August 2010

August 1- couldn't believe it was august already, went to church to more renovations, went walking with susan, watched brian paint the desks, smelled meatballs and sauce cooking all day, had a yummy dinner, cut coupons, pack cailey's things for new life camp, talked on the phone, played with the kiddos, and went to bed hoping for no more insomnia.

August 2- got up and ran 3 miles for the first time in almost a month (God gave me cool weather and I got through it), decided to train for a 1/2 marathon (still not sure if i can do it), went to a cardio muscle class (realized I can't run and do classes), played with the three youngest while Cailey was at New Life Camp ALL day, got my coupons done, tried to teach Kinsey numbers 11-20, made something new and YUMMY for dinner, taught ABC PWM, hugged on Cailey lots, and listened to quite a bit of whining from the littlest Barbour.

August 3- baby boy turned 14 months, went on a 3 mile run (had super sore quads), did math with braden and phonics with kinsey, missed cailey while she had a blast at NLC, went to the homeschool store and decided latin was not for us right now (but left with other fun things), found a new store and bought the girls cute piggy banks for their birthdays, played with braden while the little's napped, picked up cailey, met marsie and her kiddos at the sprayground then had dinner at the mall, came home to finished desks!, couldn't get e to eat much dinner, found kinsey peeing standing up (unsuccessfully), and relaxed.

August 4- had my hardest 3 mile run yet (85% humidity, hot, and stinky trash day), went to a cardio muscle class (great class but too heavy on cardio:), had the Williams over for a playdate, tried phonics with kinsey, played lots of games with Braden, caught up with Cailey after I picked her up from camp, took C to her last swim team practice (YAY), had trouble breathing, and cut coupons.

August 5- listened to piano lessons, got paid to buy pop tarts for the year (and free produce, bread, etc.), met the Klick's at the sprayground for lunch and play time, sent Braden to their house for a playdate, blogged while kinsey and ephram were napping, ate dinner at the klick's, got peed on during double baby bath time, and drove home in a big storm.

August 6- ran 6 miles with kelly and beth (great run!), sent cailey for her last day of NLC, played with the other three all day:), picked cailey up in her cabin, watched them all do archery and eat slushies, and had a great family night together at NLC.

August 7- got up early for the last swim meet of the season, cheered on my girl, sent braden to reece's birthday party, signed up for the myrtle beach 1/2 marathon, ran errands with the rest of the fam, went out to lunch, watched cailey in roller blades for the first time ever (b day gift from nonny and poppy), rearranged books, went grocery shopping with a friend, watched ephram get jealous when the others hug me, and laughed...A LOT about a funny video from beth!

August 8- started looking over school stuff, went to church and served in kinsey's class with brian, ran 4 miles on a treadmill, cleaned, encouraged, packed, chatted, and rested.

August 9- ran 3 outside, drove to China Grove for a playdate with the Welch's, had a great time catching up with Laura (my buffalo:), heard lots of giggling, went coupon shopping with L, gots lots of hugs, and had two boys sleeping in my bed...the baby one wasn't actually sleeping until 4 am so I didn't sleep either.

August 10- woke up EXHAUSTED, left my big girl at Camp Aunt Laura for the week, had great conversations with friends on the way home, made another pop tart run, cleaned, prepped dinner, had Aunt Michelle, Courtney, Aunt Julie, Uncle Chad, and Ellen Grace over for dinner (reunion!), missed that Cailey couldn't see her cousins, and crashed.

August 11- slept in (kind of), went to run 3 at the Y, did four transactions at HT for Super Doubles, started looking over school stuff, hung out with Braden, listened to BIG giggles from Ephram, spelled words with Kinsey, missed Cailey, and matched up more coupons.

August 12- took the 3 youngest to Marbles, talked to cailey on the phone, heard ephram say "ow" lots, brought caden home with us for a playdate, heard a LOUD crash from LEGOS 'flying' across the room, vacuumed sand off the boys carpet, had the Klick's over for dinner, got some great deals, gave the baby a haircut on the kitchen table, gave out snicker bar ice cream, and laughed a lot.

August 13- had an awful 7 mile run (SO humid and couldn't breathe after mile 5), came home and played with the youngest three, rested, welcomed home my sweet big girl home from Aunt Camp and snuggled with her for hours (she was exhausted), baked with the kiddos, covered cailey while she NAPPED (first time in years), went to the swim team banquet and watched the oldest three hula hoop like nobody's business, watched the kiddos swim with daddy, and crashed.

August 14- ran errands with Cailey, cleaned up with Brian, baked cakes and muffins, welcomed Holly and Lindsey to the sleepover party, played tupperware ball, watched Tricia teach them to decorate cakes with fondant, sang, fed kiddos LOTS of sugar, saw my baby make a mess with the cake, watched Samantha, had fun chatting with Dave and Tricia, cleaned, laughed lots, watched kids and grown ups playing the pot game (HILARIOUS), prayed, surprised the girls with glo bracelets at 10:30 pm, and had everyone sleeping by 10:45.

August 15- woke up too early, fixed lots of hair, took giggling girls to church, forgot my ipod on the way to the gym so didn't run my four, got ready for school, and had family time.

August 16- ran 5 with beth (awesome run!), started our first day of school, had trouble juggling ephram, went to HT, laughed...a lot...with brian over friend/running drama, went to dinner at the Williams with the Klicks, ate too much, raced home, and went back to HT one last time.

August 17- ran 3 outside in the humidity but had a great run by myself, did school, loved on my kiddos, got the kids hair cut (and they butchered poor braden right before our beach trip), LOVED kinsey's journal 'entries', and resisted the urge to make one last trip to HT during super doubles.

August 18- did school (ephram did so much better!), read classic fairy tales to kinsey, hugged my poor baby after he feel down the stairs, cheered for the same baby when he took his first two steps to me!, had a great day with the kiddos, drew cells with the 3 big kids, realized how great it is that kinsey wants to do everything the other two do, made a great cvs run, watched lots of jumping on the trampoline and tag during a huge thunderstorm, had the power go out, had a really strange 'weather' day, and started getting posts together.

August 19- school, watched ephram stand up ALL day and beam from pride (and clap), celebrated with cailey as she finished her flashmaster paper, ate yummy shrimp and linguine for dinner, found out that i was putting EAR drops in my eye for two day to clear up my pink eye...sheesh, tried to catch up on blogging, packed the kids clothes for our beach trip, did LOTS of laundry, cleaned closets, and went to sleep.

August 20- ran 7 (went much better this time:) with Beth, Molly, and Kelly, packed for the beach, cleaned, did school, ran errands, hugged the baby boy and clapped for him when he stood up, sent braden and cailey to soccer practice, had fun with kinsey, searched (at stores) high and low for a while outfit for ephram, realized that packing for four kids takes a while, and went to bed too late.

August 21- got up early for two soccer games, cheered loudly and LOVED watching braden at his first game, drove to the beach, watched ephram crawl into the ocean over and over again (even after getting knocked down), watched lots of smiles, heard lots of laughing, played in the ocean with the kiddos, met the klick's at johnny rockets, listened to the servers sing to cailey, went on rides with the everyone, and crashed early.

August 22- sang "happy birthday" to cailey all day, ran 4 miles on the beach during sunrise, was impressed that all four kids slept in the same room (two in the same bed), spent all day (10-6) at the water park with the klick's, held a napping ephram for 2 hours, went down a ton of water slides, was proud of my super brave kids who went on all the slides numerous times, got pizza for cailey's birthday, watched the three oldest swim in the pool after dinner alone while brian and i were on the balcony (they are growing up!), and played Old Maid.

August 23- ran 4 miles, walked on the beach with the big kids, played in the ocean and on the beach all morning, picnicked, went swimming, stayed in while ephram napped and listened to the others down at the pool/beach, went to Benjamin's (our tradition but it was AWFUL so the tradition will end this year...after 11 years), walked around Barefoot Landing, bought the kids taffy and fudge, laughed, heard ephram say, "baby, bray bray (for braden), yucky, and boat" for the first time, and enjoyed our day.

August 24- went to the klick's beach, pool, and water park all day, watched the kids play so nicely together, had fun in the lazy river, was excited for cailey who found a shark's tooth, watched braden and caden look for sand diggers, watched caden and cailey boogie board, took pictures with our color coordinated/matching friends, went to dinner together, laughed...a lot, talked, bantered, listened to the kiddos get tested on math facts (which they did awesome on) by brandon's dad, listened to kinsey and caroline play, watched ephram and carter take food from each other:), and took my biggest girl on a night time walk on the beach...complete with glow bracelets.

August 25- ran 3 (great!), ran with the two oldest, had some HOT NOW KK, played with the fam all day on the beach, watched brian make a sand castle with the kiddos, wiped lots of snot, heard ephram say "wow and woah" ALL day:), listened to them at the pool (while up during e's nap), took our 'white' beach pics, went to House of Blues for dinner (for the first and last time), bought a cheap kite and watched brian fly it with the kids...here's hoping for more wind tomorrow!

August 26- buried daddies and kiddos in a giant pile of sand, went out in the ocean with the kiddos, spent sweet time with my big girl (and ephram separately) on the lazy river, watched the kiddos have a blast on the water slides with the klicks, talked with brandon's mom a bunch, went out to eat together (all 13 of us!) to outback, shopped with the ladies while the daddies took the kiddos to play putt putt, ate a yummy phish food waffle cone from ben and jerry's (the kiddos ate most of it:), chatted with kinsey about playing putt putt and snuggled my big boy.

August 27- ran 8 miles with kelly here at the beach, heard "OH" from ephram, had really sore knees, went on a 1 mile 'run' on the beach with cailey and braden (who begged!), dug a 'pool' in the sand for the kiddos, found sand diggers with them...and found out ephram was scared of them, watched brian teach them to fly the kite, took kinsey and ephram for a nap (kinsey's first this week!) while the biggest kiddos played in the pool, went to "Anything Joe's" (my FAV shop down here) and got some cute things, shopped around broadway at the beach with the fam, met the klick's for dessert and some hang out time, and packed.

August 28- drove home from the beach, unpacked, listened to the piano, watched an excited kinsey listen to her new 'rpod' aka ipod, watched the big kids do the chicken dance over and over, did laundry, and laughed with the kiddos a lot!

August 29- didn't run b/c i woke up with a stomachache, rested, played farm animals with ephram, read to kinsey, snuggled with cailey and braden, figured out the fall schedule of eca's, listened to ephram say, "awww" a lot when hugging me and his stuffed animals (SO cute!), and read a lot of stories.

August 30- ran 5 in nice cool weather (but was slow b/c my stomach hurt), did school (much faster this week!), did puzzles with ephram, played "to grandmother's house we go, UNO attack, sequence, and jenga" with the three oldest, heard ephram say "BIBLE" lots of times, sang songs, read books, listened to kinsey read, and loved science!

August 31- ran 4 (was hard again b/c my stomach hurt), did school, listened to piano lessons, was happy that history became interesting today (jamestown, etc), played tag with all the kids, listened to ephram (and everyone else) giggle SO much, realized that 'bible' really means 'puzzle' to ephram...and that he loves them, had a great 'ah ha' moment with kinsey, organized, taught ephram to answer "ME" and point to his chest after he hears, "who does mama love?", had some great time with the two oldest...great conversations and laugh time, baked a banana cake with the kiddos to surprise daddy...just cuz, and had a great family night...watching 1/2 of the 3 layer cake be devoured, talking, laughing, and surprising our neighbors with cake too.

Summer Storms

We had several HUGE downpour, power goes out, super LOUD thunder and crazy lightning storms this summer. This one was so bad that we actually got the camera out. Gotta love North Carolina summer storms that look like this and last 10 minutes...only for the sun to come out right after:).

week long playdate plus more!

a playdate:
this was before the LEGO explosion:)

a dinner date
the boys.....ephram is upset in this picture because
he's JEALOUS that kelly is holding carter:)

the week long playdate!
jumping and brushing hair. they got the brush SO
tangled in her hair!

playing games

so hard to get a picture of crawling toddlers!

While the big kids were at Basketball Camp this summer, Kinsey and Caroline had a play date (everyday) while the babies slept. We had such a great week together and Kinsey just LOVED having Caroline here to play babies with!

linking numbers

Kinsey had so much fun playing with math manipulatives while the other kiddos were at camps this summer. She definitely missed her siblings but we had so much fun playing and reading with each other. I LOVED all the one on one time I was able to spend with her:)! It's so fun and rewarding watching her learn new concepts everyday!

Swim Team Banquet

a hug from coach heather, totem poles, and buds

supper time

they swam, socialized, ate supper, and played with yard toys.

her trophy was unusual and super cute...a bobble head!

The swim team banquet was super cute and had an "Aloha" theme. We had fun spending time together as a family and celebrating the end of the season together.

forts

I used to love building 'forts' as a kid and my kiddos love it just as much! After trying to make one for 30 minutes, Daddy came in and helped them build an AMAZING one! They had a blast playing games, reading, and hanging out underneath their fort. Ephram got a kick out of it too and kept crawling in and out.

clean bean

I call Braden my clean bean because he's always 'sneaking' around cleaning up for us:)! He is SUCH a big helper and we are so thankful for his servant's heart that goes above and beyond his daily chores. Thanks bud! We love you!

New Life Camp 2010

her cabin and one of her counselors

last night there!

lovin' on her brother and a new friend

face paint and slushies

i LOVE that all the kiddos got a chance to try out archery since cailey talked about how much she loved it! she has been looking forward to trying it since last summer when she wasn't quite old enough.

my little Robin Hood...how cute is he??

Cailey had a great time at New Life Camp this summer. She was there all day from Monday-Friday. Cailey's words:

"It was fun! One of my preschool friends named Kennedy was there. I loved the blue water slide, archery, and my counselors. I got to sleep on the top bunk in cabin 2. My friend, Ava, was there from choir camp and we were in the same cabin! We got to go down the small slide at swimming time and I got to go in the deep end because I passed the test. I had yummy food at lunch and snack. My favorite snack was the ICEE. I liked the videos and learned about Jesus. I can't wait to go back next year for sleep away camp!"

EYE see you!

my sweet nut! love this silly girl SO much!

Cailey's 8th Birthday party

cailey wanted to do everything for her party this year. she made
all the decisions and helped carry them through. she baked apple cinnamon
muffins for their breakfast, chose great items for goodie bags and decorated
them. cailey also helped bake all the cakes and planned the party schedule.

lindsey arrived early so they played
games while they waited for holly to arrive.

the eshleman's came to the party too! dave played games with the boys while the girls
did some things on their own. then when it was cake decorating time he helped brian with
ephram. cailey was thrilled when she found out that tricia was willing to come and offer her cake decorating skills and teach the girls how to use fondant.

cailey wanted to do fuse beads first

next up was supper (she chose pizza) then cake decorating

i made two extra cakes for kinsey and braden but one didn't
come out of the pan so they shared a cake and worked together making
a 'balloon' cake

the kiddos really had a BLAST decorating the cakes!

kinsey and braden's 'balloon' cake and cailey's flower/dot cake

tricia made the 8 for cailey's cake.

her 8th birthday cake!
originally i was going to make her an ice cream shaped ice cream cake (that she asked
for) but on the day of the party she decided that she didn't
want another cake. i was surprised but she just wanted her cake...and ice cream:).
i can't believe she's growing out of the 'themed' cakes!

all the cakes turned out so cute and the kiddos
really had a blast learning how to make different
things with the fondant

the cakes!

we were very thankful to have our sweet friends
there!

ready to dig in!

my sweet birthday girl with her cake

cailey wanted the girls to help her blow out the candles

the party crew minus brian and i

ephram loved his cake top and actually kept his hat
on:)

braden asked tricia to show him how to make a monkey
with the fondant...turned out SO cute!

cailey loved all her gifts and was SO thankful for each one.
kinsey and braden got cailey a personalized
piggy bank:)

cailey wanted to play the pot game and all the kids had a GREAT time
doing that, of course! BUT the highlight was getting Dave and Tricia to do
it...the kids thought it was just the funniest thing.

movie time

i bought the girls glo bracelets to play with
during the movie but forgot about them until
bedtime (10:30)....oops!

cailey wrote down that she wanted to have a pillow
fight at her party and didn't have time on Saturday so they had one
on Sunday before church!

Cailey had the BEST birthday party ever! She planned everything from start to finish and helped with it all too! Her plans: do fuse beads, eat pizza, decorate cakes, play the pot game, watch "Samantha" (An American Girl movie), do glo sticks, have a pillow fight, and eat muffins. Cailey was so happy to have Lindsey and Holly help her celebrate her birthday!

Sweet Cailey, we love you SO much! Happy 8th Birthday my sweet girl! Praying daily that you'll grow closer to the Lord each and every day.

Favorites:
color- turquoise
food- pizza
game- connect 4
sport- soccer
dessert- ice cream sundae
toy- keyboard
movie- The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
thing to do- play games with mommy
book- Changes for Samantha
season- winter
favorite thing to do outside- roller skate
place to go- the beach