shoes. he had them on minutes ago.

8:08- looking for his shoes while stepping on wet yogos isn't a pleasant experience. turn off tv. lots of complaining follows

8:10- time to go. all wearing shoes, have snacks. out to car. T has to go potty and runs back in. Jo has no backpack, runs back in.

8:15- all back in car and ready to go.

8:30- drop off older two, take younger 2 to preschool while I work...

so, uh, that's how i do it... we stay in a state of organized chaos at all times. I unfortunately have a child who is just amazingly dirty. i don't understand how he can make such a mess all the time. he doesn't use napkins at the table, he wipes his face on his shirt, he squeezes out the most amazing amounts of toothpaste, it is super frustrating. on other notes:

I have finally finished painting the preschool room I was in charge of. It took me 2 1/2 days but it looks wonderful! I painted a light blue at the top and a darker blue at the bottom with both blues have a purple tint. I painted the bulletin board trim, the cubbies, and the trim a truer purple to make it officially the purple room (each class has a different color theme). It looks awesome, and it totally motivated me to come home and paint rooms of my house. I am starting with my scrapbook room/johns office/guest room which I am painting a really fun lime green. I am so excited!

Soccer starts this week for both boys. our weekly schedule is now as follows:

tues: YW at 7

wed: j soccer from 5:15-6:15, orchestra rehearsal for me from 5:30-7

thurs: PTO meeting for me once a month from 4-5, t soccer from 5:30-7 every week

It doesn't seem to bad on paper, but between driving them to school every day by 8:30, and picking them up at 3:30 (it takes a full 30 minutes to get them and get home for some reason...) then having to run back out shortly thereafter, I feel so busy right now. We are still trying to get used to Johns schedule too. for first block, he is home from school everyday at noon, but there are various meetings in the afternoons and of course studying that it has been a weird adjustment. I expected him to be busier already. I am sure that will come. in the meantime, i have to go. i still haven't finished cleaning up from breakfast.