Back to Work...Back to Reality

Today I started back to school, and it feels like I have been hit with a ton of bricks! I am just not ready for the daily grind of having 4 kids and working full time. I hate to complain, but I have just forgotten how hard it is. It all started at 6:00 am (yuk) when my alarm went off, by 6:30 both girls were up! Caden called me constantly throughout the day to report things that the little ones had done, and I decided to clean out my shelves and file cabinets in my classroom, and now my classroom looks like a tornado hit it...one of my workdays wasted. I got home this afternoon and no one had gone down for a nap, Slick (the dog) peed on the beanbag, and Cade had his first day of football practice (for 2 hours...he practices every day this week!) On top of everything else I missed being with the kids today!
Again, I feel like such a loser to rant and rave about how hard my day was, but that is what is on my mind, and blogging about it is therapeutic for me. : )

Another thing that seemed to be therapeutic for me this evening was giving my sweet angel fishies (is it weird that I call them that?) a bath. Their little faces had not been washed yet, hence the dirty faces!

Ella Cate (left) Emma Claire (right)

serious Emmy

Ellies funny scrunch faced smile....this is her standard look that she gives when she says "cheeeese"!

Olympics

Sam told me not to put this picture on my blog. He says that I always take pictures of him in his night time attire...I guess he wants everyone to know that he doesn't wear shirts like this out of our house. However, the opportunity to take this picture was just too hard to resist. I walked into the living room last night and found Sam, Ella Cate, Emma Claire, and Cade snuggled up on the couch watching the Olympics. It was WAY late and the girls had gotten out of their bed for the umpteenth time. They got lucky and got a few minutes of cuddling time before being put back in their bed.
Side note...they didn't go to sleep until 11:00 pm, and they were both up by 6:30 am aaaahhh....the joys of big girl beds and no passys!

Emmy got a sweet kiss from Cade

They were watching the winner of the 100 meter race do her victory jumps!

I Am Behind!!

This week I have gotten VERY behind on my blog! I think that I am finally caught up after spending all of nap time today typing and uploading pictures. Scroll down for the highlights of our past week or so.
I didn't blog about a couple of fun times that we've had this week like Celebration Park in Allen yesterday, or our fun pet store visit where Caden fell in love with one of the cutest puppies that I have ever seen ( a Pocket Beagle...it was $999.00!). I didn't take my camera to those places, so what is the point of blogging about something and not including pictures? I personally know that one of my most avid blog readers cannot stand that!! ; )

My Last Day of Summer...

I am feeling very nostalgic today. It is officially my very last weekday of summer. Teacher in service begins bright and early on Monday morning. I have said this a million times before, but how did time go by so fast?! I have really enjoyed my time off with the kids this summer, truly one of the most priceless benefits of being a teacher. We have had lots of fun just being together.

We made many wonderful memories with our good friends this summer. Thankfully we saw alot of Chels, Carter, Brenda, and Colt...and we even got to spend more time than we usually do with Shawna and her boys. We have spent time with Julie and the girls, and Brandy and her kiddos. We are all so thankful for our special friends...I wish that we got to see them as much in the school year as we do in the summer!

We had a fun vacation in Broken Bow Oklahoma, and we got some much needed cleaning out done around our house. Two garage sales later I have been able to clear out some junk that was taking up way too much room in our house. Our second garage sale was just last weekend. Chels and Brenda did it with me, and it was so much fun!

We swam a lot with my mom, Robin, and Uncle Caleb this summer. The little ones are actually swimming pretty well, and they absolutely LOVE the water. They took lessons with Ms. Stacey, and they learned alot. I hope their skills don't get too rusty before next summer.

Since it was our last day together we spent the day at home playing...even though I was more than tempted to hit a few stores since today was the start to tax-free weekend. : ) I wanted to soak up our last minutes of summer. We played every board game that we have, played Power Rangers and babies, read books, and just layed around. Special and fun times!

I am already missing you summertime...please come back soon!!

Carson playing Memory today.

Emmy and Ellie jumping on the bed

Cade was bored today! After coming back from several days at Colt's house he was feeling the letdown of not having a constant companion. : ( He has spent a lot of time with Colt this summer, and he loves being with him. He gets to hang out with a neighborhood full of kids, swim, and it doesn't hurt that he absolutely LOVES every meal that is prepared for him while he is there. I sure wish that we lives closer to Colt! Cade informed me that there were houses for sale in Colt's neighborhood...you know that he wishes that we lived closer!

Connect 4!

After Carson gave Emma Claire a "boo-boo" on her tummy he told her that he was sorry and kissed her "boo-boo".

Ella Cate and her fish that she caught while playing "Go Fish"

Go Fish!

Perfection!

More Connect 4

Carson's First Sleepover

Carson was invited to his very first sleepover last Saturday, August 10, 2008. He spent the night at Corbin's house. He and Corbin are real close. For starters they were born only 4 days apart back in 2004, and I have known Corbin's mommy, Shawna, since the ripe old age of 12. While they don't get to see each other all that often since we live over an hour away from them, they are always more than thrilled to be together!

Shawna said they dressed up in costumes, ran through the house, slept on a pallet on the floor, and of course fought and tattled just a bit (their mommas used to do that too) : )

It never phased Carson to be away from home over night...I knew that it wouldn't. He is just that kind of kid...unlike me, my mom had to come and pick me up in the middle of the night during my first sleepover! Shawna has some real cute pictures of Carson's first sleepover!

Gage Turns 2!

Last Sunday, August 10, we celebrated Gage's 2nd birthday at a fun bounce house place in McKinney. The kids enjoyed bouncing, playing fun arcade games, and eating yummy motorcycle cake!

Gage with his mommy blowing out the candles on his motorcycle cake.

Carter was entertained for a very long time climbing up the ski ball ramp. My girls found great joy in this as well, but somehow I didn't get a picture of them in action.

Helping Gage open his presents.

Ella Cate playing air hockey with a fellow party goer's Dad.

VBS Performance Day

If I knew how to post-date this post I would make the date August 8, 2008 appear. This was the day that Carson and Caden had their end of the week performance at Vacation Bible School at FUMC-Arlington. Caden has attended this VBS since first grade, and this was Carson's first year to go. The boys had a good time, and performed well for us!
Caden with fellow VBS goers getting ready to perform.

Carson getting ready to sing

After the performance the church provided a "picnic-style" lunch.

The girls wanted to be a part of VBS sooo badly...they will be old enough to go next year!!

Cade enjoying his lunch

Carson and the girls' favorite part of this lunch was chips and cookies...of course!

On our way to the van we snapped a picture next to the church sign...typical Stewart picture with no one looking at the camera!