Thank God for grandparents

We sent the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's for a while today so that we could get some Christmas shopping done today.  I'm happy to say that we are almost finished with the kids.  It's been a little tough this year.  Especially for the boys.  They are kind of in that in between stage where they are still little boys, but want to play with big boy toys so badly. 

We went to Toys R Us tonight and I did manage to get that "one thing" I wanted to get the most for them.  They will each have their very own remote controlled car made just for rough little boys.

Eden is proving to be much harder.  She wants the same thing that every one else wants of course.  ZuZu Pets have become the bane of my existance.  My mom managed to score me one of the actual pets, but so far we haven't had any luck getting any of the accessories that go with it.  Wish us luck in finding at least one before time runs out.

It's a short post tonight, and I'll be posting pictures and possibly video from the boys Christmas program tomorrow night.

What's up?

I'm gonna go ahead and put this out there. I'm just gonna lay it out for everyone to see. Ready for it?? Here it comes.... I'm a comment junky and I'm starvin' here people. So please, drop a few lines and let me know that you're out there watching. M'kay. Thanks. BTW. Love ya!

Now for the goods.

Have I ever mentioned that I really REALLY hate daylight savings time. I mean, I really HATE it!! It's dark when I roll out of bed, the sun is right in my eyes the ENTIRE way to work and I'm to short for the sun visor to be of any help and as if all of this weren't enough, if I leave work late, (and I do most days because I'm not real good at just picking up my things and heading out right at 5) it's already dark enough when I get home that the lights have to be on in the house. I really don't like it. It causes some depression issues for me every year.

So, with all of that said, I had to go pick Eden and the boys up from mom's tonight and this is the spectacular sunset that I caught just before it was to late.

When I shot the picture, I wasn't really paying any attention to anything but the pinks and purples and ever so slightly orange hues of the sky and then I came home and posted this picture to the Serendipity site and it hit me right in the face, just like a sucker punch, that most of the landscape in this picture no longer belongs to a "Smith".

Along with this realization it has occurred to me that Grandma has been gone for four years now. My twins were still growing inside of me when she passed and I remember my mom calling to say that she was slipping away. Sometimes I forget that she's gone and I can't believe it's been four years and that can still happen. Right now, I'm really missing her.

Here's one with some of mom's Christmas decorations and the house in it. I love the lighting and the "skeleton" of the trees.

My kids love this corner of mom's decorations. When we left the house tonight Eden pointed out that it looks like Polar Exp.ress with the small train and the big Christmas tree. I love it that my kids have that bright shining imagination in them, after Eden said that both boys could totally see the same thing. It's so cool to see how their minds work.


I'll try to post some more Gatlinburg pictures tomorrow. For now, here's a few that Louise took while we were at the IHOP.

Boy, you guys weren't kidding about Casey and pictures were you?

In Casey's defense. I kinda love this one of her. She looks so sweet and innocent. I also really love this shot of your mom. It makes me want to be with you guys right now. I've always loved her smile!

Gatlinburg '09

Sorry it's taken me so long. Unfortunately I'm not overly impressed with most of the pictures that I took while I was with Aunt Sally and the girls. Here's what I've got that turned out "ok".

Here's Momica's peacock.

Here is the one I took during the service. Very blurry. Sorry.

Here's a picture of Linda I took for Amy the stalker. ;o) It's the only one that wasn't so blurry you couldn't even make out who it's supposed to be.

Aunt Becky after the service, talking with a couple of ladies who I think were thanking her for a great weekend. I love her energy. I can tell she's Uncle Mike's sister. :o)

Not sure what happened here but part in focus, part not. I'm hoping I can get a picture like this with all six sisters in just a few weeks, in perfect focus of course. :o) Love you guys! Can't wait for you to get here!!!

A whole couch full of SUPERSTARS! (Including Jess)

Cool light streaks that Michael took from the "front porch" of the hotel we stayed in. I love that he caught the AAA sign in the corner and the lighting on the landscaping.

I'm not sure what Casey is doing here, but she looks like she's dancing.



Oh how I love these little heads! (Well, little boy heads anyway, Tyler's got a big melon.)

and this one's. I love how shiny her hair is.

Every trip to Gatlinburg requires a stop at the Ripley's Aquarium. All of my kids love it. In this picture Eden, Erin, Tyler, Mom, Me, Jennifer, Allen and Nathan.


Here's me and the boys under the puffer fish tank. It's tough for me to get in there, and it's really hot in there, but the pictures are really cute!

I have more, I'll try to post them tomorrow and on face.book when I get the time but it's getting late, I'm tired and I have to get my shower tonight since the boys need a bath before school in the morning and I don't want to get up at 6 when I can shower tonight and get up around 6:45.

Good night.

Whew. Glad this days almost over!

Today was a crummy day. It was over cast and it rained all day, not the drops of rain, but that nasty sh!t that just makes everything wet and an umbrella is useless against.

We're crazy busy at work right now too. I'm not complaining, because, you know, it pays the bills, but holy cow. I thought things were supposed to slow down a little around the holidays. So...between all the things that I need to get done at work and all the things (including Christmas shopping) I need to get done at home, it's just a wonderfully stressful life. "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Isn't it amazing that I went my entire childhood without seeing the classic Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life? I just watched it for the very first time last year by looking it up on You.Tube and watching it in 13 "episodes". All because my boss, (who I can't say enough nice things about, He's wonderful and I throw this in here because Thanksgiving was just a few days ago and along with my family he's one of the many things I'm so very thankful for.) walked into the office around this time last year and said "Good morning you wonderful old Building & Loan" and I had no clue what he was talking about and the conversation went a little like this.

Mickey: "Good morning you wonderful old Building & Loan!!!"

Me: "Ummm... Good morning???"

Mickey: (with a HUGE grin on his face) "You know, from It's a Wonderful Life!?!"

Me: (with a confused expression) "Oh...I see."

Mickey: "What? You've never seen that movie?"

Me: "Ummm. No. I guess not. Is that the one that talks about the "For every bell that rings, and angel gets it's wings" one?"

Mickey: "Yeah!!! That's the one!"

Me: "Yeah, I've never seen that one. We always watch A Christmas Story. You know, "You'll shoot your eye out".

Mickey: "Yeah, I know that one. I can't believe you've never seen It's a Wonderful Life. That's your "assignment". Don't come back to work until you've seen that movie. It's a requirement for this job."

Of course at this point I'd only been working for him for 2 1/2 months, and I knew he was kidding about the "assignment" thing, but I like to make the boss happy, so I came home and looked it up on You.Tube and watched it. While I didn't think it was as good as Miracle on 34th Street. I did like it, and it was pretty good.

So, retelling that little story just made my day a little better. I guess I'm just really stressed right now. There is just so much to do to get ready for Christmas and it's a sprint to the finish and I love to see my kids happy on Christmas day and then all that excitement spills out and we're left with the after Christmas blahs until the weather breaks in the spring. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

The boys have their Christmas program coming up this weekend. They are having a pitch in dinner at the church where the preschool is located and the children of Promise Academy are going to provide the after dinner entertainment. I really can't wait. I know that they will be so cute! They have been singing little bits and pieces of their songs while we ride in the car or when they are playing in the living room. It's adorable!

Eden's program will be at school next week. She seems to really enjoy choir and singing. I used to love choir too. I hope that once she gets a little older she will want to be in choir as one of her elective corses. She really has a pretty voice and I would love to see her "concerts". She's also quite the performer. A few years ago we did a demo for TKD and she stood in front of no less than 100 people and told them what Tae Kwon Do means. Loud and clear and didn't miss a beat! I always had terrible stage fright. I'd get nervous and sweaty and butterflies in my stomach.

Well. I guess I've rambled long enough. Here's hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

Here's a picture of my monkeys right after their haircut a few weeks ago.

Random thoughts running rampant.

I was talking with Amy on facebook yesterday and she asked me if I had posted any of the Gatlinburg pictures yet. The answer was no, and unfortunately it remains no. Most of the pictures I took were on the RAW setting in the camera which means I have to convert them to jpgs before they can be posted in my blog. I promise, I'll work on it and try to have them up by the end of the week.

While I was talking with her, I mentioned that I wanted to try to have a post a day for at least a month and so here I am giving it a shot.

Michael and I took the kids to the mall tonight and let them play at the "Kids Stay you Play". It's basically a babysitting service right there in the mall. It was $15.00 for all three kids to stay for 1 hour and play while Mike and I shopped for an elliptical machine. That's right! Exercise equipment. I know...I know. But here's the deal. I'm not happy with myself right now. I'm uncomfortable, I'm always tired, (which could have something to do with 4 year olds that have never slept through the night) I don't like the way I look and I've got 2 pairs of jeans that fit. I refuse to go out and buy more. So we're looking for a good elliptical because I have bad knees and they are supposed to be better for you than tread mills.

I wonder how everyone else is doing with their Christmas shopping as well. I have an idea of what I want to get for Mom and my MIL. I've got a few things for the kids so far. That's about it. Last year was the last year for shopping with the kids with us. They are WAY to observant now and they don't miss a thing.

Congratulations to Amy and Chad!!! I bet you guys are just so pumped to be moving in to your new home. I can't wait to come and visit you guys. I'm going to talk to Michael and see if we can't make it down in the spring when we can do what Mom and Aunt Sally used to do and we can say "Hey guys, why don't you go outside and play for a little while?" Which are possibly the most despised words ever uttered by all moms.

Sorry this post is so random, I'll try to have more organized thoughts over the next few weeks, and pictures.

So you'll know

My last post has a funny title and short caption. In case anyone wants to know, cares to know or could care less I thought I would explain it rather than delete it from my personal blog.

I am participating in a blog project where you post a picture a day for 365 days. I started in one group and wasn't comfortable there when several of my blogging buddies left so I left that group and started fresh with this new group. The project is a rolling 365 which means that if any of you are interested in participating, you can join up and start at 1 and post your picture a day for 365 days.

Please check us out at serendipity365photos.blogspot.com

Linn 11/12/2009 Picture 12/365

I went to the ribbon cutting for the twins' preschool today. That lady with the big pair of scissors is Ms. Sally and that lady on the far left is Ms. Tina. I love these women for many reasons, the main one... they love my kids like their own and my kids love them!

It's been over a month since I posted.

The boys started PreKindergarten at the end of August. They absolutely LOVE it!


Ms. Sally and Ms. Tina are terrific teachers and the boys love them. Most mornings they are just as excited to see them as they are to see me when I get home from work. In some ways, it's very sad, in others, I'm so happy that they love Ms. Sally and Ms. Tina. It definitely makes it easier to leave them with someone besides my mom or Michael's mom and sister. I know that our family loves them as much as we do. I never had to worry about how they would be treated. I don't have to worry about that with these terrific ladies who adore my boys almost as much as we do.


It was a major ordeal getting the boys into the preschool with Sally. Eden was in her preschool class at St. Mary's the first year they offered it at the school. When I contacted Sally about putting the boys in her class she let me know that she was looking for a new place to hold preschool classes because of a contract issue with St. Mary's. I asked her to keep me posted and enrolled the boys in another preschool in case we weren't able to get them in with Sally.


I was terrified. When I went to enroll them, the teacher wasn't available for me to meet her. I didn't know her, never heard of her before, and I'm sure she's a wonderful teacher, but.... these are my babies we're talking about here. I know Sally, Eden loved her, I loved her, she's "family". I've never been so relieved as I was when we worked it out that we could afford the tuition and put the boys in Sally's class.


So..what's pretty cool about the whole deal is this. When Eden started preschool, I had just had the twins and it was the first year that Sally was at St. Mary's. Now, the twins are in preschool and they are with Sally for her first year at Promise Academy.


Here are some pictures of our first day at school and you can see pictures of the boys during the school day on Facebook by looking up Promise Academy. You'll need to know what city we live in. There are a couple of Promise Academy's listed.


Here we are walking to the front door. They actually walked until....

We got to the door. Yeah.... see that blur at the end of the hall? That's Jake!

Here's Tyler with the toys he found when we went to the parents meeting a few days before school started.

And Jake so excited by all the prospects that he can't decide what to do first.

So, there you have it. An update on the boys and preschool.

BTW. Here's a shout out to Weezie. Thanks for pointing out in my last post that I'm a little on the slow side. This post brought to you much quicker because my wonderful cuz pointed out the multiple upload button. But seriously. Thank you! I really had not yet discovered it and I appreciate all the help I can get, even if it means you get a good laugh out of it. Hey. I'm here for ya! ;o)

Busy Weekend.

Michael worked late Friday night so we didn't do much else but clean house because we had friends over last night and it was a great excuse to do some much needed cleaning around here.

When I picked the kids up from Mom after I got off work we ran through the White Castle to pick up some dinner and there were HUNDREDS of birds in the bushes that line the drive-thru. Check out this picture!

They would fly to the bushes and hide down inside them until they thought the coast was clear and then POP UP from inside like the bush was pushing them out. It was so cute. The kids thought it was so funny. I love it when they all get tickled. They have the sweetest laughs.

We also went out to Lanesville Heritage Weekend on Saturday before everyone came over to play some Beatles Rock Band. Pictures from our trip to Lanesville are posted at http://www.linnsstss.blogspot.com/. I would post them all here as well, but we all know how long it takes to upload pictures one at a time then have to move them into place.

I hope that soon, blogger will find a way to do at least two at a time or figure out a way to upload the picture to where the cursor is waiting. It would make blogging with pictures so much easier.

Michael worked with Bill today so I took the boys and Eden to mom's and we went back out to Lanesville for a little bit then they spent the rest of the day playing in Grandma's front yard.

I can't tell you how much I wish I could pick up my house and set it right next door to my mom's. We have a great house, but need a great yard to go with it.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Allergic

I'm not sure how many of you have seen this picture, but I think I'm ready to post the story behind it now.

I know it seems silly to have posted this picture on Friday and just now be getting around to explaining it, but I'm just now able to do so without my heart beating through my chest and putting a choke hold on my lungs.

I have probably mentioned before that on Friday's Michael helps out at the TKD school by helping to teach the "Little Dragons" class. So, Friday afternoon he took the boys to my mom's so that she could watch them until I got there to pick them up and so Mike could do the class.

Well.... it seems that shortly after they got there the boys decided that they wanted to play outside. I have also discovered in the last week that they have a new found passion for swatting at bees. This strikes fear into my heart because I am so allergic that if I get stung, I swell like crazy. I'm lucky enough to not need an EpiPen, but it's been years since I have been stung, and that could have changed by now. Anyway, Jacob got stung, by what we think was a wasp around 4:30 so he went inside and mom and Mike kept an eye on him and he seemed to be fine, then he was around the cat, which Michael is highly allergic to, and his reaction is itchy, watery eyes, and sneezing and he still seemed to be fine, so Michael went ahead to class. (Which is what I would have had him do since it had been 30 mins. since he got stung and there didn't seem to be anything other then a little splotchy red spot around the area of the bee sting.)

So, when I got to mom's Jake was sitting in the chair and I walked past him to the kitchen and he was fine, I checked out the kitchen for a snack (I'm not sure why, but that's what all of my mom's kids do as soon as they come in the door) and when I walked back into the living room, he was rubbing his eyes (with a pop tart still in his hand) stuffy nose, entire face swollen, and he was laboring to breathe. So I grabbed a washcloth and wiped the pop tart off his face and gave him a chewable Benedryl and scooped him up and rushed him to the front seat of my car, (not to worry, I did put him as far back as the seat would go and in his booster seat) I was scared he would stop breathing on me all together and I FLEW down the hill toward the hospital. Mom called Michael and told him what was going on and he pulled in right behind me.

We rushed inside, I filled out the sign in sheet, (with my name instead of Jake's, what can I say, I was a mess) and they took us straight back and checked him over. The whole time we were in triage he was talking and happy. A good sign, but not enough for my anxiety to subside.

Here are a few more pictures of him before we went to a room to wait for the doctor.

This picture doesn't show how red and swollen he was when I rushed him out the door and you can barely see it, but the bee sting is on his right arm. Like I said, he was still pretty happy and had started to breathe better.

Here he is in his hospital gown. Michael and I couldn't get over how cute he looked in, but let me tell you.... I sincerely hope that I NEVER have to see any of my three kids in a hospital gown again.

He wasn't a big fan of the band aid type thing they put around his finger to monitor his heart rate and blood oxygen level. But.....

He was completely into iCarly while we waited for the doctor to come in and see him. Look at his left eye. It's wrinkled and still a little puffy. Before we gave him the Benedryl at moms both eyes were swollen and watery and the left was almost completely swollen shut. We have given him Benedryl before and instead of slowing him down, he seemed to have more energy, not this time around, this time, he was quiet and sat still, just watching TV and patiently waiting. Totally not Jake like behavior.

Once the doctor come in to check him over, it had been almost an hour and he said it's hard to say what caused the reaction but that he was going to give him another dose of antihistamine and a steroid and they gave him an Epi shot.

I'm a very lucky mom, both boys are really good patients and they let doctors and nurses check them out and don't put up much of a fight when it comes to having their temperatures taken and they are champs at taking medicine. The nurse came in and gave him the two liquid medicines and he took them no problem, then when she went to give him the shot, he wasn't looking and it scared him (and I'm sure it hurt, because all needles do!) and he jerked. The needle came out and scratched his leg. The poor thing was crying and so was the nurse when she left the room after having to stick him again to give him the shot.

We had to wait for a while after they gave him the shot to see how he would react to the Epi. Let me tell you... that was a different experience all together. I guess it's an adrenaline shot and after the whole scratched leg and double stick he was sitting in my lap on the hospital bed and I could SEE his pulse in his jugular vein. I can't even begin to describe what that was like, but I guess, it was kinda like watching a frogs throat when it croaks.

We got to leave about 30 minutes later and Jake has been fine since then. I let him sleep in my bed with me Friday night to be sure that he was ok and he seems to be completely unfazed by the whole experience. Me on the other hand.... not so much. Every now and then I'll start thinking about it again and how severe his reaction was and it scares the shit out of me. That's the only way I can put it. By the way, we think now that what caused this reaction was the Guinea Pig. He had a less severe reaction about a month ago when Michael picked him up from moms and he had been playing with Pig that day too. Apparently, right before I came in the door the boys and Eden had gone in to feed him a few carrots and pet him and when Jake came out he sat down in the chair and rubbed his eyes. I don't know if it was the Pig alone or if it was the bee, cat and pig combo, but something set him off bad enough to make me panic and rush him to the hospital.

Of course, all of this means that we are going to have to do the horrible task of having him allergy tested. If his reaction to the Guinea pig was this severe, how can we be sure, without having him tested, that there isn't something else out there that will set him off again, and possibly be more severe. We came home from the hospital with prescription strength allergy medicine and two EpiPens. Why is the EpiPen a big deal? Because.. my dad is so allergic to bees that he has less than 10 minutes to inject the EpiPen or his airway will swell shut and he won't make it to the hospital...he's a grown man, how am I supposed to NOT be terrified of what could happen to my little boy?

I know that I'm probably totally over reacting but I can't help it. This was a total reality check for me. This little boy seems like an indestructible ball of energy and this one almost knocked him flat and made me realize just how vulnerable he can be.

Wild weekend!!!

This weekend we planned to take pictures to finish up some senior pictures for Danielle and take Belly pictures for a friend of ours who is 36 weeks pregnant.

It looked like rain on Friday and they were calling for possible storms so we postponed the senior pictures on Friday night. Instead, we went to the Horseshoe for a while and then came home and watched the end of the first season of How I Met Your Mother. (Thanks Ric for getting us hooked on yet another series, like meth addicts.)

I forgot to mention that the in-laws took the kids with them for the weekend. Shout out to the grandparents!!! WOOT!

So Saturday, I worked from 9 until about 2. Then, the plan was to go to the Mount St. Francis picnic to get some of the best dumplings around. The last Saturday of August every year. It's a tradition!

I say the plan, because we actually made it to the Mount, and when we got out of the car, our 36 weeks pregnant friend looked at me with a funny expression and then said, I think I'm wet. What a really cool experience! (Admittedly, maybe not for her.) I have lots of friends with children, and none of them have had their water break without assistance until now. After some conversation and checking, I suggested that maybe she should call her doctor. That was around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, we immediately left and took them to their car after the doctor suggested that she go to the hospital to get checked out. Our friend is Japanese and this was her first pregnancy. She told me today when we went to visit them at the hospital that she was glad I was with her when it happened. I must say, I'm glad I was too and this was probably one of the best compliments of my life!!

I'm glad we didn't wait to leave until after we ate. Takaru was born at 6:45 p.m. Our friend didn't even have time to get an epidural and I think if we had waited, I would have been delivering my first baby in the back seat of my Toyota Sequoia. Needless to say, we didn't get those belly pictures. I think in a week or so, we will be taking some newborn pictures and I will ask permission to put pictures of the baby on my blog.

Heywood on the left with our master instructor from the Tae Kwon Do school that Michael goes to.

So while our friend was having her first baby, we were getting ready to go see Heywood Banks. If you don't know who Heywood is, look him up on you tube and check out some of his family friendly songs. Big Butter Jesus is one of my favorites. :o)

It was great to have a weekend without the kids, but I sure did miss them and am so happy to have them home. I think that every parent needs at least 24 hours away from their kids to recharge their batteries and be ready for the next wonderful, frustrating, heartwarming, moments that come along.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Gaining Some More Experience

Well, this past weekend was a really busy one. We had so much packed into it that we missed several things.

Michael and I went to Madison on Saturday with a friend from work, Karen, and her daughter Danielle. Danielle is a senior this year, and Karen and I were talking about it one day and she mentioned how senior pictures are so expensive, so I offered to do the pictures for her for a minimum fee and let her and Danielle decide which pictures they like best. Here are a few of the pictures that I shot for them.

This girl has a 1000 watt smile and she was so much fun to work with. Up for anything including climbing around on itchy hay bales.

It was her idea to take a picture with the horse. This beauty was so sweet and seemed to really love the camera.

We found this old Mack truck tucked away in a barn and I thought this looked like a fun pose!

Shot this one on the move! Thanks to Bill for the ride around the farm on the trailer, attached to the 4 wheeler. That's how we got the wind blown picture here. This one is one of my favorites of the day.

And last, but most certainly not least, here is a picture of Dani and Karen together. Are these two ladies not just GORGEOUS?!? ;o)

I had so much fun working with Danielle. We will be taking some more pictures this weekend on the river front with the wide angle lens and the Louisville skyline in the background. I'm looking so forward to it!

I will be working on the rest of the pictures I took this weekend to get them "finished" up. I didn't realize I was shooting on the RAW setting on the camera so I have to go in and save each image as a jpeg so that it can be printed. The up side is that I can edit out anything that shouldn't be there. For instance, the doggies that had so much fun following us around and popping there heads into a picture at just the right moment. LOL.

BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

So. Last night, we helped Eden get her shower, (she's still figuring out how much liquid soap and shampoo to use) and we get her hair dried and get her to be at 9, (her school days bed time) and she comes in to see me no less than three times. "Mom, I just can't sleep, I'm way to excited!" I tried to remain patient and I explained to her that I understand that she's excited, but she had to get some sleep. The first day of 3rd grade is going to be GREAT!!

Well... this morning, the alarm clock goes off again (we like the snooze A LOT) at 7:00 and Michael rolls out of the bed, because he gets up better than I do, and he comes right back in and says "You gotta come see this." Well, I'm exhausted, because, have I mentioned that the 4 year olds don't sleep through the night? So I ask him "What's going on?" and he says "Eden is sitting on the couch with her back pack." She had been up for God only knows how long and was dressed and ready to go, had brushed her hair and teeth and had her shoes on, just waiting to go to school. That was at 7 am. We can't drop her off at school until 8:10 so needless to say, she was excited about going back to school.

I'm so glad that she loves school so much. I remember liking school until 4th grade. I had an awful teacher and I got a really terrible assignment to write an essay about a heart transplant. I'm about to reveal my age and say, "Back in those days, there was not an Internet, we had to go to the library and look it up in the card catalog, or read about it in the newspaper." In 1982, heart transplants were BRAND SPANKING NEW and there really wasn't much to go on, so I didn't do well on that paper and it was my first bad grade on anything and it just ruined me for the rest of my school career. I liked Choir and Math until 9th grade when they threw me into an algebra class before I had taken a "pre" algebra class. My teacher was a horrible drunk, who never explained anything so I failed miserably and had to take it in summer school. I'm so SO very glad that my kid takes after her daddy when it comes to school. She's so smart and so is he! I couldn't be more proud of either one of them.

So now the pictures.

Here is what the sky looked like when we got in the car to take her to school this morning. Gorgeous!!!!

Look at those rays of sunlight!!!

Here is the excited student! Come on! Let's go!

Another picture of the sky from the parking lot of the school on the way into the building.

Here she is sitting with her classmates, waiting to meet her new teacher. (Only problem is, here teacher is on maternity leave until Sept. 14th) But she does like the substitute that will be teaching class until Ms. Walsh returns.

Look at her with that scarf. She loves dresses!

And last but not least. Here is a picture of Tyler. He is upset because he has already been told that this is sister's school and he can't stay with sissy.

The upside is that after Labor day the boys will be starting PreK and going to their own school three days a week to start their learning process. They are so excited to get started. So, be looking for the "OH MY GOODNESS, I CAN'T BELIEVE MY BABIES ARE GOING TO SCHOOL" post that will be coming in just a few short weeks.

Weekend fun to celebrate the boys' birthday and our anniversary

This weekend we took the kids and went to French Lick to spend a free night, and a half price night out of town. They send me offers like this almost every month and it was a nice way to take a mini vacation without spending a ton of money.

We left right after work Friday and when we got in to the room, we all changed clothes and headed to the indoor pool. I would like to say it was nice and warm, but it really wasn't it was pretty cool and the boys and Eden loved it. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of our pool adventures, the camera's are just to big and this is one of those times when we realize we could really use a good point and shoot. Maybe we should go ahead and by Eden that Canon she's been asking for and we could use it in these situations. But I digress...

Saturday, we got up and got things packed and ready to head to Patoka Lake Beach. I opted out of wearing a swimsuit for Saturday, Michael took his trunks and we both kept an eye on the boys while our little fish went swimming in the lake. Eden loved it, she wasn't intimidated by the lake at all and wandered a bit to far at one point. Mike and I both lost sight of her for a split second and we both hit panic mode in less than a micro second. Needless to say, we called her in and I had to explain to her that it was important that she not get to far away from us because there is no lifeguard on duty. Here are some of the pictures from our fun day at the beach.

They started out by making a lake out of sand. A lake at the lake if you will. It had to be precise. The water had to be able to get in when a wave came in, but there had to be enough of a rise that the water wouldn't just rush right back out. Eden was the master of this design and the boys took direction really well.

Here's Jake after returning a tool to the beach toy pile. You can see the buckets in the bottom of the picture. They thought it was fun to drop these sand filled toys on me.

A picture of Eden and Jake being nice to each other and just before Eden found a friend to play with that was closer to her age than her brothers are. She also found a random pair of goggles and put them on. I have absolutely no IDEA where they came from.

Here they are looking for shells in the sand. Believe it or not, there are a few shells to be found, mostly tiny, but what can you do??? It's not like it's ocean sand, it's a man made beach. Regardless, they really did enjoy playing. So much so that Eden, my own personal Coppertone baby, ended up getting a little pink, and Mike still looks like a lobster on his back today, which is a first for me. In the 17 years I have known him, he's never STAYED burnt. He is tan within 24 hours of being in the sun. For the first time, his shoulders have blisters. I ended up with my shins and calves being burnt. The boys were well covered in sun screen and got a little pink, but nothing to speak of. I think their color was more from being sweaty than from the sun.

The trip to the beach was the highlight of the weekend. It was wonderful to see the kids playing so well together and not arguing with each other for a change. I hope you all had a good weekend too!

Here is one of my favorite pictures without the family in it from the weekend.

Locks of Love

School will be starting in just a few short days, and in preparation for the new year, I took Eden to see Carrie to get her hair cut tonight. (which will probably be last night by the time I finish this post, I'm getting a late start) We got there a few minutes early because Eden had decided that she wanted to cut her hair short, but wanted to look at some idea books. We weren't able to find any of the style books, but we waited just a few minutes for Eden's turn and when Carrie came over to get us, she asked what we were going to do. I told her, "She wants it short." and she asked us "How short?" and when I told her at least to her shoulders, Carrie asked if we wanted to donate it. She said she thinks it's long enough. The requirement for donating your hair to locks of love is at least 10 inches.

I'll be honest. It never occurred to me that you could donate a child's hair. My best friend Billie did this several months ago and was so happy with her decision.

When Eden sat down in the chair, Carrie pulled her hair back in the ponytail and explained to her what donating her hair would mean. My sweet little girl (not always so sweet, but what can you do?) looks at me and says, "Mommy, didn't aunt Joy have cancer?" and I said "Yes, sweetie." and she said "I'm so glad that this time I get to donate it to someone who really needs it instead of just watching it hit the floor and get thrown away."

Can you see my pride shining in these words???? If not, you should be able too. Not only am I proud of her, but she's pretty proud too and she's already talking about letting it grow out long enough to be able to donate it again. I think it might be because we called aunt Billie and she says that she's growing hers out again right now, just so she can donate it again.

So, here are some pictures of my baby girl and what she looked like before and after her new hair cut. I'm not sure how good the pictures of her getting it cut turned out. I forgot to take the camera with me to the salon so I had to improvise and I used the camera in my little phone.

Here she is in May at the zoo. I know it's not a great picture of how long her hair was, I just really like this picture of her.

This one is a little better. This was the beginning of June at the river.

This is her with her Kodak camera. She has been lobbying for a Canon for a few months now. We just keep telling her that maybe Santa can bring her a Canon.

This one shows how long it was in the back. If the backpack wasn't in the way, her hair reaches to the bottom of the little blue pocket.

She hopped right up in that chair and didn't even think twice about cutting her hair so short. I want to say that I was kinda scared she's be upset once it was so short, but she wasn't at all. Not even now that it's been cut into a really cute little bob. I guess these didn't turn out half bad considering it's just a little camera phone. I think it's 2 mega pix.

Does this look like a kid who's sorry she cut ALL of her hair off?!? She's ecstatic!

Side view so you can see how short.

and the view from behind. We just let it air dry tonight, I'm sure when we blow dry it, it will curl right under and lay in a perfect little bob.

Is she not one of the most adorable little girls you've ever seen?!

I couldn't be more proud of my smart, funny, precious, loving, caring little girl! She never ceases to amaze me!

Here is a picture of her hair in a ponytail. I will be packaging it up to be mailed out to locks of love in the next few days. To learn more about this incredible charity, you can check out their website at locksoflove.org.