School's in Session!

Kind of crazy to think that summer is over already. Luke was actually READY to go back, and you know when Luke says he wants school to start, that there's no need to worry about the kids having played enough this summer. :) They certainly had a good break. Here are the kids on their first day. (Notice Luke...smiling!)

Then a few days later it was the Maia's turn to go to school with everyone else. Look at those tears...she was sooo going to miss me.

All of them ready.

This is what the girls call "The Bat Cave". Well, this and the garage. :) If you can't tell we're on a Batman phase...for now.

As you can see, it's really nothing special but there are bugs and pine cones so it's cool enough.

Here she is getting on the bus. The bus driver had to stop her and make her turn around for me or I'd have never gotten a picture! She was fast!

Sitting with Luke and waving bye to Mom and Dad. Again, she looks torn up about it, don't you think?

Yeah, it's me. ALONE. Ready to cry but smiling for the picture. I still had Casey that day but today I'm REALLY alone...and blogging. Hey, at least I'm blogging!

Note to self: Give your kids a hug and remember how fast they grow up!

Giant Bubbles!!!

It was so funny to see these pictures progress! The girls were so excited about the giant bubbles that they were jumping and squealing the whole time they were outside. I have to admit, those where some BIG bubbles, but that wasn't near as fun as watching the girls enjoy them! :)

Happy Birthday Katie Belle!!!

Yep. She's 7 years old. And the dentist even knows it now. "That's great," said the dentist. "You have a big cavity on your molar! Happy Birthday." Coralie says that is what he said... more or less.

And this was her reaction.

Just kidding, that was her reaction to her cake. It didn't make it to the "You Gotta Taste This" blog for lack of frosting and lame candles that we keep forgetting to buy. The cake was straight out of the oven and so the frosting would have melted... like the candles did when we stuck 'em in the cake. Coralie didn't even want to take a picture of it, she was so ashamed. How Cute! But, the cake is already there to check out if you want some GOOD chocolate. Now on to the pictures.

My job was fun. All I did was whack any kid with a wrapping paper tube who didn't cheer for the presents. It was a nice piece of tube too. With the proper snap technique and kids were more enthusiastic than ever.
Katie Belle got several things from a letters from the cousins to a magnifying glass. See?

Nail stuff for girls.

Tattoos of Dora the Explorer

Gift Cards

And her most coveted item... a "Rose" colored DS. Daddy was even good enough to show her how it works. Aww... what a good dad.

It was a long a tiresome day. To show you how good Katie Belle is, the day was supposed to be a private day for her and mom. Coralie wanted to take her to the movies, a lunch, and go fishing but instead she wanted to take everyone swimming (again), bowling, and to McDonald's for dinner. So we compromised and decided on swimming and McDonald's. Tomorrow will be fishing and a week after that bowling.

She is a bright ray of sunshine for us all and we have been really fortunate to have her with us for these seven years. It has been nothing but an adventure and spontaneous fun. WE LOVE YOU KATIE BELLE!!!!! HAPPY SEVEN!!!!

Finally... A Swim day.

Yep, there she is... sexy as ever. I'll admit it, my wife is hot!She would like to disagree respectfully because she is a woman. What is is with all of you? Can't you accept that you may be, yes, just may be attractive to your guy? Get over yourselves. WE LIKE YOU. But even if you don't change, (which you won't), we will still love you.

Today's cutie was Katie Belle. All the pics of her turned out great. You'll see why.

Sadie continues to think that goggles bring out her eyes and, well....
they do.

The only cool picture of Luke was him getting hosed.

He and Sadie are pretty much best friends. They do everything together.
This type of friendship has been wonderful to watch. They really do get along and love to just hang out around each other. I never would have thought that they could have pulled it off. Luke has needed "normal" conversations from someone other than Mom and Dad. He can't get it from Katie Belle because she still has to show us what normal is for her. Maia is too much a party animal and a crazy tornado. Every word from her is a fightin' word. But Sadie can at least talk even if she is moody.

Maia is cute as always.

But in the end, Katie Belle steals the show as the cutest.

Gotta love her.

They did this for about 15 minutes.

What big eyes you have...

It was worth it. We hadn't gone swimming all summer long and I caved to the pressure from Coralie. What kid doesn't swim in the summer? At least that was Coralie's question. BTW, if you want to see me, you'll have to search all of these pictures to find me. Yes, I am in 1. Let's see if you can find me. Hint: NICE CALVES!

This is for Mom...

Just wanted to show you what I made from the pattern you left me, Mom. I had a baby shower to go to and made this as my gift. It turned out so cute! I was especially proud since I had to modify the pattern...myself. =)

Katie Belle is so cute!

This is Katie Belle's version of living "The American Dream." We are so proud of her initiative. Talk about self motivated. Check out her "Croshaye Store".

Notice the $.10 "color" option, a real plus if I say.

Her first client was Jerachi.

Jerachi ordered two light blue earrings, one pink necklace, and a dark blue bracelet.

I ordered a dark blue bracelet and got choker for my arm.

Jerachi owes her $.90 and I owed her $.15. I gave her a quarter. Katie Belle was pumped! I still don't know where Jerachi is going to get her money from in this economy. LOL.

The Amazing Race... kind of.

Casey bloggin' here. On the 2nd this August, Luke had a pack meeting wherein this months bragging rights were all based around the immortal SPACE DERBY! Yes it is a time where men take pride in their male offspring for work mostly done by their loving mothers who are the last to receive the credit taken by their sons. It is funny how scouting seems to take this shape when the awards and recognition are given.

But to her credit, Coralie whipped up a pretty cool rocket just days after we returned from our trip to Pocatello. She sanded it, glued it, and painted it silver (the EASY part). Luke relied on me (the HARD part) to supply ideas (the UNDER-APPRECIATED part) as to how to decorate it. But what to come up with? It needed to strike fear into the hearts of his opponents. So, I provided him the difficult-to-come-up-with, terrifying never-heard-of title of "The Silver Bullet" together with stickers of "Bruce the Shark" from that devilishly wicked Pixar horror "Finding Nemo" and words alongside the sleek shaft of the air propelled platinum painted rampart whose motto "E.T. Go Home" came inspired to me from a missile attack in "Monsters vs. Aliens." Luke also painted a suggested sharks grin and eyes to the tip of the rocket in a retro homage to the WWII Air Hawks. (In all honesty, Coralie did most of it.)

But aren't we proud!

Our boy, eying the competition.

I even cropped that photo. Can't you tell?

Luke is actually pretty active in the scouting program and we have been happy to see him do it. It is a lot of effort over work to get things done, but when it happens and Luke gets his awards, he sees the benefit. He gets patches, arrows, beads, belt loops, pins and extra curricular patches for participating in special activities. He is a good boy.

This was the first time our pack has ever done the space derby and so there were a lot of first time issues coming up. I had to wind the rubber bands about 150 times for it to carry the rocket the whole length. I chopped my knuckles 4 different times because I slipped off the propeller and stupidly tried to save it from winding down. OUCH!!! That smarts to say the least.

Check out the action.

Me placing the rocket. (Nice calves...)

And we're off; Sadie showing her support.

Pretty much by this time, since no one knew how much to wind their rockets, we just celebrated if the rocket made it to the other side. Luke's was the first to get there.

Can you tell?

In the end, I was chosen to give awards for style and show. Not an easy task when everyone needs one. So I gave Luke the award for "Most likely to kill Taylor Lautner on a full moon." Coralie continues to roll her eyes at me for that one. =P

But here he is getting the prestigious award.

Luke was so excited he lost his sandals showing off to the audience. Maybe next time he could keep'em on.

Cousins

We got the chance to see so many cousins this summer and the kids absolutely LOVED it! They love their cousins.

Wild and Free

Sadie finally got up the nerve to try riding a bike without training wheels and she could do it! So presenting Sadie...and her first time riding wild and free! =)

Now we just need to get her to try it on her own, bigger bike.