First Day of First Grade...

Kylie was all smiles this morning as she headed out the door for her first day of school. I have so much to learn from this little girl. Her ability to push through her nerves and take on any challenge is so inspiring. She had a wonderful first day, and when asked what her favorite part was, she aptly replied, "All of it!". I love my little bit and she never ceases to amaze me with her positive attitude and love of life. It really is infectious.

summer time

 The weeks just keep flying by faster and faster. Before I know it Ky will be starting 1st grade and Beckster will be in preschool...then two days a week, i'll be down to only one child for  5 hours a day...I'm not even sure I know what to do with that much freedom! We've been busy swimming, playing with friends, and of course we're gearing up for back to school. Here are a couple pictures from one of our visits with Makenzie, ky's best friend. We're so fortunate to have this family in our lives. These two girls have been hanging out since they were around 18 months old....crazy to think of them that little, but you can tell they've formed a special bond over the years!

Here are a couple pictures from demoing the boy's bathroom. I wish I could say we were making progress, but every time we think we're getting somewhere, we realize we've made some mistake somewhere and have to backtrack....i guess that's the life of first time do it yourself-ers....one step forward, two steps back!

ky's signing and dating one of the studs in the bathroom....

Beckster has been all about daddy lately. from sweeping up leaves in the yard to demo in the bathroom, he's constantly begging daddy to let him help...

We've spent a great deal more time in from of the t.v. the last week or so watching the olympics after Newie goes down to bed. This isn't an unusual scene around here right now...

We just finished up the last of our dinosaur lesson plans and the last day was a complete hit!

Here beck is about to dig for fossils during his snack time. They're having chocolate pudding and white chocolate chip bones! ignore his angry face, he'd just gotten up from nap and wasn't a fan of taking a picture...

I pulled out the empty easter eggs and hid them around the house, ky and beck went to town finding the "dino" eggs that t-rex (mom) had hid from them. Then he said he wanted a turn at hiding them. He ran into our bedroom and threw them all in a pile on the floor...didn't matter, Newie loved it! Here they are rushing to pick them all up! This kept them entertained and moving for about half an hour...

Beck showing me his best dino face...

We each took our turn at making our own dino mask as our end of unit craft. this is the one i put together. you can see the kids masks below. not sure they look much like dinos, but they LOVED this craft!

I think Beck has enjoyed this themed lesson the best so far, but we still have two more to get through...something tells me this will be bleeding into the school year a little, but that's fine too, might be easier to do with ky at school anyways....

Beck has decided he wants to be a dinosaur for Halloween this year...yes, we've already started figuring out costumes! is that sad?? my husband seems to think so =)

playtime...

Another day, another dollar....oh wait...i don't actually make any money.... =)

we've moved on to our next five days of lesson fun and this time its all about dinosaurs. We've been hard at work learning all about the letter "D", making cool dino crafts, and even showing off our skills in the kitchen with dino foot print cookies 

This set of lessons have been much easier to incorporate more advanced stuff for kylie to do. We had a long conversation about how dinosaurs became extinct. She totally understood it, beck, not so much. for the rest of the day he ran around the house saying a big rock hit the media room and killed the dinos!!!! (meteor = media room in his head for some reason!) It was pretty funny.

I actually pulled the camera out for a bit when the kids were in ky's room this week playing rock star after bath time....

the last one is the face I got when I told beck to look at the camera, something that is apparently IMPOSSIBLE for him to do!

Random phone pictures

It has been an eternity since I connected my phone to the computer...some of these pics (from the last couple months) made me laugh so i had to share them...

Moving day at the old house...

Kiki settling into the new house quite quickly. She seems to like the natural light as much as I do.

When we first moved in, we didn't have a console for the t.v. so it sat on the ground. Newie was continually touching and licking the t.v. screen....ya, not really sure what his fascination was with it. In order to keep him away, I trapped him between the couch and the ottoman, and he stood there and watched an entire half hour cartoon....although he wasn't happy about it...

Newie's random fascination with bringing things out of the pantry. It was the empty drink pitcher and apple cider vinegar container for the first two weeks. lately its the value size of gold fish....this boy is so strange...he'll walk all around the house carrying whatever it is he pulls out...

Neither of the other two kiddos were ever layers....I love this about New...he'd rather be in this position watching t.v. than sitting on the couch.

The kids in action at an inflatable play place with Jordan during our trip to Houston

Lunch with Kelley

Beck randomly tearing through sissy's jewelry box with a halloween candy basket on his head...

Tea party while the boys were down for naps...

Ky playing puppy with beck...yup, he's got his glasses on inside (said it makes him invisible), a microphone, and a leash attached to his shirt....what he won't do to appease his big sister!

Don't mind me, just a normal Thursday morning reading the paper upside down on the front porch...

And just to prove that he sat there for quite sometime...another shot 5 minutes later...

Summer time

The kiddos and I have been staying busy and its absolutely mind boggling to me that we're half way through July and I haven't started praying for the beginning of the coming school year. I truly feel like it might actually get here before I'm ready for it (could it be?) 

Our typical mornings are filled with playing in the backyard (which is shaded till well after 10 am) exploring new parks (there are a ton around the new house), or swimming at the pool (I try to keep this one to a minimum, its a lot of work to get three kids prepped, keep an eye on them swimming, and then back to normal dress once we're done). 

I was fortunate enough to take a trip with Ky and Beck to see our good friends the Dawsons, and to celebrate birthdays of two of my favorite kiddos, Jordan and Julia. We were also able to sneak away and see my college room mate Kelley as well, which is always an added bonus when a trip to Houston is involved. 

We've been chugging along on Beck's mini summer lessons. We just finished our farm animal week, which actually stretched a little over two weeks. But it was nice to break in between days, and he always enjoyed getting started again. 

Here he is sorting farm animals by size

Showing off his finished sheep craft...

And practicing "sheering" his sheep, using shaving creme, a big bouncy ball, and a popsicle stick. This was by far his favorite activity of them all! and although I didn't capture even close to all the fun activities we got to do, I'd like to send a special thanks out to jess who planned the week's lessons!

Beck decided the other week that he wanted a hat and was determined to get one. During a random trip to target, he fell in love with this spiderman hat that is WAY to big for him, but he'd have no other, and thus, it came home with us. I'm shocked at how often he wears it. And when he isn't wearing it, Newie is trying very hard to put it on his own head. I captured a couple pics of him playing with big brother's hat this past week...

I love this little boy....and all his craziness too!

Ky and Beck hard at work painting masterpieces...

Newie hanging in the backyard.

Words can't express how much help this big girl is to me during the summer. She's truly an angel and helps save my sanity on a daily basis...

Random Facts Continued...

-having the movie channels for free for 3 months is totally cool. I haven't watched so many movies since before Kylie was born. I remember now how much I love it!
-This neighborhood is covered in squirrels and geckos....the old house had bunnies, but it was nothing compared to what we have here. Walking into the kitchen to find Kitty with a dead baby gecko laying next to its still-thrashing separated tail...not my idea of fun...
-In order to save money, and feel creative and productive, we decided to re-do our old black bar height kitchen table....spent MANY hours sanding, etc....next time, I think I'll pass on feeling creative and productive, and spend the money to just buy a new one..it was a lot of work!
-We're making so many new friends, but making new ones doesn't cause you to miss your old ones any less =(
-Tried another new church this past Sunday....strike #2...."just keep swimming, just keep swimming...."
-Stratton is starting to talk now. He's in that fun in-between stage, where it's not babble but not quite words. Where they point and have inflection, and facial expressions and look at you and wait for an answer when they're done with their thought. It's pretty stinking cute....
-For some strange reason, I've come to realize that I have no interest in taking pictures when its hot outside...not sure what the connection is, but it has been months since I focused on recording LIFE...sorta sucks when you live in texas....oh well, pics to come...maybe early sept??? =)
-Today, Beck decided to give J and I an anniversary gift (7 years....wow!)...First day with no nap. I'm sad about it...not because I know I'll lose some me time, which I will, but because its another sign that time is moving way too fast. my little boy isn't so little anymore...

I'm trying so hard to remember that although life right now is crazy (and it is, pure chaos!) I need to appreciate the moment and stage we're in as a family for as hard as it might seem, I know I'll miss this some day....

Lesson work continued...

Here are a couple more shots of the kids during lesson time. Today we had Ky's good friend Makenzie around to help us out also.

Kids enjoying their "chicken feed" snack. Homemade Mix of popcorn, cherrios, chocolate chips, raisins, etc.

Acting like chickens...or at least that's what they were trying to do, not sure how successful it was =)

Beck was in no hurry to finish his snack even after the girls were already half way through the craft. Safe to say he enjoyed it.

Sponge painting mud onto their pigs they cut out and decorated.

Beck really enjoyed the sponge painting. He struggles with paint brushes so this was much more up his alley.

Finished product:

Today we also did our devotional. We discussed Faith and believing in God even when we can't see him. The Bible verse was "theres a time for everything. a time to sow and a time to reap." Which we easily related to planting Ky's flower seeds at the beginning of summer which are just now blooming in the pots outside. We skipped reading time today, with the addition of Makenzie the kids were too hyped to sit still. oh well, just means more we get to read tomorrow!