Techno babies

I was cleaning up the kitchen this morning and it was fairly quiet so i looked around and found these two keeping themselves busy. Connor is listening to Abbie's MP3 player and Catie figured out how to look at pictures on Abbie's digital camera. They aren't even 2 yet and are way too technically savvy!

School supplies

Took our school supply lists to Target and found almost every item - hooray! The kids came home and sorted through everything and bagged it up. They start school just a few days after we get home from our trip to Utah so we had to get it done! It is seriously so expensive to go back to school - $115 on school supplies alone......
and.... the lovely mark on my arm is a battle wound from the peaches yesterday. I got this big steam burn while canning. Ironically enough it looks like a bruised peach - kind of brown in the middle.

Peaches for you , peaches for me!

My friend April and I canned 74 bottles of peaches today. Yes, I said 74! Our 10 kids, yes TEN kids all played so nicely the whole day so we could get it done. It was lots of fun and super productive. And after all of that canning I still have a 3/4 bushel of the most juicy, beautiful peaches you have ever tasted. SO..... if you want some, just swing on by because we have a lot of peaches to eat before we head out of town on Monday : ).

Party in the USA

The theme song for today is Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. We listened to it at least 30 times. The girls choreographed a dance and we all sang along. It was super duper fun. I videoed the dance but since it is over 3 minutes long, I decided not to post it for your viewing pleasure.

This move was the highlight of the dance - awesome!

I opened up the closet to put something away and was surprised to find Connor sitting happily on the floor. He and Catie like to play a game where she shuts the door on him and he sits in the dark and laughs until she opens the door again. They love it.
And this picture is just to cute not to post. Two of the cutest boys in the world!

All around town

We spent a good part of the day like this:


Running tons of errands all around town, buying more beautiful peaches for canning, getting ready for pack meeting, picking out summer reading reward books, going to church for pack meeting and driving home in super backed up traffic. Thank goodness High School Musical kept us company on the slow drive home!

Goose squash

Totally had to take a picture of this squash before we ate it for dinner. It looks just like a goose to me!

Sunday afternoon

game of Sorry and a delicious peach the size of a softball! Wonderful day!

Lake Wylie Tri

Swimming in the open water - I was super freaked out about the whole thing before but was super calm in the water. Maybe too calm since I was the absolute last person out of the water : )
But I did it and now that I know I can do it, I am going to try again and do better on my next race!
Coming in on the bike - I love the bike portion!
Coming in on the run. It was a super hilly course and I took it easy and enjoyed it since I had such a horrible swim time. Man, I need to work on my form!
Jason, me, Kathryn, Cami, Alison and Adria. The four ladies on the right all placed in the top 3 of their categories and I couldn't be more proud of them!

It was a great experience and totally empowering to know that I can conquer my fears!

We love SUMMER!

Kids eat free day at Ikea was awesome! We had playgroup there and ate a yummy free lunch and window shopped a bit before getting ice cream on this very hot afternoon. We made a pit stop at the farmers market on our way and got the most delicious peaches and yummy veggies. We love summer!!
And here is a cute picture of Eibba Yelloow(she put her stickers on backwards) and I thought it was super cute.

We love library day!

The house is always quiet for a few hours after going to the library. It is so pleasant while they all look at or read their new library books. We had kind of a low key day - gym for 2 hours, birthday party present shopping, lunch at chick-fil-a and library. I even took a nap this afternoon while the kids read and had some quiet time. My head was so dizzy after my swim/bike session this morning. I hope I hold up better on Saturday! Best part of the day - Kurt is home from Chicago and NYC! We miss him when he is gone!

Beautiful day!

A great swim day - 800m mostly freestyle! - I REALLY needed a great swim day today since my race is on Saturday - arghhhhh! Thanks to the kids who have been supportive of my training even though they don't love going to the childwatch at the gym. Spent the rest of the day swimming with the kids, cleaning, watching an afternoon movie, and then topped off the day with a bike ride and fun at the park.

Super mega playdate

Chase, Spencer, Kali, Sydney, Emily and Abbie at the movies!

that is what today was! started with me taking the older parker and woolley kids to the free summer movies - alvin and the chipmunks : the sequeakquel. then back to the parkers for lunch with april and the little ones. then home with catie and connor for a nap and the boys to play at our house. dinner for us here and the girls there, then a quick swim and change to divide and conquer to get to FIGG and cub scouts. quick run to walmart with just the babes after dropping everyone off, then to pick up at the church and the dudleys and then drop off again at the parkers and pick up abbie. then home and straight to bed. 12 straight hours or parker/woolley time and they tell us they aren't sick of each other yet! thanks for such a fun busy day!

Slave driver

I am a slave driver and make my kids work and work and work - or so they tell me. Quickly clean up the playroom is all I asked of them after a fun day of playdates and watching their favorite TV show. Funny how a 15 minute job can turn into a hour long grump session. Hopefully next time they will just do it happily in 15 minutes!

Peace

So nice to find all of the kids playing peacefully in the same room. I had to capture the moment. never mind that Connor is turning the computer on and off...... : )

Champs and Swim team PARTY!

Our team swam so well today at champs! We won second place overall and lost by a mere 30 points. It was so fun and really exciting! Spencer and Sydney both swam super well and earned a few points to help their team. Spencer won his heat in backstroke and Sydney won her heat in breaststroke. They were both able to swim medley relays and free relays. Sydney also swam butterfly.

Sydney ready to dive in and breast stroke like crazy in her relay!
Spencer also ready to dive in a breast stroke in his relay!
Abbie was #1 cheerleader with a sign she made all by herself!
Jenna, Sydney, Emily and Ruby - medley relay team
Kyle, Spencer, Preston and Andrew - Medley relay team

Later tonight at the team party...
Sydney received the Coaches award for being a great swimmer and overall good teammate for the 8 and under girls
Abbie hugging Coach Zack while getting her plaque. He nicknamed her "Chomper" because she would swim around in the pool pretending to be an alligator and chomp him.
Coaches Zack, Grayson, Molly, Meaghan, Alex and Nick
SHAVING CREAM FIGHT!!
Abbie covered in shaving cream!

With Coach Molly - the kids LOVE her!

With Head Coach Zack - we had the coolest coach in the league - who else brings their own sound system to champs to pump up his swimmers??

Fun Friday!

a long swim for me, playgroup at the splash park, quiet time in the afternoon, champs swim practice before dinner, favorite friends for dinner, getting excited to swim in the league championship swim meet tomorrow! time to hit the sack and get ready for another busy day!

Date Night!

We went on a bike ride for our date tonight - the first time we have been out riding together! We logged 25 miles and had a great time. Thanks for a fun date babe!

Yum!

not many things better than fresh tomatoes from your own garden.....

Fort Abbie

The messier the room the more fun was had - right? If so, Abbie had a blast today!

Heat Winners!

Great job to both Sydney and Spencer for doing great in their last meet of the season tonight! Sydney won her heat in breast stroke and Spencer won his heat in back stroke.