Summer Reading

I cannot believe we are already at the end of June. It feels like the kids just got out for summer break. Over the summer Cathy has "summer reading" that is required as part of her first nine weeks English grade for next year. She has a list of books to choose from and must read two of them then take the associated AR test. Now this is the second time we have had to worry about AR testing over the summer. At her school summer reading was not required until middle school, so the first year you had to worry about it was the summer leaving fifth grade going to sixth.

Here comes the good news... they changed that and this year every student entering third grade and above has required summer reading. What does this mean for me? That Colin now has the same requirements for summer reading as his older sister (different list of course). So at lunch today I head out to the library to get the first book Cat wants to read, which of course they do not have. Here is hoping her school library will have it. However her school library is only open for testing and book rental two days a week, and only once a week after 2pm. So why am I writing about this you ask, well it is to vent and say, couldn't they make it a little easier for us working parents?

Photos

You might have noticed that I have new pictures up. We recently had new family photos made and I have to say a big Thank You to Stacy Davis who was our photographer and helped capture some beautiful pictures if I do say so myself ;) For any of you that live in our area and are interested, her website is below

www.stacydavisphotography.com

Busy Bee

With all things going on and summer time here I have gotten really behind in my blogging, but I would like to catch up on a couple of really exciting things. First I am the proud Aunt to two beautiful little boys. Vance and Dean arrived on April 26th, 2011 and I am happy to say they are both doing wonderful and growing like weeds.

Second we celebrated Kendall's first birthday. I can hardly believe it has already been a year, time really does pass too quickly, below area few pictures from her special day. I will add that she really enjoyed her cake...

Daddy...

Today is a day when we celebrate father's. I would like to take a moment and write about mine. There are so many fun memories that I could tell you about from days when I was really small, just sitting on daddy's lap or when we would go get a "grab bag" after school to as I got older learning to drive a car and the many memories of us and the horses going on trail rides or getting ready for the horse shows, but instead I think I would like to talk about what I learned from my daddy.

The lessons he taught me that I hold close to my heart. Lessons I hope to pass down to my children. He taught me that if I was going to do something to always strive to do my best, the importance of keeping my word, honesty and being true to myself. Most of all the strong sense of family he instilled in me, knowing that my family would always be there for me no matter what.

So it is on this day that I would like to tell him thank you, thank you for all the fun times we have had, for all the fun times we have ahead of us and for helping make me the woman I am today, one I hope makes you proud.

Iron Will

I will start this post by saying I am in know way an expert at being a mother. While it is true that I have four children and have learned a lot it is an adventure were I continue to learn and grow daily.


With Kendall being a year old now I decided it was time to transition from cup to bottle. My plan was to switch her cold turkey, the same way I have done it with all three of my older children. From my previous experiences I knew that although she may pitch a fit, she would get over it and when she got thirsty she would drink from the cup. Below is her opinion of said transition....

Three days in she still is throwing a fit at every feeding, and while she does drink from her cup it is after much protest. There have been many times over this past weekend were I wanted to give in and just give her the bottle back. But I know better than that, and this to shall pass.

Twice the Blessing

Please excuse that I am a little behind in this post. As most of you reading this are aware, my baby sister is pregnant with twins. I had the honor of hosting her baby shower the last weekend in March. We had a really great time, played a couple of fun games and most important she got lots of nice presents. A few pictures from our day are below.

Routine Stuff...

Below is the story of how I started my day yesterday and is an average morning for me. For those of you that are mothers perhaps you can relate... It's 5:45 I wake up to the alarm, after turning it off I hobble my way (still half asleep) to the kitchen to put a pot on to boil the water for Kendall's formula. Then while I am waiting on the water I gather up all the kids bookbags, and remove papers from the previous day, while signing behavior reports (for the smaller ones), I then repack the bookbags and get Cathy's soccer bag packed as she has a game after school. By this time the water is boiling so I set it over to cool. I then make Kendall's bottles for daycare, being sure to write her name and the date on each one.

Next I hear Kendall awaken so up the stairs I go to get her. She is standing in her crib and greets me with a smile and kiss as I pick her up, for a brief moment all is right in the world. We go back downstairs together were I get her dressed for the day and fix her morning bottle. I then place her in her seat and I hop in the shower. I finish my shower and get Kendall then we make our way back upstairs to wake up the other kids. I start by waking up Cathy, I lay her uniform out for her on the foot of her bed and then proceed to the boys room where my fun always begins ;) I get their uniforms for them and help Cody get dressed, not because he needs my help, but because it is MUCH faster than waiting on him to decide he is ready to get up. The boys and I then go to the bathroom passing Cathy's room where I have to remind her again that it is time to get up and get ready for school. I brush both the boys hair and help them with their teeth then back downstairs we go, time to fix breakfast.

I set Kendall on the floor where her brothers begin to fight over who is going to play with her, then go to the pantry and ask the boys what they would like. "Poptarts" I hear in reply, so I place them in the toaster and get their drinks. By this time Cathy has made her way down stairs, but only after me yelling to her upstairs once again that it is time to get ready. I prepare Cat's breakfast as well and have them all sitting at the table. I then make Kendall's formula and fix her cereal. I had just started feeding her the cereal when Cat finishes eating her breakfast. Yes, I think to myself, Cat can finish feeding her and I may actually get makeup on this morning. So I head to my bathroom to get ready and leave the boys at the table eating and Cat feeding Kendall.

As I return to the kitchen (after hearing lots of fighting) to tell everyone it is time to get their shoes on I see Cody sitting in the corner and part of his poptart on the floor. When I asked him why he threw his poptart on the floor, he told me that "Colin farted on it". As I am buckling Kendall in her carseat and making sure they all have shoes and bookbags I ask Cody how his brother was able to fart on his poptart, he never did tell me and Colin was laughing saying that Cody was not telling the truth. So the poptart that got farted on made its way to the trash and we made it out the door. Long story short I never know what to expet when I get up in the morning, but I know there will never be a dull moment.