School Days, School Daze

This morning the big yellow bus little red mini van dropped off a load of precious cargo to a brick-and-mortar school. A, B and D  knew the drill. Two of the three were very excited. I'll let you decide who wasn't as thrilled. (This picture may give you a hint.) This year we added E and C to the attendance roster. One of them was also super excited. And the other one had no interest in going anywhere. What is it with the boys in this house?? It wasn't as bad as I feared it might be. As I told you in the last post, C is a mommy's boy and wants to be with me all of the time. He got to spend the first hour with A in the library so it was a lot easier to say good bye to Mom.

Look at this little guy. He can barely reach his locker handle to open it. Maybe he's right, he should be home with his mommy.

Look at those cheeks; super kissable. I kissed him goodbye outside. I didn't want him to have the chance to say he couldn't kiss me in front of his new classmates. My heart wasn't ready for that. There were no tears from any of us. I knew they were in good hands; safe and secure.

E has been counting down the days. She is the keeper of time in the family. "How many hours until....?, How long will we.....?, What time will it be when...?" She had a great day and said that she loved her class and she loved her teacher and she loved her lunch. :-) She is an easy one to keep happy. Baby F was not a happy camper that she couldn't stay with the big kids. She cried the entire way home.

We had our own special day planned. Well kinda. We were going to meet Daddy for lunch. We also ended up dining with Grandpa and Grandma.

I love these two! Little F has them wrapped around her finger. They don't object to baby backwash and slobbery french fries. We also ran a few errands while we were out.

A, B and D all enjoyed catching up with their friends. (I really did take pictures of them too. Phone camera plus bad lighting equals blurry and grainy pictures.) C on the other hand.... I asked him how he liked school. He said, "It was dumb. I'm not coming back." (I'm just sure his dad was like this at 5!) I asked why he thought it was dumb. He said, "We sang a song about a cow waking up in the morning and saying it's a good day. Cows don't talk. It was dumb." This kid cracks me up. He was mad that his school supplies had to stay in his desk and he couldn't bring them home. I explained that everything needed to be there for next week. He said, " You need to go get them because I'm not coming back next week." Yep, his father. The only explanation. Friday school took every last bit of energy from him.

When he awoke two hours later he saw things differently. School wasn't so bad after all. It may have helped that our favorite summer meal was served for supper. (Prepared by D!)

Seafood taco salad! The events of the day always seem to be a little brighter when feasting on yummy food and being surrounded with unconditional love!

Summer's End

I see the summer coming to a close. I'm almost okay with that. Almost. Tonight the air is fresh and crisp. I even had to shut the window to keep it from nipping at my bare arms. Love these summer nights! We had some family bike rides this weekend.

We went nowhere in particular; just rode around enjoying the weather, exercise and each others company. Mr. A. likes to ride way ahead of everyone deciding the route we take. He likes to be in charge. Must be an oldest child.

C wanted to ride his bike too but we talked him into the buggy so we could go at a faster pace. Later he decided that he was fully capable of pulling the buggy with his bike too. It was harder than it looked so he hooked it up to F's little 3-wheeler.

Success! F thought she was pretty special being escorted around in her carriage.

We weren't all able to ride bikes at the same time. A couple of bikes need some mechanical attention. That was fine. We rode in shifts. Something being a part of a large family teaches a person is taking turns is a reality of life.

Taking turns is a good thing. Especially when it's not your turn for dish washing! Or picking up the living room.

I think it's her turn. We were too busy playing soccer and tag. All kinds of tag; cartoon tag, geography tag (seriously! my oldest even thought of that one!), toilet tag (don't ask), freeze tag, tunnel tag and A's favorite, tackle tag. That one didn't go over too well. I used to think I was fast. I'm not. My kids would stalk me out the way a lion does a wounded wildebeest. They have no mercy.

At least this one loves her mom. She wants to be everywhere I am. I guess this little guy does too.

This is what he does EVERY time I leave and he isn't able to come. He cries and says he'll miss me so much. He has to get at least one hug and one kiss. Then he gives me the "I love you" sign until I drive away. Very sweet, huh? Actually, it is very tempting to just sneak away so I don't have to go through this 5 minute, tearful goodbye. And why don't I just take him everywhere with me you ask. Take him to the store with you one time and you will never ask that question again. I promise. I decided to sign him up for Friday school this year. We'll see how it goes......

That is him ON the desk. You can join me in praying for his teacher. School starts this Friday for the enrichment school. It starts Tuesday here at home. Yep, fall is in the air!

Happy April Fool's Day!

I had good intentions for today. We were going to "celebrate" this silly, man-made holiday. I had some funny jokes up my sleeve along with dessert for supper. Here it is after supper (which we had a regular, boring meal) and I have not played one prank. But I have bore the brunt of several jokes.

My morning started earlier than I would have liked because someone woke up screaming for momma's milk. Day 5 of weaning is only a little easier than days 1-4.

I dropped the big kiddos off at Friday School. I decided since I was already out I might as well pick up a few groceries. Not sure why I thought I could run in and run out. I can't even do that when I am by myself. Of course, on the rare occasion I am by myself I have no desire to hurry.

first day of Friday school

At the store with the big W a kind, elderly gentleman handed me a cart. The kind of cart that has enough room for 3 little people. This cart had seen better days. It shouldn't have been in the line-up. I didn't want to seem ungrateful to the blue-vested man who went out of his way to get me a bigger cart, so I thanked him, buckled my precious cargo and strolled away. Or wobbled away. Or screeched away. Corbin noted that everyone could hear our wheels. We were the center of attention in every aisle. Not the way I want to feel when I'm having a bad hair day. My few items turn into 2 hours of shopping. Some jokester looked at my heaping cart and said, "Maybe I should listen to the weather report, looks like you are shopping for a snow storm." I shopped the wheels right off that cart. Literally. I made it to check out but you can safely bet that jalopy-of-a-cart was pushed into retirement. It drained me pushing around a 150 lb dilapidated cart with 3 hungry hippos wanting every prepackaged goody within reach. Not to mention momma hippo was shopping on a empty stomach. But I still saw the humor. 

I dug through the grocery bags and found some snacks for the road. Theirs consisted of cheese and crackers, mine consisted of chocolate. On the way home I thought something smelled kinda funky, like hot rubber. I slowed down just in case it was my tires. Because surely I could handle a blow-out at 45 mph. :-) I made it home! After I parked I noticed some steam coming from the hood. But, praise God I was home! After further inspection from Hubby and my favorite mechanic brother Josh (not to be confused with my other favorite mechanic brother Travis) it turns out there is a hole in a hose. A hose that won't be replaced until Monday at the earliest. The red van is parked until then. I still see the humor. Not as clearly though.

The sun was shining most of the day. That was a plus! Sunshine and fresh air is like gold in these parts. We used our time wisely! None of that cleaning or laundry for me. But alas! it was supper time and all my cute Fool's Day ideas were drained out of me. The creativity flew out of my noggin with the water that sprayed from the van's water pump hose. So, sloppy joes it was! You're not going to believe this but......I burnt the joe. Seriously! That made me see the humor again! I mean, how hard is it to brown ground beef?! Apparently, creativity wasn't the only thing that left my brain.

Then it rained. This is our pasture. Not our pond. I'm not opposed to a pond, but  not in this location. Everything else seemed funny to me tonight.  I was waiting for the next little joke. And a joke I did receive! I'll just tell you it involved a curious little one and an old diaper! (YUCK!)

So, tell me, how did you spend your April Fool's Day? And raise your hand if you have an extra vehicle lying around that seats eight.