Jack's Homework

This year homework seems to be overwhelming for Bailey and Jesse or maybe just for me. But the first week I thought I would go crazy trying to help Jesse get his done (which is difficult when he will not sit still!), double check Bailey's homework (she can pretty much do it on her own but just needs me to check it) and then keep Jack occupied (which I did not do very well), oh and get dinner on the table at the same time. I have no idea how working moms or single moms do it.

One day, a friend suggested that I get a box full of stuff for Jack to do while the others are doing homework. So I got a small tote, walked through the dollar aisle at Target and voila! Jack's homework box! Now everyday, when the kids get home from school we have 30 min of free time, then a snack and then we start homework. Jack goes to the dining room, and finds something in his box to do. His favorite thing is to work puzzles. It will keep him entertained for at least an hour if not more! Hallelujah! Now everyday doesn't go as planned but for the most part homework time has remained somewhat sane.

Dance

This year Bailey took tap and ballet. She loved it until she had to wear the uncomfortable recital outfit. And on the day of recital she cried wanting to go home because she didn't want to wear it. But we made it through and she did great.



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Ms. Maria, Bailey's teacher


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

After the recital, Granddad was pulling Bailey's bag. She thought it was so funny!

An Apple A Day

Lately Jack has been eating his fair share of apples especially if someone else is eating one! He is a little moocher.

Here he is helping daddy eat his apple.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

California

At the beginning of August, right when school started, Billy and I had the chance to go to California for the week. I got my kids up on the first day of school, got them ready, put them on the bus and then said see ya in a week! Thankfully no one was going to Kindergarten because that would have been terrible to send them to school for the first time and I'm not there but they weren't so I didn't feel too guilty about it. :) Anyway, back to California…Billy did really well last year selling insurance and so he earned a trip Orange County, California. We were excited to explore more of CA plus we got to see our friends! We took a day and went to Universal Studios, we went whale watching one morning (but we didn't see any whales), we met up with two sets of friends and got to hang out with their families, we got to sleep in and oh, we got to see Aerosmith! Front row seats! Pretty cool!

Here are a few pictures from the week:

This was at Universal

We started watching "Parenthood" this summer and have caught up to the current season.  We were excited to see Adam and Kristina Braverman's house!

This was the city hall in "Back To the Furture." They took the clock off for another movie.

 The waves are HUGE on the west coast! And the water is freezing! I'll stick to the Atlantic.

Our sweet friends and their babies…

 More friends…so good to see them again! We knew both of these guys before they were married. Fun to see how much life has changed for them!

ALS Challenge

Jesse got nominated to do the ALS challenge which he wasn't too sure about but did it anyway. And of course Bailey and Jack had to do it too. It was funny to watch!

Tie Dye

Every summer our church has a camp for kids. Bailey and Jesse have been the last two years. Almost everyday they do some sort of theme - crazy socks, Hawaiian day, tie dye, etc. So this year we decided to make tie dye shirts. Thankfully Target had cheap tie dye kits! I bought the kits a week or more before but just didn't have time to do it until the day before! It worked but would have been much less stressful if I had done it earlier! Anyway, we all made a shirt. I wish I had taken a picture of all of them but I didn't. Anyway, Bailey's turned out the best but Jesse loves his shirt! He asks to wear it a lot! Maybe next summer we will do it again!

Hummingbirds

We love to watch the hummingbirds. We have had a feeder at our house for 2 or 3 years now. This year I got a new feeder. One that you can see all the way around. It is so fun to see which ones sit and drink and which ones just flutter and drink. It's also fun to see them fight over the feeder. They are very territorial. I look forward to putting the hummingbird feeder out every year but sad to see them go. Right now I still have a few hanging around.