Wednesday, July 31, 2013

First Day of School

 Before I talk about the first day of school, I wanted to talk about the last few days of our summer break. Whenever I tell someone where our house is located in our neighborhood, they usually respond, "oh the house with all the bikes in the yard!".  And you know what, I wouldn't want it any other way.  I love that kids love to come over to our house and I hope that never changes.  I came home from a walk the other night and this reminded me of that fact!


The last weekend of summer break, we had movie night with a few of our neighbor friends.  They stayed until 11:30 to finish the movie.  We went through lots of popcorn, M&Ms, and drinks that night, but everyone had a great time.  My twins are on the backs of the 11 year old twins that live 6 houses down.  And the boy in the middle lives right next to us.  Lots of boys!!


The day before school started {Tuesday}, I woke everyone up at 6:18 with promises of Sweet Shop donuts.  We have the best donut shop in our town.  I say this because I have eaten my fair share of donuts in my lifetime.  They are made fresh every morning, and you have to get there really early, or they will run out!  So we all came home, ate donuts, and then sat on the couch in sugar comas.  The plan was to tire them out, so they would get in bed early that night.  And it pretty much worked.  The twins were asleep by 8:30 and Noah was asleep by 9:45!  So all that staying up until midnight and sleeping in until 10 or 11 AM is over! {until this weekend!!}


And lastly here is the boys on their first day of school.  I have one 7th grader {he is at the jr. high school this year} and two 3rd graders {they are at their same school for one more year}.  Everyone had a great day, and they are ready to go back tomorrow morning!  Momma is happy happy happy!!!



Saturday, July 27, 2013

Summer's Almost Over!!

I cannot believe the boys go back to school in 4 days!  This summer really went fast. (I feel like a broken record because I've said this so many times the last 8 weeks)!!  There is something about going back to school in July that makes it seem a little strange.  My birthday is August 5th, and I never had to go to school on my birthday.  If I were still in school, I think I would be mad about this.  I do have to work on my birthday this year, and I think I will be okay turning 39 and being at work!

Two weeks ago, my husband and I got a five day vacation from our boys.  My mom took the twins for 5 whole days.  They were only 15 minutes away from home, but not seeing them for 5 days was a little strange.  They had a great time with GG!

While the twins were at grandmas, my oldest son went to Taylor University Basketball Camp.  This is what he looked like when we dropped him off.  I swear he grew the week he was gone, and he came home loving basketball even more than ever!  I think he learned some new skills that he can hopefully put to use when basketball tryouts start.

While the boys were gone, my husband and I ate out every night.  We went to a real movie {no animation involved}.  We slept in most mornings.  I did not turn the dish washer on all week! I only did one load of laundry.  I went for a walk in my hand-me-down shoes from my oldest son.

 I pickled 6 jars of beets from our garden.  I did not grocery shop one time.  No one stole drinks from my hot coffee, or iced coffee, or diet dr. pepper.  I was in heaven most of the time.  But I really did miss my boys.

We are all back home together for 5 more relaxing days, then it's back to reality.  School. Lunches.  Bus stops.  Homework.  Football.  Meet the teacher night.  Schedules.  Routine.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Highlights

We took a short trip to Tennessee to meet up with our church youth group.  They had over 90 teens and adults on this trip.  We stayed in dorm rooms, so the highlight for my kids was jumping on (dirty) mattresses.  I kept thinking how gross that was, but they didn't care.  The little blond in the middle is the son of the the youth department's secretary.  He reminds me so much of my oldest son at that age!  I get all sentimental around him, and I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm crazy!

Moose was really proud of the giant bubble he blew with his gum. And I love his hair in this picture.

When we got home, I had a project that I wanted done, so my oldest son said he would do the work if he could make some money.  He is saving money for shoes!  The kid loves shoes!  So he cleaned the siding on the back of our house, and it looks great! It was a green mossy substance that was growing, but now it's gone!

I made the boys sit in a long gas line with me.  The gas here was $2.98 and just down the street it was $3.59!  So we waited in line forever.  Then the pumps were going really slow!  It took about 10 minutes to pump 20 gallons of gas.  Seriously.  I kept telling the boys it was like saving $12.00, but they really didn't care.  The next day at Walmart gas was $2.97 and there was a really long line there too.  I don't understand gas pricing. at. all.

While at Walmart I saw the cutest Duck Dynasty shirt ever.  I want to get this for my future granddaughter who has no option but to love the outdoors!

This is our beehive we have at a friend's house.  I think it's time to add another super to the stack.  I am very excited to hopefully harvest some honey in the fall.  

I don't want to say this too loudly, because anything can happen.  But if everything works out, I will be kid free for 5 days next week!  My oldest is going to overnight basketball camp for 5 days at Taylor University.  Then my mom volunteered to keep the twins for 5 days and take them to her church's day camp.  I'm not sure what all I will do, but I am very excited about next week!!!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

July

Reading:  Just finished Wild!  Great book.  Now I want to go hiking.  Just started Start. {that sounds funny}  So far I love it!

Drinking: I am in love with Vitaminwater Zero.  I really love all the flavors.  I find myself looking at the label multiple times while drinking to make sure it really is the zero calorie version.  It tastes so good!

Planning: It seems like summer is getting away way too fast.  The schools already have school supply lists.  My boys need new school shoes.  We have to pay school fees.  All this month!

Listening:  My husband made me a Luke Bryan cd for the car.  I listen to it over and over!  I am getting ready for the concert July 21st!

Annoying:  My nose has been running for weeks.  I got a nasty cold a few weeks ago and it has been dripping ever since.  Maybe it's allergies...who knows?!?  But I have been going through kleenex like crazy.

Hoping:  To enjoy these last few weeks of summer.  With the balanced school calendar, it seems much shorter this year {which it is}!  I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it kind of is.

Needing:  To organize clothes.  I have a big basket of kids clothes I don't know what to do with.  

Working:  I told myself I was going to read with the boys every day this summer.  And work on math problems with them.  Ha!  Hasn't happened..yet.  Still working on this one.

Wishing:  Everyone a Happy 4th of July (Jew Ly)!!!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

My Life

Well, I cannot believe it is July (Jew Ly) already!  School starts in 29 days for my boys.  I know the next four weeks are going to fly by.  Here are some things that we have been doing around here.

*Note to self*  Do not buy erasers in the shape of Xbox controllers at the book fair.  Your children will tear them up and not use them as intended.  You will pick them up off the floor multiple times of day.  These are a total waste of money!!

These are an incredible new dessert I found in the freezer section.  I love how they are portioned out and that I have to walk out to the freezer to get them.  They really are tasty, and if I wanted to save some $, I could totally make them myself!

And this my friends is why I do not need to buy my children any more toys.  This toy (formerly known as a wrestling figure) was destroyed in our front yard by the lawn mower.  There went more money in the trash!

These two boys found a way to climb on top of our friend's chicken coop.  We go at least once a week to weed our group garden, and the boys run around like wild things.  They really do have a good time, and it is worth it for all the fresh vegetables we have gotten so far!

Take a look at this carrot.  I think it looks like it has legs.  Kind of like a carrot Barbie doll.  I wonder if this would make big bucks at an Ebay auction.  Probably not!

We enjoyed going to the Indianapolis Indians baseball game last weekend.  I tweeted this photo while we were there, and my boys made it on the big screen slide show!!  They won the inflatable baseballs by guessing the speed of their pitches.  Such smart boys I have!

And I seriously cannot believe these two have been married for one year!  It seems like yesterday we were setting up the barn for the big day.  I am so thankful for these two, and we all miss them like crazy!

Look who took over my bed last night!  We stayed up way too late, and they were still asleep at 10 AM.  I had to drag them out of bed to get to a dentist appointment on time.  We are going to all be in shock on July 31st when we have to get up early!

And last, this is my newest craft project.  I have been wanting to make one of these for a year now.  I finally borrowed the cricket from my sister, cut out all these letters, then spent a few hours creating this masterpiece.  I was very happy with the way it turned out.  It looks even better in person!