Well 2 1/2 months later and I think I'll blog again.  What can I say we had a GREAT summer!  After t-ball and swimming, we went to visit our wonderful friends the Junker's with a few stops to other Taylor friends along the way.  At the end of July, Keith & I chaperoned 13 students in Costa Rica for 9 days while the kids had a wonderful vacation at the grandparents' houses.  Then we all spent 6 days at Disney World.  The summer ended with the Henry Co Fair and my 15 year high school reunion.  Again, I say it was a GREAT summer!  (check out the pics on facebook) 

Anyway now we have just finished the first week of school and it was interesting to say the least.  Let's recap...

Day 1 - First day of Kindergarten for the girls.  After school Chloe reports she doesn't want to go back.  Why?  Because she doesn't want to go outside for recess!!!!!  Yes, my daughter didn't like recess.  But let me explain.  Two weeks ago at my parents' house Kale thinks it would be a great idea to swat at some bees with a flyswatter.  As you can imagine the bees did not like this idea and basically attacked Kale and Chloe.  Kale ended up with 2 stings and Chloe 3.  So with that background story, can you guess why Chloe didn't like recess?  Yes, there were bees.  So she cried, and then Rissa cried.  Kale of course reported this to me after school, but I wasn't too concerned till that evening when the principal called to see if they were okay.  So that night we took them back to the park and Daddy bullied the bees and we thought day 2 would be much better.  We also asked Kale to be a nice big brother and help his sisters if he sees them crying, to which he responded "I'll only do it for the 1st week."  Gotta love him!

PS to day 1 - After school Kale reports that it's going to be the worst year ever! No gym class!!!!  He was so certain that there was no gym on his teacher's schedule, but there IS gym twice a week.  No more worries from Kale.

Day 2 - After school the girls are so excited, recess was fun!  But then I get the report from the music teacher who has lunch duty that they both cried during lunch, wanting to go home, wanting their mommy.  Sweet, yes, but really?  It's not like I'm a stay-at-home mom and they've never been away from me.  So the new plan is to pack their lunch the next day with a special treat from Mommy.  Let's see if day 3 would be any better.

Day 3 - Third times a charm.  No crying today.  No problems.  Woo hoo!!!! 

Day 4 - School went fine.  It was the after school activities that were the problem.  After school the kids ride the bus from their school to the high school and wait there until Keith or I are ready to leave.  This leaves time for mischief, ie fighting.  I return to my room after making copies in the office to 2 of my children screaming and crying and 1 laying on the floor in front of the lockers.  Well the story is that Kale was mad that his dad said that none of the kids could sit in my director's chair, Chloe thought she needed to make fun of him for being mad, so Kale thought he needed to push her into the lockers.  Oh I'm so proud of them (please note sarcasm, embarassed was more like it)  Needless to say I finished my work quickly and they all spent some time in their rooms on timeout when we got home.

Day 5 - We SURVIVED!!!! First week is over, only 35 more to go!  It was a rough week, but we celebrated anyway with Disney (come on, it was the Wizards of Waverly Place Movie premier!!!! Didn't you watch it?)

They're all in bed now on Sunday evening.  We're ready to start week 2.  Let's see what interesting stories I'll have to share next

You scream, we all scream for ice cream! 

Could these kids be any cuter or messier enjoying a summer evening eating ice cream?

FYI - Kale's was in a cup, ate with a spoon and he still was this messy :)

 Spring-time Snow (really just snowball bush blossoms)

Grandpa's girl, look at the love!

Kale & Grandpa Toad - This wasn't my choice of a Memorial Day activity, but Kale loved it and Grandpa was a good teacher.

Rissa proving she's my mini-me.  Check out her coordination on the trampoline.

Kale proving he ate the peanut that we bribed him 50 cents to try.

Here's the girls with their "Waverly" hair.  Rissa kept saying Waverly instead of wavy.  And then she'd talk about our friends Waverly & Oliver.

Taryn stayed the night last weekend and it was great.  The kids loved having her here and I loved her keeping the kids entertained.  I can't believe she's growing up so fast.  She's not the one I babysit anymore; she'll make a great babysitter.

And we have some new neighbors (in our pine tree).