Clean Up and Rearrange 2008

Well, Christmas is over, the tree has come down, the upstairs front room was ready for a little rearranging. First we (James) started in the dining room with a blank wall....
and ended up with a little something to brighten up the blank wall.

Then, I had a bright idea to move the furniture around the living room. When it came time to move the TV and game consoles...there are just too many wires for me to keep straight.

Now, which one went where???

Finally everything was in place....now if I can just get the kids to keep the books put away on the shelves correctly.

We even had room now to bring my computer upstairs.....very happy about that one.

Now, I just need a way to hide those pesky wires.

Merry Christmas 2008...Let it Snow

**There are 3 more posts that were added today.

After being woke up before 7:00 am on Christmas morning, I was happy to see the kids enjoying their gifts from "Santa". The boys were thrilled with their action light sabers...too bad Santa forgot to include the batteries.

While we were sitting around watching the kids enjoy their toys, we noticed it was snowing outside. Upon further looking, we noticed it was hard to see very far away, boy was it coming down and the flakes were huge. I cannot remember the last time it actually snowed on Christmas Day here.

It was even the right texture to make snowballs...or at least a little one. I wonder if it will continue???

Oh wait....this is our lovely state of Oregon. It wasn't much longer when the rain came along and washed the snow away. You couldn't even tell it had snowed unless you actually got to see it.

The boys' School Christmas Programs Dec. 15 & 16

Well, this is the first time I have gotten to see all my boys singing their songs at school. It was so cute watching them and their friends singing their little hearts out.
Some of the songs I had never even heard before....."I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" very cute though.

Brady's class sang "Where are you Christmas?" which I had never heard before...maybe I need to listen to more songs?!?!?! They even got a chance to play the recorder for a song...wow, I remember playing that when I was young.

Skylar's 3rd grade class sang some very cute songs....however, some of the kids were too busy fixing their "antlers" to pay attention to what they were suppose to be doing.

Someone is turning 5

December 14....been a little too busy lately to post anything.
Wow, it is hard to believe Kameryn in 5. It does not seem like it has been that long ago when we brought her home on her 1st birthday.
She got to have her 1st "Party" where she got to invite her friends.....some of which she has known since she was 1.

Hanging Christmas Lights

December 14.......
Well, I finally got James to get out and put up the outside lights. I didn't really know if he would do it or not since we haven't had any outside lights since our first Christmas together back in 1994. The kids thought it was great!!! Maybe next year it won't take so long to get them up.

Children helping to decorate the town tree

Well, today was the day when all the kids at MCE got to go decorate the town tree. This is the first year I have been able to go watch how this event happened and I'm glad I got the chance to go.
Since I have 3 different grades going, I went down with Austin's 1st grade class and went back to school after the 4th graders were finished.

The kids all seemed to be so excited about getting their own ornament hung for everyone to see. I only managed to get a picture of Austin alone...I didn't think of a class picture until I saw Cheryl with her 2nd graders and her great idea of getting a group photo. Thank you Cheryl...too bad you couldn't of been there before the 1st graders. LOL

Skylar's class decided to put most of their ornaments in the bucket to be placed high up on the tree.

There were so many 4th graders trying to hand their ornaments, I didn't even get to see Brady's before he put it in the bucket.

James' Birthday

To start off..James did not want anyone to know it was his birthday today...of course I couldn't let that happen. I made sure the kids remembered to sing to him first thing this morning. I also felt it was my duty to inform the people at the kids' school what today was....after all the time he spends there, I figured it only fair they should get to know a little more about him. Needless to say, he was serenaded (sorry about spelling) first thing when he walked in to school by Darla (Principal) then the office staff did their version. At lunch time the cafeteria staff did their part...Peggy even had a little suprise for him. While he was eating with the 3rd grade class...I believe it was Spring that got all of the kids to sing to him also. I picked a bad time to be in the lunchroom.....I was not getting very "Loving Looks" when the kids finished singing.

When we got home, we got to have his Birthday dinner....he wanted steak and I made him a cake.

Since I didn't know exactly which stock he wanted for his rifle, I made him a certificate promising to get him one this weekend.

"Lost another tooth mom"

Skylar has had a loose tooth for a couple weeks now...he kept wiggling it, but it was not coming out. Last night, he kept at it and said, "I think it is getting ready to come out." When I asked him if he wanted me or dad to pull it out, of course the response was "NO" a few minutes later he came back and was very proud of the fact he was able to get that tooth out all by himself. He put it in the "Toothfairy Box" and after having to convince him I was NOT the toothfairy...thanks for that one Brady..he went to sleep and woke up this morning to find some cash in the box and the tooth gone.

Something new

Ok, so I don't have any pictures to go with this blog, but I decided it was time to put something new on here.

Well, today was report card day....I never really know for sure how the day is going to go when it is time to open those little envelopes. I do have to say though, one of my boys has done so much better than he was doing last year..he pulled all his grades up and has been making some positive changes in his behavior as well. One is having a little bit more trouble this year, but the work itself has gotten a little more challenging....I guess we will just have to work a little bit extra to help him fully understand the materials. Last, but not least, our last child in school (for this year anyway :')) he is doing quite well this year, just really needs to spend more time on work and less time on "socializing" as the teacher stated.

Overall, I am proud of my kids and constantly have to remind myself they are each an individual so I should expect different things from each one.

Halloween starts in the a.m.

I guess it took actually being involved with the kids' school and all the excitement that goes on during the day of Halloween to finally realize that the thrill (stress) begins from the moment the kids wake up.
I started out at the boys' school right when they did and got to see all the kids in their costumes. I did enjoy all the different ideas kids can come up with and the hard work some parents put in to the costumes (Jessica):')
Some of the kids I was able to get a picture of:

It took some persuading to get Batman to get a picture with the lovely Princess, but she was able to have better results than "Mom".

The "Dead Bride" in Austin's class.....where do 6 year olds come up with this?? She did win one of the best costume prizes for 1st grade and was adorable.

Here is Mr. L...never could get him to actually say what his costume is, but I will admit the eyes are kinda creepy.

Quick snap of some of the kids getting ready for the Costume Parade.

The kids getting ready to head out Trick or Treating for the evening.

Preschool Halloween Celebration

Since our Preschool doesn't actually have school on Halloween this year, we got to do our Celebration a little early. It is so cute to see what the kids can come up with and how some really get into their character.
Here is Spiderman getting ready to cast his spidey web.

Here is our friendly kitten that looks like she may have found a mouse.
It looks like Robin might be getting ready to head off to help Batman

Our dedicated Blue Power Ranger who is always there to defeat the "Bad Guys"

"Aye Matey" is the logical comment from our school Pirate.

Of course there is our witch (Kameryn)who's hat is just a little too big for her head. (Sometimes I think she is a "little too big for her britches")as the old saying goes.

The whole class full of superheroes ready to save the day and a couple of witches to keep us on our toes. :')

Wee Little Garden Preschool goes to "The Pumpkin Patch"

We took the kids on our first field trip of the year. We were very thankful it was a nice day...last year it was a big muddy mess. It only started to drizzle a little bit when we first arrived, but cleared up until we were finished.

Here Kameryn found her pumpkin in the midst of all the other ones to choose from.















Finally everyone had made their choice of pumpkin and were ready to load back on the "wagon" to return to "base" for a little snack.














We decided to see how much the "Class" would weigh all together. I must admit I was a little suprised to see the numbers exceed 500. Sure there are 12 kids, but some of them seem to be as light as a feather.

My Baby Gets Glasses

Ok, so he isn't my "baby" anymore, but he is still the youngest boy. After Austin coming home from school telling me he had to move his desk to the front of the room because he couldn't see the board, I decided it would be a good idea to do some checking on this. Well, you guessed it, he is Near Sighted and had to get glasses. I must say, I was rather shocked to see how excited he got when he found this out. I remember when I got mine as an adult, I thought it was horrible news.
So, we picked out a frame for him and waited for them to come in. He was so excited when I went to school to pick him up and tell him his glasses were in....you would've thought he won the lottery.
Patience is not one of Austin's better virtues, so as we were waiting for the glasses, he was looking around with excitement.

He was very cooperative while getting them fitted correctly.

The final moment came to see the end results. He thought it was "The coolest thing ever." He was so excited to get home and show them off to dad and his brothers and little sister.

Rainy Day Soccer

Today was the day we got to play soccer in the rain. I think it bothered the parents more than it did the kids.
Here Brady is getting to be the goalie for the first time.....possibly his last time, as they scored quite a few goals while he was there. This game was against the more experienced team in our age bracket and possibly the hardest to beat. We did work together pretty well, but did come out with the opponent getting to keep their undefeated title thus far in the season. I am hoping our kids don't get too discouraged by the loss.

Not sure if the purple (dress) is really a good look for Brady or not. But I guess that comes with being the goalie. He did make a good kick though.

I don't remember exactly what happened here, but I think from the look on Tucker's face, it wasn't a good thing for our team.

Here we have Austin scoring the first goal for his team (very exciting). His team is still undefeated at this point.

How's this for a little rainy day excitement?? As you can see by Rogue, they were looking like little drowned rats by the end of the game.

Shouldn't the goalie be watching the ball...not the hand talking from fellow teammates???

Birthday 9 & 10...a little late

Here we have Skylar turning 9. Notice the excitement (I think that's what it is) over the presents??

Here we go again...4 days later...to Brady turning the big '10'.