First Day of School 2012

Aaron is in 5th grade

Caleb is starting 2nd grade

Kellie is VERY excited to be starting Kindergarten 

(We took more pictures of her because she kept asking me to take more!)

Have a good year, you 3!

Uncle Jim

My brother Jim drives a truck over the road and occasionally we get surprised with a visit whenever a load brings him this way. We were so excited to see him for a little while. We love you, Uncle Jim!

Bunny Ears...

Levi likes his "hat" because it gives him bunny ears!

Backyard Campout and S'mores

The kids have wanted to camp out all summer, but with me being very pregnant and projects around the house, time has slipped away from us. This is the last weekend before school starts and so Matt bravely offered to camp out with the older kids. Levi and I will be in the house, but the rest are excited to sleep out. Have fun guys- sleep well!

Cute!

Kellie dressed Levi up today, and he is CUTE! (just ask him, he says, "ME cute!")

More rails!

Matt is having fun...

and the kids were having fun, too... (even the furry one!)

Keeping busy...

This summer has been fairly relaxed, with the kids finding ways to entertain themselves most days. Because I am so very pregnant and it has been so hot we have stayed pretty close to home all summer. Some days are easier than others, though. 

Today Kellie was having a rough time being the only girl around here. The boys are mostly pretty good about including her, but there is only so much "princess and glitter" that the boys will tolerate before they start kicking her out of their games. Kellie is resourceful though and has found a mostly willing playmate in Levi, who is still a little young to realize he shouldn't like playing "girl stuff." So Kellie has made Levi her "baby" and is thoroughly enjoying mothering him. She wraps him up, sings to him, lays him down for naps and has taught him how to cry if he wants something. It really is pretty cute. Here's the two of them, as Kellie is rocking "her" baby, trying to get him to sleep. 

Here's the other boys, well, just being boys. 

I love them!

A little bit farther along...

 Placing the last rows of decking...

 Levi likes to measure.

 First 2 sections of railing...

 Stairs (almost complete)

My boys in uniform...

Matt was recently made the new Cubmaster. I just love my boys in uniform!

Sunday Naps

Sunday schedules are always a bit tricky. Normal schedules are replaced with church schedules and it frequently throws off Levi's nap schedule. Last Sunday he absolutely refused to calm down and take a nap so we let him stay up, thinking that he would have an early bedtime instead. About 4 pm he got ridiculously mad and started screaming. (I think we were out of fruit roll-ups!) Anyway, Matt made the comment to him that "this is what happens when you don't take a nap." 

After several minutes of uncontrollable rage-like yelling, we heard him stomp his way up the stairs and a moment later we heard the door to his room slam shut. 

By the time we got up there to check on him, this is how we found him:

FAST ASLEEP in his bed. 

What kid puts himself to bed when he's mad? Matt and I were certainly surprised but let him "sleep it off" for a while before waking the little guy up. 

(I sure love my kids and all the crazy things they do!)

Deck Progress continued....

 We hit a stall last week. We ran out of decking material and have to wait for more to be delivered to finish the last couple of rows. It's looking great so far, though!

 Who knew building a deck was a spectator sport? 

Kellie can often be seen sitting on the sidelines watching Matt as he builds.

 Levi, on the other hand, thinks he's the foreman of this project and likes to get in the middle of things, frequently questioning Matt and giving advice.

" -Inators"

You know your kid has seen enough Phineas and Ferb when they start building "inators" all the time. (or as Levi likes to call them, " 'nators")

Progress...

Framing Complete

Matt finally finished the framing! We had our inspection today (we passed!) so now we can move on to the actual decking material and railings themselves.

Creative Kellie...

The kids have been arguing all morning and so in a desperate attempt at some peace I sent them each to their own rooms for some quiet time. About a half an hour later I peeked in to check on them (it was a little too quiet) and this is how I found Kellie. She was happily entertaining herself with her princesses. I love having a girl!