Soooo......

I THINK kindergarten was a hit today... but I can't really tell. I'm guessing 'yes' because when I first saw Meagan, she was very happy and excited. But before we had a chance to talk about her day, she found out that I had driven the van to pick them up, which meant we would NOT be walking / scooting home. She was NOT happy about that and started to cry. Seriously, though, it's 90-something degrees out, and I just don't feel like walking nearly a mile right now. Anyway, after a few minutes of waiting outside, she said, "I'm hot." So she finally bought into the idea of the van. She did not, however, let up on insisting that she was mad. Whatever.

Since I knew we needed to do after-school snack, and I knew everyone was HOT, and I knew it would help to smooth things over with my drama queen, I decided to take them to Mr. Freeze for an ice cream after-school snack. So they are watching Pokemon and eating ice cream. As soon as their show is over, the tv goes off, and it's homework time. But 20 minutes of cool-down time seems to have had the effect I was hoping for.

She has tomorrow off, and will go back again on Wednesday.

Booya Baby!

Last night as I tucked Meagan into bed, I said to her, "Guess what tomorrow is. It's your first day of kindergarten."
"You mean to stay all day?"
"Yes to stay all day. When you go to sleep and then wake up, it will be your first day of kindergarten."
"Booya Baby!!" (followed by a happy dance)

Needless to say, the child was super excited to go to school. She told her Daddy that she was going to get to learn today. I love that she is excited about learning.

So, breakfast this morning...

(Yes, she is eating a soft pretzel for breakfast. Don't hate.)

Three lunches to pack.

Three back packs. Three scooters.

Three smiling faces.

(Aren't they good lookin' kids?!)

We stopped outside of the school for a quick picture under the tree before she went inside.

She ran into one of her best friends in the whole world just before we went inside. (Isn't he adorable?)

Then she found her way inside to her classroom and her locker with no problem. I'm SURE she really didn't need me there for anything. But I went anyway. It's my last ever first day of kindergarten. How could I just stay outside?

All of my babies have grown up. I am now the mother of three school children. No more babies. No more toddlers. But big kids. Makes my heart ache a little. But it makes me happy at the same time. I'm so proud of them... for what good kids they are and what sweet hearts they have. And I know this is part of life. But there is a little part of me... okay, maybe a little bigger than a little... that doesn't want to let them grow up and leave the safe space that is mamma's protective reach. And yet, I watch them go. She will be good. I know she will.

I can deal with this... as long as she still cuddles me on occasion.

First Day

Journaling: First day of school for the boys. But not just any first day of school * first day in a new school with all new teachers and classmates. Reason to be nervous? Maybe a little. But both boys woke up ready for the day. As we headed off (on scooters... as we live close enough to be walkers) there was an air of positive attitude.... a good way to start the first day.

(Click here to view full credits.)

I Want This.

I WANT this... Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet.

Want it a lot. The end.

Day 3 Comes to an End

The boys have made it through their first (half) week of school. They seem to like it so far. I've heard lots of good. No bad reports yet. And the good news.... no one has homework this weekend!

They're watching a movie tonight and staying up late. They're happy.

A few days' reprieve then they start all over again on Monday. Enjoy the weekend!

Spa Day

Today was officially the last non-weekend day before my BABY starts school. *Sniff sniff* I realized today just how quickly she is growing up! Well, she was in desperate need of a hair trim - she wouldn't have anything to do with actually CUTTING it, but I was able to convince her that it's good for your hair to trim it to keep it healthy. I figured, since we were going to be at the salon for her hair cut anyway, maybe I could treat my big girl to a big girl manicure. She was thrilled!

(Here's the hair cut... yes, after ALL the DRAMA the last time around, she requested bangs again. She seems completely enamoured by them this time, so all is well.)

One of the best, and most difficult parts of getting a manicure is picking out the color. I mean, there was a whole WALL of colors to choose from. How's a girl supposed to pick just one... In fact, she did suggest that maybe she could get a different color on each hand, or maybe even on each finger. I know I'm a meanie, but I made her choose just ONE... I didn't want to torture the poor lady doing the painting!

Yes, THIS is the color she picked. Bright yellow. She has a thing for yellow lately. Especially yellow cars, which she calls BINGO's. Plus, as she so articulately pointed out to me, the lockers at school are yellow. I guess it IS very important to match the lockers...??? Whatever makes her happy.
So we spent our last day of just the two of us - pre-kindergarten Meagan and a Mommy of 3 school-age kids (*more sniffing*). We had a ball together. First the bike ride. The park. Then the salon. Love it. More importantly, SHE loved it too.

That makes a mamma's heart happy.

Snow Cute

Still working on my goal of getting the year scrapped... I'm still way back in the early months. These pictures are from February. Yeah, I've got a ways to go I think.

Journaling: All bundled up and ready to go play in the snow. Purple Tinkerbell knit hat, big purple coat, and pink and purple snow pants to match. Your eyes lit with the excitement of all the fun yet to come... the snow angels you'll make, the snowballs you'll throw, and the snow forts you'll build. With all your snow wear snugly in place, and a huge smile on your face, you set outside for some snow fun. When you come back in, you can be sure there will be hot cocoa with marshmallows, some dry clothes, a blanket, and a movie waiting to get you all warmed up. Enjoy your outing in the snow! Bundle up. It's cold outside!

(Click here to view full credits)

Day 3

It is now day three. On day two, we were all a little slow getting up, but managed to get out the door on time. Day two, Meagan had her kindergarten assessment with her teacher to determine whether she can rhyme, recognize letters, identify letter sounds, etc. It lasted about an hour, at the end of which, my daughter informed me clearly that she is "the smartest girl in the whole school." Good to know. :)

Day three... we all got up pretty well this morning... the house was only 67 degrees, as we had left the windows open last night... brrrr... so we all lugged blankets around with us as we got ready... which may have played a part in our leaving five minutes later. We still managed to get to school in plenty of time. This morning, however, I had to will my legs to move... one in front of the other... at a relatively quick pace, as I was trying to keep up with three kids on scooters. We dropped the boys off, and headed back home - thankfully at a much slower pace. Meagan kept stopping in every bit of shade she passed. At one point she told me she needed to be carried. "Me too" I thought to myself.

Later, however, we purposely went out again. This time on bikes. Meagan and I biked most of the way to the school, and then turned down a little side road that leads to a park. We followed a bike path through the park to the playground area, where we parked and played for about 20 minutes. Then biked through the park and back home again to get ready for lunch.

I am thinking I may try to find a hair salon nearby that will trim Meagan's hair for me... and maybe we'll get girly manicures if it's not too expensive. Just a fun girly thing to do on her last school day before she starts school. We have 2 1/2 hours until we have to go get the boys, so we'll see what we actually have time for.

First Day

Don't yell at me... this will be a post with no pictures. I am just way too tired right now. But I thought I would at least let you know how the boys' first day went. They all got up really well; everyone was in a pretty positive, upbeat mood. We got ready on time - early even - and had a few minutes to snap a few pictures before we left on our walk / scooter ride. Fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves waiting outside of the school... yes I managed to get somewhere EARLY! Mark this day!

I also managed to drop both of my boys off at school without shedding so much as a single tear (whether or not it will be the same story on Monday when Meagan goes is yet to be seen). We headed home, got the lawn mowed, played outside, did NOT clean the house *lol* and had an all-around good day. Meagan even decided to bake her brothers some brownies for a surprise after-school snack - she used her Easy Bake Oven... which, I might add, took me a minute to figure out... apparently, I was trying to put the cake pan in the wrong side... doesn't work like that... I felt dumb. Anyway.

The boys both had homework to do, so they had their snacks and started in on their homework right away. I can see that homework with Isaac will require a balancing act - first of all, my FULL attention, balanced with my almost-complete silence. He just doesn't like people to talk to him. So I thought I would get up and leave him alone. When I came back, however, he had made a mistake. When I tried to talk to him about it to help him understand, he got super frustrated and said he hates second grade homework. A delicate balance it will be - otherwise, it will be a LONG year. *sigh* He is SUCH a smart boy! I am praying that he gains his confidence soon.

After dinner, Daddy surprised the kids with a trip to Mr. Freeze for some first-day-of-school ice cream. Then a quick trip to Wal-Mart (for a picture that I soon found out printed to the store in Michigan, rather than the store in Ohio... gonna have to change that and try again. I laughed at myself.) Then home, showers, and bedtime. We shall start again tomorrow. I wonder how many days before they no longer get up willingly and excitedly in the mornings? We'll see.

* On a side note, I signed Meagan up for dance class this evening. She will be starting in the next few weeks. She's in a class of 5-7 year olds, doing tap, jazz and ballet. She could not be more excited! Giddy is the word I would use. She has been doing her own form of tap and ballet around the house every day for the past week, so when I told her I found a dance class for her, she got a huge grin on her face from ear to ear. I'm excited to see her... hope she enjoys it as much as she thinks she will. *

So Fashion

I think I told you that the kids had school pictures the other day. The boys put on some nice shirts... they looked very handsome, but did not make a big fuss about it. Meagan, on the other hand, was OBSESSED with her picture outfit... scarf included. She just thought she was hot stuff! Here's her outfit she wore:

Journaling: 'This is you all the way. You are a fashionista! You are always making up your own outfits by combining skirts and shirts and using them in new and inventive ways. You are 5, but you are SO aware of your clothes - do they match, do they look cute... One day you looked at me and said, Mama, I'm so fashion, huh?'

(Click here to view full credits)

Midway Fun

This past weekend was our annual trip to the Allen County Fair with Grandma & Grandpa. I, however, forgot to take my camera with me, so I had to settle for using my cell phone. I still haven't transferred the pictures over to my laptop, or I would share with you. We went with Mom & Mike, and met Brandon, Jenny, Carmen, Delaney, Missy & Matt over there. The kids had ride bracelets to get on as many rides as they wanted from noon until 5:00... we let them ride from about 1:30 until 4:00... enough is enough, ya know?!

The best part of the day for me was when all three of my kids got on the 1001 Nights ride (see it here). Meagan was barely tall enough, but she passed the height test and was super pumped to go on it. The first time around, she and Sebastian went. Isaac went with Grandma to ride something else. The look(s) on Meagan's face were priceless! She went from great big smiles and laughter to 'I'm not sure this was a good idea.' In the end, though, she got off and ran up to me yelling, "Let's go again!!!" The second time, Isaac decided to get on with them. I guess if Meagan can make it through, then it's probably safe for him to do as well. More funny faces all around for us to laugh at while they rode. They all had a blast!

Anyway, my sweet friend Krista released one of the best kits EVER just in time for fair time! Here's a layout I did with it using pictures from last year's trip to the fair:

Journaling: It is always so much fun to visit the Allen County Fair with Grandma & Grandpa B. This year you got ride bracelets again, and revisited some of your favorites from last year... the airplanes, the big wavy racing slide, and the carousel to name a few. You also ventured out and tried new things this year... like the school bus ride. I am pretty sure that one will not be added to the list of favorites - at least for Meagan. August '09

You can check out Krista's kit on her blog here... there's a free download to go with it if you're interested!

(Click here to view full credits)

Preview

Yesterday was a big day around here. It was the day for finalizing school supplies, getting them labeled and ready to go to school. It was also the day for a 'New Kids' party for the boys and Preview Night for everyone.

After lunch I started sorting through the pile of bags of school supplies that were sitting in the floor in my otherwise clean office. Each little thing had to be labeled. Let's just say it took a while. I grossly underestimated how long this process was going to take, and should have started MUCH sooner than I did. Oh well.

Here is the pile of supplies we had to deal with yesterday:


Later we added two more pair of shoes and one more box of gallon baggies to the mix. Finally, school supplies are done!

I dropped the boys off at the school at 4:30 for their New Kids party, and we all went back at 5:30 for Preview. We went to Sebastian's classroom first, then to the cafeteria to sign up for conferences, then Isaac's classroom, then Meagan's. It was a lot of activity crammed into a relatively short period of time. Everyone's teachers seem to be super nice. I think it's going to be a good year.

After we got home, we proceeded to walk back to the school. Mostly because I didn't know how much time I should allow for the morning walk on Wednesday. It took us 17 minutes to get from our house to the school front door. So we'll go with 20 minutes for walking, and an extra 5 at least for the kids to get to their lockers and classrooms. We were talking about getting bike locks and letting them ride their bikes to school. That would be great! Would significantly cut back on the time!

So today is our last day of summer vacation. We are going to go out for lunch somewhere fun (not sure where yet) and then maybe (depending on the weather) spend a bit of time at the park. Also on the list of things to do today: grocery shopping (which also includes bike lock shopping, so at least the kids have something to look forward to).

Squishy Face

I took some funny pictures the other day of Meagan playing outside in her full tutu get-up. She was riding her bike in a bright orange tutu, hot pink leotard, and tennis shoes. That's my girl! I'd say easily three days a week she is in a costume of some sort. She cracks me up!

These photos are unedited, so sorry for the funny sizing and color/brightness/etc.

These were just a FEW of the pictures I got of her being a total kook! So last night I decided to play around with them a bit and put this layout together. No way I can leave the other pictures undone, so I'm sure I'll do at least one more layout with these. They're just too much fun and really are a very good representation of my silly daughter!

Journaling: On this very ordinary day, I was lucky enough to capture a very typical silly you.

(Click here to view full credits)

Just Around the Corner

Can you believe school is just around the corner?! As of tomorrow morning, we are officially one week away from the boys' first day of school. Wow! I got a call from the school guidance counselor today... honestly, my first thought was, 'How have my kids gotten in trouble already? They haven't even started!" No joke, that was the first fleeting thought that ran through my mind. Made me laugh. Especially when she was simply calling to invite the boys to a 'New Kid in Class' party on Monday. They have designated returning students from each homeroom come to meet with the kids who are new to the school... help them get acquainted, figure out the way of things, develop a new familiar face to help them feel at ease on the first day. Plus, they feed them pizza for dinner while they're there. Nice!

So this Thursday is orientation, which entails paying school fees, turning in medical forms, etc, and HAVING SCHOOL PICTURES TAKEN... already! Well, okay. So we'll be doing that Thursday morning. Then next Monday (after the New Kids party) they have a preview night, when the kids get to see their class rooms, find their lockers, take their school supplies in and drop them off. After that, Wednesday school starts for the boys. Just like that.

So tonight we started shifting toward a school-time sleep schedule. Not an easy transition to make from a loosey-goosey summer sleep schedule. During the summer, the kids stay out 'til 9:00 or later, then come inside and settle in for at least one movie before bedtime... that's the routine almost every night. So now, instead of 10:45 bedtimes, we're trying to get back to 8:00 bedtimes. Tonight it was 9:15. Better, but we still have a ways to go. Wish me luck!

One thing I will say is that it is nice to hear quiet in the house so early in the night. I haven't heard a noise for the past half hour. I can live with that!

Office Space

Uggh! I just HAVE to post something else so that those dumb spiders aren't the first things I see when I open my blog page. I've had just about enough of looking at them!

So I'll show you what I've been working on off and on throughout the day. Since we moved in here, we've managed to get almost every room pretty much put together. At least furniture in place, and belongings straightened and orderly, even if not everything is put away just right. The one major exception to that has been our front room / office. Other than the really pretty mission-style desk that Lucas got for me, the room has looked pretty much like a disaster from day one. The other day, though, I found some bookshelves on sale at Target. They were running an on-line special with %'s off, plus free shipping, plus an extra $$ off just for fun I guess. Anyway, I got both bookshelves together for a pretty good price.

They came yesterday. I put them together today. I even used a power tool! *LOL* Then worked for what felt like HOURS on getting the office organized. I got all the random papers, boxes, bags, drawers, photos, frames, and whatever else out of the floor and into a spot (or into the trash). My plan is to frame a few of my layouts and hang them for decorations. Plus get a soft comfy chair (maybe the recliner that's in the basement at the moment... who knows?) to sit along one wall. That way, it will be a good room for quiet time - reading, studying, whatever.

All that will have to come further down the road. For now, I am just happy to have the junk off the floor and have a presentable looking room as the first thing people see when they walk in.

Family Photo Album

I was informed by my husband that I MUST post pictures of these spiders that I'm making such a big deal about. Clearly, he is just feeling left out of the action! So, here ya go, Honey! I hope you get as grossed out as I did!

Spider Number 1... the one I sprayed with air and startled, but, unfortunately, am pretty sure I did NOT kill... Thus, I am in no hurry to do landscaping again any time soon!

Spider Number 2... This baby is no longer with us. Woohoo!

So I totally apologize to those of you who have serious spider issues... I've never been one of those people, but I can now majorly empathize with you. Please forgive me.

Show & Tell Time

Have some layouts to share with you...


Journaling: After quite some time of sharing a single DS, the boys started to ask to be allowed to each have their own. We gave it some thought, but had never really given them an answer. Until one day... our 1st parent-teacher conference with Isaac's first-grade teacher was a little rough. He said he was having trouble with Isaac at times acting out or lashing out at other students. And Isaac was still doing a lot of thumb sucking during class time. Lucas sat down with Isaac and had a talk with him. And a promise was made... if Isaac would commit to really working on his attitude, & his teacher had a positive report for us at the 2nd conference near the end of the year, then Isaac could have his own DS, and Sebastian could keep the one we already had. Well, this was a great motivation for Isaac, and his daddy was true to his word. After a VERY good report at the 2nd meeting, Lucas took Isaac to pick out his very own DS.

(Click here to view full credits)

***

This is Meagan and her 'boyfriend.' His mom took this picture of them while they were out and about getting ice cream and spending time together (it was actually the evening that I had to take Isaac to the ER for ankle x-rays).

(Click here to view full credits)

***

The first of what I am sure will be many Lego Discovery Center layouts. Maybe I'll end up doing a mini Chicago album or something?? We'll see. For now, it's just one layout... :)

Journaling: I'm imagining I can build the world out of Legos.

(Click here to view full credits)

***

Okay, Grandma, PLEASE don't take offense to this... This is in NO way a reflection of your hair-cutting skills... it was really meant to highlight her reaction to having bangs. :)

Journaling: Today Grandma cut your hair, and she gave you bangs. Mildly put, you were NOT a fan. You kept smushing them down on your head saying, 'Did they get long yet?' Sorry Baby Girl, that's just life. Sometimes you just have a bad hair day & you gotta wait it out.

(Click here to view full credits)

As a side note, Meagan saw this layout the other day, and she said, "Mommy, I think I want those short hairs on my face again." *Sigh* This child is impossible to figure out! LOL!

It's Becoming an Epidemic

Tonight, my neighbor and I were sitting outside on HER porch this time, when the kids came running around the house hollering about a big black spider on the porch by the front door. We, of course, HAD to go see if it was the same one. Unfortunately, no, it was yet another really abnormally large spider. It was in the same corner of my front porch, only it was way up at the top of the brick wall. We threw bouncy balls at it - no luck. It was totally indifferent to little flying rubber things. We then poked at it with an extension painting rod... you know the expression 'Wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole"... well, we decided this one was at least 15 feet, so it was okay. She ended up knocking the spider down from its perch to within reasonable reach of the spray can. So, once again, I busted out the spider/scorpion killer and sprayed. Funny thing, it just sat there. It was at this point that I realized my can was only spraying out air. I shook it, and turned it upside down. This time when I sprayed it, it left a wet mark on the wall... yup, now it's working. (The BAD news is, however, that LAST NIGHT when I sprayed the first larger-than-life spider, I probably only scared it with air. Which, unfortunately, means it is most likely alive and well today. That just stinks.)

Anyway, I sprayed and sprayed. I sprayed it so much that the spider had a white foamy film on it. It started to run in circles (at which point I actually felt bad for it... my neighbor, however, felt absolutely NO remorse about any of it, LOL). The last step was to, once again, get the extension painting rod and smash the ever-livin' out of the thing. So now I have smashed spider corpse on my front porch. Will hose it off tomorrow when I'm feeling a little less grossed out by it all.

You know how there's always one house in the neighborhood where all the kids like to go hang out and play in the yard.... I am that house for really large spiders apparently. I think I like kids better.

Today

Today was a good day. We all got up a little before 9:00, which makes for a nice rested morning without feeling like absolutely the entire day has disappeared. We played lazy for the morning, just chillin' and enjoying each other. Then around 11:00, we started getting ourselves together... packed a lunch, some drinks, some snacks, and headed to the pool. Three hours at the pool. Three hours of sun and 90+ degree weather. Three hours of fun and splashing with my kiddos. Let's just say, my face now looks like it could glow in the dark. Maybe it will fade by tomorrow.... maybe?

Afterward, we made a stop at the kids' school, as class lists were posted today. Each one of the kids has at least one person in their class that they at least know to some degree. I am happy for that. I also found out what time school starts in the mornings... nice bit of information to have before the 1st day of school.

We left school, and headed to Mr. Freeze for an ice cream afternoon snack. I got a chocolate ice cream cone coated in that crunchy stuff that is kind of like nuts and sprinkles mixed. YUM. That crunchy stuff always takes me right back to my childhood. I remember my dad would take me on occasion to this little ice cream stand way out in the country, and I often got ice cream cones with crunchy sprinkle coating on it. That or a turtle sundae. But neither was I allowed to eat in his truck because, well, because kids and ice cream = mess beyond belief. Totally understand that now.

Anyway.

We made pizzas for dinner. Watched 2 movies and relaxed after a long day of sunshine. Then... then I started sanding a dresser. My mom and I started stripping the paint off of the dresser that's in Meagan's room. The stripping agent didn't really work. So I started sanding it. Let's just say, I worked on it for about an hour. That was all I could take for tonight.

We spent the rest of the night with our neighbors. Ended up at their house, watching a movie (Shrek) and talking and having warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. Seeing as we just got home 30 minutes ago, and it is now 11:45, I am hoping the kids will sleep in tomorrow. I, however, will be up bright and early to work on the dresser before it gets unbearably hot.

Oh, and I saw the biggest non-tarantula-ish spider I've ever seen in person (that wasn't in a zoo, I should say). It was just hanging out on our front porch... a fact that I'm not too thrilled with. I'm afraid if there's one, there are more. I dug through the garage and found wasp/roach/spider killer spray. The can says it will kill a scorpion... this thing was about that big, so I'm hoping it worked. However, I sprayed it and that sucker went FLYING across the porch. I screamed like a girl. Granted, I am a girl, but still. It went into the bush right in the front of our house. Now I will be eternally paranoid when working in my flower beds. Really. It was way too big for comfort. Gives me the heeby jeebies. I hope it's dead now. And that it didn't leave any gigantic spider babies behind. Eew.... I need to stop talking about this now if I'm going to sleep tonight. LOL.

Change of Plans

Originally I had planned on a trip to the community pool yesterday. However, by noon, it still had not broken into the 80 degree range... a bit cool for a day at the swimming pool. We decided to go to the zoo instead.

I haven't been to the Toledo Zoo for six years. It felt good to go back. They had a baby polar bear and a baby giraffe. Some stuff had definitely changed. And we didn't stay long enough to see everything (because, believe it or not, by 2:30, it was closer to the high 80's and we were all hot and sweating!).

So here is the baby polar bear. Not such a tiny baby anymore. He (she?) was born in December 2009, so I guess he's had plenty of time for growing up.

My little bears....

After the polar bears, we headed to the land of Africa. There was a cool look-out area where you could see all of the animals walking around. The kids spent quite a bit of time trying to find all the animals that were out there.

We decided to take a ride on the safari train to take a closer look.

The hippos were very active... I've never seen them actually get up and move around the way they did. It was pretty cool to watch actually.

Isaac thought the rhinos were stinky! LOL

Best Breakfast Sandwich Ever

This was my breakfast yesterday morning. It was so yummy, I had to take a picture of it (I turned it around so you can't see the bite out of it, LOL). I thought I would share it with you, in case you want to give it a try. I diced up some green peppers and tomatoes (was going to do onion to, but I was just being lazy). I warmed them in my little egg-frying skillet for a few minutes until they were warmed through. Then I cracked an egg right over top of them, broke the yolk and smushed it around a bit. Salt and pepper. Fried it on both sides. Then stuck it on a toasted english muffin with warm ham and melted cheese. YUM. My new favorite Saturday-morning-breakfast sandwich. :)

This and That

It's official... the kids miss DADDY!! Already talking about how long until he comes home. Talking about how far away California is. Just missing him. Isaac has been a little edgy the last few days, and I think it may have a little something to do with the fact that he just plain misses his dad.


***
Well, you recall that yesterday I was feeling rather yucky and just wanted to fall over and sleep. Um, yeah. That's exactly what I did. I went to bed and didn't wake up until about 10:00 this morning... and didn't get up until almost 10:30. Yikes. So, the day felt like kind of a bust to get started. It's tough to lose that much of the morning. We recovered as best we could, though.

The kids played outside for a little while during what was left of the morning, until it started raining. We decided that, since we were gonna have to be inside anyway, and since we REALLY needed to go grocery shopping, that we would make a trip to Meijer to pass some time. It POURED while we were there. The rain on the roof sounded like an army invasion. Crazy rain! Which, led us to the thought process of needing rain boots. The kids will be walking to school this year, and rain is inevitable. True, I could probably drive them, but maybe it would just be more fun to walk in the rain... but only if we have umbrellas and rain boots. I wasn't sure if we would even be able to find any boots, but they actually had quite a cute selection. Here's what we settled on...


Meagan's:

Isaac's:

Sebastian's:

Mine:

I seriously love these boots. They are super comfy, and I just love the fact that they look like a pink and orange giraffe! How could one possibly find better rain boots than that?

***

I didn't tell you... the other night (Sunday I believe), we had our first puppet show around our house. Sebastian wrote the script, they all made their own puppets, and everyone played their part. It was hilarious! I recorded it, but the video is at least 10 minutes long... wasn't sure anyone would actually want to sit and watch a 10-minute video. Here's a still shot at least. Isaac, who, by the way, was decked out in his pirate costume, made a dragon alien puppet (I would expect nothing less from him, really). Meagan's was... well, I'm not sure. I am guessing it has something to do with a princess. And Sebastian's puppet was named Noah, if I remember right. They used props, like EVERY stuffed animal they own as forest animals, clothing as the tent, and even red, orange, and yellow colored pencils for camp fire logs. Loved the creativity... just the fact that Sebastian was able to work an alien dragon into a script! Impressive!

***

Currently, Meagan is crashed out on the couch behind me. I'm gonna carry her off to bed and go to bed myself. The plan for tomorrow is to pack a lunch and head to the community pool. And then have dinner with our neighbors later in the evening. Hoping for good weather! Just a few more days left of summer break, and I want to use it up doing FUN stuff!