a little bit hillbillie...

...and I don't mean that in some new-fad, cool way!

It started on Monday when Cason lost his upper, middle tooth.
Kind of endearing even though I would have preferred it had lasted until after school photos.

Then yesterday Cason tells me that he has another loose tooth. I just assumed it was the other upper, middle tooth. You'd think!
No, it was the incisor on the other side of his upper, middle tooth. And whereas the tooth he lost on Monday had been loose for weeks, this tooth came became loose in the morning and was out by bedtime.
This is what we are left with.

School photos are in 12 days!
And that remaining tooth is NOT EVEN CLOSE TO LOOSE! Really?
It's a perfect look for Halloween - but school photos?! Uugghhh!
I hope you know how much I love you Cason! My very own hillbillie (or as Cason said, "hilly billy")

When did I become THAT mom?

You know the one.
The one that could feed and clothe a family of four on just what was under the seats of her car - and I'm not talking about the ultra organized food storage lady. I'm talking that there is so much CRAP in the car that you could lose a small child.

Yea, that was me this week....

And anyone who has known me for any length of time realizes that something must be insanely wrong with me because I'm generally a little more tidy than that.

So what has happened?

I already posted about how I feel like we are currently living in our car (case in point - Ty took three naps yesterday and all three were in his car seat....poor guy!)
Add to that that Rich was gone three days this week so ALL driving this week was done by yours truly.
It just added up until tonight, after three days of getting hit in the leg with a kickball every time I turned right, I decided to grab bag and go through the car.

I didn't keep track of all that I cleared out, but here were some highlights (after the kids were told to clear out their stuff):
1 (previously mentioned) kickball
6 pairs of shoes - two of which don't currently fit anyone right now
1 belt
1 tie
3 school uniforms
7 partially full water bottles
1 gogurt - at least 36 hours out of refrigeration
trash enough to fill small trash can
1 2x3 piece of lumber
1 math textbook, which has a twin that is living on my kitchen counter
innumerable toys - mostly cars

It feels good to get the clutter out. But I'm still concerned that it ever creeped in on me. Seriously, what is happening to me? And is there a cure?

Dads have all the fun...

or at least they get all the credit!

Over the weekend Rich and Cason were reading a book together about a boy that entered a science fair. He made a volcano.

Next thing I know, Cason and Rich are making their own volcano science exhibit in my kitchen.

They paper mached it, painted it and the next day they took to creating the eruption.

It was a cute project and it definitely points to the fun side of the dad, who would pause in reading to bring the book to life.

My only question is this - how is it that mom...
1. cleans up paper mache for two days (seriously how did it get on the stove?)
2. cleans up the eruption that was a little heavy on the red food dye
3. (unknowingly) donates her favorite cookie sheet to have a volcano built upon it (did Rich really just say "let's lacquer it")

...and yet dad gets all the FUN points?

I just want to be DAD sometimes!

There is a reason two-year-old's don't write cook books!

Jake loves to help in the kitchen and last week he let his creative juices flow. It went something like this...

1. Locate yellow bowl - if unsuccessful and crying doesn't make mom wash it, settle for the orange bowl.
2. Take wooden spoon from drawer and say "hiyah" while swinging the spoon at anyone that passes.
3. Break one piece of dry, end bread into bite sized pieces and place in orange bowl.
4. Take bite - exclaim YUM!
5. Go to fridge and fill cup with ice and water.
6. Dump water into the bowl of bread pieces - it's okay if ice also is poured into the bowl.
7. Mix well with wooden spoon.
8. Take another bite - exclaim YUM! again.
9. Try (unsuccessfully) to feed mom and Kaitlyn a bite.
10. Give a bite to Cason, who was not present for the creation of bread treat and thus promptly runs for the sink to spit out Jake's gourmet creation!

The days are FLYING by!

I feel like my posts have been few and far between as of late.
It turns out that along with school came the onslaught of EXTRACURRICULAR! Oh my!

Mondays we have Jake's Tiny Tots Sports Class and Cason's Basketball Skills Class.

Tuesday we have Kaitlyn's Activity Days & mom's Institute Class.

Wednesday we have Cason's Basketball Skills Class, again.

Thursday we have Kaitlyn's Soccer Practice.

Friday we have Piano for Kaitlyn and Cason.

Saturday we have Kaitlyn's Soccer Games.

Add that on top of 3rd grade for Kailtyn, 1st grade for Cason, homework for both, daily piano practice for both, preschool teaching for me, preschool attendace for Jake and somewhere in there we try to eat dinner together!

I don't feel like we are an "overbooked" family. One SPORT and one MUSIC for each child seems reasonable. But Ty isn't even into the mix yet and we are out of days and short on hours!

I guess this explains the lack of posts. Consider this our update of what we are doing for the next few months :)

National Constitution Day

Did you know that there has been Federal Regulation that requires schools to celebrate National Constitution Day?
Lucky for us, our kids school has already been celebrating it each year and this year the celebration just got bigger and better.
In preparation, all the students memorized the Preamble to the Constitution. I was pleased that Cason and Kaitlyn both fulfilled this assignment.
Then each class came up with a display about the constitution and each class also drew up their own Classroom Constitution.
On the evening of September 17th the school had a program.
It began by the entire student body reciting the preamble.
David Holland, doctorate in Constitutional History, gave a very uplifting talk about how our forefathers were spiritually led in their creation of the Constitution.
Then each student was called by name to come to the front of the auditorium to sign their class constitution.
The evening ended with the student body singing "God Bless America", at which point this mom was so touched that she cried and Kaitlyn was left claiming that she didn't know who I was :)

Cason's class display

Kaitlyn's class display

Kaitlyn signing her constitution
(I took the photo after the fact because I forgot to when she signed it in front of the crowd)

Cason signing his constitution

OSU vs UNLV

Anybody who knows my husband, knows where he was on Saturday night.

The BEAVERS were in town to play the Rebels.

(notice how I capitalized the BEAVERS but not the Rebels - just in case you don't know Rich)

Thus, Rich and Cason put on their ORANGE shirts and their BLACK hats and they went to watch some football!!!

Notice Cason's poor tired eyes! The game started at what is normally his bedtime!

With 10 seconds left...

Oh, how sweet a last minute field goal can be!

Did you see that? The BEAVS were down with only 10 seconds to go...

But the BEAVS pulled it off in what I can only imagine was a high adrenaline ending!

Thanks for all the text messages Cason. It was nice to know you were thinking of me, even during a BEAVERS game - I probably can't say the same for your dad :)

every home needs THREE drums...

Saturday morning Rich played SUPER DAD!

Which in this case involved arming all three older children with hammers, sharp nails and wood.

Actually, I guess the photos would suggest that even Ty was armed with a hammer. In which case our SUPER DAD deserves a cape!

Rich took the kids to the Lowe's Building Clinic while I had another commitment.

Lucky for us, they were building drums!

We are now the proud owners of three drums at our house. And as it turns out, my kids have discovered that if hitting your drum doesn't get mom's attention quick enough, you can always turn it over and put the drumstick inside the hole at the bottom and hit the sides of the drum that way.

It's much louder and makes mom crack much faster :)

The fun continued into yesterday, when the kids broke out all of our paints after church and now all the drums (and two of the drumsticks) are painted.

Leave it to my kids to take the craft to the next level.

Some Good Reads

I love to read but I tend to go through (long) periods where I don't pick up a book. Partly this is due to lack of time and partly it's due to guilt because when I'm sitting, reading there are at least 10 other things that I feel I ought to be doing.

Thankfully I've developed a friendship with an avid reader. She is also a mother of four and yet she doesn't let her reading fall by the wayside as I am guilty of. I finally asked her for advice this summer on how she finds the time - the answer is she MAKES the time and she doesn't let guilt ever enter the picture, even if it means the kids get mac & cheese because she was engrossed by a book.

I took Annjeanette's advice and I guess you could call this summer my Summer of Good Reads. I admit that the guilt is sometimes still lurking in the back of my mind, but I have really enjoyed myself as I've given myself permission to do something for ME!

So this is what I've been reading this summer, most of it is light, easy reads, but that is just what this mom needs, especially when so much of the reading has been done poolside! ....leave a comment if you have a book you'd recommend.

Austenland by Shannon Hale **loved & would recommend (any Shannon Hale gets my recommend)
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
The Associate by John Grisham
Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins
Enna Burning by Shannon Hale
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins **loved & would recommend
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
Death And Honesty by Cynthia Riggs
The Year that Followed by Scott Lasser
Fed Up by Jessica Conant-Park
The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson
Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky **book club read
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
Steamed by Jessica Conant-Park
Simmer by Jessica Conant-Park

Jake's 1st Day

Yesterday was my Jake's first day of school - preschool that is.

I feel so fortunate to have gotten him in with such a great teacher.

Jake was pretty excited. When I told him "one hour until preschool", he promptly went upstairs and came down with a backpack, filled with books. It was SO cute!

Here's Jake, with his backpack, right before school.

This is Jake and his teacher :)

Okay, so maybe we had a bit of an in with Jake's enrollment.

I was so glad to have Jake in my early class. The other kids in the class are so cute and Jake talked about his new "friends" all the rest of the day.

When it was time to go to bed he asked if he could "have school" again. I only hope he remains so enthused!