First week of School and A Sheep's Head?

The fishing obsession continues. Last night the boys were invited to go night fishing.  This was what they brough home.  A Sheep's Head fish?

These fish have sheep teeth.  Bizarre!  Doug is filleting it right now as I speak.  We will be eating it for dinner of course? I'm just glad I'm not cooking it.

But enough about fish... Let's talk about the first day of school. The big kids have been going for about a week and a half. Here's there first day pic! sweet kids!

The boys wanted to have a First Day scavenger hunt again.  I got creative and obliged.

The ceiling was my most ingenious hiding place this year.


Luke didn't start until this past Monday.  Doesn't he look spiffy in his new duds?

Max kept commenting on how cute Luke looks in his tiny uniform.

He was not nervous to go. Not one bit! He has the best teacher.

He was seriously just so excited to go.

I had the chance to go eat lunch with him yesterday.  At his request.  It was his first time buying lunch and he was bursting with pride for being just so big.

Jack joined us too since his lunch is at the same time. Love these little boys.

We had such a great summer I'm so sad it's over. I'm just happy the new beginnings were so happy.

Fishing success and a quick update

Okay I promise to post our summer Utah adventure.  I promise.  but not tonight. Tomorrow is the first day of school (well actually today, it's late). The kids are not extremely excited about going back but I think it's going to be a good year.  Here are a few pics from the last couple of day.  We have bee trying to squeeze all we can out of summer over here.  

Max and Jack set up a lemonade stand yesterday.  Always little entrepreneurs those two.   They did make $6 from kind and generous neighbors.  The most exciting purchase was from the UPS man who paid for a cup and then gave them his unwanted pennies!  They were thrilled of course and Jack ran into the house to tell me about it at the top of his lungs.

This little cutie doesn't start kindergarten until Monday but he gets to go and see his classroom tomorrow. yay!

We have been doing a lot of fishing lately.  Doug took the kids on Saturday and Max caught three fish. One was a 16'' catfish. the biggest catch yet.

We went to the beach once more today and max took the poles with high hopes of catching more.  No luck. But Jack caught a tiny minnow at the park this evening so that's another little fishing success for the week.

 He just held his hands under the water and it swam right into it.

Okay, it's late and the kids want me to hide their clothes so they can go on a scavenger hunt for them in the morning.  Their wish is my command.

Max turned ONE ONE

Yes he did! About 2 weeks ago! Summer is flying by.

 I can't keep up with posting all of our adventures but I will do my best to get caught up this week. I hope you can forgive my lack of posting lately.  I have a good excuse. Well an exciting excuse for me at least. I am helping my friend write a sewing book and I spend every spare minute working on it. We came from UT a week ago. Wow, has a week gone by already? We had SUCH a fun time visiting family and friends. More on that soon. But first here's a little recap on Max's birthday...

My biggest boy turned 11! I got to take him to Man of Steel to celebrate while the rest of the family finished the birthday preparations

This boy was so sweet to everyone all day.  

 

His favorite Cruncher salad for dinner, yet again.

And for dessert. A LARGE cone from Del's.

flashlights!

He almost ate the whole thing. By the end he was giving everyone bites because he was too full.

The next day we had a little Party for him.  A Backyard adventure party where a bunch of boys came over and did Dangerous boy stuff.

Doug was the genius behind it all as usual.  I admit I had my doubts about how it would all go down. But it was awesome. He had them carry all of their supplies to the backyard from his truck.

Mer faithfully filled waterballoons and got drenched.

They sharpened sticks with pocket knives

Each took a turn starting a fire with flint and steel.

Max's friend taught us all how to drink soda through a pin hole. It was pretty much one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

They cooked their own dinner and roasted marshmallows.

Then out came the weapons. :) Sling shots and Airsoft guns shot at targets. (unfortunately the guns didn't work so well).

I was a little nervous about the danger level of this party.  Doug was very good about teaching them all about safety throughout the night and don't worry, we let the parent's know what we were doing ahead of time. Thankfully there were no injuries to report.

I whipped up a little Chocolate Camouflage cake for the night.

One of his friends gave him an origami Yoda that took him 40 minutes to fold.  An amazing gift for an origami fanatic.

And the night ended in a water balloon fight. 

These boys loved it all! None of them wanted to leave. So fun!

Right now Max loves Lego, Origami, Airplanes, interesting trivia, scoping out his next purchase on Amazon and reading all the reviews, jumping on the trampoline,  and plotting how he's going to earn enough money for a top of the line iPod 5th Generation & a collection of cases to go with it. I'm grateful for this sweet boy in our family. He sure keeps things lively over here.  

Happy Birthday Max!

Trip to Georgia

Hi there!  We came home from Georgia on Monday night and spent the day yesterday getting Mer's stitches out and restocking our bare cupboards.  We had such a fun, relaxing time in GA, playing with cousins, going to the movies, swimming, playing with Ya Ya and Pa, eating Puppydog Pancakes, and walking Stella. Doug and I got to go out a few times without the kids. Thank you!!
  Here are a few moments I was able to capture on film.

We had a ton of fun hanging out with Mike's family at his new house.

Mer told me again that she need a little sister at home to play with. Sorry Mer.

Awesome steak grilling bros!

Front yard fun!

Fireworks in the front on the Fourth!

Trying out some sparkler writing.  Can you tell what Jack was drawing here?

A heart! 

Mer's attempt at her name.

Grandpa is the master of the Puppydog!

On a walk with Ya Ya!

Dear Wavey and No No, it was so fun to play with you!

Thank you Sher for being brave enough to let everyone to paint at your house!

Hug's goodbye! We wish we lived closer.

Thanks Ya Ya and Pa for showing us a wonderful time!