My Children

Blogging about our adventures, happy moments, new memories and everyday life is becoming too far and few between. It's either I sleep or blog. Sleeping usually wins! :/ My kids keep me BUSY!

So I thought it would be good to do a quick update on how my children are doing. I only have a little window of time. I suppose I don't really need makeup on today :) ....

AUBREY...
is my tender child. Such a sweet and caring girl she is! And just turned 12 last month! And mood swings galore! Wow are we in for a ride! I really can't believe how grown up she's becoming! Oh my oh my does she love having her own room again! For a few months before we moved from Virginia, both her and Jocelyn had to share rooms when Landon was born and it wasn't an overly joyous experience for either one of them. But...they survived! :) She's doing really well in school. Pulling straight A's as always! Even placed into 7th grade math. It was a hard start going into middle school though - often times sitting alone at lunch. Which made my heart just break to hear! Meeting new friends seemed like a crazy challenge and had a big adjustment to waking up super early to catch a 7am school bus. She is taking band this year instead of choir like she did in elementary school. And so far, she's loving it! She was placed with a flute and after a few weeks of it sounding like scratchy nails on a chalk board, it's sounding really good. :) Her first practice performance was last Thursday and the band as a whole has come along way and still has quite a ways to go but I'm so excited for her and can't wait to attend more concerts. :) Because we moved here too late, we were unable to get her into Fall soccer so we're awaiting for some Spring soccer to happen. In the mean time, she's busy with homework, having fun helping to cook and bake, piano and flute practice (she's currently practicing the piano on her own as her wonderful teacher is way back in Virginia!), getting to know other girls at school and church, reading, drawing, playing games on her iPod, going into the Young Women's program at church and attending their activities and having fun with her brothers and sister. She is SUCH a good big sister too. They just LOVE her! She's even had one trial run babysitting for about 15 minutes as John and I ran down the street to grab some dinner. We're starting out small - and one day it will be great for her to watch them when I have to do quick errands. She just lost her first molar. And last Friday was her first time going to a school dance. As it was a dance to celebrate Halloween, we dropped her off dressed as Heromine and she had a fun two hours dancing with her friends and eating pizza and cotton candy. As always, she's growing up so fast! I remember going to my first middle school dance, which seems like was just yesterday! She's still missing quite a few of her friends back in Virginia & Oregon but they've become fast pen pals! :)

JOCELYN...
is my difficult child and my dear sweet 5 year old! There's usually one from the bunch that requires a LOT more work and she is it! Oh how I love her so but madly wish she was in preschool this year! How odd to go from last year with preschool 3 days a week to NOTHING this year! According to the school system, she's not in the bracket to need it and John's rank is too high for her to qualify. We were all set to go in Virginia for this year to be Kindergarten. Preregistered and all! But because her birthday falls a few weeks past the September 1st deadline, she's waiting until next Fall to start. She's keeping her Mama plenty busy here at home! Let me tell you! Haha! Always demanding my attention and getting into mischief. She's a good girl though and I'm amazed at how much she has grown in the past year - both physically and emotionally. She's a tiny little thing so she looks to be much smaller than most of her peers but she's plenty smart to make up the difference. ALWAYS keeping me and John on our toes. Her personality is a mix of sweet and high strung, fun and demanding, goofy and sassy, loving and a pain in the butt! Seriously! She's such a sweetheart though despite the challenges. Just wish she wasn't so mean to Andrew. She obviously loves him but she's bossy to him all day long and we're working on not bitting and hitting. *sigh* She LOVES her big sis and younger brothers and is such a huge help while Aubrey is at school. She loves to draw and color. Reading and writing and gearing herself up for the coming year of Kindergarten has been her most favorite thing to do. And making us all hand drawn pictures. I just love how she'll make us all notes and sign it, "Jocelyn 5." :) Just a few months ago, she signed it, "Jocelyn 4." She really cracks me up on a daily basis! She loves getting her nails painted, wearing her tutu around the house, watching movies, playing games on ds and board games, playing hide and seek, jumping in puddles, twirling around in circles, picking flowers, singing, playing legos, dolls, puzzles and dress up. While I'm looking forward to her being in school next year NOW, I'm really going to be sad seeing her go THEN! So I'm trying to enjoy each day with her. While her brothers nap, she and I usually have our time together which has been really nice. She too is looking forward to Spring soccer - which will be her first season playing yet.

ANDREW...
is my sensitive child. He will be turning 3 in December. He continually cracks me up! He always makes me smile about something! And even when he's in trouble for doing something he shouldn't, it's hard not to just snuggle and smile with him anyways (and usually it melts me over and he's out of trouble quicker than he was in it)! Just like Jocelyn, he says some pretty funny things like he'll call, "Oh Tooooootles!" when he needs help with something (it's off Mickey Mouse) and he hums and makes up songs like, "I want to go back to our other home (repeat over and over again)! He takes one good nap a day - for a few hours after lunch time. And we are in the beginning stages of potty training. So proud of him! I can't believe how big he's getting. I want my kids to stay little forever! LOL He is a true little mama's boy and loves to be my little helper. Whether it's wanting to dust, help sort the laundry or make meals in the kitchen. Speaking of which, he LOVES to help me cook! He drags the stool over to the counter and jumps up to see what he can do to help. So cute he is! He stays busy playing with bouncy balls, helping Daddy build things and being able to use his tools (tape measure and hammer is his favorite!), coloring, playing with flash lights, hiding in the house, running around, climbing on everything, reading stories, saying his prayers, brushing his teeth, playing legos and trains and cars, going outside and playing at the playground, watching shows like Mickey Mouse Club or Thomas the Train, and putting on his shoes (and clothes) by himself. Lately, he's been giving his Mommy and Daddy mini heart attacks by disappearing at least a dozen times since we've moved here. Runs out of the grocery store with us running after him, reappears into Aubrey's school gymnasium after her band performance in someone ELSE'S arms and crying and one time, he ran away from both John and I and the local security guard ran around with me to help me find him...he was found a few seconds later back inside our van getting into some licorice. Agh! I swore up and down that I'd never get one of those kid leashes but they're seriously looking like a good idea right about now! Wow...how scary it is to lose your child for a moment! Bedtime is pretty frustrating right now. Constantly coming back downstairs instead of being in bed and wanting his door open and the hall light on AT ALL TIMES. Back and forth we go every single night. And often times, we find him asleep in our bed. Getting a good night's rest hasn't happened, well, since we moved here! We finally got a night light which we thought would be a HUGE success. Needless to say, it hasn't been. Guess it isn't going to be an instant fix. :/ But that's okay - we're working on it. I think a lot of it has to do with him greatly missing our home back in Virginia! (And Jocelyn teasing him that there's a monster in his closet! Lovely, huh!) We're trying to find him some new friends here still. Not such an easy thing....much like it has been for Jocelyn. But we're finding fun things to do in the meantime. :)

LANDON...
is my calm child. He's now 7 months old - in a week he'll be turning 8 months. Weighs a little over 20 lbs - which puts him in around the 50th percentile for his age. I don't know how else to say it but we lucked out! He just has the cutest little personality! He's SO good and laid back and I just love how snuggly he is. He's been sleeping through the night since he was 3 months old and takes 2-3 naps a day. He can literally sleep just about anywhere. The carseat, stroller, highchair, baby bjorn, bed. And boy does this kid LOVE to eat! Wow!! Never leaves a scrap of food left. For sure not a picky eater! It could be warm or cold and he wouldn't care! The kids all love him so much! They're either holding him, playing near him, tugging on him or begging for us to let them hold him...it's very cute to see how much they adore their little brother! He of course gets cranky when overhandled but he's patient with them. He still shows no sign of teeth. Has been sitting on his own really well for about 2 months now, rolling all over the place for about just as long and for the past month or so, he has been slowly working towards crawling. It's more of a "push off the feet and plunge forward" kind of move. It's pretty funny to watch. He's getting around very fast these days which means more baby gates are needing to be put up! Whether he knows what he's saying or not, he has been babbling the sound "mama-mama-mama" lately and it is just so darn cute! I love it! :) He's got the cutest smile (and usually drooling everywhere!), hair is starting to fill in on his head more, he sucks on anything he can get his hands on, loves to listen to music, have stories read to, play with his toys, loves being rocked, going on the swings at the park, Daddy throwing him in the air, playing peek a boo, and going on walks. He really loves water so bath time is always a hit. Can't wait to watch him as he grows! I just love all of my children SO much!