Happy Birthday to my Little T

Best Birthday Ever!

That is what we heard from our little guy.

He got his first big boy bed.

(Previously slept in a hand me down toddler bed)

His 'big boy bed' is brand new.

One of the few things that he calls his own and has never been used by a previous sibling.

He received other wonderous gifts too!

He had cupcakes and a Popsicle today.

(that's about a weeks worth of sugar for him)

It was a good day!

 Happy Birthday!

Do You See What I See?

Finally!

Last tooth she lost, we had to have the dentist pull it.  Root never dissolved.  I was at the point that I was going to call the dentist this week to see if this tooth needed help coming out.  Alas, with the help of a kick in the mouth from her brother we were able to get the tooth out.  And here you thought brothers were good for nothing....

Dentist  loves to see me coming.

(Especially when her husband is the orthodontist in the same practice.)

It's A Scorcher!

Picture It!

Hot Day in Hotlanta!

90+ degrees.

By a lake.

Geese and their goslings.

One shade tree, reserved for the girls.

1pm.

Got it?

Did I forget to say, we had all 3 boys along with the girl?

GOT IT?

Now you can understand the pictures to follow of Ansley's bridging ceremony from Daisy scouts to Brownie.

Before...

During.

After:

What you can't see from the pictures is Randy chasing down Sawyer (multiple times) so he didn't end up in the lake.
Trying to dodge geese poop. (Impossible)
Pouring water on Sawyer's head because he decided to not sweat today.
(not uncommon in folks with Down syndrome but not something we have ever had to deal with before, just another thing to monitor now)

Hopefully you see the smile on Ansley's face.
She was happy.
She was loud.
She was talking. (a wee bit nervous talk but still lots of talk)
She was in her element!
It was all good!

What A Weekend!

After the race, Judson, Ansley and Randy went camping with Judson's scout troop.  In.A.Tent.  (I don't do that kind of roughing it)  This is the camp out where Judson transitioned from Bear Scout to Webelo I scout.  Meaning next year instead of the blue shirt, he'll be wearing a khaki shirt.  This was Ansley's first overnight camp trip.  Everyone was quite impressed with her.  She hung with those boys and did everything they did.  Of course, she was bone weary tired when she got home and a wee bit grumpy but she did great!

In front of their brand new, way cool LLBean tent

courtesy of GiGi and her penchant for entering (and winning) giveaways

The tent actually has a front vestibule but they didn't need use it since they were only there one night.

She gave it all she had because you cannot let a boy beat you at anything!

Good thing these guys get to wear new shirts.  Many have outgrown their blue cub scout shirts.

After my (vegetarian) ate bear meat.

Running of the Peach (Jr)

This was Judson's 3rd P'tree Jr race and Ansley's 1st.  

To say Ansley was not an eager 'trainer' would be an understatement.

You see, she wants to be "Just Like Judson"

What that really means is

She wants to get to do the things he does

She just doesn't want to put in the effort he puts

But we(Meaning Randy did a lot of coaxing) managed to make it through the training phase

And today was the actual race.

She(and Dad) survived.

 Here are a few pics from the event. 

You can see there were quite a few kids involved.

Boys from Judson's scout group.

Just a few folks.

The 9 year old group.  (Judson's group)

Judson (white cap) is very methodical.  He gets to the back of the pack.

(you can get trampled at the front of the group by over eager runners)

Then he sets out at his pace.  He is very consistent, even methodical.

We laugh/joke because we really don't know if he likes/dislikes running.

We think he does it because, "it's just what you do"

The 7 year old group.  You can see Ansley next to the fence.

I think she enjoyed the race well enough

Just not the training.

We'll see if she does it again next year.

The only requirement is: IF you commit to running the race

YOU have to see it through to the end.

Now the three of them are on an overnight scout camping trip.

Ansley's first.  Let's hope the bugs don't carry her off.

I'm pretty sure she'll like camping better than running.

So Far, So Good

Three days into summer break and all seems to be going smoothly.

(Save one glitch where A decided to defy her momma)

This is what their days have looked like

(except for Sawyer being in front of the TV...no pictures of that)

Hours, upon hours of playing outside!

Very little fighting!

=

Happy Mommy!

They decided riding in the back yard was like trail riding.

(pretty close to correct on that point)

Randy made the swing set to hold 4 swings!

Yes, there are two of them.

Mosquito bites!

Funny thing, not one of the boys has ANY bites.

We have tried EVERYTHING on her.

Schools Out for Summer

Today was 'last day of school' 

for 2011-2012

We will take a few weeks off and then start back up again in July, most likely.

I like starting back in the summer when no one wants to play outside

And the kids start whining and creating chaos

(more than normal)

Then in the fall, we take days here and there for some fun.

It works for us.

For our last day of school,

Judson baked made brownies for a celebration.

The kids helped me plant flowers out front.

Judson dug holes and planted geraniums.

Ansley dug holes and planted petunias.

Sawyer was in charge of fertilizer.

Turner was in charge of covering the plants back up.

I did not take pics at the time because I was the peace keeper.

Then tonight, Randy and the kids are planting the blueberry bushes.

Of course, not to be left behind in anyway

Judson worked on some calculus and trig.

Wouldn't want to get behind before he turns 10!

Happy Mother's Day

On top of this, two boys who call me "Mom" and live in Ethiopia,

wished me a Happy Mother's Day also.

I am one lucky Mom!

Saturday Smiles

Some Days Are Diamonds!

Sawyer, age 7.5

My Favorite Days

The days when there is nothing planned.

Randy gets off work 'early'.

We take the kids outside to play.

We don't get enough of those days and we really should do something about that.

Mr. Serious

Yes, it's 90 degrees and she's wearing 2 shirts and 2 pants.

The True Essence of a Saw-Man

Do NOT let that sweet face fool you.

Pop-Pop's Mini-Me

The Dynamic Duo

Sometimes we do not get out of our pj's