Nate Nate

That is the nick name that has plagued this kid for years. It started in pre-school and has stuck with him. He hates it. He would much rather be just plain Nate. He is 8 years old and in a constant state of thinking that he is histerical! In reality he is silly and I hope that it ends very quickly! He thinks farts and burps are the funniest things ever...and yes, I know that he will always think that it is funny. Right now though....he is killing me!
Nate is a super sweet kid with an even sweeter soul. He is sensitive and loving. He is probably my most tender kid. He gets upset easily...especially if someone he cares about is hurting. His brother and sister think he is a punching bag...I know that someday he is going to kick the shit out of them...I can't wait until he has the confidence to do it! He is also like a bulldog...he never lets anything go. If there is something on his mind...he can't rest until it is done. It drives me a little nuts sometimes...but he gets it from me...so I try to be understanding.
Nate is a trip. He can say and do some pretty crazy things. He can certainly find his way into trouble...but in most cases trouble finds him pretty easily. He has been our kid that has seen the emergency room the most. He can bust open anything...just by walking. I am hoping that with maturity will also come some coordination. He also thinks that he can do just about anything....like be a hair stylist and cut his baby sister's hair. Let's just say that he can't do that....and he now knows that. He must think that he is a tattoo artist as well...there have been many times that he has self decorated with permanent marker. One time he drew a pair of glasses on his face....in black....they stayed on quite awhile. Pretty sure that they didn't help him see better...but so entertained his pre-school class for a few days.
Nate is also a kid that likes to learn things from grownups. School...he does well but he doesn't love it. Learning hands on...he loves that. For a quick example...Nate will try anything that Chris tells him. I forgot to add that Nate also has a farting problem...the things that come out of his behind are lethal. That being said...Nate farts where ever we go. This can get pretty embarassing since they smell so terrible. One day Chris had enough and decided to teach Nate the art of farting in public. Nate of course was eager to learn...so off they went to Home Depot. Chris told Nate that when in public he needed to use the "drop and walk" method. Never stay with it...do it on the move. I am not sure if they practiced or anything...but Nate seemed to get it. Anyway...at the check out, Nate decided to try out what he had just learned...and kinda forgot to tell Daddy. So...just as he was told...he dropped a big one and kept on walking. Bad thing was he dropped it right next to Chris...who was checking out and had NO where to go. Therefore leading the cashier to think that Chris just dropped the worst fart ever. Nate did just as he was told...I guess that Chris forgot to tell him that you never leave a man behind.
Nate will make a good husband and father someday...that I am sure of that. He cares a lot. Sometimes too much and that sets him up for disappointments. We have had to work on getting tougher...I am sure he will find the balance someday. Until then...he has the power of his fart to ward off trouble...and I guess that is some pretty good ammo.

The Princess

If you didn't know...I never intended to have 4 kids...shit, I never intended on having 3. You could say that Jake was our "oopsie" and Josie was our "to have got to be f@#*ing kidding me"! But here she is....and I am not sure that our family would be the same without her. She is a handful!! The last one always is...right? When she was a baby I thought she was going to be my one kid that was going to be a total breeze. She slept through the night at 2 months...she hardly ever cried and even ate anything you fed her. That was all a giant trick....big joke on me. Honestly, she could be the hardest one so far.
Josie thinks that the world revolves around her. We all simply exist to tend to her every need and want. You ask why she gets away with this?? I didn't say that she did....but she certainly thinks that she should. It's a work in progress with her. She is a princess and princesses are hard to change. JoJo is funny too. She has her own sense of style. Most days she resembles an Atlantic City Hooker with the outfits she wears. She likes bikini tops and leggings. She also loves lots of blue eye shadow and hot pink blush. I try not to discourage the look...I want her to be able to express herself. I also want some great ammo for later in her life. You never know when you will need to pull out that embarssing picture. And with her...I got an ass pot of them!
Sometimes I think that Josie must be older than 4 years old. She acts like a teenager half the time. She can give you one hell of a stink eye if you piss her off. It amazes me that someone so little can have so much attitude. I have no idea where she gets it?!?! Chris would probably tell you it has something to do with me and our older daughter Sarah Grace. I think it comes from watching too much T.V. I am sticking with that....I will blame Dora the Explorer for anything!
JoJo entertains us also. She can come up with some pretty creative words. She calls a pineapple...pinealope. She calls a sneeze a bless you. But our favorite is that she calls her "private parts" her Do-La-La. We think it is rather sophisticated and a little french. It has caught on in the house.....the boys have wee-wees and us girls get the Do-La-Las. When you read this....it will help if you put a little french accent on it....it makes it very catchy.
I think back to the time when Josie felt like such a shock....and now I would be shocked if she wasn't part of this family. As big of a handful as she is, she is the sweetest little girl. She loves her family, loves to dress up, loves to dance and loves to make you smile. She is my baby and always will be. I am trying to remember to treat her like the big girl that she is now....but it is hard. She still sucks her thumb for pete's sake. But she promises that she will stop when she turns 5. Part of me hope she never stops....it lets her be the baby just a little longer.

Jake Thomas

So I have introduced my dog....now the kids. I am going to start with my 3rd born...Jake Thomas. He is 6 years old and in the 1st grade. He is my BOY! He is active....always getting into something and can lose focus in milisecond. This kids can find something shiny where ever we go. If you ask Jake to go get you his shoes...it will take at least 3 trips to the mud room for him to actually get them. He is side tracked easily to say the least. The only place that he keeps complete focus is on the soccer field! He is a machine!!! He is all about the ball and scoring goals. He is going to be good someday...you can see it.
The reason I chose to start with Jake is because he was the one that I posted about today. I actually post about Jake a lot. Jake is notorious for doing things that no other kid does. It comes naturally for him....not sure that is a good thing. Jake and his lack of clothing issues have always made for good posts as well. The kids does not like underwear. I have had notes home from school asking me to make sure he wears it....he has also come home with his underwear in his pocket. He didn't like the way it felt. This is probably because he usually has it on backwards. I can imagine that it feels pretty bad. At one of his parent/teacher meetings in Kindergarten the best thing that she had to say about Jake was not that he was a great student...or way smart....but that she was THRILLED that he was keeping his underwear on. That was it! I kept asking if she had anything else...but nope...all about the undies. This is Jake though and all and all I was pretty glad that he was keeping it on too.
Now Jake is very into things that he thinks are hilarious....like poop and farts. Today he had an assignment for science that had him do a scavenger hunt for solid materials in his house. He had to look for something that could float and something that could sink. Just guess what his answer was...POOP! He also wanted to make sure that his teacher knew that you could use poop for both answers because you never know what kind of poop is going to come out. This is true. There was a part of me that really wanted him to change his answers....but I know Jake, and this was the best answer we were going to get. He was confident in it...I wanted him to feel good about doing it all by himself. So tomorrow he will go to school with the answer of poop on his homework paper.
I will also say that Jake taking in homework with poop answers will probably not even phase his teachers. Last year Jake proved to me that you can not say anything to him because he will repeat it. For example...one day I was fussing at my 10 yr old daughter on the way to school. When they got out of the car, Jake went in and told his teacher that my yelling was making him very sad. When he came home that day he shared with me that he said this to his teacher. Well..I wasn't too thrilled about him saying that so...in joking....I said to him that he should tell his teacher that his Mommy was PMSing and that is why she was yelling. As you can guess...Jake went in the next day and told his teacher what I had said EXCEPT he left off the P and told his teacher that the reason that I yelled was because I have MS. She wrote me a very nice letter that day and offered to help me with whatever I might need and said she of course knew why I might get upset...I mean hell...I have MS right!! It was hilarious and so embarrssing at the same time. I wrote her back explaining that Jake meant to say PMS...we both got a laugh and Jake certainly made a name for himself with her.
This is Jake -Trouble...funny....smart....athletic....trouble.....adorable and mine. We love him and he totally entertains us. You are going to love him...I guarantee it!