Oh Yeah...School Started!!

A cropped down picture of the first day of school.
Zane is so stinkin cheesy! I drop off the kids about 15-20 minutes early or else we end up waiting so long in line that we end up being late!! Avers sits outside until it's time to go to class. Hopefully they don't make them do that when it's freezing!! Zane goes to the cafeteria to watch a little movie before going to class. Yay for after school treats!!! Eating lunch with Avery and her friend Abbey!!
(Zane got warts removed at his well checkup this day and ended up being too sore to go back to school, which is why he's there too!) Zane and I also got to practice still life painting while we skipped school!!

Avery is loving school and doing great with homework. I am totally cool with watching a little cartoons and eating a snack after school, but she pulls out homework and gets it done!!

Zane is not so sure about this all day thing. He RAN to school everyday last year and LOVED it. He cried on the last day saying he'd miss his teacher. This year is totally different. He likes school and likes his teacher but says he gets sad everyday because he misses me. He says school is too long. I completely agree and think it should be an hour less!! Hopefully he'll adjust soon.

All Day With NO Kids?!?!

I can't imagine staying home all day with no kids. Many can do it, my mom being one of them, but I get too depressed and go crazy!! I work 3 days a week while the kids are in school and ast week I did NOTHING during my days off. Sounds much lovelier than it was. I have to get out of house and have conversations with people. Working out at Body and Soul, having lunch dates with other stay at home momma's, and eating lunch with the kids are must do's on my days off. I can handle being home alone only about 2 hours in which I'll clean(or decorate) one room and then...start CRAFTING(or decorating)!

Here is what I did today.

Tip: Put headband on child before gluing or it might turn out insanely ginormous! Why can't I get these right?!?! I'll keep trying... At least the skirt turned out pretty cute. I almost made a matching shirt, but the headband kinda got me outta the mood!!!

These are the few things I did during this summer when time was much more limited...

Also this summer, we've been having fun with shrink-a-doodles. I wanted to try an experiment, though. Here is the normal white background name brand stuff which Avery created by herself... and here is an uglier designed version of a melted Pei Wei container! Works just the same with a semi-foggyish background. I also tried a totally clear container and it worked great too!

It's been fun trying new things like shrinking plastics and making wire jewelry, but it's nice getting to sew outfits again!! I'm gonna have to browse Etsy and steal some cute shirt ideas!!

Did I really just post about my crafts before posting the first day of school pics? Crud. I'll do that tomorrow.

Summit. How I Love Thee.

Going to California in mid August is heavenly. Weather, perfect. Beach, awesome. Saddleback Church, breathtaking. I Love Love going to the Summit National CR leadership Training. I went in 2008 and am so glad I went this year. I'm reallllllllllllllllly hoping I can take Wes next year. August 15th is a deadline for financials at his work, but I'm determined to make a way!!!!

I will start with a few pictures of the church grounds. It's like a nice resort. Here are the steps to the main worship building. There is also a huge bathroom facility with toilet handles that when you lift up will do a small flush and when you push down will take care of the big jobs.

This is the children's building and lovely landscaping!

The refinery bldg is for the youth group. It is awesome inside with a "theater room" and many other themed rooms. On the other side of the building there is a waterfall and white sand area and then a big skateboard area with all sorts of ramps. Very awesome.

Even more amazing were the speakers there. I can listen to Rick Warren speak all day everyday. Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend were great too. The testimonies this year were very inspirational and really spoke to me. Loved it. I feel like I have so much to say, yet my brain shut down from information overload and has yet to reboot. This has been the craziest week ever but that will be another post. So me saying it was awesome is about all you are going to get right now!

This was a nice perk too... Here is the awesome group that went this year. I had a great time and can't wait to go back. There is not a better place to be on Friday nights than at MRCC's Celebrate Recovery! There is also not a better place to be than at the Summit Aug. 8-10 2012!! Just sayin. Oh, and Sept. 2012, Home Run, a movie based on CR, will hit the theaters. You can win a role on the movie by uploading a video on you tube. I will not be doing that, but you can!! Be sure to watch the movie when it comes out!PS. If you are wondering what is up with the picture...it has been altered due to not knowing if a couple of people had broken their anonymity.

Man it's past my bedtime...

Tball Parties!!

TBall was a success!
Avery enjoyed it and Wes got to help coach! I can't imagine her doing coach pitch next year (if she wants to), but it was fun to watch them!She started out SUPER nervous, but ended up being right in the middle of the action and even got this runner OUT!! Enjoying some ice cream at her end of the season party!!
I see some crazy girls!

His way of picking up girls... This was Zane's third year but the first year he actually understood it. Instead of standing there watching balls roll by, he actually ran up and grabbed them...so exciting!! He would count and let us know how many balls he caught each game and was very proud of himself. We did have some crazy weather this summer though. We missed three games because of temps over 103. We also had a game with extreme winds blowing dirt everywhere... His end of the season party was a cookout at the park. Here is his coach of two years! Coach Billy is GREAT with kids. Wes also helped coach Zane's team and there were no complaints with him either!

It was hot. Very hot. But good times. I'm a sports addict (if you hadn't noticed).
2.6 days of summer left...

A Great Summer...and Sitter

The kids have had a great summer.

Mostly because of the fun they had with my sister who watched them!!
They have made grocery lists...

and baked cupcakes...Went to the zoo and made cookies... They got Kung Fu Panda candy before going to watch the movie braved the heat and went to the pool with friends and enjoyed mani/pedi's!!

The countdown of summer has begun...
3.6 more days left.

July In A Nutshell

I actually shaved my legs and did something with my hair this month...

because we went to one of my high school friend's wedding. I can't believe it's been 10 years since I was cheering with these girls. Someone got her ears pierced!
I thought we were going to have to bail. She kept gasping with jerking sobs every time they tried to draw a dot. After the 5th time I said calm down and let them draw a dot or we're leaving!

We enjoyed our library entertainment. The story of Humpty Dumpty along with several other fairy tales shoved into it...

along with some fun bluegrass banjo/guitar duo. You can't beat free and air conditioned this month. Being over 100 degrees this entire month, it's even been too hot to swim. However, I did take the kids once!

Your feet would burn once you got out of the pool. We also went to Kansas to play with our cousins!

I hope it starts cooling off soon or you might find me walking around in only a swim suit with unshaved legs!
Dear Lord, no one deserves that tortuous sight. Please bring us clouds and cool winds. Amen.

Did someone say Chinese Torture a couple days ago?!?

This year I had decided not do Birthday parties and just have family over!
It went over just fine with Zane, but Avery cried saying I promised her last year she could have a Sweet N Sassy party this year....

I let her win...about one week before the party!
I waited until the last minute and did a terrible job at planning how it would all go down. I don't recommend doing that with this type of party!!! I needed to have more girls helping with hair and nails, but forgot to ask!!
(Getting my Uppercase Living order yesterday didn't help either. I just couldn't wait to put them up!!) At first, I was VERY unsure how it was all going to go down. I miscalculated ribbon and sent Zac to hobby lobby and lost the crimp beads and spent 15 minutes frantically looking for them- missing the opening of presents and singing happy birthday. I thought about running away!A few had to get their hair done while opening gifts and some girls we didn't spray enough and the curl didn't hold. Hope the girls weren't too disappointed in our lack of skills!!You can't tell by the pictures, but if you look at our kitchen floor, you will see we did in fact spray everyone's hair with lots of glitter!! Thank you to everyone for the great gifts- Avery has been occupied the past 5 hours!!
It was then time for Brittany's amazing gourmet cupcakes!! The girls also colored a shrink a doodle charm with their initial on it. I should have had them use only light colors so you could see the initial better. Some may need to go over it with a silver paint pen. I think they still turned out pretty cute though!!

Thank goodness the girls were patient, sweet, and calm! I would have needed a couple of shots if they weren't ;)
It worked out. It's over. I never have to do it again. Yipee!!
Next year- swim party where I don't have to do ANYTHING...except borrow a neighborhood pool!!