Back to School!

Hah? Back to school? I thought we were having summer all year?!

 

Guess not. This week my daddy went back to school. What that means to me is that he leaves the house when I eat my breakfast and he comes home when I eat dinner. He always looks so dressed up and handsome when he leaves. Those kids are sure lucky to have him as their teacher. 

It also means I get to run to the window every morning and wave to him good bye. Then in the afternoon, after football practice he calls mommy to say he is coming home and I get to go to the window again to say hello and welcome home!

It also means that it's football season. Not just OV, daddy coaching 8th grade football season, but college football season. We get to watch our favorite team the Huskies. Anything that has a "W" on it is  from Washington. Even sister is getting in the action. I'm teaching her things about football, don't worry.

 

It also means that mommy gets a lot of time with sister and me. She loves it. She says she never gets a break from us until daddy gets home. That must be so fun! She does love to cuddle with us too. And we love her! 

Here are a couple cute pictures of my sister. She loves me a lot. She always is looking for me. When she sees me she laughs and smiles at me. She thinks I'm pretty funny.

She's talking to me here. 

She's so pretty. People say she looks like me so that means I'm pretty cute too.

May the force be with me

Here we go! Kadin is back to school and we are on our own and forced to make it! ;) I had the luxury of having Kadin home all summer after Parker was born on June 11th. It's now September 4th and the luxury is gone. He starts football tomorrow so that means I'm with Parker and Price from 7:30-5:30. Long day. I have anxiety but I'm confident that I will get through this school year, even though I realize that this 2012-2013 school year may be the hardest of my life. 

I thought when I was teaching a school year was tough but I don't think teaching 6 classes of 25+ elementary kids all day is harder than being a mom to two small kiddos. And here is why I think it's tougher. Simply put, you care on an entirely different level than when you are teaching someone else's kids. That, and you get a new set of kids every 50 minutes. This job you get the same two kids all day, all night, day in and day out. :)

I'm not complaining, do not get me wrong. I am venting, there is a difference. I can say with 100% certainty that I would not want to do anything else at this very moment. Yes everything is challenging, tiring, frustrating and crazy but it's all worth it and I'm looking forward to the challenge. 

Like right now-pleasant and unexpected surprise: both kids are sleeping. Yes, probably not for long but still they are both sleeping and I'm able to put my feet up long enough to type out my thoughts. 

And the major bonus: if I can get through this school year I think I can get through anything, really.

The main things that will present a challenge to me are: having both kids (babies really) in diapers. Having both kids not talking. Getting through each day with hopefully an ounce of sanity after hearing "ah, ah" all day from Price because she can't talk yet. Entertaining, actually occupying, Price's time when I'm tending to Parker, mainly when I'm breast feeding her. Being okay with the fact that I feel like I'm not giving one child the adequate amount of attention he/she needs at that very moment. Being okay with not having dinner ready when Kadin gets home. Being okay with not having laundry done. Being okay with a messy and dirty house. Being okay not taking a shower every day. Being okay with not brushing my teeth or going to the bathroom when I want to. Being okay with not getting my exercise time in like I want and need to. 

Main goal each day: take care of our babies. Love them, cuddle them, read to them, talk to them, listen to them, play with them. Everything else above that I "want" to do, I'll have to learn to be okay with not getting the other stuff done. It'll take time but I know I can do it.

When Kadin gets home each day, he'll be tired but he'll still help out. I love that about him. He is such a hard worker and understands how hard this job is. I'll have 1 main job with a part time job of personal training but Kadin will have 2 main full time jobs: teaching/coaching and being a parent. 

All the stuff I won't get done during the week, we'll tackle together on the weekend and we'll get as much done as we can. 

I love my life and I love our little family and we WILL get through it. I just might need a couple extra glasses of wine here and there. 

Family

I'm so lucky to have such a great family. Besides my mom, dad and baby sister I even have a baby cousin, Koen. I'm checking out his nose and mouth here. He really likes me. He thinks I'm funny.

My grandma is the best! When I go down and visit her she lets me swim in her hot tub. 

Here's my crazy grandpa and daddy!

I like these pictures of my grandma, cousin and mommy holding Parker

My uncle Howie came up to see me this summer. He took me to my favorite place, the beach!

He gave me my first ice cream cone at Ivars. Loved it once I got the hang of it. I had to lick it. 

At first I wanted to feed my ice cream cone to Grammi with a spoon but I eventually figured it out.

Parker 2 months old

My baby sister is already 2 months old. There's another 2 coming up and that's MY birthday in a month, I'll be 2 years! Anyway, back to my sister. When she is awake she is like this all the time. Talking, smiling, laughing. I over hear mom and dad saying she is going to talk before me. But she is so cute. I love her so much. She likes giving me high fives, touches my hair and gives me kisses. She even spits up on me sometimes. Mom would also like me to tell you that Parker is eating well and is sleeping well at night. It's been a fun summer with a little sister around. I think she's staying with us for awhile. 

She's excited that I'm her brother, especially since I look this cool....

Big swimmer

You seriously might consider calling me Michael Phelps Jr. because I'm a swimmer people! I haven't been in a pool since I was in Vegas, 8 months young. I'm almost 2, next month exactly. I took to it like a pro. I kicked my legs like daddy told me and wasn't afraid of the water at all. Both mom and dad tried to put a life jacket and those silly arm floaties on me but I didn't want that. I did just fine with my shark shorts. I'm not sure why they made such a big deal out of it but I even dunked my head completely under and didn't cry or anything. I think some kids might have a problem with that at first. 

Taking a rest on this cool water chair.

This swimming is hard work. Can someone get me a beer?

Looks like I had one too many drinks but really I was just hanging out, relaxing. What a fun day at the pool. I wish I had my own pool. For now, I guess I have to settle for laying on my stomach and kick my legs in my bathtub. 

My daddy

Have I told you how much I love my daddy? He is the best. He has been home with me all summer and I just love it! The other night we set up a tent and had a backyard camp out. I made it until about 8pm but then I wanted to sleep inside, in mom and dad's bed instead of the tent. I'll try it again soon. Backyard camp out set up is pretty hard work so we had to take a break and have a snack on the deck. LOVE you daddy, thanks for being such a fun buddy!

Overnight adventure

Our family took our first overnight adventure this summer. It was Parker's first night away and she did great! And I did great of course...

We went to our friends Nate and Darcy's cabin in Eastern Washington and it was nice and warm there. We got to eat dinner on their deck, daddy showed me how to barbeque, and my favorite part of the trip....got to throw lots of different rocks into the river! That is baby Parker by the way in the car seat just hanging out while I throw and make big splashes.

Mommy showed me how I could cool off by putting my feet in the water. Some would say it was too cold but I'm a northwestern toddler I have to get used to this cold water. Once your feet go numb it's no big thing.

Side throw-good for skipping rocks

Look at that splash! Bigger rock makes bigger splash

And in true eastern washington fashion I had to sport a cowboy hat to complete the trip. It was so much fun, thanks Darcy, Nate, Emmie, Hayden and Colbie for sharing your cabin with us!