Did You Know?

Did you know...

• That it's Back to School time???

Faithful readers of the blog will probably know this already, but SCHOOL STARTS IN FIVE {5} MORE DAYS!!!!  Hahaha.  And one of my very favorite things about this very favorite time of year is school supplies.  Yep, it's true.  And apparently my children have inherited this love as well.  The trip to Target {with all 5 kids} on a Friday afternoon to BUY the school supplies was no one's favorite activity, but once we were home all was forgotten of the preceding nightmare and the older ones were happy as clams as they pulled out all their supplies, organized them into piles, and then separated them into their own bags.

• That I have a Kindergartener???  And a 2nd grader and a 4th grader???

I can hardly even believe it!  Three kids in school all day long in just FIVE {5} more days!  Sophie had her Kindergarten orientation earlier this week and was super excited to see that one of her friends from preschool {Jack} and another friend from summer school {Annie} will both be in her class this fall.  She also got to ride on the bus after enduring a 30 minute bus safety demonstration {okay, so she really loved it -- I was the one who endured it not so well} and was able to drop off all her supplies and meet her teacher.  Ethan and Grace got to meet their teachers and drop off their supplies this evening at the annual Sneak a Peak Night over at the school.  Grace's teacher is FRESH out of college and looks super young and super sweet and I'm sure will do a great job.  Grace was excited to see that one of her BFFs {Anna} is not only in her class for the third year running, but has been assigned a desk right next to hers by her poor, unwitting teacher.  Hahaha.  I'm thinking that seating arrangement might be changed rather quickly this fall.  Ethan was stoked to see that he got the teacher he really wanted and is equally excited about finally being in the "upper grade" hallway.  All in all it was a fun outing for everyone even if I do feel like a circus side show whenever I have all the kids with me at the school.
 

• That I have a picture of each of my children almost identical to this one?

Hahahahaha.  How hilarious is this pose???  He's just doing some deep thinking is all.  He's got a lot on his mind these days.  This past year has flown by so quickly he just doesn't know where it's gone.  Hahahaha.

• That I have finally filled and organized my beloved hutch?

And yes -- it IS perfection.  The sewing machine, odds and ends, and all my fabric fit just perfectly.  Sometimes I like to open it up and just gaze fondly on all the sights.

• That I have begun to work on Grace's baptism quilt using my wonderful quilting bee friends?

All the fabric bundles being prepped to mail out.

I'm going with a theme of "Flowers" for Grace's quilt.  Green is her favorite color and when I let her choose the specific shade she wanted for the background of the quilt, JADE is what she chose.  I went through about 3 different variations of my sample block before finally settling upon THIS one {which Grace loves} and I can't wait to see what everyone else creates.

• That Jane sometimes uses the phrase "Hot Cross Buns!" as her exclamation of choice?

That girl is crazy and I can't tell you how funny it is to hear her running into a room shouting "Hot Cross Buns!" with excitement.

• That I've resorted to bribing my children to read?

{Not pictured are a bunch of Roald Dahl books that are on the list that are in Ethan's possession -- he just didn't want to mix them in with the others.}

It's totally true -- I have.  I found this list of the 100 Best Children's Chapter Books online and told the kids they could earn a dollar for each book they read off the list.  So far it has only motivated Ethan.  Hahaha.  The list is a good one, though, and I've read about half of them myself.  AND we already own a good chunk of them as well.  I'm hoping the monetary incentive will eventually appeal to all of them and in the process they'll be exposed to some of the really good children's literature out there.

• That I've been waking up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning to run with friends as we train for our half-marathon?

For the record, I am NOT an early morning person.  Like AT ALL.  But, I will gladly sacrifice sleep for the chance to do my long runs with friends.  Because it is so much fun.  Seriously.  I never would have thought that running for an hour + while chatting with friends could go by so much more quickly and more enjoyably than running for far less time just by myself.  The farthest I've run up to this point is a 10K distance of 6.25 miles.  This coming Saturday will be a milestone for me -- EIGHT {8} miles.  I am actually really excited to tackle this number.  Who would have thunk it???

• That Ethan has been insisting on sleeping in a {busted and more than likely uncomfortable} rocking chair at bed time each night all to be closer to the fan?  

Poor little first born.  We've been having so many issues this summer.  It really is easier not to fight some battles.  Because really -- if HE doesn't care about falling off the chair while he's sleeping than why should WE?

• That today is Scott's 35th birthday????

The birthday boy was showered with balloons at work and caused a near riot when he brought them home to the children this evening.  Alex especially was overly worked up about them.  After Scott divided them up amongst the 4 older kids, poor Alex was left high and dry and dependent upon their mercy for a chance to play with any of them.  Let's just say he didn't get much.  Hahaha.

Poor little lamb -- look at him trying {unsuccessfully} to grab at a balloon.

• And that he doesn't like cake?  Or really any big fuss made over him at all?

Poor Scott.  It really is pitiful how little we do to celebrate his birthday.  Every year I experience the same failing feeling because I never think we've done enough {or ANYTHING} for him.  This year was particularly abysmal.  The problem is he just never WANTS anything!  Dang him and his easy-going and un-materialistic tendencies!!!  Hahahaha.  J/K.  The nice thing about Scott is that when he says he doesn't really want anything for his birthday he really means it.  So, this year we just made do with a clean house for his arrival home from work and a little Graeter's ice cream for dessert.  It was a little deja vu of his 30th birthday when we were just finishing up our internship in Cincinnati and were leaving the next day.  All he had then was the same little carton of black raspberry chip ice cream with a single candle to blow out.

Do you like how Jane is bathed in the glow of the iPad screen?

He's probably wishing for a less lame birthday for next year.  Hahaha.  {He doesn't really look like this when he typically blows candles out.}

And that is that.  You now know everything.  Hahahahaha.