Fall

 Just can't quite bring myself to talk about Craig's Dad yet so I thought I'd show some of the other things we've been doing around the house the last couple of weeks.  Fall has come to stay.  We're loving the weather and all the autumn decorations.  One thing the kids had fun decorating this season was a gingerbread haunted house that Aunt Pam & Uncle Brant got them.  They had a blast making it look spooky. 

 Another fun activity we we did was painting ceramic pumpkins at Amazing Glaze.  Connor and Caroline each chose a pumpkin and Cooper found the back wall that was painted in chalkboard paint so he took some sidewalk chalk and some 3D googles and went to town.  They had so much fun and I can't wait to display their works of art.  I don't have a picture of the final product yet because we haven't received them from Amazing Glaze yet. 

 

Tent Camping, take two

We camped in a tent over the summer in our backyard and the kids loved it.  We thought we would take it a step further so we went tent camping again this past weekend at Hillsborough River State Park with friends.  It was a quick trip, just one night, but the kids once again loved it.  I am now covered in mositquito bites and we are still trying to catch up on sleep but it was worth it.  We took a walk down by the river, roasted marshmallows, played with friends, and enjoyed the great outdoors. 

Founder's Day

We enjoyed a nice evening at our school's Founder's Day.  The kids had a blast going to all the different classroom booths and riding on the inflatables.  They also had a lot of fun running around the football field in their socks and finding frogs in the grass.  They've been anticipating this day all week and they really loved every minute. 

Noteworthy Naughtiness

Everyday with Cooper is an adventure.  Just this week in fact he has created some noteworthy naughtiness that I just need to share.  On Tuesday of this week he woke up thirsty.  I was getting ready to go to work and everyone else in the house was still asleep.  He decided to go get a glass of "lemonade" without letting anyone else know.  He comes trotting down the hallway and into our bedroom sloshing a large pitcher of tea all over the place while announcing "I want lemonade in my cup" to anyone that will listen.  I'm now in the market for a frig lock if you see one. 

Yesterday during the day he decided at some point to go play with my alarm clock.  So this morning our entire household, yes that's right entire household, was up, showered, dressed, fed, and ready to go a whole hour early.  We didn't even realize that we were so ahead in our morning routine until Craig looked outside and noticed it was still dark. 

But his latest and greatest happened just a few short minutes ago.  The stomach bug has been going around our house and he was it's most recent victim.  I'm rocking him to sleep like a I do every night and he starts puking.  Not a big deal to many but a huge deal to me.  You see I hate puke, loath it, detest it, will puke myself if it hits me just right.  You know they say when you become a mother you just seem to be able to look past all the gross stuff and help your kids get through it.  That gene must have skipped a generation.  So he starts puking and I start gagging.  He pukes all over me, the floor, his doggy, his blanket, and anything else in his way.  I finally pull myself together to clean up this awful tragedy and he gets the notion to help.  First, he grabs the liquid disinfectant cleaner I was using and runs off with it.  After I finally catch up to him and so gingerly place him in the recliner he still has that itch to help so he grabs my glasses that were lying on the ottoman next to the recliner.  He quietly walks over to my sickened form that is scrubbing the puke off the floor and tosses my glasses over so I can get a better look at the mess I'm cleaning.  Well he misses and my lenses pop out of my frames and land directly in the middle of the puke.  I am not making this up folks, God's honest truth. 

You know life just wouldn't be the same without him.  It's off to bed now, since I lost an hour of sleep last night I'm exhausted tonight.  Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

Silly Sock Day

Connor has "Silly Sock Day" tomorrow at school so we went rummaging through my sock drawer in search of some silly socks.  They were so excited to try on my socks so we had a little silly sock day of our own.  They all have on their "boots" (socks pulled up to their knees).  It was cracking me up to watch them run around the house in my old Halloween socks.  I thought it was the cutest thing, I just had to share.

Just a swinging

This is a video of Connor's first time swinging by himself!  Last weekend they were outside playing while Craig & I were pressure washing the porch.  I looked up to see Connor with a huge smile across his face.  He was pumping his legs and showing me he could do it all by himself.  I am so excited, one less to push on the swings!

Fleeting Moments of Summer

We all head off to school tomorrow morning.  Connor starts Kindergarten, Caroline goes for her 2nd week of PreK3 at First Baptist Wildwood, and I'll start with my new batch of 5th graders.  Tonight we went swimming in Mrs. Tina's pool next door and enjoying the last fleeting moments of summer.  I took some video of the kids swimming with my new flip video camera given to me by my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Pam. 

We have loved our summer break.  Spending time at the beach, camping in the backyard, celebrating the boys birthdays, going to SeaWorld, having fun at VBS, learning how to swim in the neighbor's pool, eating popsicles with friends, staying up late watching movies, & so much more. 

Caroline has loved school so far.  She comes home everyday sharing some new rule that she has learned at school.  Miss Rule Follower, I didn't know she had it in her.  It helps having her best bud Jakey in there with her.  Connor is excited about starting Kindergarten he met his teacher on Thursday and loved the fact that she had two baby frogs in a tank in the class.  He just doesn't scare easy so once again I'll be the one crying tomorrow as I drop him off. 

I'm thrilled to be back in 5th grade.  I met my new students on Thursday.  They really are a good group of students.  I can't wait to share some cool reading strategies with them and read them a good book they can handle it unlike my 2nd graders last year.  That's what I missed the most. 

So I look forward to hearing more stories about what my children have learned and watching them develop.  There is something so special about school time that I adore.  I leave you with a new video from my flip video camera.  It is of the kids showing off their swimming skills.