8.27.12

Freedom!!


Oh whoops, I mean... 1st day of school!

This year, I have a 3rd grader and a Kindergartener... can you believe it??

Sweet brothers... "Now, act like you like each other!"

Kinder-boy

3rd grader

And, they're off into the morning! Love them!

*After School* WOW- a big day indeed! He lost his 1st tooth on his 1st day of Kinder!! The tooth fairy will be visiting someone tonight....  :)

Now, you may have asked your self... "What did the girls do all day while the boys were gone?" Well, we put on dress-up clothes and vamped around, of course. Duh.
 

-Kerry

8.15.12

Yeah. Believe it or not, he's actually playing "Doctor" with the kids... not "Guantanamo Bay Torture Room".

08.01.12

Oh, hooray for August! The countdown is ON for back-to-school! The kids go back on the 27th, and this mama is seriously ready for that day to come. I have been #1 tour director / referee / nurse / punching bag / 24-hour cleaning lady for 2 whole, long months now, and while I love my kids, they need school, and I need them to go to school.

In other news, another finished quilt! This was my 1st commissioned quilt- the woman picked the fabric and the size, and I created this for her daughter's new "big girl" bed. :) She's picking it up this afternoon- I really hope she likes it.

Add caption

Close-up of the square

Detailing on the back- I did a "pebble" pattern on the borders, and a swirl inside each square

I don't think I've shared this with you all- this is my baby. She's a Singer 301A, "born" the same year as my dad, 1951. I do all of my sewing on this machine- and she is phenomenal at machine quilting! XOXO

The Long Awaited Picture-Filled Post

Apologies.

It would seem that I have a knack for filling my plate just ever so slightly too full.  As if having all 3 children at home full-time during the summer wasn't enough, I also picked right now to create a home business (a small quilting shop on etsy.com, a website that promotes handmade items). I was also given the opportunity to be a (large) part in a local twice-yearly children's consignment sale- this is an event that I feel very strongly for, and my role for the next sale in September is helping working moms and first time consigners prepare their items for the sale. Oh, and add my role as a commitee member for the Goodfellow Combined Spouses Club (our military spouse's organization at this base).

Phew. I'm pooped even just re-reading that...

I'm convinced that all I need is just a bit better time management skills, and it will all come up roses. :)

Enough about me. Let's get to what you're really here for. Without further ado, gratuitous cute pictures of my awesome children...

Owen chilling out in the pool at Uncle Todd's house

California girl...

Kids' Choice- we visited the wax museum... not as cool as they thought it was going to be, I believe. They were, however, impressed by Dorothy and gang. Sorry about the really terrible picture quality- it was dim in the museum, and it appears that the Tin Man reflected the camera's flash. Dang Tin Man.

Kites in San Francisco!

Carousel on the pier in San Francisco!

Board walk in Santa Cruz- we spent a couple of fun days here. Jacob wasn't big enough for the "big kid" rides, but he really enjoyed "helping" Evelyn.

Owen and cousins on a big kid ride. Hold on, Owen!

Daddy and Owen getting ready to ride the Big Dipper- an all-wooden roller coaster, and a family tradition. Owen was quite proud to finally be old enough to ride. :)

I am realizing that I didn't nearly have as many California pictures as I thought that I did. It appears I'm just as awesome a picture taker as I am a blog writer. Hm.

On another note, after talking to my aunt and grandparents the other day, I wanted to include a couple non-kid pics.  I have been working really hard lately, and I am proud of what I've made. Since the start of summer, I've sold 2 quilts online. This is amazing to me. Here's a peek at them:

The first one to sell- this one began as lark... I pulled some scraps out to try out a block I saw in a book.

I love this one.

Close-up of the quilting. I love how it turned out and how the swirls compliment the pinwheels.

Labor of love. I think I love quilting so much because it's so nice to complete a prjoect and just have it stay... completed. Unlike cleaning or child raising, am I right??

6.25.12

Juat a quick post- I am still jet-lagged like nobody's business, and I feel like I am about 2 steps behind of the rest of the day. Yuck.

Ok, are you ready for a brag-worthy moment??

I have to brag on my littlest boy, he is just getting so dang big, and he's so very very smart.

This note was from shower time, it was his quiet protest against shower/bed time- he wrote it all himself with no help whatsoever (not even from his big brother) and then it was quietly deposited in my hand.

You may have to look close, but it reads...

"I'm not going to the sharo"

Pretty good, huh? The only misspelled word was "shower", and that's a toughie!

I am so proud of him...

But he still had to take a shower.

-Kerry

6.20.12

As we drive towards San Angelo under cover of night, the lights of the city slowly appear out of the inky blackness and I marvel at the strange tug in my heart. Perhaps I am more attached to this place, with it's gentle, flat landscape and a sky that stretches as far as the eye can see. Tomorrow, I know I'll wake up and curse the danged heat and the wind and the empty dryness, but for now, this moment, it feels like coming home.

6.19.12

Final full day in CA... As of this morning, my pants are feeling quite snug. Diet recommences Thursday.

6.17.12

Why are "family" activities so not fun for the whole family? And when did I turn into my parents?

6.13.12

Ah California. A quick update on the past couple of days: The Strong family has been to San Francisco... We've watched the sea lions fighting for position on Pier 39, we've marveled at the undersea wonders at the San Fran aquarium, we've taken a tour of Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum (resulting in nightmares for this brave mama- not sure if the kids were similarly affected). But the best, the most fun, the most memorable of events from our San Francisco day was the dinner stop at the San Francisco Creamery. See, we watched an episode of Man Vs Food before our CA trip- the one where Adam Richman takes The Kitchen Sink Challenge. What is the Kitchen Sink? Imagine this: 8 scoops of ice cream, 3 bananas, 8 toppings, and 8 servings of whipped cream, all served up in an actual kitchen sink for you masochistic pleasure. Well duh, we had to experience this for ourselves, are you kidding me??? I am unable to upload pics away from home, but rest assured that the experience was epic. Let's just say... The challenge kicked our collective booties. Yesterday was a trip to Santa Cruz (I <3 Santa Cruz, laid back hippie beach town- yes please!). We cruised the boardwalk and rode carnival rides for hours and hours. Owen had a couple of cousins (10 year old girls) along for the ride, and I kid you not, they rode every single ride on the boardwalk once, then twice, then over and over again. When the rides were ridden (and yes, I rode the Fireball... I am proud of myself yessiree) and our bellies were full of corndogs, ice cream cones, and fried artichoke hearts, we headed down on the beach. I had figured that it would be too chilly for getting wet, but Owen proved me wrong by immediately diving in, jean shorts, tshirt and all. Even Evelyn had a blast- after her shoes were off she ran straight for the shore and laughed as the waves lapped at her little baby toes and sucked her feet into the sand. Expect a glut of pictures after we get back. For now, I am relaxed, I am rejuvenated, my soul feels full with the sweet California sunshine, the ocean breeze, and the green. Oh the green. Thank you California for reminding me that the world is so much bigger than the arid and brown Texas sky. Turns out, no matter where I roam, I really always am a Pacific coast girl. -Kerry

6.9.12

My impressions of California, day 2: Owen swam in a swimming pool today where he was the only child not wearing a turban or speaking Sikh. Fresh cherries were bought for $1.50/lb... and they were delicious. All 3 lbs of them. And yes, now I do have a belly ache. We visited a flea market. I have never before visited a flea market. This totally satisfied any remaining desire to ever again visit any flea market again. Yup, I'm good. When you drive only 10 miles over the speed limit on I5, you get angry people trying to pass you and flipping you the finger. While honking. And presumably reloading. When you eat at a BBQ joint in CA, they still serve your plate with a slice of sandwich bread, but instead of white bread, you get a slice of multigrain wheat. Did I mention the green?? It is so unbelievably, deliciously green here. It is so very very nice to be out of TX. -Kerry

6.7.12

I really wish her daddy hadn't shown her how the spray nozzle works...

6.4.12

It turns out that I am really bad at blogging. I have all these great ideas for posts and cute, funny stories about my family, but it seems to be very difficult to find a good amount of time to actually sit and write.  I think part of it too is that I keep waiting for something really awesome to happen to my family, so that I will have a really awesome post... and that's just not going to happen! My life is full of day-to-day things that are awesome to ME, but are probably insanely boring to anyone else. 

So, instead of waiting for the super awesome amazing event to occur so that I can write an amazing fabulous award-winning blog post about said event, I am going to experiment with posting "snippets" instead.  I hope to publish a new post every day, but it won't be anything big- just a small "snippet" about our day.  Hopefully this works better, and my mom will stop sending me hate mail because I haven't posted anything in 3 weeks...??

We are heading to California on Friday and will be gone for a couple weeks, so I'll be attempting this on my husband's iPhone while we're there... fingers crossed, everyone.

Without further ado... here is today's "snippet":

Here are my 2 boys. They went to bed in their own beds. Wearing their own pajamas, no less. When I went to bed (much much later that night) I found them in one bed, and at some point, they'd switched jammies.

Just another day in the Strong house.

-Kerry

Math and Science Night (aka Dead Pigs)

I don't know if I've mentioned this recently, but I love Owen's school. Love love love. And that's a wonderful thing, because after his kindergarten experience here in wild west TX, I was set to home school for the remainder of our time here.

Oh yeah.

But, luckily for me Owen, he tested into the Gifted and Talented program that our school district has, and he transferred schools.  It was a match made in heaven. We love this school, we love the staff, we love the principal, we love the special activities that they do with the kids and the way that they encourage the kids to really "think outside of the box" in order to learn.

All of which leads me to this picture of my 8 year old child dissecting a fetal pig.

Yep, that is Owen, and that is a real fetal pig.

Owen's school hosted their annual Math and Science night- which is a really fun event! Every classroom has a different station set up with different activities and the kids go from room to room and get their tickets signed by the teacher after they participate in the activities. At the end of the evening, the kids turn in their filled tickets to the cafeteria for pizza, cookies, and lemonade! Although who would want to eat after that picture above, I don't know...

Owen's teacher was in charge of the fetal pigs, which Owen thought was the most awesome thing ever. He talked about it for days ahead of time.

Except... except...

The day of the event, I picked up Owen at school and he told me, "The baby pigs are here today mom! They're in the Art Lab right now, so we couldn't go in there for class. They're going to kill them right before Math and Science Night so we can dissect them later."

Um, what??

Me: "Did you actually SEE baby pigs?"

Owen: "No, but a 3rd grader told me that they're in there..."

Ah ha.

Thankfully, these little piggies actually arrived at school already, ahem, disposed of and hermetically sealed in individual laboratory baggies. Phew.

We had a BLAST. I love this school.

Bubble Lab!

Working hard to solve a math puzzle...

You can see the remnants of Oreo "moon phases" here. Also- baby girl wound up eating BOTH pieces of that pizza....

Do you remember when I talked about sewing the super hero capes for Owen's class?? Well, here they are! The kids added their own decorations to the back... I think they came out so cute. I am so glad I got to be a part of that. :)

5.14.12

Today, baby girl discovered that in addition to the couch, floor, and walls, her body makes an excellent canvas for marker art.

It's hard to be upset when she's obviously so very proud of herself...

-Kerry

5.8.12

It has stormed here for 2 days now. With rain in the forecast for the rest of the week (a rare occurance here in west Texas, indeed) I anticipate at least a week longer of having to hose these boys off before they are allowed back indoors.

They're boys. It's mud. You weren't really surprised, were you?

-Kerry

Soccer Days

This weekend wrapped up a new experience for the Strong clan... we successfully made it through a soccer season!

Maybe now I'll have more time for this blog, eh?

Jacob- being his Daddy's clone- is a sports man. I knew the day was coming that we'd become those parents... You know the ones I mean, right? We've already got a minivan- the rest was just a skip, hop, and $65 registration fee away.

I have to say, I know Jacob really enjoyed himself this season. I know the rest of his family enjoyed it as well. The twice weekly practices and Saturday games spent cheering on the Cobras will be missed now that the season is over (well, maybe not missed that much now that it's getting close to 100 degrees outside... turns out there really IS a limit to my feelings of parental obligation- and it starts at 85 degrees).

Granted, Jacob may not have been the *star* of his team, but he had the most positive attitude of any teammate I've ever seen. Mr. Congeniality, indeed. He had a blast. So did we. We can't wait for the next season to start (September!!).

Enjoy these pics of the "highlights"...

First game! They didn't have their jerseys yet, so they played in white shirts... He's ready!!

Push ups! You've not seen anything as funny as a group of 5-year-olds attempting push ups. I almost peed myself from laughing...

Getting ready to kick!

Jacob's #1 soccer fan

Soccer parents!



With his medal and 2 trophies!

I just realized that I have NO good pictures of Owen during soccer season. That is probably because his modis opperandi for games was to bring a book and find a quiet, shady spot to hide for an hour... Not that I blame him- I used to be that kid...

Owen has said he wants to play next season as well-TWO kids with TWO soccer schedules?? This could get crazy!!


-Kerry

Look at this picture. Look really really closely. One of these things does not belong.

Any guesses?

Ok, I'll give you a hint: She's blond, likes pink, and is 22lbs of pure sassy-ness. Oh- and she's also a GREAT climber.

Yeah.

Apparently, while I was vacuuming in the bedrooms, she pushed her stool over to the oven and climbed atop it. And dumped out the entire shaker of salt. 

Now, guess which Mommy is very very happy that neither the stove top nor the oven have been used today?

I know.

This could have been a very unhappy story.

-Kerry

Library Fun

Baby girl and I went to the library today- this is our normal Monday event. Even though the library here is brand new and super fun, neither of the big boys like to go if they don't have to, so it has become something that Evelyn and I do together every Monday morning before we pick up Jacob from school. Owen just finished the series by Lemony Snickett A Series of Unfortunate Events (13 books total!!) and I was desperately searching for something new for him- luckily for me, the librarians are very sweet and were able to load me up with a stack of books for him to try.  Choosing books for an 8 year old boy is TOUGH. First, it's tough to find a book at that age level that is actually meant for boys. Then, my boy doesn't want a book with an animal protagonist, he doesn't like sports, he doesn't like dragons or mystical creatures... See why I was needing a librarian's help??

My library is also equipped with a number of self checkout stations, which are a wonderful timesaver. Of course, I was checking myself out one book at a time, then placing, one book at a time, each book back into my canvas bag.  After completing checkout, I noticed my bag was considerably lighter... Baby girl had been "helping." As I checked a book out and placed it into the bag, she would remove that book and slide it down the "Returns" slot at the front desk... But she was so proud of herself. It's tough to do anything but laugh. :)

Evelyn, on her way to "return" a book

Easter Pics

Yes, I know that Easter is very over... and I know that I haven't posted in quite a while. A thousand apologies.

Our Easter was incredibly low-key. The boys each had egg hunts and parties at their respective schools, so I really felt no pressure to do anything too special here.  The kids woke up Easter morning to find their baskets had been filled in the night, we dyed eggs, and had ham for dinner.  That's it!

It is difficult for me to be so far from my family during a holiday... maybe that's why we don't have a large celebration. But perhaps, for my children being so far from family, a big celebration is what they need. 

Something to keep in mind for the next holiday?

The field full of eggs at J's school

J's class' Easter party feast!

After O's egg hunt and party at his school, his original Easter basket finally bit the dust.  I took him to the store to replace his basket and instead of picking a ready-made one, he chose a plain one and decided to embellish it himself. Love that crafty kid!

O's eggs (left snail, right alien)

J's egg on the left, mine on the right

We call this one "Mr. Cool Guy". He's my favorite. :)

The next post won't take so long to arrive.... I promise.

-Kerry

He reads!

This kid is amazing! He read both of these books on his own at 5 years old!! That is a whole year ahead of when his big brother began reading... not that I am comparing or anything. :)