Back To School Craziness!!!

Whew, back-to-school sure makes life hectic! This year, I decided we needed to do some fun things with the kids before they headed back to school, so we made a week of it.

Monday, I started giving the girls both something they needed for their school boxes. I did this every day until the first day of school. They loved it! And, of course, there was the school shopping on Monday night.:)

Tuesday we went to buy fabric to make them some skirts and then were off to get our hair trimmed - Thank you, Candace!!! The kids were both excited to get new hairdos before the first day of school.

Wednesday was skirt making day. We spent the day with lots of friends and other kids while Stephanie taught us all to make adorable skirts! Thank you, Stephanie! Here are our finished skirts:

Kate's skirts:




Lana's skirts:




Rylee's skirts:




Then, for more fun, Bill took last Thursday and Friday off to come and play with all of us (thank heavens!)

Thursday, we headed out to Classic to let the kids play on the inflatables and in the pirates cove and to attempt roller skating. It was three hours of nonstop running and craziness, but they loved every minute of it!




Okay, the three older kids loved every minute of it. The inflatables creeped Kate out a little bit, so she spent the first half of the time like this...


or this...



Hayden was unsure at first, but about ten minutes after we got there, he was off and climbing!!!



Then Rylee decided to try roller skating. (Yep, I'm one of THOSE moms who has never taken her kids roller skating.)


Rylee was getting the hang of it, and before long, Hayden thought it looked like fun too. He thought it was hilarious to have roller skates on.



He never did figure out how to stand up alone on them. He would just lean back and let us take care of everything. Silly kid.



But look at how adorable he looks with the skates on. :)



Friday we let them each pick out a book at Barnes and Noble for a future read-a-thon with them. This is the only picture we were able to get there. Oops.



And that afternoon, we made chocolate chip cookies and headed out for some bowling.

Here's a riddle for you...Ready? How many in our family does it take to bowl a single bowling ball. Apparently, everyone but the one taking the picture. :)


It apparently takes that many of us to retrieve the ball as well. Hehehe.:)



Bill tried to keep a couple of them at a time out of the way.



It didn't last long though. Lana getting ready to bowl!



And Kate just after she pushed her ball down the little ramp thing. Yes, I do believe that is the technical term for it. She would do this every time, and I had to hang on so the thing didn't tip over. She would push her ball and not even care what happened after that. She just started swinging. I'm sure the employees there LOVED our family.



After the bowling, we let the kids play in the arcade for a while. Five bucks went a long way in there! They loved it! It was definitely five dollars well spent.


Hayden and Kate had fun riding some of the kiddie rides.



Rylee and Lana played air hockey and other games. They won LOTS of candy. Nice.





When we came home, the kids were obviously too tired for the read-a-thon. Maybe we will do that this weekend with them instead.:)



We finished shopping with them on Saturday and had fun together on Sunday doing manicures and pedicures and just enjoyed being together the night before school started.

Monday morning came, and they were so excited!

Here they are with their complete school boxes before school. Obviously they are thrilled.;)



Lana all ready and looking so grown up. It makes me so sad that she is already starting kindergarten.


Rylee posing in her usual way before school. I was so flattered that for her "first day of school outfit" she picked one of the skirts I made her. What a good kid!:)

Both girls thought they needed a picture of them with their leggings. Silly girls.

I love this picture because they really love each other so much. They drive each other crazy, but they are always looking out for each other.

It has been a busy week, but a very good week. The girls are both so excited about the new school year and LOVE their teachers. I'm excited to see what this year brings and to see what fun experiences they have. I think the only thing I am sad about is knowing how much more they will change over the next year. My babies are growing up way too fast.

Back To School Pantsing, er, Shopping!

Last night I headed out with Rylee and Lana for some back to school shopping at Old Navy.

I have to tell you before I go any further that Lana has a thing for the mannequins at Old Navy. She is such a goofball. You know those mannequins that are just a half-person, like just a person from the waist up? Well, they have those sitting on the tables with shirts all over the store. So as soon as we get there, Lana is always lifting up the shirts on those mannequins to see if they have a bum. LOL! So last night was no different. And of course she did it on a mannequin where an employee was fixing shirts on THAT table. Oh sheesh.

That was all it took to get my girls giggling. THEN, they come across a woman mannequin. Lana makes a comment about her "big boobs" and they are even more hysterical. (Apparently my children think big boobs are funny since they don't see any of those at home.)

I was getting comments from other customers about how giggly my girls were. They were entertaining everyone within ear shot. So, they really didn't need anything else to make them more silly. But, oh no, we had to come upon this on our way to the dressing rooms:

Lana was seriously beside herself. She could not stop laughing at the mannequin who had either been "pantsed" or who was suffering from the "little butt syndrome" like she does. Either way, it was hilarious. Of course, these are the mannequins right in the front of the store, so there are customers everywhere looking at my girls laughing their heads off. And what do I do? Well, like a good mom, I whip out my cell phone and take a camera! We laugh about this for a minute and head off to the dressing rooms where the girls laugh some more. They laughed for an hour and a half straight.

So I was in bed last night thinking about how funny our shopping trip was and how I really should have maybe been embarrassed about the spectacle we were making when I realized that I probably made the biggest mistake of the whole night. I never did pull up those pants like a good mommy should. We left it for others to enjoy. Hope they appreciated my lapse in judgement.

A Little Late For Neatness

Kate eating an Oreo shake...


Only a "real" two-year-old uses her hands to eat ice cream.



Who cares if it's cold?

Or messy?

The spoon is only used at the VERY END of the shake-eating-experience. But it is not used for neatness. No, it is used to make sure you can get every last possible drop of that incredibly delicious shake out of the cup.

Busy Weekend!

Our weekend began with a fun BBQ to get together with Jordan and Nikole (who had been gone for two weeks to New York and D.C. - Luckeees!) and Sara (who had been in Europe for almost three months - Luckeeeee!) We had yummy food, played fun games, looked at awesome pictures of Jordan and Nikole's trip, and laughed at the silliest jokes ever.


The group playing a rip-roaring game of 5 Crowns. Kate wanted in on the action - but mostly for the bowl of candy that was being passed around. She got right in the middle of the action.:)


Aha! The secret to getting Kate off of the table is to have Uncle Jordan hold her. She adores him and always wants him to hold her. Thanks for sharing Jordan, Nikole.;)


Rylee thinking she is quite the card shark.


My dad and Bill entertained Hayden with Mario Cart. I didn't hear any complaints. :)




We had lots of fun and stayed up late and laughed until our cheeks hurt. What a great way to start a weekend!

Moving on to Sunday:

Brooke and Andy blessed their sweet daughter, Danika. She was so adorable and it was so fun to be there (even if it is weird to see my sister with a baby of her own! Time flies!)

They had a little luncheon before the blessing at a nearby park, so I snagged some pictures.

Brooke with her sweet baby before she ticked her off and made her get into her gorgeous blessing gown.


Kate doing what she loves most - again! She can't get enough of Jordan. She seriously stayed like that on him the whole time we were at the park and then again at the blessing. She was seriously offended when I took her from Jordan so he could participate in the blessing. Nikole looked dang cute too. She even had green toenails to match her dress. How would it be to be that cute?



Hayden and Brielle, sharing a can of soda. They passed it back and forth across the table for probably a good ten minutes.



Brooke, Andy, and sweet baby Danika. What a darling family! Danika looked beautiful in her little dress.


Brooke, Andy, Danika and my parents. What a good looking group!

Bill, Rylee, and Kate just as we were leaving the park. He was trying to herd us all to the car, but I was too busy taking pictures.

Another random group shot. Sorry your head is being blocked by my stinking mug, Jordan!

It was such a nice day and Andy did such a great job with the blessing. Thank you for letting us participate in her big day!