Fair Time!

One of our favorite times of year is fair time! Every Labor Day weekend we venture up to the Intermountain Fair...a good ol' country fair. It is wonderful! There is something for everyone to do! I wanted to share a few of our favorites:

Relaxing in the shade...

Yes, that is Z soaring through the air...

Riding horsies and laughing when they talk back to you...

Experiencing spectacular fireworks...

Watching your nephew win the Diaper Derby...

Sack races...

Three-legged races...

And watermelon eating contests...

What Fun!

First Day Hooray!

Our first day of school was full of excitement! The boys were thrilled to finally begin! A knocked on our door fairly early to say, "Happy First Day of School!" That meant that I needed to get out of bed and take a shower. :)

Our first activity was to have devotions on the carpet during our circle time. Little B loved this! We sang songs that she knew and she got to sit on my lap. Happy times. The boys decided to give both of us bunny ears while daddy took the picture. Silly boys!

We then headed to the table to realize that we have A LOT of ironing to do... No, we didn't do laundry...we just have a lot of kinks to iron out! :) So, I may have some advantages in homeschooling, since I have taught in the classroom, but it is a different world! A dear friend told me that I will learn more about myself this first year than my children will learn. That is a SCARY thought! But I'm ready...Lord, what do you want to show me?

Ready or Not Here We Go!

Well, the countdown is about to end! I can't believe that we only have one day of summer left. We officially begin our homeschooling adventure on Monday, the 25th. We picked up all of our textbooks 1 1/2 weeks ago. My sweet A said, "Mommy, can we start tomorrow?" I love his enthusiasm! I politely requested that we begin on our actual start date so mommy could get ready. :) Z agreed wholeheartedly. He is not quite ready for his relaxing summer to be over.

Little B keeps saying, "We're having school at home?" "Yes, B, we are having school at home. Won't that be fun?" :) I don't think that she gets the whole idea yet. I pray that she will adapt well as our daily schedule is about to change (A LOT)! :) She wants to have circle time and sing, "Who's at school today?" - a song that she sang daily at preschool last year. That's a great idea! So, my poor fourth grader will be sitting during circle time singing preschool songs...the funny thing is that both boys will love every minute of it!

My prayer requests are that we will settle into a great routine...that B will adjust to having some independent play time...that I will be a blessing to my sons as we spend so much time together...and that the Lord will use this amazing opportunity in our lives!

I had to add a few fun pictures too! Enjoy!

B really likes to wear her brothers' swimming goggles...in the second picture she was trying to make a funny face...after I took the picture she said, "Let me see!" with a huge smile on her face.

B loves to apply lotion...just ask her great grandma...daddy was not too happy about this one, but mommy just had to take a picture! Later we found lotion on the headboard of our bed and on daddy's night stand. :)

I realize that in BOTH of these pictures Z is making the same silly face! :) What a ham!

Final Summer Fun

I am in shock that summer is almost over! The schools in our town are all set to begin this Wednesday! Yikes! Fortunately, we have two more weeks of relaxation to look forward to. We are starting to gear up though! Pencil boxes, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, and pencils have been purchased and we will receive our curriculum this week. We are ALL excited, but anxious to see what this will exactly look like for our family.

I promised an update on our VERY seperate end of the summer vacations...here you go! Unfortunately, I only have pictures from the Oregon trip to share with you though.

M returned from Mexico last night at 9:30. He was so glad to be home and we were thrilled to have our daddy back! Z and A kept saying, "We are FINALLY a whole family again!" Little B just threw her arms around her daddy's neck and gave him kisses. M had an amazing time on his 10-day journey. He learned a lot about himelf and interacting with highschoolers. He had wonderful experiences. I struggled with not being able to talk to him while he was away...whatever did we do before cell phones? :) I had sent a stack of letters down with my dear friend. She had her boys deliver one to M each morning at breakfast. M said he began to expect them and was thrilled to "hear" from his wife along the way. Thank you, dear friends, for making this possible!

The boys had a ball at First Mommy's. My sweet A lost a tooth while he was there and then another one the day after I picked them up! He is a little bit toothless right now and the tooth fairy has been VERY busy! Z had fun with his baby sister and learning how to advance in a game cube game. Oh to be 9 again!

Little B and I traveled all over Oregon during our nine days away. We first journeyed to Eugene to visit my beautiful cousin and her pets...that was B's favorite part! See two of them (fighting for their lives it looks like)!

Another stop in Eugene was with dear friends. M's mom has wonderful friends in Eugene and I could not imagine not meeting them myself! We have been emailing back and forth since M and I got married, so I felt that I already knew them! B and I went for a visit and had a great time. My only regret is that we did not get a picture. What was I thinking? We love you K and G!

We then headed down the coast to finally arrive at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house at the OCEAN! B has been talking about it for weeks now! "We going to the ocean? Right?" When we finally saw the ocean, B said, "Oh my goodness!" It is so fun to see life through her eyes.

Some of her favorite activities at Grandma and Grandpa's house were reading a farm book with Grandpa and wearing his socks!

We also headed back up the coast to Bandon to a Wildlife Park. There were animals roaming around and others in cages to view. Little B was able to hold a baby lioness and an opposum! This was probably the highlight of her whole trip!

Finally, on our last full day at the ocean we actually went down to the beach to play for a while. The weather was so cool that we wore jackets and did not even think of going in the water! :) B had a blast visiting with doggies, digging in the sand, and finding "cute" rocks and shells.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for an amazing last hoorah!

Summer Fun

I wanted to share a few fun pictures of our sweet ones enjoying their summer.

Z and B went out to our planter in the backyard to do a little work. Z decided that wearing a hat would be a great idea. So little B had to get a hat too of course! She marched herself into her room and came out with this one! The boys' mom had made it for her last winter. It is an adorable hat, but maybe not the best one to wear on a warm summer day. She wore it nonetheless.

A sometimes lets his imagination go completely wild. He is known for digging through his disguise drawer to see what character he can be next. This is my favorite of the summer. Instead of having a parrot on his shoulder, he settled for the next best thing! His other favorite costume is his new Superman cape with an orange "super hero" mask that we made out of an old t-shirt. He has written "SC" on the front which stands for Super C - the name of the super hero that he is pretending to be at the moment. Unfortunately, Super C does not like to have his picture taken so I have none to show you. Maybe I will be able to sneak one one of these days. :)

Another favorite activity for all three of our munchkins is bike riding! They were all out riding the other day. B thought that she was pretty big to be riding on the road (with Mommy right by her side). All of a sudden, B pulled her bike over to lay on its side. I was really confused until I looked at the driveway and saw that Z had also set his bike on its side to run inside for a quick drink. Little B was just doing what her Bubba did! Too cute!

Little B is in the middle of potty training. It is not a fun task for this mommy. I struggle with being too lax about it and then being uptight and not relaxed enough. She is showing signs of being ready, but then she doesn't! It might take us a while. I have been reading up on it and EVERYONE has a different opinion. I will let you know how that goes too! :)

Six Flags or Bust!

We had an absolutely amazing time at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom! There was something there for everyone!

Z enjoyed the "scary" rides. His motto was "The more times that I go upside down the better!" It cracked me up. His personality is very reserved and cautious, but take him to an amusement park and he goes crazy! :) He couldn't wait to be whipped around and flipped upside down. And of course mommy went with him on all of the rides. Daddy did too!

Our more cautious A did not want to go upside down. "Never in my life," he said! He also said that about a couple of fast roller coasters - no upside down parts, just fast! On the second day he decided to be brave and try one. My poor little man was VERY nervous (especially when we were next in line), but he did it! And he loved it! He was so proud of himself for going on a "big" roller coaster.

Little B loved everything! When we could see the roller coasters from outside the park she would yell, "There it is!" She loved the animals, the choo-choo train, the sand box, the butterflies, the swings, and the list goes on and on! She especially like being there with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle J, Auntie W, cousin K, cousin K, and baby I. She would go through the list several times each day! :)

M and I enjoyed ourselves so much! As a parent, there is nothing better than to watch your children have an absolute ball!

Now, we have one week at home and then we all go in separate directions. M is heading to Mexico with the high school group from church. They are going down to serve at an orphanage and he is really looking forward to it. Z and A have decided to stay at First Mommy's while B and I are heading to Oregon to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa. We will be splitting our time between Eugene and Brookings. I am really looking forward to this trip! We will update you when we all return!

Back to Normal?

What a crazy week! Little B had her surgery last Thursday and has just bounced right back! (I wanted to include a picture from right before her surgery. You will notice the wagon in the background that she VERY happily was wheeled away in.) Her voice is much higher and she is talking twice as much, but other than that things seem to be back to normal. What is normal anyway? :)

Today the kids were playing and playing and playing. We are so desperately trying to conserve gas, so we decided to stay home all day - except for a bikeride to Daddy's store to take him a homemade lunch. So, my children came up with ALL sorts of fun for themselves:

While I was sweeping and mopping, we put all of our chairs and stools in the entryway...hey, wouldn't that be a perfect place to set up a fort for our club? Z read the agenda for the day, "And today at 11 o'clock we will be celebrating National Nap Appreciation Day." Yes, he was making it up as he went along.

While I was giving B her "yucky" medicine, she decided to sticker herself and make funny faces. The boys followed her lead and made their own funny faces.

We played with cars, trains, bikes, and baseballs. Can you believe that we only had a few squabbles? And that was all over a few train pieces. Z was not willing to share (I didn't blame him) and B thought that it was nice to share! :)

We even had a dance party! I will attempt to post the video...what a kick in the pants! I realize that I say each of the kids' names on the video...I just choose to not have them in print. :)

On our bike ride, I had to stop rather abruptly at one point. My sweet A usually rides pretty close to me because we are "bike buddies" and bike buddies stick together A always says! Anyway, after we stopped A said, "Wow! I did not know that you were going to stop so suddenly!" Then he paused for a bit, "That was completely unexpected!" Another pause, "Well, I guess life is like that!" I love to experience A's serious conversations!



While doing all of these fun activities, we were also potty training! Little B went potty on the toilet many times throughout the day...she even went poo poo in the potty! (Her first time!) I do have to add that she also went potty on the floor a few times...not fun, but part of the process, right?



My amazing husband missed out on all of this fun because he was working hard for our family at the store. I am a blessed woman! When he arrived home this evening, we greeted him in the driveway, arms waving, voices shouting! Then we had to show him our dance party video! He was very impressed.