My mission...

... for the remainder of this week is to take some new pictures!!  I THINK about updating the blog, but then realize I have no pictures to add.  And blogs without pictures are just boring ;o)  Not always, but sometimes, especially when it is MY blog.

We have been very good.  Busy, but good!  I can't believe that tomorrow is October (and my dad's birthday too!) Time just keeps passing us by so quickly.

It finally feels more like fall everyday.  This weekend we are supposed to have more mild temps (only in the low to mid 60s)  I'm ready, I think.  I only dread the increase in laundry that sweatshirts and jeans add.  But then again, if laundry is my only concern, I'd like to think that I'm awfully blessed!!

Avery and Silas LOVE their schools.  As the days pass, it is getting easier and easier to get them out of bed.  And they have both had very positive reports so far.  Silas had his first field trip to the zoo last Friday. Avery doesn't have any trips this fall, or so he says.  We might have to take our own field trip to the apple orchard or the pumpkin patch!

Ok, I'm going to go for now.  I'll be back with PICTURES next time.  And before the end of this week!!

Name that child...

Looks like Avery, doesn't it???  sorry it is so small and blurry, but....

It was taken a LONG time ago... Take a look:

It was ME!!!

I can't find any pictures of Avery that show just how similar we look because, well, he smiles with his mouth closed for pictures...  And trying to get him to make a similar smile would result in NOTHING even close.  I just found this picture and couldn't believe how many similarities we have at about the same age and everything! As Steve said, it is uncanny :O)

Our weekend

Our weekend went really FAST... Daddy had to work on Saturday at the Safety Festival, and the kids and I went to some garage sales with Grandma Darlene and Papaw Bobby.  When daddy got home, we went over to the school and played on the playground where we ALL had a good time, and the kids got plenty dirty!

Sunday, we went down to Grandma and Grandpa Frye's.  We have been working to try to get wood cut to fill the garage for the winter.  It was a fun day of work back in the woods!  After supper, we were pretty worn out, so we just played around in the front yard.  Daddy thought he would "relax" on the lawn, but the kids thought differently:

Avery was wrestling him while Chaille was COVERING him in slobbery forehead kisses!

This week should be fairly calm for us.  Silas has school pictures, and a field trip to the zoo.  Otherwise, it is the same old routine (or so we hope!)  Stay tuned, and I'll update again soon!

Career dress-up day

Silas has "campfire stories" (aka. show and tell) each Friday.  This week, in addition to bringing something in, the students were encouraged to dress up as what they want to be when they grow up.  Silas knew right away what he wanted to be.  His dad and I were SURE that his answer would be a moto-cross racer.  But, no... He wants to be a football player.

Silas is a pretty thoughtful little man.  I have no doubt that he thought about what he already owns that he could wear.  He's seriously THAT considerate.  Either way, we put together a pretty good football outfit from his very own closet, and he was the handsom"est"  pre-k kid I know:

I apologize for the poor picture quality.  We left home in a rush, so all I had to use was my cell-phone camera :(   He's still so handsome!

Where have I been???

Or more importantly, where has the camera been???

I finally found it.  Under the passenger seat in the van.  But it wasn't until I cleaned the van on Tuesday that I found the camera.  And I found that it had NO NEW pictures on it to blog about.  Because, well, when you can't find it, you can't use it.  And my cell phone is crammed full of crummy photos that aren't very clear.  Steve's new IPhone 4 is full of great pictures and videos though.  Maybe I will have him upload his pictures for me.  Then you could see the world from daddy's point of view :O)  I like that idea...

Our world is very busy of routine right now.  And I'm finding that I LOVE ROUTINE!  It makes life predictable, and easier for young children.  It eases sleeping problems, and it makes little things into "treats."  If we usually have a snack at home at 4:00, a walk to the store to pick out a snack is a little piece of heaven!  If we usually go to bed at 8:00, it is a treat to stay up and watch an extra inning of the Reds game!

Now, I just need to put blogging back into my routine.  Sorry, friends, for my lack of posts.  But when I get ahold of that IPhone, I will come back with a fun array of pictures!  How fun it will be to see pictures from dad!

Finally walking...everywhere!

I know that I am absent a lot lately.  I'm trying not to clutter my time with being on the computer.  I seem to be too easily sidetracked.  I'll jump on soon with more pictures to share, but for now, enjoy the video of Chaille finally walking (at almost 16 months old):

Long time, no post...

I know that I don't have to explain to anyone.  I have a big family with plenty of responsibility.  No one expects me to update daily.  But, for those who have wondered what we've been up to, here's a quick summary. (Sorry, no pictures today!)

1) School - Between drop offs and pick ups each day, our days fly by.  We live in with such a routine anyway, that it seems that the days all just run together.

2) Potty training - We are "out" of diapers now, but still having trouble with Nolan and his #2's... But we keep on keepin on.  He will catch on (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

3) Chores - I've committed to myself that I will do a better job of staying on top of things so that the housework doesn't seem so overwhelming.  So, every afternoon during nap time, I work a full 90 minutes non stop, oftentimes longer.  It is working out well, and I'm proud of the way the house is looking lately.  I just have to remember not to stress out when the kids make messes.  There is always tomorrow to clean again!

4) Outdoors - We've been spending more time outdoors as the heat is less in the mornings and evenings lately.  We take lots of walks, bike rides, and just enjoy the beautiful days!  Plus, the more time we spend outdoors, the less mess that we make (refer back to #3!)

5) Focus - This one I saved for last... Because it is where I get all vulnerable and transparent.  For a long time now, I have been very distracted.  Not only in my doings, but in my thought life.  I've been all over the place, from trying to just be busy to trying to justify my every action.  It is because I have felt "guilty" for the times when I have not been "focused."  I haven't been focused on my walk with Christ.  I haven't been focused on making the right decision in every moment... (this is really hard to explain, because I'm not a bad person according to the world's standards. I just sometimes chose to say or do something "worldly" over something I know is right, say like gossip, or idleness...) So, to help myself along, I have eliminated some of the distractions that have kept me off track.  Things that have clouded my thinking and my actions.  Doing so has helped tremendously.  Plus, I have surrounded myself with wholesome things.  Music, books, people... things that make me want to be the best person I can be.  I can "focus" on who I want to be when I have encouragement and uplifting words both inside and out.  Daily I pray for myself and the interaction I will have with others.  Daily I ask God to help me make the right decisions.  And my prayer dialogue has improved greatly!

Ok, I know that I went a little too deep with the last one.  But, I'm almost done here.  I'm back at the housework now, but before I go, I would like to share my favorite song right now.  It is by FFH, and it is a song that I listen to and sing along as a prayer in my life.  You should check it out:

Camping again, and fishing too!

This past weekend, we went camping again.  Because, hey, when you have a new toy, you want to play with it, right?  ;o)

We camped in Columbus at a place called Ceraland.  It is a GREAT place for families, as you will see in our pictures below:

Friday night we went for a long walk that included a trip to the park:

...where Chaille LOVED the swings!

A picture of the camper all set up again.  I was unaware that pictures were being taken though!

My pictures are a bit out of order, but I had trouble moving them to where I wanted them!  So, this was Saturday afternoon.  Steve took Avery and Silas to the pool while Nolan and Chaille napped.  Here is Silas enjoying the water!

And Avery and Silas together!  They had a LOT of fun!

After lunch we stayed inside while it rained a little more.  Avery and Silas put puzzles together.  They played together VERY nicely!!

Cheese!

Nolan did the alphabet train puzzle that is 8 feet long (with a little help putting the letters in order!)  But he did the assembly!!

Chaille sat on my lap.  She took this picture (with a little help as well!)

Avery learned how to tie his shoes at school on Friday.  He was so excited that he practiced off and on all weekend.  He said that he watched a girl at school tie hers, and realized how she did it.  He learned basically all by himself, after MANY attempts from mom and dad to teach him....

Saturday evening, after supper, we played at the park and fished.  Chaille liked playing in the rocks.

Silas liked being a monkey!

Nolan did too.  He's such a big kid these days with his climbing!

And Steve and Avery fished at the lake, where we could see them from the park.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, I have used red arrows to show them.  They were fairly close, but the picture makes it look so far away...

We did lots of fishing over the weekend.  On Sunday, after camping, we went to grandma and grandpa Frye's.  We fished in the evening there too.  I put our fishing pictures all together here:

Avery taking his own fish off of the hook.  He caught several "keepers!"

Nolan fished just a little here and there...

Chaille sat on my lap while I fished some on Sunday evening.  While she was with me, we caught a bluegill big enough to keep.  We are calling this her "first fish" because she "helped" me reel it in!  She would tug on the line, and it kept making me think that I had a bite!

Silas played more than he fished!

You might think that Silas caught this fish.  Nope... He was only holding it while Avery ran and got a bucket to put in in!

I have to note that Avery had some "funny" catches this weekend.  One fish he caught with no bait on his hook.  He casted just the hook and caught a nice bluegill!  Another time, he had a fish bite his line, ahead of even the bobber.  He reeled it in, and Steve even had a hard time getting the fish to LET GO of the line. There was no hook involved.  It was a strange catch!

One last video.  This was Nolan reeling in his line on Saturday.  He's talking up a storm, but I can't make sense of what he is saying.  He didn't catch anything, but maybe a leaf???

First Day of Pre-K!!!

Today is Silas' first day of pre-k.  He was more than excited to go!  There were no tears and no worries for this boy on his first day.  When I woke him up, he asked why he had to go "in the middle of the night."  He's not much of a morning person, so being out the door by 7:15 is not going to be his favorite thing, I'm sure.  Here is our big five year old on his first day of school:

Before I left, I got a picture with his teacher, Mrs. Morton.  He is so excited to be in her class, and is GLAD that there are 8 boys and 4 girls in his class.

I can't believe that it is time for yet another child of mine to be in school EVERY day!  Oh my, how the years fly by!  I'm proud of you Silas!  You are growing to be such a great little man!  I can't wait to see how you grow and learn so much this school year!

15 Months, New RV, and Camping!

Chaille turned 15 months on Friday.  Thanks to a confirmation call, we made it to her well child visit Friday morning.  I had sort of "forgotten" the appointment, so the confirmation call Thursday afternoon saved us!  Chaille weighed 25.5 lbs (the 85th percentile) and was 32 3/4 inches tall (97th percentile).  The doctor says that she is proportionately big for her age and has no concerns with her.  He thinks the reason she is not yet walking all over is strictly a lack of confidence.  I hope that he is right.  We are ready for her to take off, but she takes 3 or 4 steps at a time at best.  Here are a couple of pictures from her appointment:

Playing in the waiting area while waiting for her turn to see the doctor.

We just LOVE the mirrored ceilings in the elevator!  I love her happy smile, especially since this was after her two shots!!

We picked up our new motorhome on Thursday.  What we thought would be a morning at the dealership ended up being an all day affair.  My dad was our hero that day for going along and being a HUGE help with the kids and lunch.  He's wonderful!  Anyway, after our long ordeal when picking up our new toy, the younger three were pretty exhausted (Avery was at school!)  Here they are on the way home:

Somehow Nolan stayed awake the entire trip.  Chaille and Silas were lulled to sleep by the hum of the road!  We LOVE it!!!

Over the weekend, we headed to Versailles State park for our very first camping adventure in our new RV.  But first, we had to make an important stop...

Our least favorite part of the weekend was filling the 75 gallon tank!!  Thankfully we didn't use TOO much fuel this trip!

All set up and ready to camp!

A look at the slide out side with the awnings over the window.

Saturday morning the boys walked a mile each way to the lake to go fishing.  They didn't catch anything, but they still enjoyed some time together.

While they were gone, Chaille rested to make up for the short night the night before.  She and Nolan shared a bed, and she didn't sleep very well!

I failed to get pictures of the boys' favorite aspect of the camping trip, riding bikes over a big dirt pile near the park.  But on Sunday, we took a long hike as a family down to the creek.  The kids enjoyed playing in the water a little:

Silas filled his pockets with treasures!

Avery found some crawdads and some fossil rocks.

Nolan found a spider and RAN!

Steve took this picture of me taking the following picture:

of a silly boy with his tongue stuck out!

Cheese!  He loved throwing rocks into the water. As usual!

These boys love nature.

Fussing at me for not letting her play with the camera.

There, NOW she is smiling.  I let her play with the boys' "scavenger hunt" bag.

The MEN, hunting and gathering ;o)

Cute smile!

Still looking for yet more excitement in the water.

Nolan and Daddy on the trail back to the campground.  I <3 This picture!

When we got back to the campground, I took the kids to swing while Steve packed up the camper.  I thought it was so adorable seeing them swinging here, all lined up from youngest to oldest! :O)  We had a wonderful weekend and look forward to MANY camping adventures together!!