A (long) week of firsts...

We had a crazy first week of September. We started it off canning pears on Labor Day, which I somewhat regrettably say I will never do again. WAY too messy and not enough cans of pears to show for all that work! (well, we got about 2 dozen, but I don't know if 12 dozen would have been worth the sticky mess and the dishes I had to do after). But, I did feel domestic, my kids got some hands on "this is how it is done" experience and my food storage looks a little less peaky. (The non-intestinal looking ones are pear PIE filling. Yes, I am a domestic diva.)

Then Tuesday was the first day of school at a BRAND new, beautiful school (Springville elementary school). The kids were SO excited (and well, I was a little excited too).

Okay, so the front door was facing the sun, not the cutest expressions, but the only one they'd stand still in front of the school for.

Remember, I am a hair mom. Gotta take note of these monumental hairdo's. :)

Emma at Little Green apple on her first day with two of her favorite friends, Lilly and Max. She woke up at 6:30am and got dressed, put on her back pack and proceeded to ask me if it was time to eat lunch every 5 minutes till noon when it was (finally) time to leave (I had previously told her we'd go to preschool after lunch...my mistake). I guess we were ready for school to start.

This is Sam (yes, THE Sam that Emma gets batty eyed over...click here to read that post) and then some kid I don't know and Caleb on the very end.
The sad part about the first week of school is that it is also a week full of soccer, dance (X2), scouts, piano(x2), back to school meetings (X3), enrichment night, football and (deep belly breath) it was crazy! I forgot why I look forward to summer so much...not nearly as much running around. This is Levi playing center at his first game (or linebacker, I can't tell which is which most of the time, spencer just tells me). He's in the red jersey number 78. He did great, got several great tackles and two sacks!
Kiara's best friend, Taryn, is in her class by some stroke of divine luck. She couldn't have been more excited for school to start. AND they got to sit by each other! Yeah! (we'll see how long before the teacher realizes THAT is a bad idea). :)

First soccer game. Kiara is a machine...

Wow. It sure wasn't as quiet and peaceful as I thought it would be when school started, but hopefully things will slow down a little bit...SOON!

Hood to Coast

This picture is before the fun really began, and when I had major butterflies. My first run was almost 6 miles, but it was hot at 2:30pm. I don't run well in the heat so I hated this run. Luckily for me, it was my only hot run.
This is Spencer after his first run, he did awesome every run and came in super strong. The running pictures are all a little fuzzy as I brought my small camera to H2C.
This is Jim from Spencer's law firm. He enjoyed writing inappropriate comments on our suburban so I thought I'd have proof of who was responsible for the comments when we got grilled by our children when we got home. This one isn't bad...it says: "1 Girl, 4 Boys, 1 Conrad".
This is me during my first run, the only running picture we got (particularly since the second run was in the middle of the night and by the third run none of us cared anymore we were too tired!)
This is just our van (Van 2). We had a great time, and these guys are hilarious. I was laughing pretty much the whole weekend. I was the only girl in Van 2, and though I didn't like the idea initially, it ended up being fun. I did hear more "dude" and "this blows" (along with several other unmentionable explitives) than I have heard in a LONG time, but they were all supportive and great to be with for the weekend.
I only include this picture b/c this is how every stop looked...a line up of honey buckets and worse yet, there was ALWAYS a long line just to get to one of those things. But thanks to Spencer we have me exiting a honey bucket on record. hmmmm....

This is after both of our third runs, just after we sent off our last runner (yeah! no sleep for well over 24 hours), when we are pretty much trash, but so happy to be done!! Can't WAIT to shower!!

This is our whole team at the beach after John finished and we got announced and got to run as a team across the finish line. So much fun. A guy from their firm owned a condo a few hundred yards away from the finish line and so we got to SHOWER!! Yeah!! It was a great weekend and so much fun. I am still a little sore a few days later, but other than that I loved Hood to Coast this year.

After being gone for two days, we came home to a clean house, BATHED children and a poster on the wall made by none other than these darling little kiddos. The Thelins took my kids while we were gone and I must say, I am certain they had more fun than we did! What a great weekend!

Summer Lovin'

Here is a little of what the Adams family does in the summer time:Roasting Smore's in the backyard with friends and family.

Eating Sand at the Oregon Coast.
Playing at the park with friends and family.

A little boating...

Swimming with Uncle Matt.
Winning Craziest Hair at Summer Soccer Camp.
Getting black eyes from brothers who play way too wild for inside activities when they are bored.
Lots and lots and lots of Legos.

Posing pretty for pictures.

Reading outside by the garden. Look at all that basil!
Shooting airsoft guns at Targets...for hours....and...

hanging out with mom. As much as I love summer, I think I am worn out and ready for some schedule and some sleep and a little bit of quiet. Since football and soccer has already started, I don't know if that will ever happen!

(Another) Hair Mom Moment

I'd like to hope it isn't pride that is the cause for this particular blog entry...but I guess I have built up hair mom envy for so many years that i have to just have a moment (or two) to relish in my new hair mom self. Here are a couple of new do's (with my homemade ribbons and bows and flowers that i am equally obsessed with). Combine a little OCD with CHEAPSKATE and you get hair bow making mania at the Adams' house. I just wish I could do it in less time so that I could still fix my own hair, tidy up the house and make dinner. Moderation in all things? Obviously that was NOT for hair moms. Hmmphf.

Double Digits!

Today is Levi's 10th birthday. I can hardly believe I have been married 11 years, let alone that I have a child old enough to be in his double digits. My life is just cruising by and I am trying to occasionally come up for air.

It is so fun to have had a boy first, it certainly adds spunk to our lives. There isn't a quiet moment at our house and I really do attribute that to having a wild boy first! His mind is always going and he always has big ideas and plans (for instance, he has been working on a book of "inventions" that he plans to edit and send to Bill Gates. He already has his speech planned and what he'll wear when he meets him). He is a dreamer and I love it. Levi has a great sense of humor, he is an awesome big brother, and he keeps us on our toes (always). The younger kids all LOVE it when Levi is home b/c he is always up for a wrestle or to read them a story. He's growing up too fast! When he is 10, does that mean he is a "tween"? I hate that word, so hopefully not!! :)

Here is a glimpse of Levi before he was all grown up!! :)

Hair Mom Envy

Let it first be said that I have always been a little annoyed with moms who walk into the store, gym, preschool, whatEVER with their children all in bows, ribbons and curls. I refer to those perfect mothers as "hair moms". But as of a few short weeks ago, I am a hair mom. Okay, not really. I still can barely master a simple braid (and french braids? NO WAY!), but I am making an effort to play with the girls hair every morning this summer and I found some super cute blogs that have different ideas with step by step tutorials for low life mothers such as my (previous) self who felt that a bathed and brushed head of hair was as much as a person could handle. My husband was horrified at the amount of money I recently spent on hair bows, hair FLOWERS (yes, i am a true convert), and flowery bobby pins. I hope to make them in the future since it cost me a small fortune to buy like 6 things. Anyway, I hope to turn a lot of heads and cause a lot of envy from any of you NON hair moms, but if it makes you feel any better...now that their hair is done every day, I rarely get a shower and my house is a wreck...and a lot of cursing, crying, and gnashing of teeth occurs during hair prep time. Just think of that next time you feel hair mom envy at the grocery store! :)