summer recap...

this is way over due but I need to get them in here before fall sneaks up on us! Summer was fun and short, but 6 weeks is just right for us! it gets too hot to think straight!

they looove the slip n slide, too bad it does a number on your grass! Worth it though.

Kosty keeps the pressure mounting with his daily talk about babies, and here he is teaching "sally" how to play an I SPY game. This sweet boy deserves to be a big brother someday.

Brayden spent the first week of summer doing non-stop Club Penguin coloring pages and using all of our printer ink :)

it seems like we ate nothing but ice cream this summer...

and ate cookies the size of our heads...

My friend Melissa had her SEVENTH baby, and almost let me have her :)

Brayden did a skateboard class and loved it...

Kosty thought I was the coolest ever when I attached a booklight to his late night popcorn snack ...

we did A LOT of swimming...

and played toss the Puffle and Club Penguin Card Jitsu...

colored on hot rocks (you are supposed to bake them for 20 minutes and the crayons just melt right on there, it looks really cool. You probably don't even need to bake them in the summer since they are already as hot as lava)

we played with lots of play do and modeling clay...

Brayden played with Riley a lot and I had to take this picture when I noticed his shoes. He always grabs my shoes (which fit him, BTW, and I have big feet) and it makes me laugh because they are so girly looking-- he will wear them out to the store or lunch or friends house, whatever, he could care less how silly it looks!

ironman

things between kosty & I have been pretty rocky lately. I ran over my foot with the door and when he noticed the blood, he ran away. While I was assuming he didn't care, he was really fetching a bandaid. He quickly returned and handed me the iron man.

Some days I'm just looking for the slightest sign that he really does love me. I {think} he might!

brag list

Kosty handed me a sheet of paper and a pencil yesterday and told me he was writing "a book about ME." So I wrote down everything he told me to write:

"I take a bath.

I am good.

I be nice to my friends.

I'm good at my school.

I never lie.

I say my prayers.

I deliver cookies.

I bounce on the trampoline with my friends.

I let my friends have a turn.

I share.

I care.

I be good.

I will be baptized.

THE END".

MAJOR makeover

My heart is a little broken. I'll be honest. Its a strange thing to do double takes constantly and hardly recognize your own child. He feels different to hold, he looks much older, he just looks like a different boy.

(His teacher pulled me aside and said that Kosty's long hair was against school policy-- according to the handbook, boys hair has to be short around the ears).

Brayden was pretty upset about it, which surprised me. He went on a rant about how "that is the meanest rule ever", "why does the principal want them to all look the same? Like robots! Aren't they supposed to be individuals??"

mini makeover

This is what our bedroom looked like when we moved in 4 years ago

Its about time I had some white & aqua in my house. I sold our bed on craigslist, bought a new mattress, made a headboard (with the help of some nice friends) and slowly over time got new bedding & lamps. Still on my list: white drapes & something lovely for over the bed.

first day of school

I still havent done my summer posts, but I wanted to get in the first day of school. Brayden is in 2nd grade at Charlotte Patterson and LOVING his teacher this year, sooooo happy about that. He was so independent as usual and told me just to swing him through the carpool line "like usual". I told him this was the special day that all the other parents walk their child into their classrooms. He said he didn't need to be walked in. I was THE ONLY person that dropped off their child that morning. The carpool line was completely empty.

Kosty started a couple weeks after Brayden. He is enrolled at American Leadership Academy this year (charter school) since he misses the cut off. I needed a better transition than 2x a week preschool for him to get used to the M-F part, but it's just a half day. 2 hours and 50 minutes to be exact. I am calling this our "Kinder-steps" since the school district no longer offers it. He will go to full day Kinder next year at Brayden's school.

He was really nervous about his first day and the morning of, he started sobbing. I totally pictured a rough day ahead, with me dragging him in and him crying at school. Not so. After he got his uniform on, he ate lunch and then grabbed his backpack, cool as can be, and headed for the door.

I was in the middle of his picture when cute Madison came to the door to pick us up. I LOVE this picture. It helped to have a familiar face on his first day.

He wouldn't speak a word when we got to his class. You could see the worry in his eyes, but he still gave me a sweet smile for every picture. Love him.

He had a GREAT first day, and I couldn't ask for a better teacher for his first year. Mrs. Pennington is the perfect fit.

At least once or twice a week, the morning gets away from me and I forget, or simply don't take the time-- to make my bed.

Coincidentally, those are also the mornings I don't say my morning prayers. Making my bed = my prayer reminder. When I do not do one, I do not do the other. They go hand in hand.

Its no surprise that the unmade bed days are my bad days. Days where I can't seem to keep my head on straight and prioritize. Days where life seems cluttered, rushed, messy, frustrating. Every time I walk past my unmade bed, I am reminded & disappointed in myself, knowing that missed my opportunity and I started the day off on the wrong foot.

My friend's grandma had a little quote hanging in her kitchen that read, "A day hemmed in prayer rarely unravels."

It has stuck with me all these years-- and I believe it to be true.

the last day we packed up, fulfilled another of Brayden's food desires and ate breakfast at Denny's. Then we went to a few shops and Sprinkles on the way out of town. It was over way too quick, but we sure lived each day to the fullest. Till next year...