80s without trying

When school sent home a note saying that the theme for the last pep rally day was going to be the 80s, I thought, eh, we’ll just skip that one.  The morning of the next shirt up in Nate’s closet was his KC Royals shirt.  I pulled it out, and he put it on.  (With Jilly we’d have to debate our way through 4 outfits before she’d finally put something on.)

At breakfast I mentioned to Brad that it was 80s day, but we were just going to let Nate pass on dressing up for this one.  Brad then reminded me that the Royals won the World Series in the 80s so he was dressed 80s without even trying.  That triggered me to remember that Brad’s mom had passed on a couple of Brad’s things a few years back.  We pulled out the KC Royals jacket that Brad had worn when he was a Kindergartener (in the 80s!).

80s day accomplished!

Now if I could just figure out how to relax Nate’s smile!  Poor kid looks like he’s in pain.  Seems to be the norm when I snap his picture lately.

Kindergarten Graduation

Today Nate became an official Kindergarten graduate.  Thanks to snow days not being needed, they were able to chop a full week off the end of the school year which means early summer!!!  It’s been so much fun watching him grow and learn academically, socially, and most importantly, spiritually this year.

Here is Nate and his best bud, Mara.  Her mom and I decided we needed to snap a few pictures of them in case their dreams of marriage eventually occur.  (I can’t begin to tell you how many “Mom, when Mara and I are married . . .” conversations have occurred in our house this year!)  Thankfully they should get to see each other over the summer since she happens to be a King of Kings member even though we’d never met before this school year!  Her mom and I have had many laughs on the playground after school about the conversations they have about each other at home.  Adorable!

During the ceremony, each student was received a reward.  Nate was recognized for class participation – from answering questions to sharing pray requests.

Nate and Mrs. Songster – an absolutely amazing teacher who LOVES her students

Nate and Grandma – we sure missed Grandpa, Grammy, and Grandpa, but we were thankful Grandma could make it

We are so super proud of our guy and can’t wait to see what first grade has in store for him!

Thanks Mrs. Songster, Mrs. Schrag, and all of Cornerstone Christian for an absolutely blessed first year of school!!!!

in the box

There is something exciting to kids about boxes big enough to fit inside.  Or maybe just any box – as my kids can fight over who has claim to just about any box that makes its way into our house.  When Brad said his mom had a big box and wanted to know if we wanted it for the kid, I didn’t even have to think for a moment.  YES!!!!  If my kids can have tons of fun with diaper boxes, they will LOVE a box big enough for all three of them.

After several rains, the box finally moved out of the garage today and to the back porch.  It now has double doors, windows, and closeable spy windows.  It’s been a house, a spy fort, a doctor clinic, and who knows what else I missed.  Because they know the length of time we’ll hang onto their box is limited, it’s easy to convince them to go play with it again.  The forecast is looking pretty favorable last I checked for it not getting rained on in the next couple of days.  Yay!

The downside of box turned playhouse:  all the toys, books, and stuff they carted outside to it.  (Even a trashcan and kleenex box!!!)

round 3

It only took us 3 1/2 weeks, but we finally wrapped up celebrating Nate’s birthday last night.  We had a joint celebration for Nate and Dave who have birthdays just days apart.  I took the easy route and did Papa Murphy’s pizza and a DQ cake, but it all all yummy and so much less stressful  than trying to cook and enjoy having everyone over.

{the birthday boys}

{has anyone seen jilly?  she’s gone missing.}

{i love this girl!  red eyes and all!}

{best eater award goes to this guy}

{concentration}

{presents!}

put us down in pencil

Although I know kids can change your plans quickly and often at the last minute, I’m still a planner.  It’s just the way I’m wired.  I like to put things on the calendar well in advance.  It’s not that we’re so busy we must plan 3 weeks in advance (although the bigger or kids get the quicker the days do fill up), but there is a certain peace I have in knowing things are planned.

We planned Nate’s party for Friday the 20th.  His birthday was on the 11th, but the Friday before and the Friday after wouldn’t work for various reasons.

So, when he came home Wednesday not acting like himself I let the kids just turn on the tv and veg.  It was a much more peaceful option than letting them play and listening to a very crabby Nate get upset over every little misstep of Jilly and Laurel.  As we headed up for bedtime, I noticed Nate’s forehead was burning up.  Brad mentioned that he thought it felt hot when he had gotten home from work.  I’m assuming crabby Nate was probably running fever since before I picked him up from school.

Thursday, fever won’t go away.  Must make a decision about the birthday party.  Party canceled, well technically rescheduled.  Friday, woke up with no fever.  Yay!  Oh, no, it’s back.  Must have just still had some ibuprofen in his system.  Glad party is postponed.  Saturday, fever still hanging around.  Trip to doctor.  Fever should ended Sunday.  Sunday, very slight fever.  Glimmer of hope!  Oh, what’s that Jilly?  You say you have a headache.  Yup, and a gradually increasing fever to go along with it.  Joy.

So, today was suppose to be a day of celebrating Nate and Brad’s dad’s birthdays, but no go.  We’ll have to pass on that one too.  At this point, I’m just hoping that this is all out of our house by this coming Thursday when we have Nate’s party rescheduled for.

We’ll see.  Never can tell for sure with kids.

At least it’s nice enough to still get outside some.

And, flowers are blooming which always makes this girl just that much happier.

twins for a day

We’ve had many firsts since introducing Laurel as child number 3 in our family.  Somehow though, we’ve made it 17 months and a handful of days without every having any form of matching clothing.  We’ve done coordinating, but never matching.  It’s partly do to practically an entire wardrobe of hand-me-downs, but it’s also out of personal fear.  I think moms can easily go overboard in the constantly matching outfits.  (Yup, can still picture lining up from oldest to youngest with my 2 sisters and brother with all three of us girls dressed exactly alike.  Did I forget to mention that there is a 10 year gap between my older and younger sister?  2 or 3 year old wearing the same dress as 12 or 13 year old.  Slightly wrong?)  (Mom, I love you very much and and super thankful for you sewing talents.)  I wanted to make sure I steered very clear of that line.

Well, today is the day.  My mom sent the kids “happy first day of spring” gifts.  We opened them yesterday, and they were excited to wear their new stuff today.

I must say that these sister pics with the girls in their matching outfits are pretty cute.  So, maybe matching isn’t all bad, but we’ll definitely not being switching to an all matching wardrobe.

And, a picture of all three kids in their new shirts before Nate headed off for school this morning:

 

hovering

I’ve recently visited this blog several times and thought that maybe it was the day to dive back into blogging. As I hovered at the end of the diving board, ready to jump back into the pool of blogging, I would click away and climb off the diving board. I’m sure the ease of facebook and my iphone have added to my lack of blogging. It’s just to simple to zoom a picture I just snapped onto facebook with a quick status. Much more simple than thought out blog post on which I have to downsize my pictures so I don’t use up my allotted space too quickly.

Here I am though. I dove. And as long as I hit the publish button, we’ll assume I didn’t drown. Okay, I’m getting tired of the pool illustration.

February 23rd marked my first blog post 6 years ago! Happy (missed) birthday blog.

All 3 boys in Nate’s class have birthdays within a month of each other so we have birthday on the brain around here. Unfortunately for Nate, he is birthday #3 of 3. He is going to the first one’s party tomorrow evening. It’s at a place that is new in town, and we’ve not been to before. Another mom at Bible Study Fellowship this morning said she was having her son skip a party there this weekend because she just wasn’t comfortable with it. And another mom I talked with yesterday said she has a friend whose child ended up hurt pretty bad there. Yikes! I’m hoping my son’s super cautious side makes my saying okay to him going result in no injuries.

I spent 5 nights in Arkansas with Laurel at the beginning of February, and Jilly has been a new child since I returned. Brad likes to think he got her in line. I like to think she missed me so much she’s going to remain on her best behavior just so I don’t go away again! I”m thinking a trip like that 2 to 3 times a year just to keep her behavior at its best might be in order.

Laurel passed the 17 month mark yesterday. As with any third child, I totally forgot to take a picture for comparison sake. Maybe later today. Or next week. Or, well, we’ll see. She’s growing up fast on us. Still loves to climb (and therefore fall) and has the bruises to prove it.

Last weekend we headed down to the farm and had a great time. I actually drove one of the four wheelers for the first time in years. It was fun riding out to see the bald eagle sitting in the huge nest (and we assume on eggs). Not sure my 3 kids have every been as dirty as they got in the 24ish hours we spent there, but they truly had a great time in the dirt.

Although Wednesdays are pretty non-stop around here, we’ve definitely been getting outside and enjoying the nice weather a lot the past several days. I’m hoping we don’t return to below 60s for highs, but I also know it’s a real possibility.

Brad and I are pretty sure we’re going to jump in and do a veggie garden in the backyard this summer. I’m hoping that we’re quick learners and don’t end up wasting too much time and money.

Well, I’m going to call that enough updating. Oh yeah, Nate has his first loose tooth! And I, the hater of all things related to tooth losing and growing, actually wiggled it for him to show him last night! Yay Nate! Yay me!

 

 

 

through the woods

We’ve been able to take a few family walks in recent days and weeks.  Usually this would include Nate and Jilly biking while Brad and I took turns pushing Laurel’s stroller.  Both Nate and Jilly outgrew their bikes this summer though which leaves Jilly able to ride Nate’s old one, but Nate is still without one.  The goal is to hold out until his birthday and split the cost of a new one with my parents.  So, we’ve been letting the Nate and Jilly walk an abbreviated version of our normal path.

Yesterday we couldn’t pass up the 70 degree weather and since Brad’s day started with at 6:30 am meeting he was able to be home a little earlier than normal.  It was perfect!

choo-choo

This is my last Little Rock post.  We had 3 more days of fun following this, but it was apparently too much fun to take an pictures.

Mom had seen that Laman Library had a train exhibit going on for the last 2 weeks of 2011, and she thought that the kids would enjoy getting to see it.  Dad woke up sick that morning so we did our best to get the kids ready and out of the house for a few hours so he could get some rest.  Although it took a couple of minutes for the biggers to warm up to the noise level in the room, they loved the trains.  Even more they loved that there were certain buttons they could push to do different things in different places.

By the time we finished up there, it was lunchtime.  We skipped the trolley ride we were going to do (guess we’ll save that for next trip down) and headed over to the All Aboard restaurant.  This was seriously the best idea for a restaurant.  The kids LOVED it.  What could be better than having your food lowered to your table after being driven to you by train (the website has a video of how it works)?!?!?  Does Omaha have something like this that I’m just not aware of???

Our trip to Little Rock was definitely one of my favorites.  The kids are already asking when we get to go back and are disappointed when I tell them it will be a long time.  I owe a big thanks to my parents for putting up with us for nearly 2 weeks.  I am also so grateful for my siblings and their kids for hosting us at their houses and traveling over to Mom and Dad’s a ton so we could enjoy so much family time.  We are definitely excited to be back as soon as possible!

We’ve been back home for a couple of days now, and the house is still out of sorts.  I’m anxious to tear down the Christmas tree but am waiting a few more days.  We also have been rather sickly gang (lots of various coughs – wet, dry, croupy; stuffy noses; tummy issues) and are doing our best to get better quickly.  Brad headed back to work today, and school starts back up for Nate tomorrow.  It’s back to the normal routine of things.  Yay for routine, boo for earlier mornings!

a sibling getaway

Before heading to Little Rock my mom offered that she and Dad would watch all 7 grand kids one night we were in town so that the 4 of us Koss siblings and our spouses could go out kid-free for dinner together.  There was only one night that was possibly going to work for all of us, but luckily we took advantage of it.  So, while Mom, Dad, and the munchkins ate pancakes, wore pajamas, and watched Rio, the eight of us headed off to The Flying Fish for dinner.

Although we were deemed old and boring by Everett due to conversations regarding kids, vacuums, and sicknesses, it was a good time.  I would definitely love to be able to get to do this type of thing more often.  It sure does make me miss being closer to family!

We even got a sibling picture for Mom.