Fort Riley

I went to check on Riley before crashing for the night and found him surrounded by every single pillow and blanket he could find.

Riley's Observation

This evening I was laying on the couch covered in boys as we watched America's Funniest Videos. I'd hollered up to Ken a few times hoping he would wake up for work without me having to physically get him, but it just wasn't working.

Inspiration struck and I excitedly told the boys, "Whoever runs upstairs and gets Daddy to wake up first will get a big kiss!" Shannon and Corey, being competitive little creatures, jumped up off the couch and fought their way up the stairs to get their Daddy moving. Riley, still laying next to me, casually looked up and leaned over to give me a big kiss. "They're not too smart, are they, Mom?" he commented, and we both giggled.

High Aspirations

Yesterday was Corey's Star Day at school, a day where he was able to tell his class everything about him. The teacher walked him through a series of statements about himself and wrote it down for the entire class to see. Here is what you need to know about Corey:

No, my son does not want to be a police officer when he grows up, nor does he want to be a fireman. He doesn't even want to make cereal like his daddy, he just wants to make signs at a shop called The Sign Center. Just think of all the money we'll save when we need to have a... sign made?

All About Shannon

Back to school, time for my boys to tell their teachers awkward things. If you look in the sister and pet columns, you'll see that Shannon wrote, "I use to."

Bad Mom

I'm pretty sure I win the 2009 Bad Parenting Award. Just ask my son Shannon.

Yesterday I was crazy busy, I ran to the store, ran to the school, wrapped a birthday present, planted 16 sets of mums, and entertained a yard/house full of neighborhood kids for most of the evening. Today the boys woke me up shortly after the sun made it's appearance and I was tired. I still had 12 plants to put in the ground so early this afternoon I set to work, made lunch, then checked out some news feeds and decided at 4:00 that it was time to get in the shower.

Mid-lather my heart just stopped and I was overcome by a sickening feeling. That birthday present that I had wrapped the day before? It was for Shannon's BEST FRIENDS birthday party that took place this afternoon at 2:00. It was ending just as I stepped out of the shower. Oops.

So I woke my husband up and told him what I did, and he said that I probably should tell Shannon what he'd missed out on, "But you should wait half an hour so that I'm on my way to work when Shannon begins to throw a fit." Thanks for the backup, there, honey!

After Ken left, I decided that the boys were behaving pretty well and ignorance is bliss so I didn't mention my little snafu. Time passed and soon the boys were heading up to bed. The house grew quiet and I was certain that I had dodged a bullet for the day when all of the sudden I heard a great big wail descending the stairs. At 10:15 tonight, my son came hurtling down the stairs crying, "MOOOOOOOMM! You forgot to take me to my best friends birthday party!!!"

No Children Were Harmed In the Taking of These Photographs

I'll get heck for this but I can't help it. My children each have one new (clearanced out) piece of clothing for the school year (plenty of really nice hand me downs courtesy of Aunt Joyce,) and so I dressed the boys in their new shirts for the first day of school today. New MATCHING shirts. Oh well, they're cute to me.

Bathed, dressed and fed with 1/2 hour to spare.
The obligatory pose in front of the flowers. C'mon, it's cute that they match.