2018....Fresh new start.

                                                           
Alright, here I am making another attempt at consistent blogging.  Sometimes I feel silly blogging but when they pop up on my FB memories I remember why I do it.  It is because I have a horrible memory.  It is certainly NOT to brag.  I won't retro-blog to catch up because the thought of that is very overwhelming and then it for sure wouldn't happen.... It is a fresh new year and a fresh start is in order.

It is 2018, I have a 5th grader, 3rd grader & a preschooler.....

Sydney will soon be 11 and is in her first year of middle school.  She absolutely LOVES it (I think mainly because she can wear whatever she wants). She tried basketball this fall and didn't love it, Santa brought us a basketball hoop this past Christmas so I'm hoping once that goes up that may spark some interest, we'll see.  She just told me this morning that she may want to try track & field. Reading is still her love, and she excels at school.  Found out her reading level is that of an eight grader.   Her homework is ALWAYS done before she gets home.  If only I could find a way to get her to be as diligent about keeping her room clean as she is with her homework and reading.  Never ending battle....then I ask myself does it really matter?  If it doesn't bother her why should it bother me, its her room right??

Karsyn will soon be 9 and is in the 3rd grade.  She is the only Frericks kid at St. Francis this year, which was an adjustment for her.  She did well though. Karsyn is a great reader, doesn't have the love for it like Sydney but I'm not too sure any of us do!  Ha!  She loves to play outside and will do almost anything to avoid homework!  In school they are learning multiplication tables.  Every night she practices them with us.  There is something special about Karsyn, she has this practical side to her thinking, at times, that she will see the other perspective and reasoning well beyond her years.  Sometimes when I am thinking out loud she will hear and try to help me solve my problem and she usually figures it out! Her favorite thing to do is cuddle on the couch watching a movie with some popcorn.

Wesley is 4 1/2 and is in preschool (KinderClub).   It works out that he goes only on the days that I work, so I get to spend 1-2 days per week with him depending on the week. He loves to wrestle/rough house, color, play legos, jump off anything possible & play outside as much as he can.  Wesley does swimming lessons once a week, he has come a long way since we started.  He's able to put his face in the water for at least 10 seconds, a year ago we were lucky to get 1 second with his face in the water. He has become quite the little fish. He loves to wear jeans and is very opinionated on what he is wearing for the day.  His favorite foods are pizza, tacos, brats, hot dogs and PB & J-hold the PB.

Right now our weeknights are pretty low key.  The only kid running is for Syd's piano lesson & swimming lessons for the kids.  So most nights we are home. I'm enjoying it for now, I'm sure soon enough there will be interest in extra curricular activities and will be way more kid running  with practices and going to friends houses etc...

Life with 3 kids

I've been out of the blogging loop for quite some time...(like 3 years) and really haven't thought much about it until last week when an old blog came up on my FB page. Turns out I do miss it and love reading about the everyday things I forget. My girls love hearing stories about when they were little...then they repeat the story like they actually remember it!  So my goal would be to blog each week...but realistically it will probably be once a month!  Ha!

Life with 3 kids is crazy!  Ranging from clothing arguments down to toddler tantrums! 

 Sydney is 9 (4th grade) and is, everyday, showing me how much she is growing up and turning into an independent young lady.  She wants to pick out her own clothes (wants no help/opinion from her father and I).  Thank goodness she has to wear a uniform at school, that narrows down the struggles/crazy outfits to weekends at least.  She is always eager to help me in the kitchen with food preparation. Not so much with setting the table or clean up. She is an avid reader and won the 3rd grade spelling bee, last year at St Francis and went on to compete at the diocesan spelling bee in Cloquet, MN.  She did great!  Made it to the top 10!  She enjoys playing the piano and recently joined the youth choir at church.

Karsyn is 7 (2nd grade) and wants to do everything her big sister is doing.  Often being a "copycat" according to Sydney.  This is Karsyn's 2nd year at using her reading skills and has really taken off with it and really enjoys it!  Karsyn enjoys math and playing with her little brother.  Often times she's rather play with him than get her homework done!  Ha!  She is eager to help others and often is the first to volunteer for a duty that no one else jumps up for.  She is a very sensitive girl, however, makes sure she is heard when necessary.  I often have to remind her to turn her volume down. This is Karsyn 2nd year playing the piano and she is starting to really like it.

Wesley is 3 years old.  He is such a joy and yet at times makes me want to pull my hair out.  Thank goodness the joy moments out number the hair pulling! He loves anything with a motor and loves being outside.  He loves Legos and putting things together.  He is always running & jumping off anything and everything he can find.  I'm sure we'll be having some ER visits in our future.  Wesley is most often playing the puppy of our family and his sisters are his owners.  I often find myself reminding them at dinner to resume play after we're done eating. Super heroes are his favorite and Captain America makes regular appearances here.  He often tells me I'm his best friend and when I'm making a face he isn't sure what to make of it he says "mommy, I love you".  Figuring I'm not happy about something. He is his Daddy's little buddy and is following him around like a shadow. 

Life with 3 kids is sure busy and they keep me on my toes that's for sure. School is back in session and I hope to get on here and blog our memories I'm sure to forget if I don't. 

Party of 5!!

 So we are now a family of five!  Wesley was born June 21st.  He will be 4 months old on Monday!!  He has been a great addition to our family, of course!  He sleeps through the night and is constantly rolling over these days.  He's a very happy, content baby and his sisters adore home to peices!  It had been a VERY long time since I've blogged and need to do some catch up blogging. I will post his birth story soon (before it escapes me)!  

Coming along....

Since my last blog I have a 6 year old and a 4 year old.....I now look way more pregnant as I am 31 weeks.  The girls excitement of the impending arrival of their little brother or sister hasn't diminished in the least.  Every time I leave they still have to both kiss and hug the Baby good bye.  The "to do" list I had in my last blog has shrunk quite a bit.  Karsyn has a new bed, we found her bedding, her room is painted and the new office out in the shop is coming along.  Should be painting the walls this weekend.  So now I feel like I should add more to it.....

*Find Karsyn a dresser.

*Move office out to the shop.

*Set up Baby's room.

*Wash baby clothes.

*Shampoo carpets.

One thing I've been working on daily is Karsyn being less dependent on me for EVERYTHING.  She has this "I want mommy to do it" attitude from getting her dressed to wiping her tush!  She has been reluctant to have Sydney or Daddy help her with much.  I explain to her often that once she becomes a big sister she's going to have to do things by herself or let Syd or Daddy help her.  We are making great progress but still have little spats once in a while. 

My "to do" list may or may not get done in these next 9 weeks.....Karsyn my fall off her independence wagon.... Of course I hope it all goes smoothly.  But, what happens, happens.  Everything will work out just how its supposed to.  Even if it doesn't go according to my "plan"....something I'm working on, let things fall as they may.  As I found out in October....we are adding to our family and God is smiling down on me and having a good laugh. 

Surprise!!!!

So....I don't have a good excuse as to my lack of blogging.  I haven't blogged since Sydney started Kindergarten.....  I wish I had a good excuse, but I really don't.  The only thing I can think of that might suffice as an excuse is.....SHOCK and now I think I've finally snapped out of it.  Back in October we discovered this family is going to get bigger.  That's right folks, I am PREGNANT!  You see this wasn't what I had envisioned for us.  I was totally content with the two girls... I was happy to be sleeping (for the most part) all night long again.  I always said I have two hands and two kids so that's perfect.  My husband would have had more kids if I'd have said the word but we BOTH decided that we'd waited too long and didn't want to start over again.  So then it was decided that he would go in and take care of business.  We had this conversation a year ago in October.  Well....life got busy and he never went in....and now here we sit....  Needless to say the girls are super excited and are anxiously awaiting their new brother or sister due to arrive June 16, 2013! 

I will be 18 weeks pregnant on Sunday.  So that means about 22 weeks left before Baby....and there is much to do.  Since we were done having kids we moved both girls downstairs and the office upstairs.  Eventually the plan was to move the office out into Patrick's shop so we could have a guest room.  Just figured it'd be a while since there was nothing pressing and we didn't really want to spend the money.  So now with this pressing/growing issue.....Patrick had the idea of bunking up the girls and making the Baby room downstairs to push off the office move.  So then I asked him if he'd be willing to run and get the Baby in the middle of the night.....he looked at me and said well I guess the office is moving to the shop. 

So now the "to do" list is started.

1) Move the office out to the shop. (the biggest and the most $)

2) Get Karsyn a new bed and out of the toddler bed so we can have the crib for the baby.

3)  Find bedding for Karsyn.

4) Paint Karsyn's room.

5) Finish the bathroom downstairs.  (Yes, we've lived here for 7 years and still there's a part of our house that isn't finished.  This would be nice but not a necessity right now.)

Three out of the five I can do so I'll start with those.  Karsyn and I are in the process of finding bedding then we can find paint and hopefully we'll stumble across a full size bed for her soon.  I'd like to make the transition long before Baby so she's used to it. 

I do have other things to update you on but wanted to get this "big news" out!  That's all for now! 

Lesson learned.....

Today was an unexpected day of emotions for me.  I found out yesterday that Sydney was chosen as the STAR student of her kindergarten class for the month of September!  Which stands for:



 

Star Students

Try Harder,

Act Christ-like, and are

Rresponsible and Respectful.

 

I got an email yesterday explaining that Sydney was chosen and that the awards were to be given out during Wednesday's school mass. She apologised for the short notice and said she thought it was next Wednesday's mass.  First of all I panicked because our family is short a vehicle and I had to rely on my husband to pick Karsyn and I up and get us there...if we had any chance of making it.  So...it actually worked out!!  Patrick, Karsyn and I made it for mass and got to see her get her award.  Mrs. Titus (her teacher) explained in the email that it was a surprise for Sydney but if I wanted to prepare her and tell her I could....well.... I didn't and turns out I should have...  She had to stand in front of the church with the other STAR students while the principal handed out the awards and shook their hands.  (Yes I cried a bit)  She made it up there (after a bit) and looked fine and and the same time so small standing up there with the older kids. 

After mass Patrick and I decided to hang around and say hi to her and give her a hug.  I noticed that she looked worried and as she got closer to us I could tell she had been crying and then she started crying when she hugged me...Mrs. Titus said if we wanted to walk her back over to school we could and lunch would be in 5-6 minutes.  Ok, so we walked her back and she stopped crying and was fine...or so it seemed.  When I tried to leave she wouldn't let go of my arm and got upset again.  Thankfully, Mrs. Titus came over and she was ok with that and we were able to leave.  Talk about break my heart!! 

Sydney is one who needs to be prepared for things.  Every night (and I mean every SINGLE night) she asks what we are doing the next day and wants exact details.  So seeing us in church was a surprise, going up in front of church was a surprise and then having to say good bye to us was just a bit much for my little big girl.  Now I have to wait until she gets off the bus to snuggle her and talk to her about her big day.  Needless to say....I have learned my lesson.... 



Kindergarten

It's official....I have a kindergartner!  The first day of school went great!  Sent her on the bus (which Mom was dreading) and we both did OK (Mom teared up a bit but held it together) she walked her way across the road to the bus and didn't look back (did much better then Mom).  Its wasn't til later that the tears rolled for me.  To my surprise, it was an "aha" moment as to why I had been so emotional the weeks before the big day.  I thought it was obvious....my little girl is growing up and I'm a big baby....man was I wrong.  It hit me like a ton of bricks....I wish my Mom was here to see her and be there for me at this HUGE milestone....after that I was on the verge of tears all day.  Thankfully, at work that day it was a non-patient, cleaning day for me and I was alone.  Later that day I got a call from school saying there was some kind of mix up on her bus card and that she didn't get sent on the bus.  So of course I gladly picked her up and tried to pry as much info out of her as I could, but she was pretty quiet about it all.  She came home Wednesday with the best news Patrick and I could have asked for..."My friend Maya from daycare rides my bus!"  Maya joined our daycare this summer and turns out is our neighbor too.  She is in 3rd grade and a great friend to all the kids at daycare (according to our daycare).   Whew!!  What a relief!!  It is now the 6th day of school (Syd pointed that out to me this morning) and she LOVES it!  The only thing she complains about is being tired in the morning.  So we have adjusted bedtime a bit.    To sum it up....Mom survived the first week of kindergarten!!  =)