Thaddeus' 1st Day of Kindergarten

Okay, hello to all! It has been a long, fast paced summer that had us running around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off.  We have enjoyed it just about all we could, we have done lots of the normal summer things, we have traveled, we have enjoyed the sun (perhaps too much, this Arkansas heat is much much worse than that Illinois heat I apparently had gotten used to. No showering and getting ready for the day just to walk outside and within the first second need another shower) we have enjoyed visiting lots of friends and family, and have also enjoyed taking life day by day by the seat of our pants ;).  Whew, but I am glad to say that it is coming to an end and our somewhat normal routine is coming into play.  But, enough about the summer - I will hopefully (fingers crossed) be post quite a few times fairly quickly to tell you all bout our summer. I need to tell you about Today!

Today, was Thaddeus' 1st day of 'school', kindergarten!  And it was soooo exciting! The boys couldn't hardly go to sleep last night, because they were so excited about the first day of school ;).  Yes, Tristen too.  He got all excited about this school thing and learning and who am I to just toss that aside.  We just scooted up right next to big brother and let him to do all the same things - who cares how much he is getting right now, he is having fun learning and that is the important part for a pre-schooler.
Okay, now to tell you about our day. I know some of ya are just itchin to know ;).  
We started the morning off with our favorites for breakfast.  Thaddeus loves eggs in a hole done with stars instead of circles, so he had that.  And everyone loves my blueberry muffins, so we all had those.  Tristen asked for oatmeal, one of his favorites.  He said, 'Mommy can I have oatmeal, I love oatmeal anyway you make it for me'. We had breakfast with Dad, and Daddy read some current events during breakfast.
Then we said bye to Daddy.

And went take care of the garden.  Thaddeus and Tristen planted some cabbage seeds, they had to take the seeds out of the shells. Ethan watered the garden with Mom ;)

Then, we came in and got started with our new school work!  Ethan built blocks and put together trains and played with play-dough.  He built a building with these legos and came and showed it to all of us ;).

We had Story Time to go over our lesson, and then we had a craft to do.

We started our calender - Thaddeus wrote in today's date, and our 100 chart - we are counting straws and so Thaddeus got a straw and picked out a cup to keep them in while Tristen wrote the number 1 on the chart, team work ;). Then we went over Aa and Bb (since Thaddeus already knows his letters, he actually went over this with Tristen, too cute) and we sang a few songs.

The boys sharpened their own pencils to write their names on their work.

Then we did one more craft about our lesson.

Had a snack: Pretzel sticks and marshmallows, and we tried building them into A's and B's. Then the boys played for a bit.

And we had lunch - we had Aapples cut into puzzle pieces, fun!



Before naptime we all did signing songs and then the rest of the day we just had fun finding things from our lesson wherever we could. :)  It was a Great Day! Gotta Go, tomorrow we are picking peaches before school.

I never did a pic of Thaddues smiling, he was always in the middle of telling something very important, you know space astronaut, marvel/dc heros, food important - i mean practically life or death stuff here

Tristen's 4!

So, we just enjoyed a wonderful day celebrating Tristen's 4th birthday.  We had a blast! and more importantly so did Tristen.
The special thing about birthday's around here isn't as much the presents but to have the day be all about you. Thus, Tristen chose to have baked french toast for breakfast - i make the one i learned from The Pioneer Woman. But of course, while i am all getting up early making a special breakfast for my special boy - he gets up early and catches me (he ends up helping me make it, which he also loves to be able to do, i think more because he gets to taste things like brown sugar and butter, or cinnamon, when helping mom in the kitchen - no really he is a GREAT giving helper) but the first thing he says in he still sleepy voice and while giving me a morning monkey hug is 'mom, where is my present' ~click~ *priceless*

So, from there our day only got better.  We ate our breakfast with Dad, everything is always funner with Dad.

Then we went to Mrs. LouAnn's - 'funny lady' friend of mine from work.  And played in the sprinkler, Ate PIZZA, and watched a movie and played.

Then we were a little exhausted so we came home and rested.....but, I woke big and baby brother's up early to make yummy worms in dirt cupcakes.

And we went outside and had a water gun war - came back in to eat cupcakes and open his gift! ;) A How to Train Your Dragon fire breathing flying action figure! (He Loves IT - keeps it safe under mom and dad's bed)

Happy Monday to Ya!

So, we are enjoying some monday madness around here.  I am trying every so diligently to stay on task for getting the laundry done, but my crowded closests/bedroom/storage room/childrens room are oh so calling to me today.  I just keep trying to go back there and declutter the clutter, and re-organize what I just can't seem to get rid of. So, yes definitley monday madness around here, because as you can only imagine - my 3 boys are only making my organizing madness grow into even bigger madness,  from me trying to think about how to declutter and also playing 20 questions with Thaddeus, or helping Tristen with whatever it is Tristen needs help with ;), or chasing Ethan around the house.
Okay, well snack is done and it is all starting again, and since I now have no idea what it was I was even leading to anymore I will let you continue to enjoy your Monday and hope that you are enjoying some madness with us ;).



Oh, I did want to share with you some pics from the other day...... some good ol' overalls for my little farmer ;)

He says he is going to where them to Papa Joe's Farm

And since, I was taking pics Big Brother wanted in on the action too

He/they are jumping on the couch in case you could tell, sorry for the blurred pics i still like them but i am still learning my camera and i sometimes don't have it set quite right.

Potty Time

I Just wanted to share with everyone this photo -  

Okay this is totally what was going on while I was going to the bathroom - during my Potty Time ;)

Adorable right?!!

..... By the way, I totally had them redo this after I was done so I could get the camera, just thought you should know that.......

Also, I am still working out the kincks in my camera - user errors going on - this will explain any blurring action going on

Our Bedroom

Happy Wednesday to everyone!  I hope that you all are having a very blessed week, or that you start having one now ;).

Right now I just wanted to share a few blog finds that interests me.
One has to do with bedrooms.  Our bedroom is a disaster most of the time.  If it is 'picked up' it really still looks like a disaster.  Our bedroom is the catch all for the house, it is the second storage room, it is the last room i even think about organizing - that is until Danny and I are tripping over all the piles of things that are getting stored in there for the moment.  At any rate, this girl has a great idea and advice for your bedroom - Keep Your Bedroom All About You ( I mean that in the couple sense of it, me and Danny)...it's funny i ran into her blog about her bedroom from a trail from another blog, but I have actually had a friend recommend her blog before for the thrifty ideas and photo ideas/advice....
So, what do ya think?

The other think I found lately of interest is about baking bread on the grill.  I find it very interesting and hope someday to try it, so that when i bake bread in the summer months my house isn't even hotter.  At any rate you need cast iron skillets- which we don't have, but really want especially Danny.  And her advice is for a gas grill - so i kinda would also like to start on that and then go from there ;)

Doesn't it look yummy.....

Okay, gotta go now, the boys are all stirring and ready to start another wonderful Wednesday!

Talk to you all soon! Love ya!

Seven Hollows Trail

The other day we took to boys hiking up at, you guessed it, Petit Jean.  I know that is almost always were we take the 'are we going to Petit Jean!'.  We might even take them this Friday too.  I will tell you about that outing later.

there is lizard in this picture - can ya find it?, ....it took the boys a while to see..

 For this one, we decided to take the boys on the Seven Hollows Trail trail, figuring that we might at least make it to the natural bridge.  Well, when we finally made it up there we were all hungry and so we hurried to the bridge area to eat our picnic.  Rush in......told the boys we would be enjoy the scenery after our picnic.

water break

 Then, while eating we noticed a lot of smoke further down the trail some ways.  And another hiker, came by saying there were three spots smoking so maybe we might make our way back, because she and her husband couldn't tell if a fire was starting, but that she was rushing back to get signal and call the ranger.

Our Picnic

nice cool rock - love it!

 So, of course, we packed up and hi-tailed it outa there - well, as best you can hi-tail it with three youngsters right after they have eaten.  So, rushed out.......not a whole lot of enjoying the hike this go around, but definitely an exciting tale to tell. ;)

not sure....

extremely thirsty

thirsty

hopefully, we will one day return to finish the trail ;)

the end

Crawfish Find

Before all the rains of late - by the I hope everyone is doing fine - we got out and played in pond that formed in our backyard from the previous rains, while mom started the garden boxes.  At any rate, while we were out the Thaddeus discovered a crawfish!.....

Now, I have to tell you that i am terrified of these things, they were in our backyard as a kid and I always considered a scary/gross as spiders.  And to eat one, as so many around these parts do, absolutely not!  I think of it as eating anything else you might find in your backyard - ants, spiders, beetles, etc.  Gross....
(This being said i will say that although i think of crawfish this way, I do enjoy some good lobster or crab with butter to dip it in. Mmmm, yumm, wish i had some now ;) )

Okay, back to the story with the boys, so Thaddeus runs inside to get a butterfly net that Mimi and Papaw had just given to all the boys for Easter the day before and comes out and catches the thing in his net. To cute to see my little man crawfish catching!

Then, i got a bucket for them and put some of the 'pond' water in it for the thing and we put it in there for all to look at it. Thaddeus, Tristen, and even Ethan found this very cool. 

 They wanted to keep it inside when we came in, but Absolutley Not! ;)