As a stay at home Mom, there are days where I genuinely have no idea of the date.  Throw in the fact that it was close to sixty degrees today and I'm shocked that I didn't write April on my checks.  Honestly, it made absolutely no sense that today was January 31st!  But you'd better believe we were outside in full force.  We had two different repairs done on the house today, including a duct cleaning that took close to five hours, so we were relegated to our front and back yards.  The kids had a blast swinging, digging in the garden, playing golf, soccer and tag.  Check out little dockie doodle hanging out in his big brothers truck.  If only every winter could be like this..........

Sorry winter, but I really only like the cold and snow for about a day.  Then I'm ready to move onto spring.     

Confession

Confession time - I really like my husband.  Shocking, I know.  But what I mean is that I genuinely enjoy being with him.  I hate all this time we are spending apart instead of as a family.  He really is my best friend, and when he isn't here our world is off.  It's hard to explain, but when he left today all of us felt really upset.  Carter insisted that he was going to dig a cable with pipes that would go to Daddy's hell-tel room (seriously both of the older kids call it a hell-tel.)  Then we could go through the cables and pipes and visit him every day.  Whenever Ava is upset she has a tendency to have accidents and act out to get attention, which she definetely did this afternoon.  That leaves poor, poor baby Doc.  When he saw Daddy bringing his suitcases down he just erupted.  After Daddy left I was able to calm him down.  But every so often he would crawl over to the door and just start sobbing.  WE MISS YOU DADDY!

By the way, single moms are now my heroes.  Today while I was putting the baby to bed, Ava put Hello Kitty stickers all over the television downstairs.  Don't worry Mike, they all came off with no ill effects to the television.  We are all anxious to be together as a family again!

Moving Update

Since the beginning of January we have been living out of a suitcase, visiting various grandparents.  The purpose of this was two fold: we needed close proximity to Akron to aid in the house search and allow for a "show ready" house.  We have been SO incredibly lucky because not only have we found our dream home, but our house is now under contract!  We were on the market for four days, and it sold to the very first person who saw the it!  We are beyond happy!  At this point we have had a satisfactory inspection so fall through protection has been enacted.  Our new home has had an appraisal and as soon as it has been approved by our moving company, we will be able to move in.  We are hoping to be in our new home (with furniture) in the next two weeks!

Believe me, I know how incredibly lucky we are.  We couldn't have asked for this move to proceed any smoother and we are so thankful.

Funny Kid Stories:

When we were at Meme and Grandpap Bob's house, Ava loved to put Eddie to bed. She would turn on the sound machine, cover him in blankets and shhh everyone who walked by.   

I think Eddie appreciated the use of pinky for the week.

Ya'll I'm totally slipping.  Here is Carter enjoying his very first corn dog.  As you can imagine it was very well recieved.  (By the way, the hair band is for keeping his hair down.  He really hates "up hair."  He was also sporting an Ava hair tie as a bracelet and a homemade pony bead necklace.) 

I'm so glad that we will be able to be together during the week again.  We miss Daddy so much during the week and I know staying at a hotel is wearing on Mike.  We are nearing the end of our journey, luckily it has been a short one.  

 

Milestones

Take a look at this kid!

Today was the day!  He spent most of the day walking (running) away from me.

We visited Jumpy's today with Meme.  Carter loved playing with the air guns.  Ava loved to jump and Dawson just loved running around.  The kids had a blast and got out a lot of energy.  Usually I try to do educational things during the day, but while we are homeless I'm giving myself a free pass.

Yet another milestone:  reading.  Carter has known his letter/letter sounds for awhile and also has some sight words.  I decided to start a more structured route of teaching him to read.  He is doing wonderfully!  Today he even sounded out and independently read his first sentence:  See me eat.  I'm so proud of my boy!

What's New?

• We had a wonderful weekend with Daddy, we really really miss him during the week.  Dawson was very upset today when he left.  The older two were sad also, but it was very pathetic to hear him yelling "Dada."  Luckily things are coming together very fast and we should be moving into our new home in the next week and having our furniture delivered in two weeks! 
• The kids are LOVING having a dog in the house.  The other day I heard a loud thump and poor Eddie howled and then came sprinting out of the bedroom.  I checked on the kids and they told me "we were sledding and we landed on Eddie."  Sure enough they were taking a pillow and "sledding" off the bed!  Eddie is such a good dog.  He even gets upset with Grandpap Bob when he wrestles with Carter.  However it does remind me how I really don't want a dog right now.  HAIR, more responsibility, HAIR, something else to clean, HAIR, something else to feed and of course HAIR.  
• This happened awhile ago, but it was too funny to forget.  At the library Ava walked up to the librarian and said "I'm Ava, that's my Mom Tracey Elizabeth."  Well, thanks for the introduction!
• Dawson is working really hard at walking!  Many times he choose to independently walk instead of crawl, and was taking between 5 - 10 steps.  Any day now, he'll give up crawling, I'm sure!  Oh, and the third tooth on top has broken through.
• Then there is my Carter boy.  I must say I'm so proud of this little four year old.  He is so sweet and loving to his siblings.  The other day he told Meme he didn't want Ava to watch the television show because it had guns on it and it might scare her.  He has adjusted quickly to our temporary period of homelessness.  Of course all the root beer barrels from Nana and ice cream from Bo and Meme has helped greatly!

Play Time

At our house, the kids love to play dress up, grocery store and kitchen.

At Bo and Grandma's house the kids love to go on hikes, play in the basement and play with legos.

At Meme and Grandpap Bob's house they like to play

Bartender.

I only thought it might be a problem when I started asking Ava to identify letters on the stir sticks.

Snow Baby

Dawson's first time in the snow.  Cold, wet.  Eh, he could take it or leave it!



First Haircut

Before:  Shaggy little boy who has been called a girl by strangers, multiple times.

After:  sweet little boy with a great haircut.

Snowy Day

Wow!  11 inches is a whole lot of snow!  The kids enjoyed sledding, running, shoveling and snowballs.  Unfortunately it wasn't very good snowmen snow. 

Right now all the kids are currently suffering or recovering from a nasty cold.  Let's hope everyone will be feeling better soon!   

It was so nice to see Daddy again, we've really been missing him during the week.  Hopefully all this will change soon.

Ninja Carter - Awesome costume plus keeping cold air out of his lungs.  Poor kiddo. 

This little guy had a major change this weekend, more to come!

Fresh Air

When the weather is 41 degrees and sunny in January it is a MUST to get some fresh air. 

Our very first semi-successful car wash.  The only screamer was Dawson.  But do you notice that they are holding hands, awww.

This kid was up and down, up and down, all over the playground. 

Her favorite was the red slide and having Mommy push her on the swings, of course.

Carter is on the red slide, boy does it seem high in the air!

I'm sure the snow will be coming, but I'm going to live in my happy little bubble until then!

Transition

Right now we are in the middle of lots of upheavel and change.  Everybody is having difficulties.  Ava has completely given up any shred of being potty trained and has had about 3,245 accidents in the last three days.  In fact I asked her "doesen't it feel cold and wet when you have an accident?"  She told me, "nope it feels naughty.  I like it."  Trouble, trouble, trouble she is.  Dawson has decided that naps are for babies and he isn't a baby.  As in no naps ALL DAY LONG.  This makes for an extremely cranky baby by the afternoon.  Carter seems to be taking everything in stride, but he's had a few moments where he has asked to go back to preschool or to play with his play group friends.  Then he will get a little emotional, and we just hug. 

But, things are starting to look up.  Right now I managed to get all three sleeping (including Dawson.)  So far Ava has only had one accident this morning (with potty treats.)  We hope to be putting an offer in on a new house soon.  We have a wonderful support system, we couldn't do this without you! 

I really am an optimist at heart.     

We might need to spend a little more time explaining to Carter the nuances of life/death/heaven.  Here are two funny conversations we've had with him lately:

I was explaining to Carter that his Grandpap Shadle was a train engineer.  Carter said, "Oh, can I go to Home Depot and get a ladder.  The biggest one that they have, and I will climb up to heaven and talk to him."  Although I'm not entirely sure that Mike didn't plant the idea of buying a really tall ladder in his head!

Then today Carter and Mike were looking at bikes.  Carter asked Mike if he liked the bike and he said yes.  Then Carter told him "Well, you are too big.  But when you go to heaven, then come back as a little kid.  Then you can have this bike."  Not really sure where he got the idea of reincarnation from, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't from us!


My little conversationalist (Ava) has been cracking us up lately with her drawings.  She is starting to draw faces with arms and legs.  Then the stories start coming.  "This is Jenny Joppy, she is friends with my mudder.  She has babies little Carter, little Dawson and big Mama and Big Daddy."  She is hilarious and makes us laugh a thousand times a day. 


Then my little Dockie Doodle.  Boy, does this kid HATE the car.  Putting him in a car seat can involve screaming, crying and trying to buckle stiff as a board baby into the car seat.  Then comes the screeching, screaming and yelling.  All these upcoming trips are going to be a blast!  

We have quickly learned a staged house is no place to live with kids.  Mike is still enjoying his two week vacation, so today we decided to take the kids to Boonshoft in Dayton.  Currently there is very little for the kids to play with, so its difficult to keep them entertained.  Also, it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep the house spotlessly clean when they are around.  Boonshoft is a natural history museum for kids.  Mike kept mentioning over and over how much fun it was.  For the kids, of course.  He really is a big overgrown kid in the best way possible.  But anyways, here are some pictures we took today.

Digging for Dinosaur Bones

We considered sending them to the moon, but I thought i might miss them.

Mission Control

During our time at the museum, Mike determined Dawson had a future career as a truck driver.

Meerkat Dawson

Meerkat Ava

Dawson also took a stroll with a little help from Ava and I

Helmets with flashlights on top

  Can you tell they had a blast!  Then we all came home and enjoyed a two and half hour nap!!

Welcome 2012!

Welcome 2012!  This is going to be a challenging year full of changes and upheaval, but certainly worth it in the end.  We spent our New Year's Eve childless, thanks Mom and Dad! The kids had a two night sleep over at Meme and Grandpap Bob's house so that Mike and I could clean, paint and declutter.  Although it was not all work, we also spent time with friends and enjoyed a delicious dinner downtown.    

Here is what the kids learned from Meme and Grandpap Bob:

• Dawson yells for Eddie the dog "Eh-ye," very cute to hear!
• When Grandpap Bob asks Dawson "Who loves you?"  He says Bob Bob!
• Carter learned the term "dropped a log."  Thanks for that.
• Ava's first words in the car were "What the heck!"  Pretty sure that she's never said that before. 
• Oh, and Dawson got to enjoy his very first chocolate milk.  Apparently it was very well recieved. 

I must say, it must be nice to be a Grandparent.  Happy New Year!