Marley's B-Day Celebration - VA

We went to my parents on Sunday to celebrate Marley's birthday. I'm going to tell it like it was. First we went to the buffet. It's a place the kids love because after they pick out everything they want, they get dessert from the dessert buffet bar. Heck, even I like that part! We normally go around 1145a. That way we can hit the breakfast buffet and then the changeover to the lunch buffet. I'm not big on their breakfasts, but I like one of their lunch dishes. They were late getting the lunch stuff out, so by the time I got my food, the kids were done their desserts and pretty much everyone was waiting on me to finish.

We went back to my parents and put Marley down for a nap (that she didn't take). Kevin, Rory, Logan, and I left to do last minute errand running for her birthday. I went to Carter's and only spent $16 (with coupons)...and to be honest...I didn't even spend it, my mom did. The point is that I got out of there (CARTER'S!) with only 2 things and $16 on my mom's card. :) Next up was the party store for balloons. We got out of there easily enough, but by the time we got to my parent's, one of the balloons was already deflated from a hole that did not happen while in our care. (just had to get that out there) After that we went to Baskin Robbins for her cake. There wasn't one that we like the ice cream and cake flavor on, but we got one with a rainbow. Marley loves rainbows. But then they said the price was marked wrong and it wasn't $19.99, it was $29.99. So we didn't get that. At that time, Kevin found one with ice cream everyone would like and it wasn't big enough to have leftovers. We asked for "Happy Birthday, Marley" to be written on it. They send the cake in the back with a little boy that looks younger than Kaelyn. After about 10 minutes (which seemed like FOREVER) the little boy comes out with this.
He didn't even spell her name right. Anyway, we ate it. She opened presents. I think she had a good birthday. Here are some pictures from my parents.

Happy Birthday, Marley!

Happy Birthday to my baby, Marley. She is three years old. Here is Marley's birthday acrostic.

M- Mischievous. Marley is by far my hardest child yet. Something about the youngest being the most rebellious. I was the youngest, and I don't remember any rebellion. :)
A- Assertive. She does not get this characteristic from me. If Marley wants something, she goes to get it, whether she is allowed to or not. The other day when I was hiding around the corner in the house from the UPS guy (I didn't want him to think I was stalking him) I asked if he was coming toward our house. Marley said, "no." I did a little whine because I thought he was coming here. Marley ran up to the door and screamed, "Hey Guy! Come over here!"
R- Runner. If Marley isn't jumping to where she's going, she's running. She walks like Kevin and Rory...with her knees turned in, so she looks like she's going to trip over her own foot. She doesn't, but it is a little scary to watch. She's a pretty fast runner. Bouncing though is still her main mode of transportation. If Marley is going anywhere, she is running. (extra points if you say running like Forest Gump)
L- Loud. Marley only has one volume. Even when she tries to whisper, she's screaming. Rory was like this when she was younger and still is sometimes, but she understands better now when to quiet down. Marley...not so much. Right now she's blowing a train whistle and screaming, "Storytime." Her regular volume is screaming, so when I say she's screaming, you can only imagine how loud she's being.
E- Energetic. You might have guessed this with the runner paragraph, but energetic is an understatement for this child. It's as if she literally never turns off. That's how we can tell she's getting sick. She's not moving as much and she's cranky as...I know kids are supposed to be non-stop, but I've never really seen it until Marley.
Y- Y-ild (wild) Marley is crazy. She's a spaz. Anyone who has ever been around her knows it. She's animated, loud, energetic, assertive, mischievous, running, wait...this sounds familiar.

Happy Birthday, Marley. I LOVE YOU!!!!
-Mommy
This picture was taken when I told Marley to give me a big three year old smile. :)

Rory the Gymnast!

Since I had problems with the font, I'm not going to do anything but change the color this time.

Rory had her first gymnastics tonight. All I can say is that I don't think she'll be seeing any Nationals anytime soon. :) She had a rough go at it, but she loves it. I might have to change up the time because her rehearsals for "Oliver" are at the same time as gymnastics. Plus, it makes for a loaded and late night. Rory was really worried that she wouldn't make any friends, but there was really no time to talk. They each had different things to do at different times. We'll see how it goes, but for now I think I can say (with some confidence), Rory seems better at things that require balance. Horseback riding for example or ice skating were things she seemed to excel in.

The other part to tonight was Miss Marley. She wanted to go to Rory's first gymnastic class probably more than Rory did. I had to tell her over and over and over and over that I would bring her next time. I didn't know what to expect or the how the parent area was set up. I didn't want to be stuck there chasing a 3yo out on the mats. One thing was for certain, Marley was going to do whatever it took to be just like Rory tonight. I even found myself looking up classes for her age group. You'll see why right now.

You think that's adorable?

Can someone get this kid some lessons please?

Rory the Writer!

We are finishing up week 4 in school these days. In Language Arts Rory is learning how to write paragraphs. It's actually a pretty cool system to teach it. The child is given a baseball diamond. They are given a subject on the pitcher's mound, and then have to name their favorite thing of that subject (drink, movie, etc.) and put them on first base, second base, and so on. The home plate is the sentence to summarize what you have on all the bases.

We've been working on this process and today, Rory wrote her first paragraph. Let me write it out for you. I even took a picture. :)

I wish I could go to Nickelodeon Hotel. The water slides are really loopy. The beds are soft and fluffy. People are always trying to catch the lizards that are outside. There are many fun things at Nickelodeon Hotel.

Isn't that great! She's in third grade, and I love how she grasped this concept so fast. She turned two other baseball diamonds into paragraphs too. They were just as great. She didn't like all the writing, but it had to be done. Tomorrow is a light day for school, so she's finishing the last paragraph then. All in all I'm pleased with what we're doing. I've only had to tweak here and there. Logan loves school, so that helps a lot. Maybe he'll be a writer too. :)

By the way...I don't know why the text gets better here at the bottom. I put them all on the same font. I just can't blog on the Mac. It's too hard.

Some Thirty-One Pictures from Conference

So I went to a Thirty-One conference in July. Most of you know that I won the shopping spree which was (in a singsong tone) AWESOME! I haven't shown anyone any pictures from there, so I thought I would post them now...to show all of you...at once. You get the point.
This is Karlton with a K. Yes, that's how he introduced himself. :) This was after he read my name as the shopping spree winner, hence the ginormous grin on my face.
This is me under the Thirty-One sign. I won a pink hard hat signed by the President of the company.
Yeah, about that picture. So...my hair is half down, and I'm wearing a rather bright pink (which we all know is my favorite color...ahem), and lest we forget the crown on my head. Talk about being out of your comfort zone. At least I wasn't alone. These are people on my team...we have the same Thirty-One Mama.
The lady all the way on the right is that Mama. Her name is Christie.
These were my roomies. Two of them are on my team. The one all the way to the left is on my team, but has a different Mama. We were all glammed up for the reward show.


I would show more, but you can't really make out the picture. It's in the arena, so it's all dark. It was a very interesting time. Kevin did great here with the kids, of course, and it was really weird not being with them for four days. It's not anything I would like all the time, but I think I can do it once a year. :)

The Many Faces of Logan turning 5

We had many different birthday celebrations for Logan this year. First up because I loaded the pictures backwards is Grandma and Grandpa's. My sister and her family were in town from Canada. Her son, Dale's, birthday is on July 8th. Her other son, Drake's, birthday is on July 4th. Logan's is July 6th. :) They normally visit for the month of July, so Logan and Dale have had their birthdays together just about every year.

Next up again in backwards fashion is Logan and Jackson's birthday. Jackson's birthday is July 13th, so we had a get together for them. We went to the Bounce About in the mall, then back to Jackson's for some swimming, cake, and presents.

Jackson's mom made a cake with a special picture of Iron Man and Wolverine (Jackson and Logan's Super Heroes for the time being). It was an awesome cake!

Then there was Nana and Papa's. This blue inflatable ball contraption was really cool until my niece, Nicole, got hurt in it. There are handles inside for the kids to hold onto while being rolled, but the had problems holding onto them and ended up being bruised by then instead. It sure was a hoot getting it blown up without an adequate air pump! You don't want to know!


So...It's August 28th, and I'm just now posting pics from Logan's July 6th birthday. Stay tuned....more to come!

Grateful

I have't posted in a while. There are so many things to talk about. Be patient. I will try to keep up. I want to start back by listing some things I'm grateful for. Here goes...

-staying up past bedtimes tonight to finish a "school" book

-a new to me computer :)

-the person who gave up the new to me computer

-friendships

-forgetfulness that adds to our budget

-good decisions

-surviving an earthquake...HA!

-new pants that are two sizes smaller than my old pants

-zumba (it had to be said)

-having three weeks of school done

-finding our home school groove

-confidence in my home school decisions

-Kevin's help picking out extracurricular activities for the kids

-a calm amid medical uncertainties

-determination that I didn't know I had

-a welcome easiness in trusting God

I'm sure there are many more I can think of, but I know you want some pictures too.

Wow. This is all I have for now. All the other pics are related to some other topic. Stay tuned!