More milestones.

And no, the fact that its 7:12 and all three kids AND me are in bed is not a milestone :)

 At 6 years and 7 months Luke lost his first tooth! It was the first one that came in, and I yanked that sucker out for him just last night :) He giggled. He had been waiting for what seemed like forever to join in on the "lost a tooth" club and was super excited about this little accomplishment. Baby teeth are so TINY! I feel like it was just yesterday I was excitedly running my finger over his gum feeling that first tiny ridge of tooth poking through.....and there it went. I admit I was ill prepared for this tooth fairy business. We didn't have any special pillow or anything. Nate is out of town. I was afraid it would get lost in his pillows and blankets, so suggested that we put it inside one of my drawstring jewelry bags, and put that under his pillow. The real challenge was keeping my eyes open long enough to ensure that he was asleep to make the big switcharoo! I was trying to blog and kept seeing thislslskajalskdashd on the screen as I was falling asleep sitting up in bed! Finally I made it till about 9 and went and made the switch. I had explained that as first teeth were a big deal the TF was generally more generous than with subsequent teeth. In this case she left 3 dollars and a $2 dairy queen certificate. He was so thrilled as he ran into my room at 7 am yelling "SHE CAME SHE CAME!". 

 This morning was my first ever day of having three packed lunches lined up on the counter for school! Jake is staying for extended days on Wednesday. He stays from 9-2. He was SO proud of his lunch box and was wildly excited to go to school today. I picked up a beaming little boy who had eaten his entire lunch and had had a wonderful day! Go Jake! This no meat thing is going to be hard. I'm going to have to work on my creativity in the lunch box department, thats for sure. 

 This is what insane people do when they have time at home without children. I had a great, long workout, then hit homegoods and BBB. I walked SLOOOOWLY around the house, considered my purchases carefully, and enjoyed shopping. It was a whole new world. I then proceeded to reorganize my entire kitchen drawer system (because lets face it, 4 junk drawers is obscene) and, yes, in my insanity I was even texting pictures of my handiwork to Nate :) Every scrap of laundry is done and put away, all of the sheets are changed, new lamps have been purchased for the three new desks in the house, and all in all things are coming together around here. I'm loving this new schedule.

This was Jake by 6 PM. Although we are moving him away from a nap and towards an earlier bedtime (yes, two years earlier than with my other kids) he is still getting a short nap most days either in the stroller while I run, or in the car en route to a get together with friends. Today, however, with the extended day, he got nothing. This was the result. He was 100% happy, until he was 100% unconscious. Sweet boy.

I love our new life! I lay the kids outfits out the day before, complete with shoes, as there is nothing worse than the looking for the damn shoes bit in the morning. I get up before them and have my coffee and make their breakfasts. They get dressed and brush their teeth and then come down. They eat, then we all come upstairs, I get dressed while they make their beds, and then we usually have about 45 minutes of play time or I end up folding laundry or making lunches if I'm making something that would have gotten mushy overnight. We walk up to our neighbors house about 100 yards away at 8:25 for Lukes bus, Julia's bus comes at 8:35, and then I drive Jake to school. If he doesn't have school we generally just go straight to the gym. Monday and Friday I pick him up at 12, Wed at 2. Jules gets off of the bus right in front of our house at 2:50, and Luke gets to the neighbors house right at 4. I love having time alone with Jake, and that hour with just Julia and Jake is relaxing and nice, and my the time Luke arrives home we are usually baking some sort of snack and thinking about homework and dinner. It just has a great rhythm to the day. Dropping Jakes nap gives us a ton of freedom in getting together with friends who have preschoolers or having friends over, and we are enjoying not being so tied to the house in the early afternoons. I've also been enjoying taking runs again with my running buddy during the early afternoon ~ he starts off chattering away and then swiftly falls asleep.

While I had that momentary burst of sorrow about the ending of an era ~ I have to say there is a lot of excitement about this new phase of life. Its fun because they were ready for it. They are thriving under the routine and excitement of "big kid school" ~ and when I see them happy its so easy for me to be happy.