Wow..to say this week flew by would be an understatement..I can hardly believe it’s Friday already! We’ve had a really good week overall!

Monday Declan decided to try Acrobatics at the studio..and loved it.. Ziah started her Tap/Jazz combo and loved it!

Tuesday Noah got his blue belt in Karate! Yeppie!!

Thursday was the start of Ballet for Ziah and Declan had Karate.

In between that stuff we’ve done a lot!

Here’s the 3 little ones doing their seat work the other day:

not sure if it’s the upcoming full moon or what but Declan and Ziah have gotten along exceptionally well.. here he is helping her with her work:

I’ve been working my way through a few John Deere puzzles.. here’s Declan and than Ziah helping..both are extremely good..even at puzzles over 1000 pieces!

Ziah is back into playdough !

Noah made us some yummy peanut butter cookies!

Here’s Sir Taejan reading on his sister’s new area rug ( her new floor was just finished up on Tuesday)

Target had some cute 100 piece puzzles at the dollar spot..so of course Ziah and Declan each got one..Ziah loved that she could do it herself!

Showing off her new floor, new area rug and her new pony comforter!

reading to each other:

Taejan doing some “preschool”:

Of course that brought in the other 2!

Outside enjoying the chilly but nice weather:(Taejan on his new John Deere he got for his birthday)

Noah finished his first Lapbook from HOAC for the new school year:

And sir Taejan again..learning about his colors.. he will eventually know them right??

( Yeah..me again..I guess it’s official I am a blog addict.. I swear though I have gotten LOTS done..including the fall schedule for the Dance Center )

Well my Sir Declan went into Karate tonight with a yellow belt on and come out with a blue belt!! I am so proud of him..he’s a blue belt at 6 years old!

Here he is waiting with the other kids for their new belts after their tests:

getting his blue belt:

him and Sensei Connie:

I am just so proud of this kiddo!

Oh on another front.. I got my hair cut and Declan wanted me to be sure to show you all..so here’s Taejan and I today..Declan took the picture!

Yesterday Ziah had her 15th Karate class and that means she was going to get her Gold Star on her Gi!!

Here she is in class:

Getting her Star (pictures taken thru a window..lol)

My proud little Karate Girl!

We spent a lot of time outside yesterday and I enjoyed watching Noah and the kids play.. He’s been basically not here for a month between his trip to MI and all his work on the Musical..it’s nice to have him back around!

Then I had gotten another new bookcase and of course they played with the box all day @@

Well I know I said we would have many of these anymore..but…

Eric starts working 2nd shift tomorrow so life around here is about to change..drastically! It’s going to take a few weeks to get used to him being around ALLLLLL day long.. it will be a huge adjustment and I am glad it’s happening when we are on low key schooling instead of full schooling. My hope is we are well used to it by the time we get back into things full swing in Sept!

Let’s see..oh yes today I started walking at the local track..I walked 6 laps..or 1.5 miles.. I would have walked more but I really need to leave the track by 6:30 so I can be home before the kids start waking..Eric will be working until midnight so it’s better for him if I am home when the kids are waking..no big deal..I am glad to finally be able to exercise and the best part except for the gas to drive the 3/4 of a mile to the track it’s FREE!

So I won’t be around much during the day anymore..which is good..blog posting and such will probably be once the kids are in bed. We plant o take full advantage of having an extra set of adult hands here all day and the first few weeks will be project central! It actually already started..Eric built an awesome shelf for me in the office..man I LOVE this thing! I have so much on it and I still have more room…if only I was about 2 inches taller..I have to stand on a chair to reach everything..but that’s ok..I’m short and used to it!

I need it just above the paper center on the craft cabinet.. isn’t it grand?? Eric did this in about 15 minutes and it cost all of $10!!

Remember how my mailbox got hit..well here’s the poor thing:

notice the tape holding the front on:

well Eric built and installed our new one today.. No I didn’t get “in the works” pictures.. and now it’s raining so all ya get is a from the office window pic:

For other projects this week we will clean out the existing raised bed garden, and hay it up so nothing grows before I can plant. Then we will be building another one so we can have more fresh food!! Yeppie!

Robin and I are planning to hit the bike trail at some point.. we have Karate times 3 kids, Dance, Noah is busy working with the Town Player’s on OLIVER! and will be for another 12 days.. Thursday after Dance Stacy and the boys are coming for a Messy Art day..so we should have a great week!!

Now I have to share these pictures. As your all aware Declan , Noah and Ziah all take Karate. Well Declan is, well, addicted.. he lives for Karate.. he literally studies EVERYDAY.. I always find him with the white sheet they print for the Teens/Adults with the knowledge they need for their belts. He know 75% of what he needs to up to BLACK BELT.. that’s how serious about karate my 6 year old is! Anyway..he’s now become the teacher.. here he is teachign Ziah some moves and asking her questions so she’ll be ready for her tests..(shh..they don’t earn belts at her level..but that’s ok) :

I took a video but haven’t uploaded it yet..i will though!!

We had a very interesting day around here. It started off so well with Eric’s new job , soon after he came home we went outside to begin removing all the foliage stuff from in front of the house. When we moved in the place was full surrounded with shrubs, bushes etc..none had been taken care of and were entirely too big. Well between pregnancies and new babies we’ve removed most of the “stuff” ..including a very ill placed Maple tree in the front yard. This year we decided all the stuff in front had to go..it flares my allergies so badly it’s not even funny! This is before:

Eric and I made relatively quick work getting out most of it the kids enjoyed playing and “helping”

worm hunters:

Worm habitat:

Taejan thought we needed the big equiptment:

Before long Robin’s husband Tom came over , he wanted the tall evergreens and 2 of the other bushes. He and Eric removed them while I fed the kids lunch. Then we got 2 more bushes out and it was time to get Ziah ready for Karate.. she went and got a comb and manged to winder her whole front section of hair into it..OMG what a MESS.. i was sure it was major haircut time..but a LOT of patience, and about 25 minutes later, I had manged to cut the comb itself out of her hair without cutting a single strand.Bet she never does that again! So here she is ready for her karate class!

Ah..i thought the hair thing was the worst part of the day..sadly I was mistaken! I went outside ( Taejan was napping) and put new mulch around the big Maple tree, cleaned out my van then set Declan up with his golf clubs:

now these are REAL golf clubs… I noticed his stance was ALL wrong so I went over to help him, showed him where to stand and as I was about to walk away he swings.. HARD.. his backswing knocked into the side of my head and knocked me into the ground. I have NEVER felt pain like that..ever..I don’t think I’ve cried like that since I was 8 year old. For a brief moment I couldn’t hear from my right, but I never blacked out or anything. My head hurt but more than that my ear was on FIRE.. I look at my hand and I am gushing blood. Poor Declan was so scared.. he was about to call 911 on my cell and I just told him to get Noah..quick! Noah came out and all I wanted to know was if the blood was from the outside or inside of my ear… it was the outside. Now Eric and Ziah pull in the drive..I am still on the ground crying…again I don’t think I’ve cried like that in 25 years! ( I have very high pain threshold.. have had 4 kids without meds, broken ribs..nothing hurt like this) He freaked not knowing what was wrong..and seeing my gushing blood was probably not very easy to see. I was finally able to get up and got myself cleaned up.my ear is gnarly gashed.. If cartilage can brake…mine’s broken believe me! I probably should have gotten stitches and it’s really gnarly..but I’m me and I hate spending the $$ in an ER visit..so I bandaged myself up and went on with the day. I had a slight headache and my ear is just unreal “sore.. but I’m ok. I told Declan he has a heck of a golf career ahead of him..LOL He feels so bad and I have to keep telling him it’s NOT his fault..Mommy should have taught him to look before he swings. I am now sporting a lovely gauzed up left ear and probably will for awhile as I don’t want to risk infection.

So after I was able to really move without my head hurting we went to the store for gauze and Eric went to Home Depot for wood.

See.. we are building a sandbox:

Since I really couldn’t help Eric I made Taejan:

We now have the world most giant Sandbox ( minus the sand for now..lol)

and to think Eric wanted to make it 10×10 and I had to talk him DOWN to 8×8 @@