My new 9-year-old

(Amanda chose to go patriotic this year, which I will take over Sponge Bob ANY year, so I'm not complaining!)

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It's hard to believe that 9 years ago I (unwillingly!) gave birth naturally to my tiny 5lb., 10oz. baby girl. I don't think I'll ever let her forget that she came too fast for Mama to get an epidural, or to have a doctor present for that matter. This year, for the first time EVER, she has not given us a grocery list of things she wanted for her birthday. We were stunned, and a little out of our element trying to decide what to do with for her.

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Dayne decided the traveling carnival would be fun, so we did that last Saturday. We went with our trusty, up-for-anything friends, the Lynd's. Amanda always has fun with their daughter Caitlin, and around and around they went on just about every head-spinning ride they could find. Because the carnival was parked in the mall parking lot, we ate dinner at the food court at the mall after much twirling, spinning, and general circular motion. We took Caitlin home for a sleep-over and she went to church with us the next morning. I don't know how much sleep the girls got. I had to yell downstairs at 12:30am for them to quiet down, but who knows how much longer they carried on quietly!

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Sunday afternoon, we had some family come over for cake and ice cream. Since Amanda didn't have her grocery list of presents requested, she got money. She's very much into counting her money almost on a daily basis, which makes me worry that she'll turn into a mini-Scrooge. Her saving grace there is that she's very giving when it comes to spending her money on treats for her brothers at the checkout counter.

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I have probably been completely duped, but lately she has given the most miniscule signs of being a GIRL! She has worn a skirt TWO times when she wasn't forced to wear one on a Sunday, and she's shown some slight interest in the color PINK. I don't know how the earth aligned with the right stars, or what molecules in the air morphed to bring about this phenomena, but NO ONE MOVE!

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It just. might. stick.

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One can hope.

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Lost Boy

So just after Amanda headed off to school, I heard LOUD music start playing. I knew Dayne was going to let Bryce stay home from school since this is technically his last day (going camping with Dad in the morning and missing Thee last day). But this music is not what Bryce would be playing. It's the Bunny Hop, the Hokey Pokey, Boot Scootin' Boogie, Can't Touch This, and that dumb "I don't wanna be a chicken" song they play at sports games. (And as I type, they are now playing "All The Single Ladies"! Appropriate for K-6 graders, huh?) So anyway, I look out my bedroom window, and see this...

I think that's really cool, this new principal is way more fun than the old one. I also think Gabe would like to go out to the driveway and watch, since we're right next to the school yard. I look in his room (he's a LATE sleeper), not there. In the living room... huh. The backyard... ? Nope. He likes to play on the old Nintendo downstairs... Hu-uh. Now I'm getting mad. He KNOWS he cannot go past our fence that divides our yard and the school during school! I go out front and look through the crowds of kids, and sure enough. In the pic below, he's in the crowd of kids to the right... He's totally fitting in, no one seems to care that he doesn't belong at school, and has no clue he's going to regret leaving our yard when he comes home.

There's a downside to living next to an elementary school after all.

Can you see his bike on the black top? Ugh... What must those teachers think of That Lady that lets the school babysit her pre-Kindergartener?! LOL

In his defense, though, what kid could resist this??

Pics from our backyard.

When he came inside, I asked him where he was. He had the nerve to tell me "just riding my bike". When I showed him the picture I took of him and his bike on the school grounds, he just stared and me and tried really hard not to smile, which made ME smile, and then he burst out laughing. He whined, "But Moooom, they had bean bag throwing games!" Like that should have totally explained it all.

He is SO ready for school this fall!

Something new every day

This was taken yesterday. I have video of this, too, but for some reason my dumb computer won't read it (cursing Windows Vista!), otherwise it would be posted here. Ethan's been standing on his own for a few seconds at a time since May 16th, just 3 days after he turned 9 months old. None of my kids have stood that early. Bryce and Amanda walked at 10 months, but I have a feeling this one's out to break records, and my heart!This picture below was taken at Blythe's house Saturday. I'm surprised the picture came out so clear, I was laughing so hard at his expression when I set him down in the grass for the first time ever. You can see he's got every body part possible off of the offending green stuff!