The Long Awaited Field Trip

With Becca being right behind Brayden we are learning what to look forward to or dread with school this year.  Since Brayden's trip last year Becca has been waiting for her turn to go on the special 2nd grade field trip.  It is the day away in OKC spent at the Natural History Museum.  The museum is a bit hit but the excitement comes from getting to ride a big coach bus without any parents.-you couldn't pay me enough to get on that bus filled with 50 second graders!  Becca was so excited and when I went to get her up the morning of the field trip she popped right out of bed and said "FINALLY!"  and then told me that she kept waking up all night long thinking it was morning-hoping it was time to go.  We are slowly getting better at our "preparedness"  in many things-it has only takes a couple years-so hard to always stay on task!  and made it on time for the 7:15 loading.  Becca was all smiles, she didn't have a DS-which she informed Brayden she didn't care because she couldn't play one anyway.  How fun to walk on the bus and see all the boys with their heads buried in their games and all the girls with their fun tablets and pens writing.

She had a great time and didn't mind me not going.  I  would love to tag along but then again love seeing the kids grow in their independence as well.

A Special Visit

For such an unplanned visit this past week turned up to be very special for my Mom and the kids.  The kids were truly spoiled by having Grandma in town.  Getting to show her their rooms, introduce their teachers and even each kid have lunch at school with her made their school week extra fun.  The kids loved seeing her in the pick-up line waiting for them at the end of their day.  She was able to watch the girls do their tumbling class and Brayden's soccer game-his first hard/intense game of the season.  James loved having someone around in the morning to play with, even teach him how to play memory. Wednesday she hung with us as we all learned along with the kids at their bible buzz class.  It was a great week together and having fall weather roll in for the weekend just topped off the week.

A requested picture for a family friend back in MI...now I know why we don't take pics with the dogs!

 Fun having someone to show off some of their hard work to.

 A little Steak and Shake...always fun/yummy-especially the shakes

 Mom got to see Brayden play a little soccer Sat, after our practice was rained out Thursday.  Quite a tough game, against a team that passed circles around our boys!

We headed out to Greenleaf state Park Saturday to enjoy our first beautiful fall day.  The wagon ride was quite the ride-complete with real wooden wheels!

The kids did a little swimming but only after bribed by Grandma to get in the "cold" water

A little hike to complete the day...lots of long grass/weeds-hopefully we stay poison ivy free this week!

Grandparents Day

What a special day!  Grandparents day and we actually had family in town.  My mom was able to come for a visit and it has been so much fun with school activities.  It was back to school night yesterday-which is a whole lot more special with Grandparents around.  The kids loved showing off their classrooms.  Chapel was special for the grandparents this morning-Grandparents day.  Most of the grades 1st -5th sang at least one song.  The place was packed-most kids sitting on adults laps...I have never seen so many cars-besides a football game!  The kids were so excited to have Grandma come see them sing.  Brayden surprised us by singing a solo during one of the songs.  We are so thankful for such a wonderful place to call home but on days like today we are reminded at how much we do miss having family close by.

Becca loved her hymn she got to sing for everyone.  It was an older one "Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus"  She loved the tune (I love the words!) and would sing it to me on our walks around the neighborhood.

Brayden's class sang-"Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" another older hymn but so enjoyed by everyone...even the kids.

 I love seeing the kids up front with smiles on their faces-everyone excited to see family this morning

 A quick visit to each class before all the work started.

Church Retreat

Another outing to New Life Ranch for our Church Family Retreat.  The kids love going and always a bit disappointed at how short the weekend is.  Ron and I love how much easier each year kids are the kids grow older...although seeing parents deal with curfews leads to another whole set of concerns/issues!  It is great to just let the kids run and be able to give guidelines...no little ones in our beds, no nap issues, or bottle/diaper issues, kids can walk, feed themselves/carry their own food tray-seems so easy.  We arrived to discover a great new toy-a huge  kangaroo bounce as big as a volley ball court surrounded by sand, basically a giant pillow filled with air for kids to bounce on.  It was a hit all weekend long.  The kids ran all weekend long.  We had bible study through-out our stay, a nice quiet retreat away (I think we could have all used a bit more).

 The kids did a little swimming-Becca was my fearless water fish...off the slides, monkey bars, zip line.  She amazes me at her lack of fear. The other kids were not so thrilled with the cold water.  Although Andrea and James had fun swimming off the canoe down stream while Brayden hunted from Crawfish.

The zip line is always a hit with everyone...most everyone.  Andrea made it to the top but was not having anything to do with stepping off.  She was safely lowered back down to the ground....which was farther than she made it from last year.

I have to say that I actually had fun on the zip line this year....heights just are not my thing!

 James and Andrea had fun riding the horses.  Andrea got to ride a spotted horse which she had by spotting the entire time we were at the camp.

 The girls loved just hanging out in their bunks-stickers/markers and some new notebooks and they both are in heaven.

James was just one big grin-so much fun stuff and so fun being a big kid!

The down side to our weekend was having to make trips back into town for Soccer.  Last year I couldn't believe people who left and came back.  This year due to circumstances we couldn't change we were one of those people.  I will learn not to judge and open my mouth!  

Ron also came home with a broken finger-quite swollen, from doing the monkey rings over the river.  Thankfully after being told by one Dr. surgery might be needed a specialist advised him that he could just let it heal and keep biking....making him much happier!

Cyclocross

The season has began and this week we decided to pack up the bikes and join the kids race yesterday evening.  I didn't know if the girls wanted to race but both were pretty excited-Andrea shocked me by telling me that she was for sure racing.  She is quite the competitor once she knows what to expect.  I think it was because there were no barriers and just one hill.  James was the most excited.  He talked about it all day-how he was going to bike "off road"  He has been practicing in our front yard.

Kids lining up to race, we had just watched Ron's race and they were all ready to go.  Becca is the most timid-James was so determined to do it all by himself.  The kids kept asking how many laps and James would tell them he was riding 5 laps!

Brayden wasn't too happy wearing the old school helmet...coming up with four bike helmets is always a chore.

The surprise of the evening was Andrea who completed a full three laps.  She loves to compete...when she knows she can do it.  Brayden had a lot of fun but his goal was to finish so he could head to the skate park to practice his skateboarding.  James thought he was pretty big stuff and can talk your ear off telling all about his first cyclocross ride.  A fun evening.

An Exciting Day

This tooth has been hanging by a thread for a couple weeks!  Andrea was not big on letting anyone touch her tooth and let me pull it once.... then never again.  Today I picked her up from school and thought something was up when I saw her give her teacher a hug and then share a little secret.  She greeted me with her mouth closed and could hardly contain her smile, and then she just broke out with the giggles.  So fun!  It had fallen out on her way in from recess on the stairs-in her hand.  I was a little sad I missed the exciting moment but  hearing how she found Becca...Becca's friends and then Brayden at school to tell them was just as special.  I love that they are all close and get to see each other through-out the day.

The Extracurriclar/after school Routine

The weeks are all falling into place and I am slowly finding a routine-which evolves around the calender.  So different from the summer, but a nice shift-good for everyone.  James is enjoying time at home and I am loving time to just focus on him, although it might be a little tough for him because I can actually focus on him and remember when I put him in his room for a punishment. He is my little helper and doesn't really seem to mind.
   The girls started a new tumbling class this week and loved it.  I loved it as well-we could watch and the instructors were great with the girls.  Hopefully they will learn a bit more than at their last Rec class, which was taught by teenagers.  It is so hard to find a balance between Rec and Competitive classes.  It was fun to see them so excited to learn. But what they were most excited about was wearing their tumbling clothes.  The goal in their class is back hand springs and round offs....we will see what the girls accomplish.
   Brayden had his first soccer game this weekend-in the sweltering OK heat. Despite the heat he and the other boys had a blast.   It think it was 100 degrees...horrid weather to play in.  The boys did so well.  There was so much sweat-just plain nasty! (We have been keeping the snow cone and slushy stores in business this weekend.)  Ron and I really didn't know what to expect since the team is mainly boys who have not played soccer on a team before.  It was so fun coaching them- and seeing them have so much fun.  I had boys beat red in the face/sweat pouring down their faces asking if they could get back in the game.  Thankfully we played a team who looked a bit lost out on the field...hopefully the boys can stay tough and still have fun for some of the harder teams.

                                        A quick shot of the "attackers"  after a hot practice.

   Brayden is also doing baseball this fall...not something we like to do but since it is pretty low key and his same team/coach we continue playing.  With games only on Sunday it is a nice relaxing way to spent the evening seeing as it is with many family's we know.  The kids love playing and being able to sit and relax a bit it quite nice...except the heat, which hopefully will be over soon!  With the smaller team the boys get to play a bit more-catching/pitching every week.  Brayden loves it.  The games seemed a little slow last night and our night ran late.  I asked him if it got long and he gave me a look like I was crazy...almost 4 hour/2 games on  field and he could have played more?!
   Ron is starting up cyclocross season, something he really looks forward to.  This weekend he was on a trip to New Mexico for a ride with the Young Life group he has been riding with.  They completed a 100Mile ride in the mountains.  The exciting part was that I got a call from Ron who completed the ride without making a trip to the ER!  He felt pretty rough but his body held up for the ride-YAY!

 25 bikes loaded and ready for the drive.

                                             Finally....we all had been waiting a long time!

   No pictures right now...hopefully I will get some this week to add.  I find it hard to believe how fast the kids are growing up, as I think everyone does.  They are learning how to get their work and time management-seeing them take some responsibility for tasks the teacher asks them to do is so nice (although 10min before bed is kind of annoying!)
   Now it is off the tackle all the work the never gets done, ephie is going through another shed which has left this house full of hair.  I am amazed at how much fur that dog has.

A Long Weekend

Usually when Labor day rolls around we thing about getting away...but as usual the heat/weather dampened our energy/spirit.  The heat and humidity rolled in and doing just about anything outdoors was pretty unpleasant-even sitting by a pool sounded like too much work!  Thankfully by the humidity lifted and we were able to get out and enjoy some time swimming and relaxing by a nearby lake.

The Aquarium has scout days through-out the year, we decided to check it out.  

The volunteers love talking to the kids each one has some little funny story to tell.

Climbing over the alligator never gets old.

Finally able to spend some time outdoors being active without being overwelmed by the heat.  Ron biking Saturday and spent much of the day recovering.

Lizard catching...and releasing!

Jame kept pulling in these tiny little fish.

Braydens way of fishing after not catching much of anything!