Dinosaurs and Marbles.

The summer has been LONG and HOT! Even hotter when your upstairs air-conditioning unit breaks. Well. That's not the whole story. The whole story involves an ROUS (a rodent of unusual size) that apparently was hungry and ate through some wires .... that just happened to be attached to our air conditioner ... that caused a transformer to BLOW. I hope the furry guy enjoyed his meal because it was a rather expensive one!

Needless to say ... we've had to be a bit creative with our summer entertainment since we spend most of it indoors until the evening ... when we escape for a swim!

The boys wanted to study dinosaurs. First we went to the dinosaur museum (not its technical name ... but what my kids call it) and did a bit of "research." And bought some dinosaur lollipops which I think might still be in my junk drawer? Oops. And came home to make a dino puzzle. And as always, Audrey Liz seems to find herself right in the center of the action.

The boys found every single dinosaur that resides in our home and lined them up ...

For the double feature ... Dinosaur Train and Dino Dan ...

We made dino fossils ...

And painted them ...

Gave Eli a paint that was made just for him ... roller paint. The mess is cut in half! Awesome.

We ate dino sandwiches.

And did dino yarn pictures. We still have a few dino projects left ... so we might have to have Dino Week - the sequel - before school starts??

And then ... for our evening entertainment. A noodle. Sliced in half. Taped together with painter's tape. And set out on a course.

On top of a table. Over a chair. Propped but by who knows what at the bottom.

To launch HUNDREDS of marbles into a cardboard box. Perhaps the best $2 I've spent this summer.

Ahoy.

A few weeks ago, I decided to put my Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction to good use. I studied for endless hours and wrote a REALLY, REALLY long paper to get a few extra letters after my name ... I might as well use the knowledge, right?

The boys listed off several things they would like to learn about ... or as Eli would say, "Study up!" and here is the first ... PIRATES!
We made Captain Jack Sparrow headbands ... and pirate patches.
And the boys busted out their scowls and swords.
We even made Ben into a Blackbeard ... and the boys chased him back into the Neverseas (or just back to work!)
We had treasure map pancakes ... complete with a map! (Eli wasn't too excited about this idea until I mentioned I'd use M and M's as the markers ... then he really felt we could use a few more trees and mountains on our island!)
And speaking of Pirate Eli ... the only time that he has put pants on without being asked was when he was in his pirate costume. Apparently you just can't be a serious pirate in your underoos!
We recruited Audrey as our pirate puppy ... she had the "argh" down perfectly!
And you can't be a real pirate unless you've lost a hand ... and Joshua told me this was much better idea than REALLY losing your hand!
And then I really lost my mind and the pirates made "waves" with shaving cream! And Eli wrote his name for the first time! We jumped to pirate music ... ate pirate booty ... watched pirate shows ... SO FUN!

A Week Late ... But After All ... She Is The Third Child!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUDREY ELIZABETH!!!!

May In Pictures (and a few words).

The Charmings provide daily concerts and Eli often channels his inner Jerry Lee Lewis ... it's fabulous (if you don't mind loud, out of tune and screeching!!)
We had a few visitors in our pool ... Eli wanted to keep them. He is begging for a pet but they disobeyed my number one rule: No pooping or peeing. Bummer.
My mom and I (and the boys) tackled painting the laundry room cabinets. They look pretty good (from a distance)! Finishing the laundry room is one of about 12 projects I have on my "to do" list! Which always seems to grow instead of shrink? Why is that?
The boys LOVE creating traps for Audrey. And she totally plays along ...
Audrey fed herself with a fork for the very first time ... and then started using it as a slingshot.
And I believe our children have embraced technology??
Oh ... and we tried having J. How ride his bike with no training wheels. That didn't go so well. But Eli took full advantage and created new rocket blasters ... and yes, he did go cruising up and down the sidewalk in his unders and bike helmet!
And ... finally ... the solution to the summer wiggles ... the indoor trampoline arrived.
It is a hit with everyone!! Why did we not get one of these sooner?

The Graduate.

As promised ... pictures of the preschool graduation ... a full 13 years before he graduates from high school!
Mr. Joshua Howard had agreed to wear the cap and gown ... but was holding out on singing. Until he was ... ahem ... bribed with a large stack of quarters. (Truth be told ... I think he was just holding out until the price was right because now he is a SINGING fool! No worries ... I have learned my lesson for the next one!!)
And here he is ... just after surviving the singing and laughing that Pastor Bill mispronounced his last name. And I'm laughing that his life goal is to be a firefighter. Guessing it had a bit to do with the fact that a girl in his class ... who he has been known to call "My Addison" also wanted to be a firefighter? Just a theory.
J. How and Miss Allison and Miss Chrissy ...
My grandparents came ... celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary ... (And yes, it is nearly impossible to get a picture of my family without someone talking. Or giving instructions! It's just how we roll!)
Still in a bit of denial that I have a child going into kindergarten but so thankful for where he is going next year and praying that he blossoms and grows into exactly what God has designed!

It's Not Possible ... Is It?

I guess it is possible that time zooms by when you're living in crazy town ... chaos reigns supreme and the months of life just seem to zip off the calendar. Zip. Zip. Zip. Nine zips to be exact. Because this was my J. How back in August:

First Day of Pre-K ... August 2010.

I was far from mastering life as a mother of three and I had no idea how in the heck I was supposed to get all three children inside ... with classroom supplies and appear as though it was "no big deal" when my insides were screaming ... my arm was about to fall off ... and I was pretty well convinced that never leaving the house again was an option I might consider. (I didn't make it but 10 feet before I had to take a break and Mikele came to my rescue!)

And to think ... in only a matter of months ...

We made it to the last day of Pre-K.

Got hugs from our little bro (who will be going to the same school next year) ...

And the Little Miss single handedly solved the problem of my full hands ... given that she's SUPER independent and is mobile ...

----------------------------------------------------------

And maybe before he's fourteen ... I'll post pictures of the actual graduation. Maybe.

---------------------------------------------------------

And if you're in the area and are wanting to rest your legs and listen to a little classical wonderment ... these two are happy to oblige ...

I'll provide the drinks and the earplugs.

Not Enough Coffee.

I used to think one cup of coffee was enough to get me through the morning. And then ... I had children. And for mornings like the one I had below ... one cup was not cutting it.

This was Joshua's preschool graduation rehearsal. You know ... get the kids in their cap and gown and test out the waters. Pretty sure my child didn't like the water. He didn't even want to stick his big toe in to test the temperature. So ... I gave Audrey to Mikele and left Eli to fend for himself and took my firstborn out of earshot from everyone else. The conversation went a bit like this ... "I expect you to wear your cap and gown and not freak out. Other mommies are trying to take pictures and they'd probably appreciate it if you weren't screaming in them." Effective, don't you think? He said he'd go back to take the picture but he needed to tell his teacher one thing.

I agreed. As long as he could do it without creating a scene. Oh wait. That wasn't going to work ... because everyone was waiting on us already. It was like we were their morning entertainment. But you see Mikele ... she's being supportive ... check out that thumbs up!

And then ... in a super loud voice ... he told Miss Chrissy, "I really don't want to wear this cap and gown. It makes me look GOOFY!" Nice. Miss Chrissy calmly replied, "Joshua, all the big kids get to wear these. You wear one in high school and college. These are so cool!" To which I might have said, "Great. Now he's going to be a high school dropout ... just to avoid wearing this again!" See. I needed more coffee.

Twenty minutes later ... he recovered. I still have not.