Reading with brother

Too sweet!

First Day of School 2012

 I just dropped off 1/2 of my heart off at elementary school.

 This 1/4 of my heart starts kindergarten.

 This 1/4 of my heart starts second grade.

The big 1/4 starts his first day back with 175 students.

 This one stays with me....forever!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow my Lucy starts kindergarten and Samuel starts second grade.  So many emotions swirl around.  This year the children will be attending a Dual language program at a local public school.  Half of their time will be in Spanish and half in English.  I can't believe the summer has slipped away - like a good book when you wish there was just one more chapter.  Pray for Samuel especially that he will catch up quickly and make friends - this will be a challenging year for him.  Pray for Lucy that she will be able to contain her excitement - she is super excited about school and getting to eat lunch in the cafeteria out of her Tinker Bell lunch box.  Lots of changes.  I'll let you know how the first day goes.

Olympics

Have you been cheering on team USA lately?  We have. I am a super fan of the Olympics...as in I've been excited about the Olympics since last summer.  There are many reasons why I love them - some deep, some not...but this year from our family meal of fish and a little tea party during the opening ceremony to watching events, I've enjoyed watching them with my kiddos. 

As you know my kids love the country of Djibouti and they are exploring more the geography of the world.  For the opening ceremony they got a penny for every country they found.  They started to nod off around the M's but Samuel earned .45 cents before bed.  Not bad.

One other fun thing is seeing the events through their eyes.  Have you heard a 7 year old laugh or a 5 year old giggle lately - well just watch the faces of the runners at the track and field events in slow motion with my kids and let the laughter roll.  Really why else do they show just their faces in slow motion for the last few seconds of the race - some camera man is letting his kids get a giggle.

AND shot putting - oh my - get some burly dude with a beard that screams when he "puts" a metal ball about 70 feet.  Listen for the deep yell that accompanies the throw and more laughter.  It was even better that the American that won bronze was from Augusta, Georgia.

AND to top off the reality of the long jump.  We got out the tape measure and the largest room in our house is right at 27 feet - the distance these guys long jump.  Samuel and Lucy tried their best jumping skills and landed somewhere between 3 and 4 feet.  They were amazed at how far these guys jump.  Me too.

Jeremy read this article to me the other night, How to Watch the Olympic Games, about the Olympics by John Piper.  Encouraging for me.  Hopefully for you too.

Happy Olympic watching! and please cheer for Djibouti when you see them :)

Kiddos

Our yard has been full of mosquitos, tall grass, water fights and laughter this summer.  One day we had three out of six kids from one family over and enjoyed the slip and slide with a little picnic lunch.  They all seemed to have a great time and we were glad they came.

Reading

This summer we've spent lots of long hot afternoons reading in bed.  We've been reading the Boxcar children, library books and we've made it through most of the Fellowship of the Ring (the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).  Samuel got the American History - Adventures in Odyssey audiobook for his birthday and has LOVED it.  We've also started rereading all of the board books over and over again to Lydia - her favorite is a Thomas the Train book that has a dog and a cow in it.  I caught the big kids curled up in my bed one afternoon reading their LEGO Nijago book with stickers while Lydia napped.  Hope you've had happy reading this summer...anything good?

Not yo' Mama's box fan

We have one of these super duty box fans that swivel up - fancy - it moves the 90 degree plus air in our sun room around and cools Samuel on the top bunk at night.  It's been a great fan.  Today the fan provided multiple minutes of entertainment.  1. turn on fan  2. add balloons from birthday party two weeks ago 3. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Quotes

We have our French friends over again today and they have been playing well together.  As I write they are again in their redneck hot tubs out back, I hear their plans and play through the open window.  Earlier, before I would let them out so as to spare the neighbors the early morning chatter in the yard, the kids played war with the little army soldiers.   The play got animated and I told them not to scream inside.  A few minutes later Lydia started screaming because she wanted in on the action

French boy #1 - "Stop screaming baby"
Samuel - "She can't help it, it's her nature"

Deep thought by a little guy.

Summer fun

We've had a full, fun summer.  In addition to family time Jeremy was able to get away with his best friends for a guy's weekend and I was able to spend time with my best friend, Sarah, for a girls weekend.  We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.  I can't even describe my gratefulness for these friendships.

We had kids over, Jeremy tutored, I worked, the kids played, we slept late, read long and ate ice cream sandwiches.  We played bubbles, slipped and slid, bounced balloons, changed diapers, chased fireflies, danced and watched the Olympics.  We house hunted, built legos, taught dishwashing skills, Jeremy taught the kids piano and Spanish, Samuel lost two teeth and we celebrated three birthdays.  Full days, good memories, sweet friends, precious family.

The secret hideout

There's a little space under the bathroom counter for a girl's hangout.  These two love to play in there...I love to watch them.

Starting the day

As I prepare to jump in bed at 2am here are the sweet faces that started my day...could they be any more B-O-Y or G-I-R-L? They certainly couldn't be any more dear to me than they allready are

He's got his LEGO star wars shirt, the jeans with holes at the knees and about 4 inches of air around the ankles and they're wrinkled from being on the line outside.  Daddy took him to get his new "school shoes" and we found out that the last pair of shoes we bought him over a year ago were 3 sizes too small for him.  He's smiling with that sweet snaggletooth grin - my second grader lost his third tooth last week.

She oozes girlie pink with a little sass and almost always a skirt to twirl and play in.  My kindergartener is growing taller and sweeter.  She's super helper and likes to volunteer to help Mommy even on mornings like today.  She couldn't be any more girlie and I wonder what the years ahead hold.

Sweet kiddos - It's been an amazing summer to watch them enjoying one another and playing sweetly (more often than not)  What a blessed Mama I am!

7

one, two, three, four, five, six and SEVEN

It was an afternoon full of 7 year old boy fun - because that is what he is now - a seven year old boy.  He's tall, with one snaggle tooth hanging on for dear life and he welcomed the amazing friends God has brought into our paths this year.  The friends came and celebrated with us - the red balloon decorations provided 20-30 minutes worth of unprompted chaotic fun in the living room while the boys 'fought' with the balloons, then there were several LEGO building games (who can build the tallest tower in 2 minutes, build a LEGO Star Wars spaceship) and the water gun fights in the backyard (Daddy surprised the boys with the storm trooper mask and soaked them all with the super soaker water gun)  and when they were SOAKING wet with water and the backyard was dripping with laughter and fun - we ate the LEGO brick cake decorated with LEGO STAR WARS.  What a sweet time!  The birthday bash of simple boy fun....and one redheaded boy smiling wide at the memories made with friends.

Quotes

Upon seeing the movie Star Wars for the first time last week, Lucy exclaimed "The Emperor doesn't brush his teeth very much!"

Samuel, Lucy and I were playing ball in the living room - you know a little monkey in the middle and some handball when Samuel said to Lucy "You're a worthy component, Lucy!"  (I love how, in their exploration of new words they often mix two possible words - like opponent and competitor or Lucy's 'toribble' a mix of terrible and horrible.)

Training

You see I haven't decided I want to walk yet so my siblings keep trying to help me get around.  I do just fine on all fours but they seem to think walking is the way to go OR riding this thing.  Now, I like this thing, it plays music and gives some laughs but sometimes I think they like it more than me.  Lucy really likes it and even rides it herself but I'm just not sure - yet.

Samuel's a good coach and gives some convincing arguments for the importance of getting around faster...

But as for me I think I'll stick to all-fours for now and practice up for scuba diving in the near in the future!

Fireflies

They're a blur in summer evening dusk, flitting from end to end of the yard, chasing the glow, wanting to hold a bit of the magic in their own hands.  They squeal with delight, race with open arms and stand still awaiting the flicker of light - the flicker of hope that they will hold another 'bug flame' for a brief moment before it is off again.  Several nights in a row the magic of these little pieces of amazing handiwork - HIS handiwork -  call them out into the fading sunlight to dance the dance of wonder in their PJ's and run with joy - a childlike joy - into the summer nights.

One Mama sits and watches them flit and jump and squeal.  She sees the magic, the wonder awakened in their hearts and dashes about to hold them tight before they are off again.  The days are fleeting - just a flash and they are gone.  She soaks them up one by one - the handiwork of a loving ONE - and is grateful for the long evenings of summer...for the short years with her little ones, even though they blur and whirl and spin they are sweet.

Legos, Legos and Chinese food

Today we ventured to town on MARTA and the kids loved riding the train. It's been a while since we lived in town and frequented public transportation but it was a good way to see the city today. We rode the train up to Phipps and met Jeremy and Lydia for a little fun at LEGOland. The big kids are really into Legos and loved the day (even if the noise factor was a little too Chuck-E-Cheese for me) and Lydia loved the Duplo blocks - she tasted quit a few. We were all impressed with the mini Atlanta Lego buildings and left after a full day enjoying all things Lego. Before the trek back out to the burbs we stopped by our favorite authentic Chinese restaurant, the last time we were there I was only a few weeks away from having Lydia!

Just can't contain the urge to dance

I caught Samuel dancing in the bottom of the ninth.