shootin'

he took apart two baseball tees and a plastic stop sign so he could fashion a "gun to blow the bad people up with."

he drops the sidewalk chalk in the hole like it's a cartridge, and then he promptly blows the whole backyard to smithereens!

i'm not sure this bodes well for our future! and even if it does, i don't think any branch of the military will accept people who refuse to wear anything except underwear and pjs!

i'm declaring it!

last tuesday, i woke up with the idea to potty train reed.  so after breakfast, i put underwear on the kid, loaded him up with any and everything he wanted to drink, and we got busy.  the first day was not pretty!  but then something in his head clicked!!  and he has been dry since wednesday afternoon!

he's made it through wednesday night church, the gym, kroger, 2 meals out, a bonfire, sunday school and church this morning, and 9 holes of golf this afternoon.  i've had to pull the car over already because he's had to go, and we had to stop on #4 today and visit a tree!  with that much success, i'm declaring it...i have 3 underwear-wearing little people!!!

i've done this several times, so i know i'll still be cleaning up an accident or two in the future, but i'm pumped that i can quit cutting out those pampers coupons in the sunday paper!  it's a weird feeling to know i don't ever have to do this again...but, it's definitely not something i'll miss!!  feel free to give me a high five when you see me!  and give the little man in the underwear one, too!

at it again...

it's not good when he wakes up asking for his "bachine."  but once i get it out of the cabinet, he's pretty self-sufficient with it!  i'm not sure that's a good thing at the age of 2, but i'm thankful for our "bachine!" it makes us all feel better!!  check out that smile under the mask...he loves it!

six

this morning was filled with sweets, presents, and taking his new bike for a test drive before school!

and then he headed out the door with his requested superman cookies to celebrate with his class.

it's shaping up to be a pretty good day for this 6 year old!!

happy birthday, william!

birthday bowling

william turns 6 on monday, but we celebrated yesterday.  we loaded down the car after school and headed to the bowling alley!

this was a great venue!!  i have never stepped foot in our bowling alley, so i wasn't expecting too much.  sure...it feels like 1980 when you walk in, but the place was empty which allowed us to have the run of the place.  the people were more friendly and more helpful than any other place i've ever had a party.  and the kids had a blast!  maybe all the good vibes are because this is quite possibly the sweetest group of kids in the world.  don't get me wrong....when you get a group of boys together, they will be....boys.  crazy, goofy boys!

need proof?

but there was high-fiving going on all around, and they were all so good to each other.  "way to go, noah!" "good job, jack!"  "good throw, william!"  and they looked out for reed, too, who looked way too cute in the smallest, cutest bowling shoes ever!  they made sure he wasn't in the way when somebody was about to throw, made sure his fingers didn't get smushed in the ball spitter out thingy (i'm a frequent bowler. can you tell?), and brought him a ball when it was his turn. love them!  even if they did bounce off the walls all afternoon which forced me to bed at 9pm!

it was really, really fun to watch them bowl, too!  after throwing the ball (and sometimes falling down because they went too far and slipped!), they would get the best looks on their faces while waiting on the ball to reach the pins.  it took a while sometimes!  and then their reactions when it knocked the pins down or missed them altogether was hilarious!

they were too excited to eat the hotdogs, but they calmed down for a second to shove in some cake!

and then they proceeded to have a balloon war!  note to self...for the next birthday party, just shut a bunch of boys in a room with some balloons!

if it weren't so tiring watching all that energy, i might just take these kids to the bowling alley every friday afternoon!

or maybe i'll just wait a year until william turns 7!

and it's upon us again!

summer was too short!  if you didn't know, i'm a fan of the summer.  i like the heat.  i like the sleeping late(r).  i like not having to be in a strict routine.  i definitely like not having to do the "get dressed, eat breakfast, brush your teeth, get your shoes on, get in the car!!!!" crazy dance every morning!  but school is in session, and nobody contacted to me to get my opinion on the matter.  i read in the paper last week that "they" (whoever "they" are) were concerned about having to cool the schools during triple digit temperatures, and "they" were worried about the extreme heat affecting bus riders.

hello?!?!?  don't start school right after the 4th of july, and it won't be 109 degrees while you are trying to bus kids home.  give it a few weeks and start at a normal time of the year.  again...nobody asked me.  and since i wasn't given a choice in the matter, my people are now in a nice, air-conditioned school room along with the rest of the world.

last week, we went to open house to meet the teachers and see our new classrooms.  william and allie posed outside of their new room before heading in to get the lay of the land.  (notice the gray tooth...this was two days before his awesome dentist trip!)

and then mary mize joined them for a quick picture with mrs. vaughn.

much, and i do mean much, praise has been heaped on this sweet lady.  i know that we have a crazy, busy year ahead of us with her...but when william gets out of her class, he will apparently be able to quote every book of the bible by heart.  and he should be able to score well enough on the SATs to get into harvard at the age of 6.  i'll admit, i'm slightly nervous as to what this year will hold, but he is super excited.  i guess i'll start filling out college applications tomorrow afternoon.

william and allie helped their younger siblings get acclimated in their new room.

wes and mary elliott have miss wanda this year.  she's a ton of fun, and i know they are going to have a blast.

and if all else fails, there is a ton of cars/trucks/trains/blocks in the back of the room.  he should totally be able to survive on that for a year!

then this week...the first day of school finally arrived.  william had his bed made and clothes on within minutes of getting up.  i had to drag wes out of the bed...despite the fact that william had every light possible on and was surely shaking the bed around while he made that top bunk!  wes is 4.  i'm dreading the teenage years.

anyway, we managed to get ready in enough time to get a few pictures before we headed out the door.

but before we made it to the car, wes had a meltdown.  william was getting his lunch out of the fridge, and wes started crying because he wanted to stay for lunch, too.  i had planned on picking him up at 1130, but he was adamant about staying.  i just couldn't say no.  so i threw together a pb and j and made a lunch in about 30 seconds.  he was pumped and ready to go then!

william took the lead and showed wes how to be cool while walking in the building.

and then he made sure wes found his locker and hung his backpack in the correct spot.

the three amigos were ready for this year to begin.  i had to force knox out of his desk to come take a picture.  he was ready to get to learning something!!

and the three little amigos (younger siblings of those 3 in the picture above) that were two rooms down the hall were itching to get going as well!

i still say that it should be summer.  but, with those happy faces and eager attitudes...i guess i'll accept that school is back in session.  that pool better watch out, though...reed and i intend to keep on pretending like it's still summer!