And I thought summer was kicking my butt...

...now we have HOMEWORK on top of everything else.

School has been in session for over 2 weeks and I am just now coming up for enough air to post these 1st day pictures. Better late than never right, or maybe I should be embarrassed to consider myself a blogger, either way here they are. Around here, when something's gotta give it is usually computer time, and housework, but we won't get into that since you can't see the piles of laundry on every bed in this house.

We seem to be settling into a new routine with our new work and school schedules. Ryan is getting use to his program. We do see him every once in awhile...although most of the time he is studying or trying to help with random household duties.

Isac is excited to be a 6th grader and King of the Campus this year. He said something funny the first week of school about it. He observed, "Last year the 6th graders just seemed so big and grown up. But when I look at Isaac, and Ben (and his other classmates), they just don't look that cool."
I reassured him that they seem big to all the younger kids and that by the end of the year they will be even bigger. Crazy Kid.
So far in 6th grade, we are having fun navigating new social issues, mastering good personal hygiene (a.k.a brushing our teeth & combing our hair EVERY morning), and learning more responsibility in preparation for Jr. High.
He has our wonderful next door neighbor Mrs. Dean again this year so we are hoping, with her mad skills we'll make it through the year intact.

Emily also had her first day of preschool this week. Because our budget is so tight, and because I realize that once you send them to kindergarten, things are never the same, we are doing a home-preschool with her cousin Sam and one other friend. We will be rotating weeks, similar to Joy School, so that is another item added to my "To Do List".

WowWee...education is so much FUN!!!

I am mostly just bummed that Isac isn't around to buckle/unbuckle the kids' carseats whenever we go anywhere in the daytime now...it really slows me down!

HICCUP

I love it when Mackey gets the hiccups.
He is always confused but thinks it is so funny!

This is how you give yourself a Heart-Attack...

Spray a fine mist of thisover every piece of living room furniture that you own,
without realizing it when you intended to pickup this instead.Thank goodness the heavens happened to be shining down on me at that moment because for some unknown reason it did not bleach a SINGLE spot on the fabric.

And I sprayed a lot.
Seriously nothing short of a miracle in my book.

And I even manage to survive all of this after barely getting over*The Dry-Erase Marker Incident of '09, in which Darling Mackey, age 2, thought it would be fun to draw on EVERY cushion and pillow (for a total of 16) of the furniture mentioned above with a lovely, blue Dry-Erase marker. I was so horrified he was lucky that he looks like this
I was so applaud at the sight that I did not take the time to document his handy work with the camera, but don't worry the image is still burned into my mind. And all I can say is thank goodness for Magic Erasers. With their help most of it came out.
*This is not to be confused with The Dry-Erase Maker Incident of "07 in which Darling Emily, also age 2 at the time, decided that drawing on the couch with a lovely blue Dry-Erase Marker would be a great way to show off her budding artistic abilities and send some attention her way on the day after her new baby brother came home from the hospital.

Who keeps leaving out the Dry-Erase Markers anyways?

This is how you give your mother a Heart-Attack

Today we are headed out to my nieces birthday party. It made me think about her birthday last year, which I never got around to blogging about at the time, but the events of that day definitely deserve a post.So this is Rachel.
She is the middle child.
She is the sweet, creative child.
She is the emotional child.
She has 3 sisters.
I can understand Rachel and the lot she has in life.
This is Rachel's dad.
He is cheap. Very cheap.
He has 4 daughters.
This is Rachel's older sister Coral.
She is the firstborn.
Last year for her birthday she got to have a party at
Hollywood Connection.
She got to invite whoever she wanted.

Rachel didn't make the cut.
And for some reason their parents went along with it.

Rachel was sad.
Rachel was emotional.
Rachel's dad, in an attempt to console his middle daughter told her that when it was her birthday, he would take her to
Wal-Mart and she could choose anything she wanted.

Did I mention above that Rachel is smart?
No?

Rachel had 3 months to make her plan.
And when August 2nd rolled around,
Rachel chose this....

And the only thing her dad could do was buy it for her.
And I laughed.

And now just for kicks...can you believe how young my babies looked just 1 year ago?

GROSS!!!!

If you were outside weeding the garden and your 4 yr. old, tomboy of a daughter beckoned for your attention, and you turned around to see this:

Would you-
a) gag a little on the contents of your stomach which are now in your throat.
b) laugh to yourself at how your 11 yr. old son looks like he is going to faint before he quickly snaps out of it and launches into a tirade about how disgusted he is and how he would NEVER allow that.
c) go grab your camera and capture the slimy moment before plucking the little nasties off, tossing them over the fence into your bad neighbor's yard, and giving the Snail Queen an antibacterial scrub down while listening to her lament about the loss of her 5 precious friends.
d) All of the above


I chose D.

Another Note to Self

If your 2 year old brings you a jar of pickles and a popsicle while you are on the computer, don't open the popsicle, give him a pickle and continue checking your email, read several new blog post in Google Reader, or pay a few bills for the next half an hour to 45 min. Instead, it might be a good idea to go upstairs and check the doors to the fridge & freezer because there is a good chance that they are probably standing wide open.

Note to Self

The next time you get the urge to make lemon bars simply because they sound scrumptious, resist.
Especially if:

a)Ryan is working a double shift,
b)Isac is away at scout camp and
c)Mack & Emily are too young to really appreciate them

Because if you do you will probably end up eating at least half of them, maybe even 3/4 of them, all by yourself.

And then you will regret it.

And you probably won't want to eat lemon bars for a really, really long time.

I don't want Isac to grow up...

Isac has been at Scout Camp this week and I have to admit it has been kind of nice to only hear Emily whine approximately 5 times a day instead of the usual 20. It is definitely getting to that time of the summer when the thought of the kids going back to school doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Really Isac is more of a help than a hinderance, but those oldest two really know how to push each others buttons. So anyways, tonight is the BIG Overnighter, which means Isac won't be coming home...is he really old enough for this. Sleeping in the mountains without your mother, etc. It just seems so weird to send my child out in the world alone to sleep. Don't get me wrong I am sure he is having a dandy time but letting your kids grow up is hard work! I am afraid that tonight while I am trying to sleep, knowing that he is not in his bed, where he should be, will do something strange to my mothering mind. However, thinking of the leaders who are up there with all of those crazy 11 yr. old boys makes me laugh...maybe I should feel sorry for them.

Mackey's Birthday Recap

Whenever you turn 2 and your mom is really sick, and no one wants to come to your birthday party because they are afraid that she might have the Swine Flu, just ask your dad to take you to Chuck E. Cheese, because he will probably say yes. Then he will probably buy way more tokens than your mom ever would and you will have tons of fun.

Then tell your mom that since we have such a nice, big cake and not many people to eat it, you would like to stick your fingers in it and eat the icing. She will probably let you since it is your birthday after all. Then invite your sister & brother to join you.

Then look so adorable opening your presents that your parents decide to give you an extra remote control train set that they weren't planning on giving you because your dad built you a super cool sand box,

but they love to see how happy you are when you open fun things they want to keep watching you.
Then go to bed knowing that you are the luckiest 2 year old around.

Joy to my heart.

I forgot to mention that Emily "graduated" from preschool last month. As part of the "ceremony" her teacher had each child come up individually to get their diploma and then took a minute to kind of spotlight each one. She told about one quality that they each had that stood out this year or that she would remember about them. One boy was a leader and everyone wanted to follow him. One girl did all of her work perfect. One always wanted to be first at everything and so on. Emily was the last to have a turn and I was beginning to wonder what she would say about her. I thought she might be remembered as the loud one. Or the one who wanted to answer all the questions (she's kind of a know it all).
I was thrilled when she was deemed the kind & tenderhearted one. Her teacher told about how she always plays with kids who are sad or need someone to play with. I can't think of a better quality I would like her to have. Kindness will get her far in life. I was quite proud on my tenderhearted girl.

Emily's Birthday was crazy fun...

I haven't documented Emily's 4th Birthday properly because I am not sure I have recovered from the day. It wasn't as bad as last year, but man it was go,go,go kind of crazy!The birthday girl was so excited about her Rainbow Cake.I was not that excited about it because the bakery messed up the order and it didn't look at all like it was supposed to and it was tiny! I had to make cupcakes at the last minute so there would be enough for everyone.
The tacos were YUMMY.
The cousins had fun.


And helped with the unwrapping.

OH the presents!
This one in particular was a hit but is very annoying. Not a Hannah Montana fan.
And there were lollipops for everyone, as requested by the birthday girl.

End of an Era

After 4 long years together, we are finally saying goodbye. For awhile at least. It is wonderful having our bedroom back to ourselves again!

Reminders from Emily

While playing with my jewelry box Emily came across a few of my Young Women's Medallions.
She being the little churchy one that she is thought they were fabulous.
She immediately wanted to put one on and chose this one:
As I placed it around her neck she half whispered in her serious voice,

"This is so I will always remember to PRAY."

Ok.

Then she decided on this one for me: As she put it on me she started,
"This is so you can always remember..."
then she paused, looked at the necklace again, raised an eyebrow, and then continued as serious as before...

"This is so you can always remember, to put your hair on FIRE."

I will remember that.