Cruelty to Animals or Just Plain FUNNY???

Please do not report me to PETA!

Carson and I saw someone on PINTEREST who gave their white dog eyebrows so we decided to try it out on Parker. I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants (sorry Parker)! Don't worry, it was just washable marker and it came right off.

Running on Empty

This is how I feel after 2 very LONG weeks.

2 weeks of riding solo.

2 weeks of getting 7 kids up and out the door to school and activities sans husband.

2 weeks of spending hours a day in the car but not really going anywhere

(unless soccer fields are considered a prime destination).

2 weeks of multiple appointments- doctor, dentist, speech

2 weeks of spending too few hours in my beloved bed!

Here's hoping the next 2 weeks I can re-fuel!

Here is where we have spent the majority of our past 2 weekends:

Carson

Reese

Hadley

Hadley and her team with their "BLING" after winning their 1st tournament!

Labor of Love

12 Years ago today I was in LABOR.

At the hospital preparing to give birth to my 3rd child.
I arrived, got settled and was ready to wait  awhile since I was not experiencing any major discomfort.
Little did I know that 45 minutes later I would be holding this:

Reese!

It was probably the WORST 45 minutes of my life!

It was Fast and Furious and PAINFUL!!!

It was definitely LABOR!

So on this LABOR DAY we celebrate 12 years of this Cutie:

Happy 12th Birthday Reese!!!

           

Whit's 1st Day of Preschool

The day I have been dreading.

Whit's 1st Day of Preschool.

Not because I was all teary eyed at the thought of my baby leaving the nest for a few hours-

Dreading it because Whit has been telling me for months, that, in no uncertain terms-

he WAS NOT going to Preschool 

and when the kid makes up his mind about something DON'T try to change it!

Trust me it can get UGLY!

His claim was that he was too SMART for school (he probably has a point) 

but none the less I still felt he needed a little social grooming before kindergarten next year.

We have tried to persuade him that school was going to be fun. That he was just going to go and play for a few hours and since he is so SMART he needed to help the other kids at school learn some things (I apologize in advance to the parents of his classmates for anything Whit might "TEACH" their children).

Upon reflection of this Whit informed me that (and I quote):

"You wasted your money, Mom"

So, with much trepidation we set off for our first morning of Preschool.

He is in Mrs. Williams "Friendly Frogs" room and he was ready with his SUPER MARIO bag.

We got to school, unloaded, walked into school, walked into the room, Whit turned around said "Bye MOM" and that was it. What??? So easy! No tears, no bad attitude, no prying him off of my leg. I stood there half in shock and then realized I better get out of there before he changed his mind. When I picked him up he was running around with some boys from his class and proclaimed that school was "GREAT"!

Go figure? 

This parenting thing is like one HUGE conundrum.

Prepare for the worst and everything works out fine,

Think every thing is fine and all HE!! breaks loose!

Just when you think you know your kid and how they will react they 

do a 180 and have you questioning your parenting prowess.

I guess we just have to roll with it and keep scratching our heads. 

Thankfully, in this instance it turned out way better than expected (let's just hope we get a repeat performance next week when he has his 2nd day of school!).

Fourteen

Fourteen!

That's how old my biggest girl is today.

Starting high school.

A step closer to independence.

The next 4 years are going to FLY- this I know from experience.

So we are going to do our best to enjoy them no matter how much DRAMA is involved!!!

I love this girl!

I hope 14 is GREAT!!!

Me & My "Baby" Girl

Just the Two of Us

With summer vacation coming to an end it leaves Whit and Murphy the only 2 little people home during the majority of the day. You would think that going from 7 kids around all day down to 2 would be a piece of cake- ha! These 2 are the bane of my existence. I can't seem to leave the room for 2 seconds before some calamity occurs. They are very physical and they usually end up in some knock down drag out brawl. If that doesn't happen and they remain quiet that means they are stirring up some kind of trouble- all of which has been well documented here (coloring on walls, cutting clothing, feeding dogs raw meat......). I really think I would prefer that I send the 0-6 year olds to school and then when they have "learned" how to act somewhat "human" they can return them to me and I will teach the reading, writing and arithmetic!

This NEVER happens so I had to take a picture (both of them asleep)

 I think they were plotting their next move on the path of destruction

Don't let those cute faces fool you!!!

The Beginning of the End

How is it possible that my eldest is a SENIOR in High School?

I know he just started kindergarten!

I remember that day like it was yesterday:

Warm, a little overcast,

 Griffin and Carson watching a little morning tv eating peaches

(how do I remember that?)

A quick bike ride in the driveway and than 

off to the BIG world of KINDERGARTEN:

Griffin's 1st day of Kindergarten, Winston- Salem NC
Whitaker Elementary (seriously)

I remember parking and walking him up the BIG steps to his school.
In the side door and into the 3rd door on the right.
His teacher was a Clifford The Big Red Dog fan so she had lots of Clifford stuff.
We milled around a bit, found his desk and I realized I was about to LOSE IT!
Tears welling up (it didn't help that I was 9 months pregnant with Reese- HORMONES).
So, I quickly gave Griffin a hug and kiss,
trying desperately to hold off the waterworks until I was out of the room
because I didn't want Griffin to think I was leaving him in some horrible place.
The minute I walked out of the room the floodgates opened.
I quickly went into the UGLY cry- you know the one:
Tears flowing, snot dripping, saliva drooling out of your mouth.
Heaving and gasping for breathe.
Yeah- It wasn't pretty!
I think I eventually regained my composure- enough to stumble back to the car anyway.
The rest of my day was spent counting the hours until I went back to that school to pick Griffin up hoping that his day was much better than mine.

Turns out it all worked out just fine.
Until now- some 12 Augusts later.

Griffin's 1st day of 12th grade, Irmo, SC
Dutch Fork HS

Much has changed.
I no longer have to make him breakfast,
get him ready for school
 and lord knows he doesn't want me walking him into his classroom!
He shaves (sometimes), drives himself to school and is with his friends more than he is at home.
But as I face his last, first day of school with him under my roof
I find myself facing many of the same emotions I felt when I was sending him off to kindergarten that first day.
I haven't broken down into the UGLY cry
but I have gotten weepy when I think where we will be a year from now
 ( I fear the UGLY cry will occur a few times between now and then).
I don't want to dwell on his absence a next year
 so I am going to try to enjoy the moments he is here in the coming months.

But, boy, somedays I wish he could be that little kindergartener again so he would be at home for
12 more years!

Back To School Blues

There's 104 Days of Summer Vacation

Then School comes along just to end it!

(from Phinneas and Ferb)

Well, school has come along for us. Today was the BIG day. I think most of the kids were ready and I know it feels good to be back on a "regular" (although INSANE) schedule. I am anxiously awaiting their arrival home to hear about their days. I had 2 girls starting new schools this year. Carson starting high school and Reese starting middle school. One was very anxious, wringing her hands in nervous anticipation, the other, cool as a cucumber with not a care in the world. I'll let you figure out which one was a basket case and which one was unfazed. It was also the last, first day for Griffin under our roof- don't even get me started on that. He was totally ready to get his senior year underway- me- not so ready!!! Hadley is also starting her last year in elementary school. How is that possible? She is totally psyched because all of her BFF's are in her class (boy do I feel sorry for her teacher)! Brett is starting 2nd grade and just goes along for the ride. He was most looking forward to recess so he could continue his domination on the hoop court. I hope all had a GREAT day and there isn't any drama to start the year. I will be busy tonight filling out the millions of papers that will fly in here starting at 3:00. I think I better rest my hand for later.

Me Do!

Murphy is at that "ME DO!" age.

You know, the age where he thinks he can do EVERYTHING by himself.

I applaud the independence but most of the time it ends up taking twice as long or we end up with a BIG MESS!!! (Like when he insists on pouring his juice from one cup to another).

I understand that it takes time for 2 year old hands to learn new things but Murphy doesn't seem to understand that I have time constraints and we usually don't have 20 minutes for him to dress himself!

Murphy attempting to buckle his helmet

Thank goodness he is CUTE!!!

Murphy's new UNDERBITE Smile

CROSSFIT

Have you heard of CROSSFIT? Well it is a super hard way to workout that involves essentially all forms of exercise in 1 workout (military style training, weightlifting, running, rowing etc.). It is very intense and often leads to puking at the end. It is basically a combination of every exercise you HATE to do combined in to 1 hot, sweaty and exhausting workout! They even have CROSSFIT competitions! I think it is AWESOME so we have developed some of our own CROSSFIT exercises around here so that we can all get totally RIPPED!

Equipment Needed:

At least 1 small child 20-40 pounds

Directions: 

Grab 1 small child, place on back in plank, hold plank as long as possible or until small child falls off.

Replace child and repeat as many times as you can or until child gets bored.

Directions:

Grab 2 small children

Place them on your back (Piggyback)

Run around house as fast as you can as long as you can or until a child falls off

Repeat

Hope you enjoy your workout. We will be developing more exercises in the future so check back so you can get in the BEST shape of your life!

I Scream, You Scream

Nothing says SUMMER like a chocolate ice cream cone! Ice cream is good but ice cream in a cone is GREAT! Just ask Murphy.

Murphy enjoying his ice cream cone 

(BTW- it was 9:30 am-everyone needs ice cream for breakfast once in a while)

Hadley's a Perfect 10!!!

Today is Hadley's 10th Birthday!

A Perfect 10!

Into the double digits!

Getting ready to start her LAST year of elementary school!

WOW!

To me she will always be that happy, smiley Baby Girl 

(with a little bit of attitude thrown in for good measure).

Hadley's Top 10 @ 10:

1. Popcorn- a can't live without snack
2. Her A&W Root Beer T'shirt (she wears it almost everyday)
3. Sleepovers with her friends- she would have one every night if she could
4. Flipping upside down (back handsprings, back tucks, back layouts, front handsprings, front walkovers, front tucks etc.)
5. Watching TV (Dance Moms and Bachelorette were big favs this summer along with anything on teenNICK)
6. Staying in her pjs as long as possible- all day if she can get away with it!
7. Playing her IPod
8. Making up Dance routines in the living room
9. Hunger Games- movie, book trilogy, stupid parodies on YOUTUBE- she LOVES it all
10. Having Fun- this girl just wants to have a good time, the more the merrier, never one to turn down an invitation, always looking for a party

Today is your day, Hadley!

Kick up your heels and party on little girl!

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY!

Lake Living (at least for the day)

lake from kelly markland on Vimeo.

We spent a day at the lake over the weekend. The kids can't get enough of it- me on the other hand- I am DONE after 2 hours. It is not because I don't think it is fun it just makes me a STRESSED OUT basket case! Too many little bodies floating around in deep water with lots of other boats around. I am not usually so crazy but I have decided it is hard enough keeping them alive on dry land why add in the extra dangers of water and fast moving boat propellers? I guess I am just a landlubber! Despite my anxiety and stress we had fun and I am sure the kids are ready to go out again ASAP. Fortunately for me it probably won't be for another 9-12 months (thank goodness!).

Dining Room Remix

Ok- so our dining room isn't really used for dining. We aren't exactly the fine dining type so the room has always been used for other things- like doing homework and playing. It was originally a dark red and I just got sick of it so I decided to brighten it up and make it more CHEERY. Here are the results:


 new paint: French Gray

 painted table: Sunshine Yellow

 new Chevron rug

new art courtesy of my kids



 



Nothing says "Fine Dining" like a train table in the room!

 I like it!