If someone could please explain to me where the summer went, I would sure appreciate it.

When I was a kid, summer felt like an eternity. It was this whole thing. A thing that just seemed like summer nights would never end, and late bedtimes, and ice cream runs, and staying with your grandparents for days on end, and I could go on and on. Why was that? Why was time so long back then? Is it because we were carefree and our time is just spent on ourselves? Now we are the grown ups, we are the ones with the responsibilities and jobs, and raising the kids, and holy cow, why did we ever want to grow up in the first place? :)

I seriously cannot believe that Pierce starts 1st grade in a little over a week. Blah.

So, we are in back to school mode. I totally try to keep things exciting for Pierce, and he does seem excited and maybe even a little nervous. I hope and pray he has a great year. I'm just still wondering, where did the summer go??

We went and loaded up this weekend on all his school supplies! Yipee!! School supplies actually do excite me. :)

Silly boy!!1st grade? Now I'm wondering not just where summer went, but where did my baby go? *tear*
I was walking around Wal-Mart the other night, alone. Enjoying my kid free time for a little while, and then my thoughts went to my kids, of course! Thinking of them growing up, and then lo and behold, I'm crying in the aisles of Wal-Mart. I'm telling you what, being a mom, makes a woman plum crazy.

And to top off all my emotional mess and sadness over Pierce starting 1st grade?? Look at his shoe size now. Ridiculous I tell you!!!
Big feet. Big boy. Big fat sad mommy.

I declare it, "the year of the visitor!!!"

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2011 is "the year of the rabbit" (not that I would normally know this, I just goggled it in attempts to be clever) However, I say those Chinese folk don't really know. I say it's "the year of the visitor!!!"

Since moving 8 months ago, we have been blessed with lots of visitors. Let's see....

My parents.

Tracey.

Tracey, Levi, Maggie, Jami, Cooper and Cameron.

Jo.

Pam and Tom.

Rhonda, Sarah, and Abigail.

Matt and Bucky.

And Thursday brought another visit :-)

Tracey texted me on Tuesday and said "you have plans Thursday and Friday?" And with that a plan was born. With the 'back to school countdown' in full swing, it's nice to soak up these last few days of freedom with friends :-)

Of course we took the kids to the pool!! The big kids were loving every minute of it!!
While Maggers was busy chillin' poolside ;)
I love this picture :-)
Tracey also had the grand idea to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese. ;) My kids love it there, especially Pierce!
Chuck E makes Levi a little nervous, but he still managed to have fun ;)
I was watching Hope play this little virtual game and I just kept taking pictures of her. Sometimes, I just can't stop thinking how cute she is. I understand this is obnoxious, but I can't help myself.
I heart them.
This cracks me up as well. Pierce had to climb up in order to play more effectively. Nothing stops a boy and a video game.
Oh, and our visitors even stayed the night!! Woo hoo!! Well, sort of woo hoo......woo hoo in theory, except that Maggie decided to not sleep. Between being full of snot, and in a strange place, and Tracey not willing to let her scream and wake us all up, they had a looooong night.

Moms must forge on though, right? And we loaded them up and took them to the park the next morning.

Oh and did I mention that the boys got up for the day at 6 am?? ;)
Kids had a blast anyways!!

And though we may have hidden our sleep deprived eyes behind our glasses, we were still loving being together. I always appreciate when anyone makes the effort to come see me, because I know that it is indeed an effort. Rock on, "year of the visitor!!!"

A grandpa.

A grandpa is a father, a grandpa is a son.

A grandpa is a husband, all grandpas are loved.Some grandpas have hair, while others are bald.

A grandpa can be more than a grandpa though.

A grandpa can be a friend who knows how to have fun.All grandpas are special to many other people.
But no grandpa is just like mine. - Author Unknown

Playdate(s)

Benefit 6984567594 to going home? People want you to come over and play!!! Not only do I miss my friends, my kids miss their friends too, so they were pumped to have multiple playdates.

First one was at Melanie's house. We haven't seen Melanie, Corbin and Addie in a loooong time. (Nor Matt, but I don't think he wanted to play ;)) Had to get a group picture of the kids, and Corbin was not feeling it. I thought it was pretty funny :)

Melanie at least managed to get him to look up, ha!! Amazing how much Corbin looks like Matt, and Addie looks like Melanie, too cute!!
It was blazing hot outside, so Melanie got out the water toys. FUN!!!
The kids had a blast running through the sprinkler. Well, except miss prissy, she ran the outside edges. Ha!
Melanie got out the always fun, slip and slide. All the kids had a blast. Corbin...
Addie....
Pierce....
....and miss priss. This is as good as it got for her. She kills me!!
And only Melanie would have a garden. She's so awesome.
Hope got to eat these little tomatoes right off the vine. :-)
I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of Melanie and I together :( Thanks so much for having us over!! We've missed you guys!!!

Next up, is the blogger mommy playdate. There's a group of us that read each other's blogs, and we don't all know each other. Jami organized it, and Alicia was sweet enough to offer her house, since it was another scorcher out there. I know Alicia from Jazzercise, and just reading her blog, but I feel as though I really know her! Ha! I also felt as though I knew all her friends, I tried to not come across as too creepy, but I totally could have, ha ha!!

Hope took right to this little ride!! Fun!!

And so did Pierce :)
I think Levi and Pierce were very happy to see each other.
VERY HAPPY :)

Cutie Maggie.Kade!! He's a sweet boy!!!

Hope and Darbi. Darbi has such pretty hair!! :)Grace, Jackson, and Gabe playing games!
The whole gang at lunch, which I couldn't even manage to fit in the whole picture!
And then all the kids together. Oh mercy. This was like a train wreck, but awesome ;)
In each picture I have, Jackson and Sam are like having a party, ha!!
And then we attempted the blogging mommy picture, and this was as good as I got. Too funny!
Thanks Alicia for hosting, and Jami for getting it together!! It was nice to meet everyone, and I hope we make it a yearly thing :-)

Last but not least, we got to go swim at Tracey's moms pool.
Look who's big enough to go down the slide now!!

Levi too!! ;) I also went down the slide, I'm a big girl too!!! But opted to not display a picture of me in a swimsuit. ;)Maybe Tracey was trying to make me feel like I was back in Keeeen-tucky?? Stripping down the baby ;)
Jami, Cooper and Cameron came to swim too :-)
Sweet buddies!!!
Thanks everyone, for making it such a great week!!!