long week.

Corey has pneumonia. Finally getting a little bit of his strength and energy back these last 2 days. It's been a long week. Very tired mommy.

misc.

* The Star Kisses were just as messy the second time around. And this time, Lawson chose to have a meltdown on the way to the bathtub and bury his messy little face into my white t-shirt. My new white Eddie Bauer t-shirt. It's in the wash right now. My fingers are crossed. I told Corey he would not be buying anymore star kisses.

* Corey's been sick all weekend. Fever, achy, chills, cough. He stayed home from work today and got a couple prescriptions, blood work and a shot at the dr's office. He informed me tonight that fever is a sign of cancer. I love the man very, very much, but I'll be very happy when he is no longer dying. :)

* Lumber was delivered today. Contractor is finishing a kitchen for a lady who apparently keeps adding more and more things to his list. Hoping tomorrow will be his last day there. Progress will be exciting, but the kids will be sad to have walls start going up. It's the best bike riding place!

* Glance over at the swingset during recess today and wonder why there is a crowd gathered. One delightful little fella is swinging in way too big pants with his waistband now down around his thighs. Shooed the kids away, got him off the swing, and got the little Superman underpants covered back up. There's never a dull moment in first grade.

i need some ideas.

Both kids are so into drawing, coloring, cutting, and creating right now. Which I love. And somehow Lawson is able to color like this without hurting himself. So far, anyway. :)



The problem is, my table usually ends up looking something like this...


or this...


They have baskets and boxes where they keep crayons, markers, glue, scissors, etc. but it seems like as soon as we put them away, they are getting them out again. We all eat together in the dining room, so when the projects take place there, some major clean up is involved before we can eat. We rarely eat in at the table in the breakfast nook/toy room, so it seems logical to me that this is where the art projects should be happening. But... when you walk in from the back door (which we usually do) that table is the first thing you see. Who wants to come home and have the first thing you see be a mess??

So far, this is the only organization system I've come up with that keeps the things they are using most right at their fingertips. Obviously not the best system, though. I saw an idea on a blog this summer that suggested little buckets on a lazy suzan in the middle of the table. I can visualize that, but what about all the paper, magazines, paper plates, and drawings?



I would love some ideas from all you organized, creative moms out there. Any suggestions??

happy tears.

Watching this video made me realize just how much I take for granted every day. Thanking God tonight for the blessing and the opportunity to have these sweet little people who call me mommy. Praying that I will always remember how very blessed I am...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfGqOx2iDQ

star kisses.

Daddy bought his favorite popsicles at DQ the other night. He wanted green. All they had were red, white and blue. I wish they would have been green...

Look how clean we are...


Shirt had to go...


Very red lips...


The pretty half blue/half red look? It didn't wash off. His chin was red & blue the next day.


But oh, how they loved them!


There are still two in the freezer. And the kids know it...

tomatoes.

Lawson loves tomatoes. He prefers the little cherry ones that he can just pop in his mouth, but the big ones work, too! Thanks, Aunt Aletha and Aunt Marie! :)



I just love this hair! Thanks, Grandpa! :)



And yes, Sophie is eating celery. :)

so close.

This is how close Corey is to finishing the final side of the house! Scaffolding has been returned... everything that is left is within reach. After this, the front porch, the pillars and the rails are all that is left! Yipee!

And then we'll just have to paint this huge garage that we are building. No scraping involved, though. (No garage progress yet... still waiting on lumber and contractor.)

tired.

I had forgotten how exhausting first graders are. Our plan time changed this year. They come at 7:50 and except for a 25 minute lunch, they don't leave me until 1:50. Makes for a long day. I think what's so exhausting is that there is no down time. We have to always be "on." Energetic, enthusiastic, entertaining... I'm very tired.

motorcycles.

I just needed to post this so that we will remember it, but Grandmas, Grandpa and Uncle Casey should appreciate it...

Corey was reading a book to Lawson before nap. They came across a picture of motorcycles. Corey asked Lawson if he liked motorcycles and he got a big frown and a loud no!

"Dey scare me. Dey scare me at da parade."

supermom.

Our plan for this evening was to head to Wichita and go to a 7:00 Wrangler game and watch the fireworks afterward. We decided against it when we saw Wichita was in a severe thunderstorm warning. Sophie was very disappointed that we weren't going and was whining around...

Sophie: Please can't we go? I promise we won't get wet. Please?

Me: (without a hint of exasperation in my voice...) What do you want me to do? I can't make it stop raining.

Sophie: Just go up and squish all the water out of the clouds.

Me: (with a smile now) But I can't reach the clouds.

Sophie: Well, put a super cape on.


I do have a Superwoman shirt. Unfortunately, no super powers came with it. It would be nice, though...

---

Air conditioning was fixed. I smelled much better at the end of the day today than I did yesterday.

the first day.

* air conditioning not working in the K/1 wing. 20 busy little bodies generate a lot of heat.

* stabbed myself in the hand while helping a girl open her package of safety scissors (using my very sharp scissors)... led to an impromptu little lesson on "why we use scissors safely."

* had a live cicada thrust in my face as a kiddo rushed to show me his treasure at recess.

* 100* temperatures for recess.

* did I mention no a/c?

Hot day. Sweaty day. Busy day. But a good day. Lively bunch of kiddos. We will have fun.

Off to relax on the couch... and figure out what I'm teaching tomorrow. :)

ready.

See the cute bucket on my door, Mom?



White was the right choice. Thanks K1. :)


Ready or not... tomorrow they come.

one more time.

Froggy pool closes tomorrow, so we wanted to squeeze in one more trip. Sophie was thrilled to see her friend Lilly there (Jessi's daughter.)






We spent the last hour over at the big pool. The kids loved it! Sophie's swimming lessons must have done some good, she was just taking off all over the place. Daddy loved the big slide! :)

floor.

We have a floor! They came early Monday morning and poured it. Came back late afternoon and cut it (that's why it's so dusty... 2 shiny spots on the right side are what the floor actually looks like... just needs rinsed off.) We took these pictures that evening. We're now waiting on word from the contractor and hoping he can start soon.



For those of you (Mom) who couldn't picture how this sits in relation to the house.



It's already getting lots of use!

dinner entertainment

Our dinners are rarely boring...


dancing at dinner

back to school.

Teachers start tomorrow. Kids on Thursday. So not feeling ready.

The To-Do-Lists


The piles.



3 days to pull it all together. It'll happen.

4 wheelin'

Uncle Casey brought his 4-wheeler down for Corey to borrow for awhile. (He and a friend are working on a trail riding trip to Colorado soon.) Sophie wasn't too sure about it, but Lawson loved it.





"Do it again, Daddy."

friday's work.

A couple guys spent the day Friday getting the ground all prepped for a floor. They brought in lots and lots of sand, smashed it all in and smoothed it all out. We should be ready to have the floor poured on Monday. Then that's it for the concrete right now... time for the contractor to start building.

date night.

So much fun to just spend time with our friends... such good friends that we always have so much fun with... why don't we make the effort to do this more often?

And I'm feeling old again. Little Maddie that I taught in 1st grade is now babysitting for me. How is that possible?

walls.

Walls are poured. They came today and took all the forms off (it doesn't look quite as huge now.) We're telling ourselves that we will never wish it was smaller... if we were going to do it, we needed to do it right. We've heard many people say that they wished their garage was just a little bit bigger. Just to give you an idea... our neighbors have a 2 car garage... ours is going to be 6 feet longer and 4 feet wider. With a loft. Yes, it's that big.

naps.

I once heard someone say that one of the biggest differences between kids and adults is this: Can you imagine a time when you didn't want to take a nap?! I put both kids down today and thought I would just rest for a few minutes... I got up when Lawson did an hour and a half later. Sophie never slept, but she "rested" that whole time. Most of it she spent laying in the middle of the hallway, right outside Lawson's door. Whatever. As I went into Lawson's room, I had to walk around the all the laundry that I was going to do during nap time. Oh well. I enjoyed my nap much more. :)

cement.

This is what is going on outside my backdoor this very minute. Corey was almost giddy when he came home for lunch and saw the cement truck. (He wasn't giddy... he was something very masculine that means the same as giddy. He is a man, after all. Men don't get giddy. So he tells me, anyway.) He always says, if you want a job done well, hire a Holderman to do it. Very impressive work ethic. The owner's son is even out there helping. He's 10, maybe?

the zoo.

Our first time to see the new penguin exhibit. You can get pretty close to them. One sneezed on Sophie.

The Komodo Dragon... only statue I could get Lawson to touch.

Baby giraffe. There was a baby rhino, too, but he was inside... hard to get good pictures.

Sophie's favorite... the meerkats.

Lots of fun, but it was very hot. Our last trek back to the entrance I put Sophie in the stroller (legs hanging over the front) and carried Lawson, just so we could move faster. Little legs were so tired. We left at 11:30 and stopped at Sonic for cranberry limeades for everyone.