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The kids started school today. We were even ready by quarter to eight which got me wondering how come we can’t be ready by quarter to nine on Sundays. And then I remembered that church isn’t half as exciting as the first day of school and probably in another week we’ll be scrambling out the door for school at 8:03am, which is definitely more like us–always a day late and a dollar short, or rather 15 minutes late and a hundred dollars short. Anyway, I was very impressed with my ability to get three kids ready for school without so much as a hiccup and then, I tried to take this picture.

That’s when our perfect morning took a turn for the worse. See, the picture is not black and white because I’m trying to be all artsy and cool like my sister, Kak. My camera kept overexposing no matter where I tried to pose the kids. And then the infamous Stefano (a.k.a. Noah’s best friend who is no longer in Noah’s class) walked by our house. And Noah started getting ants in his pants because he really wanted to walk up to school with Stefano. And I promised I’d be quick and only take one picture and we’d catch right up with Stefano. Except then my camera kept on overexposing and I had to keep moving the kids around and by the time I finally got a picture that wasn’t overexposed, Stefano was out-of-sight but certainly not out of Noah’s mind and he was screaming crying. So, the photo is black and white because it darkened the picture enough that you can actually see all three boys and that they were actually excited to go to school today until I threw a wrench in the works.

So Noah cried the whole two houses up to school until we met up with Stefano who had stopped to let his mother take his picture and was giving her the biggest, cheesiest, I love you the bestest smile in the whole world. Only did Noah stop crying and run to join his friend? No, he buried his face in my belly and cried even more. I’m guessing he was embarassed to be caught crying and refused to walk the rest of the way to school with his best friend. So, I did my best to apologize to Noah and did our secret hand-squeezing game and I asked him if he loved me and he refused to squeeze me back. And my heart about broke into a million pieces. Meanwhile Hunter, who has turned into quite the little man and who was probably mortified to be walking into school with his terribly distraught little brother, kept trying to give me a kiss goodbye so he could escape down the big kids’ hall to third grade. After being rejected by Noah I decided to focus on Hunter for a second and give him the kiss he’d been waiting patiently for and send the poor little man on his way to third grade. And then Noah spotted Luca and immediately turned into the world’s happiest kid and said, “Hi Luca!” And then he turned and gave me a quick wave goodbye as he bounced jovially down the hall to first grade.

That left me with Denver. Two days ago Denver was sitting on my lap in tears, absolutely positive he didn’t want to go to Kindergarten. He cried and I cried and we finally resolved things with the promise that if he didn’t like Kindergarten he had my permission to call me from school and that I would come and get him right away. Yesterday we went to visit the classroom and by the time we left he was singing a completely different tune. “I like this school” was his reply after finding his locker, desk and the toilet and after having a chat with Mrs. W about his first day jitters. So today, Denver was his normal happy self, ready to take on the world, or at least Kindergarten. So, hand in hand we headed for KW and I asked him if I could take his picture and he said “no.” I can hardly blame him after the morning’s events. Then he reconsidered and asked if Faith (a church and preschool buddy) had had her picture taken and then consented to one quick photo with Mrs. W. Then off he went without even a glance backward and down he plopped right next to Faith. And that’s about when I started bawling my eyes out. And no one really gets it, that I was crying. I mean, I should be happy, I just got rid of half of my kids. But Denver. . . he’s always been my little sidekick. And not that I have favorites, but he’s always been so easy to love and so simple and good–he’s the first one of my kids that I haven’t wanted a break from. So I had my first misty moment as I headed back home, where I quickly recovered and came to my senses and enjoyed the quiet that you can only appreciate after a summer of three boys bickering and quarreling with each other nonstop. And I took the babies to the park and we ate lunch before it was noon and we read books and they all took naps and no one interrupted them and I got the dishes done and started the laundry and by the time Denver got home I was all ready to hear about his day and play him a game of Go Fish! I miss the boys and our way lazy, laid back approach to summer. But I sure am glad they’ve gone back to school and that we’re easing ourselves back into a routine.

This summer the boys and I have been working on a little bit of math. When I say a “little bit” I mean, Noah did maybe three worksheets and Hunter did his mandatory math packet, so don’t go thinking I’m such a great mother and I do so much for my kids because honestly, it was just a worksheet or two, not the entire third, fourth and fifth grade math course. Anyway, in working with Noah I asked him if he knew what “Greater” means before I handed him a sheet where he had to circle the group of objects with the greater number in it. Noah shrugged his shoulders like “big deal” and started moving his hand back and forth while holding an invisible something. “What’s that?” I inquired. And Noah matter-of-factly stated, “You know. . . grater.”

We had Denver’s birthday party yesterday. Denver planned the whole thing, right down to whacking the Darth Vader Pinata with light sabers. We had pizza and probably the coolest Dairy Queen cake ever and lots of babies and even more good company and the cherry on top of it all was the arrival of Mr. Parker Dance himself, Denver’s favorite friend from church ever. Caleb had a hard time with everything party related–the balloons, the party horns, the pinata–and spent most of the evening screaming at us all. Noah had his regularly scheduled birthday party meltdown and I had to carry him into the house kicking and screaming where he continued to scream and cry and completely missed his turn at hitting the pinata, which surprisingly, he handled amazingly well. We had lots of fun, lots of candy and lots of mess. But when all was said and done, Denver seemed thrilled which is good because we sure are thrilled to have him in our lives. Happy Birthday, Denver!

This summer the boys and I started reading the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and I must say Junie B. has become my favoritest new person ever! I absolutely love her and simply can’t get enough. Noah and Denver actually beg me to read to them–in the car, at dinnertime, in the morning when they wake up, at night when they go to bed, in the middle of the day when they’re not playing Nintendo–and they never beg me to read to them. My absolute favorite so far is Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business but I have yet to read one of her books that I don’t absolutely love. They are great books you can read in a day or two and they are perfect for the pre-K through early reader grades. If you haven’t discovered Junie B. yet you are totally missing out. She’s simply fabulous.

This morning when I woke up I had a headache. I keep waking up with headaches. Not bad ones. Just the kind that you get when you’ve been clenching your jaw all night due to stress from drama over a church calling. Anyway, for some reason which I no longer remember, I told Denver that I had a headache and he asked how I got a headache. And I said, “I don’t know. I just woke up with a headache.” And then Denver said, “So waking up gives you a headache?” And all I could think was, You have no idea. . . .

Then for dinner I didn’t have much of anything except for a few freezer meals that I received for my birthday over a year ago. Finances are tight as usual so I’ve been trying really hard to use up whatever food we’ve already got before I go back to the grocery store and spend a bunch of money I don’t have. So this morning I raided the downstairs freezer and grabbed a few frozen meals so they could thaw while we were at church. I made some homemade breadsticks and heated everything up and we sat down to what I thought looked like a pretty decent dinner. The boys immediately started complaining about their food and like any good mother I basically told them to stop whining and eat what they’d been given or they wouldn’t get any of Denver’s birthday cake. After I finished my vegetarian chili, I decided to try some of the stuff they were complaining about. I ate a bite and immediately spit it back out onto my plate. “Never mind guys. You don’t have to eat that stuff.” Denver set his fork down and looking half relieved and half confused said, “How come you made yucky stuff for my birthday?” And that’s when I thought. . . Yeah, except guess what, Denver? I didn’t mean to–it just turned yucky by itself.

My sister, Chris, tipped us off to this great Sand Sculpting Contest on Walnut Beach today so Mark and I decided to take the kids and check it out. We were hoping to meet up with the Rodriguez clan but no luck. So we waded through the sand and water on our own and saw some pretty neat sand sculptures. They weren’t like the professional kind where they have the waxy stuff delivered by the dump-truckfuls but there were some pretty impressive sculptures (made from plain old beach sand) anyway. We saw Shrek and Spiderman, an Ipod, some dragons and trains, a Christmas tree, a surfer dude running away from three sharks, a family of Lions and a bunch of other great creations. After seeing them all, we let the boys roll up their jeans and go wading. It was low tide and the boys could have gone for miles in water only up to their knees. The water was the perfect temperature and there were lots of crabs and minnows and shells to explore. Caleb had an especially good time frolicking in the sand and water with nothing but his diaper and a smile on. We will definitely be adding the Milford Sand Sculpting Contest to our annual events and I’m really hoping to visit Walnut Beach again before the weather turns–only next time we’ll take our swimsuits and some buckets and some shovels. Who knows? Maybe with a little practice we’ll even enter the contest and win us some cash!

Mark got invited to play at a friend’s house tonight so I’ve been filling the void with food and movies. The boys and I made homemade pizza and potstickers and watched Nacho Libre. Then, after everyone got their pj’s on we loaded up the Suburban and got us some Dairy Queen and rented us some more movies. And now I’m sitting my already-larger-rearend on the couch watching The Holiday and snuggling babies. Hope Mark recognizes me when he gets home. I’m the one over here, with the double chin and the baby drooling on my shoulder.

Okay, so there’s this woman in our ward who has come to our house faithfully since the twins were born with the sole intention of helping me in whatever way I’ll allow her. After several months of her help, she was fondly nicknamed Grandma Gribble and has become a part of our family ever since. She saves us a row at church every week and always holds a baby so that I’ve actually been able to get something out of almost every Sacrament meeting. She brings us delicious dinners including stuffed peppers and homemade chicken potpie. She and her husband, Grandpa Gribble, babysit every now and then so Mark and I can actually have a date night. And she is here every Friday, rain or shine, to wash dishes, fold laundry and snuggle babies. Without Grandma Gribble I surely would have been dead by now. A few weeks ago, we had a particularly crazy Friday and the next day the Relief Society President called and asked if she could send someone over once or twice a week to help me with whatever I needed help with. This summer has been seriously a challenging one and at that particular point I was not about to pass up an offer of help. I asked the RS President if she’d been reading my blog, wondering how she knew I needed help. She said no but that Grandma Gribble had ratted me out and said that I needed much more help than I was getting. Anyway, long story short, for the past three weeks someone from the Relief Society has come every Tuesday for three hours to watch the babies so that I can take the three big boys out to do something fun. And on Fridays, Grandma Gribble comes with an extra somebody, and I’ve been able to go out with the four oldest boys to do something fun. And I have to just tell you, what a lifesaver that has been. Not just for me but for the boys as well.

We just haven’t been able to do all the things we used to be able to do with the three babies in tow. And I didn’t realize how guilty I was feeling for not having more time to spend with the big boys and for the inability I had to take them out and about. And Tuesday has become therapeutic for us all. Denver, on a regular basis now tells me how much he enjoys not having the babies around, even for just a little while. And we’ve had so much fun together, swimming and playing and laughing. And while I totally love my three little boys, I’ve really missed having time with my big boys. And I can hardly express how grateful I am to the Relief Society for saving us all. I can honestly say the past three weeks have been the best weeks this entire summer and I really owe it all to the Relief Society and the many women who have volunteered to help us out. Thank you, everyone, so much!

I successfully turned 32 last week. Not that it was hard or anything. It just sort of happened. But it happened really nice and I got super spoiled. Here, let me show you. First of all we went to a local amusement park. It was totally hot and humid, the bees were out of control (so bad they were dropping out of the soda machines with the soda) and the main attraction, the nation’s best wooden roller coaster was shut down, so it took me awhile to snap out of a bad mood. But once I did I had a really nice time and I think the kids did too. One of my most favorite things in the world is riding roller coasters with Noah. We went on Downtime Jr. together twice and my belly hurt from laughing so hard. And Hunter and I snuck away and went down the double wateslide together which was so much fun. Denver was nervous about most of the bigger rides but he and I went on the Haunted House Hunt together and it was a blast! Caleb was a little out of sorts but as soon as we hit the pool, he seemed to come right back to life and loved swimming in the kiddie pool. Mark and I managed to sneak away and ride some of the big kid rides but of course we had to go solo. That doesn’t seem to bother Mark much but I really hate riding alone. I need someone to laugh with and freak out with. It’s just not as much fun screaming at the top of your lungs all alone. Mark tried out a new ride (see Thunder-n-Lightning) and seemed to like it pretty good. I was too chicken but maybe we’ll go again, me and Mark, when it’s cooler and he can hold my hand and I won’t be so afraid. (If you look close at the roller coaster pic you’ll see Mark in the second to last car, in the bright orange shirt, hat and sunglasses.)

She made it with a regular old cake mix and can of frosting, decorated it with neccos and skittles and made the bow with rainbow air heads. I guess the original design calls for fruit-by-the-foot but obviously, any tape-ish candy will work. I thought it was super cute and the boys thought it was super delicious.

Friday night I went out with friends and sister Chris. We saw the movie Becoming Jane and I loved it. It’s a bit tragic but girls like that sort of thing, ya know. Then we went to the local diner and ate more than our share of french fries, french toast, omlettes, waffles, hamburgers and hot chocolate. Chris got me a magazine subscription to the Oprah Magazine, something I’d been considering doing myself, and Darlene presented me with this most amazing money tree upon her arrival:

If you haven’t figured out yet, Darlene is a very fun, creative kind of gal and there’s never a dull moment when she’s around. The boys actually wanted to stay with her and the twins on Wednesday when we went to the amusement park over riding the rides and swimming. She’s that much fun. Another friend sent me a gift certificate for a pedicure at the mall–like how perfect is that. . . one of my most favorite things to do!

And if all of that’s not enough, Grandma Gribble offered to babysit Saturday night so Mark and I could go out. So we actually had a real date and went out to eat. Then Mark took me to the mall to buy me my real birthday present. On Wednesday he gave me this. I had wanted to buy it when we were up in Essex riding the Steam Train but Mark was pretty sure he could get it cheaper online. Caleb was thrilled the most about the toy and I haven’t seen much of it since, except for when he threw it down the stairs in rage and I confiscated it for the day. But on Saturday Mark got me a c.d. player for the kitchen so I no longer have to fight over the boys, the TV or the nintendo when I want to listen to my music. And even better than that, he’s already hooked it up under the kitchen cabinet and got me rockin’ out to all my favorite tunes. It couldn’t have been a better present and I love it!

So. . . like I said I totally got spoiled and I didn’t even mention the gifts from Mom(s)and Dad(s) and the super duper present Kak is supposedly sending my way or the day Mel spent with me watching my kids so I could do my VTing and the ice cream cake she got me. Yeah, I’m totally spoiled. I was always labeled the spoiled little brat as a child and I suppose some thirty years later it’s still true. But if I could do it differently I guess I wouldn’t. Thanks to everyone for the spoiling. Let’s do it again next year, say around. . . oh I don’t know. . . August 16th? Sounds good to me, see ya then!