YAY!

What a weekend we just had.

It was so nice to get away. We had been planning to have plans for about 2 weeks, but hadn't ever gotten around to nailing down anything for sure.

We started with Adam having most of Friday off and then we packed up the car and headed over to drop the kids off at a parent's night out. We went to a nice restaurant without any children and had a great time. It was really nice to just have some time to eat and talk without playing guessing games or I spy, finding Mrs. Lamb, or cutting food into tiny little bites. It was a great eveing out.

We spent Friday night with a friend and just left from their house on Sat. to head up to Greenville to my my sister-in-law, her husband and their 2 children at the zoo. I was a bit disappointed with the number of exhibits, but they did have a baby. Their Orangutans had just had a baby boy and he was the ugliest, cutest thing I have ever seen. He was standing with his mom right up by the window, so we got a good look at him. He was standing behind her a bit and holding on to her shoulder/neck hair with one arm and playing with a stick with the other arm. He never let go of either one of them. I just knew he was going to poke his mom in the eye with his stick, but while we were there, she remained safe.

We spent the evening with the in-laws and went to church with them. We did some talking to some people there about a few things and headed home to eat and pack to head home. We decided at the last minute that we would try to find a room in Charleston for the night and head down that way to spend some time at the beach. As close as we are to the coast, I am ashamed to say that we just don't head down there much. The kids, loved the weekend, so maybe we will have to remedy that. We ended up staying for 2 nights and the kids had the best time. It was the nicest time I have ever had at the beach. It wasn't crowded and the weather was perfect. I told Adam that we could try to make a tradition out of heading to the beach between Aidan's birthday and Adam's birthday. It is a good time to go, and homeschooling will allow us to be able to do that.

I didn't get very many pictures, cause I was afraid of getting some sand in the camera. I have a picture of Aidan all covered with sand too, but his is on my phone and I don't know how to get it from there to the computer. I will try to post it when I have it figured out.

---blogger is messing up, so I will try to post the other pictures tomorrow.

First Born

My first born is 6! 6 years old and not slowing down on making it to 7. When I look at him, I know that he is really just one day older than yesterday, but, I can't help but wonder when those extra inches came, and when his face changed so much from being a baby face to being a little boy's. Time certainly plays tricks on you.

Aidan is really growing into a sweet little boy. He is kind and courteous and usually remembers his manners. He loves his sisters, but really thinks that Aralyn is at a fun age. He spends lots of dinners having to go to his room because he thinks she is so funny. He will get to laughing so hard that he can't breathe or sit up straight and we will have to send him to his room to calm down. He will come back calm, and get to chuckling some more because she says something that sounds funny, or she laughs, or she eats with her fingers...anything really will set him off. He just can't quit once he gets started...and sometimes we can't stop laughing at him laughing at her!

I made Aidan's cake this year and I thought it turned out pretty cool. I was told by Aidan that it was the coolest cake he had ever seen, so it passed in his book too. It wasn't the tastiest cake I have ever made, but that was my new icing recipe's fault. I had never used that one before, and now I know it isn't so great. The kids didn't seem to mind, so no harm, no foul.

We had a great birthday party for Aidan this year. Nothing fancy, but lots of fun. We invited his cousins and 4 of his best friends to spend the night in tents and campout in the yard with him. We had 2 huge tents for the kids and they had a great time. We grilled hotdogs and had cheese puffs and cokes to go with them (it was a party, and what else goes that 6 year olds will eat?)

Since we have 11 acres, we decided to take the kids on a little nature hike/walk. They had a good time and all did really well. Some were a little whiny, but there were 9 kids altogether, so a few whines weren't really so bad. I made a mental note to have the kids pack jeans next time they come to avoid a few of the thorny vines we have on bare legs. We found several sassafras trees (lots of small ones), a frog, lots of weaver spiders (hello Charlotte), several kinds of moss, some leaves and sticks and such, mushrooms, flowers, and several other selections of South Carolina's nature. The kids couldn't get enough...we even caught a frog and then made it a little habitat to stay in for the afternoon. I must say, as nice as the party was, and as good as the kids were, 6pm the night before til 11 am the next day was a long time to keep them all busy. And I was so ready for their parents to get them and take them home so we could all take a nap! LOL

Here are Aidan and Alora grinning with some of Aidan's gifts.