Is there a summer camp for two year olds?

Two days into summer break, and I am waving my white flag.  I surrender.  The toddler has won.

I ned to start by making sure it is clear I love Kate intensely.  She is the only child who was allowed to sleep in my bed ever, much less for the first six months of her life.  On my pillow.  Snuggled up against me.  And I'm not a snuggler.  She has more personality than the other four of us combined, and she is the cutest toddler I know.

But:  she is a handful. 

It didn't help that Lindsey was gone for a few days to Tupelo so I did not have my built-in babysitter here to help.  Kate is awake for 12 hours a day, and she talks at least 11 and a half of those.  If she has nothing new to say, she begins repeating. 

Here's a typical scene in our house while I'm cooking supper.  "Inna help.  Inna help.  Inna help!  You have pockets?  Whas in you pockets?  I have pockets? Why I not have pockets?  Inna hold you.  Inna hold you.  Inna hold youuuuuu!!!!  I need you phone.  I wanna play Anbirs (translation: angry birds).  I need my shoes.  Where my shoes?  Inna stroll.  Inna stroll.  I want ICE CREAM!!!!"

Wow.

I can handle sixteen-year-old drama so much better than this.  Bring on whining about unfair grades and stupid boys anyday.

But as someone wise once stated, "The days are long but the years are short."  I know ten weeks from now I will be sitting here lamenting the end of summer and the end of days at home with my constant sidekick.

It should be telling that we have a closet full of princess dress up clothes but Kate insists on dressing like Spider Man every time she gets into the costumes.

On a different note, these two.  Benton and Mimi have been dating for as long as they have known each other.  I'm not a fan of "girlfriends" in preschool, but Benton and Mimi have no clue they are not the same gender.  They are simply best friends.  She reached first base and he informed her (and her dad, the first base coach), "Look.  We will get married one day and she can kiss me all the time.  But not now."

I guess the good thing about being the Ruff who can't play tennis is that David and the kids have a photographer and ball girl.

Dash for Dad

Last year I heard about a really cool race...a couple of weeks after the race occurred.  The race was called Dash for Dad, and it was sponsored by the Conrad Pearson Clinic, which is my dad's urologist group.  How perfect is a race that benefits prostate cancer research?  So I was sure to sign up for this year's race insanely early, like six months early, which was right around mom's birthday.  For mom's birthday she received a pair of running pants and an email confirmation that she had registered for a 5K race.  I'm sure she was really hoping for a normal gift like a gift card, but she did not raise me to be normal.
Mom and I planned to train (not together) and run (again, not together) the 5K race in April.  The course started and ended at the Botanic Gardens, which means it is a beautiful race route.  Except the only time the Botanic Gardens isn't beautiful is when it is 40 degrees in April and flooding so the ground has turned into mud.  Being the professional athletes that we are, we were not deterred by the weather conditions.  We showed up; we ran; we even had a cheering section of two (Popsey and Lindsey) who passed their time during the run eating donuts at the after-race tent.
Prostate cancer is a bully in my family and has claimed too many victims. I'm glad mom and I were able to run a race to prove we are out to beat this heinous disease.

School's out for summer

Tonight our house has someone who has completed preschool, someone who has completed first grade, and someone who has completed six years of teaching.  Lindsey finished first grade with all A's and was the second-place Accelerated Reader for the entire first grade.  She learned so much this year and will probably pass my knowledge of anything except reading and grammar next year. 
Benton finished preschool and exceeded our expectations;  we simply hoped he would not move his owl every day for behavior.  Not only did he only move his owl a handful of times all year (and who doesn't have a few off days?) but also he learned to spell his name and count to 100.  We are proud of all he accomplished in preschool.
I completed year six of teaching and still love my job (almost) every day.  The first four years were great, but the past two years of teaching gifted and Advanced Placement students have been a blessing.  The juniors I had this year were my sophomores last year, so I was able to form relationships with the students and get to know them well.  The same goes for my sophomores this year; I had some of them as freshmen and will have all of them next year as juniors in AP.  Here's what I learned:  they are great kids.  I truly felt loved and respected by my students and consider it an honor that God called me to this profession. 
Now I'm looking forward to ten weeks of being a mom.  For the first summer since Benton was born, I will not be a student at any point this summer.  And, unless someone suckers me into something else, I will not be a trainer either.  I have ten weeks ahead of me full of vacation, swimming lessons, art camp, tennis camp, cheer camp, sleeping in, play dates, staying up past bedtime--and am looking forward to holding the titles of wife and mom with no strings attached.

Our accelerated reader!

A milestone we hit this spring--Lindsey learned to ride her bike with no training wheels!  I thought she would keep those on forever--she was not shamed by all the younger kids on two wheels--but she and Abby Grace decided to learn together.  Now we can not keep up with her!

Benton is content with his training wheels for now.

Have I mentioned which child is not like the others?  This daredevil put on B's helmet, climbed on his bike, and took off.

and a five year old!

May comes at us on little cat feet (stole that from Carl Sandburg since I am no poet) then we spend the month trying to herd cats.  Basically that convoluted analogy means that May is always a busy month for us with tball starting and school ending.  Smack dab in the middle of May is Benton's birthday.  I remember when Dr. Carney scheduled my induction for May 15, 2008, and I thought how perfect the timing was in the last week of school and 12 weeks before the next school year started.  At that point I never thought about planning a birthday party in the midst of end-of-school programs and final exams (and let me not forget the infringement on Mother's Day).  Nonetheless, I love this little boy fiercely and would move Heaven and earth--or at least plan a party during a stressful time of year--to make him happy.
This was the first time Benton was in school on his birthday, so we sent cupcakes (with Star Wars toppers) to school and David came to the cafeteria at lunchtime bearing a Happy Meal.  He also requested Pepper's for supper that night.  Laid-back kid.  I like it.
We had his Star Wars-themed birthday party at Jump.  This was a brilliant decision since I literally showed up with a cake and juiceboxes and the Jump people handled the rest.  Benton and his friends had a blast. 
Benton will forever be the boy in the middle of two emotional (Lindsey) and sassy (Kate) girls, and he will forever be my favorite little boy.  We love this five year old so and are so grateful for that snaggle-toothed smile and constant happiness he brings.

It's fun to have a cousin who is your best friend!  Benton and Tripp love spending time together, and at this age they stay out of trouble.

Couldn't be any cuter.

Benton requested a cake with Darth Vader and Yoda.  The amazing cake lady delivered.  Around the bottom layer it said "Have a happy birthday, you must."

Kate and Sophie.  Hmmm, wonder what kind of trouble we can get into next?  They are so much alike and both bad to the bone.

In the two and a half years that we have been a family of five, this is probably only the second time that we achieved a picture with all five looking at the camera and smiling.  If we weren't in the crotch of a blown-up Batman, I would save it for the Christmas card.

The only Pinterest-inspired part of the party--light sabers made from pretzels.

This little girl loves her Popsey.