Fairy and Puppy Dog

Oh Carli! What a sweet, wonderful, beautiful girl you are. I love when you put these wings on you said, "I fly!" Then after a couple attempts the pouting face said, "I not flying." I was so sad for you and laughing at the same time. My sweet butterfly fairy.

Oh Carli! What a cute little stinker you are. I know you love to paint, but...on paper please! On the other hand, this is too funny. Your big sister loves to paint, too. I guess she should start body painting. LOL! My little puppy dog.

First Day of School

...and they're off! It's so quiet in the house except for the dishwasher--yes, it's actually running and it's only 9 am. :) Carli and I are just hanging out watching Curious George. I have a dr. appt. later this morning and may take a trip to the outlet mall, but we'll see. I have to clean house for my presidency meeting I am having here tomorrow morning, but that should be easy without 4 kiddos all wanting my attention all day. I am missing them, though.

Brandon is in 4th grade and his late year at the elementary school (whoa...he's growing up!). Kate is excited to be in 3rd and Megan is finally a full day student in 1st grade. She was so excited to caryy her lunch box to school. I was going to let her buy lunch so she could learn how to do that, but no, she wanted to take her lunch. So cute.

Here they are (big change from last year when Brandon wouldn't even look at the camera):

Fire Station

Yesterday we got to go on a little field trip. It was so fun! Some friends invited us to go to the Roanoke fire station with them. The kids loved climbing into the fire truck and seeing all the huge tools and hoses they have on the truck. The firefighters were so great with them and gave all the kids a sticker, a hat, and a sucker. It was a great morning to get out of the house!

Swimming!

Yesterday we met a bunch of friends from church at our pool and had a blast. It was cooler so the moms didn't feel so much like we had to get in the pool. :) We just hung out and visited while the kiddos had fun swimming and playing with their friends. It turned out to be a perfect morning to swim. I decided to get some shots of one of our last swimming dates of the summer. Here they are:

Carli

Carli and Jill's Trevor
Lindy's Sydney and Allison
Carli again...LOL!
Brandon
Kate...what a look with the goggles
Jill's Trevor again. He's just so cute!!!
A bunch of them
Cate and Kate Girlfriends...is there anything better?

Megan, what a ham

The boys
Lindy's Madelyn
Jill's Courtney jumping
A small group shot
There were so many of us there and it was just so nice to hang out with each other and become better friends. It's always a treat to let the kids play with so many friends, too.

Random

We haven't been on any great adventures lately or taken any fabulous pictures so I haven't thought about blogging much. I need to do better about just putting down thoughts and such since this is basically serving as my journal/scrapbook right now. We have just been enjoying the rest of this summer, but I think we are about over the "summer" thing. I'm sick of TV, messy rooms, computer games...all of it. This week it is all going off and this house is going to get cleaned and organized. I will be going through a ton of stuff and trying to purge as much as I can. We just have too much and I'm so done looking at it all over the floor. I am excited!!!



I can't wait to find out what this baby is going to be so I can get rid of the boxes and boxes of baby clothes I still have. That will help tremendously with storage space! I am 15 weeks along and all is going pretty well. I have been nauseous since the beginning and it hasn't let up yet, but I didn't expect any different since it's been the same with all my pregnancies. The only difference that I can tell so far is with the girls I didn't feel pregnant one bit when it was time to take that test. With this one and with Brandon I felt it from the beginning...hey, I gotta have some hope this is a boy, right? :) LOL. I'll try to post a pic of my belly (definitely there now!) soon.



I am almost finished with school supplies shopping--woohoo! The kids are so excited to go meet their new teachers for this year next week. I am looking forward to it, too. Brandon is going to have the same teacher he did last year and that is truly a blessing for him and me. She helped us through a lot with the ADHD diagnosis and just helping him along any way she could (like noticing him squinting at the board--hence, the new glasses last spring. :) I also look forward to a new school year and being able to go help the teachers during the day. I really love doing that and getting to know the people around the school. I will only have Carli home during the day this year until Jan/Feb so that will be nice, too!



I never blogged about the kids' last day of school last spring. They did awesome and got some great awards! Here are a few pictures:

Brandon and buddies at their little pajama party.

Megan and her great friend, Syndey standing in front of the mural they helped paint with the art teacher and showing off their little trophies.Kate with her buddies (Megan and Sydney are in there, too) before leaving class.

Kate and her awesome teacher, Mr. Garner. She adored him!

We have been spending time at the pool and enjoying the cool (sort of) water in spite of the hot weather we have been having! It has been crazy how hot and horrible it has been. I am so looking forward to cool weather!


I guess the big news is that I have a new calling. I was the Activity Days leader, but am now the new Primary President. EEK! I am excited, but a bit overwhelmed and nervous about making sure everything gets done and done right. Any helpful websites, suggestions, advice--I'll take it! :)

Mary Kay Seminar!

Two weeks ago (has it already been that long?) I had the privilege of going all the way to Dallas (yes, a whole 45 minutes!) to attend the annual Mary Kay Seminar. It is always absolutely fabulous! I get to go hang out with awesome women for 4 days and be inspired, uplifted, and taught. This year was no exception. MK is celebrating 45 years and they pulled out all the stops.

My mother-in-law, Sandy, is my director in MK so I get to spend those days with her. One of Ben's cousins, Jan, is in MK, too, and it's so great to make this a family affair. It is totally a blast! We learned about new products coming out (always fabulous, top-of-the-line, on-trend products), new programs and tools that only make being a beauty consultant easier and more fun than ever. Seriously, what better job is there than getting girl time any time you want? :)


Our first night we had our National area awards night. The theme was the 50s so we dressed up for the occasion. (Sandy and Nancy in the back, Jan and me sitting)

After the awards night with our National Director, Mary Cane.

We went out to El Fenix for dinner one night. YUM! They were totally gung-ho Mary Kay. The servers were all wearing pink ties and there were pink twinkle lights and little welcome cards on the tables.

Jan, Nancy, and me sitting outside the Hyatt.

Seminar awards night. Everyone goes all out on this night! It's Miss America, a broadway show, and a big party all rolled into one. Such a blast to get all dolled up.

I have to say I am glad to be part of this company. They are so supportive of the sales force and go all out to make us feel special.