Is summer really half way over?

As a kid, I remember thinking that Fourth of July was my half-way point to summer ending.  Since I'm a teacher, I get that same feeling every summer.  I love the Fourth of July, but it is bittersweet because of that "half-way" feeling!
We have accomplished a lot this summer, though, so I can't really complain.  Drake's big accomplishment is he is officially potty-trained!  WooHoo!!!!!  For the first time in ten years, Shawn and I are not buying diapers!  I found myself turning down that aisle at the store the other day and got a little sad when I realized that I will probably never need to go down that aisle again! He's doing a great job of it though.  He's at that newly accomplished stage of potty-training.  You know... the one where the rest of us are totally over it, but he still feels he deserves a party every time he pees???  Life lesson number one buddy- once you show the world you can and are willing to do something, it just becomes expected! LOL
Daxton's big accomplishment is swimming!  He is swimming all over the pool now without any flotation device at all.  He is proud to be the youngest child in our family to do this.  The look on his face is priceless when he swims across the pool.
Delaney has learned to ride a two wheel bike suddenly.  She is very proud of this...especially because her learning to do this encouraged older brother Drew to finally learn to do it too.  Dawsyn has been riding a two-wheel bike for two summers now, but Drew doesn't view Dawsyn as a "younger sister" the way he does Delaney.
Dawsyn is getting to do her dream of going to horse camp this week. So that will be her big accomplishment this summer.
We have been busy, but its been a good busy with some good family time.  I love summer nights and watching movies, having bonfires, and catching fireflies.  I love going for runs in the middle of the day and spending days reading by the pool. And the kids have gotten to do some fun things--Big Time Rush concert, pedicures at home, Red, White, and Boom, travelling to festivals, Vacation Bible School, Golf for Drew, Kids in College for Drew and Dawsyn, horseback riding, Tennis for the older four, Drive-in movies, and lots of little moments that have made us all smile!  Hoping the second half of summer is just as fun for us.

Mommy and Dax at Preschool Graduation.

Grandpa Chuck and his kids on his Birthday!

He may be graduating from preschool, but no worries...he is still just as ornery as ever!

Dawsyn and Delaney in their Irish Dancing routine.

Team Adams at Race for the Cure!

Drew and Dax in Alice in Wonderland

Dawsyn and Delaney as little flower in Alice in Wonderland.

Shawn and his girls ready for the Daddy/Daughter Dance!

May ended just as busy as it started!  In two weeks, we had the Daddy/Daughter Dance, performances in the Middle School production of Alice in Wonderland, Race for the Cure, Irish Dance Recital, Grandpa Chuck's birthday, Daxton's preschool graduation, and Dawsyn has started travelling with her Queen's Court again!!!  Whew!
Plus, we ended three soccer seasons and started T-ball.
This is the last week of school.  I always get a little sentimental (ok--truth be told, I'm always sentimental) around this time of year.  It is so hard for me to see them continue to grow, but it is good because I think they are growing into wonderful people!
So, after this week, I will have a fifth grader (one more year until he is in Mommy's class), a fourth grader, a second grader, a Kindergartener, and little Drake bringing up the rear!  When I first started teaching, I looked forward to the day when I would have my kids in my class.  I can't believe it is almost here.  Those first years of dropping them off at a babysitters at 630 in the morning and then crying all the way to work because I hated it so much were torture.  But, what kept me going was the thought that the years they are in school with me will be much longer than those first years when they weren't.  I am looking forward to a fun and relaxing summer being a full-time Mommy!!!

MAY is here!!!

All of us at the kids' piano recital

This picture, however, is much closer to reality!!!

Drew, Dawsyn, and Delaney after their performances.

Drew waiting for his soccer game at the Bowling Green Tournament. It was snowing and sleeting...not good soccer weather!

What a weekend...

We had to travel to Bowling Green for Drew's soccer tournament. It was freezing cold and windy for most of it, but of course, once we went back to work this week, the weather is beautiful!!!

Drew scored a goal in the tournament, so he was pretty excited! We had to rush home from the tournament to get to the piano recital. Drew, Dawsyn, and Delaney all played well. From there, we went to Zac Abel's first birthday party (cannot believe that year has gone by already!), then had to rush to the airport to send Shawn on his way to Vegas for the week. He is at an IBM conference for work.

This is the second year he has done this, so I thought the trip to the airport would be a little easier. Last year, all five kids fell apart when Shawn left. This year, only Delaney cried and I was feeling pretty smug with myself...until we got to the big decision of the day---elevators or escalators??? Dawsyn is scared to death of elevators--always has been and Dax has suddenly developed a huge fear of escalators! Luckily, no one has yet developed a fear of saran wrap, foil, or some other terrible, scary thing!!!

So... We attempted the escalator first. About half-way down with Drake on my hip, I realized Dax was not with us. I turn around to see him still at the top of the escalator, moving ever farther away from me, shaking and crying. I cannot let go of Delaney's hand and can't put Drake down. Luckily, Drew saw what was happening and ran back up the escalator to rescue Dax!

Dawsyn survived the elevator in the parking garage, Drake ran off when I set him down to unlock the van, but we caught him two cars over, but...needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we left the airport and my week had only just begun!!!

Shawn called the next day and complained that breakfast wasn't very good...breakfast? breakfast? Who gets to eat breakfast??? I reminded him that I am working full time, with five kids, running to all their activities, getting virtually no sleep because I can't stand the dark (maybe where my kids get their irrational fears), and he is at the Venetian by himself complaining that the breakfast wasn't that good???? He might want to rethink what he complains about! :)

Soccer is my life...

Even if it's not by choice!!! We are playing soccer every night of the week and at least one day of the weekend between the three kids we currently have playing...add in girl scouts (1 child), Irish Dancing (2 children), piano lessons (3 children), gymnastics (1 child), Kindermusik (2 children) add in church activities and we are just about at our Spring limit! Plus with a two year old running in and out of all of these activities...there are moments when I must admit, I feel I've reached my limit. Then, to think that next week I will be a single mom when Shawn flies to Vegas for the week...and I just sigh in exhaustion. But, when I sit down to play chess with Drake, or hear Dawsyn practicing her song for the talent show, or Dax actually starting to read, it makes it well worth it.

Then to add Delaney's hugs and kisses, and the fact that Drew spent ten minutes while I was on the eliptical, trying to explain to me why he feels that 1/3 doesn't really qualify as a fraction because of the decimal it stands for and then went into this huge mathematical theory about his reasoning...and I think OK--we can keep doing this right?

And somehow I even managed to get in a book for myself this weekend. One that didn't have rhyming words, nonsensical characters, or involve any vampires, light sabers, or tributes from district 12! Not that I have any problems with those books, but it was nice to read "The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks. Now to find the time to see the movie....HA!

Happy Easter!

It would not be a holiday if we didn't have some sort of "flu" to share! This time Drew started us off with a stomach bug. So far, we have gone through three children, but still managed our yearly egg coloring, three church services, Dawsyn getting her foot washed at Holy Thursday Mass, Drew serving, Jill reading, and Shawn cantoring at the Easter Vigil, and an Easter that ended up being one of our best!

The week before Easter, we started getting "surprises" at our backdoor. Dawsyn has been really wanting a guinea pig, which Mommy was not at all happy about. However, when a guinea pig cage arrived at our backdoor a week ago, Mommy had to admit that the odds were looking in her favor!

The next day we got bedding, followed by a water bottle, food, and hay! Mommy insisted that the only animal the Easter Bunny was allowed to bring was a stuffed one! Mommy almost thought she got her wish when the kids uncovered the cage on Easter morning and there were 5 little stuffed Webkinz hamsters!!! However, there was also a clue that led to an entire scavengar hunt around the house, resulting in two little guinea pigs!

Mommy's next suggestion was guinea bacon for Easter dinner, but alas, she was over-ruled!

So, we now have two additions to our family. Fudge and Rambunctious. Yeah--Mommy didnt' choose the names either!!!

More Great Wolf Lodge Pics

Great Wolf Lodge Trip!

So, after hearing all week that all of their friends get to do stuff on Spring Break, it was nice to surprise them by taking them to Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati. I had told them that we were taking a trip to an outlet store to get new curtains and possible a new vacuum cleaner (it was the most boring thing I could think of!). So, of course, they were all mad! I couldn't resist the urge to keep it up the whole two hour drive! When we finally pulled in and the kids saw the sign, I turned around and asked if they thought we could find nice curtains in one of those rooms. The kids were all so excited, except Drew, who slapped his forehead and said--"she got me again!" He said, "Mom, can this please count for April Fool's Day?" Apparantly he knew it was coming up and has been so nervous trying to be prepared for how I would get them this year. Do you think that means I go a little overboard with the whole April Fool's thing??? NAH!!!! ;)

Another Adams off to Kindergarten!

Dax is officially registered for Kindergarten! And even though it is numbre four--Mommy still got all teary-eyed! The first time we went to Kindergarten round up for Drew, I had just had Dax. He was very nervous, but we took him to lunch and then cupcakes. It was a beautiful day, so we walked around town a little and got him calmed down. As you can see in the picture, by the time we got to school, Dax was feeling pretty confident as he flashed the peace sign in front of the bulletin board in the school office. On the way home, I was telling the older kids how proud they should be of themselves because everyone we ran into at the school kept saying how nice it was going to be to get another Adams and how they love the Adams kids because they are such great kids! Drew started laughing loudly. I asked Drew what was so funny and his response was, "They haven't met Dax yet!" He then went on to say, "I can hear it now- we thought they were a great family until we got the juvenile deliquent!" I reminded Drew that he prayed for the "juvenile deliquent" to be born and that "juvenile deliquent" thought the world of him. Drew replied, "I know--I love him, but come on mom--be realistic!"

I didn't tell him that I already pretty much plan on being on be a frequent flyer in the principal's office! LOL

We also had the wonderful surprise of my cousin Robert, his wife, Jamie, and their three boys coming from Oklahoma to stay for a few nights. The kids got along so well. It was like they had grown up together. And being with Robert brought back so many childhood memories. His laugh reminds me so much of his father, my Uncle Wally, who died in a car accident when I was 16. He was such a wonderful man and someone whom I credit a lot of my sense of humor to. Robert has that same sense of humor and it was great to experience that again!

So, a pretty eventful week for us. We just started Spring Break tonight and I am looking forward to just hanging out with the kids and catching up on what's going on in their world without worrying about homework, or tests, or running to this or that practice!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day (St. Peter's Day if you ask Delaney for some reason! :) is here again and Team Adams celebrated in our usual fashion. The leprechaun traps were set and ready to catch any unsuspecting leprechaun that happened upon our house. But, alas, in the morning, all we found were some gold chocolate coins, rainbow skittles and the mischief left behind! This year, the leprechaun did the tradition turning green of our toilet water and milk, but he also decided to add toilet papering our living room!

First sign of Spring???

....girl scout cookies! Delaney sold 333 boxes this year! Dividing and distributing was quite a family undertaking! Delaney also had the play at Wagnalls where she was a dragon!

Daxton also had his Kindergarten physical this week. He had to get his hemoglobin checked which required a prick of his finger. This was a major catastrophe, especially considering he had just had to pee in a cup and had the worst aim ever and ended up getting most of it on mommy's hand. I felt kind of like the receiving end of one of those "shoot the water at the target" games at King's Island! I was moving that cup all over trying to get in the stream! Gotta love having boys! So, when we told him he was going to get a quick blood test, it was the obvious "headed to the showers at the concentration camp" reaction!

The doctor was great, though! She knows we are big Star Wars fans in our family. So, she tells him that it is the same thing they had to do for Anakin. She said they need to check his Midi-chlorians to see if he is truly a Jedi. Well, this changed his whole attitude about the test and he willingly stuck his finger out to be tested. Imagine our surprise when he was "off the charts" and more of a Jedi than Obi-wan!!! Little did we know this would create a monster. Later, when we went to pick up the other kids at school, he went running way ahead of me and told me not to worry, he wouldn't get hit by a car or bus because he was "Jedi". Then, the next morning, when I told him to get dressed for school, he told me, "Sorry, but I don't have a mother or a father--I'm a Jedi". If the Kindergarten physical was this eventful, can't wait to see what Kindergarten has in store!!!!

Dawsyn's Performance

Dawsyn takes theater classes at the local library and this session, they studied Kabuki theater. It is a Japanesse artform. She was a fire dancer, and, much to her dismay, the "butt" of the dragon! She was wonderful and we were so proud of her!

Happy Valentines Day!

Another Valentine's Day! These kids look like they need more candy, don't they??? My favorite Valentine's Moment actually occurred the night before Valentine's Day when I came home late from a meeting and Dax couldn't stay awake and fell asleep holding the card he had made for me (which was the card he had gotten from my parents and had crossed out his name and wrote Mommy). The picture is priceless and reminds me that Valentines has always been special for me since it was the day before Valentine's Day in 2001 when I found out I was two months pregnant for Drew!!!

Dress for sale!

No- shawn and I are not renewing our vows! My sister is trying to sell the wedding dress she bought from her first engagement. She thought if she had pictures of someone in it, it would sell better. So--here it is. It really is a beautiful dress and veil. She is selling both for $450. They were never worn (except for the pics) and still have the tags from David's Bridal. It is a size 10. She tried to sell it on Craig's List but got scammed and wanted to try some more traditional routes--so if you know anyone who is interested, let me know!

Laney Lou is 7!!!

So the family came over and we sang and had cake and ice cream, and, of course, presents! Thus, the last birthday of the
TEAM ADAMS birthday season! I feel like we have been partying since September. So now, my children are 10, 9, 7, 5, and 2. And I am 34. We are all getting older, but still trying to enjoy every special moment together. Even though they are each getting more and more independent, I am finding they need me in other ways. And they each need me in their own special way. This week, when I asked Delaney what she wanted me to make for her treat to take to school, she said, "Store-bought cupcakes". I told her I would make her cupcakes if thats what she wanted, but she insisted that they be "store-bought" because she is always the only kid who's mom makes stuff and she wants stuff from the store like everyone else! Oh well, sign of the times I guess. We compromised and I made her birthday cake and cookies for her drama class. She was also embarrassed because I took her to two skating parties this week and I was the only mom who skated. Poor kid--only 7 and she's already had it so rough! :)
My Mini-me! Today as Delaney and I were out for her birthday lunch, a person I work with stopped us and said, "Oh my! She looks just like you! I just laughed and said, "yes she does!" I asked her later if it bothered her that people always say she looks like me...she said, "no mommy-you're pretty". It made my day!