Drawing on the Stairs

When we bought our house, we loved that it had a finished basement and loved so many things about that basement. But over time we have realized that it wasn't as functional for our family as it could be. This summer we set off to refinish it. We have done several things ourselves and have a contractor helping us on the side. He has a full time job so he can really only work on the weekends. So, it is taking a while to get things done. Our goal is to have it finished by December. Fingers crossed!

Anyways, this week has been early release for the big kids so we have been trying to be creative about entertainment around here. Since we took the carpet up off the basement stairs, it has just been the wood visible for months. This week I decided to let the kids decorate the stairs before new carpet is put back on them. They had a blast doing this. They just used Sharpie markers and their imaginations. I did threaten them about only coloring on these stairs and no.where.else! Hopefully I don't find any Sharpie marks anywhere else around the house.

I imagine that we will eventually have to replace the carpet down in the basement again at some point in our lives of living in this house. It will be so fun to see what is under that carpet years down the road! I wrote each of their names and ages near their drawings and maybe I will even print off one of the pictures to put under the padding as well.

Wrapping Up Fall Baseball

This past week we wrapped up baseball season for both boys...and I took a LOT of pictures. I  knew it would potentially be both of their last games of the season so I wanted to make sure I got some good pictures of each of them.

Hayes always taps the plate with his bat before he gets ready to hit. I don't know who he saw do this but he does it every time.

At his last game he had some really great hits. He hit off the pitcher every time (which was not Lance because he was out of town for Hayes's first and last game of the season!).  One of his hits went all the way to the fence.

Heading to third base!

He played second base, short stop, and first base (I think in this game). One time we asked him what his favorite position to play was and he said "hitting".

 Of course there are always silly antics happening in the dugout. He and Denver thought it was funny when they were putting their helmets on backwards. They giggled and giggled.

Sam's last game was so much fun to watch. It was the first game this season where they went back and forth with the team they were playing and it came down to the very last second. Unfortunately they lost in that nail biter but it was fun. Sam played really well and had some great hits.

Before the game even started these two little cuties were playing on the field next to ours. They were so cute and entertained themselves the whole time. They were laughing so hard while putting dirt in this baseball cap.

Sam batted great once again this game. His first hit was a pop up to the pitcher but the rest of the game he got on base.

 Running through first base...

When we first got to the field we ran in to one of Sam's friends from class. She is hilarious! Once she saw that Sam was there, she left her brother's game (that was about four fields away) and came down to watch Sam play. She stayed at his field for his whole game. If she wasn't some where he could find her when he was in the dugout, he would come out to us and ask where she was. It was cracking us up.

We are looking forward to a little break from baseball for a while and enjoying some winter sports. Hayes asks every day when he gets to play baseball again. He can.not.wait! Sam is looking forward to no baseball for a while. We will see what he decides to do in the spring. Right now our plan is for him to play soccer in the spring and take a break from baseball. When we told him he wasn't going to play baseball in the spring, all of a sudden he started playing baseball much better. So it makes it so hard to say we are going to take a break...but I think that is going to be for the best.

Making the Most of Fall Break

This year we may not have been at Disney World for Fall Break but we made the most of our time at home. I love having a fall break from school. Our school system does a great job of giving us breaks every couple of months. It is such a nice treat to have a week off from school! We get to sleep in and play with friends we don't get to see as often during the school week.

Sunday night Hayes had his first sleepover. We really didn't know how this would go but these boys are so used to seeing their siblings have sleep overs that they were so excited. Denver slept over with Hayes and now Hayes keeps asking if he can sleepover at their house.

I actually had all the boys here and the girls slept over at Maddy's house. They all had so much fun. The boys all dressed up as Superheroes (Dylan was IronDog...ha). The girls came back to our house shortly after this picture and they all played great together. We had lunch at Chick-fil-a and then played at the playground for a little while afterwards.

Tuesday we went out on the lake with our friends. It was a beautiful day!! And the lake was empty. We saw just a few other boats while we were out there.

The kids all had a blast! We parked in a cove for lunch and then played in the water for a while.

We did a little tubing and just enjoyed the sunshine and cool water.

We stopped again to play in the water and the kids swam ashore. They looked like they were on Survivor.

We really had so much fun and could not have asked for a better day!

Wednesday morning we went bowling with one of Reese's friends and her family. We didn't realize it was going to be but it ended up being 99 cent bowling day!

Before we left all of the kids (except Sam) climbed in the Hurricane Simulator. They thought it was so funny to feel the wind blow at 78 mph. Reese went home with her friend for a little while after bowling.

There was not a cloud in the sky that day so the boys and I grabbed some lunch from Publix and headed to the park to play. We ended up running in to one of Sam's best friends from school at the park and he was happy to get to play with him.

That night we went to visit with my cousin for a little bit and then met Lance for dinner. The kids were silly!

Thursday morning we met up with our friends to make some meals at Stop Hunger Now. Sweet little Maddy had raised enough money to pack two boxes of food and she wanted Reese to come and help her. We made a morning out of it and had a great time doing it.

Our plans were to go to White Water after making the boxes of food. It could have been so much fun but it was SO cold! At noon it was only 68 degrees and the park was pretty much empty. We were able to walk right on to all of the rides but 52 minutes after getting there (yes, I timed us to see) Hayes was crying about how cold he was. We decided to wrap it up early and let the kids have playdates at home instead. The four big kids ended up at our house and the two little ones went home with Kristin.

That night we went to the fair. It was the perfect fair weather. It was a little bit crowded but the kids thought it was the best. Reese rode several rides that surprised me and Hayes probably got to ride the most rides just because they were cheaper than the big ones.

We got them all a treat. Reese and Sam chose to get a slushy and Hayes wanted this Amish doughnut. It really was as big as his head! And he ate every bit of it. He did not want to share. I was able to sneak a bite and it was tasty!

Since we got in late Thursday night we all slept in a bit on Friday. We had a few things to do around the house that morning and then we headed to the mountain for a hike. Again, the weather was perfect. I was so happy at how beautiful it was all week and I am glad we were able to soak it in so much!

Saturday was family game day at Tech! We got there in time to see the band and cheerleaders perform on the steps outside the stadium. It is always a fun time.

We made it to our seats and luckily we were in the shade by half time. The kids did so great! I'm not sure they would have made it too long if we hadn't ended up in the shade. Even though the temperature was in the mid-70's, it was hot in the stadium.

We loved our week together and were ready to get back to the grind this morning. I can't believe it is already October...only seven weeks until Thanksgiving break! Ha!