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The LAZY days of summer are over!

Ashton started 2nd grade today! I can't believe my baby is in 2nd grade! It seems like I just took him to preschool, and it really just feels like he started Kindergarten! Where does the time go? He has the same 2nd grade teacher that Jerry had in 2nd grade, so that is exciting. She seems nice, and he had a great day today. I sent her a note, asking if she needs me to help in her classroom, hoping she would. I was lucky, because she responded that yes, she did need volunteers! WAHOO! I've been really lucky so far, and have been able to volunteer in his classroom in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and now 2nd grade too! It works out well, because my best friend Amy also volunteers and we swap babysitting while the other goes in to school! I can't wait to see how much more he learns this year. It's just great how much they learn so quickly!

I was a little sad this morning that our slow paced summer days have ended. No more sleeping until we feel like it, and going where we want to, when we want to. Nope, we are back to our schedule! I do like and enjoy our schedule once I'm used to it, but I also cherish those lazy days of summer.

The last hurrah!

August seems to just whizz by. Ashton's soccer practice started, and he's loving it. He practices 2 nights a week, and they've had 2 games already. They won both, and he scored his first goal on Aug. 19! He was so excited!

We had his kid's party on Aug. 7. He had some friends over and we took them to the waterpark. My friend Amy helped me. The waterpark ended up closing early, because it was raining when we got there, and if they don't have 50 people within an hour of opening, they close it! We were bummed, because the rain had quit, and the sun was coming out and it was getting hot and humid, and I know that the park would have been filled. Oh well, the kids had a lot of fun for the hour they were able to play. We decided to try the sprinkler pad at Bird Park, but it was closed due to mechanical problems. As the last resort, I called my FIL, and we were able to go and use his pool! It saved the day! The kids had a blast swimming and jumping in, and my BIL John came home while we were there and played with all the kids. We ordered pizza for supper, and after dinner one boy ended up sick, so I took him home. The other boys played outside and had fun. They made smores around the firepit, and then later they watched a movie and ate popcorn! We had lights out at 11, and they slept all night and didn't have any problems! They played the next day, hit the pinata, ate the adorable frog cake that I made, and went home around 1pm. It was a successful first sleepover and first kid's party!



The Gladiolus Festival started on Aug. 10. Ashton and Hadleigh entered the coloring contest and both won first place in their categories. We had the Kid's Parade on the 10th, and then took them to the carnival that night. On Friday, we went back to the waterpark for the day with Amy and her kids to use our passes that were given to us after they closed early during Ashton's party. We left the park, and went right to the Glad Fest run. There were so many kids and it was fun to watch. We watched the parade that night at G.T.'s and then went to dinner that night with my parents and Uncle Mike and Aunt Joanne. On Saturday, we walked around the flea market and then went to Ashton's soccer game and then back to G.T.'s for the parade. Hadleigh fell asleep and had a fever, so she missed the parade. We ate after the parade and then took the kids home. All 3 kids ended up getting sick with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. That was fun, and I'm so glad they were better before school started!

This past Saturday, August 19, we took the kids to A Day Out With Thomas after Ashton's soccer game. What fun that was! Sawyer was only 5 months old the last time we went, and he's a Thomas freak now, so he was in heaven! Ashton and Hadleigh enjoyed it too. The place it's held at is also a railway museum, so there is so much to see. We like looking at all the old trains. On our way home, which we took a different way to avoid the tollways, we saw a great restaurant for dinner! It's so funny, because we ate at this restaurant when I was in junior high, after a state playoff football game that my cousin played in. I remember the restaurant well, but couldn't remember the name of it or where it was located, and my parents didn't remember either. It was so cool just to stumble upon it. This restaurant is in an old barn, and has many ponds around the property. It is a pretty place with great food! We weren't exactly dressed that great for this restaurant, but we ate there anyway! lol

HOT!

It has been so brutally hot here, which it is across the country. I just can't stand it.

The heat index yesterday at 5:30 PM was 120 degrees! Today at 8:30 AM, the heat index was already 102, and at 11:00 AM it was 110!

Soccer practice starts tonight for Ashton, so it's going to be horrible for those kids!

I'm so ready for Thursday to come, because the temperatures will be in the 80's then!

We need to move the pool up on our priority list!

A great weekend!

Our town has a slow pitch softball tournament every year. It benefits the Little League, and has been going on since 1983.

Jerry has played in it every year since he graduated high school. This year I played with him on a co-ed team. The men have to be 30, the women just have to be out of high school. You must have 5 men and 5 women on the team. It was a lot of fun. Our team consisted of me, Jerry, my bil Mike, my sil's husband Mark, his sister Monica, my bil Mike's friend Catherine from high school, my best friend Tiffany from growing up and her husband Mark, our friend Al, my sil Nancy's friend Gretchen. My sil Nancy couldn't play this year, because she is pregnant, but she'll be on our team next year. It's a family affair! Nancy's twin brother John is only 26, so we have a few more years before he joins our team.

We had so much fun! It was brutally hot though. The heat index was 105-110 on Sat. and Sun. We had 3 games in a row in the blazing sun, but we still had fun. We drank lots of Gatorade and water and that kept us from passing out. We had 5 games over the weekend. I came home with some souveniers, like a VERY sore body, a big fluid filled blister on my big toe that rubs my 2nd toe, a red face and neck, and a lovely sore from my sports bra band rubbing the skin under my boobs while I was so sweaty. lol I love the soreness though, and would really love to play on a league from spring through the fall. I miss softball and it would be nice to play it for the exercise. I hope I can find a team.

Jerry was also on a men's team, which is any age guy out of high school and up. He played with some friends and my bil Mike, and bil John. They also had 5 games, but Jerry is faring much better than me! lol He had played the past 4 weeks on his brother John's team as a sub, so he was in shape already.

All in all it was a good weekend. My parents kept the kids on Saturday after the Little League parade, and kept them overnight. On Saturday night, we went to my FIL's to swim and the party ended up there, and we didn't leave until midnight. It was nice to be just relax and have fun. They took them to a movie on Sunday and brought them back around 2:45. We were in the middle of a game at that time and a thunderstorm came in and we had to cancel the game. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Summer is going fast!

This summer has just flown by! I am not ready for school to start. I don't want my kids to grow up this fast. Ashton will be going into 2nd grade! That just doesn't seem real to me. Hadleigh is starting her last year of preschool, and will be going 3 days for 2 1/2 hours. She really loves it, and Ashton loves school too, but it's just hard as their mom to believe they are at an age that I remember being at like it was yesterday. I do like the routine we get into in the school months, but I'm still not looking forward to sending them to school again. The school year makes the months FLY by.

Sawyer is getting so big too, and leaving many of the baby things behind. I'm hanging onto the last few "baby" things we have. He is still in his crib, and he's not potty trained. Do I wish I didn't have to deal with diapers? Yes, but part of me is also going to be sad to be done with diapers. We have been diapering for 7 years straight now, so that will be strange to be done with it. Good, but also a little sad.

We've been busy this summer with VBS, and sports. We had 2 garage sales in 2 weeks, so that kept me super busy. I'm so glad that I did it though, and I was able to empty all of the storage totes full of stuff we didn't want anymore. My goal was to get rid of it all so we could take down this old grain bin that we stored our garage sale stuff in. We accomplished that this past week! Jerry used a torch and cut it up. It looks so much better without it. The remaining outbuildings are ones that we plan on restoring, so it's nice to have all of the bad ones gone.

How do I catch up?

I have come back to my blog numerous times and just don't know how to start posting again. Do I just jump back in posting about our everyday lives, or try to catch up on the things from the many months that I haven't posted? I hate that I have that form of perfectionism that makes me think too hard about things that I shouldn't be thinking so hard about! lol

I guess I will just start posting again, and not worry about the lack of blogging over the past months!

A fun little quiz

You Are Olive Green

You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself.For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself.You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you.People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.

What Color Green Are You?

Our trip to the Apple Orchard

Yesterday was Hadleigh's 1st field trip. We went to an Apple Orchard in Indiana. It was so cute! It was also Hadleigh's first trip on a school bus! When we arrived at the orchard, we did the petting zoo first, and then we were able to quickly check out the gift shop. Then, we had lunch, and a tour of the apple orchard. It was interesting, and the kids all loved picking their own apples. We then were able to see where they are washed, sorted, and packed. The orchard also has a bee house, where the bees make honey, and the kids learned about the bees and honey. The moms were able to go and get their free apple doughnut while the kids were in the bee house! YUMMY! OMG, those doughnuts were to die for, and I'm not a big doughnut person! Then, they learned about photosynthesis, and what it takes to grow the trees, and it takes 44 leaves to make one apple! How interesting! It was a fun day. Hadleigh fell asleep on the ride home.

Ashton had early dismissal, so he was able to get off the bus at his friend's house. My friend Amy, was also on the field trip, and Ethan and Ashton got off the bus at her house and her MIL was their to watch the boys. Sawyer was at my friend Tiffany's house, and when I came home, she brought him home and I watched her daughter Lauren, so she could get things done at the shop. Thank goodness for friends and our babysitting swapping! lol

Hadleigh and I want to take Jerry, Ashton, and Sawyer back to this orchard because we had such a great time! :)

Room mom day at Hadleigh's school

On Tuesday, I was the room mom for Hadleigh's class. All the moms take turns, and it was our day. That meant, we brought the snacks, juice, plates, cups, etc. She was also the leader for the day, and she did the calender, weather chart, and fun things like that. She was so proud doing those things. It was so cute! :) The kids are all adorable. They read books, played, did an art project, did some little math stuff with these cute bugs. I loved observing. When the kids went outside to play, I had to do the cleaning. That is the deal with the co-op, the parents have to do the cleaning, the parents are the ones that basically run the school. It's a very parental involved school, which is nice, although cleaning bathrooms is no fun! lol I had to clean the bathroom, the entry way door, and then vacuum the entire classroom. It went fast and was so worth it to watch her and her friends at school.

Happy 33rd Birthday Jerry!

Today is Jerry's birthday! It seems like I had just given him the really cool Guess sweatshirt for his 17th birthday! lol I was going to make his favorite lasagna and a cake, but he has a nasty cold, we all have had it :(, so he wants me to wait until he can taste his food. We went out to dinner on Friday night with my parents for his birthday. They gave him some money for clothes, because he really could use some new ones, and it's easier to try them on in person. I gave him a set of bean bag boxes that I had a guy that works with my dad make. He was happy, and now at get togethers, our family and friends will have fun playing bean bags. So, it hasn't been too exciting of a day, but he did get rained out of work which was nice for him.