Life With the Kids

Everyone is doing great, but growing up too fast!

Jake's in summer camp, can swim, and starts Kindergarten (for real this time!) in August , TJ knows his letters and numbers and colors and talks in complete sentences, Faith is walking and talking and beating up her big brothers. They are a crack up- all the time.

Faith's favorite thing to do in the world is go into the pantry and take down everything she can reach. Then she carries one or two things into the living room and practices climbing up and down the fireplace mantle with the items- over and over and over and over. Her current faves are the individual tea bags and the Ritz cracker tubes. Faith says so many words now, I couldn't possibly list them. Her favorites continue to be "MINE!" and "MORE!" She screeches whenever her brothers try to take something away from her, tries to stand up in her high chair constantly, and is obsessed with shoes. If Jake holds out his arms to her she runs into them and gives him a big hug- which I can't get enough of seeing and makes Jake so happy!

Tanner has a maniacal laugh and a deadly twinkle in his eye- he is sure to be some poor father's worst nightmare come dating age! He is also quite a looker (if I do say so myself!). It is impossible not to laugh when he purposefully misbehaves because he is so darn cute. He is enjoying having Vanessa (the nanny) here and is progressing on potty training- usually saving the potty full of #1 or #2 for me to actually SEE when I get home, which is always really special! Lately his favorite thing to do is clean. He takes a damp sponge and wipes off every surface he can find in the house. I don't know WHERE he got that gene from!The video is of him singing "The Crocodile Song" from swim lessons. "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. If you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream. AHHHHHHH!"

Jake is learning to ride a two wheeler without training wheels and is being very brave. I was worried because he has never been the most adventurous/daredevil type of kid. I think he was 3 before he finally went down a slide himself! But he is enjoying practicing with his Daddy. He is a great big brother and even though he complains about Tanner all the time he obviously loves him to death and cracks up at his antics as much as Brian and I do. He says the funniest things. Last night it was really warm upstairs so I pointed the fan directly at his bed and told him that Tanner would have to sleep with him so he could also benefit from the cool air. Knowing how hard Tanner is to sleep with, he looked at me and said wearily, "OK, Mom. Here goes nothin'!" He is still such a cuddly boy and the other night when I commented how big he was getting he said, "Don't worry, Mom. I will still snuggle with you even when I'm 100." Well, thank goodness for that.

Brian and I just watch them and LAUGH.

We are really excited for our road trip. We leave August 1st and even though I know parts of it will be trying and there will be minutes and/or hours when we want to strangle each other, I can't wait!!!! Put on some music, pop in some movies, fill up that vat of Diet Coke, and let the fun begin.

Happy Summer to everyone :)