Sept. 11th

The kids all wore red to school on Sept 11th.  Here are my cuties before they got on the bus.

Getting ready for October!

We opened all the fall boxes and found a treat I put in there last year.  So we all put together our little pumpkin scene, even daddy helped!

I know it is fall out there and I am enjoying looking at all the crafts and decorations but when you look around here, you would never know it.  Other than the decorations starting to be put up in the front yards, there are no trees changing color and if the cool fronts that pass through here put us in the 80's then we are lucky!  But alas, we shall ring in the season anyways!

Happy Fall!

Segway action!

I saw a groupon for a segway tour and thought it would be fun.  So off we headed downtown Houston.

It was a 2 hour tour and we traveled all over the place, through the theatre district, the parks, the stadium and along the bayou path.

 First time on.  Just learning how to ride.

 My Turn!

 We stopped after about 20 minutes to take a break and get a drink.

 Bikes!  You can check out biked and ride downtown!

 A old, small two story bar.  Figured we would take Tracy and Mark here!

 The Old Cotton Exchange.

 Down by the water, duck lake.

 Another fountain area.  Very neat.

 A performance outside the entrance to a show that was beginning that evening.

And a picture of the skyline as it got dark.

Very fun evening!  We "traded" babysitting for pictures so we could have the evening out. We took pictures for a friend at her wedding party and she insisted that she wanted to babysit the kids.  They had fun.  She made chocolate chip cookies with them and played board games and watched a movie.  It was a win win!

Kick off to the soccer season

Last Saturday we kicked off the soccer season with Batman's first game.  Ladybug had a buy the first week and didn't play.  She will play this week.

I like to always remember the good stuff and make the memories of things that we do to be positive but I am just not sure how, other than to say the boys had a GREAT TIME playing, to say that we got whooped in our first game.  The other team scored goal after goal after goal and our pour boys couldn't get one in. But they did have fun and thank goodness that at this stage in their life if really is all about the cool snack at the end of the game!

Love some of these shots.  The ones where the boys are sitting on their balls waiting for their turn to play.  I love Batman sitting on three balls waiting.

Should be an interesting season.

First day of School

Here are our official first day of school pictures.

I can't tell you how excited the kids were to go back to school.  I think Ladybug tells everyone she sees she is so excited to be in 3rd grade!

Of course I don't hear much about what happens during the day.  Just bits and pieces.  But they leave every morning happy and come home everyday happy.

 New backpacks.  Ladybug actually won hers at a soccer camp this summer.  It was such a nice backpack we had her name monogrammed on it and are using it for school.  And Batmans backpack I had put aside for when he last years backpack wore out, it was still in great condition.  But on Monday morning, he had a fit because of the way something fit in his old backpack so I magically brought forth this amazing new one and all was right with the world.

 New school shoes.  Even mama got new shoes!  Badly needed I must say!

 A little cat walk on the path beside our house.

 A little love. Not too much because it would turn into a fight.

 Ladybug so excited for the day.

 Typical Batman.

 This is about as sweet as I can get together.

 Well except for this one.  But there was no posing involved.

 Cuties!

 Ahh, the kickball game resumes!  Ladybug is up to kick.

 Batman is pitching.

 The whole group in the mornings.

 There are 16 here today.  At least one is missing and there are three more that get on the bus about 5 houses down from us.  Yep, a lot of kids.  But you have to remember....

We live in a subdivision that has 3 - yes 3 elementary schools and our school alone has 1070 kids in it.  so basically in a 2-3 mile radius there are that many kids.  And we are only one school.  Tons of kids and tons of family in our area.

 Some of the boys with Batman.

 Here comes the bus!

 My sweet pea!

Bye Bye!  Off they go!

First Week of School

So far it has been an exciting first week of school.  It always amazes me how much time I "think" I will have once the kids are in school.  It now comes as no surprise that I can totally fill just about every minute of everyday.

Three weeks ago I made a commitment to myself to get in better shape. It was one thing that I just felt I didn't have enough time for.  Basically I didn't make the time.  So now, it is one of the first things that goes on the calendar for the day.  I have managed to make it to Jazzercise at least 6 days a week for the last couple of weeks. Then this week I added in another 20 minute bootcamp workout in the morning with my neighbors.  I can't tell you how much better I feel.  I have a ton more energy, I feel great.  I can see and feel the changes as my body is toning up and getting stronger.  Each day when I feel the soreness and feel the changes is reminds me that God gave me this body and I need to take the best care of it I can.

Isaac also descended upon our household.  Not literally.  We are on the good side so we just got a little wind and extremely high humidity.  But the call came about 11am on Monday.  Chris said I need to get packed and I have to leave at 8am on Tuesday morning.  Then the second call came and Chris said, change of plans, we are leaving at 8pm tonight.  So he made it home about 5pm, we grabbed some dinner and packed his bags for an unknown number of days.

He had a bag full of clothes, a blow up mattress, sheets, towels, and plenty of snacks....just in case.  He is doing good.  I don't believe they ever lost power where he is.  Wednesday night was the worst night but by Thursday the winds had died down enough to get out there and get the cell sites back up and running.  So he is steadily decreasing the outages and we are hoping he can come home soon!

Volunteering has begun again.  Yay!  Chris told me that I could not go volunteer the first day of school!    I finally conceded because he was right, I had a lot of things to get done.  So I got a ton done on Monday.  Then I went in Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.   The workroom is very busy, tons to do.  I love it.  Library will start next week and I will officially jump more full time into the yearbook next week.

Let's see, I also accomplished...

Priced 207 items for a consignment sale
Dropped off and set out those items
Gymnastics classes
5 soccer practices
Went to the grocery store
Started my packing for our camping trip
Worked in the workroom, volunteered in the library
and Got 7 workouts in so far this week.

Oh yeah, and I had birthday in there!

It has been a great week!

Ice Cream Social

It is almost time!  School is just around the corner.  Teachers are getting their rooms ready, everyone is talking about how ready they are for school to start.  Even Batman out of the blue informed me that he was ready to start learning again.  Of course Ladybug is ready.  So glad that my kids don't mind going to school.  But of course I am not sure I am ready.  I love having my kids with me.  I love the freedom of sleeping in or getting up early, of being lazy around the house or of deciding to go and play (aka our adventures).  Sure it will be nice to be on a better routine than we are now.  Of course it will come wether I like it or not.  And it is coming.

Tonight was our Ice Cream Social.  Our school is starting its....fourth year I think.  And they started the Ice Cream Social the first year and it has stuck.  Kids and their families can come and grab some ice cream, buy Swenke swag say hi to teachers and talk to friends.  I actually had the thought that it might not be too busy since it was the fourth year. But for the first 45 minutes there was a long line of families coming in and waiting for their ice cream.  I love it and I love the spirit at our school!

Anyways, last year at this event, I was timidly taking my first pictures for the yearbook not quite sure what I was doing.  This year I am already in full swing sending out emails for volunteers, snapping pictures and planning pages in my head.  It is so nice knowing the teachers and lots of the students and it makes my job so much easier!  On the downside, I got home and realized I had taken 71 pictures and I only had four of my kids.  But they were cute ones!

 Batman and his friend. 

 My cuties.  I did not get a picture with their ice cream which I am bummed about but it is soooooooo hot here that if you did not inhale it quickly, it was a puddle on the ground. 

 Ladybug took it upon herself to volunteer.  Like mother like daughter.  She jumped in and started collecting ice cream tickets.  I told her she didn't have to do that, that she could play and get some ice cream but she didn't want to.

And a visit from Blizzard, our mascot.  I snapped this one quickly on our way out.  We couldn't stay long because we had soccer practice.

We have another week before school starts, so I am sure we will be taking advantage of every minute!