Poor Blog

The poor blog has been neglected lately. Days go by and life happens. I load and unload the dishwasher, make lunches, make dinner, do endless loads of laundry, drive to school, sit at pick-up, chase dogs and pick up after little boys. That is my life and I love it.  I will try to do better, but I don't promise. Here are my 2 favorite pictures recently.

Yes, Ryan is holding a flaming torch. We had a little campfire and roasted marshmallows with our cousins Friday night. It turned into Ryan setting things a-flame.

Last week Will received the Gold Medal award at his school. I think it's kind of like Citizen of the Month or something like that. I think you can only get one medal per year. Pretty big deal. We were all so proud of him!

September

Well, it's finally September. I feel like August was the longest month of my life. Maybe it was the heat. This is just a quick recap of what all we've been doing.

Will started Cub Scouts and it has been lots of fun so far. The trip all 4 of us made to the Scout Store was hilarious and I am still battling with all those patches to get them to stay on Will's scout shirt. Our pack already has a camping trip planned for this weekend.

Ryan started soccer and loves it. He does great at practice listening and following directions. His first game is this Saturday.

We had a nice Labor Day weekend. We got to visit with lots of family and the boys spent a couple nights with my parents while JW and I enjoyed some time alone. We ate lunch alone after church and it felt very weird. We just sat there for a few minutes, like, okay what do we do now? But, we quickly acclimated ourselves. We enjoyed a night out Sunday night and attended a party at one of JW's former co-workers.

And, that's about it.  I hope all of you out there in Blogworld are doing well and enjoying your September.

Will in his Cub Scout uniform

First Den Meeting

Ryan at his first soccer practice

Start of School

Will on his first day of 1st grade

Apparently, the start of school hasn't been hard on anyone but me. Will walked right back in there like he never missed a beat and declared it "fantastic." Ryan, the one I was worried about, had a great time much to my amazement. Today he told me that they dug holes in the dirt on the playground and that his hole was the biggest. Great. I'm so proud.

I have walked around in a daze drinking Diet Dr. Pepper, eating dark chocolate M&Ms, and wondering where the years have gone. (slight exaggeration, but not much.) Just yesterday my parents were helping me move into Elam dorm on the Lipscomb campus. I was a college freshman concerned only with pledging the right social club, who was playing at 328 that weekend, and avoiding math.

I turn 35 next month. I think I see this as an end to my "baby years." My boys are getting bigger, more independant, and happily going to school. I am, admittedly, having a hard time. I am convinced that getting a puppy will help me through these trying times. John Will is not in agreement yet. A puppy will be much easier than a baby. Can I get an "Amen?"

Raspberry Pistachio Tart

Raspberry Pistachio Tart

I made this tart on Saturday. Except it looked nothing like this picture (find recipe here.) I didn't have the appropriate tart pan to start with, and the crust fell all to pieces after baking it. But, boy, did it taste good! I ended up just eating it out of the dish with a spoon. (The boys didn't care for it and I couldn't let it just sit there....) Hurry and make it while you can still find fresh raspberries.

End of Summer

Dear Boys,

School starts next week. I have mixed emotions about this. In one way, I am glad because it means Fall is on it's way. But, mostly, I'm sad.

It has been a wonderful summer with you two. Despite the brutal heat and occasional fighting, we have had a great time.  We have been plenty busy, but we've also had many days with no agenda.

We have gone swimming, we have ridden bikes, and we have spent countless afternoons in our backyard with friends. We have played with grandparents, cousins, and neighborhood friends. We have had birthday parties, water slide parties, and snowcone parties. We have gone to the beach, we have gone to visit family, and we have visited the Statue of Liberty. We have explored art museums, watched fireworks from downtown Nashville, and gone canoeing.   And yes, we have sat inside and watched too much Phineas and Ferb and played too much Super Mario Galaxy 2.

I do not look forward to rushed mornings filled with making lunches and begging you to eat breakfast. I do not look forward to knowing this is my last year until you will both be gone everyday. Just typing those words makes my heart skip a beat and my eyes fill with tears. I guess I will always have summers to look forward to with you two, my favorite little human beings. You constantly amaze me and keep me laughing. You are truly my reason for getting up every morning.
Thank you, boys, for a great summer.
Mommy

The Big Apple

The Saturday morning following Will's party, we loaded the boys into the car around 8:30 and didn't tell them where were going. We drove to the airport and handed Will a map of Manhattan. It was great! John Will surprised us with this trip, but he kind of had to tell me so I could pack our bags.  JW's birthday was the 20th, so it was his birthday gift too. We all really had fun. I took over 100 pictures, but I am just posting a few here. It was a trip I know the boys will always remember. The best moments were when we were all 4 sitting on the subway and JW would look over at me and say "can you believe we brought them to New York City?"

Will with his map at the airport

No joke, this was the name of the restaurant at our hotel. The boys loved it!

Will with a street corner Lady Liberty

The wall of Legos at the new Lego store in Rockefeller Plaza. It was amazing. We also went to FAO Schwartz, but I personally liked the Lego store better.

Wall St. subway stop.

Ryan in Battery Park

Boys on the ferry boat to Liberty Island

Waiting to eat dinner at Carmine's

This may be my favorite picture of the whole trip. Will riding the subway and studying the map. By the end of the trip, he understood the NYC subway system. I was blown away because they confused this Southern girl!

Will at the American Museum of Natural History, Dinosaur Hall. This really was amazing. It exceeded all our expectations. A must see with kids in NYC.

Lady Liberty. We joked that they must have wanted to re-create the Ellis Island experience, because we had to stand in line FOREVER, then we were herded like cattle and packed on the ferry. All in all, I'm glad we saw her, but it made for a long, hot day.

The view from our 23rd floor hotel room. We were right in the middle of Times Sqaure. We were staring right into the 4-story M&M store- such a fun, happy place!

While we were there, we also explored Central Park and found a really cool playground. We got on the wrong subway one time and ended up in Grand Central Station, we wandered around Columbus Circle, and we ate some really good New York pizza in Times Square.  It was a great trip!

Will's Birthday Party

Will turned 7!! He wanted another backyard/water slide birthday party. Okay, easy enough....so we invited some friends over for a late Friday afternoon party. I think everyone had a great time and the rain held off just long enough for us to finish up our cake.

Will and friends at the water slide

Will on the water slide. This year we decided if we were going to rent a water slide every July, we might as well buy one. We found this on on "rollback" at Wal-Mart.com

Ryan and his snowcone

Will and friends

My attempt at decorating a plain Publix cake to look like a lego cake! Clearly, it isn't winning any awards.

Will loved the cake, so that's all that matters!

 

We had these fruit kabobs, grilled hot dogs, mini hamburgers "sliders," chips, snowcones, cake and ice cream.