::our OWN back to school night::

We had a special back to school dinner (thanks to Nie- such a great way to make going back to school special for the kids) in honor of Chloe's first day tomorrow and Porter's next Tuesday.

Ours was less fancy...

we made some cheesestick pencils...

We also had homemade mac & cheese (thanks to Paula Deen, y'all!!), veggies, pencils, rolls, Kool-Aid, and brownies for dessert.

Nothin' too fancy, just some of the kids' faves.

I know what you're thinking...

...I should be a model, right?? haha

We ate and talked about school, food, Grandma Kitty, and probably some things that shouldn't be discussed at the dinner table...

...which brought on this face...

We all enjoyed the food...

...and the silliness.

We're glad to have had our first annual family back to school dinner. We're excited (and some of us (me) are scared) about school starting, and can't wait 'til tomorrow.

::date::

Tonight, we went here

for a couple of 1 hour Swedish massages.

And it was heavenly!

Then we ate dinner

(seems like we are eating here a lot, huh? Matt didn't get to go last time, and he wanted to try it)

Then we headed up to Grandma Snowman's

to pick up the babies...

...but not before a little 4 wheeler ride ;)

Thanks so much for babysitting, Grandma, Papa, & Jennie.

We sure love ya!

::bed head::

This...

is something I get to see every morning,

and I love it.

Don't you??

::Porter said...::

"Mom, there's

a snake in

the weeds!!"

I run over to see ...

...his little toy snake.

silly boy.

::B2S::

Mom and the kids and I went school shopping yesterday (and I'm SO glad mom came-it would've been really hard without her). It was a LONG day. It was literally shop 'til you drop! The kids did pretty good. Nuggie got a little tired and sick of his stroller, but he even did pretty good. Chloe and Portie are little clothes horses (I don't know where they get that from ;) )!

The "fruits of our labors"...

...and there's more coming (from the .coms).

Did I get a little carried away?? I'm just glad Matt wasn't around to witness it.

After all our hard work, we had dinner here...

...and it was goooooooood.

::girlfriends::

It's always fun to get together--especially when we go for so long without seeing eachother. We met for lunch at Cheesecake (of course) and talked about kids, family, Texas, and lots of other stuff.

Amanda came all the way from Texas for a singing tryout and BYU education week, and it was fun to see her and catch up after so long. We've all known her since we were around 6-ish years old. Now we're all grown up with husbands and kids around that same age.

Sarah, Carrie, Amanda, and Me :)

Thanks for the visit, Mandy! Good luck with everything :)

...and a special thanks to Grandma Snowman, Papa Snowman, and Jennie for taking the 3 babies all day :)

::camp out::

Last night we had a "camp out" in the living room...

we piled up a bunch of blankets and pillows and camped out downstairs...

we watched this movie...

(it's an old movie, I know, but I want them to get to know these before the 3rd one comes out next summer)

...and Portie and Chloe were WAY excited!

the end

::all soak-ed::

Matt had to check the sprinklers...

...and the kids got all "soak-ed"

Portie's sho-ehts got so soak-ed that they fell down!

::one of those days::

Yep, it's been one of those days...

them...
"give that back, he took his tractor away, i had it first, he scratched me, she pushed me, don't touch me, he did it, she did it, I didn't, stop it, can I, can you, can we, you're mean, you're rude, I don't want to, waaaaaaaaaaah"

me...

"sit down, give it back, share, pick those up, stop jumping, don't do that, don't touch that, don't yell at me, we're not buying that, put that back, don't open that, get outta there, don't, sssshhhhhhhhhhh"

all


day


long


!!!!!!!!!

::fimming lessons::

We just finished up 4 weeks of swimming lessons...

Their first session...

Chloe: back float, front crawl, circle arms, bobs, treasure hunt

Porter: kicking, getting his face wet, picking up "treasure" off the bottom of the pool, lots of games

Their second session...

Chloe: (advanced to level 3!!) treading water, elementry back stroke, refining level 2 skills

Porter: (level 1 again) lots of games, head COMPLETELY under water!!, kicking, back floating, more treasure hunts

They both did SO great!

Porter, especially after his first session, really warmed up to the water. He didn't even want to swim at first, and by the end of his second session, he was going completely under the water, and he didn't get mad when he got splashed (which is a pretty big deal:) ).

Chloe advanced from level 2 to level 3. She is a fish! When I tell her that, she corrects me and says she's a mermaid. Either way, she's a great swimmer! Her teacher in level 3 (a class full of mostly 8 year olds) kept saying "I can't believe she's only 5!!"

Next time (next summer)Port will move up to level 2 and Chloe will do one more session of level 3.

Some of us are really sad swimming lessons are over, but Coopie and I are kinda glad...

...see his red cheeks?? (this pic was right after swimming lessons yesterday)

It's pretty hot just sitting there watching (and wishing we could swim too ;) ).

We're proud of those two...glad they're getting comfortable in the water...they can't wait to take lessons again next summer :)