23 april

[thinking] of stealing home!

21 april

happy, happy sunday.

20 april

korinne turned thirteen today. we officially have two teenagers in the house. two lovely, fun, wonderful teenagers.

18 april

we visited the greenville zoo today. then had a picnic, and played on the playground.

we had a good time.

16 april

that's teej.

12 april

backyard soccer. with a basketball. ... they had fun!

9 april

the oldest catches. in brand new gear. ... and pretty well too.

8 april

the playground is suddenly very fun.

7 april

sixteen. that is all.

6 april

i love zach's face. it sums up how we all pretty much feel at this point. six days without brian. i bet if the kids took a picture of me right now ... i'd have the same look on my face.

the family drive in practice run

bath time diversion with the Crazy Kiddos who like to take pics of themselves with my iPhone

 I've had this idea pinned for quite some time ... it was probably one of the first things I pinned a year ago when I first succumbed to Pinterest. Last night was just a practice run at the Bailey Family Drive In ... our family was not complete, we did not have black paper plates for the tires, we didn't take the time to add our yellow construction paper headlights, and there was no concession stand (however, Korinne did bake a chocolate cake for us ... and Kylie made bread:). Also, I think a few of the boxes were too small. But! The boys did get a kick out of the idea, they even thanked me over and over again for "the idea." So ... we will be finishing our cardboard box cars, and we will be heading to the Bailey Family Drive In more often. And, I think I'll come up with a fancier name: Starry Night Drive In ... Midnight Sky Drive In ... Full Moon Drive In ... ...

I'll post the real deal as soon as we go again.

3 april

another sunrise. another day. 

where i blew it.

 i suppose my constant mistakes and constant apologies give my children plenty of opportunity to practice giving grace.

* i just wish it wasn't always with their momma. (i should be doing better than this by now)

WW 1: "It's Nerf or Nothin'!" - Kylie

2 april

Zach slept longer than the rest of us this morning. I tiptoed in, and took a few pictures of him. He still looks so tiny in our big bed. He is weaning. Neither one of us are very happy about it, but it's happening anyway. 

Speaking of lazy ... the maintenance guys arrived this morning before I was even out of my jammies and housecoat. I assumed they'd be working under the house ... but no. They worked IN our dining room. For four hours! Hammering and sawing and mumbling away. But it was worth it. There is no longer a hole in our dining room floor. They also fixed the kitchen sink, hooray! No more bucket to lug out and dump off the back deck. The boys bathroom sink is a GO! as well. I just noticed that one yesterday. It was a small leak, but must have been going on long enough that it ruined some of their swimming trunks that I store in the cabinet under their sink.

Speaking of storage ... we have none in this rental home of ours. We were actually discussing buying a house some time this summer, but we decided that was probably not a good idea. The kids and I don't want to stay behind when we PCS again to sell a house. And, although the market would be great for us to buy a house right now, it would not be so great for us to have to turn around and sell a house in a year or two. We then discussed possibly finding a new rental, but moving for real stinks. I don't mind so much when the Army comes in and packs, loads, unloads, and unpacks us ...but for Brian and I to have to do it ... no thanks. So ... I've been pinning some ideas like a crazy woman to help with our storage issues here. We're going to build some mega shelves in our garage, build cubby shelves in our "family" closet, and add an additional shelf (and pretty curtain) in the laundry room.

Speaking of clouds ... not really. But that's how I'm moving through this long post of mine. The clouds. Kylie saw them first. We figured it was alien space ships or something. It reminded me of the movie Independence Day. I saw that in the theater when I was pregnant with Kylie. One of mine and Brian's friends who was getting ready to leave for the Marines took me to see it. I think he felt sorry for me because I was pregnant and all alone. It was before Brian and I started dating. Because Brian would never leave me pregnant and all alone. Hmmm ... I bet a lot of you are scratching your head on that one. ... ... ...

Moving on to Pirates. Benjamin and Judah decided they wanted to dress up as some. Kylie did the honors. And took the pictures. They hadn't had their costume things out for a long time. It had all been buried at the bottom of the toy closet. Since I'm on a roll with organizing (and rearranging furniture ... we moved two book cases today. Two full bookcases. And all the family room furniture too), we emptied all the contents of the toy closet out onto the family room floor, and organized things. I have baskets being delivered tomorrow to put most of their toys in. They've been hanging out in plastic pretzel tubs for a few years. Not very pretty. Anyhoo ... once their toys were organized, they realized they'd not played with most of it for a few months, and it was nice to see them actually enjoying their things again. 

Speaking of enjoying things .. it's been nice writing here. However bizarre. Maybe I'll start blogging again. I've had a few things swirling around in my head that I'd like to get out. Some thoughts on tidal homeschooling. Some thoughts on cleaning. Some thoughts on a few children's books we've come to love. Swirling, swirling ... 

1 april

the word school does not impress him. but writing his letters in cool whip is hard to resist.