First Day of School

I know, I know, I'm two days late with this post.  In my defense, we've had a busy, fun August, full of family, broken bones, and photographable moments.  This slacker-blogger is still trying to catch up. 

We ended summer with Brandon taking most of the last week off, so we had several good days together as a family heading into the school year.  We did not obsess over the start of the school year, and spend the last 2 weeks frantically shopping and organizing and going to sleep early in preparation for school.  We squeezed every last drop of summer that we could, and then hit the ground running this past Monday.

And by "hit the ground running", I mean I think everyone got breakfast, Emerson spent 35 minutes eating a bowl of oatmeal, and Dane had a meltdown because I had thrown away a pair of broken tennis shoes that were too small for him.  But other than that, a pretty smooth morning, and the kids were all very excited about the first day of school.

Especially this girl:

She and Daddy took the liberty of selecting a first-day-of-school outfit, and I let it go and just let her wear the selected outfit, even though I had something slightly different in mind for this momentous occasion.

Aidan found out at Meet the Teacher that his best friend from last year was in his class again this year, so he was pretty excited to see him again.

Dane also has a classroom full of buddies (and a pregnant teacher that he will probably only have for half a year) and forgot to bring his marker to school so all of his friends could sign his cast.

Poor Dane-o and his broken arm.  Thankfully, it's feeling much better, he's off the pain medication, and has a little more of his spark back.  And by "spark", I mean I had to tell him to quit jumping on the bed and to please stop playing football in the living room. It's going to be a long 6-8 weeks in the cast.  (Sidenote:  Dane reads a lot during school, and today he took his copy of the young adults' edition of the Tim Tebow autobiography.  And he read the ENTIRE BOOK today while at school.  I have no idea if he actually did any school work.)

BACKPACKS!  The elementary-schoolers were happy to show off their new backpacks. When we were in the store picking them out a few weeks ago, Emerson was all ready to go with her pink Disney princess backpack.  Until she saw this Avengers bag with "Daddy Thor" on it.  It's maybe time to cut your hair when your daughter is convinced that the fictional character on her backpack is actually her father.

And where was Harper during all of the first-day-of-school picture taking fun?  Pouting on the driveway with her new backpack, refusing to take pictures with the other kids.

The Non-Synoptic

I have this little problem.

You see, I like to take cute pictures that have all four of my children in them.  I love it when all four children are all looking in the same direction and smiling.  I'm boring like that.

But you see, I have this problem.

Let's call her the non-synoptic.

She's not so great at the picture taking.

She marches to the beat of her own little drum.

If everyone else is sitting, she is standing.  Or dancing.

She's the non-synoptic.

Oh, how I love my little non-synoptic.  Even when I can't get a decent picture of all four littles because of her.

Brave

When we were at the beach last week, Emerson got "BRAVE".

She LOVED the beach.

She would wade about waist-deep into the water, goggles firmly in place, and attack each wave as it came splashing onto her.

She put those fists up, got her game face on, and she OWNED those Galveston waves.

Screaming, "I am BRAVE!"

Girl was in the zone

and ready to take on anything that little corner of the Gulf of Mexico could throw at her

Those waves didn't know who they were messin' with.

If they thought they could take on Emmy, they had another think comin'.

Because this girl is BRAVE!

February and March

At one point I had big plans to get all caught up on the blog, post about 10 posts about every little thing that has happened in the past few months, and edit about 90 pictures.

Well.  That didn't happen.  But I am going to go ahead and post a handful of pictures from some fun things from February and March and call it a day.  I'm sure there's a million little stories I'm going to forget because I never wrote it out anywhere, but life will go on.  Hopefully I can be a better blogger this month, because May promises to be a fun one!

At the end of February, we hopped up to my parents' house for a quick visit to go to a wedding.  The littles made cookies with MoMo,


looked for bugs with "Zane cousin",

and "held" baby Nora.

Baby Nora is going to be a big sister in September.  Have I mentioned that?  She'll just be a mere 14 months older than her little sister.  More babies for me to hold :)

The next morning, we loaded up and headed out to Laurel's first birthday party!

Laurel, who will also be a big sister very soon.  Her baby sister will be born in July.  And even more babies for me to hold :)

This past Spring Break, (yes, two months ago) Brandon took a group of high school and junior high students to Memphis for some mission work and BBQ. Thanks to a bunch of people who got the flu/fish hooks caught in their scalp/had car accidents/ruptured their appendixes, I had the privilege of working in the ER several days over Spring Break. Other people's misfortunes ensure my job security. And a small part of me gets EXCITED when someone has a heart attack.  It's a weird job.  As tradition has now dictated, Dane and Aidan spent a few days with my dad over their Spring Break. Before heading out to the Lazy S Ranch, they helped my dad take pictures of a baseball team.

And this picture of Aidan was taken which is one of my new favorite pictures ever.

I'd love to tell you about everything they did on the ranch,

but since it involved turtles, pond swimming, guns, candy,

bows and arrows, and Diet Dr. Pepper, I probably don't want to know.

A couple other little tidbits from recently...

Dane's front top tooth has been loose for about two months.  It has now turned grey, and sits at a crooked angle, yet he refuses to let us pull it.  At 8 1/2 years old, I think he's just determined to be the oldest kid ever to lose a front tooth.

Aidan had mono back in February.  We thought he had strep throat.  Then we thought he didn't have strep, but just bad tonsillitis.  Then we finally learned he had mono, and he ended up missing over a week of school.  Poor guy just felt so sick for about a week or so, then he was back to his normal Aidan-y self, but still had to sit out of PE and recess for a solid month.

I went to sign Emerson up for kindergarten (kindergarten!!) last week, and realized I have lost her social security card.  Of course.  The one kid that actually NEEDS her social security card, and it is no where to be found.  So I get to spend my day off this week at the social security office.  Fun times!  She started on swim team a couple of weeks ago and LOVES it.

Harper is still, well, Harper.  And the reason we have had to enforce the "no more boys peeing in the backyard" rule.  The other day Harper was playing outside while I was doing dishes in the kitchen.  After a few minutes, she comes inside and tells me "poo poo on the back porch!"  I think to myself, "silly girl.  There's no poo poo on the back porch.  It's probably just a squished bug or dirt or something."  Upon further investigation, as it turns out, there WAS poo poo on the back porch.  Poo poo that Harper had then STOMPED AROUND IN while wearing her pretty pink glittery shoes, then proceeded to track into the FRESHLY MOPPED kitchen.  Just so you know, there's no chapter in the "What to Expect" books titled "What To Do When Your Toddler Defecates On The Back Porch Then Stomps Around In It Wearing $9 Walmart Glittery Shoes Before Tracking It On A Freshly Mopped Kitchen Floor".  And because there is no chapter, I will tell you that it involves this:  a bathtub, bleach spray, a hose with a spray nozzle, and just THROWING AWAY the pink glittery shoes.  Trust me, they're not worth cleaning.  So now, Harper has a pair of hand-me-down pink sparkly sandals that she calls her "pink sparkle shoes without the poo poo."  This. Girl.

Hopefully will be back before the end of the month,

Things I had Forgotten About When I Checked My Camera Card

I went to pull a couple of pictures off my camera the other day, and found some I forgot I had from the last several weeks.

We are deep into the "Disney princess phase" with both girls right now. At any given moment, Harper and Emerson are princesses, or mommies, or teachers (when they play school, both of my bossy little girls are the teacher), or kitties and doggies. Even so, it was a little trial and error before I figured out what hair style the girls wanted when they requested "Tangled hair". Behold, the Tangled hair:

And just so you know, Mulan hair is just a regular ponytail (also sometimes known as "dance class hair").

It seems like our family went through a "sick spell" for a few weeks in February and March. Aidan was diagnosed with mono, and was a pretty sick little guy for about a week before he was able to get back to school. He is STILL banned from contact sports (aka outdoor football and living room wrestling) for another week. Harper was sick with asthma and ear infections for a while, and even Emerson had a fever for a couple of days. Thankfully, we have all recovered. Aidan was not to sick to help Dane find this guy in the backyard:

(the boys' hair in this picture makes me cringe. They have both had haircuts since this picture was taken.)

And you better believed they tormented their sweet little sisters, and chased them around the yard with this poor frog.

On a far more rainy day a couple of weeks ago, a couch cushion fort was called for:

Recipe for couch cushion fort:

Take all cushions from falling-apart, tired, worn out living room set, and combine with living room corner with convenient end table. Add blankets, pillows, and as many flashlights as there are children. Give 6 year old stuffed animals and books, and let chill for 2 hours. Best served with popcorn.

Quick Emerson story...

A couple of months ago, I made the mistake of telling Emerson that she was going to go to kindergarten next year. That she would ride the bus with her brothers, and go to the big school with them and get to eat in the cafeteria with her friends every day.

Well.

Speaking of every day, Emerson has asked me EVERY DAY since then if she is going to kindergarten tomorrow. When I say no, she asks me if she is going to swim team tomorrow. Sorry, sweetie. Lately, she has been asking if the wedding is tomorrow. (My beloved babysitter is getting married in June. The first babysitter we ever left Emerson with, and one of her favorite people on earth. And Emmy is going to be her flower girl.)

Anyway, Emerson is a bit excited about kindergarten, and it tends to come up in conversations she has with everyone. Everyone. She tells her grandparents on the phone. She yells it to friends across the church parking lot. Her pediatrician has been notified. I was grocery shopping the other day, and I had to take the girls into the bathroom at Kroger for Harper to go potty. As I'm holding Harper on the toilet, I notice Emerson, who is standing outside of the stall, bend over and notice another lady's feet in the stall next to us. Then I hear a certain unmistakable voice, "Hi, I'm Emerson. And I'm going to kindergarten next year!" If this poor lady next to me thought she was going to be able to steal a quick moment of peace and quiet in the bathroom, she was sadly mistaken.

Hoping you get to pee in peace today,

Family Pictures: Christmas Edition

What's a holiday with family without family pictures?

It's been a while since we had a group picture of Brandon's side of the family with ALL of us in it. And the last time we did was about three grandchildren ago.

And after minimal photoshop magic, I think it turned out pretty well.

Brandon's Grandma Helen joined in for some of the pictures,

Then we got just the kids and their grandparents.

(Small sidenote: A man with a very impressive mullet who works at the haircut place down the street cut Aidan's hair into a circa 1984 chili-bowl cut the other day. It was a sad day. I'm not a stomp-my-feet and scream in the haircut place kind of girl, so we tipped the nice Mullet Man and went on about our day. But hair will grow!)
Over Thanksgiving, I missed getting a good picture of just my four kids, so I thought this would be a good chance. The kids were dressed, everyone had shoes on, hair was fixed. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, yeah. Harper.

Girlfriend was DONE with all the picture-taking, and she wasn't afraid to let us know about it.
Oh, little sister with the big, big attitude. Perhaps I should make a compilation of all of the holiday pictures that have demonstrated your signature pose:

Exhibit A, Christmas:

Exhibit B, Halloween:

Oh, LoLo. I can just see us compiling a photo album to show to any future suitors when you are 23 and your father finally lets you date.

Did I say 23? I meant 27.