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!

September Happenings

Our church held their own Olympic games one night and our team won a couple of medals.

Lunch with my girl at school. She told me that every day she looks for me hoping I will be there to have lunch with her!

Go, go Power Ranger! It is so crazy to me that Hayes is now the age that Sam was when we moved in to this house. He is wearing Sam's Halloween costume from that first Halloween here.

Reese is cheering again this fall which she still loves.

One night while Lance was out of town I took the kids to play tennis. It went better than I thought it would and Reese hung the longest out of every one. It was fun!

Silly boys!

Hayes and Denver both have Thursday with no siblings and no school so they have been having fun together! This day we went to Sky Zone and they had a blast! They didn't stop jumping and running for an hour and a half!

Cheer practice one night the high school girls stunted with the little girls.

Waffle House for dinner!

Sam had to have a sleep study done so this was us at CHOA waiting to get all set up.

While we waited we watched Monsters University while snuggling in the bed together. He was nervous but did great.

This picture is a little scary but it is just wires everywhere. He fell asleep pretty fast around 9:00 PM but I slept terrible. It took me two days to recover. Around 12:45 AM, the fire alarm started going off! It was terrible but luckily a false alarm. Sam went back to sleep pretty quickly and then she came in an hour later to adjust some of the wires that were not reading correctly. It took him a little bit longer to go back to sleep that time. It snuggled in bed with him until he fell asleep and then went back to my sofa to try to sleep some more. They woke us up at 5:00 AM and we were home by 6:00 with doughnuts in hand. I went back to sleep until 8:00 AM and then we were off to church. They called us this week and said his study went great and that he did not seem to have any problems sleeping! Our ENT was worried his tonsil size was obstructing his airway at night...that was the reason he had to do this sleeping study.

Reese and Maddy were playing with make-up one night and then I found this picture on my phone.

Sam had state testing at school this past week and his teacher sent this banana home for him to eat for breakfast on the first day. I thought that was so sweet of her!

It is only half way through September so I am sure there is so much more fun on the horizon!

Fall Ball

This season Sam and Hayes are both playing baseball. Sam is still "eh" about baseball but Hayes is in love! Each season we ask Sam if he wants to play baseball or take a break and he always wants to play. But each season, he complains about it. I think we will have him take a break in the spring and try something else. However, Hayes is all in. He wants to play/practice all the time.

Lance has always helped out in coaching Sam's teams but he decided he would be the head coach for Hayes's team. Unfortunately, he was out of town the week of their first games. He was so bummed to miss them. Both games just happened to be at the same time, on the same night, two fields apart from each other. I did a lot of running back and forth that night and definitely was not dressed appropriately for that. Reese was also at cheer practice at the same time so as soon as the games were over, we raced to the car to go pick her up.

Before game picture...it is too funny that they each are on the "Sox"...Hayes is the Red Sox and Sam is the White Sox.

Hayes's first moments of his game and he was in the pitcher's circle. He was a little overwhelmed out there and not sure exactly what to do. Remember with soccer he didn't love all the parents yelling. I think this was similar because you could tell he was embarrassed being out there. He quickly warmed up though and had fun!

I stayed and watched Hayes at his first at bat but I don't have any pictures of it because I was FaceTiming with Lance so he could see it too. After Hayes batted I raced down to Sam's field just in time to see him up to bat.

And then back to Hayes...

And then back to Sam...Luckily Kristin was there with me to laugh at how crazy we were.

We have so many friends out at the ball park that were just laughing each time we would run by. We have one more night that the games are at the same time. This time I don't think it will be as stressful because Lance will be there with Hayes and I won't feel like I am missing Hayes's very first time playing.

Lance and Clint are coaching the babies (yes, we still call them the babies because they will forever be the babies of our families) team and we got so blessed by the fact that Sam and Dylan ended up on the same team. Once you are playing baseball, you can not request friends or coaches so it was truly a blessing for them to end up on the same team. There was a lot of happy dancing when we found out!

And we can't forget about our sweet sister cheering! Actually she is usually making videos and playing with other sisters, but she is there none the less.

Three Year Old Preschool

Hayes started three year old preschool today. He was so excited that it was finally his turn to go to school. Last night when we were talking about school he asked if he was going to get to ride the school bus. He was disappointed when I said no. 

We met his teachers yesterday and they seem really sweet. I am so bummed that I forgot to take a picture of Hayes with both of them. He is going to school three days a week and gets to eat lunch at school this year.

When I was trying to take his first day of school pictures, the cute ones came in between all these silly ones...

As I was playing with him and taking his pictures, I glimpsed his sweet freckles and long eyelashes and had to take a close-up picture. I am so glad he cooperated for this shot because it is my favorite.

I loved hearing how his first day went in his sweet little voice. I know he is going to love school this year. 

First Day of School

Yesterday Reese and Sam had their first day of 4th grade and 1st grade. How did summer go by so fast? We had such a fun and busy summer that it flew. While we were all ready for a little routine back in our lives, I still missed them yesterday and wished we still had some more summertime fun together.

Last Monday teacher post cards were supposed to arrive in the mail. When Reese got her postcard she was bummed at first because it wasn't the teacher she was hoping for. However, once she found out one of her best friends was in her class, she was thrilled. She ended up working through her disappointment in her teacher and decided that she got the very best one. Sam's postcard didn't make it to our house until the day of meet & greet so we had to call the school to find out who his teacher was. On Monday when his didn't come, I said, "Surprise! I forgot to tell you I am homeschooling you!" He yelled YAY!

This little 1st grader had a hard time being excited for school. None of his friends from last year are in his class this year, while about eight of them are all in the same class together. His K class had a really sweet bond. He was pretty upset that only two kids from last year are in his class this year and kept saying he didn't know anyone in his class. I told him he didn't know anyone in his class last year but now has 17 new friends so the same thing can happen again. He isn't buying it.

He had tears in his eyes the whole way to his classroom and kept looking up at me with his puppy dog eyes. Even this morning he was still not happy about it and asked me to call the principal and move him in to the class with his friends. I told him that we prayed this summer about their teachers and that they would be put in the perfect class for them and so we know he is where he is supposed to be even if he can't see that right now. Still, he is not buying it. I know he will be fine but I thought about him all day yesterday.

This brave girl has been so excited about school starting. She is so social and loves to be at school with her friends. She loves her teacher already and could not wait to go back again today. When we were walking in to the school she told me I didn't have to walk her all the way to her class so she gave me a quick kiss good-bye and headed on to her classroom while I walked Sam to his class.

Getting our annual first day of school pictures...

That 5:30 am wake-up call had me struggling around lunch time!

I couldn't wait to see them get off the bus that afternoon. They both had a great day. Reese told me all about her day in detail while Sam didn't have much to say. Even at dinner, Lance and I were trying to drag things out of Sam but he wasn't spilling much. I'm not sure if that is the difference between boys and girls or Reese and Sam. Ha!

I am excited for the kids school year and to see how much they grown and change over this next school year!