BACK TO SCHOOL

Back to school came yesterday and all had a good day. The kids decorated a "back to school" cake when they got home. In the magazine where I got the idea, all the creative wonderful mothers collaborate with their children to come up with themed designs and decorations and then make the cake from scratch with their children. I am not one of those mothers, but I did think the overall idea was cute. So, I baked and iced the cake while they were at school because they did not want to make the cake (which was fine with me-much easier and faster that way). Then when they got home they decorated it with m&ms and star sprinkles. We decided instead of one of the fancy chalkboard or apple cakes like in the magazine, to go with a circle. You are impressed I know, but it tastes the same. I did learn I do not like to write on cakes with icing. All I did was their names and grades and my hand was killing me. Anyway, they liked it, they ate it, and it tasted just as good as a fancy one!

Cheer, Chop, Grand jete'

School for my monkeys starts back on Monday. They all seem to be excited which I really wasn't expecting from the younger two. Abbey thinks school is a social event so she is thrilled (yes, I remember that I thought that too...I know the reminders are coming). We went and met teachers and took our hundreds of dollars worth of supplies with us. For all you old MPFBCers, Kim (Reed) Taylor works at Dacula Elementary and it was fun to talk to her for a minute.

On top of school we are adding Competition Cheerleading for Abbey with a tumbling class on another day to go with that. Hebron offers both and it's half as much as cheering for the county. There are no games, but they do 4 competitions: 3 in GA and the nationals in Orlando...maybe I should rent Bring It On before we start...LOL. Kim's daughter also cheers up there and so does John and Sherry Densen's oldest daughter. So it was good to see some old familiar faces there. They are all in the same grade but their girls both cheered last year so they are on a different squad. Abbey loved the clinic today and hopefully she will enjoy it. If they are looking for energy...they have definitely found it.

Josh has visited Hebron's school of karate twice now and wants to join that which meets twice a week. He was going to join this week, but then we had an incident with some beating up on Mary and now he has to wait because, "With great power comes great responsibility". It works for spiderman--let's hope it works for him. I think it will be a very good thing for him in a lot of ways.

Miss Mary is signed up to take ballet/tap after school once a week. She wanted to cheer but I thought we would hold off on that for another year. I should have gone with her idea it would have been cheaper! I think she will like dancing though and her recital will be fun to watch. Her teacher is the same lady who taught Abbey when she was three. I assured her Mary was a much different child than Abbey and of course she laughed...but you know she was thinking it!!

Then there is Awana and children's chior that starts next week too.

On top of all that for the kids, I register to go back to school next week. And I have gotten a job during the time they are at school. Oh my goodness, what was I thinking???? Family, I may call on you for taxi services on occassion...fair warning!

Gotta Get A Little Mud On The Tires

We went to Fort Yargo State Park today up in Winder. The beach was great, much to my surprise. I was expecting Lake Lanier quality, but the Yargo beach was extremely clean...no goose poop! Wednesday happens to be free admission day, so that was an added bonus. We stayed for a good three or four hours playing in the water and then in the sand. I love watching my kids make friends with complete strangers and then play with them all day like they've been friends forever. Plus an added bonus for me is that my hair loves nothing more than lake water. It will look amazing for the next two days...yes, I washed it when I got home. I don't know what's in it and I'm sure I don't want to, but my hair is happy.

Then we went to my friend Melanie's house and had burgers and outdoor entertainment!! Her husband, Adam, gave Abbey her first 4 wheelin' lesson. She did pretty well for her first time and ended up riding for probably an hour and a half...well into dark anyway. After she got the hang of shifting gears, which took a while, she came to ask Adam exactly how fast that thing would go. He assured her there was not enough room in his back yard to open her up. She was okay with that and went back to her present speed which I thought was plenty fast enough. I think she would have rode all night if we had let her. The first time I told her it was about time to get off she cackled, "you'll never take me alive!". I found that amusing so she rode for another 5 minutes or so and then we proved her wrong. Josh took a turn with Adam riding with him and did not like it at all. He got in one whole lap and decided that it was too fast for him. It's funny how night and day he and Abbey are.