The Boogie Monster

Moments ago I put my little darling angel, Eden, to bed. Not all of you know that our kitchen is currently being remodeled...but it is, and because of this fact, our sweet little Eden is sleeping in Mommy & Daddy's room until we can get all of our kitchen accoutrement out of her room and back where it belongs. So I tucked Eden in, turned the light off and sat down on the bed to spend a few quiet moments with my daughter. It's pitch black in our room and I hear Eden say...'Ow'.

I can't see that she's done anything to hurt herself. But I can tell through the darkness that her little hand is stretched out. I reach out slowly, squinting to see and I feel her little hand and can tell that her index finger is pointed out so I bent over slowly and kissed her little finger.

And she says...'Mommmmy! That wasn't a boo boo.' (insert dramatic pause here) 'That was a booger!'

Yes ladies and gentlemen - at the tender age of 31...I ate a booger!

While we're talking about Eden you should probably watch this little video. I've decide to title it Dancing with My Seh-elf. It turns out the apple really doesn't fall from the tree. I've had plenty of dance off's in my lifetime - and yes...many of them were in front of the mirror. Enjoy!

Beach or Bust!

The Matthews Family left early yesterday morning to head to Corolla for 4 days! The kids were a little restless during the 2 hour drive - you would have thought we'd been in the car for a week the way they were acting. Eden had to tinkle before we even got out of Newport News and Gabe made me laugh hysterically when we were driving through Chesapeake - he looked out the window and said sarcastically 'Where are we? P-town?' I don't know how he even knows the nickname for Portsmouth but it cracked me up!

We arrived early in the afternoon and settled into our favorite Outer Banks beach house, very properly named, 'It's Five O'clock Somewhere'. We had a great time in the pool and hot tub and spent basically all day at the beach.

Gabe as 'Davie Jones' and Aunt Wendy as 'Captain Jack Sparrow' - Can I just say that I'm so happy that my son is obsessed with pirates! Arrrg - way to make mum happy matey! Maybe this means he'll go to East Carolina for his college education like mommy did.

Beautiful Outer Banks sky! 

A thunderstorm rolled through late last night and brought in a cold front. We tried the beach this morning but it was way too cold and way too windy. So we decided to take the kids to the Currituck Lighthouse for some fun!

Look at the difference between yesterday and today's sky!

We tried to get the kids to smile nicely for a picture and they completely lost their minds. Shortly after, I tried to sell all four of them to a group of strangers for $5. Surprisingly, there were no takers and Gabe later refused to hold my hand because he was mad that I 'twied to sewl' him.

We went on a nature walk out to the ocean and the tide was out - can you say smelly?! Eden was super bothered at the stench and Gabe was super bothered that we were on a 'bwidge to nowhere'. Then he said 'dis bwidge weeds to China and it smewls bad and all you eat for bweakfast, wunch and dinner is Chinese'.

Someones had enough and is ready to go!

Poor little Eden got a splinter in her thumb and middle finger from 'the bwidge to nowhere'. Here she is looking pitiful showing her boo-boo. She was also walking around with her middle finger up, but I showed some discretion and decided not to take a picture of that.

This is the Whalehead Club near the Currituck Lighthouse. It was built in the early 1920's and is absolutely gorgeous! The architecture is Art Nouveau and the view from the back porch is breathtaking!

Next stop...candy shop! Jonathan and I took the boys to The Sweet Spot (the only place to go to satisfy all of your candy & confectionery cravings). Yeah yeah, I know, shameless plug. Don't worry, I don't think any amount of advertising on my mommy blog will get me free salt water taffy for life so I'll stop there. Back to the fun stuff...we decided to stop by the Corolla Surf Shop and the boys ran around picking out all of the surf gear they wanted. We settled on the fact that the candy was enough of a special treat for the day and headed back to the beach house. WAIT! I should have probably told you that Eden went with Kelly Grace (Russ, Wendy & Mimi) to the grocery store instead of riding back with Mommy & Daddy. I think both girls were a little jealous that they didn't get to go on a candy store binge. (We'll take them tomorrow).

 

Kiss & Tell

Every night at dinner Jonathan and I ask the kids about their day. It's one of my favorite parts of the day and I always look forward to hearing about what adventures they experienced, what they learned or who they met while Mommy and Daddy were at work.

Last night Gabe told us that Amiya kissed him on the cheek in the hallway at school. I probably won't get this exactly right, but I'm going to attempt to repeat to you the way this conversation went down.

Gabe:  Amiya kissed me at school today. But I didn't kiss her back.

Me: What!? Why did she kiss you? You're too young to be kissing!

Gabe:  She was playing boyfriend/girlfriend.

Me:  Where was your teacher?

Gabe:  I don't know. (dramatic pause) I kissed Sydney.

Me: Who?!? What do you mean you kissed her?

Gabe: Sydney. Well, there are two Sydney's. One sits next to me and one doesn't. I kissed her on the hand and on the cheek and told her she was hot!

Me: Gabe you are too young to be kissing! Why did you do that?

Gabe: Because she's beautiful. *rolls eyes and giggles

Me:  You can get in trouble for that honey. You are at school to learn, not to be kissing.

Gabe: But the teacher didn't even see! And...somebody peed in their chair today.

During this conversation I'm looking desperately at my husband because I'm at a loss. And what is he doing you ask...cracking up laughing. Gabe is very animated and his story telling abilities are always on point. But it seems I was the only person shocked by this behavior.

What have I gotten myself into? What do I say to discourage him from being the Kissy Monster at school without ingraining in him the thought that kissing is bad?

HELP!

Happy 5th Birthday!

This weekend my nephew, Coen, turned five! Wendy had his birthday party at the WISC in Williamsburg and the kids loved it! They got to run around and be crazy in a huge jump house room, play laser tag and eat cake! What more could a kid want?

Gabe and Coen are 7 weeks apart and are the best of friends. They've always been super close and truly enjoy each other's company. When Wendy and I were pregnant we used to daydream and discuss at length, how great it was going to be to have our little boys grow up together. We hoped and prayed they'd love each other and I think it is safe to say we both got our wish. I can hardly believe Coey is five! When Kelly Grace turned 5 it was a bit surreal, but now that the boys are that age its just down right crazy! What happened? You were just a baby yesterday!

In the past few days Gabe has been obsessing about the fact that Coen turned five before him. It's been the same deal for five years now...Coen has his birthday and a few weeks later you have yours. This is the first year that he's said anything and I can only imagine that when they're 16 and getting driver's licenses, this topic will come up again.

Here are some cute pictures from the party!
Gabe and Eden standing outside the WISC with Coen's birthday present.

Eden insisted on carrying the present inside.

The Birthday boy enjoying the Jump House!

Eden has finally given into letting Kelly Grace tend to her which makes both of them very happy. They are quite the pair.

I was able to snap a picture of Gabe before he could run off to jump his brains out again. Even Albert is looking a little nauseous.

Kelly Grace and her little mini-me, Eden!

Gabe seemed to enjoy this particular bounce house the best. It had a giant turtle and a mushroom that was taller than he was. I think it reminded him of Super Mario, it reminded me of Woodstock and those 'turtle' monsters we met on our Noland Trail adventure a couple of weeks ago!

'Best buddies for wife' (or better known as life).

Daddy helping Gabe put his Vans back on so we could get started on laser tag!

So there are some rules at the WISC, and one of those rules...no laser tag for people under the age of 4. Apparently the fact that our little princess has the attitude of a 16 year old does not mean she can qualify to play laser tag with the big kids. She was obviously upset and Aunt Wendy stepped in to comfort her so Daddy and I could go kick some blue team butt with Gabe (aka Lex Luther).



Everyone at the birthday party was divided up into two teams. Blue and Red. Another WISC rule...no running in the laser tag arena. What?! Laser tag without running? I guess I can understand...safety first! And I mean, lets face it, how much running is one adult going to have to do to survive a 20 minute game of laser tag with a bunch of children under the age of 7? (You'd be surprised!)

While I admit it was a bit therapeutic running (I mean walking) around shooting little kids with lasers...these kids were ruthless! A boy ran up to Wendy looked her dead in the eyes, shot her and said "Chubaka sends his regards". All of a sudden these adorable little toddlers with pigtails turned into prodigies of Don Vito Corleone. Before we knew it we were 'going to the mattresses'! It was brother against sister, uncle against niece, father against son...and it was marvelous!

Gabe did well during the first game and now that I was a little more comfortable with the course I decided to let him go it on his own for the second game. Then, Daddy and I did the unthinkable, we snatched up a red team vest and gun strapped it on our sweet little princess and sent her in to finish off what was left of the blue team! She was so adorable! I wish I would have gotten a picture of her with that huge vest on but the battery died in my camera! It scares me to say, she was a natural! It clicked for her almost immediately. She knew what she needed to do - and she went to town! Twenty minutes later, I'm covered in sweat and feeling a bit ashamed of how proud I am that my 3 and 4 year old have mastered the strategies of laser war.

We won't talk about final scores, everyone was a winner! Wendy even handed out gold medals to all of the kids. Gabe later walked up to me and informed me that 'this isn't even real gold, it's plastic and made in China'. I almost died laughing. Regardless of the fact that the medal was made in China, Gabe loves it! He actually has worn it to school every morning this week.

We had a great time and I'm all charged up and excited to start planning Gabe's birthday party! Any ideas?

Back to School!

Yesterday was the first day of school! Gabe graduated up to 4k with Mrs. Miller and Eden had her first day of school ever in Mrs. Foster's 3k class. They both started the morning off super excited. Daddy made breakfast and I packed lunches. Here they are standing at the front door with their backpacks (or as Eden likes to call them...'packpacks') on waiting to get in the car.

$200 worth of school supplies - Check! Backpacks on - Check! New school clothes - Check! Time to hop in the car and drive to school! They were both screaming at this point...shocker!

We arrived at Hampton Christian Elementary School around 7:45 a.m.

I thought it was so cute that they actually held hands all the way up to the front door of the school...without fighting! Gabe really enjoyed showing Eden around and Eden was happy to have her big brother there to make her first day a little less scary.

As soon as we walked into the school and turned the corner we see Mrs. Zirkle! She was Mrs. Foster's teachers assistant last year and (if Gabe has anything to do with it) she'll probably be his mother-in-law one day! He missed her all summer, so he was really excited to see her!

This is Eden in her class room and a picture of her with Mrs. Foster. Gabe was in Mrs. Foster's class last year and we just adore her. She loves our kids but boy...this lady means business! She is just what our little princess needs! You can tell from the picture below, Eden already looks the most submissive I think she's ever been. We found her name out in the hall and hung up her Hello Kitty 'packpack' and Gabe showed her where to put her lunch box. I gave her a quick hug and kiss before she could run off. Poor Daddy was left standing in the middle of the class room all alone. He called out to his little girl..."Eden! Come give Daddy a hug and kiss." She came running back right into his arms and gave him a huge hug and a quick kiss. This is when my husband lost control of his emotions! He was heartbroken. Happy that Eden had reached this milestone but sad that she didn't even care that either of us were about to leave her for the next 7 hours!

One of Gabe's girlfriends from last year is in his 4k class. But his assigned seat put him next to Mia. I'm not sure just yet if this with spawn into a 'romantic' relationship...but I'll keep you posted!

Jonathan and I hugged Gabe goodbye and walked back out to the parking lot. Once in the car Jonathan proceeds to tell me about how he 'held Eden like a baby this morning'. He said he asked her if she was his little baby and she replied with 'I'm not a baby! I'm Eden!'. I casually said that she wasn't a baby anymore and how I couldn't believe she was actually in school and he looked at me heartbroken and said 'She'll always be my little baby'. This was a hard morning for Daddy so I changed the subject to something a little lighter...Gabe's crush on Mrs. Zirkle's daughter, Shaina.

A few nights ago Gabe asked me if I thought Shaina would be at school this year. I answered, 'Yes, I'm sure she'll be there' and he smiled and said 'Good! She's on fire!'

"She's on fire? What does that even mean?" I say, completely confused.

"She's HOT mom!", he says with an attitude that says he's disappointed that I'm not 'down' with the current cool kid lingo. All I could think was 'Oh my! He's only 4!'

I waited to take lunch late in the afternoon so I could go with Jonathan to pick the kids up from school. We got there a little after 3:00 and the kids were very happy to see us!

  

This is Shaina! I'm not exactly sure how old she is...but I think it's safe to say she's at least 4 years older than her little admirer! Look how shy he looks here!

Gabe asks Eden, 'What did you do at school today Eden?' And she replies, in true Eden fashion, 'Everything I want!'. We spoke to Mrs. Foster and Eden was a joy! She even picked up some of Gabe's tips from last year. Like, If you tell Mrs. Foster you love her at least once a day you'll never get in trouble! Thanks for the advice Gabe! She did get hurt on the playground at recess and got an Accident/Incident Report Form sent home the first day. But at least it was just from playing outside and not a classroom brawl!

The ride home was classic! They both rambled on and on about everything they did. Eden said she learned about Jesus and that there were aliens in her classroom at nap time and Gabe explained that they learned soft vowel sounds and wrote the letter I. They were both tired and went home with Daddy to relax a bit while I went back to work.

 *Side note - Gabe wrote a letter for Mrs. Zirkle and Shaina this morning before we left for school. Isn't it a little soon for love letters?