First Day

Summer has come to an end and the boys are heading to their first days of school. I really think that we have landed great teachers for this year so I'm sending them without reservation. I always drive them on the first day so I can snap the yearly first day pic with their teachers. I'm going to do that as long as their ego's will allow!

Here is Cade. First day of THIRD grade. Geesh. It still blows my mind that I'm only 23 and I have a third grader. Well, the math still works. It COULD happen.

Grant was relieved to meet his teacher the other day. I'm so glad he got a sweet teacher. He really still needs a little "fuzzy lamb" while at school. He thrives on positive reinforcement so I think they are going to be a good fit.
Brotherly love, while fleeting, is always a pleasure to behold :)
Put Tee-Tiny in the mix and you get three very real smiles. The love for this baby girl has not waned in the least!
Here's Grant with his new teacher, Mrs. Casey.
I put Grant in his seat and then started to put all of his supplies away. That's when I looked at the clock and noticed it was already 8:35, the official start time of the school day, and Cade was still standing in Grant's doorway waiting for me to walk him to class. Oopsie.
His fun-spirited teacher, Mrs. Griffen, didn't seem to mind his tardiness on the very first day of school. She probably noticed that my pits were sweating and I was in a little distress after carrying Elaina in her car seat along with 2 very heavy bags of school supplies up the stairs so she cut me some slack.
Cade popped right into his seat and was thankful to see some familiar faces in his class.
I was impressed at how well behaved Rhett was this whole drop off time. I gave him the very important job of watching Elaina so that no one stole her while I was putting away school supplies. We still have her so he must've done a swell job. I found out what was occupying him once I downloaded my handy pocket cam pictures and came across these two photos and approximately 52 more that were quite similar:

Whatever it takes. He was concerned that he was not going to have any fun the rest of the day since his bros were not home so I had to pull out his favorite game
We had a great time playing a few games of "Sorry" and I only had to point out his cheating a handful of times.
He was proud that all his blue guys got home before all of my green guys. Win numbers one and two: Little Buddy.
Here we are. About to be in full swing of school mode. Homework. Reading. Spelling. Volunteering. Wishing for summer break. I'm hoping I'm still needed as a classroom volunteer this year. It would be a shame to let my skillz go to waste. My masters degree in Kindergarten cutting works equally as well in first and third grade, you know.

Good Eatin's.....Humph.

Well, we're down to the last day of summer vacation. We've watched enough Phineas and Ferb episodes to last a lifetime, swam like fishies even though the pool has been like hot bath water for the last month, and I've said, "We're going to start our summer reading tomorrow!" for the last time..... and finally meant it. Oops. Summer just slid by without me really realizing it. One less point for me for mom of the year.

In honor of the last dinner of summer break, I let the boys choose the ONE place they'd like to eat dinner. I thought for sure it would be Pie in the Sky Pizza or Logan's or something but no. I knew it was going down hill when Cade said, "What's that place daddy took us to? You know, with all the food that you don't have to wait on?" Grant's face lit up. Rhett did the running man in the kitchen he was so filled with joy. I snarled my lip and then took one for the team with my handy dandy pocket camera in tow.

Thirty minutes later we were pulling in here: Yea. Rah. Hear my excitement.

I can give all thanks to Bobby for introducing the boys to the greatness (actually the lack thereof) of the american buffet. I was gone one night a couple weeks ago and he thought this would be a good idea for dinner.
I must give the boys' their props. All three of them headed to the salad bar and made a big 'ol salad and then proceeded to clean their plates.
Then they headed out for a second plate. Everyone got a modpodge of ham, steak, pizza slices, macaroni, corn on the cob......you name it.
Everyone (except me) was happy as a lark. My half sweet potato and green beans didn't exactly fill up the tank for me. Sonj and buffets.....not really two things that are in sentences together, like, ever.
I did NOT set this picture up, nor encourage this. After plate number two I looked over to catch the boys comparing stomach sizes. Yes, this is the number one place to be if growing a large belly is your goal.
It's also the one place you can finish your ham by dipping it into your ice cream cone. Let me say that again. Dip your ham in your ice cream. Oh yes he did. Blek.
Remember at the the beginning of this post when I said I lost a point for not doing summer reading? Well, I just gained at least 10 points back.

Here's to school starting tomorrow. And in the words of a true philosopher I know, "Tomorrow will hold a mix of emotions......sadness and gladness. Glad that it's the first day of school, but sad that the first day didn't come sooner." Hehehe.

Unproductive

Ahhhhh.....the DS. The boy's favorite handheld game. The pint sized toy that provides hours of fun...... The absolute thorn in my side. Yes. Yes, it has yielded some quietness in the morning that in turn has allowed me to sleep an extra half hour. This is what I see when I walk out of my room nearly every morning of the summer and pretty much any free moment that they have:

You may be wondering what the big hairy is. The hairy deal is that when this contraption is open all ears close off. I have to repeat every thing at least 15 times.
We're leaving! Put your shoes on! Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on. I'm in the garage in the car! Put your shoes on. Put your shoes on!

Huh? Did you say something?
This DS addiction has certainly gone to another level with the teaching of the younger offspring. I caught Grant teaching Tee-Tiny all about his DS the other morning.
Surprising enough, she was paying attention. I must divert her attention from now on and remind her that she doesn't love DS like her brothers. She loves shoes. Yeah, shoes.
And, of course, Justin Beiber. Just a few more days until the DS goes back into it's special place only to be played on the weekends. School is just around the corner and as much as I hate to see summer go, I'm ready to see my kiddos doing something productive!

Hmmmm?

Hmmmm.......I wonder where my glasses are? I sawed them like 4 days ago or somethin'....

Wellllll, good grief.....beef. I don't have a clue......boo. Maybe they're inside......or outside in the grass....flass. Why don't YOU look for 'em......book snore 'em.
The preceding is an actual conversation with an actual child that for the past month has stuck a rhyming word (or collection of letters that may or may not classify as a true word) to the end of nearly every.single.sentence that flows from his mouth. I know it's taken it's toll on the family when I hear Bobby call out, "Rhetters! Go get in the shower......bower!" It's all about communicating on their level, you know? About the glasses, I'm one day away from making good on my Target Optical Insurance. Please let me know if the rogue glasses are floating in your back yard. Nothing would surprise me at this point.....boint.

Summer Slumber

Since the beginning of the summer Cade and Grant decided that they were going to be bed buddies and double up on Grant's spacious full size mattress. I didn't mind them sharing just as long as everyone was getting appropriate sleep and not being whine-bags the next day due to exhaustion. After being up late one night feeding Elaina, I decided to hop on over and just check on the boys one more time before I hit the sack. Cade was snug as bug in Grant's bed.

I scanned, looking for Grant but didn't see him immediately......probably because he wasn't there. He had opted for a more unconventional sleep area.
Fast asleep. Snoring in his skivvies.
I picked him up (which, might I add, is much harder these days) and placed him back in the bed. Cade rolled over immediately and gave him the hand of submission. I would have gone out on a limb and said it was a "love pat" or a "glad you're back" caress, but I know these two too well. It was most definitely the hand of submission.
The next morning I questioned Grant about why on earth he was in the floor. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, it was a regular nighttime occurrence. I guess it's just cool to camp somewhere else in your room. I had to break up the party and create some sleep time rules: Cade needs to be in his own bed, and if I catch Grant sleeping in the floor again I'm taking his bed to GoodWill.

The Fever

My Little Tee-Tiny has started throwing out some smiles and I couldn't be more happy about it. I do find it slightly aggravating though that I am with her ALL day, changing her poop diapers, feeding her on a nice, tidy schedule, cuddling her for no reason other than I like the way her little baby body feels in my arms, and did I mention changing her poop diapers? Anyway, and I can talk to her for 10 minutes straight with nothing but this expression:

Then her daddy walks in the door from work and gets the full mouth grin. What's up with that? I've finally found something that works 99.987% of the time to get a great grin out of this baby girl and really has nothing to do with me at all. She's got the fever.......
The Beiber Fever.

It all started after we watched the E Entertainment channel special "Justin Beiber: In My World". It was riveting. What got her hooked though? His "Baby, Baby, Baby" song. Don't act like a thirty-something and pretend you're all, "Who is Justin Beiber?" He's only like the biggest tween phenomenon giving the JoBros a run for their moola.

So, you want a smile and a lot of cooing? Sing a little "Baby, Baby, Baby, OHhhhh" and this is a small sample of the reward:

Yep. My baby girl gots the fever. Looks like Bobby and I will start our 2010 Tour of Concerts with Lanie in her Baby Bjorn rockin' it out with Beiber. That wouldn't be weird. at all.

Extravaganza Celebration Jubilee!

Freedom Celebration Day rolled around again and I LOVED having Tee-Tiny here to celebrate with us! I got our usual patriotic t's at the Tarjay but there was nada for the little one. Luckily, her favorite mocha friend had saved hers and we were able to make use of it! Here's the best we could do for a sibling shot......and as in many of my pictures, someone has gum in their mouth. I've created a gum addiction that runs deeply into this family.

Bobby had worked for nearly a year collecting explosives for his arsenal. The night before the 4th Rhett said, "When I wake up will it be the forf ub July?"..... I responded "yes." Rhett, with fist pump, "Yessssssss. I can't wait to blow up somethin'!"


I had a little fun myself this year pulling out some head gear that I had purchased years ago for a photo op for the day the child we brought home via international adoption became a US citizen. However, being that our babe was born in the good ol' US of A, I whipped them out as celebratory head garb. One of us loved it. One of us didn't. You decide.
A definite small people crowd pleaser is always the little firecrackers Bobby gets. This year it was tanks vs. fire engines vs. helicopters.

Everyone was surprised when the fire engine ended up being the winner.
All eyes were on the street......well, almost all eyes. Some little little people were inside and didn't partake in this set of festivities.
Mostly boys. With a few gals thrown in for good measure.
My fav picture of the entire night is this one. Sista's from a different Mista: Mmmmmm. Couldn't you just eat this up??
The kiddos had a great time running out in the yard and playing a quick pick up game of wiffle ball.
And, as every year, there is always a picture that someone, unbeknownst to you, sneaks into and you don't realize it until the pictures are downloaded. This time it was Ashley stealing my thunder......
usually it's Jon. In the women's picture.
Our night sky was lit up like downtown Nashville. Minus the river front. And the music. And a couple thousand people.

We had a blast eating steaks (and chicken for us white-meaters) and laughing with our friends. We are praising the Lord for another year down without third-degree burns or missing appendages :) And, for the love of all that is good, and right and true, remember how much you love celebrating freedom come November. That's all I'm going to say about that because this here blog doesn't do deep :)

Happy 4th of July, folks!