Princess Bossy

So Ally is not only believes she is the princess everywhere she goes, but also in charge of making sure everyone is doing what they should be doing. I love to listen to Jacob and Ally converse. Here is what I heard the other day as we loaded into the car:

Ally: Jacob, get in your seat and get buckled. (Pause) Good boy.

Jacob: Don't say good boy to me!

Ally: Ok, good man.

It is always fun to listen to their conversations! Logan is working on joining in. He is pointing and trying to talk about everything. It should get really interesting when it is all 3 of them.

Sunday Again...

Well it's that dreaded day of the week when I just keep thinking the weekend is drawing to an end. But this weekend isn't so bad for me. This week is only 3 days for me because we are headed to California for 5 days to see family. We are really looking forward to some time away to play in the sun and have a fun end to our summer.
Today we are school supply shopping. I'm hoping to get Jacob a little excited for school. As soon as we get back from our trip, it's time to start school. I know he will do well. I just want to make sure he feels good about it.
As we go to California and school starts, I am going to work to take some pictures to post. I know they are so fun to see.
Hope everyone's weekend has been as fun as ours!

Happy Birthday to Me

I just wanted to drop in and say that I had a wonderful 27th birthday. I am very lucky to have a wonderful bunch of friends and family. I always feel spoiled on my birthday, even now that I'm a grown up. I hope that I can always make sure my kids have a very special day as everyone does for me.
Highlights of the day include my mom got me the ipod nano for which I had asked. And my grandmother. She, herself, is a highlight. I am so lucky that she is selfless and wants to help me in so many ways. Her and her husband spent the day cleaning and organizing my house. I am truly blessed to have my grandmother and Richard always there willing to help me. It's hard to watch her work so hard to do things that I feel like I should be taking care of on my own. But I really appreciate that she is there and willing to help.
My special day reminded me how much I have to be thankful for, which I think is truly more important than anything else today. And I hope everyone else has the chance to be spoiled every once in a while. Everyone deserves it sometime.

Rain, Rain...Go Away

What happened to summer? It's not enough that we are getting ready for school and Labor Day is approaching, but it is also raining! Yuck. This morning Jacob and Ally were adament that they needed jackets or sweatshirts with hoods. It was time to go and so I tried to explain that it is summertime and we don't have any hooded jackets out and handy to take. This irritated Ally and she explained to me that it was not summertime and told me to look outside. Point taken Ally...hooded jackets found.

I Don't Want Them to Fall...

Last night the kids and I watched some gymnastics I had recorded from the Olympics. Ally loved it. She ran around pretending she was a gymnastic girl. I wasn't even allowed to call her Sissy; she was gymnastics girl. I really want to get Ally started in some type of tumbling or gymnastics, purely because she loves it so much.

But I watched the girls on tv and they looked so young. And they really loved what they were doing. But it scares me to imagine a kid being so committed to a single thing at that young age. I don't think that I would ever encourage or possibly even allow my kids to be that involved.
I want to say it's because I think it's what would be best for my kids, but I think a great deal of it is purely selfish. Those girls have so many hopes wrapped up in one day's performance. If they make a mistake, the disappointment in their faces makes me want to cry. I don't know that my heart could handle seeing that type of disappointment in my own children. Maybe in the long run, these girls that go to the Olympics are probablly happy that they had the experience, regardless of the outcome. But that initial pain when they slip off the bars or fall off the balance beam is overwhelming.

My kids are a talented trio and I am so proud of them. Someday they will pursue their dreams and I will be even more proud. And when they are disappointed, I will be there for them to lean on (but inside I think it will hurt me as much as it hurts them). But for now they are still young and I am still allowed to try to protect them from the pain that comes from disappointment. And I will continue to prepare myself for those days when I am not there to make sure they don't fall. At some point, they will fall and I will just have to help them back up. When this happens I will need everyone praying for my strength.

Can't Live With Them...Can't Live Without Them

I'm talking about cars. My car always seems to be one of my biggest headaches. I know part of the problem is I am driving an older car that is bound to have problems, but it seems like we have all been through it. The estimate for your car repairs is... Fill in your amount.
Today I just wanted to get my wheels aligned, but I knew there was something not right because my car has been making a funny noise when I turn. Well after waiting half an hour they told me they couldn't align my wheels because of a number of problems. Their estimate for repairs was higher than what I had budgeted for a wheel alignment, so back to the budgeting drawing board to get this figured out.
It amazes me to think how much I rely on my car. My life just wouldn't work without my car. I feel like I should better understand how this big machine that I rely on works. Unfortunately I have a great deal of understanding in a great deal of areas, but in mechanics my understanding seems to be lacking.
I love my old Explorer and it has done well for me, so I'm not complaining. Just thinking about the way our society relies so heavily on automobiles. Maybe someday when I have more time (in other words, in about 15 years) I will take a class at a community college or something. It just feels like I should know more about my car than I do. For now I'm thankful that I can head into my local Les Schwab Tires.

Testing

I just wanted to test how my new signature would work. I really should be going to sleep. :)

The weekend is over...

Sunday nights are so hard. Who wants to go to sleep when it means the weekend is over? Definitely not me. I did finish my final projects for my 2 classes tonight. I feel so excited to be through another couple of courses and on my way to a degree.

I had planned to go school supply shopping with Jacob today. He doesn't seem overly excited about the prospect of beginning the first grade. I am struggling with not being able to understand the mindset of a 6 year old boy. I have never felt like I didn't know exactly the right thing for Jacob, but now I'm not sure I always completely understand wha he needs.

I believe all is fine with Jacob. I'm pretty sure he just isn't happy about change. And I cannot blame him for that. Changes in routine are overwhelming.

My oldest son is the most emotionally in touch of my children. I think him and I will do something special, just the 2 of us, to celebrate my big boy starting the first grade in just a few weeks.

Here's a t-ball picture to show what a big boy he is...

Ouch!!

Logan fell out our front door as we were leaving to take Jacob to Tae Kwon Do on Thursday. He does amazingly well with all of his boo-boos.