Joey Flips Out

Joey is our little voice in the family and by little I mean he is actually our loudest voice. And he has turned into quite the tease. He knows when Caroline doesn't want him touching her and so he does his best to have at least part of him touching her at all times when she is in this mood. And he is persistent. Like a little puppy who wants to be pet. It is somewhat endearing and sometimes a bit... not.

This is what I found when I heard laughing coming from the living room. He threw up about on hour later - but not from the flips, from a bug that is circling our home lately.

Here we go again!

Here we go again. Eli has his first day of 2nd grade. 2nd grade!!! What happened to kindergarten? E was excited for school to start. A class of 27 (way too big!), 17 are boys! There were many joyous reunions that morning. Friends he saw only 2 days previous greeting each other like it had been 2 years. I don't know how bones did not get broken.














We are still trying to find our groove, but my expectations for that are not high. I don't think that we ever found our groove last year - when to do homework, when to veg, when to play and when to eat.















It is weird not to have him around all day. We all miss him. Not that he is ever around long - he is a social butterfly.

So far so good. He likes his teacher, likes what he is learning and loves to be with all his pals.

How can you not love this 2nd grader face?














Caroline began a new dance program. She calls it her "temporary" dance. Contemporary. She asked how she was supposed to keep up her ballet and tap skills if she would be going to dance with bare feet from now on. I don't know. I mean, what if SYTYCD 2022 doesn't think she has good enough technique? But she loved it her new dance.


She is also beginning soccer. She is so excited and has practiced every day. It is her fallback to SYTYCD, I guess she can always try out for the USA Women's Soccer team.







We bought some soccer cleats with pink in them but there were too big. I asked her to try on Eli's old shoes and she said, "That is a good idea and if they fit we won't have to buy new shoes!" What? This coming from a kid who threw a HUGE fit in Target that day over something ridiculous that I would not buy.

















She was showing me her jumping skills. Who knew that cleats helped you jump? Joey came out in E's cleats and had to get in the jump action. He actually has an impressive vertical for a tiny sport.

















Many of you know about Caroline's lack of pants and short wearing. She hasn't worn them in 2 1/2 years - excluding leggings that go under dresses. Thus the skirt at soccer practice. I asked her if we needed to go shopping for a black skirt or if she would wear soccer shorts. She said she would only wear Eli's old soccer shorts and only for soccer practice and games. She also asked that I don't ask her to wear shorts or pants any other time.


btw - I have new plaques that are about to go up in my shop. If you want to take a look, go to we chirp.

The many faces of Joey

Joey. Our 2 year old. Our little boy with a big voice. He gives great hugs, throws great fits, sings songs with a great loud voice, he dances like robot, he adores his siblings and can't get enough of Eli.


Joey is following in his sibs footsteps, climbing everything. If he sees his brother or sister do it, he can do it. This is what I found looking out the window. As soon as Joey saw me he yelled "I did it!!" We hear that often, which is usually great.

Happy Joe.

Joey found some old underwear of E's and wants to wear them over his diaper, and preferably only his big boys and diaper. And he doesn't want his picture taken.

~~~let me add a fantastic story about Joey that happened yesterday at Target. Joey has perfected selected hearing. So Target is not a great experience. Either his is furious at me containing him to a cart or people can hear me cajoling him with "Joey, Joe Joe, Joseph, JOSEPH!!!" Today, within in minutes of us being here he had given himself a bloody nose. Luckily we were in the school supplies section and they had little tissue packets, so I cleaned him up best I could but still he had smeared blood all over. Then he found some oreos and opened them, ate some, then spilled them. I took them away. We walked away and I *gasp* gave him one that had been on the floor because he wouldn't quit complaining. Did I mention he is LOUD? Then, I wouldn't give him any more. He them grabbed Caroline's face, trying to conjure one out of her mouth, he is screaming MO MO MO MO (NO NO NO NO) at the top of his lungs, Caroline is crying, Joey is rubbing his bloody, oreo crusted face on her dress which infuriates her even more and then I grab him out of the cart, a little less than gently, and I hold him close (actually gently) and speak right into his ear, "joey, quit yelling at me, quit yelling at Caroline, quit yelling. Enough, done, stop now. He calmed down, but during this whole episode, a sorority sister of mine, one that I know fairly well, pretended she a) didn't know me and b) didn't hear us. EVERYONE HEARD US!!! JOEY IS HEARD, or else. My face was red, my heart was pounding and I just wanted to walk away - from everyone. But in the end, he just held me. He had a rough day.

One year older and wiser too

Today is Joey's 2nd birthday. We started out with a fun neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. I asked Dave if he wanted me to go with the big kids or Joey. He told me I better be with Joey because the big kids areas are cut-throat. I don't know if he was thinking I wasn't up to the challenge or that I may be too competitive. In any case, I stuck to the toddler yards. Joey had a great time. Eli and Caroline did also but it is Dave that really gets into the hunt. He spends a lot of time really combing over the yards, making sure that the kids haven't missed anything.

We weren't planning on celebrating too much today for Joey because with Easter tomorrow, we can do a little something at my mom's but his Oma and Opa decided to come over. They gave him a big dump truck that he spends at least 10 minutes with every time we are at target. And I let the kids give him a Mickey Mouse bubble blower. Both things made him yell "YAY!!".

Where do you go for a 2 year old's birthday? A Vietnamese restaurant of course. It was super yummy - La Cai Noodle House. The place is clean, well lit and like I said, yummy. Even my kids at the food.

Now Joey is off to his nap. He's just getting older and older. Shocking. He is always on the go, despite his hobbly leg. Every time he sees Caroline or Eli and it has been longer than 5 minutes he gives them big hugs. He is a champ at saying NO! (or MO! in Joey speak), where is it?, what?, why?, where's Ey-yi?, Where's Carogine? and many more. A bit of a snuggler, he lets me hold him and love him. He loves to dance, wrestle with his brother, play in Caroline's room with her and follow everyone around. He is a little comedian and makes us laugh often. He just has the funny little personality that we love. Now if we could get him sleeping through the night, we'd be perfect.

Break Dancer

Last week, Joey fell down some stairs. Not too many stairs and no one saw him fall (if a kid falls and no one sees him, does he really fall?), so we aren't sure how he fell, landed or how hard he hit or where. Since then he has had a bit of a hitch in his giddy-up.

Finally on Monday I took him in to see the Dr. (this after Dave telling me "he's fine..." a million times). The doc checked him out thoroughly and could see the limp that I was talking about, but the kid had not quit moving once while we were in there so it was difficult to tell if anything was wrong. He told us to wait until Thursday, the latest day that we could cast a broken bone, and if he was still limping we would go get x-rays.

Obviously, he was still limping this morning. X-rays showed a buckle fracture in his right tibia. Cast at 4pm, a little frustration learning how to move around and by 6pm he was tearing through the house again. His knee is set at a 30 degree angle and his toe is pointed, but he is doing well. He was pretty darn good during x-rays and great during the casting. And no, I didn't choose his cast color, it was just fate that it is the perfect shade of red.

Happy Birthday Baby! Joey turned one last week and I finally have the proof that we did indeed celebrate.

Joe Joe just a few hours old. He had a rough start, didn't want to leave the womb, had a cord around his neck, not pinking up too fast and all the nurses and the doctor and DAVE tried to tell me he was ok. The fact that he wasn't crying tipped me off and I was a bit hysterical, but after lots of O2 and chillin' in the nursery, we were good.

In the picture above, he looks like he is trying to tell me it was all a big joke and he didn't mean to startle me.

Yum!


Big kid riding his horse outside. He is so dang fun. He loves to keep us moving and laughing.

He couldn't believe I was giving him cake. His Oma giving him cake without my permission, yes, but me? He was thrilled.

A little cake drunk.

Happy Birthday Bug, we love you!

I walked in the bathroom and saw this

Caroline had gone inside to get Eli's friend a bandaid. In order to reach them, she put aside all thoughts of danger to herself and got them out of the cabinet (not shown) above using a precarious method of recovery.

I put the kids to bed and made this

Dave is out of town on a boy's trip (have fun golfing honey) and after the kids had a nutritious meal from McD's, I ate salmon and an artichoke. Dave won't have to smell any fish, the scent will be gone by the time he gets home (hope you are having a lot of fun sweetie).

While eating I began to watch this

I just started it and decided to work first and then finish it. I love it so far. Love Keri Russell.

Checked in on Charlie and saw this

and am giddy with love for this little boy who is working so hard and inspiring so many.


Been singing birthday songs all day to this boy

I love him so much, it is hard to believe that he is one! He loves to make us laugh, loves to "wrestle" with his brother and sister, loves to give me loves, loves when he sees his daddy, loves to reach for his Oma and loves being outside. Even though I think his teeth may be bugging him, he was quick to laugh today and quick to cuddle up to me. One year old... it goes by too fast.