Labor Day Picnic!

The Labor Day picnic is quickly becoming a favorite church tradition here! Last year was David's first year putting it together, and this year was even more exciting (and so much less stressful!) It helped that I hadn't JUST had a baby 3 weeks before the picnic I suppose! :)

SOMEONE gave Caleb his first Oreos...and he liked them! :)

Josiah and David playing football...it was a gorgeous afternoon - couldn't have asked for better weather!

Caleb found this HUGE ball across the field and went straight for it...I still don't know who brought it, but I'd LOVE to find out where they got it! Our family would LOVE to have one of these!

It's so fun being out on our new property. Construction has begun across the tree line, so it's always exciting to be on the recreation fields at the new property and look over where we will be relocating to in the coming year! You can see all the inflatables on the upper field - talk about FUN!

David brought it a company that set up the movie screen and showed "Facing the Giants". I love that movie. Everyone loved it - it was the perfect movie. All ages loved it, got everyone excited for football season that was beginning - GREAT message. Lots of fun :). I had bought some fun movie snacks at the store the weeks before the picnic, so I was stocked and ready!

Caleb was wearing the cutest little Gamecocks outfit that someone had given us...but he wasn't in a "posing" kind of mood - too busy playing with the football!

...set....hut!

Jacob was a big helper after the movie was over...it was 10 pm, and he carried the chairs for me :)....

...and Josiah held the sleeping baby for me while I gathered all our stuff. What a FUN picnic!!!

Fun with Caleb

Caleb got to celebrate his birthday a little longer this year....he enjoyed opening a few presents that Gramps sent him! :) (Of course what he REALLY liked was the wrapping paper that was all BALLS!!!)

The coolest toy I've seen in a long time - it's a stuffed puppy (My Puppy "Pal"). It's a Leapfrog toy (their stuff is always the coolest) and you connect it to your computer to download your child's name and favorite things. So when it sings/talks to Caleb, it says his name and talks about his favorite things! You can even pick the songs it plays. He LOVES it!

BALLS! BALLS! (I promise we do have other toys in the house - but this is really all Caleb cares to play with!) And Gramps sent one for each hand! Awesome!

Giving his new puppy a kiss :)

Outside waiting for Daddy to come home....

Beth, remember this playset? I got it from the curb on a recent visit to Beth's house. Someone put it out with their trash and I took it home - knowing I had just the boy who would love it! :)

I just ordered this bathing suit for Callie from Land's End. It's really for next year, but she insists on wearing new things right away (like her daddy). All of the kids' suits were really marked down on clearance, and I got them for less than $10 - and they are so much better quality than the one I got from Target this year. It fell apart on her by the end of the season and I threw it away. This one is going to be great! (and she loves it because it's a skirt!)

Can you see the expression on Caleb's face? He's never quite sure of Callie, because you never know what she's going to do. But if she's feeding him some of her snack, he's good with that! :)

Day 1...

....of David being without an assistant. His secretary resigned a few weeks ago to focus on her at-home business, and today's his first day flying solo. He's interviewed a few people, but hasn't hired anyone yet. Sigh. Our lives are about to get much more complicated if he doesn't hire someone soon....

On the up side, I feel like I'm finally getting back into my running groove again. The summer has been brutally hot and miserable, but the mornings are really starting to feel cooler. Aside from being tired from having to go so early for David & I BOTH to get our runs in, they are feeling good. Still not back to my pre-Caleb time, but I'm closer than I was 3 months ago! My long run last week was an 8 mile run, and it felt surprisingly good. My mid-week runs have been good too - tiring as well as I'm trying to inch up my speed and mileage as well. Getting there though.

Lunch with Jacob

We decided to go have lunch with Jacob last Thursday - it was so much fun! I had a volunteer meeting that morning and so we stayed a bit afterwards to have lunch with him. We were about 15 minutes early for lunch so we headed down to his classroom and played in centers with him until it was time. He was so excited to show us all the things in his class, all his routines, etc. It was very cute! He was VERY quick to obey and follow directions (which a mom loves to see!) and Callie jumped right in like she was in kindergarten too! :) Lunch was exciting because he got to use his thermos cup for the first time - I sent in some mac & cheese in it and he loved it! :)

Christmas Music

You can tell we've had Christmas music playing in our house for over a month now. That's what happens when your husband is the Worship Pastor and has to choose his Christmas program in the dead of summer when it's 100 degrees outside. As I type this, Callie is sitting on the floor behind me playing with her Dora house and singing "Glo-------ria". She doesn't quite have the "in excelsis deo" part down yet though! :)

jealous

Beth is on vacation with her family this week down in Florida. Jealous, aren't you? Well, it gets worse. She's on vacation about 10 minutes from where my sisters are!!! I know - I'm dying! It gets even worse!! This morning, she got to do her 5 mile run with my sister Kelli!!! They had so much fun and it made me so mad!!! :) So totally jealous. Kelli is sort of like our running grandmother - she's the one that started all this craziness...then she got me hooked...and then I got Beth hooked. So it was fun for them to get to run together this morning....even though it would have been WAY funner if I was there too! :) whine whine...

Caleb

So now that Caleb is walking everywhere, I decided I'd better get him some shoes...

He hates them. Pulled them off as fast as he could manage....

and was SOOOO much happier back in his bare feet. Sigh. I'd really love to get him some crocs - we still can wear them here for several more months, and he'd still fit in them after winter. I keep looking and waiting for them to come down in price....

"where's my ball?"

"I FOUND my ball Mom!"

Joseph wore this shirt at Kristen's rehearsal dinner and I LOVED it. Fun seeing Caleb in it now! :)

Guess who went to the store with ME today?

It really is SO fun having this time to just pour into Callie. I felt the same way when Josiah went to school. I knew that I would miss him SO much, but that it was my opportunity to really pour into Jacob. For him to get to choose what we would play, what we'd read, etc. Well, now it's Miss Callie's turn and she is LOVING it! :)

The FIRST Day of School!!!

The boys were SO excited about their first day of school!!! I am SO thankful not to have a crying child holding on to my leg - it would make it so much harder I think. We had such a wonderful year last year and the boys were thrilled for the year to be starting up. I really prayed this summer for Jacob and for whose class he would be in. That his teacher would love on him and see all of his potential. Jacob was ridiculously excited - he was ready to go to school, to get to have all the fun that his brother has always had, and to just go! I was excited for him - and a little bit emotional that now I was going to have 2 at school all day!

The boys popped out of bed this morning - we started using an alarm clock this year for them since Jacob tends to be "slower" in the mornings. It worked like a charm!!! I had been up early doing my run and spent a LOT of time in prayer for the boys, their teachers, the other kids, for Callie & Caleb. I was excited too, I must admit! :)

Getting their lunches packed...new lunchboxes, new thermoses, pretty exciting. They took gogurt, chocolate milk, and fruit. Jacob had a ham/cheese melt and Josiah took leftover pizza (a new discovery for him - that he likes cold pizza). Josiah's was a compromise - he really wanted chili (because I got them new thermos food jars) but I didn't have the stuff to make it for dinner the night before. We had a pool party with pizza the night before - so he was good with taking that for lunch. Whew. Both got notes in their lunch with some new cool stickers on them :)

READY to go!!!

Josiah - My big 2nd grader!

Jacob - My big (gulp) kindergartener!

Best friends!!! (and their new backpacks that they picked out)

Both spent a lot of time picking out which style they wanted. They even picked different monogramming styles for their initials - go figure!

This is our principal Mrs. Mitchum. She's out there every day holding the stop sign at the crosswalk. She loves getting to see the kids FIRST every day - and they LOVE her. We LOVE her - she's wonderful. (This picture is REALLY for Judy - Mrs. Mitchum reminds me SO much of your mom!!! I know it's not a great picture - but I was trying not to look like a stalker!)

Callie was my helper making the after-school snack....

We had a fun day together. I loved getting to REALLY focus on the younger two. To get to do things totally age-specific for THEM...and not just have them "along for the ride" with the older boys. Here's what my day was like:

Played trains with caleb and callie in the morning.

Put together a princess puzzle with callie (found at the dollar spot at target – yippee!) when caleb took his morning nap.

Finished getting coupons together while callie watched dora (NOT batman or star wars!)

Went to publix with only 2 KIDS (sooo nice) and got back on top of normal grocery shopping again after all that vacation ($250 worth of groceries for $100!!!)

Callie ate princess soup for lunch

Getting ready to put two to bed

Have a plate of brownies ready for bus driver

Have 3 heart-shaped brownies on my “You are Loved” plate for the boys (and callie) when they get home.

Heart-shaped brownies...they've become a tradition...

Waiting at the end of our court for the bus...and our boys! :)

This was a BIG deal - last year I picked Josiah up everyday. He was emphatic that he did not EVER want to ride the bus. The bus that comes home in the afternoon ONLY comes to our neighborhood, so often times I was stuck behind the bus coming home in our car. The kids are literally on there for about 5 minutes, and they get dropped off right at the bottom of our court! So this summer, the boys started talking about how cool it would be since they'd be together, and they decided they wanted to ride the bus. As we met more neighbors and I talked with more people about it, we decided to let them try it. They were SO excited about it...I was a bit nervous...that they'd get on the right one and it would be okay.

Hooray - here it comes!!!!

Both boys got home just fine! They LOVED the bus - it was their "high" for the day. Whew - big relief for mom! It's nice for me because I can leave the little ones sleeping at home and just walk down the court to meet them. Last year, I had to wake them up at least 3 days a week to pick up Josiah from school. Hopefully this will makes things easier! :)

Walking home, they were already in their own world telling each other all about their day at school! :) Happy, happy boys!!! And a happy mommy - whew!!! First day down, 179 to go!! :)

He's REALLY walking now!!

Remember I said that Caleb starting taking more steps on his birthday? Well, he's totally walking now - everywhere!!!

...he's looking for his ball....

We do this for what seems like HOURS every day. He sits and throws a ball to me, and I throw it back. Repeat. A thousand times. He has a really good arm actually! Maybe one day he'll make us millions of dollars! :)