Life Goes On

I haven't posted since June. JUNE! It's been busy...I feel like I write that on every post, but whatever...it's true. Life is jam-packed full...it is what it is. I am blessed. :)

So, sine my last post, some fun things - first, the 4th of July. We don't make a big deal out of celebrating...we just hang out at home and buy some (legal) fireworks that the kids to get to play with in the front yard - good times.

Rylie

Sweet picture of Josh and Zoe, one of my favorites

Josh lighting some fireworks (yes, we started before it got dark...we had to work the next day!)

Zoe, scare of the noise

Them later in July, Mike celebrated his birthday - my lovely mom took about 100 pictures of Mike and I together, and one of them came out decently - so here we are.

Mike and Lynne

Oh, and another one...because I'm a sappy girl and like the kissing shot :)

Then, August pretty much came and went! Everyone started school at the end of the month (even Zoe moved up to Mr. Paul's class).

Josh started 7th grade, which = middle school in Keller. He's in band, playing the trumpet again, and has a different schedule than in years past - he has 7 different teachers and rotates every hour(ish). On his way to high school! He's already aced some of his tests, but has done not so great on some others (we're hoping this year he learns the fine art of organization, among other things).

Josh, 8/27/2012, First Day of 7th Grade

Rylie started 1st grade. But poor thing - the week before school started, Zoe got sick - bad upper respiratory infection...she got better after a few days, but of course then Rylie got it. And Rylie had a fever so she missed her first day of school! She was such a trooper though and had a great attitude about it. I hated it for her, but secretly also kind of loved the day she and I got to spend together, just the two of us. :)

Rylie, 8/27/2012, the ACTUAL first day of school (that she missed)

Rylie, on HER first day of school - much happier!

Zoe even had a "first day" - she moved up to the Pre-K class at school. She got to pick out a new shirt to wear on her first day, and it was a BIG deal. In her new class, you can have a blanket for nap time, but no more babies or stuffed animals go to school - she's done great with that transition! And, all of a sudden, moving to Mr. Paul's class was the magic trick to getting potty trained! She hasn't had hardly any accidents since that day - whoo hoo! :)

Zoe, 8/27/2012 - proud to go to her new class!

Even though I don't get a summer "break", I still try to get into a better routine once school starts. I pretty regularly make Mike's lunches for the week, the kids lunches for the week, and at least part of our dinners for the week on Sunday. This makes it SO much easier during the week. I like that Mike doesn't have to worry about getting anything ready for himself in the mornings, and I like that he doesn't have to worry about taking care of dinner when he gets home (usually) before me. Proverbs 31: 27 - "She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness".

So, I found some ziploc container thingys that are perfect for the kids lunches, and have made them some fun treats.

Lunchables Lunchables Lunchables!

Homemade Fruit Rollups

Lunchables

Smores Mix

Finally, football season is underway, and as is our tradition, Mike got his first "game day snack" last weekend. He recently started the South Beach Diet and is in phase 1 (very restricted - no carbs at all!) so he got a platter full of his favorites - blue-cheese stuffed olives, mozzarella cheese wrapped with chorizo, olive-oil marinated olived medley with feta cheese, and roasted garlic cloves. He didn't eat much of the garlic (I figured he wouldn't, even for garlic freaks like us that's A LOT of garlic!) so it worked out perfectly when I made dinner this week - we had carnitas and I threw all the garlic in  - YUM.

Antipasto Platter

So, that's us in a nutshell. I'll try (as I always say) to update more often...but at least this time, I make no promises! :)