There's a new bossy pants in town.

There's a new safety patrol in town.  I'm sure the kids on the bus were thrilled to see another Scharman, large and in charge.  Luckily for them they only have to put up with one at a time since Haley decided that she didn't want the extra responsibility this year.  She came to the realization that being "the authority" wasn't all it was cracked up to be and she wanted a break to live carefree during her last year in elementary school.  Except that one has come back to bite her just a little when we had the talk about "respecting her little sister as the patrol on the bus."  As a 6th grader, you just can't win.
Actually Abby tried to apply for a "non-bus" position.  She wants to help the little kindergarteners find their way so she too, can live a care free bus ride.

I was sitting here lamenting the fact that it's been too long between posts, and that I had nothing especially significant to report, except the ebb and flow of adjusting to life with so many adorable, stinkin' kids (sometimes that's adorable and stinkin' and sometimes it's stinkin' adorable, depending on the day.)  And then I remembered through my tired, foggy mind that we actually have quite a bit of fun on occasion.  For instance, last Friday we took the girls out of school early and headed down for our once-a-year-free-day at Busch Gardens.  If you'll remember, that plan got rained on a couple of weeks ago.  Last Friday was perfectly beautiful, even a little warm.  I think the temp reached almost 80 degrees but cooled down in the late afternoon and evening.
The biggest surprise of the day was little Miss Mia who jumped on every roller coaster she could without a moment of hesitation.  She was fearless, as was Haley.

 Abby, on the other hand, was scared out of her skin.  We somehow convinced her to try this one out - the line was non existent, which means she didn't have time to psyche herself out before getting strapped down.  It just so happens that she made it onto one of the scariest in the park.  Loops, twists and 3 minutes of pure crazy.  She was a little shell shocked afterwards but proud that she made on at least one.

 Jonah was happy as a clam all day long.  This is a game we like to call, "baby fishing".  You hook 'em every time.

Clark and I played the 'ole switcharoo for a couple of rides but I was more than happy to oblige him riding most of them.  I can only take so many coasters before I start baby barfing.  It's not pretty.

I am not joking when I say that riding the swings was the most terrified I felt all day.  Swings are NOT fun as an adult. (Maybe it's the trauma I still feel from losing my jelly on the swings at Six Flags when I was 7.)

And don't think for one second, that I am not going to take a good paragraph to talk about my baby, because I'm gonna.
Let's just take a look, shall we?  I know it's overly cliche to say, but I cannot believe how time flies.  Have you ever heard the saying, "the days are long but the weeks/months/years are short?"  So true.  In some ways it feels like I was pregnant forever ago, and yet I cannot believe that he is already 4 months old and not the tiny little baby anymore.  It also leaves me wondering, is this the last one?  Should I be storing these memories even tighter in my mind?  I just can't imagine a day when there won't be a little Scharman baby on the horizon, no more pregnant bellies or baby kicks and no more snuggling in the middle of the night and rubbing my cheek on their soft baby heads.

We are in the grabbing stage now.  It's fun because he is so engaged.  It may mean lots of detangling baby fingers from sister hair but it also means little fists hugging both sides of my face and nuzzling baby faces in my shoulder.  Could it be that I love having a baby even more now than I did 11 years ago?  It makes the fact that he is NOT sleeping well at night more tolerable.
My sweet little boy.

Stay tuned...I might even get around to a second post in the same week.  I had the kids' pictures done this week and they are fabulous and wonderful and I want them plastered around my house.