Way To Go Super Citizen

Our resident Super Citizen got the citizenship award at school this week! Good Job!

Swim Time

It was supposed to be 108 degrees here today and it felt like we hit the mark . Lucky for us, our family was invited to swim after school.

Bathing Beauties!

The Montley Crew!

Howdy Cowboy

These are some pictures that I took of my baby back in May while he was out in the backyard wearing his cowboy hat. The color/contrast is a little off somehow and I have no idea how to fix it, but I thought they were really cute anyway. The amazing thing about these pictures is that I had a camera handy at the same time my child was doing something cute. Usually the camera is nowhere close when my kids are doing something worth taking a picture of and by time I run to get the camera they have stopped doing whatever was so cute in the first place. Or by time I have loaded all four kids into the van along with 8 matching shoes, water bottles, snacks, and sunscreen to go someplace fun, I have forgotten to bring the camera along.

I think I like it better in black and white because the color doesn't look so off to me . What do you think?

Speaking of cowboys I need to share with you something funny about this little guy. First of all we need to establish that he is only two years old. And that every picture book we have shows cows as white with spots, usually balck spots. So the other day we are riding in the car and he sees a women walking two white dogs with black spots and exclaims,"Cows mama, Cows!" So I explained to him that what he was looking at were actually dogs with black spots and figured that we had the issue straightened out. Then a few nights later we were all in the car and we see a couple walking a white dog with black spots and he exclaims," Cow!" So in this child's confused two year old brain he's thinking that if it is white and has spots it must be a cow. I think it may be time for a visit to a farm so he can have a proper education on farm animals.

A Blast From the Past - High School 1984

I have been feeling vey sentimental about high school lately. I thinks this stems from my oldest child starting high schoool the same year as my twentieth reunion. I keep wondering how my son grew up so quickly, remebering what it felt like to start that new phase of life and wondering how I got to be so old. Today one of my very favorite people emailed me this picture from her scrapbook. This is me and my "gang" on the first day of high school. Can you guess which one is me? I know.......a hair clip and a good fringe of bangs and I would look 14 again right? Someday I will have to tell you about the bad hair year I was having in this picture and why it is not a good idea to let a 16 year old girl cut your hair at girls camp! Thanks for the photo flash back Kat!

Left Out

It's hard to be two! On the first day of school this little guy ran around the house all excited saying in his little baby voice,"I go school, I go school." You could hear the joy in his voice at the thought of being included in such a wonderful ritual as going off to school! When I explained to him that he just wasn't big enough yet he was crushed! Being two for this guy is all about being too little, too short, too young. He is always watching the big kids go off and do, while he is left behind with mom. So after a summer of having his brother and sisters home to play with, this was just too much for the poor kid. The final blow! He arranged his face in a major pout, stuck out his little baby finger and went and told each of my children, while waving that finger in their faces, "No go school! School Bad!" He was particularly upset after we dropped of the last child at school. Unable to face an empty house he told me,"Go store Mama, Go store." Apparently some shop therapy was called for......along with a chocolate milk!

Back to School Mug Shots

Yesterday we sent the children of to their different schools one by one by one. (Yes I have three children in three different schools this year!) But first we had to take the traditional Back to School Mug Shot. Just like we did when I was a kid growing up. When I was a kid we took the traditional back to school picture in front of the Japanese Maple tree out in front of the house.
Over the years it was easy to see how the kids and the tree grew. And how fashion has improved! I can still picture in my head my 7th grade mug shot taken in front of that maple tree with my best friend Kim. I was wearing a turquoise and white striped Izod polo shirt, Levi 501 button fly jeans, and white Nike shoes with the big swoosh on the side. Man, those shoes made me run fast! And the best of all was my fabulous, feathered, Farrah Fawcet hair style. Those were the days! I wish I had a copy of the picture to post for you. I wonder if our children will look back in twenty or thirty years and cringe?!?

High School Cool 101

Yesterday was the first day of High School for this guy. He was up early and dressed in the standard uniform of your typical teenager, jeans and a t-shirt. No one would ever guess that we spent an entire morning shopping to construct this look of carefree casualness. Notice that he looks as if he just crawled out of bed and threw on the first thing he found... that is what makes it cool! (Do you see how tall this boy is getting? He reached the long awaited milestone this summer of surpassing his mother in height! Judging by the size of the puppy paws on this boy he is going to be a tall one!)





These are the shoes that my son had to have . There was no way he could start school in any other shoes. He wouldn't even look at another pair of shoes. Never mind that his mother doesn't own a pair of shoes that cost this much (except for my running shoes). To make matters worse we were shopping with my mother and I made the mistake of assuming that she would take my side in convincing this boy to try on the pair of same brand shoes that looked very similar and were on sale! But Grandma did not have my back! She was obviously completely taken in by the good looks and eager puppy dog smile that this boy got on his face when talking about the attributes of these shoes. Oh the charm of youth! After much talking and haggling I agreed that I would put forth the previously agreed upon amount of money towards the shoes and this child of mine would pay the difference out of his lawn mowing money. Let's hope these feet don't grow too fast!