The kids and I have been hoping for some nice warm weather before school started up and presto... beautiful days. We played in the sprinkler at home to cool off. Then I took the kids to the Tacoma Zoo for a short few hours and went looking for the still elusive "Arnold Brick". Judy said she has seen it but we must have missed it again. Oh Well, it will give us something to look forward to next time. Here are Deryck and Ashley playing around on the carousel.
We went to Sarah and Andy' place for Theo's 1st Birthday Party. The kids had a great time visiting with the little guy. And seeing that he learned to walk since the ocean trip, Deryck seemed to think he wasn't a baby anymore...little does he understand we mom's always think of our kids as our baby. Deryck helped Papa assemble a new rocket riding toy for Theo; and then the kids helped Theo test out a few of his new toys. We had a great day visiting with the family here are a few of my favorite pictures of the day. Enjoy!!
Everyday, this is a reoccurring shocked statement from the lips of my babe. Today, was again shocked that he in fact only had one week left until school starts. We have finished all of the school shopping for Deryck (minus 1 winter jacket). Ashley is all signed up for pre-school and conveniently Deryck will as join her at the same place for before/after school care. We stopped by his school and learned the name of his new teacher, Ms. Seeley; and found out that his classroom will be upstairs (eek, that means he is really getting big) in room 206. We started working on math, reading and spelling for a few hours everyday to get tin the groove of things and going to bed around 8:30pm every night. Even Ashley has started this routine and she has been passing out before Deryck (I am shocked by this) and sleeping through the night. She spent one night in her bed but is back in our bed because she is scared of the dark. She's sleeping a full night so happiness and baby steps...right! We are struggling with one part of the back to school routine...getting up in the morning. We have all grown very accustom to sleeping in alittle late in the mornings, and we are all struggling with getting out of bed, having breakfast eaten and being dressed ready to leave the house by 7:15. In fact, struggling is not a strong enough word; we are failing horribly. So, we have few more mornings to learn this new habit and we should be good for a strong school year. For now, I hope we get a few more days of sunshine and warm weather to play in and fine tune our routine before next Wednesday and that dreaded....first day of school.
Today, WAR was declared on a few Arnold project's. Jim and I set out to take on the task of finishing school shopping, helping to remove and install new lights on the garage, and install the Basketball goal that we gave to Deryck for his Birthday last week. This was alot to accomplish in one day but it had to be finished today; Jim's schedule is not very helpful in getting projects done and today was the only day I could see a remote possibility to work in these items together. While Jim and Deryck assembled the goal and hoop without much difficulty, Ashley and I finished (most) shopping.
I forgot I needed Deryck for the shoes and coat, so he and I will get those items this week when we have time. Doug Owens, our neighbor, helped by running new electrical wiring for the lights we bought for the garage to replace the Mercury Vapor Light that was being removed at the peak of the garage to make room for the goal. 
When I returned from shopping and the new lights were installed Jim and I turned to the task of installing the hoop and setting up the motion sensors for the lights. 
Doug was a life saver today, Jim and I couldn't have finished putting the goal up without him because the darn thing is so heavy. While Doug and I lifted the goal into place Jim was able to attach it to the garage. SUCCESS!!! 
All the kids on the block were here playing at one point; things were crazy with 
all the kids running squealing in delight and balls flying through the air. Poor Ashley was hit in the head by a ball on accident...twice. 
After things settled down, we through some hoops tog
ether just the four of us...well Shadow too. Shadow loves to chase down the stray balls!! Deryck can easily make shoots with the rim at 7 1/2ft. and as we raised the rim he was able to hit 10 ft. after a few tries. Deryck, Jim, and I played around of HORSE and when we realized that we still hadn't eaten dinner we retired for the evening.
Well, the count down to back to school has begun in the Arnold Home. Officially we have 2 weeks and 2 days to enjoy the days without worry. I started school supply shopping last week instead of waiting until the night before like normal. I was pleased to find out that some of Deryck's uniform clothes that I bought in May still fit and have no holes in the pants. Judy easily created new shorts for Deryck so during those hot fall days he can stay cool at school in shorts. So with the purchase of a few more shirts, pants, and zip-up hoody we are almost finished with Deryck's shopping. I love that he attends an uniformed school now it makes shopping so much easier for this crazy mom. I have a few more items to pin down like new winter coat, sneakers, and an emergency preparation kit for Deryck. 
Ashley is just going to daycare with a preschool/pre-K component so I will need to pick up normal clothes and shoes for her. Thankfully I can still shop at consignment shops and clearance items from our favorite stores for her general needs. She has continued the pink fashion statement and has even been speaking up while looking at clothes that she likes/dislikes. I continue to remind Jim that our princess will some day be possibly darned in black or become a tom-boy at some point in her life. It's hard to think of those things but she too is growing up fast. 
Alone Time... something we all need in order to stay sane. We all may chuckle and say "I don't need any down time"; but secretly we are desire and need a little time to ourselves to be still (and alone). This poses a very challenging situation to the parents who lavish our children with time and attention, when do we schedule time for ourselves between spouses, children, playdates, work and volunteer activities. The reason I bring this up is because being home with the kids over the summer I get very little "Michelle" time. Now, I love my kids and I share every waking (and sleeping) moment with my kids and normally this is a wonderful and delightful time however... two things have happened that make me search my inner being and pose the question "Is alone time possible without guilt?".
It's hard to believe but Deryck turned 9 on Saturday. We went on our annual birthday camping trip. This year Deryck asked if he could bring a friend, Joshua. The boys had a great time hunting for trolls and ogres in Millersylvania State Park, while Ashley hung out with Jim and I. It was a short camping trip but we all had fun and we again we had perfect camping weather. Papa and Memaw came out to visit on Saturday for a few hours; we all enjoyed a birthday cookie, tested Deryck's fishing pole and watched the kids swim for a short while.
