It's been over a week since the last post. Sorry, we've been busy and I've been too lazy.

School is still going good, which is good since it's only the second week. ;)

We've had soccer practices and just have been darn busy with three now. I hink I remember someone saying at one point that after two kids, three is "the same." No way, three just makes things more busy and chaotic as usual....or maybe it's just my kids that are crazy.

We watched the Huskers tonight with Patrick and Cece and the rest of the family and boy did the cousins have a good time together. (Well, most of the time) Yea Huskers.

We are wore out and have church in the morning followed by a family reunion in Fremont. Whew, we need a break just to relax. (maybe Monday)

We also finally ordered some blinds for most of the windows upstairs and some new furniture.

I am totally rambling and pretty much talking about useless stuff right now. I think my brain is fried and I should be headed to bed. It's 10:20 and I'm the only one awake in the house. Dave is even snoring already. :(

We went to our church's carnival last Sunday and the girls got their hair colored and faces painted. (Emma's "thing" on her cheek is a soccer ball) :)

Here are just a few random pics from this past week. (Dave loves to mess with Lauren's hair at bathtime. )

First Day of School

Emma was THRILLED that school is finally here. Dave and I are pretty excited about it too. We dropped off school supplies yesterday and saw her classroom which is one of the new ones and it is huge.

The school (building) has almost doubled in size in the last year. They have built on and have put in many new classes, art lab, science lab, computer lab, greenhouse, etc. So, we took a little self guided tour of the school after saying hi to her teacher.

She couldn't hardly sleep last night and even came out once to tell us that she couldn't sleep cause she was so excited.

Well, I didn't need my alarm this morning cause she promptly woke me at 6:45 wearing a huge smile (which doesn't happen that early in the morning.)

We made it to school and fought the crowd and all the parents with cameras and found her "line" where she needed to be. As soon as we found it she kept saying, "ok mom, you can go now." yea, yea, yea

It is VERY quiet now at home. Lauren is watching Sesame Street all by herself and baby girl is snoozing.

SCHOOL IS COOL !!

Shoes

Now I know that I have mentioned that Emma has a huge thing for shoes. This morning she was fortunate enough to have taken a trip to Build a Bear with aunt Stacy to spend a gift card. Well, she brought home two pair of shoes but one was for Lauren's rabbit.

Anyway, she is already talking about new soccer shoes next season. (we just bought new ones 3 days ago) :)

I was out pulling weeds tonight (again) and raking them up and so Dave put the girls to bed tonight. When I came in things were quiet (which is SSSOOOO cool) and I found Marina Claire wore out! Check out the hair!

Anyway, why am I talking about shoes and Emma again....? Well, this is probably why little Marina Claire is so wore out.... she had another shoe trying on session. :)

Sorry baby girl!! :)

Peace

Some people probably blog about peace on Earth and peace in war torn countries.....this blog is about peace at bedtime.

Does this picture look familiar?

That was taken June 8th......

Here is tonight's picture.....

Notice the changes? Yep, yellow paint instead of pink. You know what that means? Peace on Earth...or atleast in our house at bedtime.

You see, we tried to have the girls share a room so Marina can have her own room in a couple of months. I kept saying, there is no way this will work and my mom kept saying, "oh sure it will, they will probably become best friends." Guess what, mom (me) knew best. IT DID NOT WORK! Lauren would not be quiet and Emma got very frustrated with her. Even last week, Lauren got out of bed and started playing Emma's guitar and singing which really didn't go over well for the "best of friends." :)

We tried lots of things including Lauren skipping naptime and she still was ready to chat with Emma at bedtime. Last week I even started putting Lauren to bed first and rather early and it still took her an hour to settle down and go to sleep.

OK, I am rambling now but seriously, I don't know why I dreaded splitting them up. I think maybe because I thought Lauren would be devastated or maybe that I didn't want to confuse her. BUT, turns out when I tucked both girls in bed tonight in their own bedrooms there was no crying and no drama which I cannot tell you how excited I was. We may have to lose our toyroom in a couple of months to Marina but the toys will just have to be downsized and remain in each girl's room. It is worth the extra sanity.

Two days ago we noticed this sticky note on Emma's door.....

(maybe not best friends yet but they will be someday)

Soccer

Well, soccer season has come once again and even Lauren is excited. Emma has played four seasons with a different team but this year she will start playing for the school that she goes to. They will play against other Catholic schools in the area which is what I did when I was her age. :)

Anyway, she and I made a trip to the soccer store and picked up the jersey, shorts, socks and of course new shoes. She is a shoe freak and she was thrilled to get new shoes. I actually made her try on her old shoes 2X because I wanted to make sure that she wasn't shoving her toes to the end of the shoes just to be able to get some new ones.

Lauren is so excited too, poor thing, she has a couple more years to go before she gets to actually play. Emma helped her dress up in her old uniform and shoes and they played outside for quite awhile. I even had to get them water bottles for their "breaks."

I really should get to bed and stop watching the Olympics but it is about impossible not to watch. Marina is asleep and will be up around 3 so that's it for tonight.

Oh yea...what are the odds of Emma being the same # that she has been.?

3 weeks old

3 weeks old and boy (or girl) has the time flown! Marina has changed a ton and is more awake everyday.

I love this little smirk that she has here. Mom and I created these shirts for all 3 girls. I finally got brave and tried to get a photo with all 3 today. It went ok and I'm not going to post the pic because we ordered announcements today which some of you may get in a couple of weeks.

Fishing

It was time to take Marina out and introduce her to one of our favorite family activities.....fishing. She wasn't really thrilled, in fact she slept the entire time. :)

We just went to this little lake here in Bennington and didn't really catch too many fish but enjoyed the fresh air and getting out of the house.

I think Lauren had more fun staining her face red from the Hawaiian Punch.

Day 2

Well, the girls and I have almost survived day 2 with Dave back to work. We totally enjoyed being off the two weeks together and I'm not sure that we have ever had that much time off together before. It only made it harder when he left for work yesterday. :(

Marina Claire was totally cooperative last night and slept till Dave got home at 0315hrs. :) He fed her then we all went to sleep till 7 when the other ones got up. The worst part is keeping the oldest two quiet while he tries to sleep a little.

Anyway, here is what occupied the girls for part of the day. Emma has a huge shoe fettish, in fact she is totally out of control when we are out at a store. She has to talk about all the shoes and sizes and begs to try shoes on everywhere we go. I SERIOUSLY have no clue where she got this addiction from as I buy a new pair of shoes maybe every other year. (seriously)

She even sometimes tries to force Lauren to try on all kinds of old shoes that I have saved here and poor little Marina has had a couple pair on herself. UGH!

Anyway, here are the two of them after selecting a pair each from my closet. Emma kept asking how old she looked in those boots and Dave kept asking Emma "what corner" she was working tonight. Of course she didn't get it but we giggled.

Not much is new here. Dave and Dad spent this morning working on hanging some shutters and a gate on our deck. The shutters look great and I will post a pic as soon as the painting gets done around them. :) It may have to wait until the weather is a little cooler.

It is supposed to only be 85 tomorrow which will be a nice break from the 90's. Emma and I did go for a nice long walk today around the neighborhood. (actually Emma rode her bike and I walked) It was hot but very nice to get a little exercise in.

We received this cool gift the other day in the mail from our cousins James and Kelly and Maggie in Japan. The girls were so excited to open it and they can't wait to tear it apart and get all the "goodies" out of it. Here is poor Marina "propped up" next to it. Of course Dave was nearby ready to catch her before she took a header off of the couch. :)

Thanks James, Kelly and Maggie!!!!

Project #2

We finally got our bathroom painted. We are not fans of "flat" paint AT ALL and especially in the bathroom. It seems as if my hairspray is out of control and it looked horrible on the walls.

Anyway, we spent our free minutes finishing that little project between bottles etc. Emma went to a day camp today in Gretna and had a wonderful time as usual. Again, she was worried that we would stay there with her as some parents did. I informed her again that we were not going to be hanging around at camp. :) Sometimes it's nice to have her be so independent....we don't have to worry about her becoming lonely. :)

Here are just a couple before and afters of our room. Really, not too many changes, just paint color and some bath mats etc.

Obviously, I don't have much to blog today.... :) We go to Emma's school tomorrow to meet her teacher and probably volunteer for committees. :) She is ready for school and Dave and I are ready for cooler weather and football.