What a fun way to start our week.

We started our Monday at the dentist for all three kids. What a way to start the week. When we got home, this is what we found. A box of Gymboree clothes from Aunt Nar. (no....the "box guy" a.k.a. UPS - did not lay them out, nicely, on our couch. :)
Now.....THIS is the way to start off the week. Wow! I always have the routine of laying them all out so Brian can see the clothes before we hang them up. Lindsey also likes to try on some of the clothes and Reece had to try on his Halloween costume. Then they insisted on calling up Aunt Nar immediately. Lindsey and Aunt Nar like calling each other 'dudes'. Very cute! All three of them talked (Austin isn't found of the camera lately). I did hear Austin set up plans, with Aunt Nar, to do some more instant messaging on the computer together. What a different world we live in to have a 9 year old keep in contact, with his Aunt, via e-mail and Instant Messaging. Hmm. Back to the clothes -- we love them Aunt Nar!! Thank you so much!!!

OH MY

I did it! The long hair is gone. I had a former New York City hair stylist and I asked for the back to be stacked and sassy. She was very excited to take her scissors and razors to my hair as I dug my nails into the seat. It took her 90 minutes --goodness. Wish I would have taped my kid's reactions to it when I came home. Too funny.

A day in the life of .....

The kids are in their second week of co-op and are really enjoying these opportunities. The first picture shows a castle project Reece and Lindsey worked on during their Medieval class. It's been fun to hear all about that time period again (we studied it two years ago). The 5th-15th centuries are full of interesting characters and happenings. Anyway....it keeps our dinner time conversation interesting. After this class Lindsey goes to Weather and Reece goes to Dinosaurs. Lindsey learned all about cloud formations and somehow had making and eating cotton candy as part of the "hands on cloud formation aspect of class". Hmmm. Interesting. Reece is in "Dinosaur Heaven" as his teacher has boxes of 'anything' dinosaur. Perfect for my tactile learner. He always comes out telling me what all God made.


Later that day Lindsey had a two hour drama seminar with an awesome drama coach. I participated as well and now I understand why this teacher once had a parent ask her why her son came home with rug burns all over his face. It was phenomenal and the fastest two hours ever.

After the two hour drama seminar, Lindsey and I stayed late to learn how to assemble a tent in 6 minutes. Not sure when we'll use this information, but the girls had a great time. Tomorrow these girls will be living it up at a birthday party at Pump It Up. I'm hoping the moms stay cause I love that place.

Austin learned all about the metamorphosis from egg to butterfly. He loves to draw and his diagrams were great to see. It's also been a perfect year for him to study government and election. It's also added flavor to our home conversations to hear him name the key players in the political race.

Oh.....and as for myself....while the kids were in classes I joined my small group to listen to Paul Tripp on audio. One sentence that has stayed with me is: "You (as parents) are shaping the souls of human beings." Wow.......no pressure there to 'not' mess up on the God given job to parent these little gifts from Heaven. It's scary to think these little ones are still such imature babes in Christ and need such constant guidance. The good thing is it keeps me on my knees before the Lord.

Lindsey's Healthy Meal

Austin has been allowed to make his own healthy lunches for several months now. Of course Lindsey wanted to be like big brother and prove she could make her own healthy lunch. I'd say she did a pretty good job with carrots, salad, grapes, ham and jello.

A Surprise Evening

Brian and I knew we'd be going to Chick Fil A to meet up with our friend Beth and her 3 sweet kids, but we had no idea that this place would be the most 'happening place in town". The parking lot seemed quite full, but I knew that Tuesday nights the kids got their meals free with us purshasing our adult meals. So....of course that is quite the incentive to go there (quite inexpensive to feed our family of 5). Wow....when we got in the restaurant there were balloons, big screen Karaoke stations, face painting, coupons and candy being passed out, etc. Not to mention the play place. We just had a ball! It was so great catching up with Beth and the kids were all over the place. At the end the kids kept bringing us balloons because the lady, who worked there, told them to just take the balloons because they would need to pop them - at the end of the evening anyway.

Lindsey loved being the butterfly!

Here is batman Harrison.

Beth with baby Addison and her collection of balloons.

Reece's Soccer

This is Reece's second season in instructional soccer. Even though he has no clue, outside of running and kicking, that the coaches are attempting to teach 5 year old boys how to play the sport of soccer, he absolutely loves playing. After picking Reece up from Sunday School , Kidz Praise, and watching him play soccer all I can say is God bless those teachers and coaches that are willing to teach this age.
I am sure that having 10 -5 year olds on the soccer field or in a Sunday School class is a feat too difficult for super man himself. You guys are awesome!

Lindsey's Soccer

Ever since Lindsey played spring soccer she's been begging to do it again this fall. She loves to run and her favorite two positions are goalie and sweeper. She is not afraid to grab that ball when she's the goalie - which is great! The coach is so used to telling them NOT to use their hands. I'm glad she has that distinction down. The kids also love the fact that they get treats after each game and Lindsey's highlight, this past week, was that she got '3 high fives' from the coach. We absolutely love her coach and requested to have him this fall.

Here's the coach giving Lindsey some tips.

She is just determined to get that ball before the pink team gets it.

We DO lose brain cells as we age!

During the school year I usually can only get to the Y on weekends, so this here treadmill is what I rely on for 9 months of the year. We've had this treadmill way before Austin was born, so it is pretty old. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Brian on the phone and telling him about my treadmill workouts. I was telling him that only 10 minutes on the treadmill and I am dripping with sweat (lovely, I know.). I know I need to sweat hard to really work my heart muscle, but this was a little extreme I thought. Especially since I only had the incline at a level two. Brian, in such a kind husband-like manner, asked if I had noticed that the incline was actually broken and it was stuck on the highest level. Talk about a "duh" moment. Wow - no wonder 2 miles felt like 5! Good grief! Well.....like I said, I rely on this machine to get me through each day and keep my heart pumping strong....so I'll keep climbing the hills each day. The worst part is cooling down while climbing up! UGH!

Moon Cakes and Mongols

Seven hundred years ago, during the Yuan dynasty, China was ruled by Mongols who had invaded from the north. The Chinese people were very unhappy and desperately wanted to overthrow the Mongols, but they were closely watched and could not talk freely. They secretly planned an attack, wrote their plan on small pieces of paper, and hid the paper slips inside moon cakes. They then passed word of the attack from family to family with the moon cakes.

The Mongols were taken by surprise and the Chinese won the struggle. To this day the moon cakes are credited for the victory.

It's so nice when our history lessons include Home-Ec. :)

Reece mixing the moon cake batter.

Austin kneading the moon cake.

All three kids writing out their secret messages, of attack, to put in their moon cakes.

Putting the filling and secret messages in the dough.

September's Buzz

Early August is a great time for us to start school. It's too hot to play outside and we are just ready to jump into the new curriculum that the box guy (UPS) has been dropping off at our house all summer long. It gives us a chance to get our 'school work groove' going before activities start up in September. Even this month has been nice because we start a new activity about once a week. Soccer, for Lins and Reece, started first. Then came Austin's tennis. This week Awana's, gym and art class will begin. Next week we'll start co-op classes and the week after that Austin will begin his hand bell choir. Oh yeah....also Kidz Praise and Girl Scouts this month as well. Hmm....blogging might be hit or miss as I enjoy my kids and all the blessings that come with this precious season in their life.

God's Amazing Wild Animals

Austin's current passion is a love for animals and it is what he reads up on whenever he can. It is really a joy to visit the zoo with Austin because he is our own tour guide who walks with us and shares various unique facts about each animal. A great day all in all.

We took our 'monkeys' to the NC Zoo

This weekend was the only weekend (until Oct.25th) that Lindsey and Reece didn't have soccer. So....we wanted to take advantage of the free time and spend a day at the Zoo.

This is a picture of the kids riding in an 'elephant tracking' helicopter.

All three kids love the animals, but I must say that I think the highlight -for Reece- was riding the tram.