School Orientation & WeeRuns

Today was the boys school orientation. I swear this was the fastest summer ever, but today confirmed it more than anything that I am ready for school to start back. It's just time... they are bored, my nerves are as thin as fishing line... it's just time. We got to meet their new teachers today. Carter has Chandler's 1st grade teacher, so it wasn't so new for us. Just a different go round. He's got 3 kids from his class last year, so at least he'll know a couple kids. His class has 23 in it & 14 of them are girls!!!! He seems to be excited... I hope he keeps the momentum. Chandler's teacher is out on maternity leave right now & won't be back until Nov. We met the sub today & she was super sweet. She's a retired teacher, so she knows her business. Kensley ran like a wild woman all over the school. She really thinks she's a big kid there. Everyone just ooo's & ahh's over her & how cute she his, but it really stresses me out with her being so loud & rambunctious (is that how u spell it????). Monday is the big day.



So I've talked... well, let's be honest... complained, about all the consignment stuff that I've been working on the past few weeks. To show you how much I've really had to do, here's a few pictures. Mom & Dad kept the kids when I left their house on Sunday and I picked them up at lunch on Tues. I devoted the whole day Monday to tagging & hanging. For those of you who have never been to my house... it's small, so this is A LOT of stuff sitting around. (keep in mind... this is ONLY clothes... no toys, baby stuff, big items... just clothes)

In the boys rooms, starting my piles. There is a rack in there as well that is stuffed.


Kensley's room. This rack is so packed, I had to put some other stuff in tub's below it.

The living room...more piles...the rack in the picture is full now 2 rows, top & bottom, on each side. Also there are 2 tubs in the floor with stuff in them.

4 more tubs in storage... still to be tagged (I did finish on Monday, that's why all my racks are stuffed now)

Fishin' at the Tater Hole

For real, it's a place... in Granite Falls. I'm at my parents with the kids for the weekend. We all went on a picnic for supper tonight with some of my parents friends & their granddaughter. Here's the pic that tells the story of the name:

We had a fun time. The boys went fishing with my Dad. No luck catching anything though. (They are a little impatient to really learn how to fish, but they got lots of help from PawPaw.)

It's late... and I'm still up

I've really got to get back into the routine of going to bed at a decent hour. Summer is quickly winding down & I'm not ready for it. I love sleeping late & staying up late... because I can. However, the boys are in camp this week... much to their dislike... so I'm having to get up early. I'm calling it a practice run for school. I've got a lot to get ready for PTO and winding down with VBS at church, getting WeeRuns consignment stuff ready, blah, blah, blah. I've officially committed to not clean, well, straighten & organize my house until school starts. It's pointless with 3 kids running around all day. But come that first week of school, I've already warned the boys that stuff will start to disappear from their rooms. They are not happy.

On to other, more amusing things. I haven't really posted about Kensley lately. Her personality is SO cute right now. This age is so fun, but also very challenging. She's so sweet and loving and such a girl. But she's also very "moody" and starting to sass a little bit...it's an "almost 2" thing. One of her favorite things right now is "blum" or chewing gum as most people call it. She loves to chew it and is getting better at actually keeping it in her mouth, but it's getting to where she tries to demand it everywhere we go. She thinks if she says it enough, I'll give in. Sometimes I do, but if she swallows it, that's all... no more. Girl ain't takin no for an answer! She screamed "BLUM, BLUM, BLUM... " over & over in Wal-Mart the other day, at the Y yesterday & at Office Max today. It's quite embarrassing. She's also starting to stomp her foot, but it's not really a stomp, it's more of a light toe tap. One of my favorite things she is saying right now is "tiss-ees". When it's time for bed, I'll tell her it's night night time & she says "go gee bubba's tisses" (that's go give bubba kisses). I could just eat her up when she says it. She'll run to wherever they are & say "tissee, bubba" and pucker. She really adores her brothers and I'm sure she's going to be super bored when they go back to school. She loves to play in their room with them & I've found her several times making "brrmmm" sounds while pushing a car around. I'm committed that is NOT what little girls should be doing. So, when school starts back, I'm going to shut their door & we'll have to bust out the baby dolls again.

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!