September 9 - Timeline of Black Eyes

7:45 am:

11:45 am:

3:00 pm:

4:00 pm:

September 7 - Three Kids

Cute Hazey.  He still likes to have his morning snuggles in bed with just he & Momma.  He likes to be awake WAY before he has to go to school at 9:15.  He's usually upstairs and moving by 7:15.  I just think his little silhouette is the cutest ever.

Haze is doing pretty good in Kindergarten.  Except he doesn't like that he doesn't know how to do things on the first try.  He's come home with tear streaks a couple times because he didn't know how to do something (read, work his computer, etc.).  He just wants to be the best at everything!  He's a good boy and I know he'll just keep getting braver & braver.

 

Me & Nora are sure enjoying our time together in the mornings.  Today we chose to build a giraffe with the blocks!  And then it was Nora's idea to build a "Nora giraffe."  That way, we had "a Mommy giraffe and a Nora giraffe."  And then we built a camera to take pictures of the giraffes.  And then her little imagination totally opened up and she built a swimming pool and a table and a bed and a blankie.  She's so tiny and so huge at the same time.

Well, poor Andlie.  Today I noticed that her eye was a bit swollen before school, but I thought it was just allergies.  When I picked her up from school.....WOAH!  Double black eyes!  I think they came because of her fall on Monday night.  I'm pretty sure that her glasses got smashed in to her nose and the eye pieces smashed in to her little eyes when she fell down.  Poor thing burst in to tears as soon as she saw herself!  

We called Daddy and he came home in case we needed to go to the doc.  But then I called the doc and spoke with a nurse and she told me that face bruising (especially around the nose and eyes) will show up later and it will get worse and last for up to a couple weeks.  I was glad to hear that they weren't concerned about her head bonk since her vision is fine, she doesn't have a headache, and she hasn't thrown up.  But her poor eyes look so bad.  And I'm sure they'll get worse by tomorrow.  She's one tough Bug.

September 6 - Star of the Week

Cute Andlie is STAR OF THE WEEK this week at school!  She was so excited to take her poster this morning!  She LOVES that it is two/three different colors!  I'm excited to hear how much everyone else loves it too!

Me & Nora have sure been having fun hanging out alone.  Today I really tried to stop doing other things and just focus on her.  I can't believe she's gonna be a big sister soon!  Today we rode bikes to the mail, swung in the swing, and read many books!  Nora has been talking really well since she was just over one.  It's been fun to just visit with her and be with her.

Cute Haze has been working on his bead butterfly for a few days now and he finished today!  He was so proud!  Looks good, Bud!  (This kid is really good at patterns and math.....)

1:00.  Haze said his shirt was "making him sweaty" so he took it off.  And then ate his chicken nuggets as he wandered around the house.  And immediately, Nora's dress was "making her sweaty."  And then she continued to work on her "BIG, HUGE tower!"

Went outside & played with "Nora's boy" as she calls him.  (Roman Miller.)

Andlie's teacher does home visits for each of her students at the first of the year to get to know the students better.  Andlie was thrilled that her teacher visit landed on the first day of her Star of the Week week!  She cleaned & prepared from the time she got home from school until Mrs. Hoffman arrived (3 hours later).  She made sure to label our cul-de-sac (or "cody sack) and our house so her teacher didn't get lost.  While she was here, she showed her her room, her toys, her other Star of the Week posters, and then took her outside and showed her how she could roller blade, Skip It, and climb the tree!  She loved having her teacher at our house!

September 5 - Labor Day

Labor Day!  Yahooo!!!  Daddy got the day off too, but he woke up at 6:30 to play tennis.  Soooooo, all three tiny ones ended up snuggling in bed with me by 7:45 this morning.  What a wonderful blessing.

After we did some chores, we went and got pizza and then had a picnic at the park!  The kids all had a blast, but the big ones didn't hold still long enough for a pic!

Next, Andlie got to go on a date with Mom for her Special Day!  We sort of took a break from Special Days during the Summer since we traveled a lot, but we're excited to start them back up!  For Andlie's Special Day today, she chose to go get ice cream with Mommy!  We had lots of fun drawing on the chalkboard and giggling (A LOT) and switching each other's ice creams when we weren't looking.  And not cooperating for pictures (again) and then giggling some more.  It was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon!

We found a Praying Mantis in our driveway this evening!  The kids had fun checking on it and watching it's progress as it SLOWLY made it's way across the road.

Sadly, during one of the checks, Andlie & Haze were racing to come back inside and Andlie tripped and landed on her head on our porch.  She bent her toe nail back, skinned her elbow, scraped her leg, and even got a chunk of hair scraped out by the door mat.  But most importantly, she hurt her head and it was the most tender owie.  Hazey & Nora were pretty scared/sad for her.  Haze brought her a drink.  Nora brought her her blankie.  And after some ice, medicine, and a snuggle, she seemed to be doing okay.  Poor thing.

September 4 - Nursery Walk & Funny Andlie

Today at Nursery, the leader wanted to take the kids on a walk and asked if I knew where a rope was.  Well I didn't, but I sure knew where to get an extension cord!  So get it I did and we went on a walk!  Cute little Nursery friends had so much fun looking for pictures of Jesus and being quiet.

At one point, the leader whispered, "Wow, you guys are all being so quiet and doing such a great job."  To which Nora replied, "MOM!!!  I AM DOING A GREAT JOB!!!"

Side note: I still go to Nursery with Nora every week because if I don't, there is a giant meltdown with tears and screaming and crying and snot.

L to R: Sister Stevens, Millie B, Shephard S, Jack C, Nora, Rebecca H, Maya N, Miles R, Corbin R, Grey F

Me & Andlie spent some time outside by ourselves this afternoon.  I just watched her rollerblade up & down the street.  She's suddenly gotten bigger and more mature.  She's slowly turning in to one of my friends that I can have a conversation with.  I'm so blessed to be her Mom and have her in my life.

I told her I wanted to take a pic of her looking so big and pretty.  She agreed, but then every time I would say count to three, she'd do something ridiculous and laugh hysterically.  I just don't know where she gets it.....

September 3 - Garden Veggies & Baby Prep

This morning, we woke up & got ready and then went to "the Donut Store" (AKA Krispy Kreme) with Mindy!  Then we waved good-bye to her.  We had a great time with her at our house and were sad to see her go.  BUT, I was thankful that she left some fresh veggies from Dude's garden!

 

This afternoon, we also took time to get ready for baby brother!  We got out all of our old baby boy clothes, blankies, burp rags from when Hazey was little and then we pulled the baby bed upstairs and filled his dressers!  Then we made a trip to Wally to get all of the "little things" like lotion and wipes and diapers and jammies.  We're getting excited over here!

September 2 - Cascade Cougars

Today was Haze's first Friday as a Cascade Cougar!  He was so excited to wear his shirt!

Mindy arrived at our house last night!  And today she SPOILED us!  It was fun for her to be able to do school drop off and pick up and we even went to lunch with Andlie for a little while!

She also took us (minus Andlie & Daddy) to lunch at Chick-Fil-A, bought each of the kids a toy at Target, brought some corn & tomatoes from Granny's/Dude's garden, let me take a nap, went to Andlie's soccer practice, bought some treats for the kids, and tended while me & Bryan went on a date!  Spoiled.  We had a great time with her today!

 

Date Night at Roll Up Cafe!

September 1 - Teeth Suckers

Me & Nora bought some ring pop suckers today, but they were no ordinary suckers.  They were Halloween teeth suckers!

Andlie is Star of the Week next week in school.  Today we finished making her poster and she is in love!  She thinks it's the "best poster we've ever made."  I'm so happy she loves it!

Tonight was Back to School Night.  I got a glimpse of Andlie's schoolwork while I was in her classroom.  I love how each apple is colored like a rainbow.  And how she was excited for the first day of school.  I just love her so so much!