When pigs fly

School is going quite well.  I have to stay on top of our organization, but so far so good.  

I am good at organizing, but not so good in the creative, art department.  Never have been and probably never will be.  It's not something I am good at or really care about.  

I started to feel bad about my kids not getting to do more crafty things.  I discovered this great book.

It's basically a how to teach art for dummies kind of book.  I felt hopeful.  

So basically, the title of the post comes from the fact that pigs must be flying because this very non-artsy mama is now teaching art.

Our first lesson went quite well.  We learned about line and the different kind of lines.  I had allotted 30 minutes for the class, but the kids wanted to keep going.  They worked for an hour making pictures using various lines.

I may learn something yet with all this schooling.

I just found this extra picture of Grammie and the boys.  Baby K was sleeping so she missed this shot.  We had a fun visit.  

First day of MDO and sugar

S started Mother's Day Out last week.  He was so excited!

He's in the pre-K class.  This will be good for him.  He is such a social butterfly.  He already knew a couple of kids from church so he jumped right into the routine.

His school has a "No nuts" policy due to some kids with allergies.  This severely limits our lunch choices.  I noticed the first few days a lot of the main dish was coming back home.  

I asked him what he would like in his lunch.  He says, "Chewy Dips."  He discovered these granola bars at soccer camp.  It's essentially a granola dipped in chocolate.  He has not met a piece of chocolate that he didn't like it.  Not the healthy choice I was hoping for, but I can work with that.

Then he says, "I like peanut butter and jelly."  I inform him that we can't bring that to school so he replies, "I will have a jelly sandwich."  Of course he would.

I think my boy has a bit of a sweet tooth.  (So does his mother but don't tell him that.)

So I am off to find a lunch that the child will eat that does not consist wholly of sugar.

Brothers and sister

These big brothers sure do love their little sister.

It rained all day yesterday.  W instructed me to please keep her dry when going into church.  Thanks for that pointer.

S just loves to hold her and hug her and tickle her.  

She has finally mastered the art of rolling except during the middle of the night.  I spent one night "rescuing" her 4 times in her crib.  She would roll on her tummy and get stuck and became most unhappy.  Every time I rolled her back to her back, she promptly rolled herself back to her stomach and started to cry.  It was a long night!

I decided that if she wanted to be on her stomach she was going to have to figure this out.  We spent a lot of time on the floor practicing.  She slept half of last night (that I was aware) on her tummy and was quite content.  

Big girl!  She is starting to move around all over.  She is 5 months old today.  We tried rice cereal last week. She tolerated it.  

She's getting so big!

First visit

D's mom came to visit us from Ohio.  It was her first visit to see Baby K.  We decided to take her to the zoo, in the 100 degree heat.  It was so thoughtful of us.  We went early in the morning before it became excruciatingly hot, but it was still hot.  However, the children were thrilled and we all survived.  This is like Disneyland for S.  He LOVES animals.

Here's all the boys.  We had been studying some African animals in science so it was also part field trip.

I thought the boys were so sweet.  They realized on their own that this was Baby K's first trip to the zoo.  The "showed" her everything.  They wanted to take pictures with her.  They took good care of her on her first trip to the zoo.

Then she tried to chew on the statue of a lion.  She is teething so she wants to put most things in her mouth.

We got to see and hear the gibbon monkeys which are always a treat.  A docent was there letting the kids try to swing like a gibbon.  That was a great demonstration.

All my sweet, hot, and sweaty children.

We found a restaurant that had some air conditioning and stopped in for some nourishment.  We were thankful for the cold drinks and the a/c.  

S is waiting to return to the zoo again.  

Treehouse update

Dad is hard at work finishing up the tree house.  He installed the big swing for the boys.  He also put the baby swing up near the sand box for baby girl.

The slide came in and now is fully functional.  The box that the slide came in is just as much fun to play with as the slide.

This weekend he is working on the climbing wall that will be installed next to the slide.  The handles came in the mail so there is some assembling to do.  Hopefully, it will be up in the next week.  

It just needs a roof and it's almost complete.  Although with these engineering minds, it may never be complete.  It is just a work in progress.   

It's time for soccer

The boys have all started soccer again.  J and S were very excited for the season to start.  W was not so excited.  More about that later.

S is on Team Longhorn.  He loves playing.  He has a good strong kick.  He likes socializing with all the other little boys.  He loves to have his parents cheer for him.  He is constantly asking, "Did you see that?"

W has never LOVED soccer, but he was ok with playing. It's hard to tell with him, if he dislikes something or is just being lazy or grumpy.  I had signed him up again for the fall with his brothers, but over the summer the phrase, "I hate soccer" had developed.  He liked soccer camp, but not playing.  

To make a long story short, we decided he had to play this fall since I had already paid for it and then he could try something else.  Let's just say there is a totally different kid playing out.  His team only has 5 players (supposed to be 7) so he is forced to play more and do more.  Well, he arose to the occasion.  He ran, kicked, dribbled, and almost scored a goal.  And he had a smile on his face!  He has decided that he likes soccer again.  

I don't have pictures of J as it was really hot by the time of his game and we were just trying to keep cool.  He did great.  He played 1/2 goalie and 1/2 defender which he loves.  He continues to improve.  He also likes the social aspect and has met some new boys.  

Looking forward to a great fall season!

A budding photographer

The Captain and J were able to take a father/son trip to Ohio in early August.  They had a good time.  They went up to see family and some of the Captain's old flying buddies.  At some point in the trip, the Captain turned the camera over to J.  Here's what he shot.

Here's a picture of Dad and one of his planes.

J got a pretty good action shot of some aerial maneuvers.

Here's D and Bob.  They have been flying together a long time.  

After the trip, he definitely caught the photography bug.  He has taken countless pictures of his brothers.

He has taken a few hundred pictures of Baby Girl.  He is one a mission to get her smiling for the camera.

Plus, there are lots of pictures of legos and Bionicles.  He discovered that he could tell a story. They would  pose the characters and doing sequential shots to make a "movie."  Pretty ingenious!

He completely maxed out the memory on the camera so I had to wade through the hundreds of pictures.  I think he has found a new hobby.