And he's 14

Once again he is trying not to smile.
It isn't cool to smile for pictures taken by your mother.
That's what I am told.
Yes, he is 14 and life is good as long as homework and chores don't interfere with his social life.
Guess what?
He is finding out that life isn't always easy, life isn't always fair, and life DEFINITELY includes
chores and homework.
Love you Matthew.
Happy Birthday my son.

School Days

I really cannot believe we have been in school for almost a month now.

Why is it the hottest, steamiest part of the the entire United States elects to send

their kiddos off to school in August?

Growing up we never started school until after Labor Day. But now the schools all start in August when it is 95+ degrees everyday by noon. Yuck!!!

Yes, he's about to drive away as I am taking the picture.

He reminds me this is the LAST--First day of School pic I will take of him.

That's right, He is a SENIOR this year.

Doesn't he look excited? 

He tells me once again he doesn't want his picture taken and I remind him I paid for every piece of clothing on his body, SO....

YES, you will have your picture taken on the first day of school.

Matthew is in 8th grade this year.

Football player

Mr. Social

Thinks life is tough right now because his parents are making him STUDY.

Oh my,

And then there is this sweetie, 4th grade this year.

She is on the school swim team and loving it!

Finding out that school DOES get harder every year.

Recess and music are still her favorite subjects.

 And now, here is my baby on her first day of school.

 Abbey is attending preschool this year.

She loves going to "big school" like her brothers and sister. She is sooooo smart and loves to color and draw.

So, there it is...

the school year has begun and my life is not my own for the next 9 months.

My life now belongs to carpools, evenings spent helping with homework, swim practices, football games, 

etc.

Did I mention I like summer?  

New LIfe

Well, here it is almost the end of July.
We had a great 4th, we have enjoyed the pool, we have completed a few more projects and
NOW...
school is right around the corner...
can you say.. YUCK? as in NO WAY, I am NOT ready to relinquish my mornings of sleeping late.
I will just have to push this subject to the back of my mind and pretend it isn't really happening.
I do that a lot.

But there are a few other things going on around the Runner home. And these things are worthy of remembering and celebrating I might add.

My beautiful neice and her hubby had their first child last week. Exactly a week ago today we welcomed this precious baby into the world.

She is SOOOO perfect in every way! I got to hold her for only a few minutes last weekend before we had to load up and return home. I loaded the girls and Matt up in the SUV and made the trip to Dallas, TX
                                                                              all by myself!
Mike was visiting his mom in WV. so it was either miss this sweet event or load the kiddos up and take off. I am so glad we made the trip! It was worth every mile to see this precious baby and snuggle her for a minute.
There is nothing... And I mean NOTHING like holding a baby in your arms.
It made me miss holding my little ones.
I am one of those people that will still want a baby when I am old...
wait I AM OLD!
So what?
Is it so wrong I think that snuggling and kissing my children while rocking them to sleep is pure bliss?
Being old doesn't mean you forget how to love, nurture, relish, and simply absorb every little detail about your childs tiny feet and fingers or the way they smile while sleeping.
Yes I miss those days. .
Not to say that I don't treasure every stage that childhood brings, but there is something extra sweet about this precious stage of life. Thank you Lord for this precious gift of NEW LIFE.

Beach Trip 2013

We decided several months ago to make the trip back to the beach this summer.

We had such a wonderful time last year and knew the girls would love the pool and beach again.

This year we were lucky enough to have Matthew join us. He was suppose to have a friend go with us, but plans didn't work out for that. At first he was a little "bummed" but he soon got over it once we were at the condo.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I was much more at ease this year with Abbey being around the water. She understood
                                    the waves "coming in'
                                                  and
                                     the waves "going out"
and she wore her swim vest at the pool so I could actually SIT and watch this year. Whewww...

Mike and Matthew soon got bored with the beach and had to find other things to keep them busy. They went in-shore fishing one afternoon on a charter boat and Matt landed a 15 lb. Redfish.

I think this was the HIGHLIGHT of the trip for him!!

The girls and I were simply happy to play on the beach and hang out at the pool.

Oh... and look for seashells. We loved looking for seashells. It didn't matter that we already had 2 buckets full, NO...

here's another one

this one is so pretty

this one is cool

aww.. look how tiny this one is.

Loved every minute of it. I know all too well these moments are fleeting and I do not want to miss a thing with my kiddos. I already missed having first-born son there with us. He had other plans back at home, but hopefully he will join us next year.

I just wish VACATIONS were longer.

Not enough time to do absolutely nothing!

91 degress and climbing

Yep, you read it right... 91 degrees today and looking at 95 tomorrow. We will definitely be at the pool tomorrow.    In the water.     The entire time.

We have completed a few more projects around the house and the girls and I have made a few cute items.


This is Abbey's planter we decorated with paint by inverting the pot and dripping different colors of paint down the sides. Again, a messy project but fun. It took a while to dry, then I sealed it with a clear coat. Hopefully tomorrow we can plant our flowers in it.

This is Madeline's planter. She had  fun adding a LOT of paint to her pot. Once she realized that more didn't necessarily mean better, she went back and added different colors to the sides to jazz up the blue. Madeline liked this project more than Abbey. After a bit, Abbey was bored with adding the colors and wanted to move on to something else. Madeline, however, would still be adding paint if I had not pronounced her pot "finished".

The next project was an idea I got from Pinterest (of course). I enlisted the help of hubby to paint and mount the board onto our garage wall.

I then used picture wire to run the length of the board.  I purchased the cute wood cut-outs at Hobby Lobby and hot glued them to clothes-pins. Before securing one end of the wire onto the board, I threaded the clothes-pins onto the wire so they are able to move freely up and down the length of the board.. The girls now have a place to hang their art work to "dry" once they are finished painting in the garage. It will make a great display for all those art projects that don't or (can't) make it to the refrigerator.

In addition to these fun OUTDOOR projects, I have finished filing that HUGE stack of papers on our bedroom desk.     Just one of my many INDOOR projects.

You know the stack I am talking about....
The one with receipts, health insurance EOB's, doctor visit charges, payment stubs, bank statements, etc.
2012 is officially filed AWAY. Good thing since it is the middle of 2013, huh?

Summer 2013

 So here it is.... Summer. Just when I think I have school figured out, the dog days of summer arrive. But believe me when I say this...we were SOOOOO ready for this summer to get here.

The last few weeks of school were TOUGH in more ways than one.

 (another blog post on that topic)

I decided a few weeks ago to come up with some creative and fun activities for the kids to enjoy. OK, so all the ideas came from Pinterest. I can take no credit for the original ideas. I can take credit, however...   

for the smiles and fun that followed.

Week 1

I found water beads at our local Wal-Mart on clearance. Just add water to these tiny(and I mean tiny) beads and they begin to "grow". Pretty soon you have marble size water balls that just beg for you to squish, roll, play, toss, etc.

The girls played with them for hours the first day. The next day I put them outside with paint and the water beads for a little "art" therapy and they loved it.

Week 2

Next we made "snowballs". I took advantage of the kids playing outside in the sprinkler because I read that this was a "messy" project.



A box of cornstarch and a can of shaving cream mixed together, lo and behold... snowballs. It took a few minutes of playing and kneading the mixture into a moldable consistency, but it paid off.

Yes, it was Messy, Yes, it was all over the place, and Yes, it was FUN!!

And what do you do with snowballs... you have a snowball fight of course!

This is Abbey in the "snowball" fight. Put all the kiddos on the trampoline, let them toss their snowballs at each other, then cranked up the sprinkler attached to the trampoline and "WHOOSH"...

all clean.

My baby girl is "3"

Look at that smile... does it get any better than this?

It certainly melts my heart everytime I look at this picture of Abbey on her 3rd birthday.

We celebrated on her birthday, September 14.

She is such a happy girl and smart as a whip!

Loves Minnie Mouse, puzzles,coloring and playing outside.

She is sweetest and happiest little girl. Says thank-you, yes mam, no mam, and please much to this mama's delight!

She keeps us on our toes with her climbing escapades and overall energy...

 but I have resigned myself to the fact this is simply God's way of keeping me young.

I am so thankful God brought her into our lives.

I am the luckiest mom in the world to be "Abbey's mom" 

I am forever grateful to Abbey's birthmom who brought this amazing gift into the world. I think of her often and wish there was a way she could see the beautiful and loving little girl Abbey has become.

 Especially on this day... her birthday.