Mallory's first day of school

We all survived the first day. She drew a picture of our family-me, her, and daddy-no brothers. Says a lot about how she feels about them doesn't it? Today when I picked her up sh told me they "got to play in the teacher's backyard.". Isn't that just adroable!?!

We had left over lasagna tonight. I put extra motzarella and Parmesan on mine. Before Titus was in his chair good, Mallory ask why he didn't put "Pappa John cheese" on his. I guess she is more familiar with Pappa John's pizza than Parmesan cheese.

Mallory also emptied the salt shaker today on Jackson's green beans at lunch. So, at dinner I took the opportunity to explain that cheese isn't like salt. You can never have too much cheese.

Crazy girl

GeoTagged, [N29.53958, E95.16395]

Mallory just spent 15 minutes in time out. I know that is long for a four year old but this little turkey deserved a lot more. It all started with her bringing me the canister of brown sugar open. I asked her how it got opened and she said it just opened by itself. Then she tried to say the brothers did it. When I told I knew she did it, she said "did you see me open it?" I wanted to laugh. I wanted to beat her so she got time out. Started at four minutes. She argued with me about where to sit and got another minute. I set the timer on my phone. The little turkey kept getting up to watch tv. I told her every time she got up she'd get another minute. We were now at six. So what does she do but get right back up and stand in front of the tv. Then she turned around and smiled at me!!! She did this over and over until we got to fifteen minutes! Little monster is just doing her part to prepare me for 7th graders. :)

I just love this picture

These are 18 month shorts, but they are hand-me-downs from JJ so they fit kinda long on my littlest man.

Chatterboxes

The boys have been sayin so many new words and phrases lately. James saw Jackson sitting on Mallory's little desk and told him, "ge dow". Of course when he grabbed Jackson by his diaper and pulled him off it really got the point across. Jackson said luv you yesterday. I'm gonna miss being with them to see all the cuteness. I'm not gonna miss the fits and fights and crying for no reason...of course I won't miss it. I'll have to deal with 7th graders doing the same garbage!

Bible school

Mallory was old enough this year to go to Bible school at my parents' church. They have it in the evenings so she is staying with them all week. In other words, one last relaxing week before school starts back. I've always said the boys are the easy part of having twins. It's their big sister that gives me grief. It's so "quiet" without my Mallory. Of course, I realize quiet is a relative term these days. With two 17 month old boys and a puppy, I'm the only weirdo that would call this craziness quiet. Oh well, as long as I'm happy in my alternate universe, right?

We did get Mallory a spot reserved in the preschool we wanted today. Now we just have to get her 4 year old shots. I'm not looking forward to that. Maybe her daddy will take her?

Our trip to Longview

We decided to take the Honda even though it was a tight fit. I was afraid to stress out my old van by driving all that way. We drove up on Friday night after Titus got off, so the kids slept most of the way. They didn't really rest, but they slept and that ws good enough for me. It rained so hard yesterday morning! We did time it pretty good gettin to the wedding, right in between down pours. It was a very pretty wedding and it was really good to see so many of the Cavels at one time. Usually Titus drags all over the place to visit this one or that one, but we didn't have to do that this time. The kids were ready for a nap pretty early into the reception so we decided to take the boys back to the hotel for a nap. On a side note...don't stay at La Quinta in Longview if you have more than one baby, they only hav one crib. At least we found out before we left home and took the play pen. Anyway, we got ready to leave and the bottom fell out. Titus made three trips out to the car to shuttle the kids and got SOAKED. We got to the hotel with little adventure. He and Mallory changed and went shopping so me and the boys could get a nap. When we woke up, we went to Papacita's. Not myfavorite Mexican food, but one that I miss. We had dinner with Thomas and Shauna. Our kids are always so good when we go out. Strangers even come up to us and compliment their behavior. But not last night. They had stored up all their bad behaviors for that one meal! It was awful!!! I'm sure it wasn't that bad for those around us. It was probably what you would expect to see and hear from a table with five small children, but since we are so used to them being so good it was very painful. We did get to visit a little in between cleaning up and getting on to the kids.
Today we went to visit friends at our old church Hope Community. We got there just in time for the Spanish service. They have the English service at 9:30. Oh well. I wouldn't have been able to get us all up and out by then. We did get to visit with a few friends and then headed to The Butchershop for lunch with Aunt Denise. It was so good to see her. Again all the kids were getting sleepy so we packed up and headed home. To my surprise all three were asleep before we made it to Kilgore. It was wonderful! We are almost home and they've been really good all squished up in the backseat for over four hours. They are wathing Jon and Kate Plus Eight on DVD because Mallory gets to choose. I don't know why that is still her favorite show. She asks why it doesn't come on TV any more. I guess I'll have to explain about divorce when she starts to school so I'll tell her about them splitting up soon. Now we are headed to Mom's so Mallory can go to Bible school at their church this week. I think I'm more excited than anyone else.

James with Paw Paw hair before his haircut

How teaching 7th grade has prepared me for raising toddlers

The last month of school I started making a list of things I said to both my little ones at home and again at school.

Don't throw that
Take that out of your mouth
Keep your hands to yourself
Sit in that chair right
Don't pull hair
Put your shirt on right
Don't hit
Keep your voices down
That is not a nice word
No pushing
Share
Play nice
Don't touch that
Don't play with scissors
Turn around and walk right
No squealing in here
No jumping, walking or standing on or over the furniture
Don't put make up on him
Ask me again and see what you get

Who knew children under the age of four and 7th graders had so many misbehaviors in common?!?

Things kids say

Mallory just told me that somebody's sidewalk was all craped up and the barbage truck had to come fix it. To translate into real English...there was a water main break in our neighborhood and they had to tear up the side walk and the city's big work truck had to come fix it. Learning to translate stuff like that...Yet another way that teaching 7th grade has prepared me for raising toddlers!

Jackson likes to read

Jackson has discovered books this week. It's a good thing we have a good variety. Today we have read the Bible, Mother Goose, Farm Animals, Boats, and Planes. The Bible is his fav so far. It has the most pages. While I was reading books with Jackson, Mallory yells, "James has the scissors." It doesn't take long for things to get out of hand around here. In the last thirty minutes I have cleaned up red glitter all over the kitchen floor, chased the dog out the front door and back into the house three times, read with Jackson, taken scissors from James, and checked the mail. Not all in that order. I can't really remember what order they occured. Is it nap time yet?

Responsibility

Some days I really hate how much Mallory is like me. This child will do anything not to go to bed. Tonight she has to "breast feed" her baby. I'm laying in bed and she comes in here with one of my bras, her big boy baby, and a towel. This little girl told me, "I have to use this towel to cover my body while I breastfeed. It's my responsibility." Where does she get stuff like this?

Can you see how cute her hair is now?

Poor Jackson

Poor baby woke up from his nap Friday just screaming. Not just fussy, but SCREAMING. It was awful! I didn't know what to do for him. He was crying so hard he threw up. That's when I called Titus to come home and help me take them to the doctor. He had fluid in one ear and got an antibiotic. Saturday he was better, but Sunday he was real fussy and still running a little fever. And then...he cried all night long!!! Titus finally got him to settle down and sleep about 6 am. We have all been exhausted since. He was better today, though and neither of the boys ran fever today.

We were late to swim lessons Monday morning, but it was ok because the other kids in her group weren't there. She got private lessons without having to pay for them. Mallory went in the deep end on the noodle. She is doing well, but still wants to hold on to the instructor the whole time.

Daddy's day off is also Mommy's day off. I got to take a nap all by myself and had a whole day with out changing a poopie diaper. We decided to take the kids out for...what would you call the meal at 3pm? Anyway, every thing was going great. We were the only table there and the kids were all being good. As usual we had a spilled coke, but you'll never guess who spilt it. ME!!! All I could do was laugh. At least we hadn't gotten our food and just a little got on Mallory's shorts.

So we finished lunch with little excitement and decided to go get all the kids a haircut. That is such a big job. I can't, more like refuse, to take them by myself. They all did so good. Mallory has been having a hard time keeping her hair brushed so I talked to her about cutting it shorter. It is so cute.

Poor James was having "Paw Paw hair." Jackson's curls were long and out of control. I wouldn't let them cut it as short as James's, but it is a lot shorter than it was. They all look so cute!

The word of the day...

is POOP!!! I think Aiden has eaten too much people food and got the runs. I can't remember how many accidents of his I cleaned up today. Mallory and I gave him a bath and washed his crate to improve the smell. The boys each had poop every time I changed a diaper. They also ended the day in just a diaper after playing in the dog's food and water bowls that I just cleaned and refilled. They climbed up on the couch with me and their clothes were all wet. Jackson had it in his hair and had dog breath from snacking on the dog food. Somewhere inbetween all these adventures, Mallory had time to spill a red snocone on the carpet in the boys' room. I feel like I cleaned up one mess after another and I didn't even get to my regular cleaning like the dishes.



Mallory started swimming lessons this morning. She goes for half an hour Monday-Thursday this week and next. She did really good. There were two other little kids...like between ages 2 and 4. The teacher had them swim with the kick board and noodle. They jumped off the side of the pool and learned to "crab walk" on the side of the pool. Mallory liked it and is excited about going back. She looked so cute in her polka dot bikini!

Not quite as good as this morning

The outfit tonight wasn't quite as good as this morning's, but with the same glasses.

Remember this one? When she was two...always been my little diva!

Maybe this will be easier for me to keep up with!?!

I know MoMo and Aunt Cathy are tired of getting my text messages with all the crazy pics and weird adventures of the moment. So maybe, I can post all these events on here and let you all take a look once in a while.

Mallory looked so cute getting ready for church this morning. I wish I had gotten a picture of her all dressed up. She is way into picking out her own clothes and it's a big event these days when she gets to leave the house. Since I'm off work I refuse to get out in the heat if I don't have to. She wanted to wear her black and white capri outfit she got for her birthday. It has little sparkles around the neckline. She picked out a bracelet that had some black beads, her pink watch, and silver sparkly Hanna Montana sunglasses! She was way fancy this morning. She wanted to wear tennis shoes, which I don't understand, but I talked her into white sandals. I'll have to ask if I can take her picture tonight before we go to group.

They are all getting so big! Jackson has figured out he can get my attention by yelling "Mama!!!" It's so cute this week, but I know it will get old real fast. James is just so adventurous and wild these days. He is really trying to walk more. He has discovered the greatness of standing on Mallory's step stools and being able to reach what is up on the counters. I found him on the Dora stool in the kitchen last night munching on a cereal bar Mallory left out. That boy don't play when it comes to food. Poor little Jackson has to fight for his fair share of the meals around here. He is just a slower eater like his mommy. James will reach over and snatch whatever he wants off Jackson's tray. I have to really be careful how close the highchairs are together and pay attention to how much I give each of them. I just love to watch them! I will hate to go back to work and be away from them!