We've got the Fever!!

The Bieber fever that is!!! Well, not really because we don't have any screaming, love sick little girls in this house but we do have a boy who wants a Justin Bieber hairstyle. Little John has been growing his hair out for awhile now. He has needed two haircuts since and looks super cute and awesomely cool! It was time for another trim the other day, so I took him in before practice. He sat down in the chair and told the lady, "a Bieber haircut please"! He looked like a new kid when he was done! I am the type of mother who likes to use clippers on the boy's hair so they look neat and proper. The growing out stage is really driving me crazy. Everytime i try to brush his hair back, he pushes it forward. Now he is asking for a tie to wear to school! This kid cracks me up!!

Before...Sloppy!!!



After....Awwwww!

Student of the Month

So today was a fun day. John was chosen as the "Student of the Month" in his class for this month. His school has a different character trait they celebrate every month and this month it was for trust. His wonderful teacher, Miss. Hirstein gave a nice speech about how she can trust John to bring in his homework and finish classwork on time and how she can trust that he will tell her the truth. It was also "Read Across America" day. This is where they have as many parent or community volunteers come into the classroom and read a book to the kids. They are also celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday and they get to wear these big striped hats. This was the first year I was able to volunteer because Max is finally big enough to sit quietly and listen to the story without being disruptive. He was sitting so quietly until he noticed that he wasn't pushed into the desk like all the other kids. This was a bit of a problem for him. He needed my attention right away so I could fix this problem, so he started whispering "mom...mom". Miss. Hirstein said, "ssshhh" and that was the end of that. I chose a great book by the Christian author Max Lucado named, You are Special. If you haven't read this book you must. Anyway, we are so proud of John for getting this award! Good job Buddy!


Silly Hat!


Look how tall he is- even taller than his teacher!

Sports

This year will probably be the busiest year of my life. Not only do we have the business that is starting to grow now that the weather is warming up and people are looking at their lawns, but my sweet little John thinks that he needs to try every spring time sport possible. Not only was he enrolled in basketball, and now baseball, but he has added track on top of that along with bible study on Monday's and after school tutorial on Tuesdays. We are running from one after school activity to the next Monday-Thursday's. Thank God for Friday's!
He also got drafted up in baseball which is a pretty big deal. Apparently because he is so big for his age and has a rocket arm, they thought it would work. We were very sad at first because his coach from last year was fabulous, but after getting to know his new coach we couldn't say no. Although John is the youngest kid on his team by a few years, he will be with this coach permenatly for the next 3 years. And you couldn't ask for a better way to run a team. He starts each practice asking every kid how their day was and tries to help or give advice if they had a rotten one. He prays before and after practice lifting up any child who had a bad day. His warm-ups are very disciplined. If any kid is not on beat with the others they stop and do it again until every one is together. While practicing he never puts any one down for mistakes but tells ways to fix what ever problem they are having. He tells them he believes in them and even if they are going to make a mistake, do it all the way with the most confidence they can muster. We have been so lucky with coaches so far. I am very thankful that John is part of a team who's leader is a Christian man who loves the game and the kids as well.

Oh the things kids say...

Just so all of you know out there, Sam would now like to go by the name "Jimmy Z".

And Little John will be taking his first date out to Red Lobster, or Applebee's. Her choice!

Thought you might like a little bit of random-ness on this fine Thursday!

Sweetness

I was browsing through my pictures the other day and came across this one of Parker. It made me smile so I thought I would pass it on to all of you. This kid is so darn squishy!! Here is a little bit of sweetness from me to you!

First day of School

Well... it is that time of the year again. Back to school!!! I know a lot of you may judge me for what I am about to say, but I don't care. I will say it anyway! I love this time of year. I love that I don't have to hear the fighting and screaming all day long. That I get a break from it for a few blessed hours a day. Don't get me wrong, I love my children with every ounce of my being. I just don't like their behavior all the time. This summer was especially rough for me. Maybe it was because I had at least one other child at my house per day playing with my very social little John. That is great for keeping him out of my hair and I don't have to hear the complaining from him that he is board, but it is hard on Sam. My sweet little Sam is at a funny age right now. He wants to play so badly with his big brother and his friends, buy quite frankly, he his annoying to them. This causes hurt feelings and big fits for Sam. And when Sam gets started on something, he doesn't let it go easily. Sometimes it can last for hours! Why can't he just play with Max?? Max adores Sam and is available to play anytime!! School time for me is wonderful because Sam plays with children his own age, for three hours a day five days per week, then comes home and takes a nap along with Max before going to get little John from school. The break makes me a better mommy and it allows me to be excited when I go to pick them up from school! John started 3rd grade with Miss. Hirstein, Sam started his 2nd year of preschool with Ms. Julie, and Max will start his 1st year of preschool in October. I think the Heavens might just open up and we may hear singing when that day comes!

Camping

We decided to go camping as a family last month(i know it has been a very long time since i last posted). This is the first time ALL of us have gone. I think the last time we went, Little John was 3 and Sam wasn't even a thought in my mind! Wow- has it really been that long?? We got off to a late start on Saturday because John had to work. We left around 3:30 and arrived in Shaver Lake around 4:30. We headed directly to "our spot" hoping it wasn't occupied since it is out in the middle of no where and you can't reserve it. It is the BEST place to camp. There is a little creek that runs right by the camp spot with this massive tree that had fallen years ago stretching over it. It is great for 3 little busy bodies to climb on! As we were coming around the bend, we saw clothes hanging on a line and knew that our most wonderful spot was occupied. So we turned around and began to search for another spot. We were very disappointed until we found an even more awesome spot. This spot also had a creek near by and even had lots of patches of snow! It was the craziest thing. Snow in July. We began to un pack our things and get our camp set up while the boys played happily. Once we were un packed, we began roasting our hot dogs the old fashion way... on a stick. They turned out really yummy and we were all full and happy. By that time it was getting dark so we moved on to the best part of the evening- smores!!! Oh how I love smores. They might just be my most favorite dessert. I have continued making them for myself this week with the left over chocolate and marshmallows. Max was ready for bed soon after and asked to go into the tent. Sam quickly followed, expecting a wrestling match which did happen. The sleeping arrangements were as follows: Me and Little John in the back of the truck and John and the two little boys in the tent. Bad idea! My poor hubby had to deal with rain, a flat air mattress,a growling dog right outside the tent, children who wouldn't go to sleep and children who wet the bed. While I woke up rested the next morning, he did not. Neither did Max, which made for a very hard day. He was tripping and falling and crying and throwing lots of fits! It was actually quite funny and we didn't let that stop our fun. We had a great time exploring and it felt like we had the mountains all to ourselves. I would do it all over again...not sure about John though!

On our way up- the people in the back seat were feeling kind of silly!


Yep... your eyes are not fooling you- that is snow that the kids are standing on! We coulnd't believe it when we pulled up and saw snow! The kids were so excited and ran around like fools while we unpacked camp.




Once we unpacked the boys were ready to shoot at some cans with their bb guns and bow and arrow. This proved to be a bit difficult when Sam decided he didn't need any help! We quickly assured him that he did and there would be our way of doing it...or our way of doing it! He chose our way and daddy helped him!


Let me just tell you how annoying John was with this stick. He would not leave the campfire alone. He insisted on poking the logs to "get them in place" all night long.


We made smores- the BEST part of the trip! We all enjoyed them, as you can see!




When the little boys went to bed (actually they didn't go to sleep. They went into the tent to wrestle each other), we started to tell scary stories. We thought John was old enough for that. Apperantly not! Look at the expression on his face in the next few pictures. He was cracking us up!!



Max's morning pee! look at those cute cheeks


John loves his dog. When he feeds her at night he tells me "mom, I am going to go feed my girl now"





We had a very healthy breakfast consisting of donuts! yum yum


As you can see, Samuel thoroughly enjoyed his!





This is how we saw Max for the majority of the second day. He was quite sad and cried a lot. Maybe he will enjoy himself more next year when he is a little more coordinated and doesn't fall as much





The boys all loved jumping over this creek.








Mikey found these little gems! He was so excited because he is kind of obsessed with sunglasses


This is how dirty these kids were at the end of our trip. This is the one thing I don't like about camping!









The boys were so tired on the way home they fell asleep. John was assisting Sam by holding his head up because his head kept falling down and he looked so uncomfortable.
We had such a great time- despite the lack of sleep and the continuous crying from my Maxi! I will look back on this trip with fond memories!