Back to School

After a long summer I'm sad to say that it's back to school. I love having my kids home so I'm always a little down when school starts. This year will be kind of tricky picking up and dropping off because Riley has to be at school 45 minutes before Bailey for football practice. I guess she'll have to get up early, be ready and I'll just have to drive back and forth. I'm not complaining though I only have 3 more years of driving Riley to school! Both of the kids are a little apprehensive about returning. Bailey ended up getting the one teacher she didn't want ~ Mr. Thomason. I think having a guy is kind of scary for her. And Riley is mostly concerned with finding his way around a new school without getting lost ~ I remember that feeling!

Bailey's Turn

As promised Bailey's sleep over was last night. It was perfect timing to close out the summer. The girls had a good time and since Riley wasn't home they stole his room for the night. His room has a queen size bed so two of the girls slept on it while the other two slept on the floor. I let them play the Wii until 9:45 and then sent them to lay down to watch Racing Stripes hoping that would get them all sleepy. Unfortunately that didn't work and at 12:45 I had to force them to stop talking and go to sleep:)

Bailey's New Evening Routine

We decided it's time for Bailey to start fixing her own hair. It's always been easier for me just to do it for her, but I guess she has to learn sometime. Today we went out and bought her a new, lighter hair dryer. She's actually drying her hair right now as I'm blogging. Every now and then she'll scream for me, but overall she's doing a great job. Oh and by the way Bailey's screams always sound like she's dying and then I get in there and she just wants water or something ~ crazy kid! Anyway it will be kind of hard to learn because she likes her hair flipped out and that really makes it tricky because she has to dry and style her hair at the same time.



I just had to add the pictures of the final result. Didn't she do a fabulous job?? I'm so impressed and was really encouraging. She just had the biggest smile and it was so sweet. She said "I'm surprised I did such a good job on the first try."

He's Close

The other day when we were at the circus my brother said he thought Riley was taller than me. When we got home we measured and we thought he'd finally out grown me but my hair was really messy so I didn't want Jeremy to take a picture. The next day after I had showered and fixed my hair we stood back to back again but this time we seemed to be at exactly the same heighth??? In this picture it looks like I'm still a little taller but really it's just my hair. Plus if you look closely you'll notice that his shoulders are actually higher than mine. Anyway, I will post as soon as he passes me. I always said I thought it would be by 13!

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus

Last night we finally took Bailey to the circus. We took Riley once before Bailey was born and then I took him when Bailey was about a month old so that I could spend some quality time with him. You know how demanding a newborn can be so I wanted to make sure he didn't feel left out. Anyway, Bailey looks at our pictures a lot and always says how we did all the cool stuff before she was born. So finally, she got to go!! It was the perfect show for her and her most favorite part was the dog act. We gave the kids an option to either get some snacks at the show or go somewhere after. Luckily for us they chose the later ~ cotton candy was $10!! After the show we walked to the Chili's in Sundance Square where we ate way too much food. Uncle Jesse and Aunt Colleen met us at the show too. Funny thing is they called us at 7:00 from the American Airlines Center. It never occured to me that they didn't know the show was in Fort Worth. They actually made it from Arlington to Downtown in 30 minutes and only missed about 15 minutes of the show.

A Little Multitasking

Yesterday we had a few things that needed to be taken care of around the house. I painted the bathroom ~ ugh!! I am so sick of painting and house fixing and our house doesn't even need anything but a little cosmetic updating. I don't know how people enjoy fixing up a house. I already told Jeremy that I'm not moving unless we can buy a house just the way I want it or be able to pay someone to make it that way! The whole buy an old home to fix up sounds neat, but is definitely not for me. Anyway, while I was painting the kids decided to help out and wash the car. I didn't even ask them to do it!! I have such great kids.

Seussical the Musical

On Saturday night Bailey and I went to see Seussical the Musical with my friend Becky and her daughter Abby. Bailey and Abby both really enjoyed the show, although Abby expressed her excitement a little bit more. Every time I looked at her she was just beaming and I don't think her eyes could get any wider:) After the intermission the girls wanted to move up and get closer seats. Bailey plops down and tells me to sit next to Becky instead of her. Well, of course this confused me some. She never really explained herself but best I can gather is she didn't want me talking to her anymore during the show. I was trying to explain a few things to her that I wasn't sure she'd understand but I guess that wasn't necessary. There was one little girl in the show that was particularly dramatic so Becky decided to give a little reinactment and I just couldn't pass on the photo opp! To make it a true girls night out we went to...Starbucks of course! Bailey was super excited to get a frappucino and a rice crispy treat!

Riley's Sleepover

On Friday night we decided to let Riley have some friends over for the night. I thought four was a bit much at first, but it actually turned out okay. The boys were actually pretty calm and were a lot of fun to be around. We all played the Wii, watched a movie and ate lots of junk food. Jeremy and I went to bed around 12:00, but the boys stayed up until 2:30! Bailey's turn is coming up so we'll see how easy the girls are:)

Fort

The kids keep building fort's all over the house. The other night they decided to sleep in one and I just thought this was a funny picture.

Six Flags

Each year the kids earn a free ticket to Six Flags from school and we always use them for our once a year visit. Jeremy took off on Tuesday so that we could go when it wouldn't be overly crowded. We always go straight to the Titan because it's the tallest roller coaster in the park. While on the climbing part of the ride a huge bug flew in my shirt and I couldn't get it out, so I had to grab it with my bare hands ~ so gross! We had only been in the park for about an hour when we decided to head over to Mr. Freeze for Riley's fourth attempt in four years at riding it. Once again it was closed! The Six Flags weather policy prevents the roller coasters from running if there is a storm within 30 miles of the park, so because of a storm in North Dallas just about everything was shut down. We walked around for four hours and rode everything else that was open. Jeremy and I were just about ready to bail, when Riley comes sprinting out of line to run for the Freeze. Unfortunately, it still wasn't open but we were able to ride the Batman. Finally, as we finished the Batman the Freeze was open and Riley actually got to ride it. As we were waiting in line Bailey decides she wanted to ride too. It was funny because we could hear all the people around us whispering that there was no way she was going to actually get on that ride. After a long four hours everything was finally open and we were able to ride all the rides and of course you can't leave until you've had a funnel cake!