First day of school quotes:

"I LOVE SCHOOL!"
Emma, grade 7

"WOW! It's already lunchtime? This day is going by so fast!"

Erik, grade 5

"This doesn't make sense. Can you please help me?"
Ellie, grade 3

"You mean I have to do MORE?! Can't I go play with legos? I don't think I want to do school anymore."

Everson, grade K

Two days into the new curriculum...a few more weeks to work out the kinks and to figure out how to keep Elisha quiet and out of trouble...

While Elisha keeps himself busy with my lipstick (see today's earlier post)...the older kids have found ways to cope with their entirely-too-boring-summer.

You see, I've not signed them up for anything. Not. one. thing. No camps. VBS. Summer ballet classes. Nothing. This is so fun! Watching them cope with boredom. Maybe they won't be too sad when I start school next week.... I'm changing curriculum and adding a 4th student (can you believe Everson is ready to start school?!). Given all the changes, I feel like I need to get a head start before ballet classes, basketball practice, and Nutcracker get going in a few weeks. Not to mention, I need to get together a 'school box' of goodies for Elisha for times all the older kids are busy with school. Wish me luck.

This is for Uncle Sam and Will ;-) BOY POWER!

Why I shouldn't leave my purse lying around.....

This is a FIRST for me! I saw that Elisha had carried off my purse and keys. He often does and pretends to go bye-bye. This day, Doug had stopped home for a drink. He and I were talking. As Doug walked to the front door to leave, he saw Elisha, sitting amidst the contents of my purse, with my lipstick in hand...and in hair....and on lips, legs and clothes. And very, very pleased with himself. He even demonstrated to us how he rubbed his cheeks and hair with his lipstick-covered hands...

As soon as I find the camera, I'll post new pictures.

In the meantime..

At dinner most nights, Doug asks the kids various doctrine questions, requiring them to give a previously-memorized answer. A catechism.

Two nights ago, Doug asked Everson, "Where is God?" The answer is, "God is everywhere." Sometimes, the kids will say, "God is omnipresent." Just to make us laugh. The pronunciation is especially funny coming from Everson.

So Everson gave the funny answer, "God is omnipresent." Then the simple answer. Then paused and said, "I know Jesus is at Christmas...because there's lots of presents."

We all died laughing!

Elisha loves being outside. If it wasn't over 100* he'd be out all day. In fact he doesn't mind the heat. It's the rest of us that prefer the cooler indoors ;-) Before we left for the beach, Doug wanted to get the yardwork done. It's a huge job taking care of our grass, weeds, trees and gardens. Elisha made motorboat sounds for about 30 minutes while Doug was working. Then he discovered the unattended weed eater. He ramped up his motorboat sounds and wished he could figure out how to pull the starter and help daddy.

Our beachouse is the one in the back. This picture was taken about 2 feet from the water...

Elisha loved loved loved the sand, the water, and his Daddy on this trip!

This is a zoom view of the USS Lexington from our balcony. It is a WW2 aircraft carrier. We didn't go on the tour, because we thought the younger set would get bored. But it was amazing to see how BIG it was! Below is the view of the beach from our balcony. It was perfect. We just might do this again...

More Beach Pictures...

Elisha LOVED the beach. Here, Erik is trying to keep Elisha from running off into deeper water.

I think this is my all-time favorite picture. Ev is looking out at the big kids in the big waves.

Elisha wanted to help his Daddy dig this hole, rather than help the other kids dig. This was before he discovered Daddy's shadow...

Ellie and Everson spent countless hours digging holes in the sand...only to have a wave come up and fill their hole with more sand and water. Needless to say, they slept well each night.

The kids discovered that if they stood just right, the sand would suck their feet in. Quite fun.

Doug and the little boys enjoying the surf on Corpus Christi Beach

VACATION 2009

We spend 3 nights right on Corpus Christi Beach and had a blast! We found jellyfish and rocks upon our first venture in the water...which led to tears. We played anyhow and made plans to drive down to Padre Island the next day.
North Padre Island beaches were about 45 minutes from us and worth every minute we drove. We got there late in the afternoon, the beach was basically deserted. The sand was unbelievable. The kids had so. much. fun. We planned to go back another day. But locked the keys in the trunk and had to wait for a locksmith ;-) So we spent more time on CC beach as the older 2 tried out their new boogie board on the waves.

The kids found this seahorse on N. Padre! We put it back in the water.

Doug and the kids checking out the smooth sand and warm water of N. Padre Island.

Elisha LOVED chasing and stomping on Daddy's shadow while we were at NPI

We also took in the Texas State Aquarium (http://www.texasstateaquarium.org/) and watched a Dolphin Show from underground. Elisha liked getting up close to the marine animals. No pictures...I forgot the camera ;-)

The kids showing off their biggest sand castle of the trip.

Sunday morning, we packed up and hit the road to New Braunfels (between San Antonio and Austin) to take in Schlitterbahn Water Park. WOW. Everyone had fun. Doug took the older kiddos on many of the rides, while I stayed with Elisha in the toddler water playgrounds. He must have gone down the waterslides close to 300 times! Really. The slides were low, easy to climb up on, soft, and landed in 8 inches of water. Perfect. Ellie and Everson had fun in the kiddie parks too. Again, no pictures...not sure I could have managed keeping the camera dry.

We got home close to 11pm Sunday, tired, exhausted, a bit sunburned...and with lots of laundry. If I can get the slide show to work with me, I'll get it on later today. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures.

Where to begin?
*Ballet recital (2 different performances for Emma)
*Everson learned to ride his bike without training wheels. A record age for our kids!
*MAJOR haircut for Everson
*Set up and filled the pool.
*Getting ready to say goodbye to another homeschool military family...moving to JAPAN
*Celebrated my Grannie's 98th birthday!
*Expanding our garden! We now are growing: tomatoes, bell peppers, yellow and orange peppers, jalapeno and habanero peppers, green beans, wax beans, carrots, cucumber, onions, radish, eggplant, corn, zucchini, summer squash, cantalope, watermelon, okra, and strawberries.
*This weekend, we're planting more carrots and green beans and possibly corn. Oh and don't forget the fruit trees: peaches, plums and cherries all have fruit. Some pears and hoping for apples and figs. Never in a million years would I have imagined this!

Fifteen Years!

Today marks a big day in the history of our family.

Fifteen years ago, Doug and I stood before our family and friends and said, "I do."

We're taking the kids out to dinner to celebrate with us. They're thrilled to get to share in the celebration. We might sneak out ourselves this weekend. Quite frankly, I'm happy to share the night with the kiddos. Who knows, we just might come home and watch our wedding video with the kids. And listen to them laugh at how young (and skinny) we looked.

Happy Anniversary Doug. My life couldn't be more complete than it is at this very moment.

Thought you'd enjoy these pictures of Elisha helping me clean out some buckets. I had just ordered some bulk popcorn and oats and needed a place to store them. Doug got me these buckets from one of his customers...a donut shop. I wonder why I didn't get any donuts...

It was a pretty warm day last week, so I decided it would be fun for Elisha to play in the hose and buckets. And play he did. For about 45 mintues. Then he came in for a nap and slept for over 2 hours!

I came up with a plan for the summer: Swim for an hour after lunch each day, so Elisha takes good afternoon naps ;-)

Here's some current pics of Elisha. He has finally gotten to the point where he doesn't scream at the sight of the camera. Not because he's afraid of it. He used to scream because he firmly believed that I was playing with HIS camera. Now, he just stops and strikes a pose for me.

In these particular pictures, Elisha was supervising the removal of granola from the pan. Ellie calls these pictures, "Baby meets granola."

Our future NBA Superstar

Erik lives, eats and breathes basketball.

AFTER his basketball season ended,

he decided to spend all of his free time

practicing his skills in preparation for next season.

Three and four hours each day.

Not to mention all the basketball he has been watching

with the NCAA tournament on TV (and the internet).

I keep telling him that I hope he makes it into the NBA...

because his mom and dad won't have any money when we get older ;-)

PEACHES! WE HAVE PEACHES GROWING ON OUR TREES. And plums, and pears, and (hopefully) apples and figs! Whoo wee!

Update on Doug...

Some of you know that Doug fell off the back of his work truck 2 weeks ago. He called me from work to say, "I won't be home right away. I'm off to the ER because I think I broke my wrist."

Oh my. The same wrist he had TWO surgeries on in high school.

He arrived home a few hours later, with a splint on his arm, a prescription for mind-altering pain meds, and a note that said, "Can return to work when released by ortho."

Two weeks later (this past Monday), he went to see the ortho. Doug was convinced that his injory was going to require surgery and 8 more weeks off of work. At 50% pay.

He was released by the ortho, with a brace on his wrist and a note that said, "Can return to work tomorrow. Lift as tolerated. Wear brace for 1 month."

Oh so thankful that surgery and lengthy recovery was not necessary.

Oh so thankful for 2 weeks of Doug home with us...even if I felt like I was cooking more than I usually do ;-)

Oh so miserable is our Erik, who really really loved the time with his Dad.

VERY EXCITING NEWS!
Just found out that our Superhero nephew will be officially done kicking leukemia in the rear end in 11 months and 1 day! I HAD to put up a countdown. You can visit Wonderwill, by clicking on the link in my sidebar. Whoo hoo Will!

May his days turn into weeks, his weeks into months, his months into years for Your Glory, Lord!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!

You've blessed our lives these past 12 years. We're watching you bloom and grow into a beautiful young woman who loves the Lord. We love how you interact with your younger siblings, how you nurture them and take interest in the things that interest them. You've surrounded yourself with wonderful friends. We delight in seeing you dance through the house and create masterpieces in the kitchen. We love you and are so very proud of you.

OUR FAVORITE OZIAN

In the movie of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and friends are greeted with much fanfare when they finally arrive in Oz. They get all spiffed up before they go see the wizard. In this scene, Emma and others are dancing in the background and are featured on stage in a jazzy dance. You can't see her legs, but she has on bright green stockings and black heel jazz shoes. I'll try to post a picture of her in her Poppy costume...as soon as someone takes one for me ;-)

Emma loves that the programs say "Featuring the San Angelo Civic Ballet".

She's having a blast!

5 performances this weekend!

By the way...she's turning 12 on Monday...where did the time go?!?

In case you were wondering...

it IS in fact 95* right now. Was something like that yesterday too.

Relieved to know it will only be in the 80s tomorrow and downright chilly in the 60s over the next few days...

Much better than upstate NY weather this week ;-)

Here's Elisha, about to climb into bed with Emma. She's been lounging in bed lately with her Wizard of Oz schedule. Elisha has become her alarm clock. "Ma! Ma! Ma!" Sounds just like my alarm clock ;-)

This relationship between #1 and #5 is so precious! He ADORES his Ma.

"Am I the cutest baby on the block, or what?!" Many say he looks like Ellie...what do you think?