Brooke's 8-yr Interview

Age: 8 years

Grade: 3rd

Teacher: Mrs. Moody

Height- 4ft 5"

Weight- 65lbs

Clothes Size- 8/10

Shoe Size- 2

Birthday Theme this year: Monster High

Birthday Gifts: Monster High doll, Monster High Secret journal, Mermaid Lalaloopsy, Goosebumps books, and first day of school outfit (dress, leggings, and bangle bracelets.)

Who is yourBest Friend?  Zoey

What are you afraid of?  Bees

What do you want to be when you grow up? An architect (that is news to me! ;)

What do you want to be for Halloween?  A cat

What do you want for Christmas this year? The Littlest Pet Shop Hotel, Woodzeez Treehouse, Monster
High dolls, the Cleo Ghoulia Playset.




FAVORITES

Color- Pink
Toy-  Stuffed Wolf
Animal: Cats
Food: Mac and cheese
Drink: Cherry
Snack: Animal crackers
Dessert: brownies
Season: Winter
Holiday: Easter
Restaurant: Chili's
Video Game: Kirby
Show: Gravity Falls
Movie: Lego movie
Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Thing to do: Play with toys
Thing to do outside: Swing
Part of school: Reading
Thing to wear: Dresses

What I'm Loving Wednesday

This picture is now my screensaver for the computer. I love how cute the kids look!

I just finished this book. I love Mary Kay Andrews!!

Monday evening Brooke had her first cheer practice of the season. she missed last week's practices since we were at the beach, but she jumped right in like she never missed a thing. They have a new coach this year and are on a new team with older girls. they are learning new dances and cheers. They are learning to do a jump/split in the air, which she has to practice on. At least she is flexible!!

This popped up on my facebook newsfeed yesterday! John Stamos' birthday.. and he turned 51. That man does not age (well badly anyway..) he is sooo sexy. I just gotta say it! ;)

Last night I took the kids to open house night at school to meet their new teachers. Rachel was scared to go into her Kindergarten classroom at first, so I had to convince her. Her teacher and assistant seem really nice! They showed her where her cubby is, and took a picture of her with a toy guitar to put on their wall saying "Royals Rock." She found out one of her best friends from preschool will be in her class too! Then we went to meet Caleb's teacher. Two of his best friends are in his class too, so he is happy. He was a goofball the whole time we were there, and I am seeing why his teacher last year said he was their class clown! Lastly we went to meet Brooke's teacher. She said she would be patient with Brooke and her ADHD stuff. She gave all the students glow bracelets to take home with a note saying "We will have a bright year!" Overall I am very pleased with what I am seeing so far, and I think the kids will have a great year! AND, our school system received a grant over the summer and now ALL kids in the school get FREE lunch AND breakfast! They are looking out for a lot of kids that don't get all their meals, probably, and that is just awesome! 

Today is my wonderful parents' 42nd anniversary! They were married in 1972. It is rare to see people married that long anymore, so it is something to celebrate. They have been a great example of marriage for me to look to over the years. They have had their hard times, sure. They even owned a business together when I was a kid, and I saw them struggle a lot with getting along then. But they made it through and they love each other very much! I am blessed to have them as parents! They are out of town this week on a trip, and I hope they are having a great time!

The day we got home from the beach we spent the day putting everything up and cleaning. we had been using cash from a BB&T envelope during the trip, and still had $200 when we got home. I was going to put that towards school supplies. Well when I was out the next evening I noticed the envelope was missing! I thought maybe I had accidentally thrown it away in the kitchen thinking it was junk so I looked... nothing. Arnold and I tore apart the van and cleaned it well and never found it (at least the van was clean after!) I even was desperate enough to dig through 3 trashbags (one had CAT LITTER in it) and it was sooo nasty. But nope, it wasn't there either. We had just about given up. I was feeling sick on my stomach. Then that evening we looked in the kitchen cabinet and saw the envelope!!! It had gotten stuck between two packages of coffee we brought home and put up in the cabinet. I was sooo relieved. And I think Arnold was a little irritated I had put him through all that.. but hey, he wasn't the one digging in trash!!!! ;)

~Our niece Rebekah had been home schooled last year. This year they decided to put her in public school. They wanted her to go to the same school as our kids, but they weren't in district. So they wrote a letter and paid, and they accepted her! So now the kids have a family member at the school. That will be neat I guess.. and Bekah is trying out cheerleading too, so Brooke gets to see her at all the practices and games.

~Arnold has been working some crazy overtime hours at work this week. He leaves early in the morning and gets home late at night. They have customers from Germany in this week, and he has to do training. Last night he went out with them to a business dinner. He didn't get home until 9pm. I was pretty bummed because I hadn't seen him the whole day-- plus I was exhausted with the kids all day. But then he showed up with a chocolate mousse dessert from the restaurant, so all was forgiven!! ;) It was sooooo yummy!

~I went out shopping the other day and found the kids some cute fall clothes for school. I don't know why that season seems to be the most fun for shopping. I went to Kohl's and got the CUTEST dress, leggings and bracelets for Brooke's first day of school and I am going to wrap it up and give it to her as one of her birthday presents. And speaking of birthday presents, we are going to let her open them a few days early, on saturday, since her birthday this year falls on tuesday, and that is the 2nd day back to school! 

~And for the big news.. I started back to COLLEGE this week!!! My first day was Monday. I go every day but Tuesdays. I have 5 classes, and one is online. So far I have been to my English and Typing class. It is going pretty well so far. I will write a whole post about that later though!!! (so be on the lookout ;)

Edisto Beach Trip 2014!

We got back from our beach trip on Saturday and so I wanted to write a blog to share about our fun times. It is hard to go back and remember exactly what happened on what day and all the details, so I will just write the highlights on here, and share some pictures! 

~We went to Edisto Island in South Carolina. It is a pretty nice beach and way more laid back than a place like Myrtle Beach. There is not a lot to do on the island, it is a more relaxing feel. My parents have a timeshare there, and let us use it for the week. We are so very grateful for that! They picked that place because they LIKE to get away from the craziness! We enjoyed it, even if the grocery store nearby was SMALL and overpriced, ha ;)

~It took us around 4 and a half hours to drive down there. The kids did better than I expected actually. They stayed busy with their electronics and watching Alvin and the Chipmunks on the van's DVD player. We stopped halfway through to get lunch at Applebee's. We got there around 5pm, unpacked, and we got hit with a HUGE storm right away. We went to buy groceries that night to use for the week in our condo.

~The kids LOVED the beach and especially the ocean. well it did take Rachel a little bit to warm up to it, but after she was good. The kids went out there with Arnold everytime, because I am not a big fan on the ocean. Too dirty and too many icky creatures out there! We actually saw FIVE people come screaming from the ocean with jelly fish stings while we were there.. glad it wasn't any of us!

~I enjoyed sitting on the beach in my new chair Arnold got me. I read a new book and people watched on the beach. I also broke the rules a little bit and took grape crush drinks out in glass bottles to drink (my favorite!) but no one found out so it's all good ;) 

~Brooke was so cute on the trip. She was high energy and non stop like usual. Every time we had to leave the ocean she whined she wasn't ready to go. She went around the beach filling up bags of beautiful shells she found. She ended up with 3 bags so full we couldn't hardly carry them. Arnold ended up dumping them all out before we left.. without her knowing. She also made a friend one day on the beach. That girl can make friends anywhere! And her and Rachel enjoyed flying a kite for the first time! :)

~Arnold was a hero twice on the trip. Once a family came out and asked him to take their beach picture for them, that would be that year's Christmas card picture if it turned out good enough. No pressure or anything! ;) Nah, they were really nice. Another time Arnold found a woman's debit card she had dropped and the timing was right that he got it back to her, so I know she was thankful for that!

~We ate out a few times. One was a run down shack but seemed very popular on the island. One was Sea Cow and it's my parent's favorite place to go, so we took the kids there for lunch one day. On our last night there, we went to the waterfront restaurant and got yummy SEAFOOD. I ordered crab legs and enjoyed every last bite! I think I embarrassed Arnold a little bit by just how much I enjoyed them ;) They also had a guy playing guitar there, so Arnold enjoyed that part ;)

~We visited a few stores and a market while we were there. The kids all picked out a souvenir to take home. Brooke got pretty starfish earrings. Rachel got a turtle bracelet. And caleb got a shark tooth. I even got some cute owl earrings! We also went into Charleston one day and went to the Tanger outlets, but the kids were in such a bad mood that day that we didn't stay long or get anything.

~One day we visited a zoo/aquarium type place that was nearby. You could go see alligators up close, turtles and snakes. It was interesting, but it was pretty pricey for what you got! We were done walking around pretty quickly. Rachel was terrified at the alligators at first and started crying. But eventually we got her over to the gate to check them out with us. They even had little babies and a rare white one, which was cool!

~We went to get Italian ice a few times while we were there. I got pina colada flavor every time! I really miss Rita's (our's closed down near us) so I took advantage of getting it whenever I could! ;) We bought ice cream at the grocery store (birthday cake flavor!) and had that at the condo some days. 

~We were supposed to come home Saturday, but Arnold and I thought it would be a smart idea to drive through the evening on Friday instead, and hopefully the kids would sleep. Ha... yeah right. They mostly complained that they were tired but couldn't get comfortable. Arnold ended up getting really grumpy and tired. I was bored because it was dark and I couldn't read. we got home at 1am and we were all VERY ready to go to bed. But at least we had all of Saturday to unpack and clean up.

~We all came home with sunburns. I am pretty white so I think I am showing it the worst! I mostly got it on my upper arms/shoulders and it HURTS. For the first few days it hurt to even get in the shower or  have someone lightly touch my arms. I have been using lots of aloe on the areas! But at least I will have a nice tan... ;) Even if it is sun damage, which isn't good :(

Arnold was a fun daddy and buried them all in the sand! 

We got some beautiful pics in front of the ocean! I know I will treasure them!

Playing out in the ocean with daddy!

This time Caleb was REALLY buried. He needed help getting out!

An afternoon treat at the candy shop. We had italian ice!

Even if it's a little messy and lopsided, I like this picture of all our flip flops together on the beach :)

A sweet older man offered to take a family pic of us when he noticed us taking lots of pictures of our kids on the beach. I am glad we got this one!

Arnold tried to teach the kids to play putt putt. None of them stuck with it very long!

But they enjoyed climbing on the big turtle they had there!

Brooke showing off her new starfish earrings she picked out at the market.

She is looking so grown up lately! She will be 8 in a week!

Caught them in a rare, sweet moment. No fighting! ;)

They interrupted my picture taking to be silly! 

Love this one! caleb took it. We were looking out on the ocean on our last evening there.

This was the entrance of the place we stayed.. called Marsh Point. It was a pretty nice condo. We had a screened in deck. we only had one bedroom so the kids slept on the pull out couch. We had a lot of late nights, for sure!

Checking out the alligators! We were pretty close up!

Love this picture of the kids! It's my new screensaver!

Brooke picking out beautiful shells on the beach.

Caleb's 7-yr Interview

~CALEB AT 7 YEARS OLD~

Grade going into: 2nd

Height: 4 ft 2

Weight: 56 lbs

Clothes Size: 7/8

Shoe Size: 13

Party theme this year: Super Mario

Gifts this year: Ninja turtles action figures set, talking Darth Vader, Spiderman, Max Steel action figure.

Bday Dinner choice this year: Mellow Mushroom

Sleeps with every night: Perry, Bunny, and Spiderman pillow

Best Friend: Ryan

What are you afraid of? "The dark"

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A policeman"

What do you want to be for Halloween this year? "Leonardo from Ninja Turtles"

What do want for Christmas this year? "A 3DS and a storm trooper walking robot"

~FAVORITES~

Color-blue

Toy- ninja turtles

Animal: leopard

Food: pizza

Drink: koolaid

Snack: chips

Dessert: brownies

Season: winter

Holiday:Easter

Restaurant: O' Charleys

Game: sneaky snacky squirrel

Video game: lego star wars

Show: Ninja turtles

Movie: Ninja Turtles

Book: pop up star wars book

Thing to do: color

Thing to do outside: ride bike

Part of school: reading

Thing to wear: graphic tshirts

A Letter to Caleb at 7 Years

Dear Caleb,

7 years ago we were getting ready to meet you. I went to the doctor early in the week and they told me that you were breech! They said I could either go in for a c-section or try an external version (flipping you from the outside) and then induce. I chose to try the version, so I could try to do natural birth like I had with your sister. Thursday morning the 8th of August, 2007, we checked into the hospital bright and early. Two strong male doctors got to work on my tummy, manipulating you until you finally FLIPPED! And YES it HURT badly.. but it was so worth it to have a normal birth. Your daddy was actually given the task to "hold onto you" while they started the induction process, so you wouldn't flip around again! We should have known you'd be a stubborn little fella from the very beginning ;) I labored the entire day, I guess you didn't want to leave the warm comfort you were used to living in. I walked up and down the halls with your Grandma and Great Grandpa, trying to speed things along. Then FINALLY at 6:35 PM that evening, you were born. You came out screaming, and proceeded to pee right on your daddy's foot! (I don't think he minded though) You were 7lbs, way smaller than Joseph and Brooke had been, so we were very surprised. Everything we brought with us was way too small for you! We sent Grandma out for some preemie clothes to get you through the beginning of life! You had tiny little chicken legs and your tiny feet wouldn't stay in ANY socks we tried. You were mostly bald, with just a tiny bit of fuzz on top. So you were then affectionally nicknamed "Fuzz Head." You also earned the titles of "Tiny Baby" and "Bobo" (from Brooke, who couldn't even say "brother" yet!" We STILL call you Bobo to this day.. but we mean it with love :)

You have really grown into an amazing little boy. You look just like your daddy. I mean seriously, like a teeny version of him. Your hair has become a bright blonde, and your eyes have stayed blue. You still have tiny legs, and are pretty skinny. But you still love to eat! Recently you have gone through a growth spurt and shot up tall, and you eat anything you can get your hands on. Somehow we lucked out and you got my "perfect" teeth and haven't had a cavity thus far, even though your sisters have already had several!

You are sensitive and thoughtful. You can get into some serious moods-- laughing one minute, then crying or screaming the next. Your dad says you are the most like me, because of the moods ;) You are the most helpful of all my kids, always doing what I ask you to do (and usually not complaining about it!) You are so sweet being a big brother to Rachel, trying to help her do things like put on her shoes or watch out for her safety. Sometimes it comes across as bossiness, but I know you mean well :)

You love doing little things with your hands. You are JUST like your daddy in that sense. You like putting things together and taking them apart. You love legos and ask for lego sets on just about every holiday and special occasion. You sit calmly and read the directions and work on that creation until it is finished! You are very into detail and like things to look right. You also love superheros and have since you were really small. We redid your room to a Superhero theme this past year, complete with bright walls and superhero curtains and sheets. Your favorites are Iron Man and Hulk. You also really enjoy watching movies and love to go to "guy movies" with your dad or Paw. Daddy eats it up that you love the same things he used to. He even gave you a big box of his old toys this year. Complete with GI Joes, action figures, Jeeps, and more. That was really hard for him to part with but he wanted you to have them!

You just finished up the 1st grade. The teacher told us you were their Class Clown, and I'd believe it! You like to be silly and make up silly little dances you do to entertain us. She said you were especially flirty with a little girl in your class. Little girls love to follow you around and think you are just adorable (your mom agrees!) You really excelled in reading this year, and were above level on that. You earned several AR reader awards. That made me proud because you know your Mama loves reading! You do well at other things too, and you seem to have a knack for drawing. Once again with the details.. you are very careful and make sure your picture is perfect before you are finished!

You used to be a very shy and attached little boy who clung to his parents, but I think you have really come out of your shell lately. You made a lot of friends at school and even had a "girlfriend" for awhile this past year, even though you didn't like me to talk about it because it made you turn red :) You say this coming year you are looking forward to being in the art club at school. We tried to get you interested in sports but so far you have been too "shy" but we are going to keep trying in the future!

Your daddy and I are very proud of you and are so blessed to be your parents. We know you are the middle child and squished in the middle of two sisters so it is hard sometimes to be around all that drama and girliness, but maybe that will make you more sensitive as you grow up. Your future wife will thank me for that! ;) We hope you have an amazing year of being 7 and we can't wait to see what the year brings. We love you little Bobo! :)

Caleb's 1st Birthday

Calebs 2nd Birthday

Caleb at 4 years

Caleb at 5 years

Caleb at 6 years

Caleb Now

Weekend in Review

This weekend was a busy one! We did a lot of celebrating! Friday evening when Arnold got off work we met him at Mellow Mushroom for dinner. It's one of our fave places to go. When we were done there we went to buy the girls their bookbags for school. They still had the promotion going on, so they got free lunchboxes like Caleb did! Rachel chose Frozen, and I am glad she was able to find it, because a lot of stores are out of the Frozen stuff! Brooke chose Monster High but it is a black bookbag with some pink accents and doesn't really look "little kid" so I liked it. I can't believe she is going into 3rd grade! We still had a little bit of time to kill so we took the girls to get their haircuts. They needed them before school anyway. Brooke had been wanting to get her's cut pretty short, and Rachel loves to copy Brooke, so she did too. I was a little worried at first, but they look so cute with the shorter hair, and there are no more fights now when I have to brush it! Win-win! When we got home that night Arnold and I spent the whole evening cleaning and working on party projects. Unfortunately with bad weather we had to move Brooke and Caleb's party to our house, so we had to get everything set up and ready.

Saturday morning we got ready and basically spent all morning getting stuff ready and setting up for the party. Arnold's parents let us borrow one of their folding tables so we'd have more room to set up the food. We went by the store to get a few balloons. And Arnold was sweet and cleaned and swept up our carport so the kids would have room to run around. We had the party at 1pm and we had a crowd of about 30 or so friends and family there. It was waaaay too much for our house, but we somehow made it work. The party was low-key, but the kids still had fun. We had Monster High and Mario snacks. The kids ran around outside and played together. We went old school and played pin the tail on the donkey ;) The adults mostly sat around and talked. Then the kids blew out the candles on their cupcakes and opened their presents. They got some awesome stuff! Lots of art kits and school stuff, some legos sets to put together, DS games, cash, and giftcards for sweet frog and the movies. They were asking me if they could go THEN to use them.. haha. As a matter of fact, Caleb is going on Friday to see the new Ninja Turtles movie with Arnold for his birthday, and he can't wait!!

After the party died down we cleaned up the mess.... a house can get messy REALLY quickly with that many people in it! The kid sorted out all their gifts and started to play with some things. Brooke put together her first little lego set by herself, so she was proud :) Then we decided to go out to Walmart to exchange one of Brooke's DS games, since she had gotten duplicates from her grandparents. She got 2 copies of Lego Friends, and she traded one out for Monster High. They also had walmart giftcards from their great Grandpa, and some cash, so we let them pick out stuff. We kept telling them to save their cash for our beach trip, but they were set on getting something. Caleb picked out another DS game (Transformers) and Brooke picked out a new monster high doll. Brooke only had a few dollars left, so she picked out some skittles at the checkout line. Caleb picked out a Slim Jim (why, I don't know?? but it made him happy! ha!) Each kid went through the self-checkout themselves and paid for it with their own money and thought that was awesome. Brooke and Caleb even brought their new wallets out with them :) 

That evening we went out to the new Orange Leaf grand opening because they were supposed to be having all sorts of deals and special things going on, but it was PACKED when we got there, so we just went on home. We were pretty tired after that long day, anyway. The kids had fun playing their new DS games and Arnold and I had fun RESTING!!!! :)

I have to brag on Arnold... Sunday I wasn't feeling too well, had some stomach issues and sinus issues. I was supposed to work in the baby class at church. But he went and took my place! Now that he is an approved volunteer for the kids, he was able to do that. Thank goodness he went, because I heard they had about 10 or 12 kids under 3 years in there! Several people commented on how well he did with the kids, and he was welcome back anytime ;) I am soooo glad it went well, although I missed my little guys and gals! After church he brought some lunch home for all of us. That afternoon he did a lot of yardwork and mowing that needed to be done. I was able to get a lot of rest in on Sunday. He is such an awesome husband and I really appreciate how much he helps me when I really need it! :)

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!!!!

The girls after they got their haircuts

My friend Crystin got this for me! It is a decal for my van. Isn't it adorable? There are even little pink bows to put on the girl owls and a blue baseball cap to put on Caleb's owl. She got it for my birthday but missed going to my dinner, so she gave it to me at the kids' party. I LOVE IT!!!! :)

We bought this plain gold balloon and Arnold drew eyes on it to look like a Mario star!

The kids blowing out their candles! You can see how crowded our kitchen was!

I made these "piranha plants" out of grapes and strawberries, to go along with the Mario theme :)

I also made these dipped oreos and "Mario Mustaches" as treats for the party. They were a big hit!

Joanne and I take selfies every single time we get together! ;)

Opening their gifts. Caleb was into reading his cards ;)