After School

Well, I have entered a brand new world. The world that exists when kids come home from school. They are worn out, but still want to have fun. They don't seem to notice that I spent the entire school day cleaning, as they come home and get toys out! They immediately have to have right this minute a snack! Their memory is fuzzy and somehow can't recall how they have spent the last 6 hours, but most definitely DO remember what happened on an episode of Scooby Doo they saw a year ago. And best of all . . . they don't protest at bedtime and sleep really well!

Here are a few pictures of how we have spent our last two after school afternoons:

Yesterday, Matthew's book order came. I had ordered a Tinkerbell book for Moll and a Scooby Doo book for Matthew. They sat on the couch and read for at least 30 minutes. So precious. I love that they love to read!

They play with the cat!

They missed each other!
They play hide and go seek!
It's almost time to start the next phase, known as dinner, bath, and bed! Then off to watch the premier of The Biggest Loser! Yippeeee!

Here we are . . .

So see what we've been up to! We have been busy having lots of fun! Over the weekend, Mike's cousin, Kate, came to visit from Chicago. We loved having her here. I also took the kids to a local hotel with my mom for a couple of nights and we had a mini-vacation, swimming, swimming, and more swimming, room service, etc. It was wonderful!

Here's a little video of the past couple of days. Matthew learned a new skill! (Only the first few seconds of the video are sideways--sorry!) Then check out Little Miss Personality! Molly isn't always "herself" with other people. They see the quiet, soft-spoken, sweet girl, which is definitely one side of her, but in this video, you can see a little more of what we see everyday. So cute!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Wednesday! Love you!

Ahhhhh . . . sweet summer memories

Look at my little blogger! Moll loves to sit at the computer and watch a video on Hollie's blog over and over of Miss Ky. She dances right along with her. I love how she's just running around the house in nothing but a swimsuit. Fun with the cousins!

Mike took the kids to visit his parents while I was doing the photography workshop in Santa Fe. They had so much fun with Grandmom and Grandad!

More fun in Alabama at Adventure Land! Just the boys got to go, and this was so special for Matthew.

And of course, no trip to Alabama would be complete without the trip to the beach! I wish I could have been there!

I love these sweet summer memories. But I also can't wait to see what sweet memories we have in store!

Kindergarten!

I have known this day was coming, but nothing can fully prepare you for the day your first child goes to Kindergarten. It's unbelievable, really. It seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. How have 5 years gone by? How did he turn into this big boy? His own little person? I'm filled with memories today, with happiness, sadness, excitement, anxiety, all wrapped into one. I can't wait to go pick him up and hear how his day was. I wonder how he'll ever find his classroom tomorrow when we drop him off in the carpool line instead of walking him in (it's WAY in the back of the school). But I know he'll be fine. My dad says he'll have them all organized by the end of the day, and he's probably right. Most of all, I know it's going to be different! He'll learn so much, and he's so ready for that!
So, here he was this morning on the way out to the car. And just outside his classroom getting ready to go in.

They put their lunch boxes in the bin as they go into the room (notice Molly right behind him).

I call this "Cheek suck-in" which is what he does when he's nervous. So sweet.

And Miss Molly is just loving having the house all to herself! She's been running all around, getting into everything and being extra silly.
I couldn't help myself! She said "Mama, take my picture!" and as soon as I pressed down the shutter, she stuck her finger in her nose.
And on that note . . . Only 2 more hours til I find out how the first day in Kindergarten went!

How could this be?

Only 5 days left? Until Kindergarten? He was just a baby. I know, he's so big, and I love all the boyness, but in my heart, he's my little boy. And he's going off to school. In 5 days. Oh me. So I'm not sitting at the computer. I'm off to spend the day with my kids. Lucky. Me.

Football, Fun, and Morning Walk

Well, life has now changed forever--Matthew has discovered football. He's in love. He had his first flag football practice last night and that's where it happened. And, he's good. One of the dads that was helping with practice, who just happens to have 3 college championship rings, told me that Matthew is a natural born football player. Now I realize that he might have said that to all the kids' parents, but I'm just saying . . .
Here's a shot of my dad, Molly, and Mike on the sidelines. I was suprised when I saw this because I thought Mike was on the field the whole time. Guess not. And Miss Molly thought she was one of the players. She was so sad when practice was over!

Here's Matthew in action. Check out his moves!

We also played at the pool yesterday with Hollie and her kids. Too fun! I tried to get a cute shot of Matthew and Molly together, but I was clearly interrupting their fun. This is as close as I got.

Mollie with Ky and Alexie. She loves those girls! Can you see the adoration?

I took the kids out for a little walk yesterday a.m. (note: Molly still in pj's). I just thought they were cute!

Molly got an owie on her finger, and her sweet big brother gave it a kiss to fix it up!

Sillies!

Lovies!

Yesterday was a great day! Can't wait to see what today brings! Love you

A new 'do

Last night after Molly's bath, Matthew and Molly were doing something very quietly. They came running in, so proud of themselves! Matthew said "Mom! Look! I fixed Molly's hair! Come see how beautiful she looks! Isn't she beautiful?" Oh yes! She is beautiful! (Can you see Matthew in the background showing off his work)?

Just catchin' up

Praise the Lord! We are all well! And we have been having the fun. I haven't been doing my "Where's Mommy in the picture" blog entries, so here I am. This should count for two or three weeks worth. Please note, I am aware that I am holding the camera out in all of these pictures of me. That's because there is no one else to take the picture. I am also aware that I have no makeup on. I'm choosing to think that I have a little tan and that it works for me in the summer. It's either that or get up earlier than the kids and that just isn't happening right now. Matthew's class had a petting zoo last week. This was the day after he was so sick, and I just took him for 15 minutes to go to the petting zoo. They have it every year and he talks about it all year. I knew if he missed it, he'd be crushed. Disclaimer: the doctor said it was fine to go. Also, not sure why he looks a little cross-eyed in this picture? Please ignore as he is most definitely NOT cross eyed.

Clearly not sure about the goat.

Clearly sure about the bunny rabbit.

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Now here we go. I haven't blogged about this because I have to admit, it's a little strange admitting that I went to the Jonas Bros. concert and I'm not a 12 year old girl. Odd, I know. BUT--my dad has a good friend who works for them and he gave us seats by the stage. I'm talking BY THE STAGE. I could touch it. This also happened to be the day that I got sick, but I sucked it up and went anyway because I wanted to see the new stadium so bad and when do you ever get front row tickets to anything?

Here he (Joe??) is clearly singing right to me. Now, I know that the picture quality is bad, but I just had my little point/shoot, so what you see is what you get.

Just a cool experience being this close and hearing 100,000 screaming teenagers behind you.

I made Mike go. He was a good sport. He obviously just went to see the stadium. I tried to get him to buy a t-shirt. Ha!

Hollie got to go and bring her daughter, so that made it even more fun.

Back to reality! Here's a little pic of Molly and I. Again, no makeup, point/shoot, etc. You would think I didn't just spend a small load of money on all new camera equipment. That's right! You heard me! All new camera stuff! Super excited about that, but that's for another day!

So that's about it. I plan on trying out the new camera tomorrow. I think I'm going to try to take Matthew and Molly's 2year old/5 year old pictures, but don't have any m&ms to bribe them with. I'll let you know how it goes!

A Day in My Life (and 4/52)

It was very, very early this morning when I was awakened by "Mom! Mommy! I need to tell you something! Come here!" That was at 6:11 am. By 6:17 am, this was the scene in our bed:

Molly has quite the fashion sense. She put together this little ensemble all by herself. Quite talented!
We watched cartoons for a few minutes, played a bit with Mike before he headed out the door, and then met my dad at Denny's for a special breakfast treat.

After Denny's we headed through the Lightening Car Wash (a family favorite)! The kids love it because they get to stay in the car while it goes through the wash.

Then off to Sports Clips (Matthew's new favorite hair cut place) for Matthew's hair cut. Here's the before picture:

And here's After (Mom, I want it spikey!)

We headed to Blockbuster, where Matthew rented Fire House Dog, and Molly picked a My Little Pony movie. Matthew watched his movie while Molly napped. This was about 11:30 this morning--and we'd already had a full day!

Or So I Thought! After napping/movie time, we met Matthew's friend, Preston, at the pool for a couple of hours of summer fun! Matthew got a new snorkle last week and has gotten way more than $5 worth of fun out of it already!

And look at sweet Molly! She's loving the goggles. Work it, baby!

Preston may be Matthew's friend, but Molly adores him, as you can see!

After our fun time at the pool, we went home, changed clothes, and headed for Matthew's T-Ball game. The kids are getting really good! I can't believe how much they have improved! Check out the look of determination on his face!

Another great thing about tonight's T-Ball game was that Uncle David and (soon-to-be) Aunt Jessica got to come! Matthew loved it!!!! And so did Miss Molly!

We ended up this super-busy day with Mexican food. This was the latest Molly had ever been out. It took both of the kids about 3 minutes to fall asleep tonight.

What a busy, wonderful day. I think this is what summer is all about--those great times with friends and family doing things you don't normally get to do. I can't believe we squeezed all this fun into one day. Maybe we'll get to sleep past 6:11 tomorrow!