We started out the school year a little rough.
The first day of school the boys were supposed to meet up in the cafeteria (with all of the school's walkers) to walk home with the girls but the school changed the procedure and let the kids leave the school from their class rooms which caused confusion for the kids with no planned meeting spot. As I was waiting anxiously on the corner to see all the kids I became a little concerned when Luke was walking alone and had no idea where his brothers were, then I find Cody walking alone having no idea where Ryan was even though he looked all over for him and then lastly I found Ryan back at the school almost in tears because he couldn't find any of his brothers, not a good ending to the first day of school.
Luke stayed home from school on the third day which was Friday because he was sick with a bad cough and cold, with three days home away from school and the new routine he freaked out going back to school on Monday. It was a horrible morning and him and I both ended up in tears.
That same morning Ryan was staying home from school because over the weekend he wasn't able to walk on one of his legs. We took him to an urgent care on Sunday but that Dr. wasn't for sure why that was so she wanted him off his leg completely and using crutches. When Ryan heard that news thinking it was for the rest of his life he sadly said to me, "I barely even got to use my legs." We never bought him crutches and took him to his pediatrician on Monday who said he had a pulled groin muscle and wanted him using it as much as he could handle, within a few hours he was almost back to normal.
Thankfully school since then has been smooth sailing, the boys are all enjoying their teachers and classes.
Ryan and Ash had been begging for a sleepover all last week, the only day we could make it work was on Friday because we were leaving first thing Saturday morning for camping. We told the kids Friday after school and they were so excited. We took the kids swimming at the pool and had the place to ourselves. We let the kids have their dessert first and then ordered pizza. When the weather got a little cool all the kids got out of the pool and started giving each other massages, the things that they come up with. They used all of my sunscreens and lotions mixed with pool water and leaves to massage each other with and then used the diving sticks as a massaging tool, this kept them busy until the sun came out again and they were all back in the pool. After showers, jammies and packing I walked Ryan over to Amanda's for the sleep over to begin.
I came home to finish the cleaning and packing for camping and then headed to bed, I wake up to a phone call at two am from Amanda saying Ryan's been awake since midnight and isn't going back to sleep. We think that he was so excited for the morning to come (Amanda was making waffles for breakfast) that he just couldn't fall back asleep, it's not that he was crying and missing me, sadly. So I walk over to pick up Ryan and bring him home at two am but he was in one of his moods so he wasn't really talking to me or Amanda, he just laid wrapped up in his blanket with his face covered not speaking to us. He shook his head no when I asked him if he wanted me to carry him back home so Amanda picked him up to carry him back to our house at two am while I carried all of his things. Once home I put him to bed and laid down with him but he still wasn't going to sleep, he was mad that I wouldn't let him play on the ipad, mad that I wouldn't let him read Junie B. Jones, asked me about how babies can drink milk out of nipples, cried that it was Amanda that carried him home because he thought that it was me and cried some more that he never gets to eat waffles at our house (even though we had them for breakfast the two days before), finally at three thirty am he fell back asleep. That wasn't quite the way I was expecting our camping to start out, with lovely bags under my eyes and a grumpy attitude but we recovered and the good news is that Ryan's good with having another sleep over but wants this next one at our house.
We made it up camping and almost the whole family was there, everyone but Hailey was able to make it up there for a fun family get together. It was an easy laid back trip with everyone pitching in to cook and clean so that made for lots of time just hanging out around the camp fire visiting. The boys loved a very fun scavenger hunt that Uncle Matt planned for them that included lowering bags of pine cones out of trees, finding hidden walkie talkies, following clues and digging up treasures. The kids also built a fort and spent most of their time in it, they loved it even more when Uncle Matt and Heath helped them build an even bigger and better fort. They had plans of sleeping in it one night but since I wouldn't let them bring out their pillows and blankets to get all dirty and the temperature dropped to forty at night they slowly changed their minds once it got dark and stayed in the camper with us, like we knew they would. The long weekend was also filled with lots of fishing, a little boating, playing on the beach building sand castles and catching dragon flies, celebrating Ricky's twentieth birthday and lots of good eating something my family loves to do.
A lot of the family was off work for the long holiday (Heath took the whole week off) so that made it easier for us all to be there for Tucker today when he was sworn into the Air Force. There were eleven of us there in total to support him, they weren't expecting such a crowd and said we were the biggest group that they have seen in there, Unlce Matt even showed up in style bringing his work with him. The whole process takes just a couple of minutes but I was happy that we were all there supporting Tucker, we are all very proud of him. As of now it looks like he will be going into basic training sometime in January but is still working full time right now and just started taking a few college classes until then.
I think that should catch you back up to what our first few weeks of this school year have been.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
all grown up
The day before school started the boys all had dentist appointments
this is what Ryan and Luke picked out of the prize box
They totally made me laugh
Ryan's is just funny a little mario & luigi looking
and well Luke, he just looks like a creeper.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
once again....
it was time for the first day of school
the boys were so excited
Ryan didn't eat dinner last night and hardly any breakfast this morning because he couldn't wait,
he told me this was going to be the best day ever, his first day of first grade.
Ryan loved his new shirt and wanted everyone to read it, including the crossing guard at the school.
He was nothing but smiles lining up with his classmates and friends.

Luke has been really excited for school to start too which made me happy because he's been a little nervous in the past years. It took him probably four tries with a little of my help to get his hair just right for today.
Luke told me just yesterday that he was probably going to wear one of his old football jersey's for the first day of school not one of his new school shirts that we bought. I wanted him to have something special to wear for the first day so we did a quick shop and found one and those things aren't cheap. Anyway we also went to Kohl's where he found this lovely shirt (you know how I feel about character shirts), the best part about it was that it was on clearance for $1.35 plus I had a coupon! So you can see which new shirt won out for the first day but at least he was a happy boy.
Cody is always ready for school and loves to learn and socialize with his friends. He was awake at his normal everyday of his life time six o'clock and got ready right away. Cody is just so laid back and easy going, he even helped make the waffle mix to have it ready for when I came down this morning.
Cody was fun to school shop with this year, his style is changing and he is starting to try some new looks. As far as his hair goes, well he could still care less, he wants nothing to do with it.
Amanda and I walked the kids to school, took plenty of pictures and
lined them all up where they needed to be.
They were all smiles.
I asked the kids what was I going to do with them being gone all day,
they said I could play with the lizard, play fetch with Ruby, get on the computer for a little bit,
or play video games and of course they assured me that they would miss me.
I guess I will just take one day at a time.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
wet-n-wild
I guess Amanda and I only have ourselves to blame with letting the kids do so many things together
because now they just expect it to happen and consider everything a tradition now.
They wouldn't leave us alone about having another messy day and a family dinner together
so last minute we made it happen to oblige them
and we had five happy kids....all smiles.

first game:
get the quarter out of a frozen block of kool aide using only your mouth or hands
(no biting or breaking it apart)
second game:
crack an egg over your head without knowing if it is hard boiled or raw (or scrambled like Ryan said)
this wasn't as easy as it sounds because it turns out eggs are really hard to crack on your head
third game:
find six gummy bears in a plate full of whip cream and sprinkles
fifth game:
unfold and put on a t-shirt that has been frozen folded and wet
(Ryan was the only one of my boys to not give up on this game, it was definitely a challenge)
I think Abigail won every game, she loves a challenge, Ash loves to get as dirty as possible (she leaves you speechless), Luke tries his best to beat Abigail in every competition while Cody tries to stay as clean as possible and Ryan well he is just somewhere in the middle of it all.
Lastly we filled up some water balloons for the kids to play with.
They are so funny they don't really care about throwing them and having a water fight
instead they like to draw faces on them and have their family of babies that they carry around
and care for.
Next up came Dominos for dinner
underwater pictures
coke floats down at the pool
the whole family in the water playing shark.
The kids loved it and had a great time
sadly though they could of kept going and going
they didn't think it was enough time
but man were we exhausted!
Monday, August 20, 2012
a little conversation
Ryan and I had a little conversation at the pool the other day,
he asked me, "how do you get married?"
I told him first you will fall in love with someone and then you will have to ask her dad if it's okay that you marry her. Once you do that you can buy a ring and then ask her to marry you.
He asked me what would happen if the dad says no?
I told him that he doesn't have to worry about that because how could someone say no to someone as sweet as him.
He told me if he said no then he would just pay him some money.
He also told me he wouldn't get married until he was 26, 35 or 49 years old
and that he would live with Heath and I until then.
This news made me happy because I know that in a few short years he would never think of saying something like that.
As of now he plans on being a motorcycle cop and will let me go and not give me a ticket if he caught me speeding.
Later on though he did change his mind saying he would have to do the right thing and give me one which I was okay with.
Ryan said he was going to save five hundred dollars from working to buy her a wedding ring but he doesn't yet know who he is going to marry but said that they will have two babies.
The funniest part of our conversation was when twice he asked me,
"now whose my dad again?"
I'm not for sure why he was so confused on this maybe because we were talking about everyone's middle names and who was named after who and there were too many dad's being talked about?
I just love those little talks.
Ryan not only pulled out his second tooth with a little bit of Heath's help but he also learned how to dive this week. He was so amazing to watch and so brave. The older boys just learned how to dive this summer in swimming lessons so I was so surprised that within just a couple of tries he had it figured out.
Go Ryan!
Monday, August 13, 2012
forty years
all because two people fell in love
this weekend we celebrated my parent's fortieth wedding anniversary
they took us out for a family dinner at Gino's
everyone's lives are so busy so it's been a long time since we have all been together
i love it when we are all together
it was a great time
it's crazy to think of forty years together with someone
when I haven't even been alive for that long
but what a wonderful thing
happy anniversary mom and dad
Thursday, August 2, 2012
three weeks
Three weeks from yesterday the boys will be back in school.
Where did the summer go?
Like always I'm not ready for it to be over with,
I love summers home with my boys.
A big change will be happening this year though
and I'm not big on changes.
All the boys will be in school all day long,
everyday.
That's five days by myself.
I'm not for sure what I'm going to do?
For the last (almost) eleven years
I've been home
Home with my boys
Being a stay at home mom
That's the life I know
and love.
I think the house will feel a little lonely
and I know that I am going to miss them.
I have plenty of things to keep me busy at the house,
so many projects never finished and some not even started.
I guess I will finally get some "me time".
I've thought about finding a part time job
but I start to panick if I think about it too much
so I figure the right job will come along when the time is right.
I feel so blessed that I've been able to be home with the boys
and that Heath's job allowed me to do that
it's time spent with them that I will never regret.
So I guess we will see where this school year takes us
but for now
I'm going to soak up every last bit of our summer days
together.
Where did the summer go?
Like always I'm not ready for it to be over with,
I love summers home with my boys.
A big change will be happening this year though
and I'm not big on changes.
All the boys will be in school all day long,
everyday.
That's five days by myself.
I'm not for sure what I'm going to do?
For the last (almost) eleven years
I've been home
Home with my boys
Being a stay at home mom
That's the life I know
and love.
I think the house will feel a little lonely
and I know that I am going to miss them.
I have plenty of things to keep me busy at the house,
so many projects never finished and some not even started.
I guess I will finally get some "me time".
I've thought about finding a part time job
but I start to panick if I think about it too much
so I figure the right job will come along when the time is right.
I feel so blessed that I've been able to be home with the boys
and that Heath's job allowed me to do that
it's time spent with them that I will never regret.
So I guess we will see where this school year takes us
but for now
I'm going to soak up every last bit of our summer days
together.
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