Friday, October 11th

Friday was such a fun day - we met up with friends at Catch Air and the kids played hard from about 10:15 - 1:45 p.m.  Three of the four kids fell asleep on the way home, but once there they were revived and dragged Grammie out front to play :-)  Before long, it was time for Jim and I to head out for our date night - we are really very blessed that we often (usually 1x/week, but definitely 1x/two-weeks) are able to get out for a movie or a dinner without the crew... however, every once in a while Grammie and Nana go above and beyond and we have an entire evening out and they put all of the kids to bed.  Thanks, guys, for our awesome full-date-night!

Waverly is such an easy, good baby - always ready to giggle and smile, and always-always ready to chew on her fingers ;-)  Amanda took some turns snuggling her up.  Much like usual, she gets so serious as soon as I point the camera (phone) her way :-p

All of the kids played really well together - at first, they broke off and played in pairs: Victoria + Olivia, Lincoln + Judd, and Scarlett + Julia.

They played more together towards lunchtime, but all sat in their Buddy Groups (lol) when it was time to eat.

Lincoln was befriended by a little girl soon thereafter and I saw him only sporadically until it was time to leave.  He and Judd did spend some time trying to stuff a huge plastic ball into this spinning ride, because...boys.

Kids were playing outside back at home, and I was relishing a quiet spell with the baby.  She fell asleep and was smiling so sweetly in her dreams - just looked so genuinely happy and peaceful.

My love and me :-)

We drove down to Serenbe and had dinner at The Farmhouse - they had switched up their menu (it's all seasonally based and very limited, with usually two or three entree options at most) and were offering some delicious vegetable soup, flat iron steak and it was all amazing, of course.  As a little treat, I had a pumpkin martini which tasted exactly like pumpkin pie - yum!

Jim and I always joke that Serenbe is just too much - too charming, too peaceful, smells too good (they pump that in, right? lol).  Well as we drove from dinner to the stables where the play would be, there was an entire family of deer casually munching grass on the side of the lane.  The sun was setting and when we paused in the road to take a picture of them,  I swear they posed for us.  It's all just too much ;-)

We arrived at the stables just as the sun was fully setting and the stars were appearing on the horizon.  Jim took a wonderful shot of one corner of the stable where we were waiting outside for the doors to open.

The play was titled, "The Sleepy Hollow Experience," and it was an experience!  Very interactive and we moved throughout the stables, following the characters.  I loved it!  We started off in the loft (pictured above).

Towards the end, we wound up outdoors - the play was really great and I'll be excited to check out their next production!

Monday, September 2nd

Even though it was Labor Day and a school holiday for most, I decided we would go ahead and mostly have a regular school day as we have two outings planned for the week; and also to give Jim a little downtime to relax.  We began our Science (Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy) and History (Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times) and Spelling, while also having a casual SQUILT lesson during lunch.  In the afternoon, Jim and I were able to go see a movie and get back home in time to grill out and have a bit of family time before bed.  A good day!

Both of the girls are great big sisters to Waverly, pay her plenty of attention and so forth.  But today, Scarlett was especially interested to hold, play with, change and otherwise tend to the baby.  She will make a terrific babysitter one day! 

For our first history lesson, the kids learned about what History IS, and how historians can learn about people who lived a long, long time ago.  We read from our text, had a related storybook, and then the kids were given a project.  They were each to play the role of a historian within our own family tree and were assigned a family member to interview.  Lincoln's subject was Jim - of course I had to help him read the question and I wrote down his answers.  I love that he wants to be involved!

Victoria's subject was Grammie.

And Scarlett had Nana :-)

Scarlett's finished project.

Victoria's finished project.

Scarlett finished up before Victoria and snagged Waverly for some baby-talking time.

I love how Waverly is smiling up to Scarlett, who was saying, "Mirror, mirror on the wall - who's the smartest baby of all??" and Waverly would coo and gurgle in response :-)

Next, Lincoln worked on a name-trace worksheet.

And the girls worked on their spelling list for the week.

Lincoln chose not to do Science with us, so it was just the girls and I sitting on the sofa while I read three pages out of the textbook.  This is stretching them a bit - these are three loooong pages, so I am trying to make sure we take frequent breaks from reading where they can ask me any questions, or comment, and mostly narrate back to me in their own words what is being discussed.  However, we made it through and all agreed the material was super interesting, before the girls headed to the table to work in their Junior Astronomer Notebooks.

They also have a little blank paper booklet where they can write down one thing from the lesson that they found interesting - Scarlett chose to write "Stonehenge helped people know what season it was" and Victoria wrote "Birds use the stars [to migrate]."

While the girls were working in their Science journals, Lincoln and Waverly were downstairs with Grammie watching a Curious George.  I was so proud of Gram, as she actually took this picture AND sent it to me! :-)

At this point, it was 12:30 and time for lunch!  We took a break and while the kiddos ate, we had a very casual SQUILT lesson.  I discussed who Pachelbel wrote Canon in D for, briefly reviewed some of our music terminology and explained how many people have copied this very popular piece of music ("Pachelbel Flattery").  Then we listened to the full song again before I played a few other songs as instances of Pachelbel Flattery - one of the more famous one being The Beatles' "Let It Be."  

After lunch I had the kids bring up the blocks from the Family Room and work on making mini-Stonehenges.  Victoria's finished product~  I love how she didn't add the horizontal elements, but did add the inner cluster.

Lincoln joined in the building, but not of Stonehenge :-) 

Scarlett's finished product~

By the end of the night, the kids were all worn out from their school work and lots of playing while Jim and I were at the movies.  Waverly tried to stay up late, but she just couldn't withstand the trickery of Daddy rocking her to sleep in his office chair as he played on the computer ;-)

Sunday, August 18th

Jim had a few home improvement projects he was working on, and while usually we both try to be really diligent about letting all of our little "helpers" be involved... sometimes it is nice (and necessary) to have a chunk of time to get certain tasks accomplished.  So after Jim ran a few errands for some last minute items needed to complete his projects, and some at-home time in the morning, I took the kiddos to Barnes & Noble for a snack, book reading, and lego/train-table playing time!  The rest of the afternoon and evening were very low key and Jim and I were also able to sneak off to see a movie, "The Way Way Back."  It was really good and just the brief getaway we needed to feel rejuvenated for our week :-)

Victoria and Waverly opted to stay home with me, while Scarlett and Lincoln went along with daddy to pick up a few miscellaneous things.

Waverly persistently tries to get that thumb in her mouth, but can't usually get the mechanics down and winds up sucking on her fist instead.  While I was cuddling her in the morning, she was dozing in and out and voila! - in went the thumb!  But... not in the traditional way.  She had a problem with her fingers open like this as she kept poking herself in the eye, lol.  It was just so cute :-)

When I had taken Scarlett and Lincoln to Barnes & Noble on Friday night (while Victoria was at the Braves game), Scarlett purchased her very first Beanie Boo.  Her friend Olivia has quite the collection and Scarlett has been interested to pick one out, and this was the first time the opportunity arose.  Of course, this meant Victoria needed one :-p  So Scarlett eagerly led her over to the little stand of Boos and helped her choose the perfect one.  

I am not exaggerating to say they spent a solid twenty minutes agonizing over the decision.

Lincoln spent a long time looking at toys, games, and having me read him (574) books.  He had brought $20 from his piggy bank so that he could buy a Clifford stuffed animal that he had been eye-ing for a while.

Miss Wide Eyed!

Playing at the lego table - Scarlett told me to look on the internet and see if I could find one of these lego tables, ha!  She said, "They're so perfect - one spot for each of us so we don't have to fight about it." Very true ;-)

The work area in our master bedroom - we added a second desk section to this Ikea Expedit system. Now I have a work table (Jim's is on the left, mine is on the right) for blogging, assembling the next day's school materials and so forth and so on.  I LOVE IT!!!!  I'm going to paint the black chalkboard square behind my desk to match the one behind Jim's desk and then I'll write in chalk "His" and "Hers" :-)

 A glimpse into the Playroom to Family Room makeover - great progress!  A barren wasteland of toys into a multi-purpose, de-cluttered room :-)  Thanks babe for all your hard work!

Sunday, August 4th

Waverly is officially TWO months old!  Be still my heart - I can barely believe it.  What an awesome blessing she is, and how seamlessly she has folded into our family :-)  Other than marveling at how fast time is flying by, we had a few around the house chores to take care of on Sunday, relaxed a bit, and then Jim took me out for my last birthday-weekend hurrah!

I definitely need a 12-step program to help me ever lay her down when she falls asleep in my arms. But, she's just too precious!

While Jim power-washed our screened-in porch and the girls hung out in Nana's room, Lincoln, Waverly and I went on a few errands.  One of the places we needed to go was Staples, so that I could get a bulk amount of copies made and shop for a few odds and ends.  As we strolled down one aisle, Lincoln declared, "Mommy, if you were covered all in honey, then you would be amber-ized." He is such a smart, funny guy :-)  Waverly slept the entire time we were out and was excited for some major bounce time in her little seat when we got back home.

Lincoln's version of Story Time with Big Brother: "So this pig has a butt... (turning the page)... and this elephant has a butt..." and so forth and so on.

Shortly after we returned from our errands, Jim and Scarlett took off to go pick up several pallets from our good friends, the Cooks.  They had saved some aside for us, knowing I have a couple of projects in mind for them.

Thanks, Cooks!

My birthday-weekend grand finale surprise... a live production of "Hair" by the Serenbe Playhouse.  It was performed outdoors, and was really, really awesome. When Jim finally revealed to me what the surprise was (on Sunday morning), he told me we would be seeing "Hair," but mentally I just assumed he meant "Hairspray."  TOTALLY DIFFERENT.  Like, we saw buttcheeks level of different.  We agreed that it was maybe not the play for us, but we really appreciated it artistically and had a wonderful time together regardless ;-)

Always working so hard to make things memorable for us - I love you, Jim!

Saturday, July 20th

With a nice mix of activity and down time, Saturday was a great start to our weekend.  Jim took the kids to their morning karate class, and then we all headed out to the Marietta Farmer's Market for a short while before grabbing lunch at a fun, new-to-us little place that the kids all loved.  We made it home for naps/rest time and then Jim and I took advantage of a Groupon deal to try out a sushi place for our date night dinner.  The kids had a fun time with Grammie and Nana while Jim and I enjoyed our interruption-free adult conversation, and we returned to find Waverly busy smiling :-)

Scarlett, Victoria and Lincoln - the first time that all three were in uniform at once.

My three ninjas!

While the big kiddos were off learning jump-kicks, Waverly and I were discussing her wardrobe options for the day :-)   We settled on this adorable little skirt/tank outfit that I just LOVE... she looked too precious!

The kids have been on a kick with their American Girl Dolls (Lincoln has an itty-bitty boy AGD named "Peter"); they always like them, but for weeks at a time it is *the* main toy they play with... then their interest wanes for a while before ramping back up.  Scarlett, Victoria and Lincoln each took their doll with them all day.  Here, Lincoln was burping Peter - he always sings a little burping song "top, top, middle, middle, butt, butt... and rub (the back)."

Arriving at the farmer's market, we were bummed to see a lot of vendors beginning to pack up!  Apparently we had missed the memo that the market ends around noon - we figured it was later in the day.  The kids were really enthralled with this local honey seller, who spent a long time teaching the kids about the honeybees and even caught a wild honeybee on his finger using honey as bait.

Inspecting some chickens.

Everyone was hungry and so Jim looked around on his Scoutmob app and found a place not too far away offering a deal.  The place was called Ronnie John's Beach Cafe and at first we could not find the place!  It was tucked away in this little hole-in-the-wall, half-vacant strip mall; we must have passed it twice. Finally, we were like, "What's that DUDE!!! sign over there?" and went to investigate.  Sure enough, there was Ronnie John's :-) 

The place had some outstanding fish tacos, and the kids enjoyed their rice bowls.  Jim also taught them some surfer lingo "Hey, dude!" and "What's up, babe?" which they then practiced on each other a thousand times.  Lincoln also made sure to tell our waitress, "Thanks, babe!" upon departure. Nice.

At home, everyone was napping but Waverly was wide awake... for a few minutes.  She ate and then wanted to snuggle for a few minutes.  Sometimes I can't tell if she's asleep or just relaxing!  Definitely snoozing :-)

I went to lay her down but she was just not settling in, so we resumed our sofa snuggles and she happily slept against me for another hour.  She is just so sweet!

Date Night!!  The food was delicious and the company was perfect :-)

Returned home to put the kids to bed, and while Nana was holding Waverly she just smiled and smiled!