Recap of the Last Year

So much has happened since last year and the boys have grown so much, that I'm sad I have not been updating this regularly. But, I am going to do my best to cover the highlights.

Starting with William - Last Fall was his first soccer season ever. He did pretty good... and by that I mean we did good to have him on the field at all. But who can blame him when we snuck him in a season early. He also started pre-school at a great school nearby. His teachers loved him so much! Everyday when I'd pick him up I'd always hear the other moms ask how their kids behaved that day... always with a nervous smile. Usually the teachers responded by "he only went to time-out once" or "he's getting better, but we did have some issues today." So I thought I should ask how William behaved. The teacher kind of laughed at me while she said... "Ha, William is just perfect. Always well behaved and such a good listener. He's truly a joy to have in class." That made me feel amazingly proud of my little man. Although, I can't help but wonder why that is not the same little boy that came home from school. I guess his perfect behavior has a time limit and he reaches it in the 5 hours at school. Ha ha ha! Just kidding, William is a great kid. Being a 3 year old has had it's moments though. You get warned about the "terrible two's" but no one ever mentions how much worse 3 is! Why is that? With strong opinions and the desperate desire to be more independent, mixed with the fact that he's only 3, posed quite a few conflicts this last year.
Spring time came and he played his second season of soccer which went much better! He scored and played most of each game. He's fully potty trained at night now and has been since about 3 1/2, which has been wonderful. Another big change for William was that he now shares a bedroom with Caleb. He was running in there every night at bedtime and in the morning waking him up that I thought, why not? It's been about 4 months now and it has definitely had it's challenges. I love it now though. They finally go to sleep (for the most part) and it's much easier putting them to bed in the same room. They have the cutest little conversations at night and I love listening to them giggle themselves to sleep.

Caleb's turn! That's such a common phrase around here since teaching these boys to share is a job on its own. Anyway, Caleb is growing like a weed! He's so tall now and his pretty solid. The only thing that's not growing much is his hair! Poor guy, he may be bald forever. He's 2 years old and has only had 1 haircut and that was 2 months ago. It hasn't even grown back enough to need another cut yet. The amount of growth that he's done in the last year is truly amazing. He has such a great vocabulary and that isn't a word that he won't at least attempt to say. He's knows all his basic shapes and can count to 3. He can make it to ten if 4 and 7 don't count. :-) He knows what colors are, but has some trouble identifying them occasionally. But he always recognizes orange so we'll say that's his favorite color. He loves singing his ABC's and although he still struggles with identifying his letters, he always tries to say them when he sees words.
Today is Caleb's first day of school ever! He's been home with mommy since day 1 so this will be interesting to see how he did today. He let me leave with no problem, but unfortunately, most of the other kids in class were crying so I can only imagine the domino effect. The good part is that Caleb is in the classroom William had last year so he's pretty familiar with the room. It's so hard to leave your baby at school for the first time. There's this magnetic force that keeps me wanting to run back in his room and scoop him up. As unrealistic as my little fantasy is (he'd never let me hold on to him for more than 3 seconds) I'm actually doing just fine now and enjoying my very quiet house. I don't even have the TV on! William also had his first day of school and he's in the 3-4 class. He had that sweet look on his face that looked like he may want to cry but was being tough. He gave me two sets of hugs and kisses (his new thing) and said "Mommy, you can go when I count to 10." So he counted to 10 and said "Ok, you can go now." So off I went, all by my lonesome, resisting that magnetic force to run back in there. No little one in tow and no one to chase. This is weird. What do I do with myself now? I'm sure I'll find something (wink, wink)

And as for us... AJ has stopped working on HauntSurveys.com for now and has rediscovered his passion for games. So much so that he is now designing them. Organized Chaos is his first game and it's awesome! It's a fun card game, that I am still shocked came straight from his noggin. Not to say that I don't think he's intelligent, but I could never imagine being able to design a game like that. He is pretty talented. He's also working on a zombie game now (go figure!) and he's working overtime and then some to get this game ready. AJ also played in a men's league softball team this summer. He said it seemed really slow compared to baseball, but I loved seeing him play the sport again. He still does some of his little idiosynchrasies that he did when I saw him play many years ago.
I am still working my Premier Designs business. I love selling the jewelry, making my own schedule, and the income is great too. I've got a jeweler in my downline who is great and I've been working with her for a few months now. I spent a good part of May and June doing some redecorating, painting, and dealing with the installation of new carpet that kept me pretty busy as well. But, for the most part I have spent my days being a referee, trying to find fun things to do with the boys, and doing my best to raise decent, well-rounded children while maintaining my own sanity! The joys of motherhood, I tell ya. (And I love it!)

I think that is it for now. I will post pictures soon. Love to all!