Happenings at our house

Busy, busy, as usual! There have been lots of fun happenings at our house lately!

Landon Gresham was born April 11th. We are SO excited to have another baby in the family! I cannot believe my brother is Dad to two kids. Wow.  Such a blessing for all of us to be in the same area so we can be together for such special times!

 Conner and Alaina were so thrilled to hold a newborn again. I love that they get so excited. Alaina has added Landon to her nightly prayers that already include Maylin and Zane. : )

Sweet Landon Gresham

Alaina got a haircut! Alaina has been talking for some time about wanting to get her hair cut short and we have balked at it, but on a whim, I decided to appease her and cut it myself. Lesson learned. There are a few things that a professional should do and cutting a cute bob is one of them! Luckily with her wavy hair you can't see how uneven some of the layers are and she is SO excited about her cut she doesn't notice anything wrong.

 

When did they get so big?? Conner is a solid 93 lbs and Alaina a super solid 53 lbs. They are built like their Daddy (lucky!) and are tall, slender and muscular by design. Conner has enjoyed his fourth year of soccer and Alaina is in her third year of dance and acro. We are going to sign her up for soccer for this fall to explore some options outside of dance.

With the house on the market we have had to get out fo the house on a whim so the park has been our friend. We went to a park recently where Zane enjoyed his first ride down a slide with his sister. Having the house on the market has been tough but we have had many showings so we are getting used to keeping it up and know what we need to do to get it "ready to show". There are have been mixed feelings in the house regards to sellling. Some days the kids cry and say they don't want to move and other days they are excited for the showing and hope (like we do) that these buyers are "the one". We certainly can't wait to add furry siblings to the family!

Zane's view of the park. I can almost see him thinking "One day. One day I will be running down there with them!" : ) He is certainly a boy on the go and I can only imagine once he is walking that there will be no stopping him!

A certain little girl turned 6 on April 25th. Alaina was so excited for her birthday. It was truly a day she had waited all year for. : ) We decided not to have a "friend party" due to Alaina's struggle being a good friend with her family and learning how to have a good attitude. Alaina, when you read this one day, just know that we are doing everything we can to help you learn how to be a good friend and have a respectful attitude! We did have a "family party" at the park which was super fun. Again, how blessed are the kids that they  get to have both sets of grandparents, aunt and uncles in their life? Priceless!

 Alaina's birthday did fall on a school day and her Daddy was sweet enough to surprise her at lunch with a bouquet of flowers. I came at the end of the day with balloons and cookie cake. She was so excited to be the "special one" that day. I see so much how Alaina treasures being the "special" one. Oh how I hope she sees and understands that she is special to us and to God every day.

Conner's teacher excused him from class so he could join us for Alaina's little party in her room. I LOVE that he wants to be there and I LOVE that Alaina wants him there. They do have their share of arguements but they do share an open affection with each other that I pray continues!

We finished up the celebration with a strawberry cake after her birthday dinner of hotdogs, mac and cheese and peas. She got Just Dance 4, a caboodle and some drawing paper and markers for her birthday. 

 Another one of Aliana's masterpieces. A daily activity for her, starting at 6am when she wakes is writing and drawing!

As usual, I have done a poor job of documenting this boys progress. But WOW, he is on the move. He can do the fast crawl to get anywhere he wants, but more than ever, he wants to walk. he pulls up on anything and everything he can. He will scale furniture, walls, people. If it is upright, he will use it to walk. We can only imagine it is a matter of days or weeks before he is walking oh is own. 

We also recently got together for Grandpa's 74th birthday. Again, so blessed that we and the kids are able to spend such special time with family. We all gathered around while Alaina Grandpa opened  his gifts and blew out candles on his carrot cake.

Conner finished up his fourth soccer season and won the Hamilton Award for his team this season.

The Hamilton Award goes to the child who
- shows respect to you, the ref and fellow teammates
- consistently has a good attitude, win or lose
- exemplifies sportsmanship
- exhibits integrity
- promotes team unity
- is a good example to other players
Conner was honored along with the other winners at the halftime of the Railhawks game.
 Conner choice of posing:

Mom's choice of posing. Oh my, am I becoming "that Mom"? : )

Conner at halftime on the field:

It was so cool to see him waving at the crowd. I could see the pride in his eyes and when he came to the side line, there were a line of kids hanging over the railing holding their hands down for "high fives" yet no one was coming over. Well, I could see Conner eyeing them, and in an instant he sprinted over to the railing, running down the length give "five" to all the kids. He told me afterwards that he felt "kind of important". Yes, Conner, you kind of are. : )

Picasso ain't got nothin' on you.....

Luckily children 6 and under can't tell time. Alaina and Zane are both in their beds crying and I put them both down an hour early. Yes, it was that kind of day. To remind myself that "this too shall pass" is very critical at this point....and just to remind myself when I read this post in the future of what brought me to my edge. Well, lets just say a messy house on the market, broken itouch, scamming businesses, wasted trips in the car, multiple trips in the car, a baby that can't get a full nap due to being yanked out of his crib, sick kids, work, lunch prep, kindergarten performances (firefly), lack of an ability to sew anything at all, 3rd grade performances (of which I am missing as I type) and doctors appointments. What shall I do in my retirement?? Recover, that's what. : ) 

This post is dedicated to the artist in the family. The one who shows up with a picture at each stage of the day, the one who has pictures all over her room, and who draws you a picture to show her love. That is Alaina. The Artist (as well as card and sign maker).

On her door....

In anticipation of going camping with her Dad.....

Alaina with her future dog.....

Learning to draw.....

Spring has sprung......

Letter to her Aunt, who is so dearly loved......

She was "Star of the Week" at school and created this poster about herself.....

The pile. I have dozens and dozens of piles of pictures she has drawn. I cannot keep them all. So, in a lesson from my Mother, I am giving these pictures a virtual hug, cherishing them, and throwing them out. 

Playing Catch Up

I am learning that playing catch up is a perpetual state of being for me, so if that is the blog post for the next seventeen two years, please forgive me. 

Three kids and your house on the market. Can you say crazy? While this is not the ideal time to have the house on the market for many reasons, we are ready to move....move a little closer to where all three kids will be through 8th grade and get a bigger yard. So April 1, the house was listed. Here is how it looks when it is ready to show. 

This is what it looked like listing day. Needless to say it has not looked like this sense and certainly does not look like this today. *sigh* Going to be a challenge to keep it ready for showing, but trying to keep my eye on the prize....moving! Well, the prize is really living in a different house, the moving part will probably be one of the biggest challenges of my life!

Third quarter of school ended for the kids recently and they had almost three weeks off which was really nice, but really hard for Mama. I love my kids but trying to allow Zane the schedule he needs and entertain two school age kids whilst trying to allow them to lose themselves in media and technology is hard! The kids did GREAT in school. Conner with straigh A's again and Alaina is well on her way to meeting all her yearly goals. Over track out we....

 enjoyed a playdate with our good friends, the Harris girls. Conner and Allena have been close since they were two years old (below is a pic of them at three, they absolutely love each other and have the coolest friendship!). Allena's sister, Maci and Alaina are less than a year apart as well, so we have a great time with them.

We went to the park, had a few picnics...

 

Someone is enjoying crawling everywhere and exploring on his own. : )

Track also included a trip to the beach with Papa and Nana (thank goodness for grandparents), more on that later, but the kids had a blast!

We also celebrated Easter with family...unfortunately I only brought my camera to one of the two events. We first went to Grandma and Grandpas house where the kids had their annual Easter egg hung orchestrated by Grandpa who always puts a lot of time and effort into it. He hid 63 eggs!

We also got with the Riggs clan.

 

Sweet, sweet Maylin at 14 months! She and Zane got to watch the two bigs hunt for eggs, then enjoyed some goldfish and raisin filled eggs. : ) It is so fun to see Maylin and Zane begin to interact together. They are going to be such good friends and cousins! We are (well, "were" in retrospect, since he made his appearance yesterday) also awaiting arrival of baby boy Riggs, due to come into this work April 15th!

We also gathered to celebrate Ashley's 40th and Keith's 41st birthday. 

How pitiful is it that I always have tons of kid pics, but don't even have pics of the birthday people! Again, always a bit behind the ball!

That is as much catching up as I can do right now. Zane is a solid hour into his first nap today which means the clock is ticking for me to get anything done. He has really started a new clingy stage so it is very hard to get anything done!

Basketball at Whole Foods

Had to record this conversation for posterity, or just to remind myself why I am going crazy. Enjoy.

So Alaina I ran into Whole Foods today and while at the meat counter, Alaina notices some words painted on the floor. Like the good mother that I am, I encouraged her to try to read the words, they said something to the effect of "It's time to get food for the game" with a big giant basketball painted as a background. So here is the conversation.

Alaina: "Why do you have to get food for basketball?"
Me: "There are a lot of basktball games being played."
Alaina: "You mean here at Whole Foods?"
Me: "No, there are a lot of colleges that have basketball games this time of year all around the country."
Alaina: "And they are going to play basketball HERE at Whole Foods?"
Me: "No! People are going to watch the games on TV and they want to get food for the game."
Alaina: "So everyone here is getting food for a basketball game?" (It was SUPER crowded)
Me: "No, I mean, some of them might be, but when the game is on they may want to eat snacks while they are watching it."
Alaina: "Are they watching the game right now?"

Honestly, I don't remember where the conversation went from there. I just remember laughing to myself as I hurried her through the masses of old people that had shown up for the free food sampling for the Passover Food demonstrations they were having. Good times.

Busy, busy!

We are absolutely in full swing with the three kid lifestyle and let me tell you, it is B-U-S-Y. Mainly good busy, but there is a learning curve in balancing this kind of busy, so we are certainly still in process.

Speaking of busy.....

Little energizer bunny over here. He is like a dog over water. Whenever you hold him over the ground, his legs move at about 148 mph. He is on the move at all times and LOVES exploring the house now that he is able. Today he found himself in an impromptu fort.

He thought it was so fun. I was just glad that his head cleared every surface so there was no head bumping and falling during this escapade. After all, with baby #3, one tends to let them explore more on their own (so I may or may not have walked the handyman outside to the back fence to talk about a project, with Conner and Alaina following, only to realize a few minutes later that I had left Zane inside by himself). Learning independence is healthy, right? : )

This busy boy will be 9 months old tomorrow!

Meanwhile, these two seemingly sweet children, have been really testing the waters around home with attitudes, arguments and behaviors that are challenging!

But, no worries. I go into "Screamfree" mode, talking calmly and giving natural consequences in love. Or I just take this perspective...

No, they are sweet. No really, they are. ; ) They are great with Zane and honestly, make having a baby much more fun! They way they react and are starting to communicate it too cute. And quite loud. Alaina was in the bath tonight and Zane stood a the tub screaming at her. Then she would scream back, he would laugh, then scream at her again, then she would scream, he would laugh, and, well......you get the picture.

Other happenings include another Daddy date for Alaina where they went and saw Snow White at the Raleigh little theater and then went for ice cream afterwards.

The hope is that Keith treats her so good on the dates that she will never settle for less than being treated like the best. : )

It was so cute seeing Alaina get all dressed up and then how she special she thought it was that her Daddy got super dressed up (i.e. no jeans). He opened doors for her and even let her sit in the front seat which she thought was the best experience of her life. She woke up the next morning singing about her "Daddy date"  and then wrote about it at school. So sweet.






Speaking of writing things at school. At Alaina's school conference this week, I found out Alaina is doing great in kindergarten and on track to meet all kindergarten goals by the end of the year. It was then that the teacher said, "Oh, Alaina told me she is taking karate! How cool!". Uh, yeah. It would be cool if she was taking karate but SHE ISN'T.

"I can do karate. I do karate with my friend. I have a friend today."

It really is funny to hear what comes out of her mouth and from her imagination. I mean, look at that picture. What are the two big circle things on the left? (Not to mention what looks like a sumo wrestling thong thing on one of those people. ha!)

And the one that I got the biggest kick out of:

The question posed is "What's better than gold?", and Alaina writes, "I love cookie cake at the end of the rainbow. It has icing on it."

That's my girl! Nothing is better than a good dessert, not even gold!

Not to be outdone, Conner brought home a graded project from school which involved writing poetry. 

He got a 98 on this. The two points taken off were taken from the points counted toward the poem "making sense". Conner said he kind of agreed with the teacher.