Life in the Fast Lane

I am beginning to wonder what I have gotten myself into with all that we have taken on right now. I thought I became a teacher to have the summers to relax and lay low. Ha Ha Ha. We have taken a family vacation, I started working on my master degree (online) and we are going to move next week. Life/summer is moving really fast. So heres a brief update on our lives:

Richard is getting ready for 4th grade and loving that his hair is long. He seems to be playing phone tag with this girl from his class last year to no avail though. He went for an orthodonitc evaluation and was extrememly disappointed that, at the moment, his teeth are straight enough to not need braces. What a bummer! (I was estatic)

Kylie is getting ready for 1st grade and reading better and better everytime she is at our house. Of course we make her read, that is the teacher coming out in me. She has adjusted well and gets along with the kids most of the time, except Clara. They are two peas in a pod.

Clara seems to have forgotten her shirt issues and about her "ol bra". She hasn't worn it in a whole week. She is becomming more ane more of a sass-a-frass and not too worried about the trouble it brings her. Her favorite thing this summer is to dance around the house with radio disney music on. She has been using our hearth as her stage. This girl is going to be the one that gives me all the grief.

And finally, Ashley. She is definately coming into her own personality. I haven't quite figured out if she is going to be the tomboy or a prissy girl like Clara. She has her days. Speaking of days, she has her days and nights mixed up. She will not go to sleep at night nor will she stay asleep. it is usually 11 or so before we get her asleep and she is at our bedside by 2 or 3 everynight with "Daddy, I need you". Painful. Keith and I threw her for a loop last night and switched sides of the bed. Boy she was really confused why daddy looked a lot like mommy and respond like daddy does.

Here is a picture of our new house about a month ago. Now we have a yard and landscaping among other finishing touches. Watch for more on our new house after we move. We are all really excited!

As we head into our busy week of packing, writing papers, and of course I have two inservices and Keith has 3 large bounce house events this week, we prepare for whatever life has to throw at us. Pray for our sanity!

Life Back to Normal - What is That ???

Well, as you can see from the pictures, Richard and Clara have returned home. They were all talk for the first 24 hours. They only stopped talking about their three week vacation long enough to enjoy a bowl of ice cream Thursday night. Ashley was estactic at their homecoming.

So the average person would think now that all three kids are running amuck around the house, life would have returned to normal. Although we do not really know what normal is, with 4 total kids, it appears in three weeks, life has totally matured my kids. Richard returned home looking way older than he did. Mostly due to the fact that he has joined the ranks of the "older group" and wants to wear his hair longer. He must have grown at least three inches also. To top it all off now, upon his return home, he is now receiving phone calls from a girl. I am not ready for this!!!

BUT..... I would much rather deal with a phone call and hair cut from Richard than what Clara Beth had in store for me. Since her return home, she has informed me that she needs to wear one of those "ol bras". Where she got this notion from, I am not sure, but she is certain that an "ol bra" will fix all the problems she appears to be having with her shirts not fitting right. I did manage to find a girls' sports bra from some hand-me downs to let her wear. She is SUPER excited and even wants to sleep in it. That won't last long!!!! She topped it off by asking when will her "ol bra" get full??? I REALLY WASN'T READY FOR THAT!!!!

It has been a fun weekend having them home and having Kylie as well. We went from 1 child, quiet and calm to 4 kids running CRAZY!!!!

Life is back to OUR normal !!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH !!!!

Today is Keith's birthday, so last night we took Kylie and Ashley (Richard and Clara are still with John) to Dave and Busters to hang out and play games. I am not sure who was the "kid" since Keith really seemed to have a great time too. Check out the pictures at the end. The girls won a lot of tickets and we had fun watching them play. Our friends Chris and Monica came and hung out with us too, even though their kids are in Australia visiting her mom for two months. (And I thought my kids were spoiled going to Destin and Cancun back to back ~ HAHA). My sister Erin and her husband Clark came and hung out with us for a while too. We really had a great family night.

The girls earned enough tickets to both get a huge Care Bear stuffed animal. I thought that would help them sleep better when we got home. Of course Kylie drifted right off to sleep when we turned the TV off (she is so much like her dad when it comes to TV and bedtime)...BUT Ashley was a different story.

Since Kylie was here this weekend, we thought we would start to wean Ashley off sleeping in our room and back in her room. It has been ok, up until last night and she had a fit. I believe she was just tired. Isn't it funny that we are the most tired, we can find the energy to throw the biggest fit. It is crazy how God gives us bursts of energy like that. So needless to say, Ashley has started out sleeping in her room the last two nights, but we have found her safe and sound back at the end of our bed each morning.

Life will soon get back to normal around the O'Briant household, yet we continue to stay busy. I thought the summer was suppose to be my vacation. (isn't that why I became a teacher? ha) Since this is July 1st, we have a very full and crazy month ahead. I am currently working on getting my master's degree, so that keeps me computer bound most evenings. On top of that, we have my birthday, Kylie's birthday, and we are moving towards the end of the month. Be sure to watch for further posts about busy month!!!