It's official - summer is over!

...and it couldn't have come soon enough!

I finally have a free moment, so I thought I'd get in an update.

Well our summer is officially over. Jake and Connor started school this week. Nicholas doesn't go until Sept. 8th though due to budget cuts! Jake seems to like is teacher and class he is thrilled to be learning cursive (weird huh?). Connor is not so thrilled with school and has informed me that the school day is "too long." It's not long enough for me buddy!!!

I finished my class last week and totally aced it with a 95%! More importantly, I realized that A. I still have some brain cells left (I know, surprised me too!) B. I LOVE anatomy. This bodes well for my future in nursing!! I start next week with a full schedule: A&P II with Lab, Introduction to Microbiology with Lab and English 1101 (don't ask, it's ridiculous).

Jake has been bugging a non-stop for a pet. First it was a bird, once he realized that it doesn't get cold in hell, he has switched to begging for a puppy. He wants a small dog that can sleep with him and basically shadow his every move while he's home. I'm thinking of a Cockapoo or Havanese or something around those lines. Rob isn't convinced though, so Jake has been trying to proved his puppy ownership abilities by being nicer to the dog we do have. So Hayley has been benefiting from regular bathroom breaks, food, water and even getting fed her dog food by hand. Jake is quite certain that Rob will have no choice to give in to him soon.

The boys will also be starting their fall sports and activities soon, so I know I will not have much more free time. Nicholas is starting soccer this fall with "my best friend Tommy," Jake is trying out baseball for the first time and Connor is thinking about doing year round swim. Jake and Connor are also very active with Cubscouts and Rob is actually the den leader for Connor this year.

It's fun to get back into our routine though after all the chaos of summer!

Jake's Outer Space Room

Jake already had an outer space themed room, but I thought that while I was painting, I would update his to look a little older. His room already had the chair rail molding, but I added vertical molding underneath for more detail. Then I painted under the chair rail white and above it a navy blue that matched his window treatments that I already had.

He choose this cool picture of the Space Station that we had printed out and put in this cool frame. I painted large white boxes and added picture frame molding around it to "frame" the artwork. I think it fills the wall space well and the artwork had more of an impact with the white borders.

All of the boys had the IKEA picture hanger that we use to display their artwork and treasures!

Jake had this corner bookcase in his room and I used the leftover gray paint from Nicholas's room to paint the back of the bookcase. I think it makes more of an impact with the two colors. It's also a great place for Jake's trophies and Lego pieces. The framed needlework was a gift from a friend when Jake was born. It's a very awesome piece that was handmade especially for him!

Connor's Rock Star Bedroom

Well once I did one bedroom I had to go ahead and do all of the boy's bedrooms. Connor choose a Rock Star theme and I think this will work well as he gets a little bigger. I found this great furniture set off of Craigslist for an awesome price and it made his room feel much bigger switching from a queen to a single. We started the design with the cute comforter that had guitars on it. It's made of microfiber so it is really plush and soft.

I wanted to bring in the orange and navy so we painted the two stripes at the top of the wall. I also wanted to him to have somewhere to display his trophies and legos where they wouldn't get touched by small hands (ahem... Nicholas!) so we painted these cool shelves that my dad had made for me years ago but that I wasn't currently using.

Then we found a some very cool guitar/rock star items from Hobby Lobby and online that we added to the room!

Batman Bedroom

So for Nicholas's birthday we redid his room from trains into his favorite... Batman! I didn't want to go overboard with the superhero theme so we decided on a Gotham Cityscape that Mom and I sketched out based on other ideas we had found online. We used glow in the dark paint on the buildings windows and behind the Bat symbol so that at night everything "glows!" It looks very cool and I think that is Nicholas' favorite part! The first weekend he spent in his room he woke us up in the middle of the night because his room was "broken" and it wasn't "glowing" anymore! (The paint only works for a few hours and has to be charged up after awhile.)

Then my mom found this awesome Batman fabric and we made the very cute drapes for his room. I reused Nicholas's old bedspreads and just turned them over to hide the trains. I found a cute fleece Batman blanket at Joanns that I made for him to match the room.

I also found online this huge sticker of Batman (it also came with the little Batman that is ontop of the bridge) that is on the opposite wall by the second twin bed.

On the far wall I have the picture hanger from IKEA that I use in all the kids bedrooms to display their artwork!

Connor's 7th Birthday

Connor turned 7 this year and we celebrated with a huge lego birthday. I had these custom invitations designed which were so cute. His friends all came over and played and built lego sets. My favorite part was the cute molds that I got to do LegoMen and Lego Bricks!

Cub Scouts Big Trip - USS Yorktown

The Cub Scout trip this year was in Charleston, SC. The boys went and stayed on the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. The men and boys all stayed in one room with bunks 4 high. No problem for the kiddos, but the guys were not so excited! I ended up having to go on the trip because Rob had a meeting that he couldn't miss, so he flew in on Friday night. The women stayed in the Officer's cabins, but let me tell you this was no Holiday Inn. It wasn't even a Motel 8. I've had better accomadations when I went camping. Anyway, the boys were over the moon about the trip and had a great time. It has become know as the "Cub Scout Puke Trip" since we had so many boys get sick on the trip. (Yes, Connor was one of them on Sunday.) Anyway, Rob and I sucked it up for the boys but... never again, I want a hotel room.

Above: The USS Yorktown (3 1/2 Football Fields Long!)

Above: Jake in front of "Big Eddy" at the Columbia Children's Museum

Above: Connor in front of the airplanes on the hanger deck.

Above: We had to get off that ship! So we headed into downtown Charlestown where the boys found fountain to play in.

Above: The boys loved all the airplanes on the flight deck.

Above: Yes, yes they did fight over who was Admiral and who was Captain. Can you guess who won?

What Nicholas wants, Nicholas gets

So, being the baby of the family must rock. I wouldn't know as I'm the oldest, but for Nicholas, he pretty much seems to get whatever he wants. I have some sort of condition in where I am completely unable to say no to the child. Of course since he is the sweetest, most loving child I have ever since, I don't really feel bad about it (at all). I suppose when he turns rotten, I will kick myself and everyone else can have an "I told you so" fest, but until then the spoiling continues.

Anyone who knows Nick knows that he loves Batman. He has finally gotten old enough now that he sees Jake and Connor earning and spending money and he has for some time wanted a piggy bank to do the same. For his birthday he told me that he wanted a piggy bank, but not just any piggy bank, it had to be an actual pig and it had to have Super Heros on it. So I went to Hobby Lobby, got my supplies and went to work because... see the title for this post.

Here are the pictures of the piggy bank. I thought it was pretty good for my first go and Nicholas loves it!