A Birthday and the First Days of School

Yesterday was big for Ezzie.
It was his 7th birthday.
And the first day of school.
He could not sleep the night before.
Too much excitement for a little guy.

When he got to school,
his teacher asked if he wanted to wear the b-day sticker all day.
Or just when I brought his treats later..
He wanted to wear it all day.
Insuring him lots of attention, I'm sure.In the afternoon, his class sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
And he got to wear a special hat.
Doesn't he look excited about it?He could have worn the hat the last 1/2 hour of the day.
But he declined.
Sticker is one thing.
Hat is another, I guess.

Presents always make a kid smile big.
Jakie has two frogs and a mini turtle.
Ezzie has been wanting a pet for awhile now.

His last present was a box with fish food in it.
He looked at it.
And looked at it.
And finally said.
You got me a fish?
Were is it?
I will always remember how he said it.
One of those memories to treasure.They were waiting for him in his room.
7 fish.
Finally pets of his own.
Brookie helped him name them last night.
They wrote them all down.
He took the list to school this morning.
You need to share these things with your friends.

1st grade.
Yesterday was a big day for Brookie too.
First day in Junior High.
Can you hear my sigh?
She was nervous.
Very unlike her.
She didn't even eat breakfast.
Glad I went all out and bought Toaster Strudels.

7th grade.Jobie did not want to be left out.
I had to lay out clothes for him the night before too.
Yet he insists he is not going to school next year.
Today was Jake's 1st day.
He did not want his picture taken.
But mom wins.
Kinda.
The boy would not give me a good smile.

6th grade.His sister stepped in and tried to help.
Yah.
That always works.
Then his best friend showed up.
With the hot rod.
That was all it took to get a genuine smile.Sweet ride.
Great first day of school tradition.Another summer that flew by.
One more year with my baby.
Then off he goes too.

Scary thought.
Exciting thought.

Vacation

The view.The kids.Us.
Morning walk on the beach.Lots of sand time.And relaxing.Searching for shells.Building sand castles.Pool time, with the floaty.Togetherness.New shades.Learning to dive.Posing for pictures.Pouting.Enjoying the waves.Taking directions.Our house...kinda.Daddy time.Tourist shopping.Smiles.There were lots of other things too.
Driving.
Around 2500 miles.

Eating.
Yummy steaks and seafood.

Loosing prescription sunglasses.
In the gulf.
(See the shades on Ryan in the pic with Brookie?
Bye-bye shades)

Boys.
Looking at our daughter.

So much fun.
(Except for that last part)

A New Day

Last week we were on vacation.
And this week has just been full of getting caught up.
And dealing with my kids.
Blah.
Parenting is no fun sometimes.
(I think I may have said that before. Ha.)
It was rough yesterday.
And still heavy on my heart today.

You know what stinks?
When parenting your children
shows you the flaws in your own life.
And in your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Ouch.

But, oh how I love my children.Today we are going to clean.
And then we're heading out for a little back to school stuff.
I'm actually looking forward to the day.
Even after the yucky day yesterday.

Thankful for new mercies every day.
New mercies for me.
And new mercies for my kiddos.
God is so good to not give up on us.

Seventeen

We were 17 years old in these pictures.Young and in love.Today we've been married for 17 years.
Not quite as young.
But definitely more in love.

Ironic

Remember our summer project?
The word I wanted to use was refreshing.

This summer has been anything but refreshing.
As far as the weather goes anyway.

All these leaves.
Just fell yesterday.
I'm afraid we might be loosing our beautiful maple.It's been over 100 degrees.
25+ days so far this summer.
(or so I've heard)
Refreshing?
Not so much.

And what does Jobe decide to wear this morning?
A hoodie.Looks like fall.
Except the leaves are shrively browns.
Not beautiful oranges, yellows and reds.

The grass is crunchy.
We haven't mowed in a month.
I miss the smell of freshly cut grass.

My flowers are struggling to survive.
It's taking all their energy just to live.
They've got nothing left to produce pretty flowers.
And I water every day.We did quite a bit of new landscaping this spring.
Wrong year for that.
Our new plants are not looking so great.
And then there's my garden.Can't brag much about that, can I?
Beans.
Dead.
Cucumber.
Dead.
Zucchini.
Dead.
Everything else.
Looking...well...dry.
Refreshing, right?
That poor little tomato plant that's laying on the ground.
It was run over by a car.
Cars drive in our yard.
Not kidding.

There are a few plants that are doing ok.Not as big as usual.
But at least they are adding a little color.I'm going to plant A LOT more Vinca next year.
They seem to be surviving this heat the best.
Oh, and asparagus fern.
That's doing good too.

The hood?
Really?About 15 minutes after I took this picture.
Jobie comes inside and says:
Pheww! I'm all "fweaty".

Can't imagine why he would be sweaty.

But I guess our summer project wasn't about the weather being refreshing.
It was about our family being refreshing.
I'm going to try to stop complaining.
And start refreshing.
Go Coke!

Guess What!?

We found the camera!
Woohoo!

I'm not going to lie.
I was starting to get a little excited.
We were beginning to talk about getting a new one.
We're going on vacation soon.
You need a camera on vacation.
I was looking forward to getting something a little nicer.
But dreading spending the money right now.

Saturday morning Ryan decided to REALLY look for it.
It involved taking the sectional apart.
Lifting it up.
Feeling all along the fabric at the bottom.
And vwah-la.
It's magic.
I felt that small little rectangular shape.

You all are so lucky.
Now you get to see more pictures like this:And this:And this:We all went shopping Saturday evening.
Target was our last stop.
Ryan, Brookie and I had clothes to try on.
The boys were parked in the dressing room area.
Jake on the floor.
Playing with my phone.
Ezra in the back of the cart.
Playing with the camera.
And Jobe in the front.
Trying to avoid getting his picture taken.
It was...entertaining.It looks like there is a another woman.
In the dressing room with Ryan.
I guess I shouldn't say another woman.
Since I wasn't in the dressing room with him either.
Had a seperate one.
Our kids were with us, you know.

Jobie spent a lot of time inspecting his new flip-flops.
He's never had any without the strap on the back.
It's adorable to watch him walk in these.
But he is so proud of them.Maybe someday I'll get a nicer camera.
(likely)
And be an amazing photographer.
(not likely)
But for now you all will have to put up with my witty writing
(ha! not true)
and my point and shoot's fuzzy photos.
(so true)