The First Week

Well, our first real week of Kindergarten is over now. He had a great week! He really enjoys school and is learning so much, so fast. He couldn't write his name when this week started (he does have a really long name) and today he wrote his entire name legibly! I am so amazed at it all! Every day he comes home with different stories and telling us all about what he did each day. He really enjoys it. This morning, he did give me a little resistance about going to school, but once we opened the door to get out of the car in the car rider line, he got right out and went in happily. But, he is proud to be learning how to write his letters. In fact, tonight, we were at Target and there was a Spiderman book to practice writing letters and Sebastian CHOSE to get that book over a toy! When we got home, he went immediately to writing in his new book and took it upstairs with him to bed! Sebastian is my child who never really wants to do anything like that. He's very smart, but, up till now, if you asked him if he wanted to learn to write or anything like that, he would say no. But, he is really enjoying it and I am so thankful to God that this has been such a smooth transition into school.

I rarely talk about anything close to being opinionated, but I have to say that I am so thrilled at McCain's VP choice!! A pro-life, homeschooling, mother of five!! And she has lived her pro-life stance. She brings an excitement to the ticket that wasn't there before and I am so excited about it. What a historic election! This is going to be an exciting two months!

A few pictures

Okay, please bear in mind that we had been outside playing soccer and stuff for an hour or so when these pictures were taken. But, I still think they're good pictures! Thanks, Mrs. Bonnie for the pictures!

Annabelle

Annabelle and Jude in the back of Daddy's truck

Adam, Zoe and Me

My whole family

Sweet Sebastian

Our weekend

We had a pretty good weekend. Not really a lot going on, but it was nice. My Mom and Bonnie came over for dinner on Saturday night and then we saw them again on Sunday at church. So we got to see a good bit of her and pictures of her two grandsons. It was a good visit.

I am still learning about contentment and depending on God for everything. And being thankful for everything. God is definitely right now providing my family with everything we need, and nothing we don't. It's kind of hard to go into right now since I'm not sure who (if anybody) reads this, but we are learning about what we need and what we want. Definitely not an easy lesson at all, but we are learning. Maybe one day I'll be able to share it openly.

But, for today, I'm just going to be grateful for the food I have, the house I have, the drive-able cars we have (and own) and my kids. I'm grateful for the fact that Sebastian is loving school and so is Zoe. I'm grateful for the one-on-one time I am getting with Jude, like today when we cuddled on the couch and played his Nintendo DS game. And I am grateful that Annabelle is completely content to play Barbies or babies in our playroom that is really a dining room with no furniture in it. I'll just rest in the fact that God is continuing to meet our needs and not giving us anything that we don't need.

One more thing out of my comfort zone...

Okay, so I am admitting to being an "un-fun" mom again here, but I generally do not participate in any "construction" that goes on at our house. I don't forbid castle/fort/tunnel building in my living room at all, I just usually don't participate. The couch cushions, blankets, pillows, etc. all over the place just tends to frustrate me more than anything. But, today, the three little ones (Zoe was at school) were trying to build a tunnel between our couch and coffee table and, for what ever reason, couldn't get it to stay up. So, I went in there and built them a very complex tunnel that they had to actually maneuver through. They had so much fun in it. For a few minutes, all three of them were playing, going around the coffee table and through the tunnel over and over again. Sadly, I was so busy playing that I didn't grab the camera, so I have only mental pictures of it. I know that may sound like such a little thing, but it's not something that I do everyday.

After that, we headed to the airport to meet my mom's dear friend, Bonnie. How to explain how I know this precious woman? She and my Mom met while I was in the fourth grade in Mississippi and they worked at the same school. She has a daughter my age and a son that is my brother's age. Our families just clicked and the following summer, we moved to Memphis, TN when they moved to outside of Columbus, OH. Every summer after that (that was 1985) until 1995, we met for a week at a state park in Kentucky and just had a blast. From 1996 until now, my Mom and Bonnie take turns going to each other's house. So, last summer, my Mom went to OH and so now Bonnie is here. We always look forward to her visits and they are so much fun! Now her daughter is in California and her son is in Ohio with his wife and two sons, so our families don't get together anymore. But, we are so excited about her visit!

The great thing about this weekend is that I don't have to work. So, we're not sure what we're going to do yet, but it will be fun.

To Christine, have a great trip!

Sebastian's Second Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was Sebastian's second day at Kindergarten. He did great and was very happy to go back. When he got home, he came running off the bus and came in the door with his backpack. He then said, "Oh, I have stuff to give you." He gave me all of the papers from his backpack! I was so proud he remembered to give me his stuff, even after the bus ride home.
So, while the two older ones were at school, the two younger ones and I got to spend the day together. First, we went to my Mom's house and finished painting her bedroom for her. Zoe and I had helped her on Saturday night and so I went over and finished it for her. It looks so good!
Jude and Annabelle were so good while we were there, but, of course, they were dying to paint something. So, when we got home, I let them finger paint. Okay, here's a little bit of total honesty. I never let the kids paint. We color a lot with crayons, markers and color pencils, but no painting. I just hate the mess. So, I was totally out of my comfort zone. But, they loved it. We even learned about mixing the colors to make more colors...red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green and red and blue make purple. They had so much fun!!
So, I felt like a good daughter and a good mother....

Annabelle's Creation (Mommy did the suns)

Jude's Creation

Fun at Coolidge Park

Annabelle playing in the water

Sebastian

Jude

Today seemed like a good day to take the kiddos to Coolidge Park. So, we packed a lunch and headed downtown. The weather was perfect and since school has just started, there was no one there except us and one other family! The kids had a blast and, finally, after all summer, Annabelle played in the water! She typically doesn't like any water to touch her face, so the spraying water fountains at Coolidge Park aren't her favorite thing. But, today, she had so much fun actually got wet. We all had fun.

My Sweet Zoe

I thought I would write about Zoe. (actually, her name is supposed to have two dots over the "e", but I can't figure it out on here) How do I describe Zoe? She is a petite fourth grader with freckles across her nose and cheeks. She is a perfect mix of me and Adam. She has my sensitivity and Adam's negotiation skills. Every answer that we give her is the starting point for discussion. Well, to her, anyway. Fortunately for us, she is only that way to her parents, not to other authority figures. She loves school and always performs well. She has lots of friends. Her official stance on boys is still that she doesn't like them, but she is now noticing ones who are cute or funny. It's so strange to think about her liking boys, but I know that day is most definitely coming.

She is still very spiritual and very deep and is very aware of God and His love for her. She is one of the most helpful children I have ever met. She loves being a big sister and helps me in so many ways. She is the one who buckles the boys in the van so I don't have to climb in the backseat. So very helpful! She loves to cook and all things that go with cooking - chopping, cleaning, all of it. She says she wants to go to culinary school someday. I would love that! What a neat skill to have!

Zoe is also very musical. She loves to sing and to do drama. She has a very good voice with excellent breath control and a hint of vibrato. She can develop into a really good singer when she matures some. She is not afraid at all, either! She has stage presence. I can't wait to see what is in her future. She is destined for great things, without a doubt. And, it could be anything, really...from a doctor to a stay at home mom or anything in between. She amazes me!

Ahhhh...Friday

So, I had nothing planned for today. I thought I might take the kids to a playground or something. I even called my friend to see if they wanted to join us. Well, since her family was in the middle of passing around a stomach bug (no thanks!) I decided we would just do something ourselves. Well, Sebastian has meloscum spots around his eye and one of them appeared to be infected. So I called the doctor to see if the antibiotic cream I already have at my house would be okay to put on it. No, the doctor said they really needed to see him. Oh, and my pediatrician is on vacation and the other doctor that I like leaves at 11:30. So, could I be there by 10:40? Um, yeah, sure, I replied, having no idea what time it was. I got off the phone to see that it was 10:15! And none of us were dressed! So, I quickly dressed both boys and Annabelle and headed out the door. Called Adam to tell him where we were going and off we went. We signed in at the doctor at 10:35. Amazing!
A little background now. The last time we were at the doctor for Sebastian was the pre-kindergarten physical, complete with four shots, a finger prick and peeing in a cup for the first time. A traumatic experience. Well, when the doctor came in, he had a complete meltdown! I was trying to hold him still just long enough for her to see his eye. Bless her heart! She finally looks at it and then tells me to give him the cream I have at home and a prescription for more, if I need it. Yes, I had to spend $35 for her to tell me exactly what I had asked on the phone.
Anyway, after the traumatic experience at the doctor, I took the three kids to McDonald's and let them play in the play area. I NEVER DO THIS! My kids were saying in amazement, "We're going in? We get to stay?" That's not to say we never eat out, we just usually pick it up and take it home. So they had so much fun.
Now I need a nap to recover from the screaming and kicking five year old I was wrestling.

Annabelle-isms

Annabelle, the almost three year old, is such a funny kid. She has no idea that she isn't as big as everyone else in the house and she can come up some funny things. I just thought I would record some of them...

"May Out" - this means Mom's Day Out

"Miss Queen" - this is my friend, Christine (who asked me not to ever correct Annabelle!)

"Bastian" - this is of course, Sebastian

"Pink Juice" - this is a water/Splenda mixture (all fruit juice upsets her stomach) in her pink sippy cup

"Batman cereal" - this is Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which at one point had a Batman advertisement on it

"Wiwwie" - this is her best friend, Lily

"I died" - this is heard numerous times while she is playing the DS. It's funny because she is not frustrated at all, it's more just a factual statement.

"Don't cook it" - this is in reference to her waffle, which she likes to eat straight out of the freezer! Yuck!

She also is constantly singing and talking. She can sing every word (clearly) to the beginning and the end of Backyardigans. She sings every word to Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children, Deep and Wide, You Are My Sunshine, several of the High School Musical 2 songs and the Hannah Montana theme song. (Remember, she lives in a house with a nine year old too)

She has a million facial expressions (thank her Daddy for that) and she is extremely prissy. She plays babies and barbies for hours and loves to dress up and wear high heels. Any unoccupied pair of shoes is fair game and she will have them on in no time. She also really likes breakfast food! She is still a peanut, but most mornings usually consist of two waffles and at least two bowls of cereal. She would probably eat more, but I usually cut it off there and try to find something to distract her. She will eat waffles at any time of the day.

She still amazes me with how verbal she is and how much she likes to sing. She will pretend anything is a microphone and will stand in our computer room and perform and perform. It is so fun to watch her. And, she is a total mimic, which at times is very humbling because she mimics me and how I parent.

She is a true joy!

All About Sebastian

Sebastian is now gone to Kindergarten. He did great! I cried, but he didn't. His teacher came out and met them in the foyer of the school and took him back to his class. He was ready. I was going over some general instructions, you know, like stay with your teacher, listen to your teacher, here's your milk money, stuff like that. And he said, sort of in a frustrated tone, "I got it, Mom." And then when we got there, he said, "Okay. When are you leaving?" So I left my first born son at his first day of school. Real school. I know how fast time really flies once they are in school. So I know his little life is about to start zooming by. Next thing I know, he'll be going to fourth grade, just like his sister.

He will ride the bus home today. I wasn't going to let him, but he was most excited about the bus ride and Zoe will be with him. So, I will see him at 3:45 or so this afternoon. I know he will do just fine. It's just such a huge chapter in his life, so I thought I would take some time and just write a little about him.

Sebastian is a sensitive and artistic child. He is my child who always notices the colors of the sunset or how bright the stars are at night. We'll all be getting out of the car and he is one who stops and stares at the sky. Everyone else is too busy getting out of the car and getting all the stuff to take into the house. He is my child who, whenever he hears music playing, will always stop to listen or sing along or dance. He did this even as a baby. I can remember seeing him run into the living room from the kitchen when he heard a song on the television. He loves to pray anytime and is very thankful for everything. He sometimes even thanks God for things he didn't get to do that day. He is the child who runs around in circles and then stops just to get a hug. He will always share anything that he has. If I give the kids treats, he will always share his, even when they all get the same amount. He is tenderhearted and caring and very passionate. And by passionate, I mean he is either hot or cold. It takes a lot to make him mad, but once he is mad, he is mad all over. And, when he is happy, he is happy all over. He loves to draw and color and cut things out. He loves anything that has to do with drawing and art. So I cannot wait to see where this takes him. I can't wait to see what kind of adult he becomes.

Well, just a few more hours. I can't wait to see what kind of day he had!

Well, she's gone...

Zoe has left for her first day of fourth grade. She was very excited once it finally got here. She was a little sad last night, but this morning she was gabbing away and very excited. So it's all good. I think she was mainly sad about having to get up and going early and summer being over in general. But, truth be told, she gets bored here too. The first few weeks of summer were spent with me trying to convince her that we don't go somewhere fun everyday. Some days are just going to Wal-Mart or get the oil changed in the car and to the bank. I think she thought we were going to parks and museums and lots of fun stuff everyday. Um, well, we don't. Some days we stay here and clean and do laundry! So I think she will be very happy to get to go to school.
Tomorrow morning is when Sebastian goes for the first time. He is excited for him...I've got all his supplies ready to go and I just have to put them in his backpack. I am going to take him in the morning and he is going to ride the bus home. He has been so looking forward to riding the bus for the last year so I'm going to let him. Zoe will be with him, the school is less than a mile from our house and she drops them off in our driveway, so I think he will enjoy it.
I will write more tomorrow once I drop him off...

Sebastian's Birth

Sebastian's story probably needs to start the first week of April 2003, six weeks before he was born. I was working full time (at a sedentary job) and I started noticing a few contraction-like feelings. I called the midwife I was seeing at the time and asked to be seen. I went into the office and had to convince her to check me. She said I probably wasn't having contractions and that everything was probably fine. I told her that I really wanted her to check me just to make me feel better. Sure enough, I was dilated 2 cm at 30 weeks. (Why do they doubt the Mommas?) I was then transferred to the doctor at the office and put on bedrest. No more working, no more trips to the mall or Babies R Us. I actually had to take a note from my doctor to my boss (who was the CFO of the company I worked for) that had the words "cervical dilation" on them. Could she not have just put pregnancy complications? Anyway, I had Zoe, who was four years old and she went to daycare every day. So, I would lay on the couch all day and save my "getting up time" for when she was at home. I wasn't on strict bedrest, just no unnecessary walking and climbing stairs. Every time I would walk more than just a little bit, I would start having contractions. So I laid on the couch and waited. And waited. The first week was pretty fun, just laying around, but the other weeks were very frustrating. I was very tired of laying around. I was told that anytime I had six or more contractions in an hour I was to go to the hospital. We went four different times. We had no family around, so two of those trips required friends to come to our house to stay with Zoe, only to have us return home a few hours later. While I was grateful because I didn't want a baby too early, but I was very frustrated.
On May 13, I was having very regular contractions that were actually pretty strong. I called Adam around 12:30 pm and told him to just meet me at the doctor's office. That way, when they sent me home, he could just go back to work and wouldn't have to drive all the way to the house. We headed to the hospital closest to us. I got into triage, where I actually proved that I was in labor (duh) and thought we were getting ready to move to a room. Well, then we found out that there were no available rooms at that hospital and we would need to do downtown to the other hospital. Okay. No problem. Adam will drive me to the hospital. Dr. said absolutely not. I was 5 cm dilated and contracting every two minutes. No way was she going to let a woman in active labor go in a car in 5:00 traffic. An ambulance was on its way. Great.
So the ambulance comes and I am in the back with the male EMT and the female EMT is up front with Adam. The poor man is trying to ask me questions and having to stop every two minutes for me to deal with a contraction. I was strapped to the guerney, so dealing with the contractions was pretty difficult. We finally made it downtown and were put back into triage. While we were there, Sebastian's heartrate went down into the 50's and the medical staff panicked. The doctor on call began to massage Sebastian's head to try to stimulate his heartrate! Big ouch! Finally, my doctor arrived and they shoved a consent form in Adam's face to sign and wheeled me (& Sebastian) off for an emergency c-section. Adam said that was the scaredest he has ever been. It was such a whirlwind for me. While we were in the operating room getting ready to put me completely under, his heartrate came back up! My doctor just watched him for a minute or two and then decided to let me go to a labor room without the c-section! It was at that moment that I was suddenly aware that I was stark naked and cold and begged for a blanket. They brought me one of the warm ones and it felt so nice.
So, I was sent to a labor room and allowed to just labor at my own pace. At some point, a doctor from the high risk office came and did an ultrasound to determine his weight. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce on the ultrasound, so they said I could go ahead and have him. (Like they could have stopped it?) I didn't want any pain medication so Adam and I just labored as best as we could. It actually wasn't bad until transition so I was pretty content most of the time. While we were waiting, our friends Curtis and Shawna came by to visit. This is when we realized that both of our cars were at the other hospital. So, Curtis and Shawna went all the way back to the other hospital, took one of our cars to our house and brought the other one back to the hospital where we were along with McDonald's for Adam. (which he ate in the hall) So I labored on until around midnight. I was 7 cm dilated and my nurse decided I had somewhat stalled. My contractions had almost stopped. So about 12:40 am (May 14) my doctor came and broke my water. My contractions intensified greatly at that point. So I asked for an epidural because I was scared and starting to lose control. Transition. I also started throwing up as just additional proof of transition. That poor nurse held that plastic thing and let me throw up. Of course, I hadn't had anything to eat since that morning, so I didn't throw up very much.
The doctor comes to give me an epidural and starts talking to the medical staff about my blood work. The problem was, since I had been transferred from another hospital and almost had a c-section, in all the confusion, I hadn't had any blood work done! So, he says, no epidural for you! Which was fine because pushing was eminent. I had the most incredible urge to push and it hurt really bad. I looked at Adam and said "SH--! This hurts!" Well, I never, ever curse. EVER. I can still see him running across the floor in his sock feet to get the nurse and yelling, "I think it's time! She's cursing!" Sure enough, she came in and told me to try pushing. That felt so so good. Two good pushes and he was out. Since he was exactly 36 weeks, the NICU team was there too. He came out screaming and peed on my OB. He was born at 1:20 am and his APGARs were 10 and 10. He was completely healthy. He weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. Not a preemie. Totally healthy. And, the recovery after a natural childbirth was so much easier and faster and I felt so empowered!

Fourth Grade

So, the first day of school is almost upon us. (Tuesday is Zoe's first day and Wednesday is Sebastian's first day) I can remember with great clarity what the first day is always like. Even though you have met your teacher and perhaps seen the class roll, so you know who to expect when you walk it, there is still the fear of the unknown. All you really know is the rumors you have heard about this teacher, which usually came from the kids older than you. So, you still have to once again figure out how he/she runs her classroom, what his/her expectations are, etc. and it's all nerve wracking, especially when you are nine. I think back to fourth grade. I was still in Mississippi in fourth grade and we were not self-contained, which meant I changed classes four times and had four different teachers. Fourth grade was when my English teacher tried to make my left-handed self write with a right handed slant to my letters. For some reason, she thought I was never going to make it in the world if I didn't slant my letters to the right. Maybe if she actually knew how very little any one writes in cursive any more. I think my only cursive is my signature and who cares what that looks like?
Fourth grade was also where we had the very first "All About Me" class for the girls and boys separately. While that conversation has already taken place in our home, I wonder if that is coming for her as well in school. Of course, our discussion included how that particular thing is reserved for your husband and how it's not just a crazy rule God made up, that it is actually for your protection. Everything can get really complicated really quickly when you go outside of God's will, especially in this particular area. At least some of the talk seems to have gotten through, because when our cat gave birth to kittens earlier this year, Zoe was ready to scour the neighborhood looking for the boy cat who had impregnated Katie so she could fuss at him for not being there for her during the birth. It was pretty funny, but at least she got what I was telling her, right?
Anyway, I know that this year will bring with it more issues to deal with, even though most issues we have so far have been very mild. They usually have to do with the way girls are friends with each other. All the drama and pettiness. How do I tell her that adult women are that way too and typically it is a recipe for disaster to try to get three women friends together? For some reason, even as adults we do better in even numbers.
But she is so different from me. Her experience will be different. She has a faith in God and an understanding and awareness of spiritual warfare that I never had until I was an adult. Definitely nothing we have done as parents, but lots of prayers for her and trying to point her in the right direction. After all, this entire time in their childhood is spent just trying to get them ready to leave the nest, right? To be able to function independently of us and to rely on their own faith and strength in God. I am praying that I am doing that for Zoe and the other children too.
So, Zoe, as you head off to fourth grade, I pray that you will have a fabulous year filled with fun and learning a lot! I am enjoying watching you turn into a person with real opinions and values and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for you. I love you!

Zoe's song

Last night we went to an event at our church called "The Studio" which is a forum for different artists to read their poetry, sing their songs, etc. It's sort of a coffee shop setting and it was a lot of fun. We heard from three songwriters, a novelist, a couple of writers and a singer. It was such a neat night.
We took all the kids with us and they pretty much played in the playground area at the BX, which is where The Studio was held. Anyway, the kids were in and out of the area where we were so I'm sure Zoe knew what was going on. We didn't get home until after 9:30 so we didn't really talk about what it was all about, we just came home and put the kids to bed. So, while she was in her bed last night, she wrote lyrics to a song! She said she prayed that God would give her some lyrics to a song and He did! She brought them down to me this morning on a piece of paper, so I typed them up. I just had to share :

Zoe's Song...
You are the Creator.
You made us with Your magic hands, so bright, so clean, so perfect.
That’s what You are to me.
Your love, Your love, Your love is overflowing me.
Your love, Your love, Your love is like a hurricane.
And it never stops.
You are full of love,
You are full of grace,
You are full of everything.
Your love is clean, Your love is bright,
Your love is like no other kind.
Your love has been with me all this time.
Your love found me when I was lost.
When I was down Your love helped me up.
When I was hurt, Your love comforted me.
Your love, Your love, Your love…


I am so amazed at her and her deep understanding for God's love at such a young age. I sometimes think she understands it better than I do. It is amazing.

So what about today...

Today started as an ordinary day. Then my mom called and said that we needed to get down to her office as soon as possible. Here in our city, there is a HUGE consignment sale every year. Well, that sale is just not my thing. I can't stand all the people everywhere, picking through mounds and mounds of clothes and then standing in a line that wraps around the building - just not my thing. I realize that if I really wanted to be a frugal shopper and make our money go further, that I would probably do consignment sales, but it's just not my scene. Anyway, so my Mom calls me today and says that everything that isn't sold at that sale is donated to her work. (She works at a non profit home for troubled teens, which also has a house for young mothers, so they get the baby clothes too) Her work also has a thrift store that they run. The guy who runs the thrift store told my mom that everything was being sold for a quarter a piece! So she says that if I come down and look through the stuff, she'll get us some lunch. So, I loaded up the kiddos and headed over there, not really expecting much, but thought I would give a shot. I got so much stuff and I only spent $10! (I got forty different things!) I got two brand new Strasburg dresses for Annabelle, plus some other clothes for her. And I got Zoe a lot of new clothes too. Plus three pairs of shoes (one for me, one for Zoe, and one for Annabelle.) I was so excited. I couldn't believe it.
Then tonight, we took Sebastian to meet his Kindergarten teacher! Her name is Ms. Burroughs and she is a brand new teacher. I'm not sure if she's a brand new teacher to the profession or just brand new to the school. I just don't want to run her off! Not really, of course. I know he will be fine. He is very excited and I can't wait to see what this year holds. He will go for his first day next Wednesday. And then his second phase in day is the next Wednesday. Then he starts full time on August 25. I really can't wait.
Zoe starts back next Tuesday. We go tomorrow morning and find out who her teacher is. She is somewhat apprehensive about it, but I know she will be fine once she finds out who is in her class and who her teacher is. I am excited about fourth grade too. I can't wait to see what she is going to do. It is really amazing to watch your children grow up and become people. Zoe has her own opinion and her own sense of style and they are completely different from mine or Adam's! It is so neat to look back and just see how much she has changed and grown, not just physically, but spiritually as well. She memorizes Scripture, she reads her Bible, she asks questions that I would never have asked when I was her age. It is amazing. God has blessed me more than I ever deserve.

Last week and weekend

Well, our week was very busy last week. My brother, sister-in-law and their two children came last Sunday afternoon. On Monday, we all went swimming at Harrison Bay. Tuesday we went to Coolidge Park. On Wednesday, we took Jeremy and Ashley to the airport to fly off to Vegas for a friend's wedding. Their nine year old daughter and Zoe stayed with my Mom for "cousin camp", which is a yearly tradition where the two girls spend time with Nana each summer. So, Jaxon, the four year old, came to my house. We had a lot of fun. Jaxon is five months younger than Sebastian and 7 months older than Jude, so they play really well together. We had some minor wrestling injuries, but really they all get along. Jaxon did really well, he got a little sad each night at bedtime, but I tried to keep him busy during the day so he didn't have time to think about it. On Thursday, we had Mom's Day Out and it was Water Day! So there were some wading pools and a water slide for the kids to play on. Then, on Friday we went to the mall and played in the little play area and had lunch, which was fun. Friday night was the Back to School Beach Bash at church, where there were two huge water slides and water games and ended with National Treasure 2 on a huge outdoor screen. It was so much fun! All of the kids loved it - Annabelle liked the huge slides! I couldn't believe what a little daredevil she was.
On Saturday, Adam's Dad and Jacob came to visit. Saturday was Adam's 33rd birthday! Happy Birthday, sweetie! So, Saturday dinner was roast, mashed potatoes, green beans and a delicious cheese bread followed by Snickers cake. There were 12 people at my house! My family of 6, Nana and GG (my grandmother), Tristen and Jaxon, and Ben and Jacob. I made 5 pounds of mashed potatoes and there were none left! We had lots of fun.
On Sunday, Ben and Jacob went to church with us. (Jeremy and Ashley got in late on Saturday night and left Sunday morning) Then they came home and had lunch. It was a really good visit with them too. It was the first time they had come to Chattanooga since Adam's mom passed away and it was good for everyone.
So now, we're back to normal. Tonight we go to meet Sebastian's kindergarten teacher and I am so excited about it! I can't believe he starts school this year! And tomorrow morning we get to see who Zoe has for fourth grade! How am I old enough to have a fourth grader? Wasn't it just yesterday when she was starting Kindergarten too? It goes by so fast!