Non Stop

We have had something every single day and every single night since Thursday.  I am beat.  Perkin' Up, t-ball, softball, planned dinners, birthday parties, birthday party hosted here, birthday surprises, (yes, we know a lot of May babies!), birthday planning, birthday shopping, three birthday dinners.....

Last night, it all hit the fan.  I was done, the kids were done and Andrew was GONE!
6:15pm, I arise from the couch after giving Cole his "dinner".  As I make my way over to the living to find the other three, I stop short and let out a gasp.  My front room is covered in animal crackers, potting soil, pillows, blankets and every flippin' toy we own.  OK, maybe not every one, but many of them.  After standing in silence, staring at each of their little, guilty faces, I calmly walked back over to the couch, set Cole down, and STORMED back over to take care of the pills.  Everyone was spanked (yes, I do that), stripped, PJed and sent to bed.  All were in bed by 6:30pm - I was SO done!  I couldn't be productive anymore so I sat on my butt and sewed 16 bean bags for the party and waited for Andrew to come home to help me clean up the living room.  Luckily, he told me to relax while he cleaned it all up after watching Sister Wives and Army Wives with me.  Whew!

Today?  Today is much better.  The kids and I got an earlier start than usual so we were able to relax and bit more.  Of course we were still late to boot camp because something always has to go awry... today, Jackson's missing shoes.  But we made it and we enjoyed it.  Well, I enjoyed the visiting not so much the work out.  It's depressing how little I am capable of still.  Anyway, we then walked to Ryan's speech lesson and that was so nice.
But on the way back, Jackson impressed me once again.  My mother-in-law had been calling with questions regarding Jackson's party and then my mom began calling to meet up for Costco.  As I am trying to call back and talk, I am also pushing a stroller, feeding a baby, holding a baby and carrying my phone (blue tooth charger is in my car, the car in the shop, and I SO SO SO miss my blue tooth).  So as I am telling my mom all that I am doing, Jackson immediately comes over and takes the stroller from me and says, "There, now you have one free hand!".  The boy hears EVERYTHING, and gets most things.  I am so grateful for my little side kick because I honestly don't know how I would do it without him.  My little soon to be FIVE YEAR OLD!  Speaking of, I am no longer stressed about his birthday, it's just consuming my mind.  Does that make sense?  Jackson was in charge of the guest list and I had no clue it would add up like it has.  If he said a name, I sent out an evite... it just all added up so quickly.  But we're excited and we hope he remembers this one because he has been asking for a party with friends and games for two years now and it's finally here.  But once it's over, what will I use to threaten him?  "If you don't do xyz, I am so cancelling your party!".  Works every time :)  Is that mean?

And speech, let's talk about speech shall we?!  Back on April 13th I received a text from Mrs. Shannon stating, "Ryan was a rock star today :)  Visual cues for the final consonants REALLY helped!  I will make u a book of the visual cues I use!... I loved working with him".  That was an exciting way to start out and here we are, only a few sessions later and things couldn't be better.  Last week he made the "k" sound without his tic toc stick - yes, all on his own.  Then today he made the "g" sound!  The boy can finally say "go" and it doesn't sound like "doe".  It's so exciting I can't even tell you.  He's learning so quickly and we owe a great deal to Shannon.  But we know it's mostly because he has the desire to learn.  Oh how I hope that never dies!