Running home from school

Generally, she complains about running, but she seems to have turned a new leaf.  She really likes to run to and from school these days.  Her dad and I came to pick her up at about the same time the other day.  I was on my bike, and her father was in the car.  Instead of riding home with him, she wanted to run home while I rode.  And she did too!  She ran most of the way.  

What I love about this picture is how free she looks.  She looks like the picture of being a little girl from the high waisted dress to the mary janes to the pink headband in her hair.  She looks so free and relaxed with her hair in a tangled mess behind her.  I love this little girl.  She makes me so very happy.  

Stay small!!!

this is the littlest sitting on top of me and smacking my belly.  He loves to cuddle and play.  I want him to stay small forever. 

A weekend

Now that the weather is tolerable, I have been trying to get the kids out some to do some outdoorsy things during the week.  Last weekend, I took them to a local Park and we went FOUR miles! Me on foot and them on scooters and bikes.  They were pretty tired when it was all said and done.  I was too, but it was a lot of fun and I was glad to see them not complain tooooo much about getting out.  

We walk them to school and back everyday.  Peanut really enjoys walking to school.  Mr. T. is able to swing it in the morning now that they are in the same place.  It also frees me up to ride my bike a few days a week.  I can pick them up on my bike and ride home while they walk/run.

I call this hill "beer hill".  That is, of course, not the real name, but Mr. T. and I are counting calories these days and this affords me a beer when I ride up in on my bike.  

This is a good example of how the kids are these days.  We were dropping a friend off at the airport and snapped this shot for him before we left.  Peanut is super sweet these days.  She makes living easy.  The small one?  Not so much.  He is still super cute and cuddly, but he is definitely turning into a dude.  He is wickedly funny; however, the flip side of that is that he is also a bit of a snot at times.  Pictures seem to bring that out in him.  

And this may be the last swim of the season... Sigh....  it is only about 85 degrees now during the day.  Not to complain, but that makes the water feel a little cool

School is Cool

Both of the kids seem to be adjusting well to school.  By adjusting well I mean, they like school a lot.  So much so that the littlest one gets really mad at me and cries if I come to pick him up before 4 or so.  That works good for me for the next few weeks as work is ever chaotic, but at some point, I would like to pick up him around 3:30 or so. 

BabyP seems to have adjusted well.  I will find out next Thursday how they are really doing in their class.  He comes home and tells us stories of his day and of the other kids.  He was really excited to see a little girl from the dayschool there with him.  "this is Madison.  She is my friend.  She is really pretty."  He seems to have moved on to play with more boys.  I need to get by his teacher's room at some point and see how things are going.  I feel really disconnected from the kid's classroom experience because I pick them up after the teachers are already gone.  Mr. T. says that BabyP's teacher seems to have him dialed in.  Mr. T. is really please with the way BabyP responds to his teacher.  I knew with whichever teacher we had, we would be very happy.  And we are.  Today was the first day he said he did not want to go to school.  He was okay with it after we talked to him a bit.  I think he thought his choices were go to school or be with me.  Time with me always wins.  :)

Peanut seems happy too.  She is working really hard to keep all 4 of her stars.  She had a run of bad luck with some talking and not wanting to stop coloring when asked.  She said her teacher was really nice, but that first grade was a lot harder than kindergarten.  I am not surprised as first grade is set up like "real" school.  It is a completely new experience for her.  She is really excited about learning math right now.  She is also doing better in her reading.  We are really trying to focus on her reading to us at night.  I am really proud with how she is progressing with that too, but I feel like she just doesn't have the confidence that she needs.  I guess that all comes in time.

We somehow lucked out and got soccer practices for the kids on the same day.  So Tuesdays and Thursdays will prove to be complete chaos at our house for the next few months.  It isn't anything we can't handle, but it will take a little bit of planning on my part.  Luckily, I am generally good at that type of thing. 

First Day!!

These two lunatics started school a few days ago.  They crack me up with their silliness.  I love this series of photos because you can really see their personalities in them. 

I like how they very obviously have affection for one another but they are also being goofy.

Someone wants to push his sister and someone will get strangled for it. 

Always adding some glamor.

It was nice to get a good picture of me and the kids.

And this picture explains again why we always take family photos with us pointing at the camera.  It is near impossible to make it work otherwise.

Me and my honey.  You can see the mark above his eye where he hit his head.  :(

I don't know what is up with sweet peanut there.  BabyP is just hanging out looking like his dad.

Grandma came too!

And this is grandma raspberry that Grandma is carrying.  She has to be carried because she is old and can't walk.  LOL!!  It also happens to be his favorite raspberry.

Raspberry looks on while someone gets his paper to write his name.  

and a girlfriend's daughter is in the class with us.  Yay!

Sweet Peanut took her place at her desk like it was no one's business. 

She has this thing all under control.

They had a good day.  BabyP was SO excited about school.  He had a "very unlucky day" because his mom came and got him.  He did not get two recesses like the rest of the kids did.  It made him very grumpy.  LOL

What I did on my August vacation

This is a post of random pictures that I took during our August break from work.  Initially, this was planned to be a vacation, but work and life interfered and turned it into a staycation.

We played a little bit of tennis

We ate take out and hung out on the porch.  Peanut said "ahhh, this is the life."

We went out for ice cream.  The kids were concerned because it wasn't haagan daz, but I think they were okay with it.  Ahhhh the life of kids with yuppie parents.

We did some painting.  Grandma bought them some art kits when she took them for a few days.

We did some home repairs because fixing things is always easy in a 60 year old house.  I am so ready to remodel this bathroom.

We played hide and seek with our friend the tire.  We also took a few good naps that gave us "nap hangovers", which is what is going on there.  

We learned who our teachers were going to be at the big kid school.  We were really excited to go to the big kid school.  

We tie dyed some stained up shirts and table clothes.

We rode our bikes and our scooter to get some pastries.

Mommy even got to go on a bike ride with her friend.

We cooked!

And we made the chocolate cake!

And we left random things around the house for mom to find.

We went to craft and story time at the local toy store.

And watched with amazement as they put mentos in soda and they squirted high into the air.  Yes, that is my boy in the bright orange shorts.

The bathroom sink

Is it just my kids or is everyone else's kids hell bent on making the bathroom as disgusting as possible?  Is it not enough that I have a little boy that is peeing "in" toilet, but he also has to cause havoc with the toothpaste?  Poor poor mommy.

And Poor little boy because mommy is so "unfair".

My kids make me laugh

A beach bucket full of tennis balls in my bathroom reminds me of a conversation I had with the youngest today while I was... Well....

I told him I did not need anymore tennis balls and we could play with the ones I had. We were prepping to go play tennis together. Evidently, I told him to leave them there and evidently he listened.

Texas

 We spent the Fourth of July weekend in Dallas, because when you feel hot where you are, it is always good to go someplace hotter.  That and I have family and friends in Dallas.  It is an enjoyable break.  I live for vacations.

My cousin lives where you can shoot off fireworks.  Unlike Arkansas, they are not under drought restrictions, so we bought a ton of fireworks and really we needed more.  We ended up with one injury from Ms. Peanut.  She dropped part of the sparkler on her toe, and it left a nasty blister.  

We also went and saw my friend Janet and her family.  Janet and I have been friends since I moved to Little Rock about 14 years ago.  

She has two beautiful children, and our kids call one another cousins which is is super fun and cute.  We went to the zoo, where they had an Australian exhibit.  

Generally, i would not have fed the birds, but I am so glad we did.  The kids had an absolute blast!  There was also a small splash park that we got to go to.  We all went home and had a nice rest after being out in the hot sun and enjoying our day.

We had the opportunity to watch part of a bird show, but BabyP started bullying small children, so we left.  LOL.  When the thug gets so strong he can't overcome it, it is time to take a rest.