Setting the Birthday Bar High

I feel slightly guilty because this will probably never happen again for anyone else's birthday, BUT this year the whole family was off for Little Sissy's birthday. We celebrated all day long, and that wasn't even her party! Starting off with special birthday pancakes...

Then she opened her Samantha Doll she's been wanting ...

Next came a trip to the Magic House, where we did lots and lots of painting...

And finally finished the perfect day with a STL Cardinals game with our church. Looking back, this is even more significant since they ended up winning their 11th World Series in 2011. Happy birthday, sweet girl!!

Just Say No

We were passing the grocery store yesterday when suddenly I heard Big Sissy sort of gasp.
"Mommy, I can't believe they would sell DRUGS there. It says so right on the sign."

Thank you, public school, for giving us conversation topics that I might not have thought of with a 6-year-old. I love that it bothers her, though!

Soccer Princess

I promised pictures of the younger 2 playing soccer and then soccer started consuming our life, so now that it's over I have time to post pictures. :) Big Sissy had practice on Tuesday nights--immediately after ballet, Little Buddy had practice on Friday nights, and then Little Sissy had practice on Saturday mornings--at the same time as Big Sissy's games. Whew!

Little Sissy tells me that she loved soccer, although she tends to tire out in the middle. Water breaks are her favorite time. After the first practice, I also discovered that she had been stashing lip gloss in her shin guards. I don't know what God has planned for her, but her athleticism may lie more in the form of dance or swim. Just a guess. Either way, she had fun and got some good outdoor exercise.

You might be wondering where the pictures of Little Buddy playing soccer are. Well...I'm not going to blame the fact that he's a 3rd child as much as the fact that I am a forgetful mommy. With practices on Friday nights, we were doing good to get there on time and I could never seem to remember to also bring my camera. After a few practices we just started to forget it. Literally. We forgot to go to the last 3 practices. Oops. Luckily, he didn't love it so he didn't notice. He really thought his coach was mean because he kept saying they couldn't use their hands. Big meanie. But lest I worry that Little Buddy won't be able to find something he likes, we went to a free gymnastics class last week and he went NUTS he loved it so much. So don't worry. We won't be bored. Tumbling starts next week.

Soccer Mom

I don't think I was ever the cool kid, but the deal was sealed when we got the mini van. I really wanted to get the cute family stick people to put on the back of it, but someone told me that's what all the minivan moms did so I decided not to. But now I'm a soccer mom. I'm back to wanting the minivan decals.

Hubby couldn't be more excited to finally have a girl in the family who likes sports. In fact, 5 minutes after we arrived at her first practice he jumped in to help the coach. By the time we left he was officially the co-coach of her team. Because we needed one more responsibility this year. :) It's fun to see him excited about something though--especially something involving our kids. It's a great way for them to spend time together. So here are some pictures of Big Sissy at her first soccer practice. Little Sissy and Little Buddy will start their Rookies classes in a couple of weeks, so I'll post more pictures then.

They Told Me This Day Would Come

This week I sent my children to school. All of them. People told me this day would come, but there were times I couldn't even imagine it. Not that I'm entirely happy about it. No, I would still homeschool if anyone would let me. But they want to go, so I'm going to let them. I was most worried about Little Buddy. He's wanted to go to preschool for a year now. In fact, he has had a whole make-believe preschool going since Little Sissy started. In his pretend preschool, he had a teacher named Mulan--except when she broke her arm and he had a different teacher for a while. His friends there were named Ava and Aiden, except Ava seemed to be a bossy little pretend girl judging from the way they argued on the pretend phone. But Little Buddy is a little--well, exuberant. And I was afraid his teachers couldn't handle all that exuberance. You might detect my fear in this little pre-first day interview.



When we got there, though, it was nothing like I had pictured. I thought it would be full of quiet little girls and well-behaved boys who would make Little Buddy the target of way too much attention from the teachers. As it turns out, there are several special needs kids in his class, none of whom have their own aid, and so the teachers are too busy to notice all the quiet little kids. I think this will get better as everyone settles into a routine, but the good news is that no one thought he was noisy. At all. And no one thought he was wild. At all. Whew. I think he's going to fly right through the radar in this class. He had a great day building with blocks, riding the tricycle, doing puzzles, writing on the chalkboard. Before long I am going to stop staying all day. Then I'm going to stop peeking in the classroom every few minutes. Then I'm going to actually take that time to go get coffee or something. Baby steps.

Girl Heaven

If you've talked to me in the past year, you know what I mean when I say "Girl Heaven"--an accessory shop called Charming Charlie. They have necklaces, bracelets, earrings, scarves, headbands, clutches, sunglasses--all organized into color groups for easy shopping. The store sometimes elicits a physiological response from girls who have never been there before (drooling, shortness of breath, brief dizziness). It's so much fun. I have visited there upon occasion and recently was blessed to spend a birthday gift card there. This weekend in Springfield I got to introduce some new friends to the estrogen magnet AND take my girls there for the first time. It was cute watching my girls play dress-up with all the goodies there.

Hoosier Celebration

Apparently we've been having a busy summer! I didn't really mean to take a blog break, but we've been doing VBS, trips to the pool, road trips, swimming lessons (all the kids plus Daddy), visits with friends, trips to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I really thought sending the kids to school was going to be easier this year, but we only have 2 weeks left and I'm already so sad. I love having my whole family together! This year Big Sissy will start 1st grade, and Little Buddy will join Little Sissy at Tuesday/Thursday morning preschool. What will I do with all my spare time, you might ask? Well, I'm not going to have any. I'll still be running a household, working my 31 business, doing publicity for MOPS, trying to help my dad with his ministry newsletter some, being a parent helper at preschool...you get the picture.

One of our road trips was a visit to Hubby's brother and his family in Indiana. This has been a tradition the past few years on Independence Day. Hubby's brother always has a great fireworks show set up, and this year they invited nearly 100 people to bring a potluck dish and join us for dinner before the fireworks show. Nearly that many actually came! The bad news is that the fireworks show was rained out; the good news is that every family brought food and those women sure know how to cook! By the way, all of you who think I'm such an extrovert should have seen me hiding in the kids' rooms trying to escape the crowds that night. I realized I am still an introvert at heart; I'm just a chatty one now! :)

Here's the whole gang posing for a very sweaty group photo.

Pyro man entertaining the kids with endless firecracker wars between the chickens and battleships.

Our ever gracious hostess.

Big Sissy, who will work on a task until she gets it, FINALLY learned to blow a bubble!

My handsome husband--and a chicken.

The kids loved sparklers in their pajamas!