Month: August 2009

Today was about as good as it gets for Saturdays!  We woke up with all three kids in the bed with us, playing and laughing and hugging.  Josh made pancakes.  We sat outside on the back porch for hours!  The kids rode their bikes and played.  It felt like a Fall morning.  We ate lunch, had a short nap, did a little school work to get ahead, and then went back on to the porch to watch it rain and rain and rain.  Oh, it was a nice day.  Josh took Molly with him to get his hair cut and to run in the grocery store.  That girl had a hat on, sunglasses, a purse, Snow White high heels, AND her rolling Princess luggage.  It was a sight.  This has truly been a FABULOUS day.  I love our back porch…I am finding it hard to leave the house these days!  I would show some pictures, but my camera battery is dead.  Oh, well.  Maybe next Saturday I can do the same thing, and I will take pictures then!

Aunt Marcy got Molly some cool paint pens for her birthday.  I suppose that when we read what she got her as Molly pulled the gift out of the bag, Molly remembered because she asked me to paint the other day, and I said, “No, not right now, Molly.  It is so messy!”  Her reply was, “But, Mama, they are NO MESS paints.  It won’t make a mess.  It says!”  Yeah, right.

No-Mess paints.  As long as they are packaged up in their containers, they don’t make a mess.  As soon as Molly opens them, they are a mess.  And so is she.

 

Molly talked non-stop on the way to and from Ruby’s school this morning.  She wanted to know if God could see us, if could could hear us and what color we would be when we got to heaven.  She is a sweetie, and I am enjoying the time I get with her while Ruby is at school.  We miss Ruby though!  

Today is Josh’ 32nd birthday.  I would post some pictures of him opening up his presents this morning, but the girls brought them to him while he was waking up this morning, so I opted to leave the camera out of the birthday equation.  I don’t like my picture taken during the 7am hour, so I figured he probably didn’t either.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful husband/daddy leading our family.  He is too good to us.  I love him, I love him.  Happy Birthday to Josh!

Well, Friday we left for Augusta to see my family and attend a baby shower and celebrate Molly’s birthday with a “cousin party.”  I felt a little run-down, but that was definitely not out of the ordinary.  I just thought I needed to start taking vitamins again.  Friday night we stayed up late talking to my parents, so when I felt like I had been run over by a truck by Saturday afternoon, I figured that my body was just reminding me that I am older now and cannot stay up until 1:00am and make it through the day without a nap.  Saturday night I realized that something was WRONG.  I woke up with a bad fever.  I waited until we got back home to see a doctor…ends up, I had pneumonia.  It was not fun.  Josh was such a HUGE help.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much he did around here.  He took off two days from going into the office.  He carted kids to and fro, fixed their meals and left me to lay in the bed.  I could learn a thing or twenty from him in compassion and nursing.  Anyway, I am feeling better.  We didn’t have email access or internet all week, but I didn’t miss it, seeing as I was in the bed for most of the week.  I have loved being without it in some respects, but in others it has been quite annoying…maybe I can blog about it another time…..WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT LIFE FROM NOT HAVING COMPUTER ACCESS…nah, that’s sound boring….OK, Moving on to some pictures………

Molly, Josh and her FANTASTIC cake that Sweetie bought her!  Wow.  She loved the cake.

Sweetie bought all the girls “party dresses.”  They all wore them except Molly, the party girl!  Ugh.  I could have forced her to wear it, but really, how fun would that have been?  And I should have gotten a picture of all the cousins, but remember….I had PNEUMONIA, for goodness sakes!  On a healthy day, I would have had that dress on Molly in two shakes of a lamb’s tail and would have taken atleast 46 pictures of the cousins, but I digress.

This is the princess card Sweetie and Paw Paw gave Molly…it sang…and Ruby sang the “Every Girl Can Be A Princess” song all the way home.  It was lovely.

The violin from Sweetie and Paw Paw. They all loved it.  

Feel the love?

Molly loved her shades and bicycle basket and all the other goodies from Aunt Cacy.  Aunt Marcy contributed to Molly’s art chest, of which there can NOT be enough supplies.  She also solved the backpack dilemma.  Ruby had one from 4 years ago that all three of the kids fought over.  Molly got one from Sweetie this year, so that would leave Mack out or leave him fighting for two princess backpacks, BUT the art supplies came in a blue backpack!  How perfect!  Happy Birthday, Mack…..I mean, Molly!

And lastly, here is a picture of a “Little Me” that Ruby made for school.  Even with pneumonia, we got her school work done this week.  Kindergarten is fun!  Josh even got in on the action Monday night when I was useless.  He was such a help!  Did I mention that?!  

Here is a picture of the two cuties….Molly is clearly going to be Kindergarten-ready, seeing how she already sits and does just about everything Ruby does.  

OK, off to bed!  Ready for a fun Friday…..and Josh’s 32nd birthday!!!!!

Molly had a fun birthday.  After school, we all went to the Mall to eat, to buy magnet earrings (“ear-angs,” as Molly says), play a little bit and enjoy a slushee with a cookie, of course.  Fun times were had by all, and we were all exhausted with this day that was filled with so much!  Here are some pictures:

Molly couldn’t wait to open this gift.  It kept moving and giggling…a doll with a motion detector that crawls and giggles and performs other bodily functions I won’t mention.  

Look at her go!  Even now as I sit here typing this, I can hear Josh walking around in the living room and that baby is somewhere in the living room, too.  Every time he goes near her, she is giggling and cooing at him! Ha.

Getting Ready for the Mall

Oh, so ready for the mall!

This has been the method of transportation for Mack the last handful of times we enter the mall.  He loves this thing and it keeps him in one place.

 

Today was my first day “teaching” Ruby as an official home-schooling parent.  We went over a handwriting song about starting your letters at the top of the page.  We played a phonics game, identified some shapes, wrote the number one, colored a picture, Ruby talked me the whole way through NEW BEGINNINGS and told me all about The Vick family, and more!  Gran was here and helped Ruby with making her own sentences with some sight words.  Ruby read her DICK & JANE book that Katherine let her borrow.  She didn’t enjoy cutting, but she endured and finished the little project she had to do.  Overall, a great first day!  I guess I should mention that Gran and PawPaw were downstairs playing with Molly and Mack while Ruby and I did school upstairs.  We’ll see how tomorrow goes without their help!  

Also, on Ruby’s first morning of school, Gran was telling Ruby how her Daddy’s (Josh’s) favorite time in Kindergarten was nap time.  Ruby asked Gran Why it was his favorite.  Gran said, “Well, I guess he just liked taking naps.”  Ruby said, “That is so funny.  My Daddy STILL likes taking naps!”  

This is where I insert a picture of Josh sleeping on the couch, but then I think better of it and just leave it to your imagination.  🙂

Well, our little Ruby is off at school today, hopefully enjoying every minute of her time there.  We went to Open House Saturday night.  Ruby got to meet Mrs. Honaker for the first time;  I knew she would love her from the start!

And I mean, really, look at what a sweet lady she is!  Can’t you just tell how nice she is from the picture???  I am telling you, I cried when I met her at a Teacher/Parent Meeting because I just knew how perfect she would be for Ruby.  Ruby is going to love being in Kindergarten with Mrs. Honaker.  When Molly asked her how she liked meeting her teacher, Ruby said she had fun, “but when the principal was talking it was sort of boring.”  The principal did a fantastic job and was just talking mostly to us parents, and all the while Ruby was dying to get into her new classroom and meet her teacher.

The room far exceeded her expectations, as Mrs. Honaker had lots of goodies and a scavenger hunt waiting for the kids.  Very fun night.

Ruby picked WAFFLE HOUSE as the restaurant to go to after Open House.  She said, “It’s fun for it to be just me and mama and daddy.”  It is hard to get one-on-one time with the kids, but it is always so fun.  Mrs. Mary was watching Molly and Mack…they were more than happy to be able to play at her house.  Molly even came home with birthday presents and a birthday cake!  Mrs. Mary is too good to us.

And THIS morning, two little girls got ready for school.  Molly gets to go to an Art and a Music class each Tuesday morning and this was her second time. Today is Molly’s Fourth birthday.  Once she got that birthday pin on her shirt, she walked around with her hands on her waist.  She walked everywhere like that.  And when I dropped her off at Art class she wanted me to be sure and tell her teacher that it was her birthday.

For Ruby, all of this was new.  I hardly slept at all last night.  I was so excited and my mind was racing with what to pack in her lunch and what time we should leave and wondering if I explained to her clearly enough the importance of shutting the door when she went to the bathroom.  Everything is new for her, and I was getting nervous for her.  I packed her lunch and sent a snack, too.  She looked so cute in her uniform with her backpack and lunchbox!  She didn’t seem nervous at all until I was about to leave her in the gym at the table where her class is to wait to go to class.  BUT, there were no tears shed.  I am thankful for that.  I think she is going to have a great day and be exhausted!

Ruby, 5 years old—August 18th, first day of Kindergarten

Molly, 4 years old TODAY!

Don’t ask me where she gets that big hair…we all have calm, smooth hair around here…yeah, right….Not to mention that the humidity is off the charts these days!

Anybody need a model for school uniforms?  I think Ruby is ready!

Daddy and his girls!  Sweet.

 

This is Ruby getting some smiles and encouraging words from Mrs. Honaker on her first day at school.

When I left her she seemed a bit nervous, but I am sure she has been too busy to be nervous today.  I am so excited for her, and I can’t wait to go pick her up this afternoon.  

We have a big night planned for Molly’s birthday….a trip to the mall to buy magnetic earrings since Daddy doesn’t want the girls to get their ears pierced yet, pizza and ice cream and the play area.  Should be fun, and I will make sure to get lots of pictures for a post tomorrow!  We can’t let the middle child’s birthday be overshadowed by Big Sister’s first day of school, now can we?

I would have never guessed that one day I would have my very own Spark, Cubbie and Puggle.  Awanas started back up last week.  Each kid is in a different part of it.  How fun for them!  I am so excited that all of them get to be a part of such a great program.  Ruby already memorized (again) John 3:16 and has already gotten down, “The Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”  I John 4:14.  Molly’s verse is “God loved us and sent His Son.”  I John 4:10.  Mack doesn’t have a verse this week, but he can say, in his best caveman voice, “Me Puggle.”  It is adorable.  We were telling him that he has a baby platypus on his shirt, but he says it is a bird.  Whatever.  I hope we all hang in there all year as we attempt to hide God’s Word in our hearts.  

Tonight we have a Sunday School class party at church.  Then, Saturday evening we get to take Ruby to her Open House and meet Mrs. Honaker.  I am so excited about that!!  Sunday everyone has a new Sunday School room, so that should make for an interesting morning.  Any down time we have will be used to get us organized for the first day of school on Tuesday.  I better make sure my battery is charged for my camera!  And that I have some Kleenex handy.  🙂

Molly turns four on this coming Tuesday.  I can hardly believe that.  She, being the middle child, is truly in an interesting place.  Unfortunately, it is her baby days that I have the hardest time remembering without pictures.  Isn’t that sad?  I am a second-born, middle child, too, so I guess I can tell her that it will all be ok one day, and she will be a “well-adjusted adult,” according to that Birth-Order book that seems to be spot-on.  ANYWAY, I think I will remember her teenage days more than the others though….whew…she is high-maintenance, and I love her.  She started her Timothy classes this past Tuesday.  She is taking an Art class and a Music class.  She seemed to have a great first day, but was upset that she didn’t use “real glue” in class, and therefore did not make a craft since, evidently, if you don’t use “real glue” it is NOT a craft.  They “just painted.”  And did you know you don’t do crafts in Music class?  The nerve of that music teacher not pulling out “real glue.”  And, of course, the teacher said, “She is SO shy, but so very sweet.”  I just smiled and told her that I hoped Molly would warm up as the weeks went by.  

 

Molly picked out her socks.  She loves colorful socks.  It cracks me up.  

Seeing my necklace “glowing” in the picture reminds me of IRON MAN.  Josh made me watch it with him the other night.  Just a random thought…..

Well, how weird does it feel to be sitting at a computer right now???  It is strange.  I think the Lord orchestrated a three week detox program for me.  This time without access to email or internet has really been quite nice.  The only times I have gotten frustrated have been when I need to know something about Ruby’s school and Molly’s Timothy classes.  Right now our internet works, but I have to wait until tomorrow to try and get our email address to be the same as it was before…that would really help a lot.  We’ll see.  Either way, I am just thrilled to have access to email and internet.  AND I want to be a better time-manager on it.  It can really occupy your time if you’re not careful.  I am planning to be careful.  

I could go into why it has taken so long, but really, who wants to hear that?  I will say that Josh told AT&T to do what they had to do to get us internet, and that we would be calling Comcast also and whoever got here first would get the business.  And Comcast won.  Can you believe it?  I was surprised.  Glad, but surprised.

OK, so since there is no way to catch up on all that has gone on around here, I will show some pictures of the house that were taken right after we moved in:

This is the kitchen, looking in through the mudroom.

 

Molly walking into her and Ruby’s new room…they love being together.  Ruby even told my mom that she hoped I remembered that she and Molly were supposed to be in the same room.  Cute.

Speaking of my mom, here she is with my Daddy and all of their grandkids.  We met them in Social Circle at the Blue Willow Inn for lunch and to pick up our kids from them.  My mom and sisters watched them for three nights.  We could NOT have moved the way we did any other way.  It was so nice to know that they were having fun.

My younger sister, Cacy, helped immensely with the kids.  She let them all spend the night with her one night.  Molly and Ruby went over there another night, too.  Mack opted to hang out in PawPaw’s lap and get attention from Sweetie, too.  Smart kid.

This is Aunt Marcy, my older sister (she loves it when I refer to her in that way!) and her baby girl, Rennison.  She also helped with the kiddos, and I am so thankful.  I am sure it took all three of them to keep everyone happy.

Here is Mack checking out his new room.

This is the “school room/play room” and it has come a long way!  There are no boxes in there anymore….or anywhere else in the house, actually!

The girls love their closet.  It is like a little hide-away.  I send them there for rest time some days.  I found them like this the other afternoon.  They have not given us any trouble at night with getting out of bed.  They ride their bikes every day and stay more active here with all the room outside to play and run, so they go to bed exhausted.  That is so good!

The guest room

Here is the front of our house.  I suppose I could have started with this picture, but hey, it’s like I am starting all over with this blog thing, so give me a break.

The kids played in the rain the other day.  We have an area between the house and garage that is covered, so it is nice to sit out there when it rains.  I stayed dry.  The kids thought it was more fun to play in the rain.

I made Molly an Art basket full of supplies, which she has quickly gone through!  I am glad that Gran is going to be replenishing the supplies for Molly’s birthday.  That girl loves to cute and glue and make a huge mess!  Give her glitter pens and she is happy for hours….yes, hours.  I am not even kidding.  

This is the wall in my mud room, which I LOVE.  The mud room and laundry room are two of my very favorite places here.  I hope it will help to keep things running smoothly around here.

So, there you have it.  The first blog after a crazy-long break.  There’s more going on though….Ruby’s new Kindergarten starts on Tuesday, Molly just started her Art and Music classes, and they all started Awanas…..more pictures to come!

Well, we are alive and well at The Dorminy household….just don’t have internet access yet. I am actually enjoying the time that I am not on the internet! We don’t have tv and that has proven to be a wonderful thing as well. However, I do have emails that need to be sent, people to check in on, and this blog to update, so having internet access won’t come a second too soon. Right now I am at the Frosty Frog using their WiFi. I hope this doesn’t become something I have to do.
The house is wonderful. We are loving getting settled, and I cannot begin to tell you how much more settling there is to be done!! While all the boxes are unpacked and everyone has their stuff in their rooms and clothes in their closet, I have an ongoing wish list for where I want a little lamp or a cute rug or a picture or two….etc, etc. Nothing necessary, just fun stuff that can wait. My favorite room so far is the laundry room. It works so well, and I spend a great amount of time in there. The kids are riding their bikes everyday, playing out in the yard and no one has had any trouble going to sleep in their new rooms so far. They are exhausted by the end of the day.
Ruby starts school on August 18th. Molly turns four on August 18th and starts her new Art and Music classes on that same day. We have a busy week coming up with Teacher Meetings and an Open House for Ruby…should be lots of fun!
I do hope and pray that by this time next week I will be up and running in the Internet department and get back to keeping up with my blog and using my email responsibly. I have learned first hand how much time I could waste on this thing!
Say a prayer for AT&T to get on the ball for us.