::fire::

As part of our last week of summer, we had a campfire in Mantua last night. We took dinner stuff to cook on the fire. It was good, the s'mores were delish, and the kids had a great time. They all got muddy, threw things into the fire, caught their marshmallows on fire, climbed in the trees, broke some sticks, and got dirty.

(Hot dogs for dinner. Avie (5 months) has some baby cereal :) )

And that was our Friday night.

::flag football::

Portie had his first flag football game last night.
It was HOT!

They did okay-actually they lost, but they did score a couple of times. It was kind of a mess. There were a few kids playing on his team who aren't even really ON the team. It's always a little confusing the first week. I'm sure next week will be better.

Matt is the coach. He did great! He was a little nervous because some of the rules are different than he's used to, and the kids are so little. And some (most) of the kids just don't get it. There are also lots of parents there to "help." But everything went well. I think a few more practices might help.


These pictures aren't so great. Portie is kind of behind that one kid in this one. I was having a hard time getting pictures because of Coop. He was being a little difficult. He ran onto the field once, and spent the rest of the time crying because he wanted a drink, popsicle, to eat, to go home, whatever. I was holding Ava, and we went to the concession stand a few times for drinks and popsicles, and he followed me crying that he can't walk. So I carried him. He and Ava both. It was not a fun evening with Coop.

Speaking of Cooper...
He's crying right now. He wants his binky. I told him to go find it. "I caaaaan't!!!" Then he told me to stop looking at him. " 'top lookin' at me, you Mommy!"

::huntin'::

Matt's a hunter.
A bow hunter.
He goes every August.
Has since he was a youngster.
He loves it.
Like a kid on Christmas.

It's all a big ordeal. Lots of packing, shopping,debate (when to leave, who's going, who's driving what, what food to take, how long to stay, how to pack the trucks, when to come home, how many arrows to take, when are we going to Cabela's?, where's my camo? etc etc), unpacking, cleaning, etc.

This year was a particularly special one though because Matt & J drew out on a limited entry hunt. Which basically means only a few people in the state get these tags that say you can hunt in a special area, aka San Juan, aka "where the big ones are!"

In the days leading up to the hunt, we spend a lot of time in Mantua (his mom & dad's) getting stuff ready. The packing of the trucks happens the day before they leave, and it's usually pretty funny. The definition of the saying "too many chiefs and no Indians" or the too many cooks in the kitchen one would work too. Either way, it's funny. The little boys enjoyed it too. They played on the 4 wheelers a lot. A lot of "wehm, wehm, WHEM" noises. It was pretty cute.




They were planning on going from Thursday to Thursday, so they needed a LOT of gas(oline).


Finally they got done loading the trucks. And they left.
Bubb & Port were very sad. They missed Da-da all week. Every time the door would open, doorbell rang, garage door opened, they thought it was Da-da. They asked me everyday when Da was coming home. All of them, well, not Ava, but the other 3 would just randomly say "I miss Dad." It was kind of sad. A week is a long time when you're little.



He was gone for 6 days. He shot his deer on Tuesday, and got home late Wednesday. We missed him. We're glad he's back.

He wants SO much to take those little boys with him. He was talking about it A LOT this year. He kept saying how he can't wait 'til they're old enough to go, and they can camp and ride the 4 wheelers together. He's so excited for that. It's pretty sweet. He'll probably take Portie next year.

Anyway, he was gone and now he's home.
And we're glad.
:)

In other news...
Remember how I wasn't ready for school and Fall yet? NOT ANYMORE!!! Probably due in part to the fact that I was flying solo with 4 kids for a week (it really wasn't too bad, but we had our moments). We did our back to school stuff, met the teachers, started flag football (which always makes me feel Fall-ish), watching Fall-ish kid shows , AND it's been insanely hot this last week.
Bring. On. The. Fall.

Also...
I miss the Tahoe! We sold it so we can get a bigger car. Uncle Bob's workin' hard to find us one. So in the meantime, we're driving our old commuter car (with no a/c) and Matt's mom & dad's old commuter car (with no a/c). Not fun. We can't all fit in one car, so any time we go somewhere, we have to take 2 cars. Also the no a/c thing is pretty miserable.

::gateway & b2s::

Since Dad was visiting, we all got together on Saturday for a splash at the Gateway and some lunch at Z Tejas.

The 7 grandkids...

(Tristan-4 1/2, Cooper 2 1/2, Chloe-7 1/2, Ava-5 mos, Mia-18 mos, Liam-6, Porter-5)






Glad we all got together. A fun time was had by all.

In other news...
We went to back to school night for Porter and intake conference for Chloe. Chloe's teacher is really nice, and she's pretty excited (and also nervous) for school on Monday. We walked all around her BIG new school. Her teacher said there were over 600 kids there! It's big-makes her mother a little nervous. We get to buy some school supplies for her this year (in years past, the school provided most of the supplies). So that's exciting. I feel like there will be lots of pink Barbie things, and a huge box of crayons. Portie's back to school night was cute. He's SO excited about going to kindergarten. We drove past his preschool yesterday, and he said "There's my old school! Finally I'm no more baby school!" We met his teacher. She seems really nice. I hope he will like her. He got a different teacher than Chloe had-which is good. Chloe's kindergarten teacher was a great teacher, but I just think Port needs somebody who will be really fun and happy and nice so he'll really want to go every day. He was so excited to be in his classroom. He was running all around it, touching stuff, looking at stuff. We got to see the class list, and noticed a few familiar names on there. He'll get to have Kelton and Gavin from preschool in his class, so we're pretty excited about that. I have to say that I'm pretty nervous. Especially for Porter. I remember being pretty nervous for Chloe, but I think I'm a little more nervous for Port. I hope he likes it, I hope he's nice to the kids (he always is), I hope the kids are nice to him, I hope he makes friends, I hope he's okay on the bus. I'm sure everything will be fine...I'm just nervous. He's such a sweet boy. He's sometimes a little crazy and not so nice at home, but he's always been good at school. I'm still nervous though. My sweet baby Portie!

Also...
While we were at Port's school, we had to drop in and see Mrs. C (Chloe's first grade teacher). Chloe was SO happy to see her. She got sick the last 2 days of school, so she didn't get to tell her a proper goodbye or get a picture with her or anything! So we got one last night.

I kind of love her too! I hope Portie gets her for first grade-and so does he. Chloe said she was the best teacher she ever had (which is funny because other than preschool, she's only had 2 teachers). It made me think of all my teachers I've had. I remember their names from kindergarten all the way to 8th grade. Some stick out in your mind, some made a big impression on you. Mrs. C is one of those teachers :)

::softball::

Chloe played her last softball game (machine pitch) last night. She did pretty great!

(Portie & Bubb on the bleachers-yes he's playing with a plunger. It's a clean one-never been "used." Mario is a plumber. 'Nuff said. Chloe's team getting their field assignments.)



(She played 3rd base the whole game. She did awesome!)



(She batted twice & got on base twice-Great job Chloe!)


(She's the cutest dang runner! She got around all the bases both times)



(She didn't score in this photo. She didn't have a chance-the catcher already had the ball. She did score a run though her next time out.)



(post game cheers, and both teams running the bases)

It was kind of a long season, but really fun! She had her ups and downs-some weeks she'd do really awesome, and others she wouldn't even get on base. So on the good weeks she says "I love softball, I'm going to play it every year! I wish I could play again tomorrow. Maybe I'll play every sport there is: softball, baseball, basketball, what else is there??" etc The bad weeks were "I HATE SOFTBALL, WHY'D YOU MAKE ME PLAY THIS DUMB GAME, I DIDN'T EVEN WANNA PLAY!!! YOU MADE ME!!" etc etc. So that was fun. But it really was fun to watch her. She usually had a couple of practices a week, and improved a lot throughout the summer. She wants to play again next year-so that's good.



On a side note...
Papa Guitar happened to be visiting us for a couple of days, so he got to come to her game. It was fun to have him with us. I think he liked going to her game. She was excited to have him there. After her game, we took the kids over to the playground where this lady kept hittin' on my dad! She kept saying "I can't believe he's their grandpa! He doesn't look old enough to have 7 grandkids. I just can't believe it! I thought these kids were his" Oh man!! It was huh-larious!!!!

::amusement::

Last Friday (as in a week ago), our family went to stay the night with Grandma Kitty so the Mr. and I could go on a date together. We went to get massages (aahhhh) and dinner. It was so nice. It's always fun to go out with him. He's a pretty good time :)

Then, on Saturday we all (our family, Billy's family, and Mom & Kevin) went to Lagoon all day. It was HOT, but really fun. We rode lots of rides. Even Bubb got to ride on some (the Bombora even!) of the bigger rides, and that just makes him plain excited.

(how great is Port's face?? This ride went in circles forwards and then backwards-reminds me of rides at the fair. He was not a fan. Made him (and Matt) kinda sick)

We had an awesome picnic lunch in the park, rode a few more rides, got some ice cream afterward, and called it a day.


Thanks, Mom & Kevin, for havin' us over, babysitting our kids, and taking us to the park :)

In other news...
School starts in a week! Summer was just not long enough. Usually by this time of the summer, I'm done with the heat, the lack of structure in our everyday, and just ready for Fall leaves and the cooler weather. Not this year! I feel like we need a few more weeks of Summer! I'm not ready for the pools to close, and life to completely revolve around school! I did almost all the back to school shopping online. Is that lazy? Maybe, but I didn't have to take 4 kids shopping with me, so that was a major plus. It took me a couple of hours, and when I was done, I was so excited, "I'm done! I'm done! and I didn't even have to leave the house!!" Chloe thought I was weird. So for our last week of summer, I thought we'd plan some kind of special activity for every day. I tried to make the activity correspond with the day of the week (Movie Monday, etc), but I couldn't think of anything for Thursday. What starts with "th" that we could go do? I don't know. Port decided he'd like to go to Kangaroo Zoo again, so we'll do that on Thurs. for sure. I've gotta get things planned out for our back to school dinner on Sunday. I know what we're having (my Aunt Jeri's spaghetti-oh it's good!!), but I need to come up with some kind of cute decorations, and maybe a theme. Nie (where I got the idea) always does a theme, and it's not a bad idea. Maybe something along the lines of be a good example or don't give up. I don't know--seems fitting lately. Port is so resistant to learning anything new (tying his shoe, learning how to ride with no training wheels, reading without help). He always says it's hard and he's too little. He wears me out-but I sure love him.

Also...
Bubb is feeling much better! It was a rough couple of days, but we made it, and he's back to normal-thank goodness! I hate when they're sick. They're not themselves, and I miss them!

::a busy day::

So, while we were at the amusement park on Saturday (more on that later),
somebody called on our Tahoe (it's for sale).
They came and looked at it, test drove it, loved it, and are taking it home today.
So yesterday I had to take it in to the dealership to have the air looked at
(it was blowing cold air everywhere but the driver's side vents).

Bubb woke up sick. He threw up a few times. He also couldn't walk. He would just cry any time he had to put any weight on his feet, particularly his right foot. I let it go all morning, and finally called the dr. and got an appointment to take him in at 3:40 because I was worried that he might have broken it while he was running around in the water the day before. I asked Susan if she could come stay with the kids so I didn't have to take them all to the dealership (we've done that a few times before-not fun. Especially with one of them being so sick). I spent about 2 hours at the dealership (they fixed the air), came home, grabbed Bubb, and went to the dr. I spent probably an hour there, and then went over to the hospital for x-rays. That took another hour. Then we came home, Matt took Chloe and Port to her softball game, and then to the store. Then they came home, and then went back out to get some huntin' necessities.

Here's my poor sick baby. He just has a little virus, I guess. He doesn't have any broken bones-thank goodness!! (I felt dumb for going to the dr., but the "what if" feeling was strong enough to make me take him in), and he's walking without a problem today. I hope the sickness goes away just as fast.

And today looks just as busy.
(mechanical inspection for the car, Porter going to a birthday party, Chloe going to a friend's house, Bubb's still sick, sign paper work for the Tahoe, flag football coach's meeting (Matt), Young Men's (Matt), basketball tonight (Matt).
Oh man. I don't have days like these too often, but when I do, I kinda hate them.