The days of our seven

Our summer continues- hot and humid weather didn’t keep us at home!

Loriella park with the Locklear kids

My cool summer crew

Kenmore park with friend Devin

Carl’s ice cream in downtown F’burg, yum!

Chillin at our pool with bff Rebekah and her daughter Delilah

Sad to see my crib go, all 4 littles slept in it 😦

4th of July fun downtown F’burg

4th of July party at the grandparents!

Ally’s first sleepaway camp at Girl Scout camp for 3 nights

Other kids all away so Felicity got lots of attention!

Silly Sissy!

Picking up Kiki from summer preschool camp wearing a tutu

At Starbucks with Felicity and Ally- others at camp

We bought a new couch at Costco lol

Kiki and Alex at camp, such a huge deal that Kiki went to preschool summer camp for 2 weeks 9-12, she didn’t “love” it but she went without tears. So big!

Ally sprained her ankle/foot

Sticker/foam art projects

We started a new “reward”/behavior mod system using marbles for good behavior, still working great!

We went to the Rappahannock river to play!

Felicity trying out her new backpack for preschool!

Kennedy being so big at the dentist

Felicity’s FIRST time, she did great!!

Alum Springs park

Ally’s friend Marta came for a sleepover

Homemade smoothies, yummmmm

I took Kennedy out for a “session”, she’s so pretty!

Oh  my, I’m soooo behind on our family blog!  I’m going to post about our summer using my (mostly) iPhone snapshots! We hit just about every park in the surrounding area!  I’ll start with June:

Me and my little girls at Hurkamp park for music and lunch!

My crew and bff Jenn’s crew when they visited from Winchester

Reece’s summer mohawk

Heading to Hurkamp park, Kiki being the big helper

Hurkamp

Felicity rockin out

Playdate with friend Sydney

Both Kennedy and Felicity can swim completely under water this summer at 2 and 4!

Tropical smoothie, a summer favorite of ours!

Sundae time!

At the pool with Daddy

Japanese steakhouse for Father’s day

Father’s day, everyone so tired here lol

Reece and Justin having a fun filled playdate

Weeks family here from Winchester

Reece pre-mohawk cut

Popcicles out back

Snuggle time with mommy after nap

Mommy got away to a spa with bff Jenn

Kiki waiting for Ally to finish PT for her arm

Playing at Old Mill park

Ally and neighbor/friend Diana making posters to clean up litter!

We’re lucky enough to have the BEST pediatrician ever.  Seriously I’m not exaggerating!   I know she was special/different back in 2002 when we moved to Stafford from Ashburn.  In Ashburn we had a nice, new, clean ped office with a bunch of peds who were fine, but nothing personal.  In comparison, Dr. Allegretti remembered us from the day we met her.  She always goes way above and beyond, once when Victoria was younger Dr. A actually faxed me some information about Victoria’s skin, what Dr. does that??  You never feel rushed when you’re at an appt with her and she is VERY thorough and knowledgeable.  I remember when Kennedy stopped breathing at 4 months old and was admitted to the hospital, the huge relief I felt when Dr. A walked into our room, she was working at the hospital that night!! How thankful we were for that!  For all of these years, she has taken such great care of our five kids, always knowing exactly what to do, what to say, how to make things better.

So onto my story, for years my kids have been embarrassing me at the doctor’s office.  I’m always trying to go in there showing how great I am managing 3 kids, then 4 kids, then 5 kids! I make sure they look cute, I’m showered, bribe them to behave, etc. Sometimes I had to breakdown and show that I wasn’t supermom, when we had very sick kids or I was pregnant and miserable, but for the  most part I think I present well, and actually I DO well for real!  When Reece was younger he would embarrass me by being off the hook, melting down, bouncing around.  Ally would ramble on and on, loving attn from Dr. A.  Inevitably one of them would say something embarrassing.

Today however, takes the cake.  I took Ally and Reece in for their annual well-checks.  We are on what I call “half year well checks” because we ran late one year so instead of going around their bdays, they go around their half-bdays.  So off to the 7 year and 9 year appts we go:

Nurse: Reece what kinds of foods do you like to eat?

Reece: Fruit loops (we never have those), donuts (rarely have those), cinnamon rolls (rarely), bananas and strawberrys (whew!)

Dr: Reece do you brush your teeth regularly?

Reece: Umm nah not all the time

Me: What?!! Reece! Yes you do!

Reece: Not on “stay up late night”!

Me: No no, very rare that you don’t

R: I didn’t brush last night

Ally: I did!

sigh.

Dr: Reece do you play outside and get exercise?

Reece: Ehh no, not much

Me: Oh my gosh, Reece!! Yes you do!! You’re outside everyday!

Dr: Do you play video games?

Reece: Yes!!

Me: very limited

Dr: Do you watch tv alot?

R: Yes, about a half hour a day (whew, finally some truth!)

Dr: Reece do you wear a helmet when riding your bike or scooter?

R: Umm only my bike, not my scooter

Dr: well you need to wear a helmet with both!

Me: Reece, you know you’re supposed to!!!

Ally AND Reece: we NEVER do with scooters!!!

Omg someone shoot me now…

Dr:  Ok Reece, I’m going to leave and you can put this gown on, leave your undies on….

Reece drops his shorts AND undies to his ankles…

Later… Dr: Ok Reece so I’m going to look at your privates but you know that no one should ever look except a Dr or mom or dad, and only a Dr. if mom/dad are there…

Before she finishes half of her sentence Reece rips his boxers off, so proud of it all hanging out… :-\

onto Ally’s turn

Dr and I talking about Ally’s allergist appointments etc and Ally says:

Umm mom remember 2 years ago the allergist gave you that form to take me to that other office and give blood, you never took me!!!  Thanks Ally, yeah I decided not to do it, but thanks for throwing me under the bus.

THANK GOODNESS I have another YEAR before I get to look like a loser mom again, yayyyy awesome!!!

So I thought I would write a post about Cancun at some point, but I’ve just realized it’s not going to happen, too many more things have happened since!  So I’ll so a short summary:

Cancun:
We went to Cancun for a week with my brother and SIL.  It was AMAZING, luxurious, beyond our wildest dreams, romantic, relaxing, too short and simply perfect.  I read 3 books, we napped, hung out in the pool/poolside bar until we were prunes, talked about our lives and dreams with my bro/sil, ventured out into Mexico, had the best tacos EVER IN MY LIFE, and celebrated our 11th anniversary.  A trip we will never, ever forget, and we hope to repeat!

Ok onto other important things:

school–
Ally and Reece finished school, we now a rising 4th grader, 2nd grader, and TWO rising preschoolers!! Ack! Ally and Reece had wonderful academic years, we are so proud!  Ally also did excellent on her SOL tests (perfect scores on 3 of them and above average on the other 2) and Reece scored above average on his PALS tests!  We are so so so proud of them!!  Reece had a teacher who was a perfect match for him, Mrs. Newton, and I will miss her dearly (and am praying that her clone is teaching 2nd grade)!  Ally struggled with some social issues this year, but it has been a learning experience for us and our family is only stronger because of it.  YAY Ally and Reece!!!  As for the little princesses… they will be starting preschool in the fall- Kiki 3 days a week and Felicity 2 days a week (3 hours).  For the first time in 10 years I’ll have 2 regular blocks of time each week with NO kids!  So bizarre, exciting, and sad.

So… ONTO SUMMER!!!
Woo hoo!!!  I truly am excited about summer.  I struggle every year in the weeks before school lets out, wondering how in the world I will entertain the children ALL day EVERY day for 2.5 months!  Every year Jermaine reminds me that I do this every year, and that we always fall into a routine and everything works out.  We will so enjoy no school lunches, no homework/studying, no rushed schedule!  I’ve signed the kids up for some camps- Reece is going to Bball camp and “All Sports” camp, Ally is going to Girl Scout camp (3 nights away from home with no phone calls, I may die), and Kiki is signed up for a 2-week preschool camp that is 9-12am.  She is signed up to go with her friend Alex, but she swears she is NOT going.  Hmm we’ll see…

Field Day:

Being the mother of a teenager is a delicate balancing act.  I’ve been doing it for many moons now so I consider myself somewhat of an expert.  You have to find balance between “friend” and “parent”, keeping more weight on the parent side, with enough friend so that you get some info.  Throughout Victoria’s teen years, my goals have been (really “our” goals, mine and Jermaine’s, but for the purpose of this post I’m discussing the mother/daughter thing):

-to have a great mother/daughter relationship

-to be frank with her, completely put all that important info out there so there’s nothing unsaid/uneducated, and use some humor to do so

-to be her mother first before friend, that’s the most important job I have, so that’s where my loyalty is

-to guide her (and sometimes shove her) to make good decisions, to have a strong sense of self-esteem, self-worth, and self-love, to respect herself and others, be responsible, caring and loving. To stand up for herself and fight for what she believes in.

I think we’ve done a pretty good job.  I think I’ve done well being a stay-at-home-mom to a teenager.  Not perfect, some things slipped past me, despite my SNOOPING (and I’m GOOD at it!), I learned that a parent just cannot catch everything, not unless they lock their teen up.  I feel good about the amount of stuff I caught, between myspace/facebook checking, snooping texts, and just plain old pressing her for answers (she caved easily), I think I caught enough for us to use as teaching and guiding events.  Sure, she’s done some things I don’t agree with, yes I wish she asserted herself more at times, raised her standards at times, things ANY mom would want, only the BEST right?

It’s been HARD, I’ve been hated, and although it was hard being hated and so hard to hold our ground, I knew that the hate meant we were doing it right, and that it wasn’t real hate but just rebellion against the very structure she needed. 2 years ago, after she graduated from high school, I remember saying to Jermaine, “I think we did good!”. Looking back over the past 6 years of “teenage-ness” and looking at the woman she’s become/becoming, what a sense of pride that our decisions and the paths we chose came to fruition.

There are so many things I cherish about my oldest daughter.  I love that she’s never been the type of teen to hide in her room brooding and blasting music.  She’s almost always wanted to be around us, following me around talking nonstop.  And even when I thought I couldn’t handle one more story about “who did what and who said this or that”, I still was happy to hear it all.  She still does it, and I still am.

She hasn’t made perfect decisions post-high school, but she’s learning and growing from her decisions AND the decisions we make based on her actions.  Having her home this past year again was amazing and truly a year I will cherish always.  She’s still a teen, can still be argumentative and sassy, spoiled and entitled, SNEAKY (she thinks I don’t know stuff but I DO), but she can also be kind and loving and responsible and helpful.  Her relationship with her siblings is so amazing and rare, it warms and hurts my heart- hurts because I know she’s leaving us again.  This year the balance has swung a little, a tad more friend.  We both love Starbucks, Tropical Smoothies, and Facebook stalking.  We talk about everything, and I mean everything.  I’m proud of her and want so much for her.  I hope and pray that the foundation we have laid will carry her through a fulfilling and wonderful life. (and that she lives near us forever!) ❤

That should be the title of all of my posts because I post so randomly about random things lol.

Last night at bedtime, I was laying in bed with Kiki and I said,

“when you are all grown up will you still snuggle with me?”.

She layed there thinking with a half smile on her face and then said, “but you are going to move!”

and I said, “what? I’m not moving?”

K: “Yes because 2 grown ups don’t live together!”

Then I realized that she meant when she’s grown up, we wont live together, not even sure how she knows that really.

me: “Well I hope we live near each other so will you still snuggle with me when I see you?”

K: “Yes, when I get home from working at my sessions”

I love her, she really thinks things through.  Although the thought of not living near her crushes me.

Other cute things:

Kiki says “This is BORED” instead of “boring”, can’t remember if already blogged that.

Everytime ANYONE has a drink Felicity either sneaks it or immediately runs up and says “I sursty!”.  We have to hide our drinks or she suck them down lol

Felicity changes clothes now several times a day, Ally went through this stage.  Although I cringe at the clean laundry being dragged out, I try to let her do it because I know it will pass and she’s expressing her mischievousness independence! She’s also VERY into princess dresses, so I put some hooks up in her room so that we can keep some in there since she raids (wrecks) Kiki’s room daily.

Other randoms:

Ally broke her elbow about 5 weeks ago, had “surgery” where the Ortho fixed it externally (thank goodness), a cast for 3 weeks and now has the cast off.  She does not have full range of motion yet (can’t fully bend or straighten) and when I look/think about it my chest tightens, but I try to remember that it can improve.  She is supposed to go to PT 3X a week for the next few weeks so I’m sure that will help!

Reece is such a silly, quirky, smart dude.  He’s still my volatile one, can be sweet as pie or very rude.  When he is anxious/worried about anything, it affects his mood, has been that way his whole life.  When he was younger, and couldn’t verbalize it, he would really act it out in tantrums.  Now he’s better able to talk about it, so we can work through his concerns.  Recently he went to a pool party and was worried that they would have veggie pizza (I told him that was unlikely at a kid party lol) and was worried about the depth of the pool (as soon as we got there he jumped off of the diving board and swam across the pool).  I try to remember, when he’s pushing my buttons/nerves, that there’s usually something underneath going on.

More posts to come soon about our Cancun trip, OBX trip, the kids swim team, Victoria’s happenings, and other tidbits that fill my brain constantly. 🙂

Going to dig for a photo for this post, haven’t uploaded iPhone pictures lately!

Wow, what happened to March?? The first quarter of 2010 is gone, flew by me in a blink! I think in quarters now, after meeting with my CPA last week and finally having my taxes organized!! Initially he told me we may owe $6-$7K, umm huh?? I knew I’d owe because I didn’t pay income taxes throughout the year for my photography biz, but what am I missing here??? When all was said and done, we owe 1k!! YAY!!! What a huge relief! So this job is worth it afterall, thank goodness because I love it and our family needs the income.

Anyway, since I last posted we’ve gone from freezing cold to 80 degrees. SOOOO happy Spring is here!! The kids have spring break next week and we’re going to do some fun stuff. It will be nice to not get up early, no homework, no rushing around.

Ally, Reece, and Kennedy all started gymnastics classes this week. The all love it!! After a year of Kennedy boycotting all activities, from preschool to ballet, she finally agreed and was so good at it and just beaming out there in her class. What a big girl!! Felicity is wild as ever, but so fun! Victoria got a full time job as a camp counselor this summer! Yay for making lots of money before heading back to Radford!

I’m going to post iphone pictures from the past month- they pretty much tell the story of our days better than words can!

Reece’s first gymnastics class and he climbs that high!

Night of her Chorus show!
Reece is 7!!
Our pretty 9 year old!
Kiki’s first class, look at her go!
So excited!
Felicity’s new backpack for preschool in the Fall!
County tot egg hunt with friends!
Reece’s art was chosen for the county-wide art show!
Vic sportin’ a new do!
Felicity’s big girl room is coming together!
Finally nice weather, chalk time!
My sweetie
Ready for a day out with mommy
Felicity fell off the back steps and landed on her face, huge gooseegg, bloody nose and cut lips, poor baby 😦
Kiki and DJ Daddy
Regression to a pacifier?
Riding our 35 year old horse!
Reece’s “100 days of school” project!

I’m already being a bad blogger, sigh. The kids have been home from school for over TWO WEEKS for snow, snow, and more snow! It’s been fun! And crazy! Luckily Jermaine was home for the whole week last week too YAY! So I didn’t get too burned out and the kids played in the snow a lot, and played a ton of Wii, Uno, DS, etc.

In between 2 snowstorms, it was clear enough for Kennedy and me to go Disney on Ice and have lunch together, such a great time!!

I’ll let the recent random snapshots tell about the rest of our last few weeks!

The girls model their new bathing suits, even though it’s 30 degrees outside!

Trip to the library before the first snowstorm hit

Kiki worked hard at this

Reece’s friend came over in the snow for a sleepover, silly boys!

Boo boo chicken doing her thing

My cuties before their preschool tour

And so it began

Matching puppy PJs they got for their birthdays!

Soooo silly

Big girl opening her presents on her bday!

Mommy daughter Disney on Ice day!

All of our favorite Disney characters right in front of us!

Pre-first real haircut at the barber (for his whole life Jermaine and I have cut his hair)!

Post haircut! Our little man!

I can’t believe our little Kiki is FOUR! Four just seems SO big. Not a toddler anymore, sigh. We are so blessed to have this little girl in our family. She’s so sweet, quiet, caring, smart. She watches the world around her in a serious way and is our only shy child. She loves to snuggle and when she smiles, it lights the room and your heart!

A message board that I’ve been a member of for over 7 years is closing down now, so I’ve been digging up some of my olds posts and saving them to my computer. Here’s the one from Kennedy’s birth:

“Sorry it’s taking me so long to post! It’s been pretty busy around here since I came home yesterday with all the kids and the demands of a newborn, boy did I forget how busy! Lol!
Well I am in total love with this little girl, she’s so good and so perfect, I adore her! Rebekah already posted about my labor, it went great other than a minor bad reaction to the epidural that passed pretty fast. She came out with the cord around her neck and was a little bluish, was having some respiratory issues and increased heartrate for a couple of hours, but was fine and back with me within 3 hours.
She’s nursing like a champ and my milk came in so fast this time, before I even left the hospital! The kids adore her and argue over holding her. When Reece met her, the first thing he said is “I want to hold my baby Kennedy”- then he licked his thumb and rubbed it across her forehead and said “Siiiiiimba….”! It was hilarious, he hasn’t even seen the Lion King in ages, but that’s what he thought of Lol!
I’m recovering ok, my body really took a beating! I have a few stitches, and my back is killing me, but I’m just thankful it didn’t hurt during pg so I can’t complain. The worst part is the cramping, whew that gets worse with each baby! So I’m trying to take it easy, although you know how that goes!
Thank you all SO much for all of the posts and well wishes, etc. You guys are the best!”

I’m so glad I have those posts, as I would have forgotten so many details. Kennedy was born after a hard time in my life and healed my heart, she continues to light up my life everyday!

For her birthday she got “Twinkle Toes Sketchers”, a new DS game and case, and some clothes and we’re going out to dinner. Instead of a party I’m taking her to Disney On Ice Saturday. Here are some pictures of our sweet princess!

She was our fattest baby, soooo chunky and squishy!

One year old

Two

Three

Four

When Kennedy says “love” she pronounces the “v” as a “z” sound. It’s the cutest thing ever and I smile every night when I walk out of her room.

Me: Love you

Kiki: Luz you

She’s so squishable!