First Day of Preschool/First Day of School Eve

I wish I could update you on all kinds of exciting and fun things we did in August, but there's nothing to report.  We did the usual, mundane, everyday things to round out the summer and had a great time doing it.    All of a sudden I woke up this morning to The First Day Of Preschool and First Day of School Eve.  My little Willie J was up bright and early at 7:30 this morning after having spent the night in our bed coughing. ALL . . .NIGHT . . . LONG!  

I'm not sure if this coughing is illness related or allergy/season related.  Maggie went through a bout of it after the Farm Show earlier this month, and still has coughing spells.  Now Willie has it pretty bad and he decided it would be best for him to keep his dad and me up all night because of it.  Apparently that made him feel better because he slept like a log where as his dad and I were not so chipper this morning.  The fact that Willie went to preschool this morning is beyond belief.  I don't feel like any of my children are old enough to even be in school, let alone three of them.

Yesterday, to celebrate, Mimi came over and took the kids on a quad ride picnic lunch.  She always comes up with fun things for them to do and I really appreciate her doing that for them.  I allowed them to take the little camera with them and they had a great time and some of the pictures are so funny.

This day has been creeping up on me all summer, yet I am still surprised it is here.  I've been doing all the required paperwork, completing forms, making appointments and still, the fact that Maggie and Walker start school tomorrow is completely shocking to me!  

As is required, we did the back to school pictures with Willie today.  He had a great time except for the 15 minutes at 8:45 this morning that he stubbornly refused to go to school.  

 I thought it would be awesome to take a picture on the new outdoor sofa I got at Rogers Auction for only $1.  It desperately needs repainted and new cushions, but it is very sturdy and my attempt at a slip cover and pillows brightens it up and hides its flaws.  But, it was in full sun and Willie was not cooperative.

 So we moved to the side steps where the impatiens look so beautiful.  And of course, everyone had to get in.

 I have a picture of Walker sitting similarly to this on his first day of Preschool.  I love those little guys.

I also wonder if they will ever look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?"  Strike that.  I HOPE they look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?" because I hope by then we will have finally finished the exterior!

 Willie at school.

Willie and his classmates coming out of his classroom to meet us.

Willie and his friend, Ellie, after their first day of school together.  

We've known Ellie just over a year, and a while back, I made a comment (because all of our kids are the same ages) that we should just go ahead and betroth the first three because we like each other and the opposites match up.  Willie and Ellie have taken the joke to a whole new level acting like an old married couple all ready.  They seriously act like those old couples you see out at the mall, bickering at each other, but holding hands and supporting each other.  It's so funny.  And kind of strange.  Because the "love" seemed be reaching a kind of inappropriate level in terms of seriousness with them, we have had discussion about being good buddies, not boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., but they refuse to cooperate.  Both Willie and Ellie (from hence on to be referred to as "Wellie" have relatives planning weddings and so marriage and weddings are in the forefront of both of their lives and randomly, they will announce to us (the mothers) "When I marry Ellie, I will . . ."  and they will proceed to tell us the plans of their wedding,  where they will live, etc.   So now they get to experience preschool together and if they ever do make it down the aisle as they are predicting, we sure will have LOTS of cute pictures of them together for their wedding slide show.

Now I'm off to prepare for our supper and get the kids ready for their first day tomorrow.  Walker has to be up at 7 am to catch the bus at 8 and Maggie has to wait until 12:30 to leave for Kindergarten.  It's going to be an interesting day.  

Goodbye, Summer.  It's time for a new season to begin.  I can't say I'm looking forward to it yet, but I know there are lots of good things to come.  So I'm officially declaring this to be the FALL O' FUN here at Goodness Grows Farm.  Let the FUN continue!

Fwee!

Happy Birthday, Dear Willie!

My third born is three.

I don't know what to say about this boy.  Right now, he's a Momma's boy.  If he's hurt, hungry, angry, sleepy, happy, or one of the other seven dwarfs, he runs to Momma.  It's a blessing and a curse.

He likes to wear princess dresses.

He cracks me up every day.

He's scared of giants and locks all of our doors at night to keep the giants out.

He loves to help his daddy and is not afraid to try anything.

I'm afraid he may try to jump off the roof one day.

He's our 95/5 child.  95% of the time he is good, 5% - well that's the percentage we're worried about.

For those of you that may of missed it, here's his life (thus far) in photos.

Devil in Disguise

Devil In Disguise

Dear Nissan,

I demand some compensation for the creative inspiration my child has provided you for the "Devil In Disguise" commercial.  Clearly someone must have installed secret squirrel hidden cameras in our house and woods.  How else would you have been inspired to make this commercial?  Trashing cars in the mud?  Throwing one to a dog to chew on?  Flushing objects down the toilet??  The only thing missing was a scene of running one through the manure pile out behind the barn.  Obviously you could not include that scene or I would have concrete evidence that you were secret squirrel taping my child's every move.  I can only imagine the footage you obtained in the second hour of film!

What?  How dare you imply that all almost three year old boys act like this!  My son is unique and individual and certainly no other parents allow their children to behave as mine does.

I mean wait a  minute . . .  you mean it's actually true?  ALL three year old boys do this?  And it is just a phase?  

Oh, thank goodness.

Please disregard my above demand for compensation.  Perhaps you could instead just indicate that inspiration for the commercial was not derived in any way from observations of one Will Schwalm.  That really would get my family off my back about the child we have labeled "Candy Man Dr. Destruction."

Sincerely,

Mother of Candy Man Dr. Destruction

Watch me now!

Random Conversations with my Children

I know that this post will have no real appeal to anyone outside of my family, but since the  main goal of this blog is for me to have a record of the things my family does, I thought that it was time to put together a post of Random Conversations with my children.

Momma:  Maggie?  Why did you spread your curtain that fell down all across the floor last night?

Maggie:  Because a BIG cwocodile and a wittle cwocadile was gonna get me.

Momma:  What were you more afraid of, the big one or the little one?

Maggie:  Well, I sure wasn't afraid of the wittle one!

The children have been expressing a great deal of interest in what is going to happen to me as I get closer to my due date.  Unfortunately/fortunately, they are pretty aware of the actual birthing process having watched a wide variety of animals give birth on the farm.  Walker has expressed some anxiety over all the doctor appointments so we recently had him come with us.  It was a busy day - I had to do a one hour glucose test where I drank a sugary orange drink (I found out that this drink contains 3x more sugar than a Mountain Dew soft drink!) and then after waiting for one hour, I have blood drawn.  In the one hour wait time, we took Walker to the maternity ward, showed him the rooms and the nursery.  He wasn't too impressed.  Then we headed back to the lab to get the blood work.  He wanted to come in and see what happened and was sitting in a chair across from me.  He was a little scared but I just explained that the phlebotomist would stick a needle in my arm kind of like a shot and blood would come out through a tube and fill a little vase.  He watched with a little horror as she inserted the needle, but the we could see him straining to see.  The phlebotomist told him he could come over closer to see.  So he watched me fill up to vials of blood.  

Phlebotomist:  Here's one vial of blood - all filled up.  Touch it, it's very warm.

Walker:  Momma!  I didn't know your blood was so hot!

Phlebotomist:  Ok.  We got two tubes so we're all done.

Walker with great disappointment:  Aw.  Can't we just do another one?

I admit with some shame that occasionally we are those parents that threaten the kids with a wooden spoon.  We've never actually had to use it really, just the threat scares them pretty good because I have told them stories of my mom hitting me with a wooden spoon or the 'pank turner (pancake turner/spatula) and I make it sound so gruesome that they know it will really hurt.  The other night, Walker and Maggie were whining a great deal about cleaning up the toys they had gotten out.  

Erik said threatening:  Where is that wooden spoon?  

Will, running into the kitchen:  I get it for you, Daddy!

Walker recently went to the dentist and came home with a goody bag filled with a new toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. He left it in his Dad's truck but then asked Maggie to carry it to the house for him.

Walker picking his teeth with his fingernails:  Momma.  What did Maggie do with my gloss?

Momma:  Gloss?  I don't think you have any lip gloss, buddy.

Walker:  No - my GLOSS!  For my teeth!

Momma:  Oh - your dental floss.  Yeah, it's in the cupboard with the toothbrushes.


It has been a beautiful and sunny week here at Goodness Grows Farm.  Yesterday, the children spent hours outside.  Rather than come in the house and ask for one, they kids decided they would just get in the car and raid the stash of lollipops I keep in there for emergency bribe moments.  So yesterday afternoon, Will comes in the house with a lollipop and says:
Will (with a big smile on his face and laughter in his voice:  Momma.  Chloe like me pop.  So funny.  
Momma (a little stricken, but complacent in only the way a farm mom can be when her children tell her about sharing their food with the pets): Oh yeah?  Chloe likes lime lollipops, huh?
Will:  Yeah.  Her say 'Yummy in my tummy'!  Then makes a big slurping noise.

Will (after eating lunch) sticking his belly out and lifting up his shirt:  Dere's a baby in mys tummy.
Momma:  Really?  What kind of baby?  
Will:  A pink one.
Momma:  So that must mean it is a girl baby.
Will (in his most indignant voice):  NO!  It is a pink one!
Will leaves kitchen in disgust.