The changes that 1st Grade brings....

With the beginning of First Grade, I have found my schedule changing. It's not bad, it's not good - it's just different.

No more sleeping in until the kids wake themselves up.
I wake up before they do now.

No more hanging around the house until after lunch, and then taking naps.
We are all up and out of the house before 8:00 a.m. every day.

Ryanna gets on the bus bright and early (7:50 a.m.) and the boys walk to the bus stop with me. Then they are ready to get their fun day started!

Each and every morning is full of hustle and bustle:
Before Ryanna leaves on her bus, I have to make sure she is dressed, fed, hair & teeth brushed. I have to make sure she has a lunch and snack to eat at school, and that her daddy has the same for work. My boys also want breakfast somewhere in there...and they need me to help them get dressed as well.

We walk out and take the stroller or wagon down the road and bid farewell to our big first grader as she boards the big yellow bus.



The boys and I have played outside, and taken many walks. Now the weather is beginning to change it's tune toward autumn. As that happens, we have many new activities starting up.

MOPS starts on Tuesday, then Bible Study starts on Thursday.

In a couple of weeks Library Story Time begins for the boys.

We are going to be so very busy.

Oh how I now understand the longing for summer vacation to begin..and the term "lazy summer days" takes on a whole new meaning.

Sowing the Seeds of Love

On the way home from dinner, Connor (age 3) had a cup full of M&M's as his "Messert".

From the back seat of the mini van Connor started by saying, "Mom, M&M's don't have seeds!"

Wondering where he was going with this line of thought, I agreed with him, that M&M's indeed, have no seeds.

Connor continued, "Mom, we should go to the store, and buy M&M seeds, so we can plant them in our back yard. When they grow, we can make our own baskets, to go pick them up, and eat them. And then, we can buy Doodle Berry seeds, plant those, and grow a Doodle Berry Tree."

Wow! The creativity of a 3-year-old brain! All this came from planting a raspberry bush on the side of our house this spring, and watching "Wow Wow Wubbzy" on television. This particular episode of a television show has sure inspired him to love "Doodle Berries" - as he dubs the Captain Crunch "Ooops All Berries" version! He wants to plant them, like Wubbzy did in the show. I wish it worked that way!

I need to sow more ideas in his cute little head for creative things he can actually grow. We will be planting some little strawberry plants tomorrow. I love this kid, and need to show him more!

Fall is upon us...summer is disappearing...

I don't know to where the summer has disappeared, but I miss it already!

We have had so many fun family memories this summer, that I know I have not had time to blog about them.

We traveled to Michigan's Adventure amusement park, using the season passes from Grandpa and Grandma Campbell. The kids love the water park, and even the roller coasters!! Ryanna and Connor truly loved all of the kid-sized roller coasters, while Avery is still too short to ride them. He enjoyed the smaller toddler-size rides.

We also had many picnics, and visited the shore of Lake Michigan quite a few times for picnics and swimming. Connor surprised us by adventuring into the water up to his neck during our last visit.

I am going to miss the nice warm weather, and the free time we have spent taking little road trips, and spending family time together.