September's 10 on 10

10 pictures on the 10th day of the month (Wednesday)!

{Document a snapshot of your life & find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!}

9 AM

I went for a dental cleaning....how adorable is this??

 10 AM
My morning was a little backwards, which thankfully only happens about 5% of the time.  So important to get these runs in though.

 11 AM
Doing school, still dressed up from going to the office with Daddy.

 12 PM
There are pluses and minuses to working from home.  A plus is comfy (inexpensive) clothes and coffee or tea anytime, with my feet up.

 2 PM
I left a little early to pick up the girls so I could do some yard work at one of our properties.  Very soon I'll be shoveling snow there and these hedges are always such a pain, so I'm taking back the sidewalk.  Sadly, ten minutes in, the clippers broke into seven pieces right in my hand, so my project was post-pined.

 2:30 PM
A favorite time of day...school pickup.  Its about 50/50 how Amanda is going to be.  Half of the time she greets me with a huge smile and a big hug, the other half she walks over slowly, shoulders slumped, ready with her tale of woe.

But soon enough both girls are chattering, telling me about their days, all at the same time.  That lovely noise, along with a hand in mind, is pure bliss.

Other days they fight with each other and complain about the activities planned for the evening or about the fact that I didn't bring the car so they wouldn't have to walk all.the.way.home.  Not pure bliss.  :)

 When we got home Uncle Nathan and Aiden were back from their tree-taking-down escapade, reading a book together on the tire swing.

 4 PM
With homework done, it was time to head to the grocery store (I'm finding it difficult to keep healthy food in the house with an 18 year-old boy playing football living here).  Two minutes into the four minute car ride, Aiden had to go potty really bad.  So we parked at the end of the lot so he would have the cover of this big rock, which the kids ended up playing at for a while.

In the meantime, Pop and Kiki had called because they were driving through town and could they come grab the kids?  They probably saved me $20 at the grocery store by taking the kids.  :)

5 PM

They love Oliver's, a new place that opened up over the summer.  Ice cream, play scape, petting zoo, often live music...fun!

 6 PM
Shaun and the kids went to work on soccer skills.

 7 PM
UNO, snapped right before I headed to bed because I wasn't feeling well.

Pre-Lobster Fest

I am posting Lobster Fest weekend backwards, mostly because I know people were anxious to see the Lobster Fest pics.  And while it was an amazing day, we also had a grand day on Saturday.  

After a yummy breakfast and showers, we paraded walked to R's football scrimmage (where Meg dropped off the kids) and then headed to my mom's for the afternoon.  She has a beautiful spot in the country and the weather was a ten.  

The pictures should speak for themselves....

 Could she have a more adoring face toward her big sis?

 These two are trouble together.

 The '06 Club, getting bigger by the day.  Lainie proves to be the responsible voice of reason among the group.  :)

 So sexy attractive to see my husband volunteer to take a fussy baby while also taking the time to talk through the latest catastrophe with his daughter.

 Or gladly gathers his niece in his lap to help with her attempts to get closer to the desserts.

 We had Z and my sister's six, plus ours...that's 11 kids...so we called it a day before there was melting.  In record time, they all had a shower and a bed.  Most even had a pillow!  So very grateful for our house that can accommodate everyone.

 Once the house was quiet we sat around the table.  The conversation turned to two pressing issues...what should C4's name be for Spanish class and what should Shaun name his new financial services business.  Melody went crazy brainstorming and in the end came up with the winning name: Juan.

Just kidding, we actually didn't come to a conclusion on C4's name (though we had a lot of laughs trying).  Shaun's new business is Sterling Principle Financial.  Look for it on the NYSE in a couple years.  :)

Project 365, Week 36

Fall is in full swing, especially where the kids are concerned.  Two weeks ago we were quietly, innocently doing summer and, just like that, we are thrust into the madness that happens when you have four kids in three different school, on three different sports teams and heavily involved in ministries at church...not for wimps!  :)  But so fun!

September 1

Happy September!  We had a leisurely morning enjoying the last remnants of our Lobster Fest weekend.

 My "labor" for this Labor Day was an 18 mile run.  I'm just over half way through my training!

 September 2
Shaun's car sold over the weekend, so he ramped up his efforts to pull the trigger on a new one.  He and Aiden made a trek to MA.  He sent me a picture during their negotiations break.

(Aiden had randomly come down dressed in his full t-ball uniform)

 He's very independent when it comes to entertaining himself and keeping busy.  He pulled out his equipment and practiced his swing.

 Orientation/Open House at the girls school.  Shaun was at rehearsal so I went to both classrooms.  The kids had prepared some work for us to see.  Amanda wrote about her summer fun "sea doing".  :)

 Aiden wasn't too sure about going out to play with all the kids (supervised), but I sent him on his way...and he had a blast.

 September 3
On a scale of 1 to 10, my mornings usually rate in the 10 to 15 range.  This one was just incredible.

 We got to have Alayna for a few hours and she walked down to do school pick up with us.  You can hear how much these two are growing up in their conversations.

 Homework yielded tears, times two this afternoon.  We're all still adjusting.

 Aiden's favorite, most requested book to read is the Bible....his "Jesus stories".  He asks thought provoking questions and has insight that would far exceeds his age.  I wonder how God is going to use him.

 September 4
All student athlete's parents had to sit through a presentation on concussions at school.  Aiden was playing with my phone and this was the best of the bunch.

 September 5
Amanda reading a story to Great-Grandpa.

 These two were "on" this week in their on again/off again relationship.

 R was starting defense in the last scrimmage before regular season starts this week.  It was a lovely night to sit out and watch, though I'm thinking in another month we'll need blankets.  :(

 The day finally arrived!    Friday night activities started back up and Aiden is old enough to join Royal Rangers!  He's been so, so excited, ready to learn about God and campfires and hiking.

 September 6
Warm ups in the yard.

 I took Aiden to his first practice....

 ...and Shaun took the girls to their first game.  Avery scored two of four goals and Amanda was goalie for two quarters, making several impressive saves.

Fall sports are in full swing!