BOOORRRRIIINNNGGGG

This has been one boring weekend...and it was wonderful! No plans or obligations on our calendar...first time in a very very long time.

On Saturday, Bennett was invited to a friends house to play. Brady was devastated, so we took him to Busch Stadium for a shopping spree (thanks to Aunt Fran for the gift certificate). $106.00 later, Brady was one happy boy!

Cate attacking a Fredbird stuffed animal in the Cards store

Brady posing with his new hat

Saturday night, Ben and Brady had two friends spend the night. This is a picture of the boys fishing in my parents backyard. They're there somewhere amongst the tomatoes, grapevines, squash, hydrangeas, mums, cucumbers, asparagus...you get the picture.

Typical picture of Bennett...Mr. Attitude!

The Final Countdown

Summer is almost over and our favorite hangout will soon be closed :( Tonight we spent an hour at the pool and will try and go as much as possible before September 7th. Seems like it opened just last week...where did the time go?! I'm hoping for decent weather to carry us through Labor Day so we can soak up as many rays as possible....

After a bag of M&M's (probably goes without saying that she's looking at her daddy in these pictures)

Hair Today....Gone Tomorrow

Bennett decided to get all of his beautiful sun-kissed blond curls cut off tonight. He thinks that a night time shower will work better for him :) and he was tired of having to shampoo, condition and blow-dry his hair every morning before school. So....off with the curls. Sniff Sniff. I barely recognized him after it was over but he is thrilled and I keep telling myself it will grow back!

Funny Girl

Cate found something very funny. (Even with a gnat hovering around her eyes). You can hear Brady laughing in the background...he thinks everything Cate does is hysterical!

Family Picture

Today at Brady's Open House he was given homework. And not the "do it yourself" kind. His "homework" was to bring in a photo of him with his pets and a family picture. We have no family pictures, so we had to take one tonight. This should be so much easier than it was. We decided to sit on the couch and tried to set the self-timer. Couldn't figure the first camera out, so we switched. Finally, I had the timer set and we were all ready. This was the first result:Whoops....need to fix the zoom! We had a huge laugh over this.

Second try...turned out pretty darn good for using the self-timer (and it being 9:45pm!)

Murphy and Brady

A Little Chat with Brady

Keep in mind, he's only 4 yrs old :)

Me: "Brady, do you want me to sign you up for soccer this fall?"

Brady: "Yes, but you have to tell the coach I will only play forward or goalie"

Me: "Why?"

Brady: "There's no glory in defense"

Zoo-tastic

This morning, Brady decided he wanted to go to the zoo. Bennett did not. So, we took Ben to Grammy and Papa's and the rest of us headed to the zoo.

Brady and Cate loved looking at the snake under the slide in the Children's Zoo

Cate ducked every time she walked out of the tunnel...even though she cleared the ceiling by at least 8 inches!

Brady packed a bag (of course he did) with his swim trunks and a swim diaper for Cate so they could play in the fountains. Good thing he takes care of us!

This picture cracks me up! Cate loves to play in the water.

Cate's 18 mos. pictures

Back to School

Woo Woo!! Can you hear the angels singing? I can! Today was Carter and Bennett's first day back to school. (Brady starts next week) This year, our school district adopted a uniform policy. No more fighting over who is wearing what...they have no choice! Khaki, navy, or black pants/shorts (cargo, OK) and white, navy, black, or red collared shirts. I think Carter is having a hard time figuring the whole uniform thing out because yesterday he said he hopes he wins "best dressed" for his class again this year. Hello??!!! And when he was worried that he and his BFF were going to wear the same thing on the first day, I had to sit him down and explain (very slowly) that everyone would be wearing the same thing!!!!!!!! It may be a long year with him...good luck to his teachers!
Carter starts 7th grade today and Bennett is in 2nd grade. (Notice the toilet paper in our yard from being t-p'd Tuesday night...so happy school is starting!)

The Final Pitch

Yay! Baseball is over. Kinda bittersweet because even though my schedule opens up considerably, it also means summer is over. I love watching the boys play baseball, but it's often very hot and the games are long. Both Carter and Bennett finished second place in their leagues. Next up....soccer :)

Terrible Two's at 18 Months??

Thursday night, Carter and I took Cate to Wal-Mart. Big mistake. She is no longer fun to take out of the house :) While checking out, she decided she wanted to push the cart. The lady was trying to put the bags in the cart, I was trying to pay, and Cate was on the verge of a massive meltdown. When I wouldn't give in, she threw herself down on the ground screaming hysterically for everyone to hear. Carter was mortified. Which made me laugh. He kept saying through gritted teeth "Mom, give her whatever she wants, I know people here" HAHAHAHA!!! Scott and I have told those boys since she was born that giving in to her was going to create a monster and even we didn't know how true that was!!

Cate loves to hose down the front sidewalk and play in the water

Helmet on backwards and a gardening glove. What does this say about her future in sports??

I can no longer take her to run errands. She insists on sitting in the back of the cart and eating everything before we leave the store...notice the open box of Nilla Wafers.

Murphy looks thrilled that Cate has taken over his perch

I can't figure out why my glasses are always smudged

Nice table manners

Miss Nosy checking out my latest projects (painting the bathroom and Carter's birthday invitations)
Wearing her Mau Mau's visor...backwards of course...at Carter's baseball game

CHEEZE......

Mac N Cheese....all over her face

Happy Birthday Carter!

The big 1-2. Can't believe it. Pre-teen at its worst. The beginning of attitudes and drama. Scott and I are well aware there is no end in sight. Carter will be 18 when Bennett hits his teenage years and then right behind Ben is Brady...and all hell will break loose with Cate. Someone throw me under a bus.

Ok, back to Carter. On Monday, I received a letter addressed "To the Parents of Carter Hall". This always flips my stomach and makes me sweat. The return address was "Representative Holbrook". Oh hell. However, rather than a letter letting us know Carter's prison cell is ready, it was a letter congratulating him on making honor roll all year. (Big sigh of relief...it seriously could have gone the other way).

Let's do the run-down on Carter. He is a great kid...very mischievous, but still a great kid. He is very athletic, smart, and funny. And social. Maybe too social. He has a core group of friends that he has hung around since kindergarten. They all play baseball, soccer, and basketball together and I've been lucky enough to become great friends with their parents. Makes 12 baseball games in one week bearable...even fun. Carter's teachers have all loved him and he's always made very high grades. Carter always needs to have friends around...going somewhere, hanging out, on the phone..etc. And the girls...god help me..the girls. He is girl-crazy. Loves em' all. 2700 text messages last month. Mostly from girls. And they're all 2 feet taller than he is...very funny.

Carter has gotten himself into plenty of trouble through the years. Broken neighbors windows, spray painted the front of the house, holes in walls...oh, and my favorite...we got a call from the maintenance manager of our local pool to say when they were power washing the front pool, they found Carter's name carved into the deep end...first and last name. DUH! Book smart yes....common sense..not so much.

Here are some of my favorite Carter pictures....

Carter and cousin Jon at his 3rd birthday party

Definite yearbook material

First day of preschool (those were the days)

BFF...6th birthday party. Carter is 4th from right. Ahh, how sweet these boys used to be

Showing off his honor roll recognition letter

YUM-O

SWISA

Today was the SWISA championship meet. It rained. Hard. And for a very long time. We were soaked, but we survived and it was a success! Both Carter and Bennett swam and did great. They each placed in the top 10 in all of their races...very impressive considering Carter is in the bottom of his age group this year and Bennett has only been swimming for three weeks. Scott was the head timer and had to time all 80 races. Cate and I sat next to him under the tents and tried to keep dry. She sat with me for over five hours and never whined or ran off. She even took an hour nap! We are very thankful that she's so easy going and laid back (in public)...so many people made it a point to compliment us on her behavior.

Carter and Bennett is the bullpen waiting for their first race

Carter swimming backstroke

Hunter and Bennett before their freestyle race

Swimmers take your mark.....

Go Ben Go!!

Helping daddy time the races

Big Splash!!

This is about the only time I saw Brady all day. He was having a lot of fun in the bullpen!

Carter swimming butterfly

Taking a little break