Welp, it’s here. The day Dominic has been waiting for for about 2 years and the days I’ve been dreading, too 
We are so thankful for a great Catholic school here in Holdrege. I know he’ll be loved and cared for every day.
Momma has survived so far, too. I told Luke that being pregnant when putting a kiddo in kindergarten is forbidden from here on out. I’m way too emotional to handle all of it! He has an early dismissal today, so I’m anxious to pick him up soon and see how the day went!
I’ve been asking D all summer if he wanted me to take the training wheels off his bike. All the sudden last Monday, he decided he was ready. Within two days, he was riding pretty proficiently and yesterday we biked all the way to the grocery store and back! He told me, “Mom, I’m really happy with myself!” Jackson was trying hard, too. He’s pretty good at riding and but not so good at stopping, leading to the giant goose egg on his forehead and very scraped up knees. He forgets he’s only 4 sometimes!
We did one last fun day before the beginning of school. The morning started with a trip to the teacher store and Target in Kearney. Not sure how many ridiculously chaotic trips with four little boys it will take for me to realize how dumb I am to take them all shopping….anyway, we survived…barely.
Then we went to the Kearney Children’s museum, lunch at Valentino’s ended with a quick stop at the Cotton Mill.
By the time we headed home, this momma was exhausted but it was a fun (though sometimes overwhelming) end to the summer!
We felt so blessed to have our dear friend, Fr. Buhman stay with us recently. He came on a Thursday afternoon and went with us to the lake. We did some boating and grilling and headed back home. In the morning, he said Mass in our Dining Room and then played with the kiddos for an hour outside. We are so thankful to have a beautiful witness of the priesthood, especially for our young boys. They were thrilled to show Father their Mass kit and just wrestle with him the whole time he was here!
A late compilation of our Fourth of July pics…
Our day of was pretty low key. We went to the Alma Fourth of July parade. It was looooong and hot, so we only lasted the first hour, but the kiddos took home a haul they are still working on!
The rest of the day was spent laying around or playing. After dinner, our neighbors came over for some kid-friendly fireworks. Daddy is turning these boys into pyros!
This was Leo’s scared face.
Lizzy came on Thursday night and stayed for a few days. We took her to the lake to enjoy some boating and swimming.
And Leo and I took on the cherry tree. Will filled a bucket and did not make a dent in it. After a while we all just kind of lost interest!
Happy Fourth!
At Leap and Learn yesterday, with the most pathetic little face and pout, Leo told his teacher: I can’t run today because I have a baby boy in my belly.
Dominic: Mom, saying ‘You’re grounded!’ is a mean thing to say, isn’t it?
Me: Well….not really. Being grounded means you can’t go outside, you can’t play with your friends, you just have to stay in and do chores all day.
Patrick: Mom, you’re grounded all the time, huh?
Patrick comes up stairs half crying, hair soaking wet: Mom….I accidently put my head in the toilet!!
Turns out all three big boys took turns putting their heads in the toilet and turns out there WAS pee in the toilet (flushing is a skill used by only adults in this house), so Patrick was sent directly to the shower. It seemed that the other two boys had enough common sense to only put their heads in the toilet part way rather than all the way….if that can be called common sense.
We joined the Graff family from all over the country at the Mahoney State Park. It was fun to get all the kiddos together!
We did some hiking, went to the Holy Family Shrine, played at the water park (a very stressful 2 hours, attempting to keep 7 little people alive…) and had a fun adults only night out. Such a great weekend.
