More Pics

I found some more random pictures from this last month or so I thought you might enjoy! :)

Our Fall Schedule

We started school this past week, even with all the hurricane craziness. Believe it or not, the kids had been begging to start school. The summer boredom had set in and they were dying to get going. With four of them doing school now (Luke does preschool 2-3 days a week for about two hours, John David is in 2nd grade, Caitlyn is in 6th grade, and Kylie is in 3rd grade) it took a little to adjust to a new schedule, but they all did fabulous their first week. John David learned all about seeds this past week in his Science lessons, so we did a fun science experiment about seeds. I posted all about it on my website, and you can go here to read that, but here's the video I took of his explanation. Too cute!


Our normal Fall schedule will start back up this next week, with dance on Thursday nights and Tae Kwon Do classes twice a week. Kylie is taking a clogging dance class, and Caitlyn is doing a second year of Irish dancing with hardshoe and softshoe Irish. Both Kylie and John David are currently blue belts, and will be testing for their brown belt in early October for Tae Kwon Do. This is a big accomplishment and bumps them up to the advance classes, with only a few more belts between them and black belt. All the kids are doing really well in their extracurricular activities, and enjoy them very much.

On a totally different note, I keep forgetting to tell everyone about Jeremy's accident. Many of you may already know, but Jeremy was in an accident earlier this summer. A man T-boned Jeremy's truck and totaled it. With the insurance money, Jeremy was able to buy a new truck.... his dream truck! :) It's a very large white Dodge Ram truck with an extended cab, and he loves it! As do we all, because we all fit in it. It has been such a blessing having two vehicles that all the kids fit in, and not having to worry about being stuck without enough seats. Have a great Labor Day holiday tomorrow!

The Last Month in Pictures

Yes, we are still alive and, YES, we have power! :) It's been such a crazy week, and Hurricane Irene did a doozy on our area. We weathered the storm very well, and only lost power for a few days. Initially, the power company was telling everyone it would be at least a week before power was returned, so we were pretty excited when it came back on so quickly. We did fine though, and actually enjoyed the 'unplugged' time with the kids, playing board games, and hanging out.

With our busy schedules, I haven't had as much time to post pictures and such here lately. So I thought I'd post some recent pictures from this summer. Everything from a recent trip to the Science Museum with the girls and their friend, Grace, to pictures of the girls and some of their friends at a party we had one night, to pictures of Luke chilling out.

The kids have all grown leaps and bounds this summer, and I have already started taking stock of what clothing we'll need for the Fall season. They all seemed to have grown out of shoes and everything else. Luke's third birthday was a few weeks ago, and I still can't believe that he's three years old already!! All the kids are acting so much older all of the sudden, and now that Luke is potty trained and I don't have to worry about diapers or a diaper bag anymore, it feels a bit strange. It's been so many years since I wasn't nursing a baby or changing diapers, or pregnant! :) We have definitely entered a new phase in our family, and while it feels great, it's a bit for this momma to get used to. I always laugh when I do laundry, because you can tell so much about our family by what shows up in the laundry. From little Spiderman underwear to itty bitty bras (yes, I said bras!), not to mention the things I find in pockets like lip gloss and lizards, it always warms my heart to realize they may be growing up, but they are still my babies. :) Love you all!

Earthquake and Hurricane - All in One Week!

Yes, you read that correctly. :) It's been a bit of a crazy week here. Earlier this week we experienced a 5.8 earthquake that we luckily got out of with a only nice size crack in our ceiling, some things that fell off shelves, and a few scared kiddos. But now, Hurricane Irene has us in her sights, and the winds are picking up! The likelihood that we will get through this without losing power is slim to none, and after our last bad hurricane (where we had no water for a few days and no power for an entire week), I'm not holding my breath.

We are inside, safe and secure, and prepared for the bad weather. I will do my best to keep everyone updated wither by phone, text, or here on the blog. Keep all of those affected by the hurricane in your prayers!

The Simple Things

Sometimes it's the simple things that make them smile!

Trip to the Science Museum of Richmond

Thanks to an awesome deal recently on Groupon, we now are the proud owners of a year long membership to our local science museum. We headed there for a visit earlier this week, and had a great time. I was surprised at how Luke did, and we even got to see an IMAX movie. So fun!
















We're heading the museum for a visit again next Monday. I'm so glad I snagged that deal when I did!

Couponing My Way to Stardom!

Our local news channel was at one of my coupon workshops recently, and I ended up on TV! It's brief really, but the kids think it's pretty cool! Don't blink! You might miss me. :) (I'm the one teaching the class)

Caitlyn's Dance Recital

Caitlyn had her end of the year dance recital a week or so ago, and I wanted to share some video and a few pics. She has grown up so much over the past year, and it was really eye opening for Jeremy and I to see how much better she is this year. He doesn't get to see her dance every week like I do, and I kept telling him he was going to be surprised. :) She is really turning into a graceful dancer, and I credit her Lyrical teacher, Ms. Tammy, for that. She has done a stellar job of teaching Caitlyn about finishing movement and 'feeling' the music. She took both Christian Lyrical and Irish Hard Shoe this year. She has really taken a liking to the Irish dances and will be doing Irish Soft Shoe as well next year. The video and pictures were all taken the night of her recital rehearsal, so that I could just enjoy her performances the actual night of the recital. I wanted to soak up these moments.... Anyway, the lighting wasn't great, and well, you can at least hear the music and see the choreography. Enjoy!

UPDATE on the house: No, we have still not moved in, but we are very close. Hopefully within the week. The house is really starting to come together, and I am so excited. I have plenty of pictures and even some video, but once we start getting rooms completed I will post before and afters for you. There's a few rooms that are completely done except for the carpet which will be installed on Thursday. So close!!

Luke Blowing Up a Balloon... Or Not

This week, I caught this video of Luke trying to blow up a balloon. It was too funny not to share! I kept trying to tell him that these were water balloons and they were too hard to try and blow up, but he just kept trying. :)



Pictures and video of Caitlyn's dance recital will be up in the next few days. We've been super busy working on the new house and trying to get everything straight so we can move in!

The New House

As promised, here's a couple pics of the new house! We had our final walk-through last night, so I snapped a couple of the front and back. We are FINALLY closing today. So excited!

The Kiddos Get New Bikes

Remember those new bikes I said the kids got for Easter? Well, here are the pics and video finally. :) I know, I've been a slacker. Luke LOVES his new bike (big wheel) and makes us laugh when he rides around making car noises. By the way, here's an update on the house. Our closing was postponed yet again, and has now been scheduled for this Tuesday. I'm not holding my breath at this point. I'll post some pictures of the house as soon as we close!