That time of year again:)

It's been a busy busy week with both kids in school. Poor little Ben is just plain lost with only mommy to play with:(

Kayla had a great first day and first week. She's really thriving at St. Mary's and has made some good friends already.




AJ had his first day last Monday. His teacher is Miss Velma and I love her already. She just has the patience of a saint and she's so warm with the kids. AJ can't wait to go to school everyday. She sent home a very detailed calendar showing what they'll be working on and I really think AJ's going to benefit a lot from the program. He's already had "homework" three times, lol. Today was AJ's day to bring in snack. The teacher has a great snack bag with apples painted on it that she sent home for him to use to take the snack in. I know he felt so special being the snack person today. Miss Velma also seems to like taking pictures as much as I do so I'm looking forward to lots of pictures throughout the coming year.



We (I mean I) finally found Benny's swimsuit so he got to wear it for the first time. We took him out for his second adventure in the pool. He was not loving it so much. We ended up abandoning the pool for the slip-n-slide. Yes, we know we're goofy. Anything worth doing is worth doing as a family:) Aren't these the formative years that will have our kids in therapy someday???











Benny is obsessed with raviolis. He eats them twice a day now with just about any fruit I'll give him. Here he is showing his excitement at lunchtime:) Ravioli Power!!!


Here's his rendition of a pirate at lunch:



Don't you just love that strawberry blond hair. He's got the temper of red head for sure. He's mastered throwing tantrums and now knows how to arch him back and throw his arms up in such a way that makes picking him up impossible. He's also mastered standing unassisted. He can go from the floor to standing with nothing to hold on to. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he's off and running. He really thinks he's hot stuff and waves his arms wildly and just giggles..."ha ha, look what I can do." At least the cats are learning to get out of the way:)

AJ has had a few funny moments recently. He's quite the chatty fellow on a regular basis....makes me think about that cell phone commercial where the mom gives her daughter a cell phone so she doesn't have to listen to her anymore, lol.

Last week James inadvertently backed the van into a truck (in the dark down a hill) and put a nice dent in the fender....not a scratch on the truck though. Well, AJ had a great idea for how we could camouflage it. He said we should put some tape on it and then no one would see it. When we inquired as to what kind of tape might hide it, he said "that gray kind you know." Awww, the innocence of a four year old.

Then one day we were out driving and out of the blue he asks me if his head would turn to gum if he ate an airhead. I tried to reassure him, but he's rather convinced that if you eat an airhead your head will turn into gum and blow up like a balloon. Apparently there is a commercial that states such.

We have a special term here for diarrhea: Flu Poo. Last Friday AJ had some flu poo (from an overconsumption of fruit and a fiber one bar) and he was afraid the toilet was going to blow up and he didn't want to go. Then he asked me for a corn chip so he wouldn't have flu poo anymore....we can thank daddy for that idea, lol. It just cracks me up when he says these things. Kind of makes all of those other crazy moments a little more bearable....like yesterday when he smacked his brother in the head with a ball and then a block. Sibling love I guess.

End of summer closing in

July flew by before we knew it and it's school time already. We ended summer on a fun note though. We rented lots of movies from "blackbuster" formerly known as Blockbuster, lol. That's what AJ calls it. He's such a goober sometimes.

We took the kids to a free sprinkler park in Collierville about a half an hour away. Even the Benster got in on the action:


We finally found a shower that could get AJ clean:



The princess learned about gravity and waterfalls:



Benjamin learned how to play the drums:)




He also learned how to say no which started out sounding a lot like NAHHHH and has progressed to a definite "NO." Sadly it's just too cute and so hard to resist so he's been doing a lot of bad things lately. He rules the roost around here, that's for sure. His little top teeth are coming in well and he's starting to take on a vampire look. He got two new teeth this past month so hopefully he won't be our little vampire for long. Since he loves to bite everyone and everything the title is definitely fitting for him though.

We enjoyed the company of Kayla's best friend Kristen for a couple of days before her school started. Surprisingly, all three big kids played pretty well together. In case you didn't know, our beloved AJ is spoiled. Yup! I admit it. The kid doesn't need or want for anything (unless you ask him). They spent a good deal of time making a fort out of his bunk bed and set up all of his cars on his train tracks. This is why I don't think he could possibly need another toy car:



I took the kids to the children's museum last weekend. CMOM

It was a lot of fun. It only took us about two hours to get through the whole thing. I dare say the longest part was actually getting there. While in my own little world I managed to drive right by the exit, lol. I won't post all of the pictures but there were some pretty cool exhibits worth sharing:





This past Monday I took the kids back to the sprinkler park with Kayla's new special friend (from St. Mary's) and her mom and brother. Since both the city and county schools started on Monday there wasn't a soul there and the kids had the whole park to themselves for almost two hours. I got lots of great photos and the weather was perfect. We've been really lucky with a nice cool down. I never thought I'd be saying ninety was cool, but.... after almost a month of temps over 100, it sure felt nice. Actually, on Monday it was only 75 when we left and I feared the kids might freeze at the park, lol.

This is my favorite shot of the day:


If you look closely you'll see that neither of AJ's feet are touching the ground. He must be a genius. He's figured out how to defy gravity.

The princess got a new hair cut to start the new school year off. We did a before and after:




Benny still hasn't figured out how to use a sippy cup but he sure is excited about them:


Coming soon:

First Day of School!!!