First Day of School

I LOVE TODAY!!! First day of school.

Taylor- 6th-First day of Middle School

Blake-5th-Ruling the school

Lincoln- 3rd

Brooklyn-1st

Taylor walked to school today with her friends. No moms allowed at Middle School, I guess :) I wasn't excited about dealing with the crowds anyway. She leaves a full hour before the other kids. I like it. I feel like I'm pacing myself a little bit more, getting them ready at different times. BTW she has to wear a uniform. Hence, the polo shirt. We got them in every color of the rainbow. I checked my watch at about 11:40am and smiled to myself. I didn't have to wake up Levi to go get a Kindergartener. It's going to be a great year!

We were ready early, so we could take a few pictures. I started to pose Brooklyn when she said, "No, mom, we have to go to our "first day of school spot". Apparently, there is a spot where we always take pictures on the first day of school. Next year, I will be more prepared, and move my car, so that when we take pictures in the "spot" my car won't be in the way. AND I will make sure my ISO is not on 1600 outside. We were in such a rush, I didn't even check it until we pulled up to school. Oh, well. Next year, we will have the "spot" prepared, and the camera prepared.

Friends

Brooklyn is stoked to be on the big playground. She showed me how she could already do the monkey bars.

Lincoln would not cooperate for pictures.


The three musketeers. I love these boys. We had to track them down to get a picture. They were already in the grass chasing girls.


5th grade. Ruling the school.

"Seriously, mom?! No more pictures!" Just for that, I yelled at the top of my lungs, "BYE LINCOLN, HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!" As he was walking in to class. Ha Ha. I wish I had a picture of his reaction to that :)

Lincoln's First Raingutter Regatta

Lincoln had his first Raingutter Regatta at Scouts last night. How cute is that boat! He painted and sanded that thing all by himself. I was at Taylor's middle school open house, but we showed up just in time to see him win FIRST PLACE!!! Yay! Congrats to my Brotha Dude!

While I'm on the ole blog, I might as well post the happenings:

We have spent the week getting ready for school to start. We are all set, thankfully, because my car broke down on the way home from getting the girls at Activity Days. Ugh! Thankfully, my Bro in Law has an awesome off-road truck shop. So, my car is awaiting to be fixed. Most likely, the fuel pump. It really bugs me when things break.

The kids are soooooo ready to be back to school, and so.am.I. They have been pretty good this summer about arguing and fighting, but I can tell they are really starting to get on eachother's nerves. They need time apart :) I think school is just what the Dr. ordered. I am not ready to give up my sleeping in days, though. I am not a morning person.

Levi is crawling. Yep. Not even 6 months old. Why can't he just stay a baby? He has moved in with Lincoln in his big crib, and LOVES it. He has started sleeping through the night. Yay! He wakes up around 7:30am to eat, and then back to bed til about 10:30am. I can't complain about that. He practically holds his own bottle anyway.

Things have been so crazy busy lately. Jim has been slammed at work, and I have been helping him a lot. That has put me behind on some things, but I've been behind on everything since I had Dylan. So, whatev. We've got another Youth Conference coming up, and that has occupied a lot of Jim's time, too.

Lincoln is playing on 2 baseball teams right now. His Club team and Little League. That makes for 4 games a week and tournaments for us. Not including all the Scrimmages that his coach puts together for the Club team. Lincoln is happy, though, because he's playing lots of baseball. He got an expensive new bat ( I don't want to talk about it) and he has had some hitting lessons. This boy has so much heart. He is the kid that has 5 hours of practice, but still wants to stay late and catch some more grounders and pop flies with his dad. I'm proud of his dedication.

Sometimes I think back on the days when I only had one or two kids. I honestly don't remember them all that well, but I know I had more spare time. This Saturday, alone, we have 2 baseball games, 1 baseball practice, the UFC fight party, and I promised Brooklyn I would take her to the movies. Somehow, we always seem to get everything done :)

Lazy Summer Days

Levi fell asleep today while I was feeding him. I sat there watching him for about ten minutes. He had the head-bob going on and his little eyes were rolling into the back of his head. It was hard not to laugh out loud, but I didn't want to wake him because I had to get a picture.





Dylan plays Playdough every single day. When my other kids were little, I used to cringe when they asked me to play Playdough. Notice the collection of Playdough Diddy has. This is because she ALWAYS cleans it up right away. What 4 year old does that?! She has a TON of Playdough, because she takes such good care of it. She doesn't want it to dry out.

The kids like to play Cake Boss. I have had the pleasure of receiving many a cake covered with fondant playdough. Good times. Jim and I love pretending to eat playdough food every 5 minutes. It's our favorite thing.

She also has a bath everyday (sometimes 2 or 3 baths), and she ALWAYS puts her huge collection of bath toys back into her little bin. I love that girl!



Speaking of lazy...



That just about sums it up.

Catching up a little

I saw on a friend's blog that kids are free at the Spring's Preserve all of August, and guess what? It's true! My sister, my dad, and I went with our 8 kids, and every.single.kid was free :) That makes me happy, because I am a cheapskate. So, if you want your kids to think you ROCK, you should take them.

In other news...

Levi had his first taste of real food. OK, maybe not his first :) Jim feeds him little bites of random goodies all the time. He is not really digging the baby food. He likes the instant gratification of his bottle, and baby food just takes too long. He starts getting frustrated with the process.

And...

Jim took the kids camping. I had a few days home alone with baby Levi. It was a DREAM! I got all excited because I had nobody to interrupt me, so I cleaned the whole house and did all the laundry. It felt good to be caught up. The kids had a blast camping. They went to Pine Valley, and said it was beautiful. I'm glad my kids have an awesome dad! Really, what kind of man takes 5 kids camping by.him.self ?

Where is that orphan child's mother? Oh, yeah. Home... chillaxin.

Lincoln is so sweet to his baby sister


Notice the grill trailor in the back. This is the real reason Jim likes to go camping. 4 propane tanks, 2 burners, and a huge grilling skillet. They ate like kings. I think they even had steaks one night. It will store that huge white cooler, and all our camping gear. It makes it nice, because we don't have to put anything in the car.

Jim took all these pictures. I thought this one was funny. Diddy got stuck on the grill trailor.

I had to post this picture. This look is so typical of Taylor. "Seriously, dad?"

Too busy for blogging

Isn't it supposed to slow down during the summertime? I am finding it hard to keep up with everything. I have taken some pictures, but I just don't have the time to sit down at the computer. I literally can sit down for about 5 minutes before someone needs me for something. So, someday I will post all the pictures of the camping trips and the birthday parties this summer.

Dylan turned 4 on Sunday. This old photo will have to suffice for now...

Diddy is the cutest thing EVER!

I love that she says the most hillarious things. Some examples: "Mom, I can't find my opportunity" or "Mom, I never want to stay at the 'Hotel California' because it's haunted and you can never leave" or "Come on, seriously?" She always uses big words like, "it's your responsibility" or "that's inappropriate".

She always has a smile on her face.

She loves to play with PlayDough and take baths.

She is my buddy when the kids are at school and she always brightens my day. Happy birthday Dylan!!!

LEVI is 5 MONTHS OLD TODAY! He is getting so big and FAT! He can roll all over the place, and we can't put him in his swing anymore, because he's too big and he wiggles out of it. He laughs and giggles, and he cries at loud noises. He is content to roll around and play with his toys on the floor. The only time he fusses is when he is hungry, and he eats A LOT. He is a little fatty. I know I have a recent picture of him somewhere on my camera. We will have to save it for the 6 month post. Sorry.

I am out of time. The kids are swarming, Brooklyn needs help with piano, Diddy wants juice, and the laundry needs to be switched. It was nice while it lasted...