BACK TO DANCE!

My goodness has this family had a lot of "back to" days as of late. Last night was Ava's first night of dance for the year.

Last week she and I made a night of it and went to the Open House where we bought new tap and ballet shoes, and also splurged for a new leotard, two pair of tights, and some "booty shorts."

Let me take a moment to talk about these little gems that we call "booty shorts." If you are not sure what they are, and you are a mother who has been blessed with a daughter who loves to dance, then you should be happy to know nothing about them. What are they? They are skin tight super short shorts that the older girls around Larkin dance studio like to wear along with a sports bra to dance. Notice I said older girls. But of course they sell them in little girls sizes as well, and we have seen many a little girl prancing around the studio in them, so of course, Ava along with her little friend Lauren just had to have them. With much hesitation, I decided to make the purchase and let her have her coveted booty shorts. But I made it very clear that she would be wearing a leotard underneath them, and that the sports bra would have to wait a few years.

So now that we have the "booty shorts" thing cleared up, on with the story....

Last night she got herself ready for dance class. As she was up in her room I was secretly hoping she would come downstairs in her leotard along with her sweet little skirt that still fit her from last year. No such luck. She came bounding down the stairs in the good ol' booty shorts, excited as ever to get to dance class. I have to say, I bought them for her, so I could not complain - and on top of that, they really did not look all that bad when worn with a leotard.

So off to dance we went, equipped with my camera ready to take a bunch of pictures before class started. Of course, we ended up being late which made picture taking a bit difficult, but I still managed to get a few shots.

So there you have it, Miss Ava's first night of dance class - booty shorts and all.

BACK TO PRESCHOOL!

My Anthony Thomas started his second year of Preschool today. I was hoping being that he was a year older he would not be so sad having to be away from me. Last year every single Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning at about 8:45 am he would be found standing at the back door crying and begging to stay at home with me. Every single time - no jokes. At the end of every week I would say to myself, "Maybe this week will be better, maybe he will go off happily waving to me as Daddy drove away to take him to preschool." Unfortunately, that week never came.

Now I know I am a pretty cool Mom, but for the love of God, does he not get sick of hanging out with me all day every day?

Apparently not as just like every day last year, he stood by the back door crying and begging me to let him stay home with me for just one more day. Unfortunately he was in such a state of panic and sadness I was unable to get pictures of him on his first day back to preschool. I decided that it was too important of a day to let it go without snapping any photos, so I took them when he arrived home from school.

Smart one, right? He was excited and oh so happy to be home with me, so there was no better time to get some good pictures. Oh, and ask all about his first day. All he had to say was "my teachers are Miss Vicky and Janna Banana again!!" So onto picture taking I went....

He insisted on celebrating his very first day back to school with his buddy "Chicky" by letting him in on the photo shoot.

And we just had to get one of "Chicky" all by himself.

And one last shot to show off his brand new Batman shirt [that did not come in his size and is way too big for him but he just could not live without getting.]

I have to say I am confident that at some point during this year, he will leave for school as happy as he comes home. One can hope, right?

BACK TO SCHOOL! [PART 2]

Before the kids arrived home on the bus this afternoon Dad called saying that he would be home in time to watch them get off the bus. He and I thought it would be fun for them to see us both waiting when they arrived home after their very first day of school. After getting off of the bus, we thought it would be fun to hang out just the 4 of us, have a snack and talk about their first day. You know the stuff - Did you like your teacher? Did you make any new friends? What did you have for lunch? Did you get some homework? Tell me all about it!

When the bus finally arrived,

and they hopped off, I could tell right away that the day was a success.

I could also tell from the look on his face, that Lucas was getting pretty sick of all the pictures I had been taking. And I was alright with that.

I ran excitedly toward them to give them hugs and ask all about their first day, and what did they do? They ran right past me and into the house.

When I finally caught up to them they were half way up the stairs.

"Hey! Aren't you guys going to tell me about your very first day at school? I want to hear all about it!"

"We are going to change and play with everyone outside!"

"But tell me about your first day!"

"It was fine." was what I got from them as they continued on their way up the stairs.

"What did you do?"

Lucas: "I don't really remember."

Ava: "We don't have any homework. Can we play outside?"

Seriously? This was Ava's very first day of 2nd grade and Lucas' very first day of 1st grade - not to mention his very first day at a new school. And this was all they had for me - I don't really remember what we did, it was fine, and Ava completely ignoring my question with a response of we don't have any homework can we play outside?

I am beginning to think this whole first day of school thing is a much bigger deal for Mom and Dad than it is for the kids. No?

BACK TO SCHOOL!

It was a big day around here today as the kids had their very first day back at school. Yaaaahooooooo! Can you tell I am just thrilled? Don't get me wrong, I love my kids to death, but it was most definitely time to get back to school, and back to the daily grind so to speak.

Miss Ava, my 2nd grader,

and Lucas, my 1st grader,

anxiously awaited the arrival of the bus outside in the freezing cold. And I mean freezing - it was 53 degrees out, with misty rain and strong winds. Only in Minnesota will you find such crappy weather in early September. Only in Minnesota.

We waited, and waited, and waited some more - the bus was very late, most likely due to all the other Mom's like myself standing at the bus stop taking pictures like a mad woman as their children got ready to board the bus.

Some of my pictures while we waited:

In all the picture taking chaos, we did not even see the bus coming down the street until it was right in front of us. There it was, the big yellow bus, ready to sweep away my Ava and Lucas for yet another year of school. Every year the arrival of the school bus always results in me crying a big old puddle of tears, but this year I actually made it through with a dry face. No tears! Not to say that it was not so very hard to watch, and that a part of me wanted to run right onto that bus, say to heck with school and take them right back inside the house with me. But I knew I had to let them go -

My little first grader and second grader are off to school - and to think my Anthony will be right there with them next year to start Kindergarten. Why oh why do they have to grow up so darn fast?

CUTIE PATOOTOIE

This past week has been pretty rough around the Shelton house. We have had the incredible misfortune of coming down with a nasty bug that has slowly been passing from one child to the next.

What kind of bug you ask? One that causes high fevers, achy bodies, no desire to eat or drink much of anything, and a need to sleep all the time. Not fun; not fun at all.

We have spent the week watching movies, sleeping, playing games on the Ipad like it is nobody's business, playing out "violent fights" with Nerf guns, eating freezies, watching more movies, sleeping some more, creating forts with the pillows and blankets from all the couches, and generally making a massive mess of the house.

I think it is safe to say that the kids, not to mention little old me, are getting extremely tired of doing all of the above. They just want to get outside and run around with the neighbors, hit up the local parks, swim in the neighbors pool... really anything that does not involve being in the house would be heaven sent.

Because of how the past 7 days have played out, getting out of bed this morning was a little less than desirable. All I had to look forward to was another day in the house with 5 kids. 4 of them bugging each other, causing fights, and bouncing off the walls begging to get out of this Godforsaken house. But I dragged my butt out of bed after hearing all the kids running crazy downstairs watching cartoons, came down, got the monkeys fed, headed back up to talk to the Mr. for a bit, then headed back down to make my coffee. [My morning routine.]

As I walked into the kitchen I heard Ava giggling hysterically and looked to find Liv running around in circles saying "No!! No!! Noooooooo!!!" As I made my way to the family room to see what was going on I noticed different colored squares all over the back of Olivia's pajama shirt and a few on her legs [she had long since ditched her pants.] Wondering what these colorful squares were, I moved closer and closer until I realized that they were stickers. For some reason, my 7 year old thought it incredibly hysterical to chase her 2 year old sister around the family room sticking bunches of tiny stickers all over her back. Go figure.

"What is going on Ava?"

Barely able to get an audible sentence out in between her giggles: " I am putting stickers all over Olivia."

"Why?"

"Because it is fun. And I am bored."

"Try doing something that does not make your sister mad."

"I am sick of doing everything inside."

I bit my tongue as I walked away saying under my breath, "I hear ya."

This is when I realized we seriously needed some time out of the house.

So this afternoon, I decided to heck with it. We were going to actually get out of our pajamas, and get outside to play for a bit.

This plan was successful. The kids ran around in the front yard happy as could be. As Miss Liv was doing her seventh or eighth lap around the tree, I noticed her little butt cheek was hanging out one side of her diaper.

This was nothing new, as I often find her plagued by a "diaper snuggy" being she does not like to keep her clothes on. What kept me staring and laughing was this:

Seems one of those stickers her sister was determined to place all over the back of her shirt found its way right to her little butt cheek.

Neither the snuggy nor the sticker seemed to faze her - I think she was just so happy to be outside to care.

HELPING HANDS

Anthony and Liv are quite excited for their brother to get to an age where he can actually do something with them. Something like ride bikes, play in the cul-de-sac, play Star Wars guys or Little People in the playroom, hang out on the couch and eat snacks while watching a movie.... You know, the sort of things he will not be doing anytime soon.

But this does not stop them from attempting to do such things with him at the ripe old age of 3 1/2 weeks. Most often this ends with Nathan screaming [likely from having numerous toys shoved in his face and in his hands with the hopes he will hold onto whatever it is and play along,] and Liv and/or Anthony stomping away frustrated with his lack of playing skills.

I try to remind them that he is still a baby and that it will be awhile before he is able to partake in playing puzzles, board games, action figures, [or anything else for that matter] with them. Either they don't get it, which would not surprise me being they are 2 and 4, or they are simply gluttons for punishment and enjoy trying to get him to play over and over and over again to no avail.

To me? Insanity. Einstein's definition of insanity - doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Sound like my kids?

Here is what I found when finishing up cleaning the kitchen after breakfast:

Yes, those are Nathans legs hanging out from underneath all of those toys. And yes, he was able to breathe underneath it all - his brother and sister were courteous enough to not cover his head with anything.

I would have to say, it looks as if Nathan does not seem to mind having what seems to be every single one of his toys strategically placed around him while hanging out in his bouncy chair.

I think he may becoming accustomed to his brother and sisters attempts at playing with him - poor guy.

PAPARAZZI

Since Nathan was born I have taken on the ever fun for me/annoying for him roll of snapping an obscene amount of pictures - with him being my subject matter. Pictures of him sleeping, taking a bath, sitting in his bouncy chair, being held by his brother, being held by his sister, laying on his blanket, even pictures of him crying - most likely in protest to all the Godforsaken pictures I am taking.

As I did with my other 4 monkeys, I have once again become best friends with my Nikon D40. I never leave home without it.

This all makes me think of myself as a member of the Paparazzi. A person who is obnoxious and annoying as ever when it comes to snapping pictures, but has a knack for getting some really fabulous shots. Alright, the fabulous shots part is something that occurs every once in a blue moon for me, but when I do get one it makes it that much better.

This afternoon I was busy taking on my Paparazzi role, snapping picture after picture after picture of Nathan in the same pose, in the same outfit, and in the same location. I know, ridiculous, but I just can't help myself. He is so darn cute. In fact, he is the cutest almost-1- month old baby ever. [ I know, I know, annoying statement. But I am allowed to say that, I am his mother after all.]

Here is a sampling of those pictures:

Hellllooooo cuteness. No?

Another sweet picture of my Nathan with is eyes peeking out from underneath his hood. Not my intention at all, but when I am holding a baby in one hand and trying to snap a picture in the other, perfect pictures are hard to come by. Heck, they are hard to come by when I have nothing in my hands but the camera.

Not the greatest shot, looking like he is getting tired of the camera in his face, no?

And here is the fabulous shot of the day. My almost-1-month-old sticking his tongue out at me after what was probably the 70th flash of light his poor baby eyes had taken as a result of me snapping an obscene amount of pictures.

This was when I decided it was time to put down the camera, quit the whole Paparazzi thing, and give the little guy a break. At least for today.