The Titlers: Breaking News

So the greatest news is that I quit my job! No, Eric doesn't have one yet, but it became exceedingly difficult to be the kind of wife and mother I am meant to be with the demands of the job I had. Suffice it to say, 10 hour work days, monthly travel, personnel issues, and stressful work expectations do not support being a mom of three little kids. I saw my children for about 1 1/2 hours daily, was plagued with dreams of work, risked my life by trying to catch up on emails during my drive home, and life revolved around not the to-do's of my personal life, but the to-do's of my work life. It was all too much and there was no end in sight. Therefore, Eric and I prayed and prayed since May for the right answer and the right next step. The Lord made it very clear to us that He would provide and that my life was not to revolve around work. He has greater plans for us. Stay tuned!
I am calling the next 3 months "detox" and we'll see what happens next--maybe part-time work, maybe not.
I just finished my first week as a stay-at-home mom and was truly wooed by my little boy. He knows that I tend to have a Pepsi around 9-10am instead of coffee and would ask me if I was "sirsty" (thirsty) and bring me one! I have discovered that this precious thing talks non-stop and starts every sentence with "Mommy?" Such a lovely sound, but every sentence? ha! I think I wore myself out trying to organize, clean and run errands. I need to learn that, just as in my career, there's always more to do and you have to know when to draw the line and chill. I didn't feel I could do that here, but I can make those sort of choices at home.
Eric has been amazing--knowing my tendency to over do it, tells me to do nothing some days.

Funny things Kai says and does:

"That's not my job" when he's been asked to do something he doesn't want to do.
"I'm busy right now" as another stall tactic.
"Thanks a lot" out of context. He is copying Madelyn as she commonly uses this phrase right before throwing a fit and getting a spanking or being put in timeout.
"Hmmmm" and stroking his chin when he's pondering a question. We have no idea where he's seen this!
"Bay-bing soup" (bathing suit)

School Daze and other things:

The first few days of school were quite a challenge for the new kindergartner. She got in trouble at school and on the bus a few of those days, we received one call from the teacher about her behavior in the bus line and one another call from the school nurse.
Turns out, Mad had a kidney infection so was out for a few days recovering. She's completely healed now, but we are going to have an imaging test done to see if there are issues since she's had a UTI before and this one went to the kidneys so quickly.
Rylie got in her first school fight...on the bus, day 3, with her SISTER! That was maddening!
We learned that Rylie's best friend, Emma, will be moving to New York. Those girls are inseparable thanks to having class together the last two years and our backyards touching. They are excited about Skyping/Face Time and being pen pals. What a treasure it will be one day when they are adults and still friends, but this is going to be hard on all of us. Her family still needs to sell their house, so it could be a few months from now.
Madelyn says "My bad". Is she really a girl from the 80s? Maybe rebellious Madonna incarnate?
Rylie is doing awesome at math so far and struggling in Social Studies. That's opposite from last year.
Ry got to ring the bell at gymnastics for the first time. When one of the kids sticks a skill, they ring a bell and everyone is quiet and watches them perform their skill. She got her back walkover! Yea, Ry!
Funny: right before school started, we were talking to Madelyn about what riding the bus was like, where to sit, etc. We decided that she and Rylie would sit together for the first few days (hence the future brawl) and Rylie said, "Do NOT sit at the back of the bus. That's where the big kids sit and they talked about bad stuff." I asked what the big kids talked about. "Breaking news," Rylie said with an air of mystery.
Rylie was very excited to walk her sister to class each morning. As we prepared for what the school calls "Independence Day" where all children are to walk independently to class, I could see the look of worry and disappointment on Rylie's face. Good big sis! (even though she often speaks to her sister with a tone of distain--we need to work on that)
Speaking of, one day Madelyn was looking at a photo album and there was a picture of both girls hugging each other and smiling. Madelyn said, "Mommy, is that from last year when sissy liked me?"

Our street buddies on their first day of school