Project 365: a new nephew, a last day of school, and a fun birthday weekend in Branson

Friday, June 3

No picture. Project failed. Taking a picture a day is much harder than I thought it would be. I'll keep trying my best, though.

Saturday, June 4

We drove to Illinois this weekend to visit Ryan's family. The most important part of the weekend was getting to meet our new nephew/cousin.

Yawn!

My 6 year old has been particularly interested in babies, in general, lately.

We're definitely all big fans of this little guy!

Sunday, June 5

See. I already failed again. I think it was all of the "How much further?" and "When are we going to be home?" and "I can't take it any longer!" (That one was from the kids and me.) that fried my brain. I declared that I'm NEVER driving more than 3 or 4 hours at a time with my kids again. People have always asked how we can do so much traveling with our kids. Well, that was a thing of the past. No more, I say! It was somehow easier when they were younger, despite the fact I thought it would get easier as they got older.

It's not my oldest; he's always been a champ at traveling. Even my 6 year old isn't too bad in the car (except for taunting/taking things from/hitting his sister). It's my daughter. Who whines herself into a state of panic.

If I can figure it out, maybe I can post a video from Ryan's phone that he took of the cicadas in Illinois. I've never seen or heard anything like it. They cover every inch of the trees, they're all over the ground, and you can barely hear your voice outside over their deafening song. I'm not really freaked out by bugs, but some might think it's very creepy.

Monday, June 6

I had Tornado (and myself) pumped up all weekend, even until I dropped him off at school Monday morning, that TODAY was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! About an hour after I dropped him off, I looked at my calendar and - duh, Tuesday was going to be the last day. I had to recreate the whole "today's the last day of school" production once again the next day.

Maybe if my whole life's organizational system wasn't a wrinkled stack of printed off calendar pages folded and stuffed into my purse, I'd be able to keep track of these things better.

Tuesday, June 7

The real last day of school. Half of his class wasn't even there. We had such an unexpected amount of snow days this year that had to be made up.

"Last days" are always sad for me! This is one of his teachers.

He's had these two for two years in a row. They've been a big part of our lives, and we will miss them. I don't know how many times he has called me by one of their names. "Mrs. Bo...I mean, Mom..."

Wednesday, June 8

the books Sissy picked out for me to read before her bedtime

Thursday, June 9

The kids secretly holed themselves up in the homeschool room tonight and worked on these pictures for me. Little ones on the top: Sissy. Left: Dash. Right: Tornado, who is all about silly pictures and collages.

Friday, June 10

The kids and I are on our way to Missouri for the weekend. (Ryan will join us tomorrow; he's riding up with Mom and Dad.) On the docket today: a visit with my grandparents in their small town and a stop by the grocery store to get some last minute supplies for my oldest son's birthday party (which my brother and sister-in-law are graciously hosting).

Saturday, June 11

Happy 11th birthday to the sweet little soul who made me a Mom. He who loves birthdays maybe more than anyone.

Other highlights of the day included:

Uncle Matt in the dunking booth at an benefit for autism awareness!

That's Tornado, celebrating his dunking of Uncle Matt.

At the benefit, we also got to hear my niece sing on stage - solo and along with the girls' singing group she is a part of. Very cute! They sing at various shows in Branson.

My nephew O also got brought up onto the stage to help out the group, Buckets 'N Boards, who perform at a Branson theater.

My daughter and niece were cute and matching.

Sunday, June 12

The "deputy" guarded these little scoundrels in jail today. My whole family (all 18 of us) spent the day at Silver Dollar City.

Sis was crying because, for some reason, she had wanted to ride by herself. All of her crying made C start crying.

No worries, though, because as soon as they were up in the air, it was all smiles once again. You can even catch a glimpse of my 29 year old sister, who was feeling very "adventurous" today, riding along in the next bug.

Monday, June 13

Words can't express how excited I am about my week. I have NOTHING planned or scheduled. No appointments, no meetings, no lessons. No birthday party to prepare, no trip to pack for. NOTHING!!! My week is free! We all (besides Ryan who was up at 5:45 to get ready for work) slept in until 9 today! I'm trying to slowly chip away at the mess that has accumulated in my house during our very busy year.

This is my son's actual birthdate. I let him pick out anything he wanted for supper. He chose grilled cheese sandwiches (made with the amazing bread from Serenity Farm in Leslie, AR).

Tuesday, June 14

Tornado is playing with his Playmobil vet clinic he picked out for his birthday. It took us probably an hour to put all of the pieces together. The set is very fun and full of details.

Wednesday, June 15

Another one of his birthday gifts: two Doodle-Track Cars. Each car comes with this paper track (that the car will stay on) and a marker to use for drawing your own track, if you want.

There is also a website for the kids to create their own track systems and print them off. Super fun! (We taped the individual pages together.) Pictures of road signs and buildings can also be added. (And yes, this really was the next day; he's just still wearing the same clothes.)

The cars will stay on the track course. They can even drive side by side on the 2-lane road and race each other.