The One In The Middle Is The Green Kangaroo

I had classic middle-child syndrome growing up. Although Cole isn't officially the middle child, I still sympathize with his situation and try to give him the special attention that he so desparately craves.

His favorite thing to do is sit with me and have me write out words for him to read. Yesterday he asked if he could also write his own words - I dare you to find his version of "Ferris Wheel" or "Water" or "Ghost Ship" - love the way a 4 year old's mind works.


He's in the Pre-K class at school and is luh-uhving all of the projects. He feels extremely old and important now that he's doing "big kid" crafts.





What can I say...he's a fellow ham after my own heart...





The infamous balloon incident of 2011...one of his balloons flew away and as Cole put it, "That was the worst day of my life." I figure if that's as bad as it gets, then the kid has it pretty good.

We're All Growing Up

Yesterday was an interesting day of accomplishments.

In the morning, Phil competed in his first triathlon. It was a 1/4 mile swim, 13 mile bike course, and 2 mile run. It was a long road to get there which included 4:30 am wake up calls for training (plus an unfortunate run-in with a skunk) - but he did it and he's awesome.

Dean took his first steps. We were just hanging out in the kitchen, and he walked clear into the other room. Just like that.

The older boys finished their latest chore charts. Weeks of scrubbing the walls, cleaning the toilets, sweeping the porch, etc. finally produced a Lego set for Ry and Pillow Pet for Cole. Score.

Charlie cleared his own plate after lunch without being asked. He just said, "Excuse me from the table please" and grabbed the plate, put it in the sink, and went on his merry way. Huh?

I actually feel like we're getting somewhere. Like I can breathe again. Like we can start to have our own interests and watch the kids grow into themselves too.

Of course, as I write this Camelot-esque tale I'm covered in spaghetti sauce from dinner, the toy room looks like it exploded and I have about 972 emails to answer before tomorrow. But for now I choose to bask in our victories - both big and small.

As the sticker on the back of our car says...Life Is Good.

Photo Shoot

When Dean turned 1, my birthday present to myself was to get pictures taken of team Kerper. We met our friend Keyai at the park and turned the kids loose.

Highlights included the stroller falling over with Charlie inside (twice), beating a rainstorm, and having Ry educate us on WC artist Horace Pippin.

Here are some of the shots - THANKS KEYAI!!!!

Seriously. When. Did. He. Grow. Up?

I know it sounds so cliche - but wasn't I just holding him in my arms as a little baby? Sigh...our family motto proves itself true time and time again: "The days are long and the years are short."

Here's my little peanut before his first day of 1st Grade.


Cole was not amused when we were waiting for the kids to get off the bus...I think he was in serious big brother withdrawl.


This theory was proved accurate when Charlie tried to kiss him and Cole recoiled like Cha's lips were coated in poison. This 1st grade thing is going to take getting used to (for everybody).


We started this awesome tradition last year (at least I hope it continues as a tradition) of holding an ice cream party in the alley when the kids get off the bus on their first day. It's a great treat to look forward to, and not a bad perk to throw leftovers into our freezer.


So just when I was getting used to all of this growing up...after the second day of school Ry hopped on his 2-wheeler and started cruising. Just like that. He might as well have his driver's license....double sigh...

Come On Irene

Hurricane Irene...seems like a lifetime ago but she definitely gave us a run for our money.

Phil stopped at the grocery store the night before the storm hit. We just wanted a few necessities...unfortunately so did the rest of the Tri-State area.


We lost power overnight...luckily red wine doesn't need to be refrigerated and we drank our troubles away.

When the dust (and my headache) settled, we went down to our favorite place to throw rocks into the Brandywine River. Unfortunately we discovered it was completely flooded out and we couldn't even walk down the steps to get into the park.



Poor Charlie got nailed in the forehead with a muddy river rock. Turns out defending yourself against 3 brothers can be almost as dangerous as battling a Category 1 hurricane.

Swingers

When we go to a park, we take over. Literally.

The other day we filled up the swing set with Kerpers. Phil introduced them to the concept of the Underdog - I'm still trying to convince myself that it's not possible for them to flip over the top bar.


Our toothless wonder is the happiest he can be when he's in a swing. On a separate note - that top tooth is finally popping through, so hopefully he'll soon stop looking like he was in a hockey fight.

Here's our Turkey Bird soaking in the love. Just a little pick-me-up for this gloomy Tuesday.

That Boy Sure Was A Runnin' Fool

Yesterday Cole surprised me by asking to go for a run with him. He clearly (a) Wanted some alone time with me or (b) Thought I ate too much pizza over the weekend or (c) Just wanted to go for a run. I'm thinking it was probably a little of each.

I convinved him to stop at the water tower / smoke stack so I could catch my breath.

As we were going home I took advantage of our alone-time to ask him some questions:

Me: What do you like best about me being your Mom?
Cole: I like how you hug me and kiss me and snuggle with me. And give me chocolate.
Me: Is there anything about me being your Mom that you don't like?
Cole: I don't like it when I want something and you won't give it to me. Like chocolate.

A true one-track mind. Off to buy some Hershey's and raise my cred on the 4-year old scale.

What A Year

When we found out we were pregnant with Dean, we absolutely couldn’t believe it. We didn’t even talk to each other for a few days because we couldn’t form words. We were shocked.

The pregnancy was tough due to fears of complications. I was large, grumpy, tired, working, and raising 3 kids ages 5, 3, and 1. We were stressed.

When Dean was born, Charlie wasn’t walking. Cole wasn’t potty trained. We were stretched.

I very vividly remember walking up the back steps when I came home from the hospital. I was holding the baby carrier, and the other boys were jumping all around vying for my attention. I looked at Phil with tears in my eyes and said, “I don’t think I can do this.”

Then I walked into the Living Room and Grammy was sitting on the couch with her arms outstretched for the baby (literally). And from that point on, I knew we were going to be okay because we have very special people in our lives to help us through the hard parts.

It’s been an interesting year with a lot of laughs, tears, tantrums, hugs, and sleepless nights. But mostly lessons.

Lessons about multi-tasking, prioritizing, sharing, listening, and loving. Loving our boys, and loving the people in our lives who insist on helping us even when we say we have it all under control (because the reality is we usually don’t!!)

Happy (belated) birthday to Dean. Thanks for changing our lives and bringing love and laughter to everyone you meet.

Vacay - Over.

On our last day of vacation we hit up the Atlantic City Aquarium - we go there every year because you can touch the sharks and sting rays, plus the noise level from other kids is pretty intense so we sort of blend in (sort of).





At the end we went into the Children's Garden to check out the fountain and take some pics.


As you can see, I'm the only one who was really up for the picture taking part of this experience.



We went down to the beach for the afternoon. One thing we learned on this trip...Dean absolutely loves the water. Obsessed. Can't get him out of it. It's so great to let him crawl around and play in the waves (since we're so used to carrying him around all of the time).


Another great way to keep the kids entertained...dig a hole and let the water fill it up. This kept them busy for hours, literally.


Alas, our trip to OCNJ has come to a close - a totally exhausting experience but filled with great memories.

I'm headed back to work tomorrow - I'll really miss the kids but am looking forward to drinking a cup of tea in one hand without having to apply suntan lotion / hold a baby / pour milk / juggle fire with the other hand.

Cheers!

Vacay Day 6

There's this awesome shop on the OC boardwalk (if only I remembered the name of it...) that's filled from top to bottom with pirate paraphanalia. Perfect booty for little boys that are about to go on a pirate adventure...


On the way to said adventure, there were people giving free pony rides in a parking lot. Random!


Onto the adventure. There's this company called Pirate Voyages that takes kids around the bay and does all sorts of piratey things with them. This is also known as heaven for the 4-6 year old crowd.

There were flags to be hoisted...


Treasure maps to be decoded...


And this weirdly masked guy named Pirate Pete floating in the water, leaving messages in bottles and shooting them with "seagull pee." Awesome.



After a day of pillaging on the high seas, we drove over to Wildwood to have a dip in Granny & Pop-Pop's pool and share a pizza on the boardwalk.


The evening ended with the sun setting over the ocean as we walked hand-in-hand with our family. The kids couldn't stop thanking us for everything we did for them, and we all happily laughed about the magical memories we shared that day.

Oh wait - strike that - in reality Cole had a tantrum on the boardwalk because his ice cream cone was melting too fast. Darn you reality.