Less is More

I was at the computer today when Zach walked in.

"Mom, is less more?" He asked.

"No, less is less." I repied.

He asked again, "Is less more?"

I repeated his question (mainly to make sure I was understanding him correctly). "No, less is less." I said again.

"But on the commercial, she says less is more." he added.

Maybe we need to start watching less TV...

My Life in Pictures

I have so much fun with my new camera. And my most favorite subjects, other than flowers, are my boys. I could take pictures of them all day and I have come to realize that a picture is truly worth a thousand words. I love getting pictures of them doing their everyday things. I'm not the best at journaling - I don't keep a journal of my own, and I'm so behind on my scrapbooking that my journaling in them gets done sometimes a year after the fact. But I'm loving taking pictures and trying to create in them a story or reminder of what the boys are like; what their personality is at that time, what they love to do, accomplishments, and even just what they look like (since the change so much every day). I downloaded another 150 pictures today and here are my favorites:

The other day Zach decided that he wanted a sandwich for lunch. I told him to get everything out; I had to do something really quick, then I would fix it for him. When I came back into the kitchen, he commented, "Look mom! I got all the stuff and I'm making my sandwich by myself!" Feeling immediately lost and useless, I figured I could take part in his moment by taking some pictures. He needed no help; although I did show him the trick of wiping his knife clean after the peanut butter so he didn't get any in the jelly. He talked the whole time about how cool it was that he fixed his own sandwich. I loved the look of accomplishment on his face while he was eating the fruit of his hard work...

Like said in my previous post, Andrew is into anything that has to do with balls. Hockey, baseball, basketball, football, you name, he wants to play. When he first goes out to play baseball, he collects all the balls (and we have many) and lines them all up in a row on the grass. Then he grabs the bat, assumes his stance and says, "Mom! Ready!" He's quite the slugger when he does connect with the ball. When I have pitched him all the balls, he hands me the bat with a "Mom's turn!" and procedes to collect all the balls again and line them up. He then pitches to me, holloring to me to "Run!" when I hit the ball. When all the balls have been used, he takes the bat and it all continues again. When he's done with baseball, it's on to football with a "Mom! Hike!" He is truly all boy.

The next is a little ode to football. Last week, while my neighbor, Katie, and I were making our 366 cake balls for the school teachers, our kids were playing in the backyard. The girls had made this cake with sand, beanbags, and the football, and I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture of their creation.

These last ones are just some favorites of my boys. They each have such expressive faces. They are so handsome!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know it's been way too long since I last posted, but I have been so busy lately. However, as I sit here and try to remember what I have done and what has happened in the past two weeks, I'm drawing a blank. Let me think...

Preschool is still going wonderful. We have learned about why we have letters and numbers, that A is for Apples, the color red and the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the primary colors, a few songs and much more. I am always amazed at how much the kids know and how smart they are. And I love that they help me have fun.

I have been going in twice a week to Porter's first grade class to help with his reading groups. Porter is in the highest reading group along with two other students and I love to listen to him read. He also got tested for the gifted program this week and we are awaiting the results.

Zachary has started playing soccer with some of the kids from church. He has had practice the past two Thursdays, so he and Rhett go and play. According to Rhett, he's really good and Zach comes home very excited. He has his first game on the 20th.

Andrew is following in his brother's footsteps and loves to play baseball. His favorite thing is to hit the ball with the bat - and he does pretty well considering he's only two. So he doesn't have to rely on us all the time to pitch the ball to him, Rhett built him a T; so he is constantly outside hitting on his own. His other favorite thing is to play hockey with the little hockey ball and sticks we found at the Dollar Store. Really, he loves anything that involves a ball.

I am running for PTO Treaurer at Porter's school. Katie (my neighbor) is running for President and between the two of us, have been very busy getting the word out and getting the staff's support. We decided that bribary was the best way to do that, so she and I made 366 cake balls (involving baking 6 cakes, mixing each with a can frosting, rolling them into 1" balls and dipping them in chocolate), then bagged them and added a little flyer with information about our school book fair (which the two of us also put on) and our PTO election information. We spent all day at the school on Friday between helping sell popcorn to the students as well as going around to each teacher to hand out our goodies. (Luckily we had a few extras so we could actually taste our hard work... YUM!!)

And I do have to mention Rhett - who has been a great support through all my craziness. He knew of the importance of me being at the school on Friday, so when Andrew woke up sick, he kindly took the day off work so he could stay home to take care of the kids! Aren't I so lucky to have such a wonderful husband?!?!

Anyways, that's my week in a nutshell. Hopefully it won't be another two weeks before I post again...

Labor Day

I love vacation days. I love not having to get up for school and having Rhett home for an extra day. We didn't have any plans for today; we talked about doing lots of different things, but we never pursued anything. That was a good thing since Porter woke up sick this morning. So I figured since we couldn't go anywhere, I would get my many chores done around the house. Today I:

* got all the laundry done (tomorrow's chore is putting it all away)
* cleaned two of the three bathrooms (tub and all with Ajax)
* changed and washed all of our bedsheets
* mopped the kitchen floor (and we'll give Rhett credit for vacuuming the kitchen, living and family rooms)
* made bread
* made an apple pie
* made rice krispy treats (with a yummy new recipe I found)
* went to Wal-Mart for all the things we are out of

Happy Labor Day!