Back to school!

It's that time of year, Avery, Aidan and I have to go back to school! They are a little more excited about it than I am......I already miss my afternoon naps!

Avery is really excited about 5th grade! She has Mr. Johnson and all she can say is, "he's so cool!" Avery rotates classes every hour, and is very excited about all of her classes!

Aidan is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Grant. Aidan always loves school, after you get her through the door! Chris dropped her off the last three days and only had one meltdown.....it was a minor one. She has been wanting homework and we finally have our first assignment! Aidan and I will be completing a puzzle piece that represents her and her likes. Hopefully she will let me wait to work on it until tomorrow, doubtful but maybe!

Emmitt and Mia had a change too, Chelle is back watching them. They love having Michelle at the house. Michelle is Mia's BFF!

One last thing, the JDRF walk is only three weeks away! I am still ordering team t-shirts if anyone is interested...I just need to know by the 26th! We hope you can come out and help support Avery's team while we raise money to find a cure for type 1 diabetes!

Hope everyone has a wonderful, and restful, weekend!

Just a swingin'

Okay, so Chris's parents and my mom gave the kids money for a swing set for their birthdays. Due to playing softball until July 2nd, camping July 4th weekend, me attending a workshop in Atlanta for a week, and us helping mom out for two weeks, we are just now getting to build it for them. We looked into getting one from Wal-mart or Toys-R-Us but with us having four kids, we need to make sure we have enough room for all of the kids......this is why we decided to build it ourselves! So, the swing set part has been finished for over a week and I think it looks pretty good!

The playhouse part, is a work in progress! The kids LOVE playing in the playhouse more than swinging so we wanted it to be big enough for all of them to get in....well, it is definately going to be big enough! The kids have two floors to play on, which they love having a two story house! We put the ladder on yesterday and they were so excited.....Emmitt can even get up and down all by himself! We still have a lot to do (a roof, a couple of front walls, paint) but it is at least to a point where the kids can begin playing and enjoying it! Of course, we are planning on having a slumber party out there soon as well!

Also, check out the pictures of Emmitt! I took all of the kids to get their hair cut to get ready to go back to school and Emmitt was needing a little trim as well. He has had it trimmed two or three times before, but I just did it myself at the house. I thought he needed to get a big boy hair cut so we let Kala trim it up and make him look even more handsome! As you can tell from the pictures, he was not a happy camper! He was so mad that he locked his shoulders up and just pouted almost the entire time! He was so cute! Hopefully the next time he goes it won't be such a big ordeal! BTW, his hair is still long.....it is just too darn cute to cut short!

And one last picture.....We had a busy weekend, Chandra graduated with her Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy on Friday (way to go Chan!) so we were in Conway all day and Saturday we were on the go and working on the playhouse the entire day.....needless to say Emmitt and Mia didn't have a nap either day. After we came in and took baths, to get ready for dinner, they both fell asleep before they even got dressed! Too funny!

Emmitt

Emmitt, our little boy with long hair! Emmitt just turned two and he is TOTALLY different than the girls!Everything he does is so different from what I remember the girls doing. He already tackles Mia, for no apparent reason, and loves tractors. He can spot a tractor a mile away!

Emmitt does still play with his sisters toys, which kills his daddy, but he always goes back to his race cars and tractors! We bought him a tee ball set for his birthday, we really didn't think a two year old could hit it.....we were wrong! He hits it so hard that we have to take cover! After he hits it he runs his bases and yells home, home!

Of course he likes star wars, well his daddy likes to think he does! Look at him being so cool with his star wars shirt and his hands in his pockets....the girls better watch out!

Amelia Bedilia

My Mia! Mia will be 4 in October, she is our entertainment, always putting on a show for everyone! Just look at that face, how can you not just absolutely love her! That wonderful face also makes it very hard to get onto her!

Along with the funny personality, she also brings the stubbornness with her. For example, we were school shopping last week, I found a Little Miss Stubborn shirt....I told her I was going to get it and she started saying "No, No, I not stubborn!" Too funny!

Mia did dance last year, it was so comical. She loved being in the spotlight! She was one of the youngest in her class but of course she was the loudest when it came to singing! We just smiled everytime we saw her walking through the house dancing and singing! I can't wait to see what she grows up to be, it will be something in the public eye!

If you look at Mia's pictures, you see that she is always posing for the camera, and not just smiling she always throws an arm in the air to diva it up! I have said, she has the personality of a drunk sorority girl, everything is "Woooo!" to her! When she swims in Joe & Chandra's hot tub, she kicks a leg in the air and says "party all night, baby"......we don't know where she learned that but it is hilarious everytime she does it!

Aidan

Aidan Elise, my little rule follower! Aidan just turned 6 this year. She lost her first two teeth the last week of school, she let her beloved Mrs. Kennemer pull them for her! Aidan is so funny, she will kill you with questions. Chris recently let her ride with him somewhere and he said she never stopped talking! What is that sign for daddy, why did that car go through the yellow light......constant!

Aidan also plays softball, has done dance for the last three years and this fall she will play basketball! She is going to be my ball player, she is always wanting to play. She started softball before she turned 4! Now with basketball coming up, she tries to practice with Avery's team whenever she can.....Aidan doesn't let size or anything stop her, she thinks she can play with everyone!

Aidan is definitely going to do something big, she is constantly thinking and trying to figure things out! It is so funny how she has such a different personality than Avery. Chris and I are lucky to have such wonderful kids!

Avery

Avery, what can I say about Avery! She is definately our diva! She just turned 10 this year, although she is wanting to be a "pre-teen", as she calls herself, she still plays little toys with her little sisters and brother!

Avery is a pretty good big sister! She is really good about helping me keep Mia and Emmitt in line, and I definately need the help! She has also decided she likes to make money so I can usually flash a dollar or two in front of her and I can get her to help out with the dishes and laundry! She is going through this weird age thing and sometimes she drives me crazy! She is trying to be a cool big kid and some of the things she says is so nerdy......I try my best not to laugh, this is just such a weird age!

Avery plays softball, basketball and did dance for 5 years (she took a break this last year). Her softball team finished first in the league & the league tournament, second place in two other tournaments, and third in the state tournament! It was a busy spring but we loved following her to all of her games and practices! We are now getting ready for fall softball and then we will head straight into basketball season.....never a dull moment!

Below is a picture of Avery's basketball team. We had an end of season sleep-over at the house....it was a blast! Seventeen fourth grade girls, food and a karaoke machine! I will say we ended the night with her coaches and I singing them to sleep! I think we had as much fun as the girls did!

As well as being involved in all of her activities, Avery also has type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed New Years Eve, 2007. It was very surreal, we saw the signs throughout the month of December but I just thought I was being a paranoid parent. I remember being at Joe's college graduation and Avery in tears wanting something to drink. I thought she was just being overdramatic (she does that frequently) but her body was actually starving itself and she really was dying for a drink. She has been dealing with it now for over a year and a half and we are still learning new things. She has her days when she is high all day long, it is very stressful because we know it is hurting her body even if it isn't apparent on the outside. We try to take things day by day, if we think about the longevity and severity of the disease we break down. Our hope is she will lead a normal, healthy life. Avery does a really good job of taking care of herself and we stay as positive as possible so that she doesn't let it get her down. We do have the JDRF walk in September! If you are interested in joining Avery's team, Avery's Hog Wild Team, just let us know!

My kids are goofy!

All of my kids have such different personalities. Avery is the bossy oldest sibling, while Aidan is definately my rule follower (boarderline autistic.....if you said it was raining cats and dogs, she would look for them and then ask 15 questions as to why you said that, then ask again later if it was going to start raining cats and dogs), Mia is obviously the entertainer, and Emmitt brings the testosterone, he is all boy (he still plays with sisters dolls but it usually ends violently for the dolls, DDT's to the floor or he just throws them out of the stroller for no apparent reason!). Regardless of what we are doing, there is never a dull moment! Like right now, we are eating lunch and Emmitt is continuously cracking himself up...we don't know what is so funny but apparently he thinks something is!
My goal for this week (this is the end of my summer break :( ) is to write a post, with pics, about each kid. It is an ambitious one, I have plenty to do for school and we are currently building a 12' monster that the kids call their clubhouse, but I am going to give it my all!