The best years.

I know that we're supposed to cherish these years with our kids.  I hear, all the time, parents who's kids are 10+ years old say, "My favorite years with my kids was when they were 3 to 5 years old."

When I hear them say that, I almost fall apart.

From weariness.  From frustration.  From helplessness.  From exasperation.  From feeling out of control.  From guilt for feeling all those other things I feel! 

From FREAKING OUT that these are the BEST years!?  Are you kidding me???  It gets worse???

Joel and I were discussing the other night that we are pretty sure we only get about 2 nights a week that are drama free.  

1)  Lily is in pre-K now and they don't take naps.  Well Lily's not really ready to give up nap.  She needs about 45 minutes of rest per day and now that she's not getting it, our evenings can be miserable.  It's like we've fast-fowarded 10 years and I have a hormonal teenage girl in my house who either cries at EVERYTHING or is so moody with an attitude you want to smack her in to next week.

2)  Tyler never really had terrible two's to speak of - at least not like Lily did.  Nah, he decided to save up until he was 3.  That kid can get set off by the wind blowing the wrong way and suddenly he's the Incredible Hulk complete with fists of rage and bulging eyeballs.  He has no problem screaming for an hour.  His favorite, go-to move, though, is spitting when he is displeased with something you said or did to him.  

One night last week we hit the double bonus and both kids turned on their crazy at the same time.   Joel and I take turns with each kid reading the bedtime story.  Problem is, if Lily has her choice, she'd rather I read to her.  Most of the time, she's ok with Joel but sometimes she doesn't want him at all.  Tyler on the other hand NEVER wants me.  So it's guaranteed that 3 to 4 nights per week will suck because Tyler will fight with me about reading him a story.  Sometimes, he concedes after a few minutes but other times he holds out for an hour.  

Which is what happened in this latest episode.  They each were being stubborn about who they wanted to read to them and Joel and I were NOT giving in.  Tyler ended up getting locked in his room and wound up screaming and crying for an hour until he finally just wore himself out, conking out mid-holler.  Literally.  Lily pulled her bi-polar routine for about 75 minutes.  "I want a hug and kiss."  (Shrug away and grunt when you try.) "I SAID GIVE ME A HUG AND KISS!!" (Another shrug away when you try again.)  

Somehow, neither Joel nor I completely lost our sh*t - but let me tell you, it's nights like those that give me insight to those news stories you see where parents have caused serious injury to their kid by shaking them.

3)  We are sick of being short order cooks.  Done.  Joel decided about month ago, that after Tyler's birthday, we were going to stop fixing them something different than what we eat.  So we are working our way in to this process.  We have stopped offering the kids pepperonis or PB&J crackers for supper.  We are putting at least one teensy bite of whatever we are having on their plate and then we round out their meal with other things we know they like (peas, green beans, fruit, yogurt, etc).  We are trying to put those things on our plates too so that it doesn't look like something "special" for them.  They can't get a treat unless they at least TRY everything on their plate.  They get two treats if they eat all the important things (think:  veggies & protein).  The treats are not a big thing...just two little pieces of chocolate or something similar.  

Tyler's been playing along relatively well.  He has at least tasted nearly every single thing we put in front of him.  He wants his chocolate.  That's my kid, alright.

Lily on the other hand.  Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn.  "I don't like that."  "I'm NOT eating that."  "I WILL spit it out."  When we tell her she's not getting a treat she says, "I AM getting a treat if I want one and I'm NOT eating that fill in the blank."  

But we stick to our guns and don't give her one.  Cue meltdown.  For an hour.  And then it's bed time.  GOD FORBID it be Joel's night to read that child a story!

(I typed this up about a week ago and never hit publish.  Tonight at dinner, Lily tried her food and Tyler threw the fit.  Sigh.  At least the good news is we ARE making progress.  One fit at a time I suppose.)

Other random events of the past couple weeks...

Tyler put on his shades one morning on the way to school.  I tried to take his picture and he put his hand up and exclaimed, "Blocked ya!"

S'mores and camping, part two.  The s'mores went over well - the camping, not so much.  Tyler threw a fit and didn't want to settle down.  Finally did settle down only to wake up about 90 minutes later screaming his head off.  Joel brought him inside (I was sleeping inside this time and he had outside duty).  An hour or so later, Lily woke up fussing.  Meanwhile, Joel didn't get back to sleep in between kid awakening episodes.  When they emerged the next morning, Joel came in all stuffed up and sick.  So, camping was a hit!

This kid falls asleep at least one per weekend in the car.  I wish I could fall asleep so easily!

We went to a car show downtown last weekend.  We got there and this conversation happened:

Lily: "What are we going to do here?"
Joel:  "Walk around and look at cars."
Lily:  "Look at cars?  That's it?  That's BORING!"

I snorted.  I hear ya sister.  So instead we went to the commons playground while the Joel walked around and looked at boring cars.

Tyler kept jumping off this ledge.  About 3 feet up.  He's such a boy!

While at this boring downtown car show and detour to the playground, we stumbled on an Indian music and dancing program going on.  The kids wanted to check it out and Lily was SUCKED IN watching the dancing, listening to the music and clapping along.  It was pretty cool.

Lily riding her bike.  I don't know why, but we haven't ridden bikes much at all this summer.  In spite of that, she has improved a great deal on controlling her speed and getting her momentum going again if she stops on a slight incline.

I had to travel to Minnesota for a day this week and I got this pic of my cute family enjoying ice cream cones in my absence (Daddy says they ate all their food including trying the new things...hmmm).

While I was gone, the kids finger painted the windows that are at the very top of our front door.  It's always bothered Joel cause "people can see right in" our living.  I'm like, what people?  Are there a bunch of 6.5' tall people wandering our our neighborhood looking in high windows?  Cause you have to be that tall to see in them.  Anyway, cool idea that Joel had.  Looks cool.

My boy, who rarely lets me hold him, was hanging on for a piggy back ride this week and posed all super cute.  I can forgive him a lot of transgressions during those moments.

The kids are so curious about what Joel's work and my work looks like on the inside.  They've both been in my building before (though it's been a long time) but they had never seen inside "Daddy's work."  Joel picked them up from daycare one day this week and ran them inside for a look around.  They were STOKED to get their very own safety glasses and ear plugs.  Mommy's work is SO NOT that cool.

Apple Works 2015.

We made our annual trip to AppleWorks last weekend intending to buy apples and pick out our pumpkins.  Unfortunately we went one weekend too soon for the pumpkin patch so now we'll have to go with plan B (which is yet to be determined) at a later date for pumpkins.

First up was the pony rides.  Lily did great, riding completely unattended.  She wasn't afraid and enjoyed every second of it.  Tyler's still too little to go solo so I walked around in circles along side him.  He enjoyed until about the last 2 laps and then he decided he was done.

The barn structure that you see in the background has some rope swings inside and that black tube is a slide - definitely make only for kids' lightweight bodies.  Corrugated plastic is not meant for adult behinds.  I cringed every time the kids went down it but they were not bothered.  I was not about to give it a whirl myself.

Me and my boy.  He was not really into taking a picture with his mama.

And you can't very well go anywhere without the kids fighting about something.  This trip it was over driving this tractor.

Then off to feed and pet the animals.  Lily was totally in to it this year.  She wasn't shy or afraid to feed and touch them at all.  Completely different from years past.  Tyler's our animal lover so no surprise that he jumped right in.

Tyler has been obsessed with school buses for about a year now.  He kept wanting to come back to this cut out so he could drive it.  

We had a picnic lunch and family selfies.  There was a fellow singing and playing guitar near where we were eating.  Both of my kiddos have a real appreciation for live music.  They are like moths to a flame when it comes to a guy with a guitar.

I went inside the crowded store to pick out our apples while the rest of the fam stayed outside.  I get done and come around the corner to see these two dancing (to the guitar soloist's music) and I immediately burst in to tears.  It was just so sweet.  I was missing my own dad so much in that moment; it completely took my breath away.   Even now, looking at the picture of Lily looking up at her Daddy - yeah, crying all over again.

 And then it was time to go home.

And not a moment too soon...Asleep with his hand IN the bag of fruit snacks.

And then there was August.

We went camping in the backyard.  The kids thought that was super cool.  They enjoyed "playing house" in the tent.  And s'mores.  They did pretty good sleeping out there, once they fell asleep.  Well Lily passed out immediately but Tyler was singing and yelling until about 10pm.  No clue what got in to him, but he was wound up.

I ended up telling Joel he could go sleep inside as I wasn't in the mood to toss and turn on a half deflated air mattress with him all night.  It was kind of chilly that night - probably about 62 degrees - and I think I was up every hour checking on the kids and making sure they were covered up. 

August 3rd brought the first day of Pre-K for Lily in the O.W.L.s (One with the Lord) class.

And Tyler's first day with the 3-year-old L.A.M.B.s (I forgot what it stands for, my bad).  He was NOT in to getting his picture taken that morning.

Back yard shenanigans.

 

 Holiday World.

 

Both kids rode the roller coaster and loved it.

 

 

 

 

We didn't get any pictures of the water park, but Lily had a blast.  She was tall enough to ride all the good slides, including the water roller coasters.  Unfortunately, Tyler was still a few inches too short so I stayed with him while Joel took Lily.

We pretty much closed down the water park and then hit up one more ride - the Tin Lizzies on the way out.  Tyler couldn't make it.  He ended up sleeping on Daddy while in line.  But then perked right up when it was his turn to drive.

 

 

 

Lily learned how to swim.  She does pretty good.  Can even jump in the deep water and come up ok.  She gets tired easily though so you have to stay right with her in deep water.  If she starts to get tired, she panics and loses her breath and then panics some more and starts to go under. 

 

Tyler is fearless when it comes to the water.

Belated birthday cake for Joel.

Tyler playing hookie, I mean sick day...

Anderson Falls.  Just about 10 miles from our house.

 

Lily with her "curly" hair.  Looking so grown up.

 

Tyler with a huge (dead) dragon fly.

Lily's turn to be sick - passed out on the couch before supper.

Lily asked me if she could make bracelets with her hair ties.  Some of the older summer camp girls were doing that at daycare this summer.  She's all about it and pretty good at it.  We have about a million bracelets laying around the house now.  Oh and there's this super cute hair style I learned from Katie.

Tyler took a bath in the back yard.  He thought it was hysterical.

We went canoeing.  The kids did pretty alright for most of the 3+ hour trip.  They got a big kick out of riding on the bus to the launch point.  By the end, they were pretty crabby and fussing - griping at us and each other - making me wish we never went.  But that's pretty much par for the course.  And, if you think about it, they were confined to one spot for most of the time so pretty understandable that the natives got restless.

 

 

 

 

 

The kiddos helping with a side yard project.

 

 

 Ice cream cones and swinging in the back yard.

 

Tyler sick day, part 2.

 

Kiddos playing at the playground and then meeting me at the Columbus airport after one of my trips to Minnesota.  (Check out Lily's outfit.  She picks her own clothes.)

 

And that's all for August.  Whew.