School year 2016-2017 has started!

We have started back to school. And when I say, "we" I mean "they." :) While I was initially a bit sad to not be teaching this year, I have to say I'm happy to have passed the baton to Lauren. :)

World Class Learners Enter Here

Lauren has been fantastic and the boys have been enjoying themselves a lot. Lauren has brought so much energy and creativity to the day, from intense warm ups and cool downs for PE or fun art projects like painting their desk chairs anyway they liked!

For some reason, the boys seem to think getting on the desks is a normal part of starting the school year. :)

Haven wanted to go to school so badly with the boys. She kept asking and asking to go so finally at snack time, I let her go say hello. She put on her book bag, marched downstairs, walked in the classroom and sat down at Kenan's desk. She's getting used to not being in school with them now, thankfully. :)

We're back!

After packing up 15 bags, 3 carry-ons, and 2 backpacks, we headed off on our journey back home. The kids, as always, were super excited and Brett and I, well, we were going. :) We have been thankful, though, that we were both happy once we arrived and have had a relatively easy transition back.

It is always these two competing for the spotlight.

Waiting for our plane with our new teacher, Lauren, who from the moment we met has proved to be simply fantastic. Flying across the world with four kids doesn't really allow you to make a great first impression. :) She quickly saw us as we really are. She has been super helpful and always on the go. I'm amazed at her drive and desire to work and be a blessing. We are SO THANKFUL for her!

In the Paris airport. None of us slept well on the plane and Silas didn't sleep at all so when we finally were in Paris and had time to sit, fatigue overtook the boys and they were out. We had to move them to get to our gate and they were still deep in sleep.

As we were heading onto our flight to Bamako, Brett was putting all the passports back into his pocket. Kenan had two because his passport had been renewed but his visa was still valid in the old one. Brett realizes he doesn't have Kenan's old passport. Somehow along the way when we went through security someone didn't give the old passport back. But now, we have past all security at this point. We are literally walking onto the plane. We stop because we can't get into Mali without a visa. We hesitate to mention it to the workers because they would technically have to pull us from the flight but we felt we had to ask just to see if they had the passport. They didn't and mentioned they needed to call their supervisor. We tried reaching our director in Mali. Thankfully, I guess because they didn't want to admit to their superiors that they had let someone through security without a visa, they let us on the plane and we'd have to figure it out once we got there.

While we normally mock the "security" at the Malian airport and say that all is about show rather than real security, we were thankful for this as we entered the country this time. We were able to explain the situation, say a few jokes, give a little "food money"and were on our way. We told K that he can now say he has been an illegal immigrant. :)  Don't worry, we got the visa situation taken care of the very next day.

Thankfully we arrived for the end of rainy season. Though that means tons of humidity, we have been able to enjoy a few rains...and of course hot chocolate!

More of Little Miss, AKA The Wild One

Brett and I are sure that this girl has more energy than any of our boys did at this age. I thought with a girl you got a quiet child that sat around, colored, and played with dolls. Not even close with this one. You blink and she's gone, off to get into something else. She's wild but incredibly cute as well, thankfully for her.

At Target, she wanted to put on as many tutus as were on the rack. She started with the hot pink ones and then switched to these. She has somewhere around 6 to 8 on at one time.

She's stopped letting me put her hair up, which I hate, so I thought maybe sparkly headbands would do the trick. She likes wearing them, just not on her head.

Like I said, this girl is as cute as she is wild. Love her to death, which is good, I guess, because I think sometimes watching her will kill me. :)

Silas' 8th birthday

Well, we are days from heading back so it seemed only fitting to have a birthday party before we left. Seems we come to the US to celebrate a child's birthday and often leave just before another's.  Silas technically isn't 8 until September, but he wanted to celebrate here which worked for me. He wanted a Minecraft party and wanted a grass block as his cake. He didn't even want it to be an actual square (requiring a double layered cake) but just wanted it to be brown and green. Easiest cake ever. 

There were many games (he's not 10 yet :)) like finding different items for minecraft recipes, throwing TNT poppers, exploding TNT (mentos in diet coke), and fighting a creeper with water ballons.

He got some really cool gifts as well that all the kids have enjoyed playing with for hours. We are grateful to our friends who came and loved on our sweet Silas.

Silas is a tender-hearted  boy. He loves having his family together and is really sad when one of the gang isn't around. He loves hugs and snuggles. He is full of energy and loves to laugh. He is becoming a great reader and really strives to keep up with his brothers. He is a blessing and adds much joy to our family. We love you, Silas!

Holden Beach 2016

We made it to the beach with the family again this year. It's a long week at the beach with 7 kids coming in and out all the time but they really enjoy it so much that it makes it worth it. A friend told us that they don't use the word "vacation" as that implies rest and relaxation. They take family trips that have all the responsibilities as normal plus the added work of being in a different location, your kids being out of their routine, and you getting less sleep. I thought that very fitting. We enjoyed our family trip to the beach. :)

The boys immediately went out the first day to dig a big hole so that they could cover themselves as they have done every year.

We tried family pictures. It was really windy and we had some trying kids that day so only a few came out. This was the after pictures ice cream treat. The kids were cute as they all matched.

Haven was prepared with two sunscreens and Aunt Tricia's sun viser. 

 It's fun to watch her brothers love her so well. She is so very lucky.

Chilling eating her apple by the water. You may notice she is wearing the same bathing suit in every picture. Despite having three choices, she would only wear the one with "sowers on it."

 General Grievous in case you aren't a Star Wars fan.

The sky was beautiful on our last night.

Visit with the cousins

Jen and her family came in at the end of June and spent a month in Raleigh. Their time was literally bookended with Chick-fil-a, which is not surprising if you know my sister.

The kids had loads of fun together. The house was booming with noise and activity all the time (while their family spent the days at the house, they did thankfully sleep down the street. 13 people in the house would have been a bit too much).

Patrick did his biennial lighting of fireworks in the backyard. The first time he did this so many years ago the kids were way on the other side of the yard. They have become much more daring as the years go by.

Amazon prime day occurred while they were here. That meant tons and tons of boxes came to our house. Those boxes, along with various other items Mom had on hand and a glue gun, produced hours of fun not only in the creating but the playing afterwards as well.

There was also a visit to the Children's Museum. Somehow the building of a huge wall is fun at any age.

We were able to visit a friends' pool several times which was great for all the kids. Thanks to my mom and Tricia the kids also improved on their swimming skills.

One night the kids had a sleepover with each other and it started with silly string and spray chalk in the backyard. You would have thought we gave the kids a million bucks. They had so much fun and many statements like, "This is the best day ever!" were heard.

My sister, being the creative one she is, made tie-dyed shirts for everyone in the family during the sleepover. I often think of homemade shirts not looking that great but these turned out really well. I love everyone's. Shelby made hers, Haven's, and Grandma's alike so they could all match.

The month passed very quickly and the end came so fast. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. Memories will have to hold us until next time...2018.