Madison Sammon's Birthday Present

Roman was invited to a birthday party this weekend for a little girl in his class named Madison. This is really the first of the "unknown" friends ever. Meaning, every other birthday party we've been to we've known the birthday child and known what he/she likes and whatnot. This time we have NO IDEA. So, what do you buy a 5 year old girl that you don't even know for her birthday? Roman said he'll take care of it... that was a scary thought! But, I took him to Target and he picked out a Barbie Veternarian that was pretty cute. He tells me "This is IT! Madison likes animals I think, and I've never met a girl yet who didn't love Barbies!"

Chicken Boy

Chicken Boy is Roman's self-chosen nickname post Aunt Jennifer's wedding. At the reception the DJ encouraged participation with props, including a feather "chicken" mask for the chicken dance and blow up guitars for a few rock numbers. Someone appropriated one of each and Jennifer past them on to Roman the following morning. The result... Chicken Boy! Roman puts on the mask and turns into a rock'n roll freak.

Bethany Speaks

Bethany's speech has exploded over night. I am finding it difficult to tell her and Hope apart at times. Her favorite words are "NO" and "MINE". Everything is Bethany's these days. She still babbles, but daily more and more of the babbles are turning into whole sentences, whole conversations. I guess since the other 2 were late talkers, our 22 month old seems absolutely amazing with how well she is talking!

Hopey Serenade

During the 9 hours drive home from the lake we spent the majority without modern technology aka no movies, video games, music or any other sorts of distractions. Instead we spent the hours talking, sleeping, and listening to the kids make up games and songs. Hope, loving to sing as it is, spent a good part of the day serenading us all with her rendition of "Aunt Jennifer" which consists of only 2 lyrics and a variety of tunes. The old standby's of "Old MacFarmer" and "ABCD" of course, but out of the blue came "The Sun Comes Up, The Moon Goes Down" to which she made up an entire song about how fun it is to play all day when the sun comes up and the moon goes down and verses for all the places she loves to play. It was very cute and James and I were quite impressed with this impressive impromtu!

Hopey Starts SOCCER!

Hope Elizabeth had her first soccer practice tonight. Her feet were too small from Roman's first pair of cleats and we could only find 1 of his first pair of shin-guards, so we had to sprint to Strictly Soccer before heading over to practice. Wouldn't you know - PINK soccer cleats, matching PINK shin-guards, and a PINK ball were her products of choice! They are the cutest little pink Diadora's ever and she looked adorable wearing big brother's shorts and shirt (way too big on her) and her new soccer stuff. Her team is called the Magics and there are 10 little boys and girls. Much to our delight there are 5 girls on her team, so she is definitely in Hopey heaven! James is coaching her team through the Manchester YMCA and has a real assistant coach this season, Coach Stephanie. So far she seems great! They just look sooooooo cute out there!

Aunt Jennifer & Uncle Jesse's Wedding

On September 10, 2005 Uncle Jesse officially joined our family. Aunt Jennifer was absolutely gorgeous and looked so happy and relaxed. It was as it should be! Roman was a handsome ring bearer, tux and all, but when the big moment came he froze, freaked, turned and ran for cover! NO WAY was he walking down that aisle with all those people staring at him. I was called back a little too late, so as the most adorable little flower girl - Hope Elizabeth! - began walking down the aisle, Roman and I snuck down the side and joined daddy and Bethany. Hope did AWESOME! She looked like a little princess and smiled and walked all the way down all by herself. We were so proud! After the wedding she told us "My prince ditched me at the door! I didn't know a princess could walk down all by herself, but I did it!" Shortly after the ceremony began I had to bolt with a very restless Bethany. She just wouldn't sit still and was beginning to fuss, so we went down to the church nursery to play. The ceremony was relatively short and when Bethany and I came back up for family pictures and to see the bride and groom off we discovered our adorable little flower girl didn't make it through the wedding. She had fallen asleep sitting up. It was too cute! Bethany was still being restless and wouldn't stand still for anything. Doubt many good pictures of her will come back, but she looked adorable all the same as a little honorary flower girl she wore a matching dress to Hopey's. When they went to make the introductions at the reception, all the men in the wedding party wore sunglasses. Funny how suddenly Roman was willing to strut his stuff hiding behind those shades. Why didn't we think of that earlier? At the reception all 3 kids turned into dancing fools and stole the dance floor! The DJ passed around various blow up toys and masks and silly stuff to get the audience out of the chairs and on the dance floor having fun. Roman quickly fell in love with these blow up guitars, and with his shades on morphed into a rock star, or so he thought. Bethany discovered blow up microphones, but, in true B-monster fashion, chewed holes in everyone that came near her. Hope liked the air vent on the floor as is blew her dress up like a ballerina and she spent quite a bit of time dancing around on top of it. When she wasn't there you were sure to find her dancing it up on the dance floor with anyone and everyone she could find. It was a lot of fun! The kids certainly had a blast and we are all very excited to welcome Jesse into our family!

Who's Day is it?

After putting on her beautiful princess flower girl gown, having her hair done up in a curly bun with a gorgeous tiara, makeup and nails done just like the big girls, upon entering the limo Hope asks, "Who's day is it again? Aunt Jennifer's or mine?"

Bethany's First Haircut

Bethany had her first haircut today! My baby girl is all grown up. She looks so cute! She did really well for the most part, of course she fidgeted as any 22 month old would, but overall she did great and is absolutely adorable! I have, in the past, trimmed her bangs up, but this is her first real haircut and boy, what a difference it makes! We have tons of pics, but as usual, haven't uploaded them yet. One of these days I'll have to go bad and just add pics to all these entries. :)

Roman - School Update

Roman is doing great at school. He just loves his teachers, his fav part of school is recess - 2 times a day!, and has his sites 100% on the treasure chest. This is a program his teacher does. Everyday in his folder he has a chart and gets either a green dot for excellent behaviour, yellow for we had a few issues, but overall good, and red for we didn't do so great today and that one usually comes with a note from the teacher. Well, for every 10 consecutive green dots he gets to go to the treasure chest where she keeps little $1 store toys, character pencils, bubbles, just fun odds and ends that the kids can have as a reward. Apparently they also have corresponding frog charts in class showing their frog jumping to the treasure chest (unless that's just how Roman's imagining it in his head, was hard to tell from his description. LOL) and he is non-stop talking about how good he's gonna be and can't wait to reach that treasure chest. It is too cute! So all good on the school front!

Sheer Determination

James has a bad habit of leaving his Coke lying around the house. Today it was on the fireplace, within easy reach of the Bmonster. Bethany spots it, yells "Coke" in her happiest voice and grabs it up with a grin. James calmly conviscated it and said "Honey, no coke" and put it on the second shelf of the bookcase. Bethany looked at him, reached over grabbed it. So again, he conviscated and this time moved it to the top of the speaker. She looked at him, climbed up onto the arm of the chair, stood up and grabbed it saying "COKE". So this time he said "No", conviscated the can and moved it out of reach on the top of the mantle. Or so he thought.... with an evil laugh, she climbed on the arm of the chair, then to the back of the chair, then proceded to step on the bookcase and climb the shelves until she could reach over and snatch the can off the mantle, took a quick drink before it could be conviscated and began laughing her most evil little laugh.

Only Draw on Paper Given to You by Mommy or Daddy

... This is the rule in our house. So today, being a tough day on everyone with Roman heading to school, James told Hope she could have a special treat outside. Hope got quite excited, "Trweeeet? trweet trweet trweet!" So James brought out the sidewalk chalk which we have had for some time and never actually used. He explained to Hope what it was "... you can draw on the sidewalk with it". And the conversation went something like this.

Hope: OH NO!

James: What?

Hope: I'm not going to draw on the road

James: Why not?

Hope: Because you'll yell at me or spank my butt and make me clean it all up, so I'm not gonna do it and I'm not gonna get in trouble!

Guess her punishment of having to wash down the walls the last time she wrote on them has paid off and committed to memory. Of course she has since washed down nearly every wall in the house. Seems anytime she so much as thinks of writing on the wall, she gets a washcloth and water and washes them instead!

Our KINDERGARTENER!!!

Roman is officially a Kindergartener! This morning he was up and ready to go long before school time. After his excitement over riding the bus at orientation we decided to let him ride the bus afterall. I mean, it's only about 2 blocks away and he is the last one on, first one off. Of course I had already made arrangements to go in to work late. By 8:45 there was no more containing his excitement and we conceded and headed to the bus stop.

Note: his school doesn't start until 9:20 and his bus doesn't even start it's route until 8:55!

Once outside we took a bunch of pictures, then walked to the corner where his bus stop is. Much to our surprise we weren't the first ones there! Turns out there are 2 other little Kindergarteners - Kayla and Katie - who live just around the corner from us. Kayla too was so excited that they came out early and within about 5 minutes Katie arrived as well. They were all too cute jumping around and chatting about the unknown. As the bus arrived, I was bracing to try not to cry and handed the camera to James but before the camera even left my hand, Roman shot off across the street, briefly yelled "bye" over his shoulder and flew onto the bus. No hesitation, no sentimental, emotional good-bye there. He never even looked back!

BUTTering up the Grandma

At Target, Roman ask James for a new toy and he tells him no, to go kiss grandma's butt if he want's something. So he grabs the toy off the shelf and runs over all exicted to her. Proudly displaying the new toy he desires he says:"Grandma Kiss my butt!"

A foot or a foot

Hope has to get a haircut before Aunt Jennifer's wedding next weekend. So we were discussing it, and as I always do when teasing her about her "long, bootiful hair" I told her we should chop it off and admiring how long it has gotten held it up to chin length and jokingly said we would only take a foot off. Hope looked at me with those big eyes now the size of saucers with this disgusted look on her face. "Please don't cut off my foot!" as she grabbed her little foot in her hand and held it tight!

Old Teachers

When discussing last night's orientation with Roman this morning he tells me, "I loved it! But... I thought Miss Neal would be old." LOL Where he came up with that we do not know.

kindergarten orientation

Tonight we had Roman's Kindergarten Orientation. The girls were hoodlums and acted up from the moment Roman was taken back to meet his teacher. I ended up out in the hallway trying to entertain them during the introductions, speeches and whatnot. We saw Roman's friend Kyle from teeball this summer there. We didn't even know he was going to Reams. Desiree was also there, but Roman did not end up in a class with either of them. After awhile James came and relieved me so I could watch some of it too and we continues tag teaming them every 10-15 minutes till it was time to meet up with the kids again. We were told in advance that during our introduction to the school the Kindergarteners would be introduced to their teachers and classmates, see their classroom and ride the bus. Last time Roman rode a bus on the last day of Ready Rams he freaked out! "Mommy, did you know they don't have seats? You just bounce around all over the place!" and he has been soooooooooooo nervous leading up to this day that we weren't quite prepared for the happy smiley boy sitting on his spot on the carpet amongst all his new "friends". His teacher, Ms. Neal, introduced herself and proceded to have the kids read a story. Roman seems to be very comfortable with her and James and I couldn't be happier. We look forward to working with her throughout the year. Best part of all.... no more fears! Roman is so incredibly excited about starting his "second day" of school. (apparently, in his mind, tonight was his 1st day of school).

Pass it down

This weekend we picked up James's guitars and amps from Grandma and Grandaddy's. The kids have never really heard James play and were quite amazed as he cranked it up upon arriving home. As we were settling down for the evening and putting things away Roman grabbed the guitar and attempted to play it. James told him not to touch it again. Roman's response, "but it's mine". After some bit of discussion on the rules of the guitars and establishing the fact they were daddy's guitars, Roman was still insisting, "No, it's mine, you pass it down". WHAT?!? By now frustration aside, James calmly asked him, "Why do you think it's yours? Why would I pass it down?" Roman's response.... "That's just what you do with stuff, pass it down to your kid, just like AJ Foyt passed those craftsman's tools down to his son and down to his son after him, in the commercial. So you pass it down to me. And I just thought then, the guitar was mine." Roman is an advertisers dream child! All this from a 30 second NASCAR Craftman's tool commerical!

Now THIS is an Excuse!

I was talking to James on the phone just before lunch today and I hear

"Roman, go stand in the corner"

Roman's voice in the background could be heard clearly "What did I do this time?"

James snapped "Don't sass me boy, get in the corner and I don't ever want to see you smack Bethany in the head again."

I could hear Roman getting upset and frustrated at that point, his response:

"I didn't hit her, she wouldn't leave me alone and then my hand got stuck to her head!"

I could so clearly visualize this playing out and could see James's anger at his son hitting his sister just fade away into a blinking stare as he tried not to laugh not quite knowing how to respond. Of course, me not actually being there, was totally cracking up through the phone and had to bail the boy the out.

See, Bethany had eaten dirt pudding with gummy bears when we had dinner at 5 Mile Post the night before and since we got home on the late side I didn't give them a bath, just wiped them down before bed last night. As Bethany was laying in my lap for story time I was stroking her hair and it got stuck in the sticky mess called her hair, so I knew what he was talking about, but James was clueless and thought that had to be the most clever excuse ever! Further explanations produced this scenario:

Roman just went to push her away from him as she wouldn't leave him alone and when he put his hand up to move her over, it got stuck in Bethany's sticky mass and as he was attempting to untangle, James caught what, to a normal bystander, looked like he was hitting her in the head!

Family Reunion

Saturday was the Hill family reunion where all my mom's sisters and brothers get together once at year at my Uncle John's. In the past it has been mainly just a sibling thing, but this year the kids & grandkids were invited. We were supposed to go, along with Steven and his family and Kari and her family, but we backed out at the last minute due to extreme hike in gas prices. Then I started feeling bad about it and changed my mind at the last minute and we all piled in the truck and headed to Baltimore. Turns out Kari and Steven both backed out too, but it was still great to see all the aunts and uncles some who have never met the girls, some I haven't seen in years, some I just don't see enough of.

I had called ahead and let Uncle Dave know we were coming and apparently he didn't tell anyone. As James and I were getting everyone shuffled in Hope ran to the back door and just stood there looking in until grandma spotted her. I think grandma loved that especially cute entrance.

Uncle John has a big pool in the backyard and despite the fact that we ran out without bathing suits, it wasn't long before the kids found their way into the pool. I think Aunt Darlene would be the primary instigator here! Next thing I know Hope is knocking on the backdoor completely naked and having to go potty.

"What are you doing? Where are your clothes? Where are your underwear??"

Hope "I'm not riding home with wet 'un-wear-wears'!."

Aside from my little streaker I walked out to discover boxer boy aka Roman, and the soaking wet, I'll just jump in with my clothes on, B. They did have a blast though and eventually I did manage to convince Hope to put her underwear on at least. It took a lot of coaxing from everyone, but Roman soon discovered that he was tall enough to walk around and play in the shallow end. By the end he was even grabbing hold of pool noodles and letting Uncle Roy pull him around in the water. Hope wouldn't leave the steps area and Bethany enjoyed laying on the raft and being pulled around like a little princess. Then, out of the blue, Roman decides he wants to jump off the diving board just like Uncle Roy! Roman - the boy who is petrified of water was entertaining the idea of jumping off the diving board into the deep end. It took him more than 5 minutes to work up his courage, but with a lot of cheering and a dollar bribe from Uncle John, much to my astonishment he did it!!! He jumped off the board onto a raft below and Uncle Roy helped him kick to the edge. He didn't fully go under because he had grabbed the raft on the way down, but still... MY BOY! Jumping off diving boards! Man has he grown up this summer! James and I couldn't be prouder.

Then as if that wasn't big enough, my often shy in front of groups of people, little boy proceded to join in on karyoke. When we would have expected Hope Elizabeth to grab the spotlight, nope, it was totally Roman's day! He sang his heart out for everyone, microphone and all. ABC's, Row Row Row Your Boat and so on. With Row Row Row Your Boat he scored a 97%, or an "A" as Grandma informed him and he was quick to let anyone who would listen know. This means that he kept up with the music and sang the right words through 97% of the song! He is quite the singer.

All and all we all had a fabulous time visiting with everyone and hope to be able to do it again soon!

Mommies Know Everything

The kids are always asking me "how do you know that?" in regards to everything. And I am always telling them "mommy knows everything!" So the other night James and I are sitting in the living room watching TV just after having put the kids to bed and I yell "Turn that light off", to which we hear lots of loud whispering and movement as they struggle to get the light off. A minute later I yell again "Turn that light off" and they do very quietly and turn it right back on, so I yell again "I said turn it off".. "off"... "I said off!" At this point there's a lot of groaning, and "How does she know that?" and I yell, "I heard that, and I told you, mommies know everything!" This pattern continued one more time with me repeatedly yelling "OFF" about a dozen times before they gave up and went to sleep.

At that point, James looked over shaking his head, and says "Come on, how DID you do that?" Because the living room used to be arranged so that the recliner was just off the end of the hallway and it was easy to tell when the back of the hallway would light up, but now it's on the other side of the room and impossible to see down the hallway to tell if the light is on or not. At first I played along and just shrugged and said "I told you, mommy's just know everything". After some groaning and proding I had to admit.... If you look towards the hall, there's a TON of pictures on the wall, so whenever the kids turn on the light it reflects in the glass on the pictures and you can see those from the chair!