I have a kindergartener...eek!

It's official. Jared is in KINDERGARTEN!!!! He started his very first day of school yesterday.

This is us in front of his school!

It's really strange without him here....Russell isn't as naughty. Russell and Wylee have actually been getting along pretty well, they were really nice to each other yesterday and they sort of behaved at the store. Most of you already read Wylee's quotes yesterday but the family members that haven't here they are:

When we dropped Jared off, Big Jared asked Wylee what she was going to do without Jared all day and she said, "I don't know...I'm really gonna miss Jared" (sad voice). It was so sweet.

While in the Sonic parking lot (imagine that) Wylee saw a schoolbus and yelled, "I see a school bus!!! I bet Jared is on that school bus!!!"

While leaving Wal-Mart Wylee saw a green VW Bug (Jared always yells slugbug bingo) so we took a picture of it to show Jared when he got home.

After leaving Costco Wylee asked me if they were good at the store. I said they were only a little bit good at Wal-Mart but they were really good at Costco. She started thinking really hard (she was making a "thinking really hard face") and then she told me "I'm sorry that we were so crazy at Wal-Mart, my head thought the cart was a playground....but I guess it wasn't" (said in a really sad voice).

After we got done running errands we had lunch and then Russell napped while Wylee and I watched Hello Kitty in my room. It was so relaxing!! Then When Russell woke up they worked on a welcome home sign for big brother.

This is our family. Russell is black, I'm red and I'm holding Wyatt, Jared is yellow, Big Jared is blue and Wylee is green. After I took this picture she added belly buttons to all of us. Jared tweaked it when he got home.

I was so excited to hear alllll about Jared's first day of school...and I had to drag every detail out of him. He made a friend at lunch but he can't remember his name, they went to the library, they sang 2 songs, he colored. He played on the playground with our neighbor Jace. And that was it. Magical. Today he decided to ride the bus to school, and he will ride it home as well!! I can't believe it. Kindergarten.

All those things I said that maybe Russell wouldn't do (while he looked so sweet sleeping next to me)...I was wrong, he did them, all of them. If I never have to clean wet toilet paper off of my walls again it will be a miracle. Saturday I had a candle burning in the bathroom while we had company over, Gunner blew the candle out and ran outside. Britanie found Russell on the counter, feet in the sink, wet of course and candle wax EVERYWHERE! Most of it is still there. I haven't come up with an easy way to clean it up yet. I scraped a lot of it off but its still pretty soft so it doesn't come up well and I don't want to scratch the counter up. He did lots of other little mischievous things last week but I was really bad about writing them down, and I can't rely on my brain to remember them. He's a stinker, end of story :)

Boy: noise with dirt on it.

I saw this on pinterest last night and it was fitting for today's post.

Russell is straight up noise with dirt on him. He wore me out yesterday. Actually, all the kids did. We had a bonus kid Tuesday night and all day yesterday, Gunner had a sleepover with us. I think all 4 kids changed their clothes 3 times yesterday. I guess there's just something about a little mud in the yard that a kid can't resist, especially Russell.

While we were at dinner with Dallas, Britanie, and my mom last night I gathered some valuable intel from Gunner. The kids played outside almost all day yesterday (probably why they're still asleep at 7:30). They jumped on the trampoline, played in the water hose, even though I told them not to, they played on the swing set, they explored, they dug in the mud I assume....they were covered in it. They peed outside...Britanie had to stop Wylee from POOPING outside on the driveway...they were busy kids. Anyways, at dinner gunner tells me that Russell drank mud water. I said, "I'm not surprised" then I said, "Wait, where did he get the mud water?". Gunner tells me that Jared made the mud water for him, and then Jared pipes in and tells me that he ALSO caught some ANTS and put them in the water. Ants. So Jared had Russell drink muddy ant water. AND THEN I found out this morning that after he drank some they dumped it on his head. I don't know whether to call this payback or karma, or maybe its both. All I know is an ant can't be good for the belly. Britanie has a good feeling that if she hadn't stopped Wylee from pooping on the driveway that there is a good chance that would have come into play as well.

Wyatt woke me up at 6 for a bottle this morning and decided he wasn't going back to sleep. As I was making the bottle I thought to myself how Russell must have slept in his bed all night long. I laid back down and rolled over to pet Caine....and then I thought I was squishing Britches because there was some rustling behind my pillow....and I found this:

I had no idea he was in bed with me, could have been for an hour...maybe it was all night. No clue.

I actually love it when Russell climbs into bed with us. He is so sweet looking when he's asleep. So sweet that it gives me hope that maybe today he won't soak everyone with the hose while jump on the trampoline. Or maybe he won't cover his fingers with mud and then wipe it on some one's back. Maybe, just maybe, we can make it through the day without him pulling Wylee's hair, throwing wet toilet paper on the wall, pinching the baby or head butting Baby Jared. Dream big, right? Its ok...Russell will be Russell.

 Well we didn't fall asleep before him this Sunday, but he woke up before we did :/

Goof ball.

Hmm I got in trouble for doing this 5 minutes ago but maybe the second time will be different.

This is one of his favorite things to do....he clips it on his ears and his eyebrows too! Creeps me out.

I'm pretty sure he was about to take flight.

We told him to go pack a bag so he could go to New Mexico with Poppa...This is what he came back with.

You're going to timeout for peeing on people.

Part of me can't believe that I even heard Jared say that last night, "You're going to timeout for peeing on people". But I did. Jared took Russell's diaper off to put a new one on and this is what I heard from the kitchen...

Jared: Quit grabbing yourself and come get a diaper on.

Baby Jared: Russell just peed on my leg!

Jared: No he didn't, Russell come here.

Baby Jared: Yes he did!

Jared: Oh gross, he did pee on your leg!

So off to the corner he goes...for peeing on people.

Wylee BEGGED me to take them to the "Chick-a-flay" play place this morning. Even though breakfast is the easiest meal of the day I caved and took them. I can easily be swayed by the thought of sitting at a table, just me and Wyatt, while those three are contained in a glass room. Thick glass I hope. Next time I won't sit right next to the glass though. Those little heathens pop up out of no where slapping their hands on the glass right in your face screaming like banshees. You almost forget the glass is there and start to panic for a split second...its even worse when it ISN'T one of your kids.

Wylee comes out and tells me she needs to go to the bathroom...now the fun starts, I was worried that our outing would be uneventful. She only has her socks on and is refusing to go get her tennis shoes but she's grabbing herself doing the potty dance. I'm fully prepared to just let her pee herself if she doesn't go get her stinking tennis shoes on. She goes in and the boys come FLYING out, headed straight for the bathroom. Jared has his flip flops on but Russell is carrying his and he just chunks them in front of the registers as he runs by. I have to think fast because Russell just ran into the women's restroom with NO shoes on!! So I put my 3.5 year old in charge of the 4 month old (smart, right?) and I run to the restroom grabbing the flip flops. I find Jared and Russell both in the big handicap stall, door wide open, Jared is peeing from about a foot away from the toilet and Russell is in the splash zone flushing the toilet over and over again. Not a proud mom moment. I get them squared away, Russell's shoes back on (not that it really matters at this point) and then get them back into the play room. I gather up my drink, my baby bag, and my baby and I take Wylee to the restroom. She is REFUSING to flush the toilet after she pees. The car seat is too big for me to fit in there and do it for her so I had to block her exit until she flushed. Really. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother getting out of the house. If Russell wasn't allergic to cats I'd probably just buy like 50 of them and stay cooped up all day long. They'd probably all just run away, anyways.

Okay, I've had enough...chick a flay is NOT fun anymore. I need a refill before we leave. You would think my kids could stand there for 2 minutes while I got another Diet Coke. I had to tell them to quit running their hands all over the fake trees, put the straws back, don't go into the bathroom, get in a line right here and DON'T MOVE...I said GET IN A LINE, NOW HOLD HANDS! The sweet girl getting my refill just laughed and told me how cute they are and waved bye to them. So we walk out the door and Russell DARTS....I lunged for him to do the mom grab (car seat in hand) and he stops right on the edge of the curb, good grief I thought my heart was going to explode. We're back to alllll holding hands again while Russell JUMPS the entire way back to the car. Everyone piles in...Russell decides to go straight back to the trunk and have a seat. Everyone is in, and buckled. Thank goodness. Russell makes some odd hand gesture that I have never seen before and all of the sudden the other two start chanting "yeah, yeah, yeah!!!!" and now I'm afraid that they have been plotting some sort of mission against me and Russell (the master mind) just gave everyone the go-ahead. Jared is saying over and over again "are we driving yet, are we driving yet". I'm talking for several minutes. Then Wylee starts chanting, "buckle your seat belt, buckle your seat belt" over and over again. I'm gonna lose it. Thank goodness for playgroup...Russell only made one little boy cry and long as his eye doesn't turn black then I'm gonna call it a good day. Seriously. I need a vacation.

He's paci free, but sometimes he finds one that was lost and falls off the wagon.

Wyatt needed some spoons I guess.

This kid LOVES  socks. Clean, dirty, church socks, normal socks, Wylee's socks, Jared's socks...doesn't matter. LOVES them.

I guess I needed to mop anyways.

Last week was AWFUL around here. Jared's mom had Jared and Wylee in Houston from Saturday afternoon until Wednesday afternoon...so I had big plans to get a lot done around the house with just Russell and Wyatt. Instead, I woke up with full body aches and didn't feel right...by Sunday night I had a low grade fever and by Monday morning it was 102.8, needless to say I didn't get anything done last week. Jared took me to the doctor Monday...WITH Russell and Wyatt. Sitting in a doctor's office with Russell can make even a short amount of time feel like an eternity. Jared blew up a glove to make a balloon for him, which kept him busy for a couple of minutes. Then Russell found the reflex instrument, whatever that thing is called. I have a nice gash on my shin surrounded by a lovely bruise because Russell tried to check my reflexes with the wrong end of the thing...and in the wrong spot. Jared isn't a whole lot better to have at the doctor's office. He laid Russell on the doctor's chair and spun him around until he was so dizzy that he couldn't stand on his own. It's only funny once. So with a fever that wouldn't go away and then a nice little cough that came with it all my sewing plans were shot. I managed to finish one project last week....but I have 5 more to go.

Lots of Theraflu, and lots of Ibuprofen...it wasn't fun. Then Friday morning my sweet dog Penny passed away. I'm not gonna get into that story because it really doesn't matter and it hurts too much anyways...point is, it completely ruined my month.

My sweet Penny

Jared saw an ice cream truck driving down Blackland Rd last weekend so Big Jared had me get in the car and chase him down. He promised to make his way back to our street after he did the neighborhood that he was turning into. We waited for an hour and this is how the kids kept themselves busy...

A little group effort to free the plunger.

I'm sure when Ruth bought these shoes she intended on wearing them for the ice cream man...

So after my terrible week I am determined to make this one a good one! We started our Monday off with a trip to Wal-mart then followed by a trip to Sonic to reward myself for my trip to Wal-mart...then the bank and Walgreens. We got home and I put the groceries away and then went to my bedroom for a couple of minutes and came back to Russell sitting on the counter with the vegetable sprayer. He had completely soaked the counter tops, the trash can, the coffee table and flooded the kitchen floor all the way to the garage door. Thank you, Big Jared, for teaching him how the vegetable sprayer works. I haven't been able to find humor in this yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Right now Russell's face is covered in pizza sauce and he's grabbing his rear saying "poopoo" so I guess duty calls. Ha!

We took Russell to a wedding...

Our 1st mistake: Taking Russell to a wedding.
Our 2nd mistake: Taking Russell to a wedding DIRECTLY after driving from Houston. No stops, no dinner.

We sat in the back(ish) row, ignoring the "please do not skip seats sign", in case we needed to take Russell out. Jared had to take him out twice before it even started. We also didn't realize that there would only be desserts at the reception so we didn't stop to get him any dinner before. So Jared went out to the truck and filled up his shirt pocket with Wheat Thins and his pockets with fruit snacks, 5 packages I think.

After going through all of his crackers and all 5 packs of fruit snacks we moved on to a hair clip that was in my purse, then the IPad, then the lady in front of him offered him a notebook and a highlighter. We made it through (barely). So now it's time for the reception...

If you've never been to wedding/reception at Edison's in Dallas then I'll sort of describe the layout for you real fast. The area where they have the ceremony is separated from the reception area with several LARGE dividers.

Those things behind them are the dividers....

So as the wedding party is taking photos, we are trying to let Russell burn off some energy. He ended up pushing one of those things over and thank goodness some people jumped up and caught it before it landed on one of the tables. Sorry Miller and Janie!! I took him to the bathroom with me where he continuously flushed the toilet as I was using it and then threw an entire roll into the bowl while I was washing my hands.

Miller works with Jared so they had carpenter pencils on all the tables with their names on them (really cute), but Russell decided he was gonna scribble on the table cloth with them. He spilled a cup of water all over himself and the table as well. We tried really hard to wait long enough to say hi to the Bride and Groom. I took Russell out to the foyer and he laid on the ground while I spun him in circles and then drug him around (his idea, not mine). We took him outside and let him run. We walked him around the reception area...and then we gave up. It was close to 8:45ish and I was exhausted. Doesn't seem like he did a lot of damage until you consider the fact that we weren't even there for 2 hours. 

Here's a short list of things that I caught Russell doing lately:

• Hiding naked in the laundry room
• Emptying files from the filing cabinet
• Pulling dvds out of the cabinet and shoving them into the Wii (again)
• Dumping yogurt out on the kitchen floor
• Hiding behind the curtains in his room at bed time (pretty cute actually)

We have a really crappy bedtime routine with Russell. It started 4 months ago when we brought Wyatt home, we're trying to correct it but its been tough. Last week I put him to bed about a dozen times and as I was loading the dishwasher I heard the bathroom sink turn on...Russell was sitting on the counter filling up Duplo blocks with soap and water. What in his little head makes him think, "I've been put to bed 12 times, but I think I'll get into the lego bucket and go play in the bathroom." It was 8:15! That means I had been putting him to bed for over an hour. Please don't give me any suggestions on how to keep him in his room. We have tried everything and eventually something will work. I put the doorknob protector things on there but he breaks them in half and brings me the pieces. He won't do this forever so for now I'm gonna do it my way.

He's lucky he's so cute!

Those are Russell's feet propped up on Wyatt...they were both asleep on me.

Turns out when the big kids are gone Russell devotes ALL of his time and energy to Wyatt. I think Wyatt is glad they are home again.