Kids Catch-Up

I can't believe I didn't post anything in October. Life has been crazy. Here are a few pictures (and by "few" I mean "a ton") of the kids the last few months.

The kids started school in August. Paige is attending her second year of preschool at Sunshine Square. Her teacher this year is Miss Melissa. She is sugar sweet at honey pie, and Paige loves her. Paige really loves school. It is right down her alley (she is probably my first child where school is the perfect fit). Paige loves working on meticulous projects, and she loves, loves, loves anything artsy craftsy (it's unfortunate that she was sent to a mother who is art-challenged). Paige has recently become enamored with writing her name and her letters. She writes lists and lists, as Macy tells her how to spell things. She desperately wants to learn to read, and I should get my act together and teach her. Every day Miss Melissa just gushes about how wonderful Paige is and how she is a good worker and a nice, polite friend. (Paige must get exhausted being so good at school because she seems to save her 4-year-old, stinker-pot behavior just for her Mama.) It's a good thing she's so darn adorable:

Austin started 5th Grade and is in Ms. DeMille's class. I absolutely love his teacher. For the first time since starting school, Austin has a teacher that "gets" him and believes in him and knows how to teach to him and inspire him. It is an answer to several years of prayers. The first few days of school, Austin went in with a chip on his shoulder, with the attitude of: "Well, you're the teacher and I'm the imperfect student and we are going to make each other's lives miserable for the next 10 months." After about a week, I saw him soften. Ms. DeMille won him over. Austin is fiercely loyal, and he has a talent for "reading" people. If he doesn't trust you, then he just shuts down (when you look into his eyes, they seem empty; he disappears). But if he does trust you, there is nothing he won't do for you. He still struggles with staying on task and anything related to writing, but he is improving. More importantly, he is enjoying school and looks forward to going. He is talking to us again about what happens at school. It's been such a positive experience.

Macy is in second grade this year and has Ms. Henkels. Confession: It is November, and I have yet to meet Ms. Henkels. I know...horrible, negligent mother. It's true. Macy is doing fine in school. I get reports that she talks too much (if you pull out my elementary school report cards, they ALL say that I talk too much). School is a social outlet for this little socialite, and if she happens to learn something along the way, then that will be a happy coincidence. But she's really there for the people. More specifically, the boys. They are learning how to write form letters. Once a week, one of her homework assignments is to write a letter to someone in her class. I have yet to see her write one to a girl. There are twin boys in her class: Weston and Wyatt. She wrote Wyatt a letter, complimenting him on his soccer skills and telling him how funny he is. Then, she happened to ask if Weston "liked" her. Macy told me that Ms. Henkels asked if she could read the letters aloud in class. Macy said: "I told her 'no' because that would be really embarrassing." This girl has life oozing out of her fingertips. She is hilarious!

Showing off her backpack. She is really into peace signs these days. This was the best that I could do:

The kids thought it would be really funny to play a joke. They handed Paige their First-Day-0f-School signs so we would think that she was in 2nd grade and 5th grade.

For Halloween this year, I did something that I have never done: I coordinated our costumes. Macy wanted to be Alice in Wonderland (wearing the dress that Alexie really wore in the 80s when she was Macy's age), and it just kind of ballooned from there. Austin originally thought he was "too cool" to participate in this family endeavor, but at the last minute (the night before the Ward Halloween Party), he changed his mind. The players are: Austin as the Mad Hatter, Macy as Alice, Paige as the white rabbit (isn't her giant stopwatch adorable), Spencer and Kade as Tweeledee and Tweedledum, Emily as the Red Queen, and Greg as a Card Guard - painting the roses red. It was really fun and actually came together quite easily.

A few months ago, Alexie needed her crib back so her baby (then about 7-8 months old) would finally have a place to sleep. We had no choice but to retire the crib that Greg and his dad made, and has been in our "nursery" since Austin was 4 months old. I may or may not have shed a tear; Greg may or may not have danced a jig. I was incredibly reluctant to put the boys in a traditional bunk bed, but I found this bunk bed at Costco. Instead of a ladder, it has stairs on the side so the entire top bunk is boxed in practically eliminating the possibility of falling out. It has been absolutely perfect. Every night, the boys argue about who gets to go "Up" and tears are shed by the twin who has to sleep "Down." Other than that, they absolutely love being in a big-boy bed. These are a few pictures from the first few weeks, before they caught onto the concept of sleeping in their own beds.

Some days, I think that it's a shame that all of us aren't twins. They have such a fascinating connection, and they always have each other. Sure...they fight and argue like all other 2-year-olds. But they help each other out and just love being together ALL THE TIME. Other days, I'm grateful that every baby isn't born a twin because it would just kill all the Mom's off.

Here are the many faces of Spencer (or "Bence" as we call him around here - coined by Paige). He loves to sit on top of the couch while watching "Yo Gabba" or "Dinosaur Train" or "Rio" (which he calls the "Tweet-Tweet" movie). He walks around quoting a line from that movie. At the most hilarious moments, you can hear Spence saying "Not cool man."

These are some of my favorite pictures of the past year. This is the first time that Kade discovered head phones. Amazingly, at age 2, he can't use the potty, but he can navigate an ipod. His face was priceless as it lit up when a song began. Adorable! And don't you just love the hair!?!