Hoping to get our Sleep back

Amy's new school had a picnic the other night. We were excited to meet her teacher and other kids in her class.... only we didn't get to. The kindergardeners won't be assigned their classes until after their screening. So we won't know who Amy's teacher is until Tuesday. Bummer. In fact, for us, the picnic was really kind of pointless. It was super hot out, we didn't know anyone (except a few awesome friends from church) and it lasted until past their bedtime, so everyone was waaaay worn out.

I brought the camera hoping to get a picture of Amy and her teacher. But since that didn't happen, I only pulled it out once. This particular park recently got a new, massively huge and nice play area. This swing holds ton of kids and somehow they conned some older kid to push them. Amy's best friend, Dallin, is in the dark blue shirt. His brother, Caleb, is in the light blue. We hang out with them a LOT. The other day Amy said, "Are you and Dallin's mom friends?" I said, "yes, of course, why do you think we always hang out with them?" Amy said, "I don't know. I just thought me and Dallin were friends." I guess it hadn't occurred to her that when they play, Linda and I also hang out/talk/laugh uncontrollably, etc.

 

Amy starts school next week.... am I ready?? In one word, YES. I never thought I would be. I thought I'd be that mother that was sobbing at the fact that her baby was going to school. Yeah, not so. I am SOOOOO ready. She is getting so bored at home and in return is driving us all nuts. The age difference between her and Will has never been a problem until this summer. But they just aren't on the same level and it's hard to entertain them both, along with a newborn. Years ago, I remember Aunt Donna telling me that when it came time for Amy to go to school, I wouldn't mind it because I would know that she was ready. Well, that is completely true!! She needs stimulation far beyond what I can/have the time to teach her. 

Her recent thing is that she's starting to write words phonetically. 

Here she wrote "jungle"  (she knew her J was backwards)

"I'm a Dog"

There have been others, but I think they got thrown away. Between her and Will, I think we must be 30 drawings a day. No one send these kids toys anymore- we have an entire play room, and what do they want to do all day?? Color. That's it. They never even touch their toys.

And I thought this was funny.... Amy stole the camera and had a million pictures of her jungle drawing. Then she took a picture of herself.

My friend also told me about some early reader books. They are called "BOB books" and they are great. I haven't had much time to work with her and reading. Since she knows all of her sounds, she's pretty good at sounding things out, but these break it down even more. They are just basic, "Bob. Bob sat. Mat. Mat sat" etc type words but she really likes them. She flew through the first 5 and every night she reads another. (there are 12 in the 1st set). They build on each other so by the end, they are reading sentences. Anyhow, we are really enjoying them. And since Will also knows his sounds, once Amy goes to school, I can't wait to work with him too.

I heard Tyler fussing and came out to see this. Ummm... I guess we should start strapping him in!!

Actually, he rolled over last week and has now done it both ways, front to back, back to front. When I told this to Mom she was like, "Oh ok....." Then a few minutes later she said, "How old is he now?" I said, "3 months." She said, "Oh then he is right on schedule. For a moment I thought that he should have done that a long time ago, I always think he's older than he is." It's true, Tyler is an old soul. Sometimes he even looks like an old man. But in this lifetime, he's only 3 months, so rolling over now is right on schedule. haha. We actually think that he can't wait to be mobile. When you hold him he squirms like crazy and he's always kicking and moving. No doubt trying to keep up with his siblings!!

And Will?? Well, he's driving us nuts. Sooooo much energy! He likes to pick on everyone (Amy) and make them cry (Tyler). His cute face is seriously the only thing that keeps him alive sometimes. He's talking so much and it's so cute to hear him jabber. And jabber he DOES! He still won't wear pants, but I'm just glad he keeps his diaper on.

Lee finished his summer semester yesterday. He liked the class (Crime Scene Investigation) and I think he's slotted to teach it again next summer. It'll be nice to have him home this month before the college starts at the end of the month. This morning, he and Amy had a tea party while watching the Olympics (the rest of us were taking a nap). How adorable was that!?

Speaking of the Olympics... is anyone else ready for them to be over?? We are, just so we will finally get some sleep! We are soooo addicted and stay up way to late every night watching them. We even know what's going to happen and we STILL stay up late watching. Late nights and kids that won't sleep past 6am is not a good combination! One more week and we'll get our sleep back. haha.