After School Snack...

I still love this idea for snacks for the kids (it's in a muffin pan if you can't tell) and wanted to remind you all of it too.

I cannot believe how hungry our kids are when they get home.  Especially Luke.  He could practically eat a whole 'nother meal at that time!

 

Have a happy LONG weekend!!

Label Lover...

I think I have expressed my love for my label maker before.  I have not had it for a school year before, so my love for it has been re-invented as I have gotten to make label after label for the kids' school folders and such. 

I have found one who loves my label maker as much as I do.  Luke.  Ah, yes.  He made a point to tell me that everyone else's books looks so sloppy and his just looks so...neat!  He comes home asking me to label something else. 

I am always eager to oblige.  :)

New Toby Mac CD...

Oh my goodness.  This CD is so good!  Toby Mac is incredible and awesome.  It just came out a couple of days ago and I highly recommend it if you/your kids like Toby Mac style music.  Our whole family are big fans of TM.  The big kids and I are going to see him in concert in September at Christian Music Day at Carowinds and we are SO EXCITED!  Toby Mac made it to one of the entries of my 1000 Gifts notebook.  

Speaking of that, it is much harder to think of 1000 things to be thankful for than I thought!  Ann V's entries are so elegant and deep.  Some of mine might be, but most of them are like "corn dogs," "kids eat free nights at Moe's," "good books."  Yeah.  Well, Toby Mac and his new CD made it at least! :)

 

 

 

 

I Feel Free! And Other Things...

I deactivated my facebook account last night and cannot say how good that feels!  I joined a while back just because, but never really posted anything.  I would just check in on other folks.  I used to not even do that, but the last few months I have checked daily and every time I do, get so annoyed at myself for wasting that time.  It feels good to just turn it off so I won't be tempted to spend idle time checking on things I don't really care about...not that I don't care about the people, but seriously, who needs to keep up with over 100 people that you don't even see in real life?! I don't need to know all their business when I have enough of my own to worry about.  I do love to read a few blogs, but that's about all I can handle.

This, along with unsubscribing to many more junk emailers today (not sure how I got put on so many companies' mailing lists!) makes me feel free. 


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School has gone by so slow since it started!  I don't know if it just seems like that because my days are long or what, but it's gonna be a long year at this rate!

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I went to the dentist yesterday for my appointment alone.  That was a rarity before.  It was nice, but boy do I hate going to the dentist.  Today I went to the chiropractor.  Getting back into that for several reasons and I'm glad to be back!

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Noah did much better on the bus yesterday.  He was made to sit with Kendall, and Bo sits with Luke.  That kept them straight.

Bo peed in his pants at school yesterday.  Right in front of the potty.  Oh boy.  All the kids get a filled water bottle for school and he drinks it dry.  I am glad the twins love water, but they have always had trouble with it b/c if they drink too much they can't hold their pee (they obviously have to pee more when they drink more but there is a missing link in their heads about the need to hit the bathroom more).  Anyway, it played out at school.  I have always limited their water at home for this reason.  They are learning.  I bet it won't happen again...that's what is so good about this school thing for them.  Things I was not ready to give up and let them 'live and learn' are a must at school.  I have had to give up a lot of my control (which is so hard!) but is obviously a necessity. 

There is much deep emotion in me about Bo and Noah and school.  I don't think I'll go into it right now, but I just wanted to note that.  Maybe after I get my thoughts straightened out, I will attempt to explain.  Or maybe not.

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And because pictures spice things up, I will put some on here I took the other day.  It was a great pre-fall-feeling day and was an outdoor work/play day.  I love those days!


I will have to video the twins on the trampoline lately.  They are nuts.

Will rigging up some things.  He is in heaven when left alone to play Indiana Jones or some other adventure man.

G went to town and started chopping and sawing and mulching everything in site. :)

Luke's Birthday Party...

We are officially caught up in birthday celebrations now.  Luke had his party a couple weekends ago on a Saturday night.  He had 4 boys come over to swim, play b-ball, watch a movie, and sleep over.

 

Playing a game of basketball together...

 

When I planned the date for the party I didn't realize our neighborhood was going to plan their annual family luau the same night.  We ended up just having the party anyway and it ended up working out great.  Free food, live music, and pool games (that the boys didn't do anyway).  It was a fun night!

 



Playing some sand v-ball between swims.  I am amazed at how much 'friendly arguement' happens when boys play sports together without an adult to 'referee.'  G assured me it was normal and healthy.  :)

 



We went back to the house and had a 'build your own ice cream' bar...

 



A little bit of heaven on earth to the kids. :)



No one held back!  Brian here I think got the most, but didn't finish it all. :)

 



I take that back...maybe Luke got the most!  And I'm almost sure he ate all of his!

 







Then we went outside and watched Journey 2: The Mysterious Island on the big screen...

 



By the end of the movie, Junior was perched right there in the middle of the boys.  :)

 





Then the boys all got ready and settled into the tent in the backyard.  We used our smaller tent, which was a mistake, and it was hot and sorta crowded in there.  They were going to tough it out though, but apparently some scary stories were told and that, mixed with the heat and crowd, brought the boys inside about 30 minutes after they got settled in the tent. :)

 



I had made a glow-stick trail from the deck steps to the tent...

 



And here they are in the nice cool, spacious playroom for the rest of the night.  They still did not go to sleep great because they were scared of sleepwalkers.  :)  Geoff went in there and told them a long story and I didn't hear the story, but I sure heard all the belly laughs it got!  They were still talking about his story the next morning.  :)

 



The next morning it was dark and rainy and thundering outside (probably good they weren't in the tent!) and they all just slept and slept and slept.  We had to get up and get ready for church, so I had to be loud in the kitchen to wake them up.  I made a hearty breakfast for them...

 



 

Then they all got ready and we all went to church together.  Two of the boys go to our church, so went home from there.  The other two went to lunch with us at Firehouse and G took them home.

 

It was a fun time for the boys!  And I'll say I'm glad to have our summer o' birthday celebrations over with!!  :)

Monday...

Today was a real school day with all kids in school.  All day.

I went to the gym and cleaned the house and got tons of other odds and ends and phone calls and such accomplished.  It felt good! 

I even had time to go through my emails and unsubscribe to SO MANY crap emails that I get.  Ahhh, it felt good.

Too much time on my hands?  Yes!, and I'm not bothered by it right now.  I have much more to do and have some exciting volunteering things on the horizon.  Lots of appointments and some car maintenance stuff to do in the next couple of weeks.  I've been saving everything up. :)

Noah had some trouble on the bus on the way home with being cRaZy and talking potty talk (about bottoms and boogers and such).  Oh, how proud I am.  He does love to get a laugh.  Hopefully it has been nipped in the bud, as the consequence that we had agreed upon for bus misbehavior (I had a feeling it would be a problem area) was enforced.

We will see!  Here's to a great Tuesday.

Last Day of Freedom...

Bo and Noah did not have to go to school on Thursday or Friday, but will start full time on Monday.  We had one last hurrah on Friday and I took them to Discovery Place, ImaginOn, and we went to lunch downtown between the two.  We just parked and walked to everything.  It was their last day of 'freedom' before continuous long school days begin. 

 

I didn't take many pictures, but this is at Discovery Place in the kid room.  I sat there and pondered how far along they have come.  They used to not be able to contain themselves at a water table several years ago.  They would drink it, throw it, pour it all over the place, and just be nut-so over it.  Although Noah's pants did somehow end up soaking wet, they behaved in such a 'normal' fashion and it made me realize how far they've come.

 



They enjoyed their time at ImaginOn playing on the computers and picking out some books.  I was smart and remembered to bring a book to read and enjoyed myself too!



Week 10 of Summer in Review...

OK, I'm a little late with this, but better late than never.  This was our last full week of summer vacation!  Sadness!!

The kids and I went to Wilmington for 3 nights.  We stayed with my mom the first night, then with my sister and her family the other 2 nights.  We had a great time.  I'm so glad we fit a trip in before summer ended!

This is the kids waiting for my mom to bring them breakfast while watching cartoons.  :)  Good times.  Will always wears that headpiece there.  It is actually a tiny crocheted baby sweater and hood.

We swam at my mom's neighborhood pool the first day...

Had tacos for lunch...

We went to the beach the 2nd day, then had to leave pretty early the last day to get back for doctor appointments for Luke and Will. 

My sister took more pictures, but this is all I have! 


That night that we went back, we went to get family portraits with G's parents and family.  It was a lot funner to do with cousins than alone....

The kids were surprisingly opinionated about which pictures we chose to buy.

We ate Mexican after pictures...

Here are some of the pictures.  I just took a picture of the picture, so awful quality.
We went to JUST get a whole family picture, but we all ended up buying one more pose.

Grandparents with the grandkids...

Everyone...

 

My kiddos...

Tomatoes on my deck...the plant has looked great but has not produced great.  The tomatoes are too small and take forever to turn red...

My 'big' garden.  I'm about to rip this thing up and just do pots on the deck!  I have a multitude of cherry tomatoes, but everything else pooped out this year.  Very disappointing (well, I have some possible cukes and have gotten some jalapenos and green peppers)...

Kendall's finished paint by number.  Isn't it grand?!

 

 

That wraps up our summer weeks.  Wow, 10 weeks.  Is that all that summer is?  I've never counted before, but I always imagined it was more.  It didn't seem to go by fast or slow.  It was just right.  I am so thankful for our summer of 2012!