Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
My Goodness, How They've Grown
First day of school last year.
First day of school this year.
Check out where each of there heads are comparison to the fireplace mantel and the sign above it!!
First day of school this year.
Check out where each of there heads are comparison to the fireplace mantel and the sign above it!!
First Day of Fourth Grade
Today is the first day of fourth grade for my Prophet and D.K. We had croissant bread pudding and ice cream for breakfast to celebrate the first day of school. I figured ice cream's not any worse than most of the cereals that most kids eat. Since my kids never get to eat those nasty things, I figured ice cream for breakfast on the first day of school would be a treat. They all came to the table and saw the little scoop of ice cream sitting next to their bread pudding and thought I'd lost my mind. It was fun listening to them. Now, we've declared bread pudding and ice cream our official first day of school breakfast.
Bee doesn't start kindergarten until Wednesday morning. They are doing a staggered start so all the kids aren't there at once any time this week. I'll stay with her on Wednesday and then on Thursday she'll go by herself. She's not the least bit scared about going. She's too excited to be scared. She's a morning kid. She'll only be in school for 2 1/2 hrs a day. Hardly time to get anything done, you'd think. Her teacher seems very nice, and I've heard good things about her, so here's hoping it's a good year.
The boys classes are actually going to be together this year... one big class of 41 kids. Sounds cool and crazy at the same time. Their teachers will be leaving the wall between their classrooms open at all times and co-teaching everything. I'm assuming they'll still be having their specials at separate time. I wouldn't think that music, art, and p.e. teachers would want 41 kids at the same time, but who knows! I do know that that's alot of birthday treats to make... or do they still do birthday treats in fourth grade? Are they too big for that now? That's so sad if they are! I'll have to email their teachers and find out. So, anyway, I'm a little nervous about them being in the same class. We've always wanted them in separate classes because of their different learning abilities and styles. Please pray that it'll all work out.
Off for a busy day of shopping and laundry. Later!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mom and Dad's New Home
Back in April, my parents house, which had been on the market for almost a year, finally sold. This was much to their delight and my chagrin. I didn't want them to move into a different home. I wanted them to stay in my childhood home and town for the rest of my life (notice I said "my life" not "their lives"). So, in July, after much packing, purging, and questioning if they'd made the right decision and then deciding that they had indeed done the right thing and just had to deal with the fact that no matter how right the decision was, they were still gonna cry when they left the home that they'd raised their children in and had so many memories of their grandchildren in, they moved into their new home. Now that I've been in their new home, I can see why they love it. It's them. It smells like Mom and Dad's house always has. It's very comfortable. There's still room for us. It's only 700 sq. feet, half the size of their last home. Like I said before, my mom can vacuum the entire house from one outlet. How many of us can say that!
So, Inkling, I've been promising you pics of Mom and Dad's new house so you can see that it's still them even though they moved out of the old place.
The front yard.
The bathroom.
Mom and Dad's bedroom.
Mom's office.
The living room with the window treatments that I came up with. Mom and I put them up together while I was visiting.
View into kitchen from the living room.
The kitchen.
Check out the fridge...
Another shot of the fridge...
Yes, the fridge is stuck in the wall two feet off the floor. Previous owners decided that in order to make more space in the kitchen, that they would put the fridge in the wall. Their only obstacle was the basement steps that are right under it, so they jacked it up two feet and voila... a fridge in the wall. There's a stepstool that lives right next to at all times.
The skylights.
So, Inkling, I've been promising you pics of Mom and Dad's new house so you can see that it's still them even though they moved out of the old place.
The front yard.
The bathroom.
Mom and Dad's bedroom.
Mom's office.
The living room with the window treatments that I came up with. Mom and I put them up together while I was visiting.
View into kitchen from the living room.
The kitchen.
Check out the fridge...
Another shot of the fridge...
Yes, the fridge is stuck in the wall two feet off the floor. Previous owners decided that in order to make more space in the kitchen, that they would put the fridge in the wall. Their only obstacle was the basement steps that are right under it, so they jacked it up two feet and voila... a fridge in the wall. There's a stepstool that lives right next to at all times.
The skylights.
I Have "Fall Fever"
There's a storm rollin' in. I love storms in the middle of the day. The house gets dark and on days like today, I've been cleanin', the house is fairly clean, smells good, and the candles are all lit, the house seems so cozy (if I could just get Phineas and Ferb out of the background and some worship music on, I'd be in Heaven on earth). Smart Guy came home for lunch and then took the boys to the skate park for awhile before the rain rolled in. Bee and him were supposed to go to the park later on, so she's now yellin' about it not bein' fair that she won't get to go because of the rain. Life's rough, girlfriend!
Like I said, I've been cleaning! I don't do "spring cleaning" like most normal women do. I get my need to clean in the fall time. Usually it hits sometime in late September right before the holidays start (October starts the holidays for me, yes I'm crazy like my hubby says), but I think with all this cooler weather we've had these past two weeks, I've got myself in fall clean-up mode. So far the entire family room has been rearranged. I vacuumed under and behind everything, and all the corners and edges are spotless. The windowsills are cleaned, and shelves dusted. Toys and stray game pieces have been pitched in the trash (so liberating)! In the last three days or so, I have also emptied 7 laundry baskets full of laundry and actually put them away before they hit someone's body (I know, I had to take alot of Benadryl before conquering this horrible allergy, I'm lucky I'm immune to drugs these days, or I'd have been too sleepy to actually finish the job)!! The upstairs bath has also been redone, I'm talking new paintjob and all! I still have a little bit of work to do, but that shouldn't take more than an hour or two once I get what I need (payday, tomorrow)! I plan to finish the dining room, living room, entry way, and our bedroom before retiring for the night! I can't wait to get out of bed in the morning and step out into a clean and neat home ( or I could just lay in bed until 11:00 not feeling guilty about the fact that my house is falling down around me, hmmm, sounds like a plan to me!)
So, I have a question for y'all! (if I still have people actually reading my blog since I've apparently been neglecting it for so long) When my parents moved into their new home back in July, I inherited my grandpa's high chair that had been in my mom's house for as long as I can remember. I have always wanted it and always said that I'd do something cool with it to use as a cool deco piece in my home. Of course now that I have it, I can't decided what to do with it. I think in order to do paint it properly I need to strip it. Smart Guy thinks I should just scrub it down, sand down the paint edges and paint over the chipped areas. He thinks it would add to the "old-look". While this would definitely be the much easier option, it also seems like cheating to me. BUT, I also know myself, I like my mother did for years, will just keep saying, "someday I'm gonna strip that and do something neat with it", and then someday one of my children will move it to their home (unless of course they somehow overcome the genetic disabiltity to get rid of anything that has sentimental value). Help me!
School starts on the 25th, which is apparently late. It seems that everyone else I talk to or read starts at least by the end of next week. Bee doesn't actually start until the 27th. The kindergartners do a staggered start the first week so they can be evaluated and tested before things get into full swing. We don't even know yet if she's a morning or afternoon kid yet. I told them I didn't care, just to put her where there's space for her. I know some parents need certain times, and it really doesn't matter to me in the least. If she's a morning kid, she'll walk with her brothers and daddy in the morning, and I'll pick her up. If she's an afternoon kid, I'll walk her to school and she'll walk home with her brothers and her daddy. We almost have all of our school supplies. We split them up so we wouldn't have everything on one paycheck. We had to register everyone yesterday, thus paying school fees for the year. All three kids only cost us $45.00. When we were in Alabama with only two kids in school, we wrote the check for over $350.00 on the same day. Crazyness!
The boys actually have it in their little heads that their mom is gonna let them walk to or from school by themselves this year! They would be totally, completely, and absolutely WRONG about that particular little thought! Get that one out of your heads boys, it's not happenin' this year. MAYBE towards the end of the year, maybe!
I made a new menu last week. It's typed up and up the fridge ready to use. I actually did a 6-week rotation this time. It's usually 4-weeks! We're doing vegetarian two nights a week. Smart Guy's all for it right now, we'll see how he feels in a few weeks. He's a meat and potatoes kinda guy, although he will eat chicken dishes and some green things now... he wouldn't when I married him!
Well, I need to get back to work! If you're actually reading my blog still (or if you're new), leave me a comment please. My stats thingy quit working awhile back, so I have no idea how many readers I have left or where they are from if they do read.
Like I said, I've been cleaning! I don't do "spring cleaning" like most normal women do. I get my need to clean in the fall time. Usually it hits sometime in late September right before the holidays start (October starts the holidays for me, yes I'm crazy like my hubby says), but I think with all this cooler weather we've had these past two weeks, I've got myself in fall clean-up mode. So far the entire family room has been rearranged. I vacuumed under and behind everything, and all the corners and edges are spotless. The windowsills are cleaned, and shelves dusted. Toys and stray game pieces have been pitched in the trash (so liberating)! In the last three days or so, I have also emptied 7 laundry baskets full of laundry and actually put them away before they hit someone's body (I know, I had to take alot of Benadryl before conquering this horrible allergy, I'm lucky I'm immune to drugs these days, or I'd have been too sleepy to actually finish the job)!! The upstairs bath has also been redone, I'm talking new paintjob and all! I still have a little bit of work to do, but that shouldn't take more than an hour or two once I get what I need (payday, tomorrow)! I plan to finish the dining room, living room, entry way, and our bedroom before retiring for the night! I can't wait to get out of bed in the morning and step out into a clean and neat home ( or I could just lay in bed until 11:00 not feeling guilty about the fact that my house is falling down around me, hmmm, sounds like a plan to me!)
So, I have a question for y'all! (if I still have people actually reading my blog since I've apparently been neglecting it for so long) When my parents moved into their new home back in July, I inherited my grandpa's high chair that had been in my mom's house for as long as I can remember. I have always wanted it and always said that I'd do something cool with it to use as a cool deco piece in my home. Of course now that I have it, I can't decided what to do with it. I think in order to do paint it properly I need to strip it. Smart Guy thinks I should just scrub it down, sand down the paint edges and paint over the chipped areas. He thinks it would add to the "old-look". While this would definitely be the much easier option, it also seems like cheating to me. BUT, I also know myself, I like my mother did for years, will just keep saying, "someday I'm gonna strip that and do something neat with it", and then someday one of my children will move it to their home (unless of course they somehow overcome the genetic disabiltity to get rid of anything that has sentimental value). Help me!
School starts on the 25th, which is apparently late. It seems that everyone else I talk to or read starts at least by the end of next week. Bee doesn't actually start until the 27th. The kindergartners do a staggered start the first week so they can be evaluated and tested before things get into full swing. We don't even know yet if she's a morning or afternoon kid yet. I told them I didn't care, just to put her where there's space for her. I know some parents need certain times, and it really doesn't matter to me in the least. If she's a morning kid, she'll walk with her brothers and daddy in the morning, and I'll pick her up. If she's an afternoon kid, I'll walk her to school and she'll walk home with her brothers and her daddy. We almost have all of our school supplies. We split them up so we wouldn't have everything on one paycheck. We had to register everyone yesterday, thus paying school fees for the year. All three kids only cost us $45.00. When we were in Alabama with only two kids in school, we wrote the check for over $350.00 on the same day. Crazyness!
The boys actually have it in their little heads that their mom is gonna let them walk to or from school by themselves this year! They would be totally, completely, and absolutely WRONG about that particular little thought! Get that one out of your heads boys, it's not happenin' this year. MAYBE towards the end of the year, maybe!
I made a new menu last week. It's typed up and up the fridge ready to use. I actually did a 6-week rotation this time. It's usually 4-weeks! We're doing vegetarian two nights a week. Smart Guy's all for it right now, we'll see how he feels in a few weeks. He's a meat and potatoes kinda guy, although he will eat chicken dishes and some green things now... he wouldn't when I married him!
Well, I need to get back to work! If you're actually reading my blog still (or if you're new), leave me a comment please. My stats thingy quit working awhile back, so I have no idea how many readers I have left or where they are from if they do read.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Gone Fishin'!
In our family, you haven't actually "caught" the fish unless you actually hold the fish!
Paw helping Prophet.
I love this picture.
Paw helping Bee.
The boys praying for a bite.
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