driving

I love the drive out to our friends' house.  You turn the corner and you're pretty much in the country, and my claustrophobia starts diminishing.  It's really just pure beauty.  Rolling hills, green trees, fields, creeks, meadows, houses with some privacy - you get the picture.

So on the way out there, the boys were finding shapes in the clouds and it reminded me of the Bible lesson from FirstLook this Sunday so we started talking about how God showed his people where to go when they were leaving Egypt by putting a cloud in the sky for them to follow everyday, letting them know that He was always with them.  We talked about how when we look at the clouds we can be reminded that God is always with us, too.

Then on the way home we were graced with this beautiful sight and another reminder of God's promises....

It was truly more beautiful in person.  I was kind of perturbed with myself for not having the "good" camera with me, because this one wouldn't let me go wide enough to get the whole rainbow.  It was actually a full rainbow and you could see it from end to end.  It was even a double rainbow in some places. 

Elliott kept asking if we could go find the end of it and get the pot of gold.  They were both incredibly curious about what a rainbow was made of and why it goes away and how it starts and what's at the end and how you get there.  I was extremely glad Brian was there for the science lesson - that's definitely his thing! 

Then Elliott decided that leprechauns aren't real - it's just a person who sneaks in and messes everything up.  And Santa isn't real either - that's just a person who leaves presents at the door in the middle of the night.  Ethan countered that with the fact that we SEE Santa every year at Grandma's so he knows he's real - DUH!!!

a moment with Ethan

On the way home from the S family's house (thanks for the spectacular rainbow,  fun tire swing rides and new vocabulary, by the way - ha!), I started to continue a conversation that Ethan and I started on the way home from school earlier this afternoon......

Me:  So Ethan, do you sit with the Spicy Enchiladas now? (sidenote:  his class tables are divided and labeled by continents and his teacher calls the kids who sit at "South America" the Spicy Enchiladas)

Ethan:  Yep.

Me:  Why did you move?  (he used to sit in Europe)

Ethan:  I guess because everyone wanted to talk to me and they just kept talking to me and I couldn't get my work done.

Brian:  It wasn't because YOU were talking?

Ethan (with a bewildered look):  No.  Everyone at that table just kept talking to me.

Me:  So the kids at South America don't talk to you?  It was just the ones in Europe?

Ethan:  Yeah.  Nobody talks to me at the Spicy Enchilada table.

Me:  How long have you been sitting there?

Ethan:  Mmmmm......one day.


You're laughing at this if you know Ethan.

cousins, birthdays and golf carts

This summer has been full of cousin birthdays for us.

Eli turned 2.

He doesn't like his hands to be wet or messy, so I'm thinking this little smidge of icing that got on his finger was not the most exciting part of the day for him.  Look at his cute cake!  Erin is so creative and made that for him.

Eli was not so sure about the whole pinata thing......

but Elliott was (of course).

And then this little guy turned 1

He's looking at Erin with that "what just happened?" look because she had just swiped his hand away from the oh-so-enticing light coming from the burning candle.  C'mon Mom, it's way cool to stick your finger in a burning flame!

Ryan was trying to show Ben how this whole "dig-into-your-cake-and-make-as-much-of-a-mess-as-you-want" thing was supposed to be done.  From the look on Ben's face, he wasn't buying it.

I just love this picture.

Pure. birthday. joy. 

So if you are a Hosselton grandchild, you know that when you go to Grandma and Grandpa's there is a golf cart ride just waiting to happen. 

This was actually the first time Ben would ride in it. He loved it! So much that he didn't want to get out.

 

You were wondering where Elliott was, weren't you?

And they rode off into the sunset.  And it was quiet.  For a few moments.

soccer begins

first day of school

walking into a brand new school

excited about a class full of friends from last year and from our neighborhood

nervous about a class full of friendly little strangers but excited about a familiar teacher

Have a great year my sweet boys!!!!

office re-do

My goal this summer was to go through each of the rooms in the house and purge and organize - get rid of the clutter.  We did pretty good with the boys' rooms and the play room (even had a garage sale and was able to make some money to pay for what you're about to see below).  Next on the list was the office.  And we have been working on the office since June.  What was intended to be a cleanup ended up being a complete overhaul.  Some of you were here in the thick of it (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU A&N), so I wanted you to see the fruits of your labor!

Here is the before:

Don't you love the organization here?

Just as a side note - I know those frames look weird hanging nearly to the ceiling with all the space below them.  There used to be a hutch on this desk, and we hung them at the top of it.  But never moved them when we took the hutch off.  Just in case you were wondering, you know.

And here is the during:

We built my desk area out of an exterior wooden door, and as you can see we had tons of help putting it together (thanks to Mr. A for the idea, design, use of tools, use of know-how, use of his and Ms. N's entire Saturday.......we owe you big time!)

And this is what it looks like now:

We still need to add some type of bulletin/magnet board as well as a few decorations for that blank wall, but this feels so much more spacious to me - I think mostly because of the paint color change and the bigger and better designed desk.  We love it and I just wanted to share since I had shared my frustrations with living in the chaos of it all (I should have taken a picture of the chaotic in between time, huh?)

s'mores....the cookie version

The boys and I made these tonight. 

One word....yum! 

You can find the recipe here at a blog called Picky Palate.  We followed it exactly, but all three of us agree that we would leave out the Hershey bar pieces next time.  And I highly recommend the parchment paper - saves a lot of marshmallow scrubbing!