First Day of School

I know this post has taken a while for me to do, but at the beginning of the school year, life gets a little hectic. August 9 was the first day of school and both of the girls were real excited.

Their teachers say that they are doing wonderfully. G has only hit one child in the first week and a half and F has only brought one "reteach" slip home for talking to loud in the bathroom.

Yep -- sounds like my girls.

G - ready for Kindergarten

F - a big 1st grader now

F&G getting off the bus.

D's First Haircut

I'm not too sure about this...

Hey, It's not so bad, especially when Mommy is holding me.

Alright I'm ready for this to be done -- that trimmer thingy tickles...

Getting a reward for being a good boy. Ain't he handsome?

Why I Get Up Each Day...

The Storyteller and the Thunder Clap

The Storyteller --

Our new big thing with F,G,D is going to the summer library program. F&G go once a week and hear stories and do crafts. We check out books and our goal for the summer is 20 books. When we reach our goal then we get to go to the library's swim party at the local pool/water park.

Can you believe school starts back on August 9 -- just around the corner?

Anyway, every Friday night they have a special program. I am amazed at the talent of tonight's storyteller. Not just her talent at reciting stories to the children, or even her talent in creating the stories, I am amazed at Octavia's (I know cool story-teller name) ability to hold the attention of 25+ young people for 45 minutes. (This is with the exception of D who finds running in and out of the wonderful rows of books, much more exciting.)

This bohemian looking mid 50's woman with a rat-tail haircut (I'm not kidding) told wonderful tales about Kentucky folklore that seemed like they could have been passed from generation to generation to children mostly kindergarten to third grade age. F & G were sitting on a blanket that we brought and never moved except to get up on their knees to bounce with excitement as Octavia spun her tales. They were in the true definition of the word, mesmerized. 45 minutes -- now what do the experts say the attention span of a child averages -- she kept them ALL mesmerized. I am in awwww of Octavia.

The Thunderclap --

It started storming (lightning, thunder, heavy rain, the works) before we left for the library. Daddy helped me get the kids to the van and we dropped Daddy off on our way. The rain eased and we had a dry run to the library door. After the program, it was drizzling rain. So we took our time getting to the van. The girls like to go down the handicap ramp -- which is a much longer route than the stairs. Must be a kid thing. I get D in the van, here comes G one parking space away from the van, FLASH, KABOOM, I jump and G literal flew into the van. If they had a radar on that child -- I know she'd have registered at least 90 mph. F just stopped in her tracks like she had been shot with a gun, frozen in her tracks, I had to holler. F get in this van.

Needless to say, getting them from the van to the front door was going to be an ordeal and it was. But on the way home, the girls were talking over each other trying to tell me the stories of the Dragons, and the woman with the red lips and long fingers...

Pretty neat night - and yes D -- he emptied an entire shelf of books. Now that's job security for some librarian.

Don't Get Wet!!!

I specifically told them -- DON'T GET WET!!! DON'T GO IN THE POOL!!! Well, I went inside for 10 minutes and here's the result.

ALL WET!!!

Reward System

Sometimes having three young children is a handful. Well, they have recently been acting like they are "privileged" children and I haven't been able to motivate them as well as I have in the past. We have implemented a point reward system. I have been using a program that I downloaded and the girls are "stoked." D***** is still a little young for it, but I may be able to use it for potty training.

Today, for example, they cleaned their rooms with mom's help, took out recyclables, and were very cooperative. Before bedtime they were eager to see how they were doing with points and we discussed what they could do better and we praised what they did well.

Keep our fingers crossed.

See the links section for the site where I downloaded the program. It's real cute.

Happy Fourth of July

We have had a very fun day today. The whole family played in the pool. But, bummer it is now raining and we probably won't get to see the fireworks. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Here is G***** saying the Pledge of Allegiance for you on this patriotic day.

Sharpie Attack

Ok -- I should have taken pictures. I know. But, I'll just tell you about it. The girls and I were sleeping real good this morning. But, D***** must have gotten up early, because when the phone rang and finally woke us up, I looked up and there was D***** with a black Sharpie (they are permanent you know). Marker on his face, his arms, his legs, and I have no idea how, but my belly is covered with Sharpie marks. By the way, did I mention the walls...

Got to love them.

Afterthought -- this happened to my sister-in-law (not her belly though). My niece L*** decided to decorate herself with a permanent marker and J*** said that baby oil is a surefire way to remove it from the skin. Just a helpful hint...

Ain't He Sweet

Sweet because D***** has cake batter all over himself. This was taken back in February but it is one of my favorites. He's 14 months old here and shares with F****. You can here G***** in the background whistling. She's always singing, making up songs, and whistling. And, since she's not in this video -- you can see why we call her the loner.

By the way -- as I tell everyone else. Excuse the mess -- I have three kids.

G & Mom Testing Audioblogger

Here is G and I talking about how God makes us -- notice her attention is pulled away pretty quickly.

Thanks Aunt D**

Aunt D** watched the girls today while I was at work. Granny had a doctor's appointment. Aunt D** said that she had a good day. When Granny got back from the doctor, F**** asked her what did the doctor say. Granny told them that the doctor told her to throw away her salt shaker. Now this upset G***** whose eyes got really wide. "Throw away your salt shaker, but Gwanny I like salt." (Behind the story, G***** loves to eat salt and butter. I know, yuck.)

When we got home we decided to order Chinese take-out. Here is D***** eating Shrimp Lo-Mein.

A Day in the Pool

Strike!!!

Aunt D** the kids and I went to a 6 year old's birthday party today at a bowling alley. Here are G & F sporting their lovely bowling shoes.

After we spent the afternoon at Aunt D**'s house, played on the swings, looked at old pictures, and layed around with her on the couch. Later, we all went to eat at a huge buffet -- F picked where we ate today and she says:

it's where there's all these things, everything you can think of, all kinds of food, corn and everything. Any food that you want.

Cool thing about today -- while bowling F bowled a STRIKE!!!! Go F!!!! See F bowl her strike.

Click here for my sister's rendition of the day.

Make a Muscle

D is really cute and we sound like idiots.

Awwwww

My other blog is pretty bleak at this point, so I want to showcase the joy in my life. That would be my children. Remember the TV show -- "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

Well I'm going to showcase the amazing things that are done by my three of whom I'm in awe (awwww). I know kind of sappy -- but hope someone else out there gets a kick out of it. Guaranteed to make you SMILE. This will be pics, short video clips, anecdotes, and pictures of three (I think) really cute kids.

The characters (and when I say characters the meaning is two-fold) are:

• F - my too smart for her age six year old, full of "What if" questions, and can't pass a mirror without looking into it child.
• G - my 'tell it like it is" four year old, can't stay clean for 5 minutes, and middle child. (Best part of an oreo is the middle.)
• D - the "SON" and toddler, going to be the comedian, and trying to do anything the older siblings can do child.

This is D getting socks for Christmas. Quite excited about everything and anything.

So sit back and enjoy!! I do.