Jax turned 8 this Summer!

My Sweet Baby James turned 8 this summer! I love this kid so much and can't believe how he is growing. Jax is such a good brother. He loves to play games of ANY kind! This summer he beat us all many times at 10,000 (a dice game-a big family tradition in Dax's family) & MarioKart! He is become quite the little reader & loves surfing the net! He still throws off his shoes & shirt as soon as he is inside the front door....many times he is down to his briefs ;-) He melts my heart with his big brown eyes. He looks up to his Daddy. I love listening to my three men sit and talk about stats & scores and other guy things. I am so excited to watch and participate in all the exciting adventures this cool kids has to look forward to in the future!

All Jax wanted to do for his birthday was go to the movies and see the new Karate Kid! We let him bring 2 friends and his brother...no girls per his request! It really was a blast & a great movie. Check out the dirt cake I made and put in a bait bucket! He was sooooo excited about this cake- Score for Mommy :-)

Because I'm awake!

I thought I would give a quick update because I am awake here in the early morning hours! Why am I awake you wonder.... well it just occurred to me that it is incredible DUMB for a person who often struggles with insomnia to take a pain reliever that includes caffeine just before bed. Caffeine hasn't ever bothered me this much before.... REALLY!!!!! As little as two weeks ago, I was downing close to a 12 pack of diet coke a day. Well, for some reason I decided to give up diet coke. The first couple of days the headache was terrible; but, then I felt pretty good. HA... now I am up all night feeling incredibly jittery... Good news, NO PAIN ;-)

My first week back went really great! I love all my teachers & the subject matter. The work load as always seems very overwhelming; but, I know that it is totally possible. It seems like there is a real light at the end of the tunnel just three full semester till I start student teaching. WOW, this really excites me! This year I have also taken over the position of president for Aggie Storytelling Association. I am really looking forward to what the year hold for me with this position.

Well, isn't it a RULE that children are supposed to get sick at the worst time possible!?! Monday morning 3 of the 4 "little"brooks were ill! Yikes, what to do? Luckily, Dax worked from home and was able to keep them comfortable. Thankfully, the rest of the week my sister & neighbor helped out. Poor Emma was out sick ALL week! Her asthma was giving us a run for our money... all is better now and she is back on all her preventatives early this Fall.

Here are some pictures to catching up on some of our summer fun! We spent TONS of time trying to beat the heat in the pool. August was so hot... we hardly left the house during daylight hours!

Tomorrow is my 1st day of classes

I’m getting ready for my first day back to school. I just made some picture collages (the pics on this blog) for my binder. I just couldn't keep from posting my cute babies pictures :-) Most of the pictures were taken this weekend when we took the kids to see Lady Aggie Volleyball play LSU. We had a GREAT time and the kids feel really big doing stuff at Mommy's school!

I’ve got sickly kids right now at 9 PM ….uhggg. Jax & Dede running fever & hurting tummys. Emma’s asthma is acting up & she is feeling poorly. Looks like Dax may have to take the day off work. I am feeling weepy about not being with them. It just makes me rethink this whole school thing….. but I press on….because I love it….but I AM STILL sad about not always being there when they need me.

I know it will be alright but say an extra prayer for us!!!

Summer Sum Up: 5th Grade Graduation

Ok, so this wasn't summer... but it was the Major event that kicked it off!!!! The next couple of weeks I am going to catch up on pictures from the summer.

How did it go by so FAST?

Dax got the girls flowers & they were so proud!!!

Me & My Baby Girls!!!

Daddy's Girls!!!

Dax & I are so excited about all the wonderful adventures the girls are about to take on in Middle School! (...we are also shaking in our boot, scared out of our minds, and thinking of taking an extended vacation from their impending hormones!!!!)

“All your dreams can come true

if you have the courage to pursue them”

~Walt Disney

First Day of 6th, 3rd, & 1st Grade!!!

Girls Walking to the bus stop & Boys to Before School Care!

Getting on "ODERANT" as Dadddy like to call it!
Not to big to HOLD his DAD's HAND!!!!

"Don't worry Mom, I'll take care of my brother!"

Me & my kiddos!!!

Good looking Kids!!!

3rd Grader!

6th Grader

6th Grader!

1st Grader!

Bowling

My sweet cousin Matthew took us bowling this summer! We had a great time & enjoyed a little competition :-) Now he is off at college and we will miss him!!!!

Ready or Not: It's almost time for School

We are gearing up for school. The girls went to get their schedules and lockers this past week... MIDDLE SCHOOL here they come!!!! The boys met their teachers yesterday. They were both very excited. Ollie is having some separation anxiety (from me... I must admit I like being missed). He is worried about school starting. I know he will be fine... probably will be in love with a new girl (or his LOVE from Kinder... which he talked about all summer). The kids start back Monday. Dax has taken the day off to spend with me... SO SWEET! I start back the following Monday... I am ready to have a better schedule but a little worried about how we are going to handle it all....but I know we can and will!

Believe it or not I didn't take any picture of the boys but here are some of the girls!

Happy Hump Day!

These sweet boys are making me HAPPY today....well really every day!!! Here are some of the brotherly things that make me smile:

• 
  
  Light sabor battles


• 
  
  Super Mario Brother PROS


• 
  
  They have each other's back.... I have seen them take a kid DOWN for each other ;-)


• 
  
  Each others BIGGEST Fans... I love how they encourage each other. How they point out to others that my brother is smart, fast, an artist, cool, the best at....


• 
  
  Always ready to wrestle


• 
  
  game LOVING fools..... any kind: board, card, dominos, Wii, DS, playstation, or even a made up one as long as it has rule and a WINNER!


• 
  
  Still willing to cuddle.... one on each side most mornings (this is a stall to waking up but I LOVE IT)


• 
  
  They think that GUY time with Dad is the COOLEST thing ever!

Wow, has it really been so long?

Man, I don't even know where to start :-)

It has been a wonderful summer.....busy but great! I took a three week mini-mester that ended the 1st week in June which ended on the kids last day of school.

June:

• It feels like we spent most of June CLEANING this house... it was WAY out of control. Really, we played a lot too. I have been loving sleeping in late, swimming, getting HUGS all day long, and playing games.


• Jax had baseball camp which was absolutely wonderful.


• For Jax's birthday all he wanted to do was see Karate Kids. So we took him, his brother and 2 friends. The 4 of them were so cute! Dax & I had a blast watching their excitement.


• My dear friend Shelley visited with her 4 kids.


• We took several trips to the farm and "helped" pick the garden. I cooked so much in June... I don't know how my Meme does it :-)


• Golf camp in Galveston. This is something the kids have done for 6 years... This was the 1st year that all 7 kids (mine & Leah's) were golfing. Will is to old for camp but he just hung around and played all golf & visited with his friends. Dax, Leah, & I got in a couple of GREAT beach runs.... 6 to 8 miles each....fun! We look so funny in our barefoot shoes and camelback water packs!


• My sister & her girls stop by often to swim & play. We love the playtime... even Leah & I!


• For the girls & Leah's birthday we saw the midnight showing of Eclipse! It was a great night.
  

July:

• On the 4th we went to the Showboat drive-in. We watched 2 movies under the stars and saw fireworks in the distance.


• The kids spent a couple of days with their Doc, Nanny, Harold, Yaya & cousins. Dax & I enjoyed some alone time :-)


• We went to Sea World. Emma spent the whole day with Will and 2 of his friends riding roller coasters. I can't believe she is so grown. Delaney stayed with us because she HATES roller coasters ;-)


• Dax just got back from Singapore (for work). We missed him but that gave us a chance to hit the road, visit New Braunfels, spend time with the grandmas and even get to see Sherry & the kids.


• I taking a 2nd summer session class online...Spanish! It is going good but a little hard with all 4 kids home.
  

I am sure I have missed so much but hopefully that is the highlights of the summer so far. I have tons of pictures & will try to post more later but here are some from golf camp in Galveston.