Bud's Day Meets Indiana Jones

Jack loves Bud's Day and he loves Indiana Jones and the new whip Poppa sent him even more. His world was complete when his Daddy took him on "an adventure" to go walk in the woods and look for a hidden idol. He mainly wanted to be sure that he got to "whip things and swing over the river"- the river is a tiny creek but I hear he did swing over it. Notice the canteen on Jack's shoulder. This took the place of me having to sew Jack a bag "like Indy's" cause I told him Indy carried water in his bag. Thankfully Wal-Mart sold this nice brown, over the shoulder canteen which saved me several sewing hours. Joel loves Bud's day just as much and made sure to "find" a hidden map that then led Jack to a buried Idol ( an old crystal Christmas ornament that didn't make it up to the attic). The afternoon was a big success and Jack wanted to come home today and change into his "adventure clothes". Thanks for the whip Poppa- the girls have no complaints yet, Jack has only managed to whip himself a couple of times.

Lily Belle goes to First Grade

Lily loves school. When she's not in school she's playing school or asking me to give her homework. This picture is with Mrs. Hilliard, her teacher, who is the most wonderful, kindest, gentle, quiet-spirited teacher that I wish I was. Lily will have a wonderful first grade year. Plus, they just started selling Chik-fil-a chicken biscuits before school again this morning- all is right in her world.

My Baby's In Kindergarten!

Jack Stewart has entered the world of academia- otherwise known as Mrs. Jones' Kindergarten Class. He loves it and is having a great time. My class is across the hall and two doors down but I can still hear his laugh throughout the day (Mrs. Jones hasn't complained-yet anyway). As we head into the second week he's starting to ask "Do I have school today". I don't think he's aware that he has 35 more 5 day weeks of waking up at 6am- oh wait that's me who has just realized that. Is it time for fall break yet??

Grace Carlisle Has Entered The Third Grade

I swear Joel just took this same picture of the two of us but Grace was four months old, I was still in my 20s and we were going to her first first day of school when I went back to work teaching in Gainesville. Fast forward eight years and I'm well into my 30s and my baby is now in the same grade I used to teach. My mother always said time flies but I didn't know it went that fast. Grace has been in school one week and had 2 tests, studying for 3 more and finished a play from the Old Testament. Let's just say I think they accomplished more in one week than I did all year homeschooling. She seems to love it and hasn't tried to stay home sick yet- but Friday is test day.

Zoo Fun

If you were wondering when is the best day to go to the Memphis Zoo, it is on the first day of school for Shelby county and the morning after a cold front. We usually don't go to the zoo during the summer- way too hot and horribly crowded (think lots of working parents using Zoo Camp for childcare). But with Monday being the first day of school for county schools the zoo was just about empty. It rained most of Sunday too and brought through a cold front which only means 90 instead of 100 but that 10 degrees sure did make a difference. We even stayed long enough to watch the polar bears being fed. It was a fun day and the kids felt super special about not having to go to school until Friday and nobody cried or whined (well for the most part- I draw the line at $4.oo ice cream).

Bud's Day- But with Girls

Jack and Joel like to go on Bud's Days. This can mean going for lunch, haircuts, or the occasional shopping spree to Sports Authority or Guitar Center (Joel, however, would like it to be more shopping sprees at Guitar Center than Sports Authority). Sometimes they go to the park and sometimes Joel can convince Jack that going to his office is Bud's Day fun. The one common factor in all of these goodtimes is NO GIRLS. Jack likes that, he likes it a lot. So when he agreed to allow his sisters to go on a Bud's Day to the movies with Daddy that was just pure kindness. Not only did his sisters go but he let his Mommy come too. I'm not sure why he insisted on calling it Bud's Day except that he's been waiting for Joel to take him to see Indiana Jones 4 since oh I don't know opening weekend in May. Thankfully there was still one theater still showing this movie. And while we had fun and the kids loved it I have to say not one of Spielberg's best and Joel and I shared many rolled eyes during the film. Jack is now off to the woods to find some treasure with his whip (which plays the Indiana Jones theme song). He's also insisting that we call him either Indy or Dr. Jones.

Rainy Day Surgery

This is either Jack as Doc Holiday or Wyatt Earp- yes, we've allowed him to watch the movie Tombstone. Sure it's rated R for extreme western violence, but have you watched Hannah Montana lately? I'd rather have Jack walking around saying "I've got two guns, one for each of you" than be exposed day in and day out to the Disney machine. Back to the picture- Why is he holding a baby you ask, well I think he rescued her from Curly Bill or some other bad guy. The rescue wasn't quite the success though because right after this picture his sisters were performing surgery to remove the bullet in his back.

What can I say, it was raining most of the day and hey maybe I'm raising a spine surgeon or scrub nurse or probably just three lunatics. I just knew to intervene when Grace called, "Nurse, I need the stapler". Now that's some good parenting. Jack, may however, have a future in theatrics- notice the pain and agony on his face- or it could have been I didn't quite make it fast enough to save him from the stapler : )

We're Going to Bowl Tonight! or Morning (Here's to Grease 2)

"Tonight we bowl!" Well actually it was ten this morning but I can't resist quoting lines from Grease 2. If you haven't seen it you are missing one of Michelle Pfieffer greatest works and that guy Adrian Zmed's only work. Does Dance Fever count as work for him? Since getting the Nintendo Wii my kids love bowling ALOT. So I thought hey fun activity, not horribly expensive, indoors and mostly because summer is winding down and I've caved to the question of "What can we do today". There's nothing worse than thinking you're a fun Mommy who exposes her children to great outings and activities only to hear the whine and complain when you tell them, "No, we are not eating lunch here. Why? Because my 16oz diet coke was $2 and I'm not paying $8 for a hot dog and drink. Yes, I know I got a coke but I'm not bowling you are and there's a water fountain on the wall". Actually just kidding about the water fountain, that would be a treat to drink out of cause I think they are gross and disease ridden. They only get to do that with Joel but he also takes them shopping for my Mother's Day present at 8:59pm with no shoes on to Best Buy. I figure if I don't see it when he's in charge it really doesn't happen. Notice Jack's reluctant grimace in the picture? He just found out we won't be playing video games either. Well I've learned my lesson no more outings we'll stay home memorize our math facts and fold clothes, at least this week. But next week.... I've reserved a lane for Tuesday- but no lunch (well maybe a diet coke).

Our Friends the Paules. Laurie is a perfect mother I think her children only spoke to say, "Yes ma'am, Thank you Ma'am, and good job friend".

Yankee Stadium

I went to Yankee Stadium this weekend. It was awesome!! My brother and I took my mom to see a game on Saturday in the last season the Yankees will play in the original, great, irreplaceable Yankee Stadium. The Yankees won beating the Angels 8-2 after having lost their last 6 games. Not only that, but 4 home runs were hit during the game. It was amazing. John, Mom and I had a great weekend and lots of fun but nothing was better than seeing the Yankees play. We bought $6 cokes just to get the souvenir cups, peeled paint off the walls and watched Mom almost be either assaulted or arrested. She has this thing with getting dirt from places she's been to. Well dirt off the street wasn't going to work it had to be from the field. After the game she whipped out her ziploc bag and as John and I watched as we hid in the archway she approached a large, unhappy female stadium worker. The women told her no and to get out- not a great tourism rep. Undeterred Mom went through two more people before finally a cop walked over (this is where John and I started calculating how much bond money we had). The cop listened, almost smiled and then reached down grabbed some of the most hallowed baseball ground there is and put it in Mom's baggie. She agreed to share a little with us!

THREE School Aged Children

I can't believe that in two weeks all three of my children will be officially school aged. Jack, my baby, is starting kindergarten. How is that possible? I'm no longer the mother of preschool aged children. Do we stop watching Nick Jr. and Noggin- wait they've already stopped that. Our TV programming is now centered around Hannah Montana and Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Rocky DVDs(all 4 Rockies-yes I know there was a 5th but it really should have stopped with Rocky IV).The good news- Jack is very excited. The bad news- he is leaving me and is one step closer to growing to old to snuggle. Although, he promises that even when "I'm old like you Mommy I will still snuggle with you". He also says he wants to live with me forever. Lily however has decided she wants to live in Alabama when she grows up, "cause I really like that song Sweet Home Alabama". I guess there are stranger reasons to move somewhere. I'm also finding it hard to believe Grace will be in third grade- I remember third grade, Mrs. Walker was such a great teacher. The thing is Grace will remember third grade, which means she will remember my mothering, which most of the time seems less than stellar. I'm just hoping there won't be too much therapy in the future. So, all three of my children start school on Monday the 18th, Grace in third grade, Lily in first and Jack in kindergarten. When you hear the wailing it's just me at Jack's "Boo Hoo Breakfast" as he runs away from me and leaps excitedly into the world of primary education.