They Say the Darnest Things....

Since this IS my baby book for each of my kids, I want to write down a few things the kids have been saying that just crack us up, so we won't forget them.

Pres (July 2012): He was sitting at the bar, pulling on his ear.  I asked him what was the matter and if his ear hurt.  He said "No, my ear is just turned off."  Our guess is that his ear just needed to pop or something because it didn't bother him after that.

Bennett (July 2012): She was getting ready for church and after getting dressed and putting her headband on, she walked over to the mirror and said "Now that's what I'm talking about" with a very cocky tone.  Steve just busted out laughing.

Pres (August 2012): He has started this new thing when we look at him with our disciplinary eyes, "what?  what are you looking at?"

Pres (August 2012): I tried on a new lipstick, one that is a dark red.  I was just wearing it around the house, but when Preston saw me he looked at me and then said "I don't like your lips mom."  You have to love the honesty of that kid!

Bennett's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

Mrs. Greer & Bennett at orientation

 It is hard to believe that my little girl is old enough to go to "big school," but she is.  In fact, she started kindergarten today!  She has Mrs. Greer as her teacher, who she met last week, and I think it will be a good year.  Initially, Bennett was sad because she was separated from all of her little girlfriends (9 in total, and 2 are in each of the other 4 classes).  However, I think it will be a good opportunity for her to make new friends, so I am not upset.



Bennett before school

Mrs. Greer loves dogs, and calls her students the "kennel club."  Guess who she has a lot in common with her already??  Each day, Bennett starts with 6 bones in her dog bowl.  If she can make it all day without any warnings, she gets a stamp in her book.  However, if she makes a bad choice, then she starts getting bones taken away from her.  She didn't lose any bones on her first day (yeah!).

Walking through the tunnel to school

When we walked her to school, we took a few photos and then walked her to her room.  We got a little lost (don't ask me why because the school really isn't that difficult to get around), but made it in without any tears.  Bennett was a little hesitant to enter the room, but she didn't look back once she was in, and we weren't allowed in.

On our way home, I cried a little.  It is just so hard to believe that my baby, my first born, is off to school!  However, once I got back in my routine I was fine.  The weird thing though was at 12:30, I started getting antsy, thinking I needed to go get her soon.  Since I have been on the 9-1 schedule for the past 4 years, it will take a little getting used to these longer days.

In fact, shortly thereafter, I started thinking about Bennett and how her day was going.  Hoping she was having fun and meeting new friends....


Pres wishing her well





Me holding back the tears

Finally 2:30 pm rolled around, so Pres and I started to get ready to leave.  We left our house at 2:45, didn't get Bennett and Caroline into the car until 3:20, and didn't get home until almost 3:30.  Needless to say, carpool line SUCKED!  I am definitely walking from now on, unless it is over 100 degrees because I think it will be faster!  But it is not about me....Bennett had a wonderful first day of school!

All smiles after school!

Bennett & Caroline (1/2 of the "Mayfair Girls" Carpool)

She and Caroline were all smiles as they loaded into the car, and chatted the whole way home about their day!  When we got home, I started asking Bennett more specific questions about her day, and here is how it went:

Me: Did you have a good day?
B: Yes
Me: Did you eat all of your lunch? (she ate the school lunch today)
B: I ate all of my chicken and some of my mashed potatoes, but not all because they weren't as good as Mimi's
Me: What did you learn today?
B: A lot of rules!
Me: Who did you play with the most?
B: Miley
Me: Who did you sit next to at lunch?
B: Miley
Me: What was your favorite part of the day?
B: All of it

I hope Bennett's enthusiasm doesn't wane, and the rest of the year goes as well as today did for her!  She is a precious little girl who we love more than words.

Roughing It at Ruffner

We are still on a mission of crossing as many things off of our summer fun list as possible, so today we tackled two!  Since the weather is a bit cooler than normal, I recruited Mary Michael and her kids to join us for a hike up Ruffner Mountain.  It was a cloudy day, so we thought it would be a pretty pleasant experience.

The kids all started off excited and running up the path.  Initially we thought we would keep it close and short, but the kids were all doing well, so we kept on going.  As we finally reached the peak (1.3 miles up), the kids were tired and a couple had cried.  We should have turned around earlier, but we were so close, so we kept going up.  We used the "summit" as an opportunity to rest, rehydrate, snack and take a few photos, and then we turned back around.

Pres with his big bug find

The kids taking a break

After another .25 miles, Mary Michael and I were starting to get a little tired because she was carrying Lynlee (who refused to walk in the dirt), and I was taking turns carrying each of my kids.  Bennett did better about walking herself, but Preston kept tripping on roots and rocks, and insisted on being held.  It was frustrating, but I know I pushed them too far, so I only had myself to blame.



Landon navigating

We did the quarry trail

Fortunately the walk back to the nature center was primarily downhill, so it was much easier for everyone.  In fact, when we got real close, all of the kids really picked up their pace.  When we got to the bottom, we used the restroom, washed our hands and headed on our next adventure....a picnic at The Vulcan!


At the "summit" with the kids (1.3 miles up)

Pres crying after one of his many falls

Though the wind was starting to pick up, and rain was imminent, we dined with the view of downtown Birmingham on one side, and The Vulcan on the other.  After lunch, the kids played on the grassy knoll.  They rolled down the hill, ran back up, then raced back down!  It is amazing how they have so much energy!

We finally came home early afternoon, showered and then the kids took a long nap.  I guess all of the complaints about their legs hurting were valid because they were out hard!  I had to wake each of them up after several hours.

Rolling down the hill

Running down the hill

All and all though, it was a fun morning and the kids loved "going for a hike in the woods."  I definitely see more hiking in our future.

Splash Adventure

School is rapidly approaching, and we still have a lot of things that we want to do!  Since summer technically ends September 21st this year, we may have to keep checking off items into next month (that's not cheating is it?).   Especially since a couple of things we really want to do, we need to find a nice cool night to do them...camping and drive-in theater. 

Anywho....we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we had today and drive out to Splash Adventure for a few hours.  We've had several friends go this summer and had heard good things, so why not!  The prices are discounted at 4pm, and it closes at 8pm, so we thought going the last four hours of the day would be the perfect amount of time to be there, and it would be less crowded.  We were correct with our two assumptions, but we forgot to take into account the cooler weather as the sun sets.



Though our kids had purple lips and were shivering, they continued to up and down the slides and play in the pool until we pulled the plug.  They had a ball!!  Preston absolutely LOVED all of the waterslides, and insisted on going by himself after a few times.  Several of their slides have 42 inch height requirements (which he does not meet), but we slipped him past the guards and he enjoyed himself thoroughly.  We went with Shannon and Christian and met the Neeses there too, so our kids had fun playing with the other kids.

We packed a few snacks since we were there over the dinner hour, but really tried to just pack it all in so we could leave and have dinner at home.  It all worked out well and the whole family had fun, even though it was a little chilly.  It was certainly a fun way to spend a few hours, and I imagine we'll return again next summer.

100 Things to Do This Summer!

Preston at the splash pad at the zoo (late May)

At the beginning of each summer, I think "what am I going to do with the kids all summer long?"  As much as I love to hang out with my kids, we all like a routine and we all like to be kept busy, so it can become challenging.  I was lucky to get Bennett in the Homewood Day Camp (which she LOVES)!   She attends that camp Monday-Friday from 9-2, and they have each day planned with different activities.  In addition, they have one field trip each week.  I am not sure if Bennett likes the actual field trip, or riding the bus to their destination more!
However, Pres is at that "young" age where camp programs are limited.  So, though he was enrolled in camp the entire month of June through our church, it was only Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a half day.  On those other days, we typically went swimming or to the library if they had a fun activity.

Swimming with cousins!

Now we are midway through July, and the summer is flying by.  We haven't really had much of a chance to be bored.  It has been awesome that we have had new neighbors with a 6 year old girl move in too!  Between camps, the occasional playdates, and now neighborhood fun....the summer has been going quickly and everyone has been entertained!  We just returned from a week at the beach and wrapped up Vacation Bible School at our church this week (our first time).  Both kids were able to participate, and I taught incoming first graders, and it was a lot of fun for all of us.

Next week is Bennett's last week of day camp, and then we'll really be looking for things to fill our days.  Since I know my kids need to stay active, I decided to print a list off my new favorite website www.pinterest.com of "100 Things to Do in the Summer with Kids."  We have checked off about a quarter of the items so far, but our goal is to have at least 50% completed by the time the kids go back to school.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but the list has a lot of crazy things on it, and ones that aren't really age appropriate for our kids.  It has been fun to cross things off, so we'll see how far we get with the list over the next four weeks.

Learning about cows during one of the library programs

With the school year starting a couple of weeks later, that buys us some time to tackle it!  Here are a few photos showing the kids doing some of the activities this summer, and when they start school, I'll post some additional photos with an updated list (to see if we hit our goal of 50%).

dress up (a VERY common occurence) w/ Caroline

Blowing Bubbles (making bubble snakes)

Bennett was better at it than Pres

Pres bowling for his first time!

Fun at the beach

Watching fireworks on July 4th

Water balloon fight!

Bennett bowling (her 2nd time this summer)

Top 100 Things to Do This Summer (as of 7/20/12)

Just Me and My Boys!

After dropping off Bennett at day camp, Preston and I hit the gym.  He loves to go with me because he loves playing in their "soft play" area.  However, today he was meeting some of his friends (the Tanner trio), and that made it even better!  When we left the gym, the sun was trying to peek through the clouds, so we decided to capitalize on it and go for a bike ride.  Of course Preston wanted a destination, so we biked over to Shades Cahaba Elementary School.

The path (as Preston calls it) there takes us through a tunnel underneath the one busy intersection that we would otherwise cross.  Spencer accompanied us, and we walked/ran next to Pres as he biked all the way there (probably a little over a half a mile).  There was a slight breeze, but we were all sweating by the time we got there.  Pres did a beeline for the jungle gym firetruck, while Spence and I tried to stay cool in the shade.

On Steve's way home from work, he swung by to give Spence a lift home (my old boy just can't hang like he used to).  He was more than happy to get in the air conditioned car and head home.  Pres wasn't ready to leave though, so we played more.  He convinced me to pretend like we were firemen.  We rode on the truck, ran around the playground and climbed up trees (AKA... the top of the jungle gym) to "save animals that are stuck."  We had a great time playing make believe together.

Since I knew we still needed to get home, I talked Pres into leaving before he was completely exhausted.  We took a different "path" home and he pedaled so fast.  The little guy wore me out since I practically ran beside him the entire way! 


















When we got home, we rehydrated and then this is what I found...

I guess both of my boys were exhausted!