So civilized

Lindsey spent the night with a friend last night, as did 4 other friends. Personally, this sounded like a recipe for disaster to me. That many girls, an odd number, peace seems out of the question. For years, every time Lindsey would go to a slumber party, I would ask her, "Were there any fights?" I have since quit doing this because she always said no. Somehow, as we have raised these politically correct little beings who are never to say anything controversial or disagree with anyone, they are more civil.
This was not the case in my day. EVERY time someone had a slumber party or any party, for that matter ... there was a fight. I actually narrowly escaped being sent home from a party because I was having too much fun with my best friend and not paying enough attention to the birthday girl ... at a party with like 20 people. Come on! I'm still a little bitter about it. Anyway, my best friend and I were seperated and that made the birthday girl happy and we were allowed to stay.
The most raucous of fights though, was between these twins I grew up with. They would get into a huge fight at every party. We are talking hair pulling, scratching, clawing, biting fights and we were at least 8 or 9 at the time! It was amazing and mesmerizing in a sick kind of way. As much as it freaked me out, I had to watch. And it totally went against everything I believed in. My brother and I never fought. My dad would not stand for it. He later told me that to see the two beings that he had created and were part of him fighting and acting like they hated each other broke his heart into a thousand pieces and he couldn't take it. At the time, he just said, "You two, cut it out", very calmly and seriously and we did.
So, all of this fighting was truly a novelty.
Not for Lindsey though. It is now 3 o'clock and she has been with these 4 girls since 7 o'clock last night. When I pick her up she'll just say that everyone had a lovely time.
Dang!

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Today is Trey's 6th birthday. He was born at 7:28 a.m. by emergency c-section after being diligently monitored all through the wee morning hours. After finding, then losing his heartrate numerous times through the "night" and eventually having it slow to a life-threatening rate, the decision was made to get him out immediatly.
He was born with his umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his neck three times with his tiny fists clutching the cord and pulling it from his neck. It seems that he helped his doctors save his life. He weighed only 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and although, I could never get anyone to confirm this theory, it seemed that he had lost weight in his last hours/day in utero. He had a compressed cord and should/could have had all sorts of neurological or developmental issues, but he didn't. He is our miracle boy (twice over) and I adore everything about him. This is a great day!

Just Back Away ...

I drove to the gym the other day after dropping my older ones off for some intense educating. Tyler and I mosied on in to "work out", I dropped him off at Kid Zone and was ready for a little turbo kicking action!

I managed to survive 50 minutes of cardiac arrest, I mean cardio-vascular activity, and I was ready to pick up the little man.

I walked in to the childcare area as was enthusiastically greeted by, "Mommy!" I was immediately suspicious. First, this sweet voice did not sound quite like my son's; second, my children tend to enjoy their "me time" and usually don't run to greet me. My friends tell me that means I'm a great mom ... they're so independent, they say. I'm not so sure.

Anyway, it was not my son, after all. It was some other child, who, by now, was wrapped around my leg tightly. Now this peaked Tyler's interest.

He looked over and calmly said, "That's my mommy".

The kid (His name is Toby, I later found out)didn't budge, he said, "Mommy, let's go home." He was so sure that I was his mom, I felt obligated to take him home.

Tyler came closer and said, "That's my mommy" and begun opening the little exit gate. Toby just tightened his grip upon my leg and intensified his pleading stare into my eyes.

Finally, Tyler came over and gave the little dude a nudge and said, "That's my mommy. Now go play!" He grabbed my hand and said, "C'mon Mommy. Let's go."

(Come to find out Toby's mom and I were dressed exactly alike and do resemble one another. Sadly, that whole incident did irreparable damage to my relationship with little Toby. Fortunately, his mom went to pick him up as I was leaving. She later told me he just looked at her confusedly.)

Two good boys

Each day after school the first thing Trey says to me is (usually), "I stayed on green today!" His teacher keeps a conduct chart and green is good, yellow means they received a few warnings, and so on.

Last Thursday, when I picked Tyler up from pre-school I asked him if he had a good day and he said, "Yeah. I stayed on green."

Tonight, when Tim got home from work and asked Tyler how he was, he again responded with, " I stayed on green!"

There is no conduct chart in the 2 year old room at preschool and there is certainly no conduct chart here at home. Turkey!

Those Wearing Santa Hats ... Beware!

My boy discovered Santa last weekend and he was pretty freaked out by him. Yet after many, many attempts he never sat on Santa's lap, but he did give Santa a robust hug as only my little man can do.

Apparently though, he thinks he and Santa are big buds and he is eager to greet Santa with a big 'ol hug each and every time he sees him. Unfortunately, just wearing a Santa hat makes you Santa in Tyler's world, even if you are a very small toddler. My boy has now flattened two smaller children (keep in mind ... most children under age 4 are smaller than my 2 year old) whose mothers made the unwise decision to have their babies don Santa hats this season.

It starts out innocently enough. He kneals down and says, "Hi Santa! Hi! Santa? Hug?!?" and down they go.

It must be noted that Tyler's big brother took full advantage of our many attempts to warm the little man up to Santa. He has now told Santa everything he wants and even things he could probably care less about. He just couldn't be wasting all that face time with the jolly dude.

The Babes

Go to kimnielsenphotography.com/blog and scroll down to the second entry titled "Brrr Cold" to see some sweet kiddos.
My girl is such a good sport. She is just beginning the teenage days and the bad attitude gremlins take over her little self from time to time, but she is so awesome when I need her.
She was so helpful during this photo shoot and as the title suggests, it was freezing and so windy. She helped her brothers and made it and amazing experience. I am so blessed to have such a sweet little girl.
Kim, my friend and our photographer played a part too. :)

My Dear Friend

I have a very special friend named Stephanie. (You can see her here: estesboys2.blogspot.com). She is just about the cutest thing you've ever seen. She has filled my days with smiles since I first met her.
She used to oooh and aah and go crazy over my little Trey-man when he was a toddler starting pre-school. I would walk him by her classroom (she taught ... she was not in pre-school) and she would just melt over his funny, little, chubby, somber face. I found this so amazing because she has her own little (big) boy the same age. Even so, she could appreciate my little guy's cuteness.
Then, once Tyler was born and oh my, was he ever large, she adored him as well. She would hold and bounce and love on my big, big disgruntled baby for hours without ever complaining. She gave him so much love and put up with his ever-present moodiness.
Oh, and let's not forget Miss Lindsey. She was her Sunday school teacher for a while (which was actually a technicality because we hardly ever made it to church that year) and she would offer to come pick Lindsey up and take her to church. Stephanie lives right by the church ... we do not ... she was willing to go WAY out of her way to get my girl to church.
Ms. Stephanie is a sweet, Godly person and I am so proud she has touched my children's lives ... mine too, for that matter.