Home inspections, big backyards, and pen pals

This has been an exciting week! Monday was the home inspection at the new house. We were there for over 2 hours - the inspector was there for over 3 - and the boys were very patient throughout the whole thing. Everett and Paxton goofed around in the backyard, and rolled around on the carpet. Spencer was very interested in what the inspector had to say, and listened intently while he brought us around the house to show us his findings. With Spencer's memory, I'm sure that he knows just as much about the needed repairs as we do.

Along with the inspection, we took notes, made measurements, and starting planning our renovations. The boys decided where the swingset would go. We fantasized about grilling on the huge back patio.

With the inspection, appraisal, and financing all in place, now we wait... Wait, pack, and go back to life as we know it until it's time to close. We had a playdate yesterday at the splash park, and the boys just exhausted themselves playing in the water and the sand. This weekend we're heading to a barbeque at some friends' house. Paxton is good friends (and email penpals) with their son, and it's really sweet to see the relationship growing. Spencer has two penpals now too, through good old-fashioned snail mail, and it makes checking the mail every day even more exciting .

Happy Birthday Paxton

6 years ago today, my Pak-man was born. Every birthday, every year, I go over it all my mind: The birth, the baby, the first year. Paxton's birth was the one where everything went right. It was fast, REALLY fast. It was quiet and peaceful. Because of some complications, both Spencer and Everett's deliveries required about a zillion people in the room. But with Paxton, it was just us, the midwife and a nurse. He was the only one of the three that I got to hold immediately after birth. It was the only time that Mike got to cut the cord. It was like a movie birth.

As a baby, he wore his heart on his sleeve, and he still does. He cried a LOT in that first year, but he laughed a lot too. He was passionate and adventurous and funny and smart. He's still all of those things too, and so much more. A snapshot of Paxton at 6: He loves to tell jokes and plays games. He's a computer whiz. He loves his family and his friends and his fish. He loves math and science and learning new things. He loves to laugh. He likes riding his bike, running around till he's red in the face, and trying any kind of new sport. He has a huge heart, and shows it in a million ways.... from the way he surprises me with a big out-of-the-blue bear hug, to the time he used his own quarter to buy Everett a Barney doll from a yard sale, just because he knew he'd love it.

We love you Paxton!! To the moon and stars and back.

Why I love homeschooling

One of the reasons anyway...

Paxton wanted to write his thank-you notes for his birthday gifts today, so we sat down to do them. He really does them by himself, and my job is to answer questions about spelling and punctuation.

He was on his third card, and suddenly turned to me and said "Look! I think that's the best 'G' I've ever made!"

I get to be there.

Party time

Well thanks to Ally, Paxton's party had a rough start.... Wednesday I made the cake, only to have her snatch and eat it off the counter while it was cooling. Yesterday I made another, in between dealing with the blood and the vet and chaos that ensued when she sliced her tongue by licking a can.

By afternoon though things had settled down. The party went VERY well, and I think all the kids had a great time. Paxton was nervous at first - so nervous he didn't even eat any of his cool cake - but he warmed up in short order. He had a blast playing all the games, and cashing in all his tickets. He loved playing with his friends, and he got some really neat gifts. Spencer used his tokens sparingly, and was the only one who still had some left at the end of the night. He spent most of the party hanging out with his friends, and playing racing games. Everett loved all the little car rides, and fed his tokens to every one he found. We stayed for over 3 hours, and were happily stumbling out to the car when Everett got whacked in the head with the door. I went back in for some ice, and he fell asleep on the way home... holding the ice to his head.

Today we hunted for bugs with Paxton's new bug kit, played with his new army guys, and ate ourselves silly on leftover cake and candy. It's a happy happy Friday.

A few of my favorite pics :)


| View | Add Favorite

A boy and his guitar

My parents were cleaning out their attic, in preparation of selling their home. One of their finds? My old guitar, a prized possession when I was in elementary school.

Spencer has been wanting to learn to play the guitar. My parents have been wanting to get rid of their old stuff. It was a perfect match. I nearly started crying when I saw how excited he was when the UPS driver pulled up.

He has barely set it down, picking out notes, strumming and humming and singing away. It needs a new string, but is in otherwise great condition for its age. Spencer is taking great care of it, carefully putting it in and out of the case every time he wants to use it. I'm so excited for him to learn how to play it, both because I just really enjoy the sound of a guitar, and because I know it'll give him a great sense of accomplishment to master it.

My baby's growing up.

Happiness

Having a ball

This weekend was filled with neat things, large and small. First, we heard about our house offer... but chances are, if you're reading this you already know all about that! We're all very excited to be buying a house, and I'm particularly excited about picking all the tile, cabinets, appliances, paint, etc. Fun stuff!

We also went to Walmart, where soon-to-be six year old Paxton picked his present: a spiffy new bike. He rode it off and on all afternoon. Last night, we tried out our anniversary present from Sandi and Mich.. an icecream maker ball. The icecream was delicious, but even more importantly, the boys had a blast rolling the ball around to make it.

And today, I made the lipbalm that I've been wanting to make for months. Paxton helped me fill the tins, Spencer helped cap them, and Everett helped by keeping Daddy busy. He reached a finger into the colorant I was using - bright red, no less - and proceeded to spread it all over his body. When they say a little bit goes a long way, they're not kidding.

I've uploaded some new pictures to Photobucket under August http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b48/thriceblessed/ and just in case you didn't notice, I have a fancy new blog template too, courtesy of Erunginung. :-)

Homemade pizza, and my son, the calculator

Spencer was in the mood to cook yesterday, so we made a trip to the grocery store and got some pizza fixings, some cookie ingredients, and the making of a graham cracker and fruit snack they saw on Zoom. We all made our own individual pizzas for lunch, even Everett. It's always fun to make pizzas, and they were GOOD, really good. We made the graham cracker snacks last night, and the cookies today.

Tonight we were sitting around the table talking about fixing up houses, and going over the potential budget for one particular house. We'd come up with $18,000, and Paxton - who's still not quite six - said, without missing a beat, "If it's $800 to fix the air conditioner that will only leave $17,200." He did not get his head for math from his mother, of this I am sure. But it's a skill he enjoys, and takes great pride in. I thoroughly love hearing what calculation he's going to come up with next.

Fall is coming

It has been a quick summer - a good summer - but we're looking forward to cooler days again. The boys' homeschool group is getting geared up, and they'll be having a "Not back to school party" in a few weeks, as well as lots of field trips. There were some field trips throughout the summer too, but we were too busy hibernating, watching tv, and playing to go to most of them. :)

Some of my favorite summer pics (and a few other random ones just because):


| View | Add Favorite

What we're learning from Spongebob

Spencer has been watching tv with the captions on. I'm not really sure why (and have never gotten more of an answer than "because I like to") but if the tv is on, it's a pretty safe bet that the captions are on too. They read along, they laugh when there are mistakes, and they ask me questions about what they're seeing. I realized today that not only do the captions say WHAT people are saying, but also how it is being said. Spongebob said something "fondly", Patrick sounded "trance-like," someone else was "snide." We talked about what all those things meant and how the way you say something can change its meaning.

Learning is everywhere.

Reading

We went to library yesterday. I love our library, both because it's close and because it's huge yet inviting. The kids played in the play area for a good hour before we ventured out to actually look for some books. Their picks this time? Everett got the book "Bark George" because he liked the dog on the cover, a story about Maisy, and a book about flying on an airplane. Spencer got another stack of books about construction vehicles, and car mechanics; and Paxton loaded up on Judy Blumes, a Spongebob book and a book about Amelia Bedelia. I went looking for him this afternoon, and snapped the above picture when I found him.

Now that it's summer, I'm seeing all these ads for summer reading programs, and getting a jump on reading for school, etc etc etc. I'm glad that none of those things are a concern for us, and that our summer (and our reading habits) will seamlessly blend into the next season.