Stealing from Justin Bieber

Caeden came home from school today and told me that he "stole 2 girls away from Justin Bieber." Apparently, these girls liked Justin before, but my boy talked them out of that and sweet-talked them into liking him instead! 

(Had to write that one down so I wouldn't forget it!  Heehee!)

Backyard Friends

As Jeremy was working outside in the yard today, he came across these "friends."  

Just a HUGE garden spider...

He also came across some baby bunnies, but they were too quick for us to get their pictures.

Addie and Reece came home with us after the football game last night for a sleepover.

This morning, Jeremy taught Addie how to play Tetris on the Wii.

Reece and our three played some football outside.

Caeden and Reece were opposing "teams," Sylvia was the referee, and Annah was the cheerleader...

It was "real" tackle football!

Addie tried hair wraps in the girls' hair, and they turned out pretty cute! 

Such a great relaxing day with precious friends!

Open House Night

This evening was school Open House night.  It's always fun to go see the kids new classroom, meet their teachers and see the excitement of the new school year actually in the school!

We stopped in Caeden's 1st grade classroom first, and said hello to Mrs. Ayers.  Both Annah and Sylvia had her too, so she is already special to our family!  She even asked us to request to have Caeden in her class!  She is a super sweet lady.  I hope she is ready for this rascal!

Caeden showed us his desk and some things he has already made at school.  The class had done a few projects with trains--right up Caeden's alley!

The elementary school's theme for the year is P.R.I.D.E. 

P - Positivity

R - Respect & Responsibility

I - Integrity & Independence

D - Dedication

E - Effort

Sylvia's 3rd grade teacher is Mrs. House.  Annah had Mrs. House in 3rd grade too.  So, we already knew we like her also!  She said Sylvia told her on the first day that she does talk more than Annah does at school, but not when she's not supposed to! ;)

Sylvia had done several projects already this week too, including a lot of writing.  Mrs. House already had a great slide show running on the active board with photos of the kids during their first week of school.  And, she had already bound a book of each student's writing about themselves.  She is always on the ball and does a lot of things to make each student feel special and keep parents informed of what they are up to at school.

Some photos Mrs. House took of her class on the first day...

Annah is in Mrs. Ogan's 5th grade class.  We don't usually get to know teachers until Annah has them, so we are looking forward to learning with and about Mrs. Ogan this year.  She seems very upbeat and cheery, and Annah is very happy to be in her class.

We also visited the library to talk with Mr. McCoy and see the amazing transformation he and other teachers have worked so hard to accomplish.  It looks great, and the kids are going to be more excited than ever to visit the library now!

Hooray for a great start to the school year!

Front Page!

Look who was on the front page of our little local newspaper today!  Caeden is on the right end of this adorable group of little guys who were all smiles when they got to school the first day!

Fearful Snuggles

This sweet snuggly boy slept in our bed last night--not something he's done very often since he was a baby.  

I had rented the Wii game My Sims Agents and had played quite a bit of it today with the kids watching and playing some off and on.  When it was bedtime, all of a sudden Caeden burst into tears and said that he couldn't go to sleep because he didn't like the way the people on the game looked, they scared him, and they were all he could think about.  He hadn't said a peep about it all day long, and had seemed like he enjoyed the game.  I try to be very careful about the things the kids see on screens, and hadn't thought it seemed scary.  But, he was clearly upset.  We tried for quite a while to get him calmed down, prayed with him, but Jeremy let him snuggle up with him in bed, and he stayed in there with us all night.  

Backyard Camp-Out

My parents gave the kids a tent for Christmas last year.  Upon their opening it, Jeremy promised them we would camp out at the state park nearby at least once this summer.  I suppose summer is not officially over, but that promised camp-out hasn't happened yet.  We realized a little too late that you must reserve a camp-site at least 7 days in advance.  So, although we planned to be at the park last night, we did at least get the tent up in our backyard...

To put it mildly, Jeremy was not excited about the tent, the camping out, the sleeping on the ground, the whole thing.  But, he pitched the tent and inflated the air mattress and slept out there with the rest of us.

It was 10:15 by the time we played a game of Skip-Bo and I read some from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and we quieted down to sleep.

The kids had sleeping bags on top of blankets and none complained about the hard ground.  We let Daddy have the mattress.  I did not sleep well with neither mattress nor sleeping bag, and I think my body will be recovering for days.  After Jeremy and I had both gotten up to go inside around 4:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom, he let me have the air mattress and he took the spot on the hard ground....ugh.

We didn't get any fun activities planned for the tent-time, but the kids all said it was pretty fun.  It was a perfectly gorgeous night to be outside.  Anyone know what those ridiculously loud clicking bugs are?

Maybe next time we'll actually get to a real campground, but I was thankful our first attempt was in our own backyard!

Fore!!!

Jeremy convinced me to go to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls with him this morning after the kids left for school.  I have never played golf (besides mini-) in my life unless you count the golf unit we were forced to do in high school P.E!  But, I actually enjoyed it.  It was a fun way to spend a morning with my awesome hubby!

Back to School 2011

The kids went back to school today!  Summer was fun, but we are ready to return to routine and order.  

It didn't hit me until after they'd gotten on the bus and I uploaded the photos and saw how big the kids look in them...

Caeden is in 1st grade, Sylvia in 3rd, and Annah in 5th!

Annah Christine...

It frightens me how lovely she looks here, and how close she is to growing up.  I love her so much.

Sylvia Claire...

The same goes for her...She is growing and changing by the minute, and doing it so beautifully.  I love her so much.

Caeden Chase...

Even this little rascal is getting bigger and older.  I love him so much.

Wow, we are so blessed.  I am filled with gratitude for a wonderful 

family, community, school, and Lord!

We have a new bus-stop now.  Instead of being able to watch down the road and see the bus coming in time to walk outside and get on at our next-door neighbors' driveway, they will have to cross the street in front of our house and walk down to the fire station to get on the bus.  There are twice as many kids getting on there too, but I'm sure it will be fine.  

It's fun to go back and see the previous years of 1st day posts:  

(2010) - (2009, pre-K) - (2008) - (2007) - (2006) 

"I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching."

- Proverbs 4:2

Orthodontic Consultation

After a year of putting it off, making the poor girl worry, and us needing to get over the idea of cost, we finally had Sylvia's orthodontic consultation today...

I think we freaked them out a little bit when all 5 of us showed up for the appointment.  ;)  Hey, the girl needed our moral support!

Sylvia has been quite worried about the thought of braces, but after many pep-talks from Daddy and Mommy and many friends who've gone through the process, she managed a smile when told to sit in the recliner...

Dr. was very thorough in examining her and explaining to us what she needs done.  She will have an expander for 1-4 months, and a few braces in the front to correct her crossbite and make room for her adult teeth.  All the news we were given today was much better than we anticipated, so we are feeling relieved.  The adventure will start soon!

Geocaching on the way home

We did a little bit of 'caching on the trip home today, not a ton.  We searched for 5 and found 5, so that was a good ratio!  Several were in cemeteries today, and we saw and learned about some really cool things...the grave of a WWII pilot, a cache up high in the "Y" of a tree, a wood-looking grave marker, a tree whose bark was being peeled off by bugs running tunnels underneath it, fields that went on forever, and a cache with a camera in it.  Fun finds!

Goodbye Hugs

We had to say goodbye this morning.  Time to go home and get ready to go back to school.  We had a wonderful time and made lots of great memories.  I'm so grateful my kids want to go stay at Gram's & Krampa's, and I'm so grateful my parents graciously host us and love on us.  Thank you Mom & Dad!  We love you!

What a great time we had with Grandma and Grandpa L this evening!  We met at Dreamland Park, which has become a favorite place.  

I didn't realize that they were all wearing red until after I snapped this picture of them all.

We went to DQ for treats, mmmm!  (Hello Nutter Butter Blizzard!!)

Grandma and her goofy girls...

Love this family!

Summer nights

Scott, Cathy, Megan and Emily came down from Michigan for a visit this weekend!  We always have tons of fun playing with them!  The evenings have been just gorgeous, and we've enjoyed being outside playing trackball, reading, playing with Scott's airplanes, shooting Megan's rocket--just once, as it landed really high in a tree, riding bikes and loving hanging out together...

Cuddling with Tessa

Somehow, Tessa managed to get in all the pictures I took today.  Gee, I don't know how that would happen!  

Reading books with "Seeya"

modeling Mommy's sunglasses

huggie from Bapaw

Hucklebug with Mamaw

Dolly Girl

Sylvie is relaxing by the pool with one of my childhood Cabbage Patch Kids dolls.  She has always been a dolly girl.  

Friends & Family

My Dad has been working to put new siding up on some buildings on the farm over the past few years.  One is my Grandpa's workshop.  He was an amazing artist, in many mediums, and one he was particularly talented in was wordworking.  The kids love to go out in Grandpa's workshop and help Krampa by sweeping the sawdust off the floor and looking all around.  (I used to love the few and far between chances to go in the workshop too, when I was a kid.)  

Today, Sylvia was looking around in the workshop and asked Krampa if she could make a geoboard.  He didn't know what that was, but when she explained it he got her all set up with a board and nails and a hammer.  We were pretty impressed with her project!

This evening we visited the Skinner family at their home.  It was a beautiful evening, and I so enjoyed sitting outside chatting with Amy while the kids played.  The boys were very into sword fighting (with pool noodles and anything else they could find), the girls played Barbies, and a game of kickball was attempted.  I think Caeden was completely enthralled by the dog, too.  

We wish we got to see these wonderful friends more often too, but are grateful for friendships that span time and distance.  Love you, precious friends!!

Sewing Day

My mom is a long-time member of a homemakers' club.  She is one of the people in charge of an ongoing local project to use donated fabric scraps to make tote bags which are give to hospitalized children.  They meet one day each month and sew, sew, sew.  Since we were visiting, the girls and I went along to sewing day today and helped cut the bags out, iron and sew.

Only 2 other ladies showed up to help today.

These are the bags we finished today, and several more had a good start when we had to leave.

Lovely day

This morning my friend Lori and her sweet daughter, Hannah, came to see us at my parents' house.  As hard as we try, we usually only manage to see each other once a year.  Still, we always pick up where we last left off and have a sweet visit.  

Hannah is a few months from turning 2, and is a preciously little sweetie pie.

Caeden and another of my old favorite toys...

Another great day to be outside...

Exploring the yard and the deck...

I walked all around the yard taking photos of my mom's various flowers, and ran across this little cutie...

 

Here is a slide show of some of the flowers...

Or if it's not working properly, here is a link to the album.