First Day of School

The Thursday before school started, the kids got to meet their teacher. Seven is in Kindergarten. He looked so proud to get his picture taken with Ms. Brewer.

Piper is in third grade this year. Her teacher is Mrs. Ballard.

Finn's face injury from earlier that day looked worse when it was time to meet his teacher, Mrs. Nuttall. 

A few days later, the big day arrived...The First Day of School!!! Seven's lunch box is Darth Vader's face, but you may not be able to tell by the picture.

Piper loves this shirt! So, she decided to wear it on the first day of school.

Finn's not a morning person. Can't say that I blame him, I'm not either. So, this was the best I got before he went to school that day. 

Bad Day

A few weeks ago, we had a cold front and a couple of the mornings were quite pleasant. I took this opportunity to enjoy the cooler weather with the kids and spend some time outside. Piper, Finn, and Seven rode their bikes, while Rilian and I walked Tymbre, our Siberian Husky. Well, Rilian ran and hopped half the time. He doesn't really walk. He loves to hop! We were less than a block from the house when Finn got off his bike and face planted on the street! He got up and was screaming crying. His face was covered with dirt, leaves, and blood. We went home as quick as we could. I was so glad that Jeremy happened to be home to help. When there is a larger quantity of blood on my children, I prefer to let someone else handle it. Jeremy got Finn's face cleaned up and this is the result. Poor Finn! AND that night just happened to be "Meet the Teacher". What a face to meet your teacher with! I should have taken a picture of his face before we cleaned it up, with all the dirt and blood, but I didn't think of it.

Finn was pretty traumatized by his accident, so I went to Redbox to get a couple of movies for him to just relax and watch. I had forgotten that once we got home from his fall, we had just left the bikes in the driveway, instead of putting them away in the garage. I wasn't too concerned about the bikes. I just wanted to make sure Finn was ok and had planned on putting the bikes away after Finn was taken care of. Well, I was backing our Tahoe out of the garage and heard a different sound. I stopped the Tahoe and kinda looked around, but didn't really see anything. Then I backed up again and heard the sound again. I put it in park and got out. I thought maybe I had scrapped the side of it on the garage while I was backing out. It's kind of a tight fit. Then I saw what had happened!

I had totally forgotten about leaving the bikes in the driveway and had backed over one of Piper's training wheels! Ugh! At least it was JUST a training wheel and not the whole bike! Oh, well...she needs to learn to ride without them anyway.

Rilian and Fluffy

Arrrrrrggg!

Oh, that's not a pirate! It's Rilian, with Fluffy sitting on his shoulder. I'm not sure what it is, but lately, Rilian has developed more of an interest in Fluffy. 

When we first got Fluffy, I let Fluffy out of his cage during the day. But then one day, it took me WAY longer than I had time to spend to catch him and put him back in his cage. I don't leave him out when I leave the house. For one, I don't want him to fly out the door when we come home. And two, we have a fish tank and Fluffy has fallen in twice. If I hadn't been there to rescue him, he would have drowned. So, when Fluffy stopped willingly letting me put him back in his cage during the day, he lost his daytime freedom privileges. I started letting him out in the evening, after dinner. 

We recently moved. Fluffy's cage is now located in a different room. If you don't know anything about parakeets, they do not fly when it is dark. Well, the room that Fluffy's cage is in now, is a darker room. In the evening, around the time when I would normally let him out, that room is apparently too dark for him to want to come out of his cage. So, I have started letting him out during the day again. Perhaps, this is why Rilian has shown more interest in Fluffy. Since Fluffy is out during the day more, Rilian has more time to interact with him.

The Splash Pad

The whole town has been awaiting the much anticipated Splash Pad opening this summer. I didn't want to go at first because I figured it would be too crowded to enjoy. But I got up the courage one cloudy day and took my four kiddos. It wasn't too bad. I don't know if it is always like that or if it was just because it was cloudy.

Rilian really loved jumping in the water!

 Piper and Finn (hidden behind the yellow pole) were having fun, too.

Seven is off in the distance by the orange pole, wearing an orange shirt. Rilian was still splashing around. 

Seven trying to duck under the water.

 

It might look like there wasn't alot of water right here, but watch... 

The kids were waiting for it to POUR! 

 And as it slowly dwindled, they followed it. Except Rilian. He really doesn't like getting water in his eyes.

Then the water turns off again. It was really fun to watch this sequence over and over again and hear the kids scream in excitement! Rilian was still coming toward me to get his eyes dried. 

 This was much more Rilian's speed. He splashed and slapped this water for a long time.

 Rilian found another smaller fountain to splash in. Seven is in the background in his orange shirt chatting it up with a girl.

More splashing and slapping of the fountain. Rilian LOVED it! 

Then he found one nearby to stand in. Piper came over by him and found a smaller one to slap, too. 

Have I mentioned how much Rilian loved to splash the water that was shooting up?

 

My kids had fun at the Splash Pad, even though they complained that it was cold. Perhaps, we'll find a sunny day to go and they will enjoy it even more!

Piper's Glasses

Piper got glasses for real this time. Do you remember this? Well, she decided she didn't like those, so she found another fake pair she liked...

After the "coolness" of wearing her fake glasses wore off, she started complaining about things looking blurry from a distance. She just started her 3rd grade year at school. However, she got her glasses last month. (I am still behind in my posting). I was in 3rd grade when I got my first pair of glasses. But to spare us all, I will not show you a picture. It was SEVERAL years ago, and well, let's just say the styles were not what they are today. 

I made Piper an appointment at the eye doctor. The eye doctor concluded she does need glasses. Piper got to pick out her glasses. This is what she picked. It was a little windy that day.

This is a side view. I like the touch that the flowers add. 

Baby Bunnies

My mom and step-dad live outside of the city limits. My mom has LOTS of flowers. If you are not aware, bunnies LOVE to eat flowers. My mom loves her flowers, so she does not like the bunnies eating them. My step-dad was mowing the yard one day and mowed right over two baby bunnies in their nest. They were so deep into the grass that the lawn mower blades did not touch them! They thought my kids would like to see them, so they put them in a cage and brought them for a visit. They were so tiny! Those are Rilian and Seven's fingers touching the baby bunnies in the cage.

They really wanted to hold them, so we took them out and let them. The one Rilian is holding peed on him. I think it scared Rilian and he didn't really want to hold it anymore after that. Can't say that I blame him. 

The bunnies seemed so comfortable being held. 

I guess this was before the bunny peed on him.

 So cute and tiny!

My kids wanted to keep the baby bunnies, but I decided it was best for them to live somewhere else. They were released at a park, away from my mom's flowers, to live happily ever after.