Week 36!

Kickin' Faded Catholics
Yesterday, Drew came out of school with a huge smile on his face and a certificate that said he had been nominated as "Student of the Quarter" for his class. Well, I was so proud of him, so before piano practice I stopped at KFC to get him some popcorn chicken as a snack (his new favorite food!). While on the way to piano, Dawsyn looks at the box of KFC and says, "what exactly does that stand for, mom?--'Kickin' Faded Catholics?'" Where do these kids come up with this stuff? Dawsyn turned 7 on Sunday. I do not know what we are going to do with her when she turns 17. Our house rule has always been that you can do whatever you want on your birthday as long as you don't hurt yourself or anyone else. Well, of course, Dawsyn woke up prepared to take full advantage of that! She spent the day listening to Miley Cyrus and dancing, at one point Shawn again expressed his hope that this baby is a boy because he is very worried about how Dax knows all the words to the Miley Cyrus songs and he was dancing with Dawsyn and freezing in a pose that involved his butt sticking out and jazz hands! I even let Dawsyn call a friend on the phone for the first time, but I made her stay in the room with me and kept it to a ten minute conversation. Mostly, they just sang songs to each other. (Today, Delaney got in bed with me and said, "Mommy--the baby can come now!" I had been saying that all I need was to get through Dawsyn's birthday and then it didn't matter when the baby came--I guess she has been listening.) Dawsyn did go to church (little does she realize the 'birthday clause' does not include family functions like church) because it was All Saints Day and she got to dress up like her favorite saint and process into church. She chose Saint Elizabeth, Mary's cousin. Delaney was the Virgin Mary, and Drew was St. Andrew. The costumes I made turned out pretty good and the kids looked angelic as they walked into church. On the way home, Shawn and I discussed how innaccurate the whole event really was. I adore my kids, and know they are perfect for me, but saintly? In actuality, if Dawsyn had really been Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, and Delaney was the Mother of God, I can just imagine how that whole story in the Bible would be a little different--I can imagine the coversation: Elizabeth, "Are you pregnant too?" Mary-"Yes" Elizabeth, "This is supposed to be my time to have a baby, how come you had to go and have a baby to--you always copy me!" Mary: "Well, I can't help it--my baby is the son of God" Elizabeth-"yeah, right!" Mary- "no, really--an angel came and told me I was having God's son!" Elizabeth (stomping her feet and crossing her arms)- "How is that fair? How come you get to have the son of God? Why is my kid only a baptist?" This probably would have resulted in a slightly different version of the "Hail Mary" prayer.

Halloween!

Last night was Trick-or-Treat. The kids got too much candy and I was exhausted from walking around, but we had a good time. We went as the Scooby-Doo gang, although I personally thought Shawn looked more like someone who could be serving 8-10 for child endangerment instead of "Fred". I must say he was pretty excited about the ascot! I didn't have a character for the scooby-doo theme and I refused to be the "mystery machine" regardless of my current size. I ended up just saying that I was "Michelle Duggar--the early years" most people thought that was pretty good. The only rough spot of the evening was when Delaney fell causing her glasses to fly off and her knees to get skinned up. Shawn and I both wanted to pick her up right away, but Drew and Dawsyn thought she should crawl around for a few minutes saying, "My glasses, my glasses!". I had to admit, I thought this was very clever of them and sort of agreed--until she started to cry and my parenting instincts kicked in again!

We were listening to Halloween music on the way to school this morning and it reminded of the Halloween when Dawsyn was 3 years old and couldn't sleep because she was afraid of the "pizza wiener". At first, I was dumbfounded as to what she was referring to and she just kept saying that Daddy was singing about the "purple pizza wiener". My first thought was "what has Shawn been teaching them now?" until she said, "you know, the one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple pizza wiener". I began to tell her that it wasn't pizza-wiener, but decided that was actually a lot less scary than "people-eater" so I just let it go. We had a good laugh about that this morning!

Week 35 continued

Baby update!
Well, I had my 35 week appointment yesterday. The doctor says I am 2 cm. dialated and 80% effaced. He also says he really thinks I should be on bedrest to prevent early labor, but he knows I will not listen to him, so he just said, "Whatever". I have been cramping pretty bad this afternoon--hurting into my back, but I just keep teaching, and tonight, unless the baby decides to make their inevitable entrance, I will trapse up and down the street with my crew for trick-or-treat, because that is what us moms do, right? We all got our h1n1 vaccines yesterday to try to protect ourselves for new baby and in the hopes that the kids will be allowed to come see the baby at the hospital. I am just hoping we all stay healthy.

These are of Dax in the baby parade, Dawsyn and Snowball in the pet parade, and Dawsyn eating her pumpkin pie right before getting on the float! I am currently too tired to write more, but will add details later!

Week 35!

Wow! That really sounds like we are getting somewhere! I've included pictures from our week at Pumpkin Show. This week is Halloween and Dawsyn's 7th birthday. Once I get through those, I will feel like Little D can make his/her appearance whenever they are ready! The pictures are from our busy week--Dawsyn in the Little Miss Pumpkin Show parade--she got in the top 30 out of 150 girls, which I thought was great! Drew's Harry Potter Pumpkin took 3rd place, and his artwork took 2nd. I included a picture of Delaney and her Ballerina Pumpkin, and our "Hogwart's Castle" cake which won "student's favorite" at the Book Fair.

Week 34!

EVERYTHING AT ONCE:
I'll have to add pictures later, because we are still in the midst of getting them. This week started off with Dawsyn's parade at Fall Festival of Leaves on Sunday. Yesterday was the first day of Pumpkin Show and Dawsyn was in the Little Miss contest. There were 150 girls in the contest. Dawsyn made it into the top 30, so we were very proud of her. Today is Daxton's baby contest, and tomorrow Dawsyn and Snowball will be in the pet parade. The kids also entered art work and decorated pumpkins in the art contest. Drew's pumpkin (which was painted to look like Harry Potter) took 3rd place. His drawing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire took 2nd. Obviously, we are on a big Harry Potter kick, because the kids also wanted to enter a cake in their school's Family Cake Decorating Contest. So, of course, we did a Harry Potter cake by creating "Hogwart's Castle". Shawn was putting the finishing touches on it around midnight--this involved him using green food coloring on coconut and spreading it on the cake board to create the grounds of the castle. I just looked at him all hunched over, intense on his decorating and said, "Remember when you used to play guitar in a band?" Yeah--those days are over! Three more days of Pumpkin Show, End of Season Cheer party on Sunday, Halloween and Dawsyn's birthday next week, and then baby can come! Hopefully he or she will cooperate with our family schedule--they're going to need to get used to it! :)

Week 33!

PARTY ON!
We had Drew and Dawsyn's Birthday party yesterday at World of Bounce! The kids had a great time (except for Dax who was sick). There were about 30 kids running around and bouncing--even the parents and grandparents got in on the action! There was only a tiny moment when we feared for Dawsyn's life as Grandpa Chuck went down the big slide with her--but it made a great picture. The kids were definitely overwhelmed and came home totally exhausted and wore out. The presents were ridiculous too. It was like Christmas--they still didn't get eveything opened and out of boxes when it was time to go to bed last night. Delaney left the party feeling confused because her little friend Braden kissed her hand and she didn't understand how she was supposed to marry all of her boyfriends. Poor little Braden was upset too. He even went to Shawn and told him that he had kissed Delaney and she didn't even say thank you! Shawn just patted Braden and told him he was sorry. Shawn is going to have to get a lot tougher when it comes to his daughters and boys!!!! I feel like everything now is just one more thing off my list. Made it through birthday party--check! Next is Pumpkin Show, then Halloween, then Dawsyn's birthday on November 1st. Once November 2nd gets here, I'll be twidling my thumbs ready for baby to make his/her appearance!

Week 32!

Everyone's a Critic...
We have officially reached that stage with Drew where he thinks we are totally uncool, just about wrong in whatever we say or do, and know nothing about the world today. He's only 8!!! Yesterday, he was talking about a kid at school who was "Rapping". Halfway through his story, he turns to look at Shawn and I and says, "You know what rapping is, right?" Shawn was very put out by this and said that of course he knew what rapping was and did Drew think Shawn was that uncool? I decided to make the conversation a little easier by stating that of course his father and I knew what "wrapping" was. I mean, hadn't he seen us wrap gifts in decorative paper before? Drew just sighed and rolled his eyes and Shawn said, gee thanks for making that better! I realize that conversations like this are totally why it is my fault that Drew has such a witt and isn't afraid to use it. Yesterday afternoon, I told him and Dawsyn to stay in the van because I just had to run in and get Delaney very quickly from preschool. Well, of course I had to stop and talk to the teacher and then to a teacher Drew and Dawsyn had when they went there and a parent of a student I have this year, so it took a little longer than I had originally anticipated. When I got back out to the car, Dawsyn is in tears and says, "Mom, I was so worried, I thought something had happened to you, like maybe you were poisoned!" (Dawsyn is my dramatic one!). Drew just rolls his eyes and said, "I told her nothing was wrong and that the only thing you had probably been poisoned by was "Deep conversation!" I don't know where he gets it?!?
And My Delaney...
Yesterday was "D" day at school. All of the kids needed to bring in items that started with the letter D. Delaney takes great pride in finding odd or unusual things to take in every week. For A, she took an ant and I told her that was good, but then she pointed out that it had an antenna and that was why she was taking it. For C, she took scissors. This one took me a minute and I thought I was going to have to persuade her to take something else until she showed me that scissor "cut". She was pretty sure she was the only person who would have an "action" to share with the class. So, apparantly at her D presentation, Delaney pulled out a picture of her and her three siblings. She explained that they are Drew, Dawsyn, Delaney, and Dax which all start with D. The teacher asked her if her parents had picked out a name for the new baby yet and she told them that we hadn't, but she had a name she really liked. She preceded to tell them that she wanted to name the baby "Dam". Well, of course this led to snickering and gasps from the rest of the four year olds. Delaney got upset because she didn't understand what their problem was. As she explained to me later, she likes the name Dam because it rhymes with Ham and she REEEEAALLLY likes ham! The teacher tried to point out to the kids that a dam is just something that holds water, but a few kids protested and insisted that it is a bad word. The teacher told them is is only a bad word if you say it when you are angry. One child raised their hand at this point and said, "My parents say it when they are angry a lot!". (Glad that wasn't my kid!) . Needless to say, at the dinner table last night, Shawn and I tried to explain to Delaney that Dam was a bad word the way she meant it, but that it can be a bad word and it would just be best for her not to say it anymore. She left the table still insisting that she liked it and we should use it for the new baby. I can just imagine the announcements: Our children, Drew, Dawsyn, Delaney, Dax, and Dam!
Love My Dax!
You gotta love having a two year old! They certainly keep life interesting. Last night at Daxton's Kindermusik class, I am sitting on the floor as close to Indian-style as possible (believe me, it is much more Chief Wampanoag than Indian Princess at this point!) and leaning back on my arms since Little D is deciding to stick straight out in front these days. Little D starts "rolling" around in my belly and makes it look like a scene out of the movie, "Alien". Dax sees this and puts both hands on my belly and very excitedly yells, "Is it coming out now?!" When I tell him no, he pouts his little mouth up and says, "OH Darn it!". Of course, at this point, all of the other parents in Kindermusik are laughing and I force a smile and try to stand up so we can do the circle dance that ends class. I do love this stage with Dax. Only at this age can the child tell you a 5 minute long story about accidentally peeing on Grammy's pants in the porta-potty and use words like, "porta-potty", "actually", and "hand-sanitizer", one minute, and the next point to the refrigerator and demand "drinky"! He actually got on the phone with me the other day while I was at work and went through each family member asking where they were. When he got to himself, he starts laughing hysterically before I can answer and says, "Oh--I'm right here!". At least my children have a great sense of humor. How can you not in our family? Today is "Crazy day" for spirit week at school. I, of course, am not so into Spirit week this year and just wore normal clothes, if you can call pants that don't really have a belly normal. One of my students made a sign for me to wear on my belly that says, "this is number 5!" because, as she said, that is crazy! Needless to say, my coworkers got a kick out of it! Oh well, 6 more weeks and hopefully all of the attention will switch from me to the baby!