Last Day of Summer Break 2012

School starts for the kids tomorrow.  Brendan starts Kindergarten and Lindsey is entering the 3rd grade.  I went to meet their teachers last night and overall I think they are both going to have a great year.  I LOVE Bren's teacher.  She is so energetic and has the most awesome southern accent.

I also start classes on Saturday.  Yes Saturday.  I have an 8:30am class.  I am so nervous about this semester.  Will I do as good?  Did I only do good because my teachers were easy?  So many things going through my head, but I just have to believe.  I WILL DO GOOD.  I WILL GET INTO NURSING SCHOOL.  I can't help but be a little nervous though.

I will go into more about the kids tomorrow, but for now I will show you what we did to celebrate the last day of no school.  Lindsey has this cute Ameilia Bedelia book that I bought for her at a book fair last year.

It has an apple pie recipe in it, and we happened to have the stuff... well, most of the stuff... to make it.

The kids helped me cut and pour.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of mess.  Hopefully it tastes good.  I am not a great pie maker.  I definitely don't make a pretty pie.  I like baking at home, but have NEVER aspired to do it professionally.  I am just not artistic enough.

... and here is the finished product.  The color and quality is different because I took this one with my son's iPod on IG which is 3 mp compared to the 8 mp of my Windows Phone...

I hope that you all were able to enjoy your summer break and do something special before it comes to an end.  I am so ready for the fall.  When am I not?  I love everything about the fall.  My favorite holiday being Thanksgiving and I really like Halloween.  I love pumpkins, apples, and cider.  I love the crisp cool air with that fall smell.  I love how happy I am in the fall.  I love sweaters and jackets and pretty leaves.  Yes.  I am ready.

Summer Bucket List - Swimming

1. Silver Dollar City
2. Photo Outing
3. Late Movie Night
4. Swimming
5. The Park

The grand finale folks.  Swimming.  It was actually weird, because we have been up into the high 80's and low 90's lately, and today was the day it chose to be in the upper 60's... definitely not swimming weather.  So we went to the indoor pool at the Ozark Community Center.  In there it is usually kept at 80 degrees room air and the pool itself is usually around that temp as well... Well.  Today was when the boilers weren't functioning properly to keep the pool warm.  Our babies were close to getting hypothermia.  Oh well.  Fun was had.

P.S.  My good friend Becca came along with her daughter Selah.  I am LAME and didn't get any pictures of them!  I didn't realize this until I was going through the photos to post.  SORRY BECCA!  I was so super glad to get to spend some time with you and I hope that your sciatic pain was relieved a little by the cold swimming pool water ha. (she's pregnant and getting the sciatic nerve pain... bah!)

 Lindsey was bummed that we had to leave. :(

That concludes my Summer Bucket List.  Tomorrow I meet the kid's teachers and drop off school supplies.  Wednesday night we will go to church, and then Thursday morning is the big day!  SCHOOL STARTS SOON!  Summer wind down to begin effective immediately.

Hope you all enjoyed your summer.

Summer Bucket List - Photo Outing

1. Silver Dollar City
2. Photo Outing
3. Late Movie Night
4. Swimming
5. The Park

Today we marked yet another thing off of our Summer Bucket List.  We went on our photo outing.  We walked the Galloway Trail over by the old bridge by I-60.  We had a lot of fun, even though the kids started pooping out after just 20 minutes ha ha ha.

I took my 50D and the kids took along their iPods.  Seriously had vision of one of them dropping their iPods into the river below, but THANKFULLY that didn't happen. ha.  Enjoy.

 This a series of photos I like to call "Bren hit the wall"

ha ha ha.  moving right along.

And that takes us back to the bridge.

Here are a few that the kids took.

Lindsey took these two...

and Bren took this one...

That concludes our photo outing.  If you stuck around for all of the photos... you get a virtual high five (I totally need to make a "virtual high five" photo/graphic for such occasions as this.)

Summer Bucket List - Silver Dollar City

1. Silver Dollar City
2. Photo Outing
3. Late Movie Night
4. Swimming
5. The Park

We are taking care of business.  Silver Dollar City is marked off the list too.  This has been fun, and I will likely do a Summer Bucket List every summer.  It forces you to get out and have a fun time and make your summer go out on a high note.

Silver Dollar City was awesome.  We went with my parents and had a blast.  I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were too busy riding rides, getting soaked, and just having fun.  We rode Thunderation, The Swings, The Tom Sawyer wet ride, let the kids run wild in the kids area, ate a funnel cake with my dad, Got some salt water taffy and called it a day.  It was so crowded that it took a long time to ride rides, but it was fun anyway.  The weather was mild and everyone was having a great time.  Here are some pictures I snapped with my phone.

Bren is not one to stop and take pictures ha ha ha!  What a horrible face he made, the stink!

 Oooopse!  ha ha ha... Accidentally took this one! ha.

 My dad snapped this.  We look awkward, I just wanted to be on Avery's level ha!

 Lindsey!

 BREN! and my mom's hand!

 Thunderation!

 Salt Water Taffy!

The End.

P.S.  Mom and Dad, if you read this, Thank you so much for an awesome time.  Thank you mom for buying our food!  Thank you Dad for taking baby duty while we road rides!  You are the best parents (grandparents) EVER!

Summer Bucket List - Late Movie Night

1. Silver Dollar City
2. Photo Outing
3. Late Movie Night
4. Swimming
5. The Park



The kids and I vegged out on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watched How to Train Your Dragon Legends and an episode of Ant Farm.  It was a great night and we didn't get to bed until 11pm!  Then in bed we vegged out a little more playing on our electronic devices ha ha ha.