Back to School

Our kids went back to school on August 7th. I'm still in denial. I wish we were still sleeping in every morning then spending the rest of the day at the pool. But, the kids need an education I guess, so back to school they went.

Caveman is in 7th grade this year. He joined the Chorus this year and wants to join drama club, art club and math club. Sounds like he's going to be a pretty busy kid. He is loving chorus and is excited to audition for All State. I went to open house last night and met all of his teachers. I think he's going to have a great year.

Sassy is in 5th grade and we both were very excited that she is in Mrs. Johnson's class this year. Caveman also had her for 5th grade and she's fantastic! Most of Sassy's best friends are in her class again this year and she's made some new friends too. She will sing in the Chorus again this year and we are thinking about putting her in art lessons. She is still playing the piano and can't wait to start lessons again next month. She is still the smallest person in her class and she hates that. But I think she's really cute!
Rockstar is in 2nd grade. She is in Mrs. Powell's class. She only has two people in her class from last year so she was a little disappointed at first but has already made lots of new friends. She just got glasses last week. I'll have to post some pictures soon because they are adorable. She gets to start piano this year and will probably be taking art lessons with her sister.
They all look so tired in these pictures. Waking up at 6:30 is taking some getting used to. We still aren't quite there. We keep trying to squeeze in more summer fun and have had some late nights. Like I said before. Total denial that summer is over.

The Hottie started his LAST semester of nursing school yesterday! He will be an RN in December. He started working weekends in the spring so now he goes to school Monday through Thursday and works Friday through Sunday. I think this will make things easier for all of us. It's been nice having him home for dinner and around in the evenings to help with homework, baths and bedtime. He is awesome. I love him!

Oh, and he's totally goofy too! He's the best!

So now the little boys and I are hanging out at home, going to the grocery, going to the pool. We need to find out when the library has story time. Cowboy is going to start playschool in a couple weeks hopefully. I love having him at home but he and the baby both get bored without the big kids around. And to be honest, I do too. I miss those stinkers!

Sassy is 10

Sassy had her birthday while we were in Memphis. She turned 10 and was so excited because she could FINALLY get her ears pierced. We went to the mall, went to Icing, she picked out little diamond studs and sat right down. She was only a little bit nervous.

Getting her ears marked. I think this was the hardest part. One earlobe is bigger than the other. We had never noticed before.

Left ear. I was nervous. She tends to freak out. But she didn't. One down.On to the next one. Two ears pierced. No tears. She did awesome.

But then she got a little dizzy. I took her to sit down while dad paid. Then dad bought her an ice cream and I bought her some new clothes. And she felt much better.

I can't believe she is already 10. Maybe the next ten years won't go by as fast? I love you Sassy! Happy Birthday!

A Quick Trip

We wanted to take a quick family trip this summer. We talked about going to the beach for a few days but the Hottie thought it would be fun to go see my family in Memphis since I usually go without him. Oh, and my brother told me to not bother coming back if I didn't bring him. So after everyone came here, went to IKEA and bought lots of furniture, we offered to take it to Memphis for them. The only catch...They had to take our kids to Memphis. So they left Sunday and we left Monday. And it was really strange being on the road with just the baby. We made the trip in 5 1/2 hours. That was definitely a record. The trip back home with all the kids was about two hours longer.

Reed took these pics on the way back to Memphis. My kids LOVE their cousins. I have always been close with lots of my cousins and I'm so glad that my kids have that too. They have so much fun when they are together.

It was a fun, quick trip. Next time we go will be in December. When Kirk gets home!

Tubin' the Hootch

July was the month for visitors at our house. My sister came the first weekend. The next weekend my brother Reed came on his way to Florida. He was meeting our oldest brother down there for some beach time.

We love it when Reed comes to visit. The last time they came I took them to IKEA. And obviously, they loved it. And wanted to go again. Reed was worried I wouldn't want to go since I went with Marlena the week before but it was unnecessary worry. I'm always up for a trip to IKEA.

We also went to the pool while they were here but mostly we just hung out, let the kids play and had a good time. Reed's girls are SO cute! They left Sunday and came back on Thursday. AND they brought Chad and his family!

Now there were 19 people in my house! Friday we went to Jump to It. And tried to come up with a plan for Saturday. We talked about a Braves game, Six Flags, we basically looked into everthing Atlanta offers for kids. But we were dealing with kids ages 14 months up to 13 years and wanted everyone to be happy. So, we decided to Tube the Hootch! We got up Saturday morning, packed a lunch, loaded the cars and headed north. We made a quick (and I mean record breaking quick) stop at IKEA. We all bought furniture. The back of our suburban was FULL. Three of our kids had to ride with cousins. Then we continued our trip to Helen, GA. And we met up with my cousin Ami along the way. After a picnic lunch we boarded the bus to head up river.

Quick side story. My Baby is TERRIFIED of all things inflatable. The pool has been um, interesting with him this summer. So I don't know why I didn't think of that when we made a plan to go tubing. We got off the bus and everyone rushed to this giant pile of pink tubes, and he finds himself totally surrounded and was freaking out! And then to make it even worse, we put a life jacket on him. He was not happy.

We hooked tubes together and started our float downriver. Baby is still freaking out and I realize the river is about 8 inches deep so I take off the lifejacket. He lays on my chest and is asleep in a matter of seconds. The water moved pretty slow and it was nice relaxing float until you got stuck on a rock. And there were a LOT of rocks in that river. Oh, and the water was freezing! And it took four hours to get down the river. So even though we were all tired and freezing it was a fun day. I can't speak for everyone else but I'd do it again.

Sixteen of the nineteen kids that went down the river with us. What a day!

Rockstar Had a Birthday

She turned seven. Her actual birthday was the day my sister got here. We let her choose dinner and she wanted to go to Moe's. After dinner we came back to the house for cupcakes and a couple of presents.

After singing Happy Birthday and blowing out her candle, she couldn't wait to open her presents.

A Littlest Pet Shop Gym from us, and some Pet Shop mini's from my sister.



She wanted to have her "real" party the next weekend when her cousin Carly was here. If it isn't already obvious, the girl LOVES Littlest Pet Shop. And wanted an LPS party. She told me how she wanted her cake, what games she wanted to play, what treats she wanted her friends to have, even new clothes to match her cake and it was a really cute party. First they colored masks and cut them out. They turned out so cute.

Then they went fishing for pets and played pin the tail on the pet. Then it was time for presents!

She got lots of Pet Shops, some crafts, a Jeep for her Barbie's and a gum ball machine. Then they were ready for cake and ice cream. It was fun party. The Rockstar loved it and every had a good time. And got to take home a Pet Shop coloring book and a fresh box of crayons.

Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is pretty much my favorite day of the year. I love that we spend the day with great friends and family and all of the traditions we follow year after year. I was telling my sister how great the 4th is here in Georgia so she decided to bring her cute family and spend the holiday with us this year. And as a bonus, some friends came too.

We started the day with a parade. The weather was PERFECT! We met up with lots of friends on the Parkway and while the kids prepared themselves to catch lots of candy, the Hottie practiced his heckling. Everyone should have the opportunity to stand by my husband at the parade at least once in your life. It's an experience you'll never forget.

Here's a few shots of my cute kids while we waited for the parade to start.My cute nephew.Cute Cousins. I stayed up until 2 am finishing up the girls outfits. They loved them!The skirts were really twirly.I felt like mother of the year until my friend Laurie showed up with her girls.THREE outfits! Matching headbands and everything! Too cute.

The kids had their candy bags waiting and finally the parade started. This gets me every year. The uniforms, the flags, the bagpipes. We live in such a great country!Everyone on the parade route was given a flag to wave and then the candy throwing began. The kids came home with giant bags of loot. Candy, glowsticks, frisbees, coupons, and my favorite-bomb pops!

We spent the afternoon at home. We had a great lunch and ate homemade ice cream and the kids played on the slip n slide in the backyard. We were outside most of the day and it was totally pleasant. I still can't believe how great the weather was.

We made our way over to the golf course for the fireworks and stopped and picked up a bucket of chicken on the way. We spent the next couple of hours having a picnic, playing frisbee, chatting with friends and waiting for it to get dark. Baby loved his chicken! The fireworks were great and it was a wonderful day. Oh! And the best part...reuniting with old friends.

Lousy picture but the four of us grew up together in Vegas. That's Misty, Me, Carolyn and Marlena (my sister). Mar lives in Memphis and Carolyn does too while her husband does his residency. We just found out that Misty lives about an hour from me, so she came down and spent the day. It was great to see her again after 20 years.

Conversation with Cowboy

Me: I'm going to miss you when you go to school, do you think I will cry all day long?

Cowboy: Um, no. I think you'll be dancing all ovewh dis wiving woom.



Only some days Cowboy, only some days.