Look at these pics!

I had the kids pictures made last week while I was at my parents. I recently reconnected with a friend from high school on Facebook. She is a part-time photographer & asked if she could take pictures of the kids for her website. Her work is GREAT! so of course I took her up on the opportunity. These pictures are SO cute...some of the best that I've ever had made. I copied this one from her website just to give a sneak peak, but you can view all of them here:

http://flickr.com/photos/monicareid/sets/72157606631533607/

She has her own website as well where you can view more of her work.

http://www.monicareidphotography.blogspot.com/

Observations of a 6 year old

Sometimes I don't think we give kids enough credit. They think very simplistic... it's black or white for them & just as they see... or hear... it. We brush them off because they are little & don't know. But reality is, they think pretty clearly. Yeah, I know they don't always understand the full meaning or context, but it does make sense some of the questions they raise. For example, when teaching my boys to read, we've encountered several frustrating moments of pronouncing a word that doesn't sound they way it's supposed to sound. "Why not just write it the way it sounds" was & still is a frequent comment that comes from both of my boys mouths.

Another example....Today, Carter was sitting with me on the couch & a commercial came on for an iPod. He said "if it's an iPod and you put it in your ear.... why is it not called an ear pod? you don't stick it in your eyes to listen to it." Very good point there. Then later this evening we were driving to the YMCA & he said "mom, why do they make cars to go to 100 or faster? you're not supposed to drive that fast. do they just want you to get a ticket or something?" Yet again, another good point.

Children's Consignment Sale

It's that time of year again... consignment sale. I've done this one in particular for several years now. I love to shop there & I really love the check I get when it's over, but I always dread getting ready for this sale. It's A LOT of work! You have to tag, price, hang, box, bag... etc. whatever it is you are selling before you take it to drop off. I have a small house & not a lot of room to spread out stuff while I am preparing. This year I have 6+ tubs of clothes... that's just clothes & not all the toys, shoes & other stuff I will take. I had the bright idea of taking several tubs with me to my parents this week to tag. I thought I might make it through 1 1/2... but I did all 3 tubs plus 2 more tubs that I found in their basement. Granted, they are not on hangers yet, but the hard part it done. I'm on a role!

** If you know anyone who might be interested in looking through me stuff before I drop off, I would love to get rid of a good chunk before I take it... otherwise I probably won't have room to fit it all in my van. I've got girls 0-3 mth to 12 mths and boys 2T to size 6.

Sea Urchin

When we were at the beach week before last, I caught a sea urchin.

Actually, it was just kind of laying in the shallow water... it looked prickly & I didn't want any of the kids to step on it, so I scooped it up. I wasn't exactly sure what it was until some onlookers informed me that it was a sea urchin. I wasn't sure if it was alive or not until we left it alone & it's prickly spines started moving around. We left it in a bucket & the kids wanted to keep it. I thought it might be kind of neat. Someone said they made really pretty shells after they dried up but they stunk really bad until they died. Boy, they were right. We brought it home & it started stinking within a day or two. So I soaked it in clorox water & by the next day all of it's spines fell off. By the next day it looked like this.

Top side

Underside


Kinda cool isn't it! I've never had more than just the ordinary sea shells. What puzzles me is that when all of the spines fell off & it dried up, where did all the guts & stuff inside of it go? There was a mouth looking thing in the top of the shell in the small opening. Nothing was in the bottom of the bucked except the spines and a couple odd looking spines... no slimy nothing. Hmmmmm....

Oh by the way... today is my birthday... I'm 33... ugh!

You know it's summer when...

...your house never stays clean (because you have 3 kids at home)...you step on toys at any given moment (again...those 3 kids)...you are sunburned from the pool (from taking the kids to the pool 3-4 times a week)...you run out of bread after 2 days (from making 5,000 pb & j sandwiches for 2 of those 3 kids)...your blog goes a long time without being updated (because when you have time to sit down & breath, you don't want to use any energy to think of what to write)....

So that's how my summer is going. We've finally got into a groove & the kids have been great... just full of energy. Now that I'm adjusting to summer, it's almost over. We've been busy bees all summer long. Since the new YMCA opened in Boiling Springs this week, I'm trying to start exercising on a regular basis. So far, so good (I know it's only been a week... a not even a full on at that... but hey, I'm doing something). Trips to the waterpark, playdates, birthday parties, the beach and the beach again has made the summer fly by. As busy as we've been and as much as I want to get back into a routine, I must say that I am not looking forward to school starting back. Yes, my house will probably be more manageable but I do not look forward to juggling homework, sports, naps for an almost 2 year old, early bedtime, getting kids up & dressed & out the door before 8:00 and packing 2 lunches almost everyday. It stresses me out just thinking about it. I LOVE being able to sleep in... we sleep until at least 8 and most of the time 8:30 or 9 every morning. But it's life & you deal with it as it's dealt to you. So here's to 25 more days of summer break...may they be fun, filled with lots of laughter (and sleep, ha!) and go very slowly.

Beachiness

(I love that word... I got it from my friend Rhianna in a caption on one of her photos.) We're back. We had a great time as usual. It was nice having Daddy with us this go round at the beach. We went with our friends again for the 5th year in a row. The kids have so much fun together & each year gets a little easier the older they get. We took it easy this year & didn't worry about the go, go, go like we normally do. We played on the beach late several nights & found other "cheaper" things to do. The weather was great and we all soaked up plenty of sun. All of the kids had a great time in the ocean... Chandler claims he saw a baby great white shark... yeah, whatever. Chandler loved riding the waves & he got really good at catching them just at the right time to ride all the way in. It took Carter most of the week, but he finally got out far enough to enjoy riding waves too. Kensley loved the beach. Mostly she loved going with Daddy out into the ocean... pretty far out too. She giggled & laughed & would say "o-see Dadee" and point. We went to play putt-putt one night, we went to the Cherry Grove pier & walked out on it one night, we stayed out on the beach several days, me & Mae took the kids to the Ripley's Aquarium while the men went & played golf, we went out to Broadway & let the kids rides some rides at the Pavilion Nostalgia park one night. Our friends brought their Wii and we played that a lot! The kids played during the day & at night after they went to bed the adults would play it. It was really a lot of fun. We were all sad to come home, but I never like having to come home from vacation to anywhere. I'm sitting staring at the piles of laundry, suitcases & boxes that all have to be unpacked & washed this week. I really don't like that part of coming home. We are looking forward to going back in Sept. with Corby's family.

I still can't get a slide show to work, so here's the link to the slide show. Enjoy the pictures!
http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee307/khaneline/family%20vacation%202008/?action=view&current=0cb88a54.pbw

Heeellllllooooooo out there....

I haven't fallen off the blogmosphere... just been really busy the past couple weeks. I always thought summer was supposed to be care-free & you are always happy-go-lucky (at least it was that way when I was a kid). As an adult, especially as a parent, you enter into a whole new realm of stuff when summer comes round. My first thought was, "Oh no... it's summer... what am I going to do with the kids for the next 3 months". I've not had one single problem keeping busy. Between beach trips, play dates, church, stuff I had planned with the kids, birthday parties and the list goes on, we've been plenty busy & now the summer is half over. By the end of the night, I really haven't had the energy to get on the computer and update my blog. So I'll give a quick update then you probably won't hear from me again until we get back from the beach.

We are gearing up for another beach trip... Corby is included in this one. Normally, I get really excited about upcoming trips, but I've been so busy, I haven't really taken time to let it sink in. VBS is off & running great. We had 130 kids last night and I'm sure more will be coming in the weeks to come. We went to Statesville last weekend. My niece Kaitlyn turned 14 last week... that seems really weird to say because Corby & I started dating right before she was born. Corby's grandfather turned 90 last week & the family had a big party for him. The whole family (all Corby's brothers & sisters & their families) was all together for the weekend & we had a blast as usual.