mommy at school

it's difficult for me to be present in the boys' classrooms regularly with wyatt having therapy every morning. it takes some coordination and hoping that our beloved babysitter is able to come and help wyatt out while i sneak over to school. well, lucky me, i was able to do this for both isaiah and mikey last week. both of them were thrilled that mommy was coming to school. maybe since i can't do it often, it's becomes something special and more exciting for them. i'll keep telling myself that.

isaiah had been working on his first big presentation for about a week. his assignment was to teach his class a lesson for 15 minutes. it could be about any topic he chose, or he could even teach them how to make a craft of cook a simple dish. he chose to teach his class about one of his passions - brazillian jiu-jitsu. we are taking a hiatus from the sport right now, but before the break he had been practicing for 4 years. so he was excited to share one of his favorite sports with his class.

he had his outline and notes and was a nervous wreck beforehand. it's horrible of me, but i was certain he would bomb it. but as soon as he got up there, it was like second nature to him. he spoke so clearly and confidently and had his audience engaged and participating the entire time. when he asked for volunteers, lots of hands popped up.

his classmates got out of their seats to watch him demonstrate some moves and he was just thrilled. 

and so were they. 

i watched from a distance and he didn't once look up at me for reassurance or approval. but i could feel him telling me, "it's ok. i got this, mom." and he sure did. as soon as he finished, he was still up in the front of the class, but he looked right at me with a huge grin and gave me a thumbs up. i was so incredibly proud of him and the confident, enthusiastic young man he is becoming.

the next day, i spent the morning with mikey and his class for kindergarten field day. now this little guy was so excited that i was going to help out, he woke up every morning 'til and counted down the days. "good morning, mommy! two more days 'til field day!"

finally the day came, and he was a happy little monkey.

it was fun seeing him interact with his friends and also meeting some of their moms.

there was lots of racing.

and jump rope snakes.

and bubble blowing.

and sidewalk chalk drawings. 

and parachute play.

'twas a fun, fun day shared with mister mikey.

so happy i was able to be there with him.

lunch money and life lessons

buying a hot lunch at the cafeteria is, well, totally awesome. i get that. the boys get to choose two days every week to buy a hot lunch and on the other three days, i'll pack a lunch for them. it's always a huge, exciting ordeal for them to read the menu and choose which two days they will buy. dominos pizza on friday is usually a given.

i let michael buy a hot lunch on his very first day of kindergarten and he couldn't stop raving about it. then on the following days that he would buy lunch, i'd pick him up and he'd have a huge grin on his face. he'd say, "guess what i have in my hat?" and then yank his hat off of his head and a package of cookies or crackers that came with his hot lunch would fall out. then both of us would giggle about it the entire walk home. awesome.

wanna know why it's awesome? because he hasn't yet figured out that, on top of buying lunch two days per week, he has the entire spread of breakfast items and snacks and chips and anything in the cafeteria that his little tummy could wish for at his fingertips, literally. the kids access their lunch accounts with a fingertip scan, so they don't need punch cards or anything ancient like that.

isaiah, on the other hand, is a veteran hot lunch buyer and knows the ins and outs of this lunch account business. he knows that if he has time before the bell rings after i drop him off in the morning, he can go into the cafeteria and grab a muffin for breakfast. he knows that at morning recess, he can run into the cafeteria and buy a bag of chips. then, he'll go in at lunch time and buy his hot lunch.

tap. tap. tap. he goes finger tap happy. in the later part of last school year, we told him that he could buy a snack once a week with the money we deposit. if he wants snack on any other day, he'd have to use his allowance. he was totally ok with that and it worked out well.

i think we need to go over the lunch account rules with him again.

i dropped him off this morning and told him that he was buying lunch today, not by his choice but because i didn't have time to make his lunch this morning. he said, "aww, mom. i don't have enough money in my lunch account and i'm going to get labor." in third grade, the kids are expected to be responsible for their lunch accounts, know how much money they have left and replenish if they need to. if they need to "charge" a lunch, they get assigned "labor", which is wiping cafeteria tables and picking up trash.

i knew i deposited $20 just two weeks ago, which should last 8 hot lunches - four weeks if we followed our rules. it's only been two weeks. i immediately knew he was buying snacks. so i looked at him and said, "why don't you have any money left? i just put $20 in your account." he drops his head and replies, "i've been buying snacks." so i said, "then it's not my problem if you get labor." and he said, "okay." and shut the door and ran to his classroom.

so i drove off and immediately started to feel like a shitty mom. i thought about bringing a check to the cafeteria. i thought about packing him a lunch and leaving it in the office. but then i went online and checked his lunch account.

apparently, my kid has a thing for flaming hot munchies. or just munchies, in general, because he bought six bags in ten days. i don't know what a buttermilk bar is but is sure sounds good, so maybe i don't blame him.

but the point is, he's been spending his lunch money like it's going out of style. i immediately lost sympathy for him and decided to let him "labor". and anyway, i think one day of cleaning the cafeteria during lunch recess will serve a better lesson than me saving him by bringing a check to replenish his funds. mommy isn't always gonna be there to save your ass, buddy. you need to pay attention to where your money is going.

embrace the camera ~ aug 22

i'm embracing the camera with my kindergartener and third grader today!

and this is how daddy likes to embrace the camera with his boys...

i just could not wait for school to start. last week was their first week, and with the temperatures hitting nearly 1,000*, i was happy that they were in their classroom doing something fun {under someone else's supervision} and not at home nagging me about who's coming over? or whose house we are going to? or what are we doing today? or whyyyy can't we play outside and attempt to get heat stroke?

i hope all the kiddos have a great start to their new school year!

skool is kool

the big boys started school last monday, so this post is a little late. what's new, right? (btw, i realize i haven't posted in over a month. but i'm just going to start right up again and pretend like my unplanned hiatus never happened. ok, thanks. i knew you'd understand.)

isaiah started third grade and, well, he's pretty much over me. i'm no longer allowed to walk him to class. i have to stop a minimum of three doors down from his classroom and use sign language to tell him "goodbye" and "i love you". then, i have to discreetly separate myself from him as to not draw any attention to ourselves in the hallway. i do all of that, as directed by my 8-year-old baby boy, and also shed sad tears of longing as i turn and walk down the hallway toward michael's classroom. i'm totally exaggerating. sort of. maybe.

michael started kindergarten and he was really excited about that. he hit the ground running when he stepped onto that kinder playground and was ready to take on the world. {insert sinister laugh here} i'm excited that he's excited. his excitement for school is all i could ever ask for. and at least he still lets me hug and kiss him goodbye. that's really all i can ask for.

friends

a dear friend of mine texted this picture of our boys to me. they are one of the first families we met when we moved here to tracy. jake was 3 years old and isaiah was 4 when we met.

it's fun to watch them grow up and experience childhood together. sometimes, they fight and bicker like brothers - a sure sign of a wonderful friendship! :)

Sent from my Verizon Wireless smartphone

8 is great!

last friday, this chubby-chub-chub little baby turned EIGHT years old. 

 

every year, isaiah's birthday stirs up bittersweet feelings. he's my first born. the one who changed my life. the one who made me a mother. and there will just always be something to say about that. 

he and his brother woke up on his birthday morning to balloons in their bedroom. i think mikey was more excited about this than isaiah. 

i was thrilled to be able to spend a little time in isaiah's classroom for a celebration with his classmates. 

we brought some birthday treats and he was excited to give "balloons" to his friends.

(they were just balloon cutouts taped to squiggly straws.) 

we even had a chance to spend some time with our favorite abris trio.

we took him out for dinner, then picked up a movie and cake.

he's got his "excited" face down, don't you think?

the three stooges that i have the pleasure of living with.

lucky me.

this kid is such a goofball. he never lets me get a good picture.

the next day was spent with his grandma, aunt and uncle. we enjoyed some arcade games and mini golf. the birthday boy and his brothers thoroughly enjoyed putting around on the green. 

until they were over it. which is when they started to just pick the balls up, drop them in the holes, then scream "YAYYYY!"

that works, too, i guess. 

and they ended the day with some brotherly quality time. 

 it was a fun few days for all. 

'til next year, birthday boy!

embrace the camera - jan 12

the bigs and i checked the weather online this morning and then couldn't resist some morning sillies in front of the camera.

isaiah and mikey are into exposing the whites of their eyes. 

but they aren't skilled enough to do it without using their hands...yet.

i love how liam is getting silly with his brothers in these pictures.

on another note, he is transitioning to full-day preschool today - 9a-2pm! 

wishing my sweet boy an extra great day.

embracing the camera with the anderson crew!

photo-a-day #11: slow-dancing

wyatt isn't walking yet, but he truly thinks he can. he loves being "walked" around the house by anyone willing. here is is slow-dancing in the kitchen with isaiah.

yes, i'm aware he needs a haircut. his hair already so closely resembles a mullet, shawn and i have decided to go all the way with it. like, full-on, billy ray cyrus, achy breaky heart mullet. yessir. wait for it.

monday shtuff

hello, monday!

it's always great to wake up on a monday morning. 

i usually wake up startled because i look at the clock and it reads 7:34 {as was the scenario this morning}. we are usually out the door by 7:45, so it's pretty safe to say that 7:34 is late. i jump out of bed thinking it's going to be world war three to get these kids out of bed, fed and dressed. to my surprise, i find isaiah and mikey sitting on the sofa watching a pokemon show, completely dresssed {jackets, shoes, backpacks, lunch bags and all} and ready for school.

{theme to twilight zone playing in the background}

me: umm...you guys are dressed.

isaiah: yep.

me: did you brush?

isaiah: yep.

mikey: wanna see my teeth? {shoots me a big grin.}

me: did you eat breakfast?

isaiah: yeah. i had a blueberry waffle and mikey had cocoa puffs. 

me: umm...uh...umm..ok. {thinking up my speech that i'll recite when i'm awarded my mother of the year trophy} thanks, isaiah.

isaiah: don't worry, mom. you still have time. it's only 7:35.

my seven-year-old son is a better mother than i. 

this said seven-year-old also came home from school on friday and made a batch of his favorite peanut butter cup cookies to share with his brothers. again - a better mother than i.

while my son is taking care of my children, i busy myself with lots of fun crafting. this weekend, i made a bunch of reusable cloth baby wipes. i use cloth diapers for liam and wyatt, but never went all the way with cloth wipes, as well, though i always wanted to make some. i was motivated by my sister-in-law {and BIL}, who is expecting in march. her shower is this weeekend and i was super pleased to find on her gift registry that she is also planning to cloth diaper, and all the way down to the wipes. awesome in my book.

any-shways, when i saw that one of the things on her registry was washable flannel wipes...it was so on. i made a ton of them using the boys' receiving blankets and it costs me $free.99. my favorite price. also so comforting to know that the receiving blankets i've grown so attached to, since i've used them for all four of my boys, will now be wiping to bum of my sister-in-law's babe. anything for our island princess - or maybe anything for the sake of not having to spend any money. i'll stick with the first reason - it sounds better.

i cut the receiving blankets into 8x8 squares. i was able to get nine squares from one blanket.

see that sparkly new rotary cutter? i can't believe i went so long without one. i'm in love...and can only hope that my rotary cutter feels the same way about me. 

then i sewed the edges using the zigzag stich on my machine. 

this took some time. there were a lot of wipes. but since crafting, including sewing, is my therapy, it was no biggie. and i also realized my sewing machine could double as a head massager - i would rest my forehead on the front of the machine when my neck would start to cramp up, and the vibration would give my noggin a nice massage. awesome.

and, voila! stacks and stacks of washable flannel wipes. 

you'd be shocked how much those things cost if you buy them. search on amazon. but make sure you sit down for it, because it's a shocker. 

i also started making some t-shirt flowers to use for headbands and hair clips for my nieces. i really love the method i found on pinterest. i was intimidated with it as first because it uses a sewing machine, but it's really so simple and the flowers come out just how i like them - full and fluffy, but non-uniform. 

i made those flowers using one of isaiah's favorite t-shirts that had a hole in it. i hung onto the t-shirt because i loved its light blue color and knew that i'd be able to make use of it somehow. these flowers were perfect.

i had already chopped off the bottom of the shirt and part of the sleeves when isaiah saw me working with it. he swiped it from the table and, next thing i knew, he was wearing his favorite shirt again. who cares if it was a half top and one sleeve was chopped up? it was his favorite - poor guy. i consoled him by telling him that his baby girl cousins would be wearing his favorite t-shirt on their heads as flowers. and he bought it. 

lastly, i leave you with this colorful sight that sits on upon our kitchen counter.

we had just gone grocery shopping and the colors of the citrus was too pretty to not capture. 

ahh, simple joys. 

they are everywhere every day.

it's been a while, but linking up today with carissa at lowercase letters!

thankful

ever feel so blessed and thankful that your heart feels like it's going to explode?

i do. right now. 

and it's because of these happy, smiling faces that light up my days.

disneyland!

even as we approached the main entrance, i remember shawn and i being so nervous about surviving a disneyland trip with four kids, one with autism. we were whispering to each other our game plan of what to do if liam (or any of the kids, for that matter) had a meltdown at some point during the day. we whispered that we'd remind each other to take deep breaths and reassured one another that the memories we'd make for the kids would be so worth the inevitable stress that we'd experience. we reminded each other to just not care about onlookers and not care what other people think - this is my biggest difficulty when it comes to liam and his meltdowns in public. we were giving each other this pre-game pep talk and the only thing missing was to put our hands in the middle of the huddle then yelling, "goooo team!" 

we survived. there was crying. there was bickering. there were meltdowns in the middle of main street for cotton candy. there was stress. lots of it. but there were also lots of smiles. lots of laughs. lots of moments of pure wonder in their eyes...and it made every anxious moment worthwhile.

i think i still look a little nervous in our first picture upon entering. heehee

a good friend mentioned that we could get a "guest assistance pass" for liam, which is basically the pass for people with disabilities to skip the lines. i felt guilty about it at first, but then i had just had to realize that we needed it and families like us are one of the reasons they even provide that service. liam has a severe aversion to crowds, loud places and loud music, and not to mention, waiting, so there was no way he'd be able to wait in any lines. before we knew about the pass, we just figured shawn and i would have split up while one of us takes the big kids into a ride and the other stays outside and waits with liam. well, thanks to the pass, this was not the case. liam was able to take part in everything that the big kids did. we were able to do and see everything as a family and actually enjoy the park together. this was huge and i was so incredibly thankful. i remember being in tears at every single ride, when i'd look at liam and just see the wonder and curiosity in his eyes. never, until that day, had i ever truly experienced the magic of disneyland. 

liam was intrigued by goofy and the other characters he saw around the park. too funny.

my boys had zero interest in sleeping beauty's castle or anything princess, actually. sigh. but, i made them pose in front of the castle anyway. because i'm their mom and they have to do what i tell them.

isaiah even got to participate in a jedi training class.

and fight darth vader with his newly-acquired jedi skillz. 

on the boat, about to enter "it's a small world". liam wasn't sure what all the excitement was about and was far more interested in what was up his nose.

this is the first time i'd been to the park during the holidays. "it's a small world" was absolutely breathtaking. 

my favorite picture of the entire day.

my silly boys.

liam, studying his map intently.

this is also the first time i've seen the park decorated for christmas. everything was so beautiful. it's a completely different place during the holidays. i don't think i'd ever want to come at another time of the year ever again!

we were able to watch the fireworks later in the evening. they played christmas music and the fireworks were holiday-themed. and at the end of the show, it snowed on main street! this might not be new to others but, like i said, this is the first time i'd been during the holidays, so i was taken completely by surprise and that was when the waterworks started. i was in tears - it was such a memorable and magical experience for so many reasons. i will never, ever forget it.