Good Bye...

Today is our very last day of summer vacation! I am so sad and so excited. Wyatt and I talked for a bit yesterday about how he has been at a new school every year he has been in school. I was feeling like a really bad mother for throwing his life into chaos--again. He told me he thought it was cool he had so many different schools... I guess every thing will be OK.

The kids have been fighting nonstop for a week and a half. I know it is time to go back to school so they can appreciate each other after being apart all day. However, I am so worried about them starting at a new school. Will they make friends? Will they have good teachers? Will they eat all of their lunches?

I wish we had some thing wild and fun planned for our last day but we don't. We are going to clean the house, set out school clothes, back-packs and lunches, make a yummy dinner, take a bath and go to bed--really early. That's it!

Why am I so nervous?!?

Need a Cheerleader?

I have two.

Clare is always cheering. On Wednesday Wyatt started soccer and even though it was just practice, Clare could not help calling out in support of her big brother. Adell is learning the cheering ropes quickly. She knows how to shout and will cheer along with Clare when ever--where ever.

You can do anything with these two cheering you on.

One day I was a good Mom...

We spent an afternoon exploring our new town's Downtown one day. We went to the library, walked to a pizza place for lunch and then walked to a cool candy store for a treat. We went into this candy store and my kids eye balls fell out of their heads. Imagine the scene we made with me trying to scoop up four different sets of eye balls before the store patrons mistook them for gumballs. My kids walked around with dazed looks and drool pouring out of their open mouths. They were too excited to even speak for a few minutes (and what lovely moments those were...)

Like kids in a candy shop. It was great.

We managed to leave the store (with everyone's eye balls) only $10 dollars lighter and several lolly pops heaver. When we got outside I noticed a sign advertising "Wacky Wednesdays--wear a wacky hat or do a silly dance and get 10% off your purchase!" It was a Wednesday--I could have saved a dollar!

I think we've moved to a charming new town. I am looking forward to exploring more.

Cramped--or the story of our most recent move...

There are harder things in life than having to live with four active children in a three bedroom apartment--much, much, much harder things. Moreover, I know living in that apartment for a year was a financial life-saver that enabled Will to really get his company off the ground. Finally, I have friends who are still living in an apartment with many children so I am going to try really hard not to complain about this whole ordeal. (Wish me luck.)

We moved into our apartment knowing we would live there for a year at the most. We even told people we would start looking for another house to rent in six months. But we've been on the "start-up" roller coaster ride for a long time and our roller coaster hit some seriously heart stopping drops while we lived in our apartment--making it financially sensible to stay in the apartment as long as possible.

"As long as possible" turned out to be about four months shorter than we planned when an ongoing conflict between us and our downstairs neighbors over noise did not end up going our way. The short story of the conflict is that they were three single ladies who liked to party at night and sleep in the morning. We were a family with four very active children who were in bed at 8 pm and out of bed at 7 am. A recipe for a constant case of the stress-hives if ever I've seen one. Our landlords were also raising the rent to unreasonable rates so it was time to move.

We started our search in the neighborhood of our apartment so the kids could stay at their same school--no places for rent. We expanded the search to include our old-old neighborhood and new neighborhoods in our area--no places for rent. Well, there were places to rent, they were just dives and offered at crazy-high prices. So we expanded our search...

Finally, we ended up looking at neighborhoods across the Bay--gasp! Knowing it would mean a long commute for Will but more affordable housing for us. Sure enough we found a house we loved and in a community we knew we would love.

This move was a bit of a fire-sale compared to our last move. Every thing fell into place very quickly and we were loading up the u-haul three weeks after we got our very first look at our new place--lickety-split.

In the few weeks before we moved we told our friends, teachers, classmates, fellow church congregation members, doctors, piano teacher, and a few strangers about our departure. We were floored with the response those near-and-dear gave us. They were legitimately upset to hear we were leaving! Which was hard because we were sad to be leaving too. I guess when you've lived in a place for so long it feels like home people will miss you if you go.

There are about a thousand things I miss about living on the peninsula and a lot of them are the friends we made. Happily, we are not that far away--Will makes the drive ever day. So we still get to see our friends, it just takes more gasoline.

Happier still, we seem to have landed in a wonderful spot. We are making good friends here too. The schools are great and the landscape is beautiful. The weather has been comfortable and we are getting to know the community bit, by bit.

Swimming...

The kids have really embraced swimming this summer. Wyatt's water confidence has shot through the roof. Last summer he wouldn't get in the water with out a floatation device, goggles, and a parent in arms reach--this summer he is jumping into the deep end with nothing on but his swim suit.

Adell is a fish. She wants to be in the pool every second we are there. And when we are in the water she is doing every thing she can to drowned. She tries to peel my fingers off her waist when I am holding her. She flops and dives backwards into the water. She is happiest when she is just holding onto my fingers--letting her body twist and curl like a ribbon in the wind.

Lorien is beyond confident. She is exploring new water skills every day. I should probably put her in swim team but I am too lazy. I don't think I have the endurance to do daily swim practices and meets. Yes, much to lazy.

Clare is still pretty scared of the water. She doesn't like to be splashed and only gets in with a floaty around her waist. But she still has a great time.

Yay for swimming. Yay for summer. Yay for exhausted children who sleep well at night.

When kids have a camera...

When I got my new camera, our old camera became the kids camera. Using the video setting, they quickly filled the memory card up with "news" segments. Those were some fascinating bits of information...little gems like: "The world has been turned upside down!" (Shouted as the camera boy turned the camera upside down on his anchorwoman. I am not even sure where my kids got the idea to put together news segments since I never watch the news--too depressing!

Anyway, since I broke my new camera (I really cannot get over this) I've been using our old camera. But the kids still have free reign with the old camera and when they use it they are still pumping out quality images like the following:

Check out how the super-flash highlights his baby-boy beard. Adorable.

If there are times in this girls life where she is NOT being a princess--I am not a witness to them.

The kids (Wyatt in this case) have a knack for taking photos when no one is ready...except Clare...who is always camera ready.

I cannot remember why I was holding this book upside down? I think there was some thing stuck to the back of the book? Anyway, I do remember reading the book to Clare. I don't think it was upside down when I read it. Who knows?

The kids also have a knack for capturing the comforting mess that fills our house 24 hours a day. They have no eye for angles or how to minimize the "Hoarding: Buried Alive" look our home some times takes on.

Cross this one off...

Oh those pesky "To Do" lists! I have a hard time prioritizing all the things I should, could, and would be doing every day. I always seem to get caught up in the "thick of thin things". I just love that phrase. It describes my every day so well...I should be ashamed of how well it describes my every day.

I've been wanting to get a couple of blog posts up about our summer (we've had a pretty great one so far) and a couple of post up about our move (it was interesting). But one thing after another has taken priority. I am not sure if the things I am doing are the "thin things" or wishing I had time to blog is a "thin thing". Either way, blogging isn't happening as regularly as it used to.

I have one awesome excuse in that I broke our camera. I am a big fan of pictures on my blog and I have about 500 pictures stuck on my memory card--ready for the old blog--but no way of getting them off the memory card with out my camera. (Note to self: add "buy a card reader" to the "To Do" list.)

I do have a few pictures from the 4th of July I found our old-old camera in our unpacking and we used it for the 4th of July. I'll have to back date a post about the 4th--because we are American--wicked American.

I did get one fun item crossed off my "To Do" list. After weeks of packing and unpacking I took some time to make a couple of pillows for our couches. I love 'em. They are the two middle pillows behind my darling daughters tush. I am proud of them and I make Will give me compliments on my handy work every time he comes home from the office.

Now you can give me compliments too...go ahead.

By the way, thanks for the supportive comments on the last post. Writing about the melt-down was good therapy for my stressed-out-Momma soul. And validation from my Momma-friends was balm for my wounded vanity. You are all a bunch of peaches.

Just Words...

This isn't the post I wanted to have up on my blog as my first post after successfully finding my lost camera*. I wish I was writing about the kids last days of school, our packing and moving out of our little apartment, our big lovely new home with space for every one, our days at the beach, the park and the baseball game...

No, this is not any of those posts...

This is the post of how I lost it completely tonight--completely lost it--as in throwing the MOTHER of all tantrums while my terrified children looked on.

When I was a teenager a trusted, elderly, gentleman (you could call him a Patriarch) told me one day I would have a home where "kindness and patience are the rule of life." I've spent a lot of time cursing that "patience" bit. Why couldn't it have been "kindness and love" or "kindness and compassion" or how about "kindness and money beyond your wildest dreams"? Yhea, why not that last one?

I am disastrously handicapped in the "patience" department. All of my fuses are short and for some reason becoming a Mother has not helped in extending my fuses. Mr. Anderson would never use the descriptive phrase "cool-headed" to describe his wife. "Crazy as a bag of snakes" is much more likely to leap to his mind if asked to describe me. (Second only to the phrase "sexiest woman in the world"--perhaps this is why we have so many kids?)

So why would I ever have a home where "kindness and patience are the rule of life"?!?

What happened, you ask? Just the usual craziness at dinner time.

My least favorite time of the day is right before dinner time--starting at about 4:30 pm I'd say. That is when the kids are tired and hungry and dinner still needs to be made. All through the dinner prep time they are fighting or harassing their mother with questions like "What are we having for dinner?" Then when they see the dinner set on the table (with very, very, very few exceptions--like candy) they always start complaining about the food. Then there is the dinner-time-bargaining session where they try to bid their way out of eating any actual dinner. "Can I not eat the potatoes? Can I eat 5 more bites and be done? If I scatter my food all over my plate and on the table will that count as eating it?"

It is exhausting...times 10.

So tonight, we've gone through the first little bit of our dinner-time fencing match and I am about to set dinner on the table. I see the table is covered in the craft project I asked one kid to take care of earlier. Also, the path to the table is covered in magnolia leaves that another kid has just dragged inside to make a "snail habitat". (Really? A snail habitat? I've got a snail habitat for you--it's called: outside. You should check it out some time.)

I start telling the various children to take care of their messes. They are ignoring me. The baby falls off the bench at the table and cracks her head on our tiled floors (the only thing I do not love about our new house). Aaaaaaannnnnddddd BAM! I go berserk.

I scoop up the screaming 20 month-old and start chucking things off the table. Zip--there goes the craft magic model fusion stuff. Whack--the Wii remote gets flung across the room. Crash--my one arm clears the table of whatever paper, books, crayons and ziplock baggies are left while my other arm keeps the baby on my hip. "Uh-oh ppay-doe" says the baby.

More crashing, banging and general mess making happens as I slam closed all the open cupboard doors in the kitchen and rip out the drawers for silverware. In my head I am cursing like a sailor and saying useful things to myself like "If no one else cares about having a clean house--then neither do I! I need some forks--this is a spoon--slam--throw it across the kitchen."

It was awful...awfully therapeutic. My Mother used to say she wanted a cement room where she could just go and break dishes when she was frustrated. One sweet friend even brought my Mother a box of old plates to get her started. I never got that part of my Mom until tonight. I would have loved to smash every dish in our house. Too bad I mostly own plastic IKEA dishes...

I kicked over the full trash can. "Uh-oh twwasssh" said the baby on my hip. I threw the (plastic) plates on the table. I tossed a dining room chair into the living room. I (gently) put the baby in her high chair--my tantrum had calmed her waaaaay faster than any hugs and kisses ever have. I slopped food onto the kids plates, shouted out "Dinner is ready!" and locked myself in my room because obviously, I needed a time-out.

Then I cried.

My poor horrified children slid comforting-love-notes under my door with words like: "Careful, you might love this! Thanks so much for all you do! I love you!" (from Lorien) and "Thank you so much mom. Thank you for all the dinners. Thank you for all the family trips. I love you. Thank you for being a great mom." (from Wyatt) and "I love you! Love, Clare" (from Clare).

Then Will came home--to the mess and the horrified children. (Who were not eating their dinner!)

Right now, I can hear them all cleaning up my tantrum. I am trying to feel bad about them having to clean my messes for once--but I am not having much luck. I am also trying to find the courage to go out and apologize for my tantrum. That might have to wait until tomorrow.

I am putting myself to bed early tonight.

*I found my camera--then I dropped it twice while we were out on a hike. Now it wont turn on. Rats.

Another 4th of July!

Our new town has a whopper of a 4th of July parade every year. We sat with some new friends and enjoyed the sun and sights. The week leading up to the 4th was cold and wet. It even rained one day--pouring rain--which is very unusual for this time of year. By the time the 4th rolled around the rain was gone and the summer was ready to start!

The kids loved seeing the parade but we left a little early. The sun was a little too strong and our bums were tired of sitting on the sidewalk.

Later in the afternoon our cousin's came over for dinner. Clare and Andrew were in charge of shucking the corn for dinner. When they were finished, Clare held open the trash bag while Andrew filled it up with corn husks...they make a great team.

We watched fireworks and got to bed late.

Parade, BBQ and fireworks--pretty classic stuff!

We moved...

Disorder, chaos, boxes and misplaced items have been the story of our life for the last month; more over, it has been the reason I haven't updated the blog.

I'd love to write all about it and post pictures of my cutie-pie kids in our new place--but I cannot find my camera. I will find it...maybe.

For now, accept my apologies and remind me which box I put the camera in.