Becoming Independent

My Helper!

Nothing overly serious as of yet....but the boys and I went with a realtor on Friday and looked at a few houses.

Casey getting wet.

Camden being a goofball!

Making Their own PB&J'S

Camden and Casey are becoming more and more independent these days.Camden can button up his shirt all by himself now, they like making there own pb&j's and Case wanted to do dishes the other day. I was actually quite impressed with his "thoroughness"....I just showed him how to rinse, shake the dish alittle bit and then put in on the towel so it can dry.
Last Wednesday, our thermostat seemed to keep climbing and it was 85 in our house before we had even left for school. Joel ended up going in late enough to be able to take Quinn & Mikaila to school and then I ran Ashleigh to school at her usual 10:00 late schedule for Wednesdays. I had already prepared myself for not wanting to be inside our house that day. I let the twins play at the playground for a while and then we made our way to have fun and get wet. They always love to be able to do that, and then we had a little picnic in the shade under a tree nearby.
When we did pull back into the driveway, I was so scared to find out if the air was still not cooperating or not, and sure enough if was still hot as could be. I made another call to our a/c man and decided to have him come out and see what was going on. We have a load controller, and it was not allowing our air conditioning to kick on-so stupid, but oh well, at least it wasn't something major-we were grateful for that!

Last week, seemed to fly by faster than the first week of school which isn't too difficult with all the business that's been happening with Ashleigh being in cheer. Practice four days a week after school and a stunt clinic this past Saturday. She's a little sore today, but she's doing something that she seems to really enjoy and so hopefully it's worth it!
Everyday I go for my walk/jog and it's normally with Joel, but this morning I took Casey in the stroller and Mikaila walked with me. About half way through our walk, they wanted to stop at a playground. They had fun making their "cakes" and sandcastles. It gets hot oh too quick in the morning, so I really didn't want to stay too long. I definately got more exercise pushing the stroller, and at points Mikaila wanted a ride. Good grief! I think my walk took about twice as long as usual, oh well hopefully they at least liked going to the playground :)
Well, another school week ready to begin tomorrow & that's including Joel. He is starting his online business course this Tuesday. It will definately take some getting used to for mainly him, but for the rest of us as well. It's a big committment, but I know he will be great at it!

Cam being Mr. Independent

Last Friday

Last Friday, we were finally able to connect with others from church and go to a couple's house who live about 20 miles west of us....(.and you thought we lived far!) They live on a farm, with plenty of land for their crop of corn and whatever else they're growing-so peaceful out there. It was great to hang out with couples our age and plenty of kids running around! There's three of us who have sets of twins, which is pretty amazing to have in one group!
 We had Famous Daves b-b-q and other side items. The kids were having so much fun playing in the water, that they really didn't want to take the time to eat.
It was a fun night!

A post after 3 months-not bad! :)

I know, how annoying to look at the same pictures and post for almost three months now! Well, our three oldest are back at school today, the twins are watching Tom & Jerry, and the wash is in the washer.....so hurray, for being able to blog today!
This past week or two has been busy with the endless list of things that the kids "need" for back to sxhool. The first four hours of shopping are fun and then this mama is ready to colapse on the couch! This year I just left Quinn at home with Joel, because he isn't exactly a big shopper, like his sisters and mom are. :) He told me what he likes and what he doesn't like....he's easy. I did take him to Marshalls to pick out his shoes, which he could handle!
Joel celebrated birthday # ..... this past Wednesday, (which was the last day of the summer movies that we did this summer. Actually, we prob. missed like half of them, oh well.) Anyways, back to Joel's b-day...we put a little gift basket together for him with an Ohio state shirt, sugar free candy, vitamin water, yogurt raisins, gum, and trail mix. Simple, but the kids liked being able to give him something for his special day. The kids thought the kitchen smelled like Thanksgiving that night, because we had a ham in the oven, mashed potatoes, bread, veggie, and dessert. We had all signed a poster board which said happy birthday on it and even the little guys "signed" it. I come in the kitchen and Quinn is "blowing up zip loc bags" (because we didn't have any baloons!) Uh honey.....cute idea, but no! I thought it was rather funny! :)
Lately, Joel and I have been going on walks almost nightly and usually in the morning, on weekends. It isn't always the most perfect weather, but I love the exercise and the time we get to just be with each other and talk! We have been more conscious about what we eat, and since last April I especially saw a need to be more careful with my "junk" intake.
Over the weekend miss Ashleigh got her braces off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you realize how long this child has had them on?! She actually asked the orthodontist on Saturday if she was the patient who has been there the longest....most definately! So, it's different to see her without them now, but she was thrilled to have them off for her first day of highschool today. Joel just kind of made a day of it with Mikaila and Ashleigh on Saturday and took them to lunch afterwards. I think it's nice when they are able to do that from time to time. I was home with my brewd of boys and thought I would make them lunch and eat out on the trampoline. It was cloudy and then sunny, and then windy.... so needless to say some of the paper plates were blowing off the trampoline and then it was getting kind of toasty out. That lasted all of about 15 minutes and then we decided to come inside.
Well, for anyone else that has kids starting school today, I hope we all get great reports!

Have a great week!