TGIF

To copy my good friend, Marcy, thank goodness it's Friday.

I'm not sure I've ever been happier to see Friday!!

It's been a great week though. I've been awake more this week than I have been in a long, long time!! My work is very slow right now, but that seems to make the days longer. The job itself is great though - flexible, interesting, fulfilling.

The boys have done well.

Alex doesn't say much, but he really likes his Math teacher. He is loving walking home with Reagan and the small amount of freedom that that brings.

Parker has had a great week. He totally thinks Miss Estes rocks and has enjoyed the privileges that only being a fourth grader brings.

Luke is tired!! He has done really well and has had a whole new world opened up to him this week! He finally got to go through the cafeteria line on Thursday to buy an orange and he was pumped!! He wanted to get in that kitchen so badly!! He likes coloring, recess, and lunch!!

Landry has had a good week. He cries when Scott leaves him, but not for long and is always having a great time when I pick him up. He talks about Ben (Marcy's son) all the time and seems to enjoy himself.

I'm not sure when Luke is going to stop singing so I'm going to keep writing about all the cute songs he sings. This might be it - you never know!!

Days of the Week
(to the tune of The Addams Family)

Days of the week (clap, clap)
Days of the week (clap, clap)
Days of the week
Days of the week
Days of the week (clap, clap)

There's Sunday and there's Monday,
There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday,
There's Thursday and there's Friday,
And then there's Saturday. (clap, clap)

Days of the week (clap, clap)
Days of the week (clap, clap)
Days of the week
Days of the week
Days of the week (clap, clap)

How funny is that???

Happy weekend!!

We are so proud!!

LOOK!!!

We are farmers!!

Holding steady

Day 2 of the new school year went well.

Luke is still singing. . . the song of the day is . . .

Ri-ise and shi-ine
and welcome to school today-ay
Ri-ise and shi-ine
and welcome to school today-ay
RISE AND SHINE AND
welcome to school today-ay
(he couldn't remember the last part!!)

Sorry to leave you hanging!!

The word that best describes Luke at the end of the day is HUNGRY!!
His lunch is at 10:40 and he is starving when it's time to go home!!

Parker and Alex did well. It's always funny to see what they share about their days. You never know what it will be that they remember!!

Totally un-school-related, I just wanted to document this funny little story.

Yesterday afternoon, Parker was being especially pesky to his little brothers. I had asked him several times to chill out and he just couldn't resist being bothersome.

Anyway, I had gotten out of the car to get Alex from Reagan's house and when I got back to the car, I could hear Landry screaming at the top of his lungs even before I opened the door. I wasn't really surprised, considering how Parker had been acting.

I opened the door and said, "Landry, what's wrong?"

Between screams, he said, "PARKER...TOOK...MY...NOOOOOSSSEEE!!!!!" (nose)

I just looked at him and started cracking up!!

Landry smiles and quietly says, "And he won't give it back!!"

First Day Back 2008

Wow!!

What a great (and crazy) day!!

I'm short on time but I wanted to post the basics from the first day at school.

It started early and it will probably end later than it should, but it was good!!

And the Oscar for Most Excited goes to . . . . . . LUKE!!

Here he is with his great teacher, Ms. Mayer --

He had a great day and has been singing ever since he got home. He was singing himself to sleep with the months of the year song!! So funny!! He loved every part of it - but it WAS a little long than he had planned!!

Parker is an old pro at this, and didn't want to wait for me to walk him to his class. You see, "my morning work is really important to me and I just don't want to miss it!! Especially the word searches . . . they're my favorite!!" Mine too, buddy!!

Here he is with quite possibly the best teacher on the planet -

He also had a great day. In his words, "it went by SO fast!!"

After this stop, Scott took Landry to his school and Alex to his.

This is how Landry felt about returning to school this week!!

And Alex even managed to smile. I might have finally convinced him that it's okay to be excited about going back to school. Maybe!! He said his teachers were good and his math teacher (a man) was fun and cool!! Bonus!!

(Thanks for the great haircut, Shane!!)

Other than Luke leaving his lunch at home and Landry's backpack being in my car when Scott took him to school and Scott ending up with Parker's lunch check, it went very smoothly!!

Here are a couple more pics just for fun!!

Ready or not . . . .

. . . . here school comes!!

The backpacks are ready, the clothes are laid out, the lunches are made, the boys are in bed.

Sleeping??

That's a whole different story!!

Luke and Landry?? Check!

Alex and Parker?? No way!!

Luke definitely wins the prize for being the most excited EVER!!

I don't remember Alex or Parker being as ready to go to school as he is. He has been asking every day (except maybe one or two) - "How many more days now??" since 28 days ago!!

You can only imagine his excitement when today arrived - only ONE MORE DAY!! He has said "I'm SO excited!!" at least 20 times today!!

But the best part was that he asked me if he could go ahead and go to bed - at 4:30 !!! He just couldn't wait anymore!!

I didn't let him go to bed at 4:30!!

Here's hoping and praying for a great first day and an even more amazing year!!

Back in the saddle again

Time is marching on and I am halfway through a very long week in my life. It has been a very long time since I have been up at 6:00 am on a regular basis but this is the week that whips me back into shape!!

Work is going well. There's not a lot to do yet but I've had a few long meetings to fill my time!! It's time to get the teachers pumped up, motivated, and inspired to be the best they can be!! Teachers really do make a difference, you know!!

Probably the most difficult part of the week was that Landry started going to his new school! I managed to keep him at home the first two days I went back, thanks to my mom, but yesterday was his big day!

He did really, really well - much better than I would have even hoped!! He wasn't overjoyed to be there, but he didn't cry and that was such a blessing! I just hate leaving him when he's crying!!

He was at my great friend, Jenny's school yesterday so she probably called or texted me at least 5 times throughout the day to let me know how he was doing. That was the best gift ever!! Big thanks to Jenny for the peace of mind! Miraculously, he was always doing very well. When I picked him up, he was happy and having a great time!

Pretty much the same thing happened today - a little hesitant, but no tears, happy and excited when I picked him up!!

So, as usual, all the worries were for nothing!! He's doing great!!

And, just in case you care, here's how the pumpkins are looking!

Overheard ...

"I got Ms. Mayer!!! I got Ms. Mayer!!!
Yay!!! I'm so happy!!!"

. . . by Luke, upon receiving the card from his new Kindergarten teacher



"Mom, can you please buy me a Coke?
They've been a proud sponsor of the Olympics since they began???!"

. . . by Parker, always looking for new and creative ways to get me to buy him something!!

So long, Summer

Yesterday was officially our last day of summer, as it was the last day that I would be home with the kids. Of course, we wanted to go out with a bang, so we planned a great adventure!!

Shellee and I took our kids (plus Lexie) to the Nature Center for a little hiking, picnic, and nature!! We arrived and went to the information building where we saw snakes, turtles, possums, and a bobcat. After recovering from the initial shock of seeing 9 kids come in with only 2 adults, the helpful, elderly info lady took us into a special room where we could see a special something that is native to Texas. After some unsuccessful guesses as to what it might actually be (even while seeing it), I managed to guess the right animal, much to our relief! She seemed somewhat offended that we didn't know what it was. What was it, you might ask?? A prairie dog, of course!!


While he doesn't have a name (that would suggest attachment), he does love having his neck rubbed, as is demonstrated in the second picture!

We also did some birdwatching!!



After learning all we could, we headed out to do some hiking on their 20+ miles of trails. We started out on a path that was fairly paved and wide. I thought more than once that it seemed kind of odd that a hiking trail would be paved. Our trail proved to be a very short one and somehow ended right back at our car. Confused, I consulted our trail map and quickly learned that we had just complete the .21 mile Handicapped trail!!! We were so proud!!

We went on to bigger and longer trails...one that overlooked the marsh.

There was some serious nastiness in that water!!

The kids were even grossed out as they studied it!!

We hiked and hiked and hiked. We got really hot and really hungry! After a picnic lunch, we hiked over to an island to check it out. The island hike was just getting going well when a swarm of somethings - possibly hornets - decided to attack John Wesley! The group of kids was up ahead of us, so we didn't see what actually happened; we just heard the blood-curdling screams from all the kids!! I seriously expected to see an alligator or a wild bobcat chasing them as they turned the corner - it was that serious of a scream!!

All I kept thinking was, "We are on this island all alone with all these kids, no trail map, no help, no nothing!! How are we going to fight off a crazed animal??!?!"

So, needless to say, I was pretty relieved when we figured out it was a flying-stinging something!! I mean, I felt bad for JW, but I was glad I wasn't going to have to wrestle an alligator to get a child back!!

The stinging incident pretty much ended the fun at the Nature Center so it was time to head to the pool!! The big kids did some serious swimming, breaking both Olympic and World records!! Here are Jordan and Alex going head-to-head!! These guys were serious about their swimming! Shellee had to time them and they worked hard to beat their "personal best!"

Landry says, "to heck with the swimming - I'm exhausted!!"

All in all, it was a great day with some great friends!! While the dog days of summer are pretty much gone, we've had some good times to remember!!

Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo!!

I got a "day off" last Saturday when my mom and I went shopping for most of the day.

While we were gone, Scott decided to take the boys to ride the train and visit the park. They all had a great time.

It's been a really long time since we've done this and I couldn't help but remember the first time I did this as a mom. Deneise and I took our then almost-2 little boys to ride the train and they were so stinkin' cute!! Reagan's Elmo had to come along for the ride too! Looking at these pictures, they've come a long way!!

(Reagan and Alex - circa October, 1998)

Look who came by for a visit!!

It's been a while since I posted. I have no good reason - I guess we've been enjoying the now-gone days of summer!!

Last week, we were hopelessly bored and were begging for something exciting to do when Jenny called and needed us to keep Brody!! We were instantly transformed into a very excited crew who couldn't wait to see Baby Brody!!

And Brody didn't disappoint!!

I'm not sure who was more excited - the boys or Brody!!

(I know that's a bad pic of Landry but look how cute Brody is!!!)

They were so cute to watch as they talked their baby talk and played with him! They wanted him where they were so he got moved around a bit!!



Thanks Jenny, for beating the boredom that day!!

How does your garden grow??

I know all 2 of my readers have been dying to know how the garden is growing...

This is what happened while we were on vacation --

These guys were tall but had no blooms at all! This was fun to see when we returned. I'm not sure why they are SO big. The ones I see on the side of the road are so small compared to these. These might be too big for their own good. Some of them are already starting to lean over with the weight of their big ole' heads!! I tried to stand one back up and it is heavy!!

Luke and Landry enjoy watering the pumpkin vine. A boy with a hose in the summertime = good fun!!

And this, my friends, is our proudest garden accomplishment!!

One huge vine has produced one small pumpkin that is already turning slight shades of orange. Upon closer inspection, there are at least 3 other tiny little pumpkins other places on the vine. Very exciting!! My original prediction of mucho pumpkins has been modified just a bit. For some reason, I thought that a pumpkin would grow where ever there was a blossom. This is not the case on our vine. If it were, we would have approximately 549 pumpkins!!

On to other news, I registered my Landry for his new school today. I am a little apprehensive about how the new school year will go, but I'm sure it will all be great once we actually get into the routine. He goes back and forth with wanting to go and not go, but I'm sure he'll have a great time and learn so much! We came home this afternoon and he colored pictures for about an hour and then said, "Mom-I'm so etcited to doe to stool!!" (Mom - I'm so excited to go to school!) I'm not sure he'll feel that way on the first day of school, but maybe!!

It's hard to believe the summer is so quickly passing. I bought the last of the school supplies today, backpacks have been bought or ordered, lunchboxes too, and everyone has new shoes except one picky boy. Any guesses who that is?? The "stuff" of school is almost ready. Here's hoping the boys and I will follow suit!!

Love, Luke

This was given to me yesterday by my baby who will be going to Kindergarten three weeks from tomorrow!!