Emma the Book Worm

So, this is what I've been doing to my niece while my sister is at work:

I saw this cute picture idea on Pinterest (of course), and thought that it would be perfect to do with Emma since her Momma is a librarian. Emma was very cooperative. :0)
I will probably continue to torture her in this manner since my own kids no longer let me do this to them. ;0)

Peacock Art Project

I found this cute art project on one of my favorite blogs; Whatever: http://www.megduerksen.typepad.com/
It is making peacocks!! First I painted the kids' hands to make the head, beak, and top feathers.

After they put their hand print on the paper, they painted the neck & body of the peacock:

While the bodies dried, we painted papers for the feathers. We used blue, purple, and green for the big part of the feathers, and orange, red, and yellow for the circles on the feathers. We swirled the paint together to make designs & then used popsicle sticks to make swirls in the paint before it dried.

After they were dry, we cut out feather shapes & circles.

Then we glued the feathers on to the paper & added the circles:

We added eyes to the heads, cut them out, and glued them to the feathers.

Here are our peacocks!!

Since we had extra paper left over, I saved some back so Emma could make a peacock too! Here is her tiny little hand print:

And here is her cute baby peacock!

These were a lot of fun to make & the kids were excited about how they turned out! =)

First Day of School 2012!

The kids started school today! These were waiting for them when they got up this morning:

I got these ideas from Pinterest & my sister Dianna. And no, I did not sugar them up before school, they get them when they come home this afternoon. :0)

The boys went this morning. Aren't they so handsome? Riley was super excited, but Zach was very, very nervous. He told me he wanted me to start home schooling him...... I am sure he will have a good day though....I hope...

I also got this idea from Pinterest. I thought it would be a good way to remember some of the things about them at this age.

Zach & his teacher, Mrs. Norden:

Riley & Mrs. Rudisill:

Lily didn't go until this afternoon, because they split the class up for the first day. She'll go all day tomorrow. Isn't she adorable in her little uniform?!? She was unbelievably excited! Jeff met us at school to take her in. I did really well, until I hugged her goodbye, then I had to practically run out of there so she wouldn't see me cry. 

Lily & her teacher, Mrs. Heise:

So, at least 2 out of 3 were excited about the new school year. I'm sure all three of them will end up having a good day & all of their teachers seem very nice, so I'm sure they will all have a good year too!

My New Job

All three of my kids start school tomorrow. When I started out on this journey of being a stay at home mom, I had all intentions of going back to teaching when my youngest (whoever that was, since I didn't know it was going to be Lily), went to Kindergarten. Well, that day has come. And I'm not going back to teaching. And I am happy with that decision. Ironically, I never wanted to be a stay at home mom. I wanted kids, badly, but I wanted to teach. I had wanted to be a teacher since before I could remember, and I LOVED it! Even when I was pregnant with Zach, I honestly thought that it would be easy to leave him with my mom, and go back to teaching. After all, I had Spring Break coming up and I would have part of the summer off to be with him. I thought that until I held him in my arms for the very first time. They put that little tiny baby (well, not that little; he was over 8 pounds!) in my arms & I decided right then & there that I would much rather be at home with him all of the time. That of course was not a reality. For one thing, we were in the middle of the school year, and for another, even with the cost of childcare, we still couldn't afford for me to stay at home. When I was pregnant with Riley, Jeff & I decided that with the cost of two kids in childcare, it wasn't worth it to work for what I was getting paid, so after he was born, I was able to stay at home with my two little guys. And I have loved it! Still, I missed teaching. I told Jeff that I planned on going back to work after we were done having kids & that child was in Kindergarten. I think that even while I didn't know it, Jeff knew that I was not going to go back so easily. He's pretty smart that way. =) As the kids got older, I realized that I not only loved being home while they were little, but I love being able to go to their school for things, and I love being there when they get out of school. So, as Lily's Kindergarten year got closer, I told Jeff, "I don't think I'm going to go back to teaching yet." Jeff, of course was not surprised. I love teaching, but I love being home more. I didn't think I could just sit at home all day either though. What to do, what to do? My sister, Amy solved that little dilemma for me. She had this precious little baby in May:

No, she didn't have Emma so I didn't have to be bored at home, but she did ask me if I would watch her when she had to go back to work. :0) She got to stay home with her for 12 weeks, but she has to go back to work today. I know that she will be sad, I remember those days, but I am so glad that she has entrusted Emma in my care. So this is my new job. I get to watch this little sweetie, and I still get to be a stay at home mom. I am excited to start my new adventure!

Goodbye Summer

Summer ends for us on Wednesday. School starts up for all three kids on Thursday. (Lily starts Kindergarten...wah!!!) I asked each of the kids what their 3 favorite things they did this summer were. Here is what they said:

Lily:
Swimming

Disney

Water Balloon Fight

Riley:

Disney

Fireworks

Jolly Rancher Suckers

Zach

Fireworks

Disney

Sea World

We had so much fun this summer. We crossed off almost everything from our Summer Fun List. We still have a few more things that I hope to get done in the next month or two. I will miss having them home all day, but I know it is time for them to go back.....we are all getting a little tired of each other. ;0)
Now it is time for new adventures in 4th grade, 2nd grade, and Kindergarten!

S'Mores Party!

Last night we were able to cross another fun thing off of our summer list; s'mores! We had originally planned on having these in July, but it was after I got sick with bronchitis & Jeff was still not feeling too well from his lingering pneumonia, so we had to call it off. That's OK though because it was 110* that day & it would have been miserable!! We rescheduled and the weather was beautiful! We had it out at my sister & brother-in-law's house (Amy & Sam), so we were out in the country where there was plenty of room for the kids to run! My brother & sister-in-law (Tom & Carla) brought a case of silly string for the kids to play with, so we set out the cans & let the kids go at it! They had a ton of fun!!

After the silly string, we set the s'more stuff out:

If you have never had a s'more with a Reese's peanut butter cup, you don't know what you're missing! They are SO yummy! =)

Sam got the fire going & the kids got the marshmallows roasting!

Don't worry, we realize how dry it has been. Sam & Amy made sure that the ground had been nice and saturated with water and they kept a hose that was on near the fire the whole time.

This was SO much fun! After everyone had their fill of s'mores, Amy brought out the homemade vanilla & strawberry ice cream she had made. The kids ran around with glow in the dark bracelets (thanks Grammy!), and they even played "Ghosts in the Graveyard", a game we adults all played as kids. =)
I can't wait to get together again for another party like this!!