School stinks!!

     We decided to do a little duck feeding after church on Sunday. One last little adventure before school starts.

Fun stuff and close to home.

    And then like a blink of an eye school starts again. And, if you ask me, it feels like it never ended. I feel like we've been doing school for months not just one week.

I'm not as clever as most moms with the signs of which grade each are in but Mark is starting 11th, Isaac is 8th, Carter is 6th and Brock is 3rd.

    I found my three youngest on the neighbors front lawn playing with a cookie monster toy earlier this week.

So cute!

    And sometimes we get lucky and this little girl falls asleep before us.

She use to be such a great little sleeper, now she's a 'hot mess' with her sleeping habits. 

     Next week will be the official start of the school year for McClane and then it will be just the girls home, at least for the first few hours of the day. Yay ME for surviving the first week of school!

Our final week of summer break 2016.

      For our last week of summer break we definitely kept things low-key. Here are the few photos I captured throughout the week of just random events.

Not once but twice, in one day, she fell asleep like this on the front porch.

Our only proof that we attended the Alpine parade.

Smalls likes to cuddle.

Fresh carrots from the neighbors garden. McClane only wishes he'd planted his own.

Friday night entertainment. These are a few boys from our "hood". (Mark is building side rails for the back of his truck.)

       We had "back to school night" this afternoon and the three elementary boys seem happy with their teachers and school mates. We had to make one change with Brock's teacher but thankfully it was done before we went to meet her. 

      It's giving me a knot in my stomach thinking about going back to school and doing homework and making lunches but I know the kids are kind of excited about it. McClane has an extra week before his official start and he's excited too. Lets hope we all survive!

Charlie is THREE!

      Not the most exciting week but we ended it celebrating Charlie's 3rd birthday and that was enough excitement for me. She got new clothes (that I didn't officially present as gifts but just had her wear them). She loves new clothes and insists on putting them on herself no matter how difficult it is. I also found these cute boots and at a great price so I'm not going to be too upset when she scuffs them up because she sure loves them and has already started the scuffing process.

All ready for church.

I wish I could find this outfit in my size.

    This morning she was up early and as soon as she realized it was finally her birthday she started singing 'happy birthday' to herself.

Cute birthday girl! (It's a good thing I took this photo first thing this morning because these balloons didn't survive past 11 AM.)

    We let her start her day with a birthday card and cash from G & G Baker and a birthday gift from big sis.

Thanks G & G Baker for the card and money!!

"Close your eyes while your brothers get the box open for you."

Her very own Ziggle! Thank goodness for big brothers with some assembly skills.

Now she can race McClane around the neighborhood. P.S. McClane has some mad skills on this ride-on toy. I'll have to post a video sometime.

       Then we went swimming!

Such a fun day! (Only missing Mark & Greg.)

      Then home for one more gift and a little cake.

A new Schwinn trike all her own! (Now she can stop stealing the neighbors.)

McClane is helping her display her new toys.

Ice cream cake makes my life a little easier and it was delicious.

    Now we have the Alpine parade and fireworks to look forward to tomorrow and only one more week of summer break to enjoy!

August!! What?!!

    We're starting August out pretty slow.

Nap time with babies are the best!

    We really haven't done much this past week. Kayli did take four of the boys to the water park but there's no photo evidence of that adventure. And we've also spent a little time at the splash pad this week but, again, no photos. I do have this photo of Charlie modeling one of her early birthday outfits.

She wasn't really in the mood for photos but she did her best.

     And just when I thought I wouldn't have much else to share here's a gem of a video I captured today while in the parking lot at the dollar store. Brock had no idea I was staring at him while he perfectly lip synced this song so I hurried and videoed the last few seconds of his 'performance'. He's pretty good I think!

       

         Not much else is on our schedule for the week/weekend but next week we have a few more things to look forward to, mainly Charlie's 3rd birthday!