243/365

day two hundred forty-three.

I am a genius. Ok, not really. But really. Finally fixed my computer! Diagnosed with help from Andrew's dad and Andrew over facetime, parts ordered and then Mama got to it with the screw driver and a bit of yelling ;) It works! I didn't lose anything! Yay!

234/365

day two hundred thirty-four.

he ended the day kicking off a boot and enjoying a swing with chicken. perfect end to a pretty crappy day.

233/365

day two hundred thirty-three.

he had exactly one hour of patience and happiness today. too bad(?) it was at the dentist's office. ps. he looks so weird because his poor hair is parted on the wrong side...oops.

232/365

day two hundred thirty-two.



"not. smiling. "

231/365

day two hundred thirty-one.

Almost a full moon (with tons of haze because the muggy heat is back!) and lots of beautiful pink clouds at sunset!

230/365

day two hundred thirty.

my dad spotted these teeny tiny (no, really! tiny!) wild orchids today. Turns out they are called "crane fly orchids".

229/365

day two hundred twenty-nine.



takes matters into his own hands.

228/365

day two hundred twenty-eight.




We tried to dive into some math today since it (books/manipulatives) finally all arrived. But we were definitely starting on the wrong foot today. Everything lead to tears, whining, anarchy. For example,  the math problem to end all math problems. "Circle a number", "Draw that many friends in the box below".  Cue Gavin's, "I don't have any friends, I don't remember what my friends looked like, because they are at schoooooool and I'll never see them AGAINNNNNN!"  It took ten minutes of a tantrum I didn't think a six year old was capable of before three tiny stick people appeared in the box. :(
The pictures before I put the camera down and put school on hold till Owen's naptime because darn if he didn't try and kill himself or Liam the moment we get started. (though he was happily playing with cars at the moment here, that didn't last long).



(Pre melt down- filling out his weather graph, if school was just science- he'd be thrilled).

Sister loves "school" because it involves pink markers and coloring.


This worksheet wasn't so bad since it prompted him to draw animals...again, science- loves...math/talk of friends- tantrums and giant crocodile tears.


 At least baby brother worked on some home ec without a fuss. :)

227/365

day two hundred twenty-seven.

I needed to test out lighting conditions. They cooperated better than I expected. It's because I didn't dress them in coordinating outfits, right?

226/365

day two hundred twenty-six.



The bib says it all, right?

Also chickens love tiny paper doll sized versions of themselves :)

225/365

day two hundred twenty-five.



this box took chicken to the moon and back, many many times. if it had been just a bit bigger, I think Ellie would've curled up in it for a nap!

224/365

day two hundred twenty-four.



She's got color blocking down.

223/365

day two hundred twenty-three.

Owen's chicken had some emergency repairs.

222/365

day two hundred twenty-two.





"let me out!"

221/365

day two hundred twenty-one.

I did some scouting today in preparation for the Clickin Walk I'm helping host in downtown Columbus, MS today. (Sponsored through Clickin Moms)I can't wait to take my kids back (one at a time probably) to do a few fun shoots. Sad to say that I'm from here and have never made it downtown to shoot! Something about dragging my four little ones out to a downtown setting..hmmm. I can't wait for the walk though, September 28th!

220/365

day two hundred twenty.

I thought surely I was imagining the music of the ice cream truck outside. Gavin has lamented all summer that there's no ice cream truck on base. So when I peeked outside and saw that yes indeed that was an ice cream "truck" (truth be told, it was a fun size school bus painted purple that specialized in sno cones AND ice cream), kids grabbed piggy banks and we hightailed it halfway down the street to catch the "truck". I was too worried they were going to miss the truck and I would have died if there had been any more fits/wailing/moping/whining today- so I left the camera behind until we had secured the ice cream.

As we sat there watching our ice cream melt ridiculously fast, Gavin asked me why we had ran so fast to catch the truck, because at this point ten minutes later that poor truck was still parked with a line of kids stretching down the street, piping it's tired little jingly song for all the kids to hear (Owen was fascinated).

He may not remember that time I chased down an ice cream truck (sick and pregnant in the Shreveport heat) and the truck never saw me chasing it, so I had a hysterical three year old. But I will never forget that horrible moment, so I don't play games with ice cream trucks anymore. It's serious business.

219/365

day two hundred nineteen.

#thingschickenslove

Dramatic exits.

218/365

day two hundred eighteen.

little brother got left behind. he was so pitiful we felt bad for him.

217/365

day two hundred seventeen.




first taste of cherries (for all of us!)

216/365

day two hundred sixteen.

215/365

day two hundred fifteen.

He's part monkey these days I swear. Always climbing, swinging, jumping, running. He's looking so much more grown up to me too. It's not just the sweet snaggle tooth grin, he's taller and any trace of baby in his face is vanishing. Waaaaah!

214/365

day two hundred fourteen.

finally he sleeps. (last night was a record, up every.single hour. at ten after, pretty much on the dot). If there's not an 8 month growth spurt, he invented one.

213/365

day two hundred thirteen.

The kids tried to plan out my whole birthday "day", I demanded the pool be part of it...and a giant flaming tower of cupcakes. Requirements for any good birthday I think.