Sibling Bonding

Kylie, you are such a good big sister. Your brothers love you so much and love spending time with you! Lately I have "caught" the kids doing everything together.

Kids sharing a blanket on the loveseat...


The boys LOVE it when Kylie reads them a bedtime story. They get so excited!


I hope you always have a strong bond and a close relationship!

Gavin and Landon's First Day of Preschool

Gavin and Landon started preschool where I work. It doesn't seem possible that they are old enough to go yet. They have done good...I thought it may be hard going to daycare, UCA, and a babysitter but they have done well with it.

Here they are right after hanging up their backpacks (Landon is in blue, Gavin in orangy-red)


My class was having snack and I heard the boys in the bathroom. I snuck around the door and saw them washing their hands just chatting away.


I had to tell their teacher something and they were playing in the sand table together.


I thought it might be hard for them to see me and not be able to come with me but so far, they are doing fine. They will say hi and wave but stay with their class. They are having a lot of fun!

Kylie's First Day of 3rd Grade

I can't believe that my little girl is in 3rd grade! We love you Kylie and are so proud of you!




The first two weeks of school have gone by quickly. She likes her teacher and is doing well getting up early. She has adjusted well!

Unexpected resident...

I can't remember why he was going out but one night JD turned on the porch light, opened the door, went out and then came running back in. He was telling me to hurry up and look out the front door. I got to the door and it was a hugh spider. He got the camera and was taking pictures. I told him to kill it and that the flash was going to make it run back where ever it came from. He was looking at it from a different angle and realized that it was a BLACK WIDOW. There was a red hourglass on its underbelly. Of course, as he was trying to find something to kill it with, it went back were it came from. We went to bed and neither of us could sleep. JD got up just about every hour and turned on the porch light to see if it came back out. FINALLY at 4:30 a.m. it was there and he killed it. It was the biggest black widow I have ever seen!

Mini Vacation

I have a few posts to make...

We went on a mini vacation up to Eureka Springs and then to Branson a few weeks ago. The kids stayed home with grandparents.

We started in Eureka Springs. We ate at the BEST Italian restaurant, Ermilios. We ate there when we got married and every time we have been back to Eureka Springs since. After dinner we went exploring...we stopped at the old train station and looked around.


We also went to the Crescent Hotel. It is where we got married. We saw two different weddings going on while we where there. It was such a beautiful evening!




There is a little Catholic Church right behind the hotel. It is so pretty. We have stopped there several times over the years.







After that we drove to the Passion Play. We thought about staying for the play but decided to just look at the Christ of the Ozarks statue and then find other things to look at.



We ended the day with ice cream and a little swimming at the hotel.

We got up the next morning and drove to Branson, Missouri. There were a few new golf courses that we HAD to stop at. It was so wierd...as we were driving up, there were several turkeys walking across the road. By the time I got the camera out, I could only get one in the picture.



We debated on going to a show but decided to go to the Titanic museum. It was really neat...there were several interactive parts to it...we felt an iceburg, there was a room that was the air temperature of the night Titanic sank, a container of water that was the temperature of the water when Titanic sank with a timer to see how long you could hold your hand in it. I only lasted like 8 seconds and JD lasted longer, but not much. Everyone gets a boarding pass that has a real name of a passenger or crew member on it and at the end you see if "you" lived or not. It was neat looking at all of the artifacts.



We did a little shopping and ate at a new restaurant owned by Bass Pro Shops. We got alligator tail as an appitizer. It was good as was our dinners.



We also played miniature golf and JD only beat me by 2 strokes. We had a good time but were ready to get home. After we picked up the kids we moved the living room furnature, brought out the kids mattresses and had a camp-out. The kids had fun watching movies on the floor.

He's Getting There Too!

As of yesterday, Gavin is now using the toilet too! He has been wearing underwear all day today and hasn't had one accident. I am still reminding him, but he is going! Let me say...it is time consuming potty training two kids at the same time. I just get started doing something and one of them has to go. But, how nice not to have to buy diapers/pull-up anymore!

We are so proud of you Gavin!!

Uneasy...

I have several "posts" to make...I just have to download all the pictures. In the next few days there will be a few new updates.

Really, I am just venting to myself. I am uneasy about this new school year. I'm not really worried about Kylie. Third grade will be more work, but she can handle it. I am wondering how well I am going to get her to Sonshine Mon, Tues and Wed by 4:00. But, that will work out.

I am uneasy about the boys. They will be coming with me (not in my class) on Tues and Thursday mornings. I have been looking all summer for someone to pick them up and watch them for a few hours in the afternoon until I get off work. I finally found someone. She has experience and seems nice. My plan was to send them to daycare the other three days. She wants to watch them on Mon, Wed and Fri all day as well. My stomach has been in knots just thinking about it. This person is a stranger to me. I have to be ok with sending my children to her every day. I envy those people who have close family friends or actual family members to watch their children. I don't know why I feel so different about this than daycare. And, even though I go back to work on Monday, I haven't fully made my decision on where to take them just yet. We are going to visit the babysitter in just a little bit. Wish me luck! I need some peace about this!!

UPDATE (Saturday): The boys will be going to UCA on Tues/Thurs mornings, Miss Melissa's on Tues/Thurs afternoons, and daycare on Mon, Wed, Fri all day. Really, the decision was made for me because of their therapy sessions. They enjoyed their visit at Miss Melissa's house and I know they will be taken care of!