Stories from my phone-rest of August recap

It is quite the luxury to be able to sit down at my computer and update this poor blog.  And, it's a beautiful day-I have the windows open!  Kinley is chilling in her chair, watching a show and the beasties are all enjoying an afternoon snooze.  And, before I get up and start checking more things off my to-do list, I will tell you what we've been doing recently.

First-karate promotions for all the boys.  We got back into karate after spring soccer and the boys have been working hard these past couple months.  Promotions were mid-August and all the boys did well.  Marcus was nervous that he wouldn't promote, but he did do a great job!  Of course, fall soccer will keep us out of karate until October.  So goes life,

Marcus receiving green belt.

Cale gets his green belt.

Ewan earned his blue belt.

Liam got his orange belt.  He was sooo excited. Since he started so little, he has taken longer to earn each belt.  I say an orange belt at 7 is pretty good.

Some proud boys there.

Kinley gets a lot of alone time with her best friend-Mommy.  This was a day we biked to the coffee shop and had a cinnamon roll.  That was the first day the temps weren't kill-me hot and before the monsoon season started here.  We haven't been out much on our bike.

A random-"what is this plant" picture.  This thing stands to my thigh and was from a mother's day gift from preschool.  I transplanted the whole pot of little wildflowers and this dude has really enjoyed the horrible soil in my flower bed.  Its stem is like a trunk.

Because I like being super-busy and because I knew they would love it-I signed the girls up for dance lessons at a place 10 minutes from our house.  Here is Kinley on her first day.  She loves her teacher and loves to go to class.  Kella does, too.  I just don't have a pic of her in her dance outfit yet.

Some of Kella's writing.  The two girls in the picture are Kella and her cousin Cassie.  Apparently they are party girls.

Here's Ponyo.  It was national dog day.

A typical Saturday at our house comes complete with 4 soccer games at 2 different fields.  Let's see-Ewan plays U10 on the Ravens, Cale U12 Zardes, Liam U8 Sounders and Marcus U14 Sunderland.

And, on Saturday, between 4 games, Andy had time to go to the store and find a dog to adopt.  Because we weren't busy enough already.  His name is Jasper-a 9 month old Viszla mix who was not well loved at his previous house.  Ponyo has allowed him to stay and be the second dog.

A picture Kella drew of me and her.  I love it!  This little girl is a very, very good artist for being 5 years old.  I think Kella drew this as a thank you for finding a dance leotard to wear to class until the backordered one comes in.  And, I got her some nightgowns.  She was in heaven.  (and, I found these things at the consignment store=jackpot)

I think Jasper likes it here.

And, now you are caught up.

Ewan writes about himself

Ewan's class is working on paragraphs about themselves to display in the hallway outside their classroom.  Here is Ewan's work-in-progress (complete with Ewan spelling)..

"A star named Ewan was born on September 6th.  Ewan has 3 brothers, 2 sisters and a mom and dad.  Ewan went to hollyday world (a star moment so far in life).  Ewan is good at soocer, climbing, running.  Ewan will be a pro soocer."  

The whole reason we took a vacation this summer.

Finally!  Time to upload some photos of part 2 of our vacation time.  We left Gulf Shores, thankful for air conditioning and ready for some comfy bed to sleep in and family time.  10 hours later, we made it to northern Georgia for some time with my family and Joe and Ethel's wedding. 

Jim and Courtney

Ethel and Joe

Kella with her girl cousins Abbie and Maddie

Andy taught the guys a game.

Marcus oversaw some chess playing.

Bitsy, her kids, me and the girls and Aunt Roseann took a side trip to Babyland General-home of the Cabbage Patch Kid.  We even brought the dolls we had with us.

photo op.

Mother Cabbage.  They even "delivered" a new Cabbage Patch kid while we were there.  You can 

Rehearsal dinner fun and picture attempt.

Hold the phones!  A picture of the whole family!

And, the next day....more pictures.  This time of the Spielman sibs, Mom and Kinley.

The groom and some of his groomsmen.

All the cousins but Everett, who had to go be the ring-bearer.  The picture is so cute, I made it extra-big.

The wedding.

Ushers working hard.

"Choose a seat, not a side.  Your're loved by both the Groom and Bride!"

And, so it begins.

The men.

The bride.

The wedding.

It's like a prom pic-only we're old.

What would a family event be if we didn't try to get a picture of all the cousins and Grammy Pammy?  Why does Kinley always have to cry during these pictures?  

The end.

Let's hear from Marcus!

It's that tradition into it's second year where-by I ask my kids questions on their birthday or just have them fill out the question form.  Then, I find time to get on the computer and type them out for the blog and posterity.  This time, it is Marcus who I am slightly behind on.  Let's see what he has to say as a 13 year old.

What is your favorite.....

color....purple

toy....Ponyo (our dog)

thing to eat for breakfast....cereal

thing to eat for lunch....sandwiches

restaurant....Olive Garden

animal....Ponyo

book....Ender's Game/Unbroken

game....soccer

TV show....Psych

movie....Ender's Game

thing to do outside....play soccer

Everything else was left blank.  So, there we go.

Here's last year's if you had a mind to compare answers.

And, the year before that, because apparently this is the third year of questions. 

School's back!

Yesterday, marked the first day of school for 5 (yes, 5!) of the kiddos.  Everyone was ready.  Most of the school supplies were purchased.  Things seemed to go smoothly, including going to bed and waking up earlier than our summer normal.

A little back to school shopping with Kella to provide her with more everyday clothes to wear and less princess dresses.  At least for the classroom.  The girl also scored 2 more pairs of shoes.  

Meet the teacher night on Monday.  Ewan-4th grade-Mrs. Cherry.

Liam-2nd grade-Mr. Clary.  (Ewan had Mr. Clary in 2nd grade, too, and must have said lots of great things about him, because Liam acted like he won the lottery when he found out that Mr. Clary will be his teacher.)

Kella-kindergarten-Mrs. Goff (Cale and Liam both had Mrs. Goff and she is excited to have another Shaffer in here class.)

And, they're off!  Tuesday morning, bright and early, my 6th and 8th grader board the bus.

Followed an hour later by the elementary/primary crew.

And, then there was one.  This is not how we spent our entire day, rest assured.  But, Kinley was quite happy to have television viewing to herself. 

What does one do with one child at home, you ask?  Well, yesterday, I spent over an hour cleaning up the kitchen.  I also did lots of laundry and Kinley and I went to the store and finished the school supply shopping.  More cleaning in the afternoon rounding out my day.  I think my goal is to slowly reclaim my house from summer vacation.  It will be a slow process.

And, how did the school kids do?  Everyone came home saying they had a great first day.  First day of classes went well.  Marcus did not like that every class went over rules the first day.  Kella said that no one played with her at recess, so she played by herself.  I suggested she find someone else playing alone and ask if they want to play with her.  She seemed happy with that and not really sad anyway.

All the school kids were excited to go back to school today.  So, I call day one a win.

It's beginning to look a lot like school is starting soon!

Among other things going on here, these two boys got to go to the middle school yesterday and get their locker and class assignments.  We will now have an 8th and 6th grader in the house.  They seemed satisfied with their schedules.  Marcus got place in honors algebra (*sigh, every year is a struggle to make sure he does his homework and studies for the class.  But, I know he is proud to be in the class) and is also taking Honors Band.  You have to audition into that band, a combo of 7th and 8th graders and smaller in size(also, something to be proud to get into). Cale got placed in Honors math, honors English and honors  language arts.  All things I expected since he has been in the "high ability" classes most of his school career.  These boys will have to be up and ready to go by 7 am every day.  One of the things we did this summer was separate the boys into 2 room, so that those who have to wake up early (Marcus and Cale) hopefully won't wake the ones who get to sleep in still (Ewan and Liam).  We are on the final countdown to the start of the school year!

Marcus-8th grader

Cale-6th grader

Naval Aviation Museum

As a side trip for our camping vacation, we took a trip to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.  This trip added to our list of states we have been to as a family-making the number 8 (soon to be 9 with Georgia).  We went the second day we were at the Gulf.  The weather was overcast and drizzly and not good for much outdoor stuff.  I searched for activities to do with kids and found this free museum less than an hour from Gulf State Park.

First, the boys thought it was cool that we were on an actual military instillation. 

Second, there are tons of aircraft to see.  Several hangers worth.  Lots of history here that I would have liked to have read more about.  But, I had my small folk to pay attention to and pictures to take.

Hugging a missile.

These flags were are the surrender of Japan to the United States during WWII.  When I asked Marcus to stand there and get his picture taken, he put his hand over his heart.  Next thing I knew, here come the other 2 boys for the photo shoot.  America.

There was cool mini aircraft carrier for little kids to play on.  The girls had fun while the boys went to the gift shop.

Kinley happy.  Not that she was the entire time we were here.  Oh no.  She definitely let her Kinley-side show while we were here.  But, I chose to focus on times when she was not screaming. :-) Memories.

So many cockpits for kids to climb in and out of.  2 floors worth of cool.

This is the president's helicopter.  And, Kella's new friend.

My new friend, too.

Moon stuff!

What a cool side trip!  I love doing unplanned fun things with the family.  One of my favorite things is just taking the kids to see different places.  It's all about the memories.