First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for my sweet babies. Emily is in the 5th grade and has the best teacher -- Mrs. Cutshaw. Caitlynn had her two years ago and loved her so much. So, Emily was so thrilled to have gotten her. Ryan is in the 3rd grade this year and he has Mrs. Butler, who is a wonderful teacher, too. Emily didn't have her in the 3rd grade and neither did Caitlynn or Hunter, so I don't have much to go on, except that from what I hear, she is great. Ryan had a wonderful first day with her. He said that she was so nice. Emily had the best day, too. I'm so happy that they were still smiling when I picked them up.

We did have a bit of a fiasco this morning, though. This has been the first year that we have been allowed to ride the bus, because they said that we lived too close to the school to ride the bus. However, this year they changed the boundaries and if you live 1/2 a mile, or more, away from the school, then you can ride the bus. We live a mile away. Anyway, we were out there early, because we walked to Kelli's so that we could get a picture taken with Caitlynn and Hunter, before they went to school, and the bus was supposed to come at 7:26am. Well, by 7:38a, we got the car and just took them. We are going to try again tomorrow and see how it works. I have no problem taking them, so I will do that if we continue to have a problem.

After school, Kelli, Scott, and I took all the kids to Dairy Queen to get ice cream. They have a fun time. I'm going to close with some pictures from the day!

Emily, my 5th grader ~

Ryan, my 3rd grader ~

My sweet babies. They are growing up too quickly ~

Emily, Caitlynn, Hunter, and Ryan ~

Ryan, Emily, and Jessie (our neighbor), waiting for the bus, that NEVER came ~

All the cousins, after their tasty Dairy Queen treat ~

Introducing ~~~~~~

~~~ our newest family member! Yikes, did I just call a replacement Albino Leopard Gecko a "family member?" Ooops, I think I did! Well, here is the new little guy or girl. It's still a little too young for us to tell what we have. Ryan hasn't named it, yet. So, I will just show you the new pictures. Without further ado, here they are ~~

Here it is, in the container, before we put it in the aquarium:

This one is pretty active, so it was hard for me to get this picture:

Figure Skating Camp and Mount Trashmore!

Today, was Emily's first day of a week-long ice skating camp. Rob dropped her off at 7:45am and I picked her up at 2:30! She had a day filled with hip/hop dancing, ice skating, nutrition classes, exercising, and all other things related to the wonderful world of figure skating. They actually have four Olympic ice skaters at the rink, to help out with the camp. I'm not sure of their names, but will post as soon as I remember.

While Emily was at camp, I took Ryan and his friend to the skate park, at Mount Trashmore. This is definitely one of their favorite parks to skate. While the boys were skating, I took a nice long walk around the park. They have long trails all around the lake. So, it was nice to get some exercise in while the boys were skating. Plus, I walked right when I got there, before it got too hot. As the day progressed, it was a scorcher. Kelli and Hunter met us there a little later. They were having so much fun, until Ryan and Hunter went down opposite ramps and didn't see each other and collided! They were both hurt pretty badly. Hunter's knee went into Ryan's side/ribs. The park attendant got ice for them and that was the end of our adventure at the skate park. Here are some pictures from our day. I don't have any of skate camp, because I wasn't there. But, I will have some by the end of the week, to share.

Ryan~~

Ryan~~

Ryan~~

Nick~~

Ryan's New Pet!

Meet "Leppy" - Ryan's albino leopard gecko!!! Yikes!! This is what Nana and Poppy surprised him with today at his family birthday party! I will not be holding him, that's for sure!! hahaha!!

Ryan looking at his new pet. It was hidden in the garage!

My sweet boy is so happy! Look at that unbrushed hair from the pool! hahaha!


Today, we celebrated Ryan and Hunter's birthdays, with the family. Last Saturday, we had their friend party at Mike's skate shop. So, this has ended a week-long celebration of Ryan's 8th birthday. He had two fun parties and we even took him to Chuck E. Cheese, to Woodland to skateboard, and to Mike's to skateboard, on his actual birthday. I can't believe that my baby boy is 8-years old already. He is growing and changing so quickly -- too quickly for my liking! hahaha! Here are some pictures, from his birthday parties!

Ryan and Poppy!

Ryan!

Ryan and Hunter!

Emily, Maddy, and Morgan!

Noah and Ryan!

Ryan opening his new deck!

Ryan, at Woodland on his actual birthday!

My skater girl Emily, at Woodland!

Ryan and his ollie off the ramp!

Emily going down the ramp again!

Mommy and the birthday boy, at Chuck E. Cheese!

Daddy and the birthday boy!

Mommy and Emily!

Daddy and Emily!

At the family party today. Ryan likes his cupcakes, without frosting. hahaha!

The boys opening their presents!

Scott is throwing Joshy into the pool! He loved this!


So, as you can see, we did quite a bit of celebrating, over the course of the week! I'm thinking that next year, we are going to have one party for family and friends! However, if their birthdays fall during the week day, we will always do something special with them, on their actual day.

Sandy Bottom Nature Park Hike!

Yesterday, I took Emily and Ryan to Sandy Bottom Nature Park and we had a nice, long, and very hot hike!! hahaha!! It was a lot of fun, though. They love to go hiking around the huge lake and we hadn't gone in a long time. So, Emily actually packed lunches for us and we set off for a fun day. We really enjoyed exploring and had fun, UNTIL the very end of the trail, where the kids started arguing. My goodness, I don't even know what set them off, but I was so aggravated that we didn't even have our picnic. We left and after the kids calmed down, we ran home to get my bathing suit and headed to the pool, to eat our lunch and swim.

Emily and Ryan reading about the rattlesnake warning in the park.

My sweet babies.

Two, of the many turtles, that we saw!

Checking out the backyard habitat! There aren't any pictures of the backyard habitat, because there wasn't much in the habitat to see! LOL!

Miss Adventurous, Em, walking out on a log!

Ryan, is watching his sister from the sidelines! LOL!

My sweet angels!!

My precious babies!!

Tony Hawk Boom Boom Huck Jam!

Tonight we went over to Nana and Poppy's house for an early birthday surprise for Ryan. Two months ago, unbeknown to any of us, Nana and Poppy bought two tickets for this huge event -- one for Ryan and one for Rob. It's for tomorrow night. Emily and I met Rob and Ryan over at their house, once Ryan finished skating. We sat around for a little bit and Nana asked Ryan to go and sit with Poppy. Ryan was a little unsure about it, but went anyway. haha! Poppy gave him the envelope and when Ryan saw what it was -- he was so excited!! He has been wanting to go so badly and every time he asks Rob, he would say, "we'll see!" So, this will be so much fun for them. Kelli and Hunter are going to ride along with them. I'm looking forward to seeing all the pictures. Emily and I will do something special -- just the two of us, while they are at their Tony Hawk Boom Boom Huck Jam!!!

Poppy and Ryan ~~~

Poppy reading to Ryan about all the things that are allowed and not allowed in the arena. Ryan just got back from skating, that's why his hair is a mess! hehehehe!

Poppy and Ryan ~~

Beach Day with my Babies!!

Yesterday afternoon, Emily, Ryan, and I went to the beach. It was just the three of us and it was so much fun spending time with my sweet babies! Ryan found a HUGE hermit crab on one of his explorations. We played in the sand and made a big home for 'Gary Larry' -- the name they gave the hermit crab!! hehehehe! We had to leave earlier than planned because it started thundering. We got home just in time for it to start raining! What a fun day with my precious children!!!

My sweet Ryan and Emily ~~

My babies walking on the beach ~~

Making a home for 'Gary Larry' ~~

Posing in their big 'swimming pools,' that we made for the hermit crab ~~

Update Time!

It's time for an update, since I have been rather slacking in the blogging department lately. This week, Emily and Caitlynn had "Worship Arts Camp" at the church they attended for Bible School. They had so much fun and got to pick three types of art classes to take. Their schedule was: Photography, Sign Language, and STOMP! They really enjoyed their week. Emily's favorite classes were photography and STOMP! I'll have to check with Caitlynn on her favorite classes, but I'd be willing to guess that they were the same as Emily's. I would drop them off every day at 8:30 and pick them up at 2:30. They really enjoyed themselves. While the girls were at their camp, Ryan and Hunter were at skateboarding camp again. They learned a lot of new tricks, which made us feel better since their camp is a bit on the "pricey" side. It was nice to have all four of them at camp, at the same time. While they were at camp, I enjoyed some free time on Monday and Tuesday, which is a coveted luxury, during the summer months! hahaha! I watched Brandon and Joshy the remainder of the week, so they kept me very busy. Yesterday, we had a great day at the pool. It was so hot and we definitely enjoyed the water. Joshy has become very brave. Emily and Caitlynn were taking turns throwing him and he just loved it. He even let them put him under the water and took his water wings off. Brandon is still a bit nervous, but is very slowly coming around. Here are a couple of pictures and a video at the end, of the girls throwing Joshy. To 'hear' it, you will need to scroll down to the bottom and put my playlist on 'pause.'

Em and Joshy ~
Emily and Caitlynn, throwing Joshy ~

Family Day!

We another fun day at the pool. It seems like that is our entertainment of choice, these days! Well, with the price of gas, and with Rob's parents having a pool, and living so close to us, it just seems the natural thing to do. We all love the water. Also, after all the yard work that the boys did, a refreshing dip in the pool, was just perfect. Emily still has to keep her head above the water. And, for a child who is the first one, of the season, to get into the pool and is always in the longest out of everybody, she is doing a great job with self-control. I really thought that she would have "accidentally" slipped under by now, but she hasn't. I'm so proud of her. Emily and Ryan got out all the fake food, pots, pans, cups, and plates from the garage and played "restaurant." They cooked Rob and I some yummy food. Then, Rob got out Poppy's remote control boats and they played with them. It was a lot of fun. We had a great family day!