You Better Run...

"You better run..." says Daddy."I'm gonna git ya sucka!" exclaims Tae.
The news starts pouring in... "Alert! Alert! There is an armed dangerous criminal on the loose! Watch out and do not try to capture the criminal yourself. Just call America's Most Wanted with any information..."

Peace at last in the Ro House! The boys called a truce. Phew!

Backyard

I am surely going to miss entertaining in our backyard once summer is over. I feel like it is really coming to an end with Labor Day right around the corner! Rob and I bought this canopy at the beginning of summer to help reduce the heat on the deck. It really works! It is about 5-10 degrees colder under the canopy then in the yard. We have a backyard that faces west and gets all the afternoon sun, so without the canopy, it could be quite uncomfortable. We're going to keep the pool open until October for the kids. They are going to die when there is no more swimming!

Laundry Room or Dining Room?

This is my new function of my dining room table. Every day when the girls get home from school, I ask them to take up the laundry. I help put it away...they just carry it up and put it in the appropriate areas. The girls put away their own laundry and I do the rest. The door in the background is our front door, so as you could guess, this is not ideal. It isn't a very pretty view for when company comes. I am thinking of another way to do this, but space is so limited in our laundry room. Hmmmm. Any suggestions?

This is the "new" china cabinet I purchased off of Craigslist about a month ago. Rob detests it claiming it is ugly, but it functions properly and is made of solid wood. I only spent $60 and picked it up and moved it myself using the back of the van with three kids in it from Colerain! The hutch part on top is removable if I ever get a better china cabinet. I can always use the bottom portion to store things in. It is very nice. What do you think? Ugly or ok because of practicality? PS: The china displayed inside is a wedding present from Rob's mom and dad. The china belonged to Rob's Mom's Mom (so Rob's Grandma). It is quite antique and very pretty and delicate. I am so fortunate to have a complete china set that I like. Thanks Mom Ro!!

This was the first day of school at Shirley Mann Elementary this year. What was neat about this year was the amount of families that had both parents at the bus stop to see their kids off. I think every family (6 in all) had both parents there! It is so neat to see parents taking an active role in their children's lives. Rob and I are always arguing to see who gets to take the girls to the bus stop. We both end up going and bringing Tae with us. He loves seeing the school bus come to pick up his sisters, although he prefers to see the bus drop off his sisters because he misses them.

I had a hard day the first day of school. My day usually is filled with dancing and singing girls and a little guy following them around trying to catch up with his sisters. It is always noisy in my house. For the past five years, I've always had at least two kids at home to take care of. Now with the girls both gone in the morning- it is soooo quiet. I didn't know how to deal with that the first day, so Tae and I went shopping. We got some socks for the girls and some more hairbands. Also- I had to replace my makeup since Tae got into it a few days beforehand. Little boys are so different than girls. I could always catch the girls in time before they made too big of a mess, but little Tae is always surprising me with how quickly he can make a mess! He is rather good about it. I'll have to take a picture the next time so you all know what I'm talking about.

Overall, school went great. The girls both love their classes and their teachers. I am rather impressed with Addi's teacher although I am not too fond of Jenna's yet. Hopefully things will improve. Bottom line- we made it through without tears!!

Kincaid Lake Camping 2008!

So everyone... We did it! We actually took a chance and went camping with a 2 1/2 year old boy!! And the best news is that we made it with only minor injuries! Rob was the only one hurt with a stiff neck from the bad sleeping arrangements and he got a hook in his finger. Ouch! We had tons of fun and were able to bring along my mom, dad, and sister,Lindsay. We had a blast. We rented a pontoon boat and got to play with sticks and stones. We also ate dinner last night by cooking over the fire. (We just had hot dogs, cheesy metts actually,but they were good!) The kids had tons of fun sleeping with Aunt Lindz in their very own tent. The girls actually slept through the night. Tae slept with us in our tent and wanted to cuddle in the middle of the night. He was so cute though, no one could get irritated about it. He is my "momma's boy"-loving to cuddle with his momma every night! Check out the pictures. This was our last "hurrah" before the girls start school on Monday!!

My hubby, the Rockstar, is becoming soooo good on his bass!! I am so proud of him and watching him play out with his current band, LuLu's Closet, is a blast. His next gig is on Saturday at 7pm at Five Seasons Country Club in Edgewood, KY. We are going to take the kids to this one for at least an hour. If you can make it, come on out! It's a private party for the employees there, but if you want to hear his band, you can come to listen quietly in the back. That's what we're doing since most of the time we can't bring the kids to the venues that Rob plays at.