the jailhouse rocked

Sunday night the kids of the church we attend (my dad's church) including my kids were in a play called 'Jailhouse Rock". they'd been practicing for months and months and they did GREAT! it's amazing how kids know to turn it on at the right time. practices were okay but the live performance was awesome! Cameron even had a little part. he was the frog for one of the songs the kids sang. again, he wasn't very into it during practice but he nailed it on Sunday! the second video shows Cameron giving the first few rows a show of their own. he danced and danced the entire show... he was @ most practices so he knew the songs just as well as everyone else :o)

fields of yellow

we live next to an old dairy farm. they currently rent it out to farmers who use it to grow vegetation. last year they grew corn and this year it's soybeans. until recently i preferred the corn because at least we could walk through it. however, this week the soybeans have turned a bright beautiful yellow...

R is for Reading

as you can see we have too many books. i guess this is a good problem to have and while Mayden's not exactly reading yet she is making major steps and getting very close to basic reading. i'm pretty sure she'll be reading easy books before she turns 5. is anyone surprised? no, didn't think so. she's been an overachiever ever since the day she was born!

right now she easily recognizes the word "No" when i'm reading to her. she'll jump ahead and say "No, what?" she's also able to spell her name, Elmo, mom, dad and knows most of the sounds each letter makes. i've been really enjoying reading with her before bed, it's amazing watching it all come together for her. she's getting so excited about it and so am i! i'm dreaming of car rides where she can just bring along a book and read to herself during the trip... silence!??!

baby #3

don't get too excited! while i'm sure i will love this little one just as much as my own.... she (or maybe he) is technically not my own. my sister is due with her baby near the end of November and i can't wait for this bundle to get here! i can't wait for the look on Danica's face when she realizes how effing hard being a new mother is --haha-- but mostly i can't wait to spoil this child! i dream of much holding, loving, buying cute things (already done), new baby smelling... and then giving her BACK to her parents while i get a full nights sleep :o) i finally get to know the joy of being an aunt!

are you ready for some football? (again)

WE ARE!!

remember these football fans!?!

so cool for school

this morning Miss Mayden Rae started her second year of preschool. she has a different teacher, a different classroom, a different class time... AND SHE LOVES IT! this girl was made for school. as you may or may not know we've been thinking about & researching alternative schooling options for our kids. homeschooling/ unschooling is a very appealing direction for our family. i'm still very unsure weather or not i'll put her in a traditional school setting come next year but for now we're right at home with this 2.5 hours a day, 3 days a week thing we have going on at Stepping Stones

in fact i've taken on a mini job at her school, i'm the new AM nursery worker. parents are required to help in the classroom every once in awhile and i will be caring for any younger siblings during those hours. were talking probably 30-40 hours a MONTH... but it's better than nothing!

below is my weapon of choice for the school year. i refuse to have a winter like last years. we were all so sick for like a month straight... ugh! i'm going to do my best to fight the good fight but i need more foam and i'm having a hard time locating any!

garden update

today i picked our very first tomatoes... i realize i'm a little behind. i was late with planting plus it was so cold in June that i kind of just thought everything would be pushed back a month. but alas the cold is already here again so i'm not sure how much we'll get out of the 'maters this year.

we re plated zucchini in August in hopes of having another crop. they look good now and generally grow very rapidly but again, i'm not sure how much fall weather they can take. we also have spinach and lettus in the ground and slowly appearing. i'll need to give another update in the near future.

our neighbors very large garden is much more impressive! they've been doing this for awhile and i'm only in my second year sooooo i have a lot to learn from them. they added hanging Winter Melon this year.... seems like it's worked out really well. last time i counted there were 12!!

fall weather already!?!

since the day before we left Ocean City it hasn't been above 83 degrees. we haven't seen the sun since Saturday and the next two days are calling for ran. you know what that means... FALL! i was kind of hoping since summer got such a late start that we'd have a late start with fall as well. no such luck! i do love fall however, i know what comes next: winter, snow, cold, coats, colds, boogers, vomit, fevers, socks, boots, gloves that no on wants to wear... the list goes on. i am trying not to think about all of that and focus on the fun at hand.

wearing pants and finding leaves

vacation: family!

and lastly i leave you with some pictures of the most important part of the whole trip... family!

to see allllllll the pictures click here.

vacation: the fun on the beach

we all loved being just a short walk from the beach. some days we made it there for the morning rush and other days we moseyed on over to the beach around 4 or 5. Mayden loved the water while Cameron preferred to spend his time in the sand. our early mornings or late evenings walks when most people were off of the beach were my favorite times. so beautiful & peaceful! i can't believe people would choose not to be on the beach at those times... but i guess i shouldn't complain because if they were there i probably wouldn't have loved it so much.

May got very good at jumping those waves. only once did she get taken under and boy did she regret that!

our last day was a rainy one. even so, the beach was so lovely with the dark clouds surrounding.