181/365

Still For Sale...

Despite many showings, our old house is still on the market. In fact, we have yet to even get an offer on it. UGH!!! We just continue to pray it sells soon! :)

180/365

Sprinklers

This evening John tested out our sprinkler system for the first time so we could see how the controls work. When Zach saw them on just before going to bed, he of course had to go play in them a bit... Yep, and of course get wet!

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Checking the Class Lists

Angela called me this afternoon to let me know that the class lists for all the Republic Schools had been posted on the building front doors. So before evening service, we swung by Republic EC to check out the list and see who Drew would have for his Kindergarten teacher this fall. There are 17 kids in Mrs. Sly's class (9 girls and 8 boys) and of those kids, one of the boys and one of the girls are from Drew's Preschool class. He is pretty excited to be able to start his first day of class knowing 2 of the other kids in his class already. Since there were only 20 kids in his Preschool class, we were thinking he would just be lucky to have 1 of them in his K class. I also found it surprising that of the 18 Kindergarten classes, there were only 2 other Andrew's on the lists.

Drew's Kindergarten Class

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GeoTrax
The boys LOVE when Daddy builds them a cool big train track.

177/365

Have-A-Blast

This evening, we went our friend - The Walkers - to the Republic Have-A-Blast celebration. Despite the almost record high temps (near 100 degrees), we enjoyed yummy fair type foods, the kids had fun jumping & sliding on the large inflatables as well as playing some games...and of course they wrapped up the night with fireworks. The 20 minute display was very impressive and with the heat the crowds didn't reach the expected 8000...I doubt they even matched the 6500 they had last year.

176/365

Eating Butter?!?!?!

Whenever Zach is being quiet, you better go check on him! I heard him get into the fridge, but didn't think anything about it at first since he usually gets in there throughout the day to have a drink from his milk cup. After a minute or 2 of hearing nothing I asked him what he was doing. He mumbled something and I asked him to come in the living room that I couldn't understand him. He walked in holding up an open stick of margarine saying, "This is yummy!" Sure enough, there were some teeth marks in it. What a child!!!

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Welcome to the World, MaryKate!!!

At 5:45pm this evening, little Miss MaryKate Noel Stroud joined the family. This is my brother Doug and his wife, Becky, second child. She weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. We are so thankful that Mommy & baby are doing well and I know Tyler will make a great big brother :) I can't wait to meet her in a week and a half!!!

***Photo taken by my mom since we haven't gotten a chance to meet MaryKate yet

174/365

Crazy Missouri Weather!

Just moments before this picture it was bright and sunny out! Then I heard a rumble and looked out the window to find the wind wipping every thing around (they said 60+ mph winds) and it downpouring. Well, only I guess you couldn't really call it "down"pouring since the rain wasn't coming down, but rather going parellel to the ground! NUTS!!! Not long after this picture was taken, we lost power. An hour and a half without power in almost 100 degree temp is NOT fun!! To make it even more uncomfortable (besides the heat and humidity), after the storm blew through, there was absolutely NO breeze.

173/365

Reading

I noticed that the boys were being very quite (which is not usually a good thing around here), so I went to see what they were in to. Imagine my surprise when I peeked around the corner in Drew's room and found them both sitting on his bed (minus sheets since they were being washed)! Drew was telling Zach all about the Star Wars book and Zach was listening intently to what big brother had to say.

172/365

Father's Day 2009

Before heading out for church this morning, I attempted to get a quick picture of John and the boys (as I do every year on Father's Day), but didn't succeed. So after lunch, I gave it a try again this time in the backyard. Still didn't get that perfect picture (one of them was always either not looking or not smiling), but this one isn't too bad. I have NO idea what Drew is doing with the head tilt thing!! lol

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Busy Day!

When I returned home from morning erronds (bank, grocery shopping, stop at the church for the high school car wash, and trip into the pottery place in Springfield) I found the boys and John out in the garage tackling the mess out there. So we spent the rest of the afternoon organizing things out there. In the middle of it all, Zach ended up not getting his nap and by early evening he was a little fussy so John set him up in the house with "The Incredibles" (his current favorite movie) to watch. When I came back in side to check on him a short time later, this is how I found him...fast asleep. And sleeping very hard!! I sat down next to him and tried just speaking to him to wake him up (something that normally works since his is a light sleeper), then Drew tried screaming his name...none of it worked. I even picked him up and he just barely woke up. Poor little guy!! First a very late night the day before because of the drive-in movie (didn't get home until about 11:30pm), then a day playing outside topped off with no nap. :)

170/365

Drive-In Movie

After much bugging (from myself as well as Edmond at his office), I finally convinced John to go with the boys and I to the drive-in theatre down in Aurora for the evening to see Disney's "Up". The McClure family (friends from church and Edmond also works with John) met us here in Republic and we treked south to Aurora. We arrived a little after 7pm to find another family from church there as well. So the 6 kids spent the 2 hours before the moving playing on the playground, kicking around the soccer ball and throwing the frisbee. By the time the movie started the boys were hot, tired and hungry. So they climbed up in the backend of the van (which I had layed out blankets and pillows) with their popcorn to enjoy the show. Thankfully when the sun went down so did the 90 degree temp! It ended up being a perfect night to be out with a light breeze and a temp in the 70's. We all had a blast and the boys even made it through the whole movie without falling asleep!!

169/365

A common sight around our house is anything Star Wars. From books, to Legos, to movies, to games, to pretend play...it is a big party of the boys every day life.

168/365

Punch Balloons

The boys had a blast most of the day playing with the cheap punch balloons (basically large, thick balloons with a rubberband attached) I found for them at the store last week. I'm just wondering if they can keep from destroying anything and hoping I don't regret purchasing them!! They've been given strict rules on what is ok and not ok to do with them. We shall see though...

167/365

A "Little" Extra Water

It has been raining a lot around here lately. Seems like we have at least a little parcipitation every day. This morning, after some big downpours, this was what greeted us out our back windows! A lot of rain standing in the back part of our yard as well as the common area we back-up to. This is a long distance from reaching our house since we have a 1/2 ac lot, but I am thinking the swingset should have been moved up closer to the house (since the water was just to the back edge of it).

166/365

Using The New Table

We finally used our new formal dining room set this evening! Pastor Phil, Mrs. Stephanie & Chase (our new Pastor & his family - minus their oldest son) joined us for dinner. I was so excited to have a reason for using it I even pulled out the good dishes. :) And not to worry, after taking the picture and seeing how funny the small paper "fan" napkins looked, I decided to just place the napkins on the plates instead. Nice cloth napkins are on the list to get along with some table clothes.

165/365

All Lined Up!

It cracks me up the things I find lined up around the house these days - courtesy of Zach.

*********

Ok, this might be a little too much information, but it cracked me up...

On the way to church this morning, I heard Zach burp (a juicy sounding one) and I quickly turned to look at him to make sure I didn't have a mess to clean up. He was making a horrible face and said, "Mommy, I drank my burp!" Probably something you had to be there to get the funny part of, but I had never thought of it that way before. ;)

164/365

Birthday Planning

With about a month & a half left before Drew's birthday party with his friends, I thought I better get busy with the planning!! I spent the day combing the internet for ideas for Lego themed birthday parties. Since we will be having it at our house again this year, I am trying to come up with ideas to occupy the kids during the time as well as find a good idea of the invitations.

163/365

New Trashcan

Last week I finally saved enough Bed, Bath & Beyond gift cards (from points earned on our Discover Card), to purchase the black trashcan I have been wanting for the kitchen. After we received it this afternoon it has been very entertaining to Zach. I keep finding him in their pushing the lid release button. Wonder how long it is actually going to last?

162/365

Candy Making

Ever since I took the class last Saturday on candy making, Drew has been begging to give it a try. While Zach took a nap, we drug out the supplies and put them to good use today.

After Zach's nap we headed outside to play on the slip-n-slide.

*****

It was a VERY busy day for us! We started off with a stop in Michael's for candy making supplies, and then headed to pick up the plate we made last week. Shock of all shocks...I even received an Amazing Art Award! This cracks me up since it wasn't even my design, but one I copied. I won't complain though since I received an hour of free painting for my next visit :)

*****
One of the neighbor boys was picking on Zach (holding him down on the ground and started stomping on his back with his barefoot before I could get to him), while Drew had run inside. I was talking with Drew about it later...about how the neighbor had seen Drew hitting Zach and probably thought it was then ok to hurt Zach as well. Drew's response was one of surprise, "He can't hurt Zach! He's not his brother! Only I can hurt him!" *sigh* Looks like he totally missed the point I was trying to make and feels it is his right to pick on Zach since he is his brother.

161/365

Cutting Machine

I have finally drug the fancy cutting machine John bought me for our anniversary out of it's box! Only took me almost 3 months. lol Now I wonder how long it will take me to get up the never to actually attempt cutting out a design with it. :) So far I have only tested it with the ballpoint pen in.

160/365

Crazy Way of Sitting

Why do the boys sit like this - squating without their bottoms on the floor? It is not unusual for me to walk in the room during their cartoon time and find one or both of them sitting this way (Drew doesn't do it as often now though). It reminds me of the way the natives "sat" when I was in the Amazon jungle MANY years ago. It always cracks me up and I marvel at their balance!

**Gotta love mis-matched PJs! He did have a matching set on when he went to bed, but he is out growing his diapers and they are the largest size!! So he had wet bottoms this morning...which means a mis-matched set. And of course he wouldn't get out of PJs! Both the boys throw major fits when they have to get dressed and I choose to let this fight go when we have no place to go.

159/365

Attempt 2 with Potty Training

After he used the potty during the AM and PM services at church yesterday, we thought maybe Zach was finally ready for serious potty training. I even pulled out the Cars stickers for rewards and Drew was helping to demonstrate how it was done. Worked the first time in the morning, but after that it was a huge meltdown fit every time we tried. *sigh* Not wanting to go through almost of year of that fighting like we did with Drew, we went back to diapers since he will have nothing to do with pottying right now.

158/365

Grandma & Grandpa Hawkins

On their way back home after a weekend in Branson, John's mom and step-dad stopped in Springfield to have lunch with us after church.

157/365

Trip To The Zoo

**photo taken by John**

While Drew was in a Zoo Class and I was at a Candy Making class, John and Zach spent the afternoon at the zoo. Zach's favorite part was just like mine - feeding the giraffes :)

156/365

Candy Land

Now that Zach is getting older, Drew enjoys trying to teach him how to play board games...usually following the "Drew Rules" for the game ;)

155/365

Firehouse Pottery

After the man had come and installed our new cable internet (LOVING the speed!!), the boys and I loaded up and headed to Springfield. Actually we headed to just down the hill from our old house. :) All the years we lived over there, I had kept meaning to go check out Firehouse Pottery but never got around to it. So today we finally made it over there. I am thinking it is a GOOD thing I had never been in there when I lived so close! It could have been a real habit for me to go down the hill and do some painting. lol When you walk in the door you are surrounded with shelf after shelf full of different types of pottery. You browse all the options (which each piece has their price written on them so there are no surprised at the end of your experience) and pick out the piece you would like to paint. You then go to the studio area and picked from their large selection of paints and get to work. I really loved how they have samples of different ideas all around the building. SO helpful for the uncreative like me. ;) After you have finished painting (3 coats worth to get that bright color), you leave your mess, go pay for the piece as well as your studio time and head out. Then a week later you go back and pick up your finished piece after they have had a chance to put it through the kiln. SO FUN!!! Drew really enjoyed it...except for the fact that he kept wanting to go pick more pieces to paint, but Zach was a little young and spent most the time playing with the toys they had set up in a corner (so thankful they had those!!). I look forward to going back there again sometime.

**I had ever intention of taking my camera in with me so I could get pictures of the boys hard at work...but didn't realize until we were in and getting ready to start that it had slipped out of my purse in the seat of the van. :(

154/365

Chick-Fil-A

When we lived in Springfield, we were very close to this yummy restaurant, and man do I miss it now. :) So tonight, after church, we had to run over that way to Best Buy to purchase a cable modem (wooohooo! we dropped our DSL since it was so unstable and was up and down constantly.) . So while we were there, we grabbed dinner from Chick-Fil-A...a real treat for us.

** We are also having to switch email addresses and are dropping our landline, so if you need us, use our cell numbers. If you need those numbers, email me jenmalexander AT gmail DOT com for it.

153/365

Bendaroos on a Rainy Day

The boys had a blast today playing with Bendaroos. What are Bendaroos? They are different colored strings covered in a wax type substance that you can bend or cut to create anything you can imagine. They will even stick to things - ei windows, lampshades, tables. Great for the imagination and great to throw in a purse or jacket (in a baggy so you don't end up with wax everywhere) to take with you to entertain the kids.

**Warning if you buy them: They WILL leave a waxy residue on whatever you press them into. I had a terrible time trying to get that wax off the table as well as the windows!

152/365

Water Day with Friends!

This morning the boys and I went over and picked up the Walker girls so they could spend the day with us. Their mom is still in a lot of pain with a back muscle spasm, and could use the rest. They all had a lot of time playing Legos, Bendaroos and of COURSE playing in the water on the warm mid-80's day. Our new 3-lane slip'n slide was a big hit with all 4 of them, but with only 3 lanes, I went ahead and set up part of our blow-up pool (minus it's slide and arched water sprayer) to give the 4th person a place to play in the water while waiting their turn.