1st Day Of 1st Grade

Well, we've been through Pre-k, kinder and now first grade.  Apparently I am a boohoo mom and not a woohoo mom.  Still tough for me to let go.  At least he's excited to be there.

Here is Zeke's first day of first grade gift.  I tried to warn him it was just a little something; he was a little disappointed it was not electronics.  I'm such a practical gift giver.

How grown-up is he?

Here he looks more like a 1st grader.

 Big Brother and the sibs.

 Here's my Waverly Park Tiger.

 Ready to learn!

 One last hug from The Daiser.  We miss our brother!

Growing up before my eyes.

Rain Or Shine

The DanFam5 put the rubber to the road this weekend and made a quick trip to Kansas for my Grandma's 86th birthday.  We met everyone at the lake in anticipation of one last tanorexic blowout.  (Maybe that was just my plan…)

Mutha Nature planned otherwise.  The rain did not stop and there was not a ray of sunshine the whole weekend, but we had nothing but sunshine at our campsite.  We played in the rain,

ate in the rain, 

hunted Easter eggs in the rain, 

talked in the rain, 

walked lots of dogs in the rain, 

wake boarded in the rain,

and we sang happy birthday in the pouring rain. 

Love, love, love weekends like these, with Grandmas, aunts, uncles, 

and lots and lots of cousins, 

rain or shine!

Best Little Haunted House In Texas

For 30-45 minutes last night Abe and I were strictly instructed to keep out of our closet, bed and bathroom.  Finally we were each led one-by-one into Zeke and Daisy's haunted house.

The entry was through the bedroom.  It was dark except for a string of Christmas lights and a jack-o-lantern, both of which Zeke has purchased from garage sales.

Upon entering, an empty clothes basket was thrust upon my head.  After Elijah's real fussing and my obligatory screaming we were told to wait one second.  Zeke slipped out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, closing the doors behind him.  After he told me to enter into the darkness, I was bonked with a frisbee.  More screaming on my part.  Then the fury of a blowup boxing glove was unleashed upon me.  After a sufficient amount of screaming, Zekers told me to take a restroom break (since we were in the bathroom) and he continued through the loop, going into the closet and closing that door tightly behind him.  Finally I was instructed to enter.  Once again, no lights but the other end of the Christmas light strand from earlier (our bedroom/bathroom/closet/laundry room make a loop).  Upon entry Elijah and I were met by 2 dead bodies lying on the floor, with what I think was supposed to be blood all over them.

 

~Of course my children are nearly naked.~  Notice the sword on the floor and the spider on Daisy's belly (and the babies lying near her).  They did a good job of lying still whilst I did my job of screaming.    As I continued the loop out through the other closet door, Zeke jumped up and turned on the vacuum that was between the closet and utility room to suck us up.  More fake screaming from me, real screaming from Eli, and lots of laughter from The Bigs. 

Aren't they funny little people?

Pedernales Falls

Because my husband is so great he decided we needed to take one last Family Trip before school starts!  So we jumped in the Swag Wag and down to Texas Hill Country we went.

We hiked one of the trails in Pedernales Falls State Park to the look-out point.

Zeke always leads the way on our adventures.

 When it's not mid-August in Texas this part is covered with water falls.

Not sure if she is digging the whole hiking thing or not, but this was her attempt at a smile.

This little guy was loving every minute of our outdoor adventure.

We spent the hot, lazy afternoon wading up and down the babbling river and swimming in the deep parts.

Yay for our mini-cation!

Dog Days of Summer

The Dog Days of Summer are here and life at the Daniels' house has been rather uneventful the past couple weeks.  Guess that 's a good thing, right?  Lemme break it down for ya.

Here's what Elijah has been up to:
He has started telling me 'potty' and pointing to his nappy.  It's even been big potty twice.  So there is a light at the end of the tunnel for this whole diaper-thing.  Eventually.

One day he came up behind me and kept insisting, "Hat.  Hat.  Hat.  Hat."  When I turned around and looked he was sporting Daisy's new hat and feeling pretty hawt.

I keep asking him to show me where his body parts are, to no avail.  One day he was putting his sippy cup on the counter and it dropped on his eye.  "Owww.  Eye.  Eye.  Eye."  So he does know some body parts, just not on my command.

Daisy:
Daisy was sent to her room for some poor choices with instructions not to come out.  We could  hear her thinking out loud.  "Why won't people let me come out of here?"

The Daiser has enjoyed watching mengastics on the Olympics.  She also got some pail nolish on her fingers.  And she plays with her friend Jophus.

Zeke The Streak (Yes, hot weather has brought The Streak back):
My Boy went off the diving board at the public pool and swam to the ladder with no assistance!  Quite an accomplishment since we just have 1-hour lessons for 8 days once every summer.

Zekers heard me apologize to the valet for only having $1.  As soon as we got home he raided his piggy bank, bringing me some coins.  He insisted I keep it 'because he's rich.'