Team Snelling!

CLUES Crew

The first Wednesday night dinner was tonight for our church. We haven't started school but other counties have begun earlier this month. I think this was a mid-point starting point.

We did not do dinner. We have not been liking the meals very much last year. And, with the way they are doing registration this year, they increased the price. We plan on being a bit more picky when deciding what dinners we will eat.

Anyway - tonight was registration for Children's Choirs. As it was so painful last year with Jacob and Layne getting them to choir we decided earlier to not "force" them to do choir this year. They really did do their best last year at something they did not like at all. So I was very excited when I learned that Karen Hickey decided to start a Wednesday evening group just for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.

They were a little nervous. Layne was worried that she wouldn't know anyone else. Of course, I reminded her that she would knew Jacob and Miss Karen! They had a good time. They made notebooks to bring with them each Sunday to church and write notes about the service / sermon. Then they will bring their books back to the Clues Crew class each Wednesday and talk about what they heard and learned.

I am really excited for them and think this will get them excited again.

Joshua is still excited about choir.

We also went this morning to Primrose with Joshua so he could meet his teachers for Pre-K and see his classroom. His teachers are Miss Christine and Miss Jessica. He knows Miss Jessica from the end of the year last year before the summer. He was being a little shy at first but when he got in the room he was sooooo excited about all the stuff to see and learn and play with around the room. He had to do every puzzle laid out on the table. We had to talk him in to leaving because he was disappointed he didn't get to play in the kitchen.

He sounded very grown up when he told us "next time I come you won't stay with me, you will leave me here". At least today he seemed okay with that idea. We shall see come Monday morning.

We are slowly getting back in to the swing of things. Full speed next week.

Ugh! The Calendar

Stayed up sooo late last night. Had to finish the new 2010/2011 calendar. It is already so full and I don't even have the soccer schedule yet.

I guess I am just never happy these days. I don't like the summer without a schedule and doing something different everyday and I don't like the school year where there is limited flexibility. Gee - wonder where Layne gets it from? I can hear my mom laughing from 3 miles away.

So - still quite the slacker on the blog thing here. But still trying to get better.

We don't start school until August 23 but quite a few of the other counties already have and we are starting activities this week.

Tomorrow night Jacob has his first Boy Scout Pack Meeting. Wednesday Joshua has his Sneak Peak at Pre-K anytime between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Then on Thursday Jacob and Layne have their Sneak Peak at 3:30 p.m. Layne is hoping that Divya is in her class and Jacob is hoping that Connor is in his class. I am excited about Jacob and Layne spending time with Granma and Pap Jack this year instead of doing Prime Time. It will allow them to possibly take music lessons (which will be $50/month per child) and hopefully take swimming lessons at the YMCA ($300 for 3 kids for 4 weeks). I know I am "preaching to the choir" but kids are expensive.

So - lots of laundry, the house is a mess, kids are getting anxious about school - hmmmm Life at its Best.

When we were at the beach last week, "the big kids" spent a good bit of time digging in the sand. Layne did a lot work on it as she spent the first few days afraid of the crabs in the water. there was one memorable time where Joshua was being a pest. He started throwing sand back in the hole while Layne was still working. This went on for a few minutes. Layne tried to get Joshua to stop, he got more upset. Finally, I had it - and yelled across the beach "Joshua quit playing in your sister's hole!".

My sister laughed a little too loud a little too long - but I guess that is what sisters are for.

Here they are digging and doing their thing:

Day 2 of Vacation

Melanie and I spent the day on the beach with the kids. Papa Jack was down for a little bit. Matthew, aka Lobster Boy, stayed as long as his skin and pain level would allow, we didn't see Grandma at the beach at all today.

I remembered to eat a little bit (thanks to my nagging sister) when we were down at the beach and didn't end up with a horrible headache.

We had some windy weather today. Porter's family next to us lost their tent waaayyyy down the beach. A little bit later we lost our boat and 2 floaties that I went racing after.

Got back to the house around 4 p.m. and Layne has been begging to go to the pool so I finally took her to the pool. Of course, the other kids heard me so Melanie and I took 4 of the 5 kids to the pool. Matthew stayed behind to keep trying to get Joshua to take a nap.

We saw a huge amount of Dolphins today. There were so many when we first got to the beach and today they were so close in to the shore. It was fascinating watching them play for most of the day.

Grandma cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and made pasta salad, baked beans, and all the fixings to go with dinner.

While the adults were still eating dinner Jacob came in to tell us that the kids were going down to the beach. I really didn't believe him at first. We even sent Grandma out to make sure. Guess she made our presence known to the community as they kids were down the street ready to turn to the beach.

I am shocked that they thought that would be okay.

Then I got really upset with Layne as she was mad at Jacob for telling. Jacob did the right thing. It could have been dangerous for Layne, Marisa, Mitchell and Joshua all alone to go to the beach. Tried real hard to let them know that Jacob did the right thing. Sooo disappointed in Layne. School can't start soon enough for her so we can get over this anxiety that she is already starting with about the "unknown".

Might try to take a little bit of a break tomorrow from just sitting on the beach. We shall see. Depending on how the kids do - we may come home with a couple less.

Will add photos later.

We are at the beach

St. George Island - Whoo Hoo!

We made it! No thanks to the town of Quincy.

Aunt Melanie's car and Matthew's car got here ahead of Papa Jack and Granma - they decided to spend more time trying to find their way out of Qunicy than we did.

We got 2 cars unloaded and unpacked - and headed down to find the beach. Perfect lighting, perfect time of day. Very quiet beach and got some great pictures. Of course, the "posed" pictures always leave something to be desired.


And this picture - is sooo our kids. The personality of each kid shines in this picture. Looking forward to the next 4 days.

4th of July 2010

We got to be in Louisville this 4th of July. It was nice to be with family the whole weekend.

We went with Hunter to church where he sang. I felt a little bit like I was back in rural Pikeville with the Baptists. They even talked about sex and condoms - but they did not use the big word, i.e. fornication.

This was a very friendly church and they all made us feel welcome. The kids were very curious.

This was a Christian Church and similar to what I was used to growing up. They had communion every Sunday. The wine and the little bland rectangle, white, chalky "bread" was passed around. Jacob and Layne are used to taking Communion at the Methodist Church we attend - but everyone goes down front, takes a piece of real bread and dunks it in the "wine" / grape juice.

We were sitting in the 2nd row and Communion started before I was even aware of what they were doing. Matthew was first in our row, then Layne and then me. Matthew, being the gentleman and awesome father that he is - held the platter with the wine and bread for Layne to take. She tried really hard to dunk that little piece of nothing in the little plastic, individual communion cup. I was able to show her (and Matthew) that they needed to take the bread and eat, then take the wine and drink and place the cup back in the communion tray.

It was interesting to watch them in another church. I think we may try and visit some other churches around us just so they have some exposure to how others worship.

This is the kids with Uncle Hunter after the service. They really do love Uncle Hunter and he is great with them.



The night of 4th of July the kids did Sparklers with "the girls" from across the street. They seem to really have a good time with "the girls" whenever they visit.

Layne was asking me why everyone always says "oooh" and "ahhh" when watching fireworks. This is how she looked when asking me -




And then - not too long after she looked like this -

So I tried to "show" her in pictures. She still didn't get it. So I told her I say it because Grandma always did (tee hee) and THAT she understood.

Getting ready for the beach! Yeah!

Aarrgh!

Well, I think Joshua has finally been caught by the lure of Pirate Lore.

It probably started a long time ago when we went on a pirate ship ride in the Gulf of Mexico with Aunt Melanie. This was August 2008. We start 'em young around here.

This is the "I can't believe I have a sword and no one is yelling at me".

And this is the muscular, tattooed, pirate face (with the flyaway hair - yeah, not that scary).

His cousin Mitchell has always seemed to like pirates. He even had a pirate birthday cake once. When we were at Aunt Melanie's in June Joshua wanted to dress up as a pirate in Mitchell's costume. He spent 2 days just "hanging out" like a pirate. (the silly bandz take a little away from the fierceness, though)


Then - just a few days ago - we saw the puppet show Everybody Loves Pirates - and I think Joshua really did fall in love. The puppet show had such characters as "Aye Aye, No Eye" and "Super Lobster". He has wanted to go to the dollar store and get a hook for his hand. I guess he saw one there at one point.



Yesterday, he asked Daddy for knife. Daddy wanted to know what he wanted it for. Joshua told him he wanted to cut his hand off so he could get a hook for his hand instead.

Yeah - he might be taking it too far.

We really need a trip to Dollar Store.