Last week after church we were going to Quick Trip so Tracy could get chew. We went through downtown Des Moines. Duncan was amazed by all the big buildings. He asked, are we in the city? Tracy told him yes we are. Duncan just kept saying over and over, thank you for bringing me to the city! He was so amazed, like he had never been out of Runnells before!
Tracy was in California this week (LA) for a conference. I stayed home with the kids, because that is just easier. It was a good week, everyone did a good job of getting along, including me! All the kids were good listeners too, that always helps. I worked one day, which helped break up the week! Grandma was on vacation this week to, so she helped out. I got new frames for my glasses since Olivia decided to break my other one's.
It was a beautiful day today for January. So we played outside for a couple of hours this morning. We went on a walk, got suckers from the postmaster at the post office, stickers from the sheriff, and all wound up by aunt and uncle. They stopped to visit in front of the post office. Then we came home and just played outside. The kids loved it. It has been awhile since they have been able to get toys out of the garage. Elliott is tall enough to reach the petal on the jeep without setting on the edge of the seat, all though all the kids can make it go now. Boy are we gonna be in trouble this summer! They took good naps today, 2 1/2 hours!!  Fresh air does wonders for 2 year olds. Duncan crashed hard at bed time, fresh air does a 4 year old boy good too, even though he always says he is not tired.

It's all about letting the kids learn!

First a few things Duncan has been saying. With almost every sentence it starts with Can you believe what ever he is going to tell you about or Did you not recognize I could do this or that! He also says I need, or do you need issistance. (assistance)! He also has been singing the days of the week, and talking about the seasons. He is always asking is it still winter, and why is it still winter. Or is it spring yet!! He knows his birthday now too, they have mittens at school with their birthday on, they put them on a tree everyday at school. They made a goal chart at school the other day, the director is always sending little emails about this stuff. Duncan's goal for this year is to learn to ride his bike on the ice! She says we better watch out, he is all boy. That he is!
Now for the other four kiddos, we continue to learn what works and what doesn't every day! Most recently we have started letting them have their drinks at the end of the meal. Lots less spills that way! Since I decided they needed to learn to drink without lids they have decided the last couple days that they are not going to use them, even if we want them to! We were giving them drinks at the beginning of the meal, but they mess around and it ends up getting spilled. We have also started using the timer at meal time. When they decide that they are going to play and not eat we set the timer for 5 minutes and meal time is DONE! They all know what it means when I say I am going to sit the timer, because they tell me no!! It gets set anyway and when it goes off, plates come off the table and they get washed up and get down. They eat in the last 5 minutes usually, well Olivia does anyway, but she will stay at the table for a hour if you let her. So my hopes are that they will one day eat and not play!! They are doing better about sitting on the big chairs to eat. We still have our days, but we always will!
Olivia has decided she likes to jump! She was jumping off of my leg to the floor. She had a hold of my hand, but she did it and laughed and laughed. So they boys all decided they needed to do it too, we all had fun with it. They like to jump out of the recliners too, that is what I caught them doing when I came into the living room tonight. They had the leg rest out and jumping away! They can get to anything they want these days.
Naps are a thing of the past I believe. I still put them in bed to rest, but they just play. They other day I put them up in their room for rest time, but they played instead. I went upstairs and had sheets off the mattress and they were pulling the inside of one mattress out. It got broke the other day while all 5 kids were jumping on it. i put grey tape on it but they took it off. So we taped it a little better.
Tracy left for a conference in California today. He will be back on Friday. It could be a long week! Not really, it will be fine. I know I can call anyone if I need help. I am working on Wednesday and Mom is going to babysit. She is off this week so help really is just a phone call away! 
While we were playing tonight, I thought all of the kids were down on the floor wresting around, well I was wrong. Olivia was on a stool and had gotten my glasses off of the table and broke the bow off. Good thing I have some contacts. Guess I should pay more attention, she was very quiet, quietness is always bad in this house!!!

What a day!!

Today started with the AEA coming bright and early at 9am! I schedule these appts and then the kids sleep schedule changes!! We were all up at 7:30. Elliott was the last one just finishing getting dressed when they got here. All is good with all the testing, aside from speech and communication. So we are going to start speech at the end of the month. 2 times a month, we will meet at preschool when Duncan is at school so that will work well. They all scored just a little low, so we figure it isn't going to hurt anything to have a little extra help.
It was finals at the high school so we took Sarah to school at 10:30. Home for lunch and rest time. Duncan and I made meatloaf and brownie cup cakes while the other kids were resting (playing!).  The brownies are good, but they don't make very good cupcakes. They stick to the paper, I used the paper cups because I HATE washing cupcake pans. After rest time I decided to go on a walk. Thought about taking the stroller, but decided all the kids could use some exercise. I also decided not to put snow pants on; it is not a big deal if the pants get a little wet. We will just take them off when we get home. So we all get ready, coats, boots, gloves and are on our way. We get outside and I get they arm straps out of the van. ( I am not completely crazy, I won't go on walks without those yet!) So as I am putting them on, I look over and Duncan and Owen are jumping in a mud puddle in the drive way, that should of been my first clue! So everyone is ready, we are off.... Duncan and Ethan are ahead of us, walking in the snow. So we FINALLY get to the sidewalk... Another mud puddle, yep, they all jump in it. We are off again, some mud, we all walk/step/jump in it. Everyone has lost gloves, so I have put on gloves, they are all wet and muddy!! We FINALLY make it to the post office, all go in, no mail ( thank goodness, not sure how I would of got it home!). We get out of the post office and Duncan jumps off the ledge to the side walk. Well everyone has to do what big brother does.. So everyone ends up on the sidewalk, and then in the street, then we have to go up the steps to the side walk. Elliott plays on the snow mound by the stop sign.. Olivia and Ethan both sit down.One of the neighbors drove by and wanted to know if I wanted to put all the kids in the back of his truck and he would bring us home, I politely said no thank you! So we finally get back across the highway to the sidewalk. Find more mud. Duncan is ahead of us, I holler at him to come back so he can hold Elliott's hand. Well Duncan lost his boot in the mud he was playing in. So he carries his boot to where the rest of us are. I tell him just to take off his sock, and carry it with Elliott's glove and put his boot on with no sock. We are on our way again. Elliott and Duncan are ahead of us, well guess what, Duncan lost his other boot. So now we have 2 muddy socks. He looks at me with a look of what do I do??? By this time the rest of us are caught up. So as Duncan stands there with one boot off, the rest of the kids are jumping in a mud puddle! So I tell Duncan just put the sock and glove in his boot and carry it home. Just wear one boot, go straight down the alley and stay out of the mud and snow. So we get home, get on the back poarch. Strip get boots, coats, gloves and pants off. I send everyone to the kitchen to wait for me to open the gate. Well I forgot about the cat water and food. Yep you guessed it, Elliott was playing in the food and the water was all over the kitchen floor! So our walked turned into a lot of work for me since I had to wash all the coats and gloves and wash all 5 pair of boots since they were all muddy. We ended the evening with supper of the meatloaf. Baths and bed!! Really I wouldn't change anything. We all need a little adventure once in awhile! Of course I would of loved pictures of today, but there was no way possible.

At what point do you say goodbye to naps?

I know I am not ready for the little kids not to nap, but some days I wonder is it worth the many trips up and down the stairs??
The other day I made the mistake of trying to have Duncan lay down upstairs with them. Well instead of napping, they made a slide out of the mattress'.  I should of known better than to have Duncan lay down upstairs. Now they rearrange the mattress's every day at nap time. And almost everyday make a slide. Today they have been upstairs for 2 hours, no one is asleep. I have taken one mattress out because they took the sheets off, went back up to change a stinky diaper, and they had just moved down the line and more sheets were off! Hopefully they will go to sleep soon, although I am not holding my breath.
The other day I went to check on them because they were laughing and caring on, Elliott and Olivia had no clothes on, but when I had to go back up awhile later, they were both naked. Now everyone wears pj's backwards. I am sure soon they will figure out how to unzip each other. I don't put anything past my kids.
Until we figure some other sleeping arrangements out, I guess we will just go with it and what ever happens, happens! They generally do well at night, just naps are hard! God doesn't give you more than you can handle. I remind myself of that often!
I looked online to see how much a 2 year old "should" sleep every day. Well 13 to 14 hours, our kids sleep 12 or 13 hours at night. Maybe they don't need a long nap. They will have "rest" time, which is not really "restful" because they run around and play!