Mama Files.

Helping to coach youth soccer this year has given me a greater appreciation for our conviction to name our children with unusual names. It got pretty tiresome referring to 2 players by they're full names the whole season.

The End.

We are...

...DETERMINED to get this child potty trained!!!

The Mama Files: Oh Summer!

Over this summer I have received:

a.) a free dishwasher! (which cuts my time in front of the sink down by at least half)

b.) a free riding lawn mower! (now it only takes me about a hour to mow our acre instead of the 2+ hours it took to push mow it)

c.) an all-in-one printer (not free, but probably one of our better investments "for homeschooling")

Now I can be "SUPER Efficient Mom", instead of just mom!

What's a girl to do with all her new found free time?!?!?!

T[B]OY STORY

So it would appear we are raising Sid from Toy Story. You know, he's the kid that rips apart, then rebuilds, toys to make them freaky. Now I'm not exactly sure which child is responsible for this, but I'd be willing to bet it is one with a Y chromosome.

Mama Files: My side of the family.

(click on picture to enlarge)

The Last Hurrah

September camping has such a different vibe than June camping. The campground was basically empty the whole week, so we pretty much had the run of the place. But we also were surrounded by retired cranky people that wanted everything to be perfectly peaceful and quiet (not exactly possible with 3 kids and a dog). We still had a lot of fun! And since the beach was closed we could swim anywhere we wanted, which just happened to be about 50 yards from our camper!

Xavier "walking on water"

Our nightly visitor (who was not afraid of anything)

Down time

Gaius was a crazy monkey the whole time. On the last day we were down playing at the beach and Leia and I were cuddling in the towels and he was so upset that the laid down in the shallow water and just sobbed. If it wasn't so stinking cute it would've been really heart breaking.

I HEART this picture of my adorable little kindergartner!

I dont' think Pharaoh Hounds know how to swim, but it sure was fun making him try! As soon as the water reached his belly he would jump straight up into the air. It still makes me laugh thinking about it.

We live in an amazing area (feel free to remind me of this in a few months when it's -10°, and snow is piled 6 feet high).

Percolating...

We're taking advantage of one of the perks of home schooling. By starting school a week late so that we can go camping next week. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to work since our schedule is starting to fill up again. But I'm really looking forward to spending some time with our little family by ourselves.

Youth soccer has officially started and I gotta tell ya, I LOVE that sport! Luckily our 2 oldest agree so hopefully we'll have years and years of games ahead of us!

Oh and...

P.S. How did my kids get so stinkin' huge this summer? I look around and I don't see any babies anymore...I can't lie, it makes me a little sad. Now if only the last one would potty train.