First Day of School

Here's a little rewind back to August.

Let me tell you, school couldn't have started early enough for me this year. I was SO happy when they finally went back to school (even though I had a few tearful moments thinking of Evan starting kinder.) OK, it wasn't just a few moments, it was like the whole entire day. I was 7 months pregnant and hormonal. And, he was my baby.

Evan is in Mrs. Hahne's class. She's the same teacher that had Carter two years ago. I actually heard from some of the staff at the primary school that she was excited to have another Cheek boy. I'm not going to lie, she might be a little crazy. Cheek boys are a lot of work. Evan strategically picked out what he was going to wear the night before. He wanted everyone to think he was a "soccer ball player". He's never played an organized soccer game in his life. Anyway...he also decided to style his hair all on his own too. Can you see the bald spot right in front? I guess he thought his hair was getting a little long on top.

Carter is good at the first day of school by this point. He's a second grader, he's in a new school and loves feeling like a big kid. His hair is his strength, power, and pride. I even jumped into the room mom pool this year. We'll see how that goes as the year goes on. So far, I've only had to write a letter asking for money.

(Taking pictures on the first day must be painful.)

They've both survived the first six weeks of school. Carter made all A's and Evan's teacher said he is such a thoughtful and giving kid. Both boys had perfect attendance and don't complain about getting up in the mornings. Evan doesn't like buying his lunch. He says "the food is horrible and they don't even have spinach on the sandwiches."

4+1=5

With a little encouragement from an auntie of mine I've decided to come back and try my hand at sharing again via this blog. We've always got something going on around our house. Sometimes it will be worth sharing and sometimes it may be so shameful that we'll keep it all to ourselves until we're ready to admit it ever happened. (Like the time Carter pooped on the floor and a curious Evan picked it up with his bare hands. Uggh, I shudder at the memory.) Our newest member of the family, Jonah Cheek, was born October 13 at 5:26am.

He was by far the hardest pregnancy, labor, and delivery I've experienced. I want to say it will be the last. I'm like 99.9% sure. The .1% is me not wanting to be that person that says in a snooty voice, "Oh, I'll never have another child...this is it for us." Then find out a year from now that I'm pregnant. Let me assure you though, we do not have plans to add on to this family right now. The house is full. No vacancy at the Inn.

Jonah doesn't have much of a personality yet, unless you count eating, sleeping, and pooping. He does stare off into space occasionally. That's pretty cool, since seeing his eyes are a new thing. The most entertaining thing about Jonah is the things that Carter and Evan say about him, or rather, their observations about babies and how they come to be in this world. This is mostly what you'll see on this blog. Updates on what's going on at the Cheek household and the goofy things Carter and Evan say.

For now, I'll leave you with the first thing Evan wanted to know when he showed up at the hospital to meet his new brother Jonah for the first time.

Evan: So mom, did he come out of your butt or your mouth?

(Carter, sitting next to him horrified at the thought of either option being a possibility, get's up and walks away)

Me: Trying to move past this conversation I say, "It was near the butt".

(Evan is distracted by Jonah, and starts playing with his feet.)

Evan: Wait, (quizzical look) did you say near the butt....

Here's our first family photo. When I asked someone to take it I remember saying, "can you get a picture of the four of us". I had to correct myself when I realized we are no longer a family of four, we're a family of five. Five times the love and five times the fun and maybe sometimes it will be five times the tears. But, if I get and am able to give five times the hugs and kisses it will make up easily for the tears.

A Day In The Life of a Cheeky Chic

Mrs. Cheeky:

The alarm goes off at 6:30. I hit snooze until about 7 then begin the bargaining process with Mr. Cheeky on who should have to get Carter out of bed and ready for school. It's a tough job. If I don't win, I get up, and go straight to the coffee pot. Here is where the morning gets a little brighter. With my warm cup in hand, I head to wake the beast. Carter really is a sweet child, but mornings do not agree with him or me. We also have a major differences in opinions on what he should wear to school. He thinks pants that are too short, with a Star Wars shirt is ok (before any Star Wars lovers write me off let me say, I think Star Wars apparel is fine, just not in combination with short pants) and I'm thinking wind pants (of an appropriate length) with a matching t-shirt would be better. Then we argue about what he'll eat for breakfast, weather or not he's going to brush his teeth, why it's not cool to go to school with your hair sticking up in 3 different places. Hey, kids can be cruel people!

And we don't want to scare the innocent children.....

We hop in the car, after what feels like an eternity, and make the nearly 1 mile drive to school. I try and calm myself before pushing him out the door at the drop spot and he'll say, "Mom, I'll love you all day and all night today. Can we play baseball when we get home?" Then he tells me to have a good day. It's easy to put on a smile after that.

The rest of my day is smooth sailing from there. Evan is usually up once I get home and ready to eat. We plan for trips to the museum, grocery store, visiting friends, or just hanging out at the house. He's really a fun kid to hang out with.

At about 3:00 we'll make our way back to the school because it's time to pick up big brother. Depending on how the day went will determine his mood. Usually Carter is a pretty happy kid. And if he's unhappy about anything, picking up his baseball glove and playing catch usually solves the problem. After playing in the front yard we'll either come in for homework, snacks, and preparing dinner or we'll head to the studio for music lessons. At the studio Carter will work on piano or violin while Evan plays around on his own special keyboard in his own special practice room. Shawn will take the boys home after he's done teaching and I'll keep shop until 8:00. Usually once I get home the house is quiet, the boys are asleep, and it's what I like to call, my sweet sweet TV time. Laying on the couch, flipping channels until bed time is one of the highlights of each day. My little reward.

Tomorrow, what a day in the life of Evan might be like.....

(You'll want to know about this, it involves lots of costume changes, emotional ups and downs, and wrestling moves disguised as affection.)

Cards for Cancer

 September 19th is the American Cancer Society's craft fair.  Yesterday Mom and I worked on cards to sell.  We spend all day and only ended up with 20 cards and about 20 gift tags.  In our defense though we were using scrapbooking prototype stuff that had to be delicately cut by hand.  We had a good time and are planning on working another day to create more cards.  What you see pictures of is just the Halloween cards that were made yesterday.  Why didn't I put pictures of more you ask.....because the blog would only allow 4 picture postings in one entry, I'm tired, and brain function is pretty low this morning.

What's On The Menu

Last night was another successful evening at the Cheek's.  We had what you see above, Chicken drumsticks with a soy sauce glaze and sesame seeds, the best potato salad ever, and an orange chocolate chunk bundt cake with a chocolate sauce on top.  My brother is home for the summer  and joined us for dinner last night.  I'm looking forward to his presence at the remainder of our Thursday Night Dinner at The Cheek's.  

I think we've started a little competition for best dinner of the week between my dad and me.  Wednesday my dad made cheese stuffed burgers (that were huge!) and he heated some frozen potato wedges.  That's right everyone, he re-heated some prepared potatoes from the freezer section of the grocery store.  His burgers were really great though.  

Tyler, in some ways, has volunteered to be our judge.  He said last night Dad's entree was better but my sides and dessert were better.  I'm going claim the victory for this week.  My dad and I have already started our meal planning for next week.  

In a side note to dinner, Carter said something really funny last night.  Shawn and I were watching TV in the living room when we hear Carter calling for us in his room.  Shawn went in and Carter said, "Dad, I can't sleep.  I'm counting sheep but they keep turning into Evan and I just can't take it anymore."  

The Upside of Boys

The great thing about boys ( I feel like I need to redeem them from the previous post) is they love to get down and dirty with their dad.  They love to help with the yard work,  and they love to be outside.  This makes for a nice quiet morning in the house for mommy.  

BOYS!

There will be no pictures attached to this blog.  What I'm about to tell you is too vulgar for an actual picture.  I'll just have to describe it...

Tonight was just like any other Wednesday evening.  Actually it was better than past Wednesdays.  See, the plan on Wednesdays is to pick the kids up from daycare, go to my parents house, eat dinner, leave the kids there for choir practice, pick them up, and go home.  Usually there is a lot of screaming, whining, crying, and .  Literally, my hair is falling out, but that's a whole other topic.  Anyways, tonight went quite well.  There was little to no screaming, whining, etc.  When my mom and I drove up the street, after choir, Carter, Evan and Gramps were playing in the driveway.  Carter even learned a new skill.  He can now join the rest of the family in the skill of hula hooping.  That's what I should have posted a picture of Carter hula hooping.  We got to eat ice cream (even though I'm no supposed to be.  It was just one scoop.  One small scoop.  Have I justified it enough? Ok, moving on.) And the kids went to the car easily.  It was great.  

We got home and there was still some light out so I decided we could play with the puppies in the front yard for a few minutes before bath time.  Problems arose when the neighbor came to talk to me about our drainage problem.  As soon as my attention was somewhere else the children went awry.  First Evan nearly tortured the puppies.  Carter and Evan were playing some game I've never heard of but apparently it's all the rage, Backgoogone.....that's the phonetic spelling.  The little brown puppy didn't stick around long enough for the game and Evan was scolding it and spanking it's bottom.  I put out that fire and continue to speak with the neighbor about now his drainage problem and how I'm causing it.  Then I look over and Evan has his pants down around his ankles peeing into the street.  WHY? He could have atleast went to the side of the house.  Cars are driving by, people are waving, neighbors are looking out their windows, and Evan's peeing.  Then he can't get his pants up.  It's been muggy.   The best (or worst) part of the story is what happened next.  

There's a walker.  Minding her own business and walking to her iPod.  Evan, still pants down, waddles toward her puppy in tow and so excited to be sharing.  She was shocked, but explained as I ran over there yelling, she had boys too.  Apparently it's just what they do.