Quinn. Just a little note about the boy. I was looking at his pictures and wondering why he looks a little MR in them (you know Mentally retarded)... then at school a few days ago he was standing in the middle of the sidewalk as class got out sticking his hand out to all the big kids saying, 'give me 5 - man.' but in a way that he came across as MR. Personally, I was laughing my butt off but only because it's Quinn. He can get away with this stuff that other kids would never dream of doing and the fact that he may possibly border on genius adds to the humor. Proof is in the outfit. He insisted on buttoning his church shirt this way AND wearing the shorts backward. Quinn, I wish I could capture your little personality and put it in a bottle. You are a force!

My mother of the year moment... made a fancy smanchy breakfast with name tags! (the only time this year anything like this will happen)

Anna - 3rd grader

Kaid - 1st grader

Quinn Pre - K

not a good picture but you get the attitude.

Lex Preschooler

Lexsie girl was so tired after the first day she went straight up to her room and put herself to bed. She was too tired to even unfold her blankies and cover herself up.

First Week of School

So the first week of school has come and gone. Boy did I have big expectations! I was considering finding a part time job, cause with all 5 in school I was gonna have soooo much time on my hands! Jokes on me! Friday rolled around, my house was a disaster, my kids where tired and cranky, my shoulders were killing me and my feet and legs - how they hurt, and though I had decided my season of life had come to start exercising... I didn't make it once! But why oh why... I did the math. 5 Kids in school equals 4 daily trips to drop off and/or pick up children. One mile round trip, walking because we are that close and it would be silly to drive (besides it's a nightmare). I had joyfully gotten rid of all strollers before the move, after all the baby is 3, and I'm a flip flop girl right? So 4 miles a day (for a total couch potato) in flip flops carrying the 3 year old, and pushing the 4 year old up the hills on his bike (hence the sore shoulders)... and we start way too early - 5:45! yikes! Oh and temps were averaging 107 degrees. So I'm digging out my tennies, looking to purchase another stroller (whatever) and hoping that I'm building muscles for week 2!

Like mother like daughter

Tonight Lex and I made a quick trip to Lowe's for a part Craig needed. So we slipped in the back door to make a quick get away... only then we had to have a potty break on the far side of the store so we decided there was no hurry and started checking out the kitchen area... after Lex opened and shut each and every refrigerator door and washer and dryer door, she found this little cubby set up and exclaimed and got excited as she showed me which drawer the shoes, the socks and the clothes would go in, how she would hang the coats ( a girl after my own heart) but just for kicks I turned to the other side and asked her which color cupboard she would choose. They had 10 different options.... white, oak, cherry... She went straight to the cherry. Just like her mama!

The Past 10 Years

Well, just a quick story as we are still getting settled in our new home. We took the kids swimming the other day and there was a little water slide so Craig took the 3 big kids up and while there asks the life guard, 'Is there an age limit for this slide?' Thinking of the 2 little kids of course. And she says, 'oh yeah! We have old people go down this slide all the time!' Ha Ha Ha.Somewhere in the last 10 years... we got married, had 5 kids, bought and sold our first house, moved 6 times, bought or sold 7 vehicles and apparently got old. Well at least Craig did!

Freaky People

No one faces her fears like Anna - parasailing on the Outer Banks

So Anna, my little one who would never dream of making eye contact with a stranger, let alone speak to one, the one who thinks she's invisible because she doesn't want to stand out, the child who has to know every detail of every event just so she can prepare herself, the one who worries about all those details for weeks in advance - decided she wanted to go on a special trip with her Aunt Stacy, but to do so would require that she fly unaccompanied part of the way to meet up with Aunt Stacy. So she prepared, debated and finally decided this is what she wanted to do, we booked the flight, we discussed every detail, the schedule, how things would work, and of course rediscussed everything - because that's Anna. Took her to the plane this morning, and I watched as freaky people got on, you know one that had a hang over so bad she couldn't walk straight, one who was yelling at her baby the entire time, and one who was clearly anxious about flying. it was on Anna's flight (and I have put kids on planes dozens of times... with no incidence) that boarded, taxied to the run way and then had to turn around and come back to the gate, because some lady was having a panic attack causing a scene and had to get off the plane. I hope to heck the rest of her trip is less eventful, cause I can guarantee I didn't cover enough possible scenarios about crazy people before she left.

To Move or not to move...

Will it all fall into place?

Let's see in one week we have gone from having a house, putting a deposit on it and then got into military housing, we have gone from having movers last week, to doing it ourselves, to having different movers this week..