New Routines...

So we decided to come up with some new, post summer anti-bad habit routines now that we're back to school! One of the new routines is that there is no tv, computer or gaming until all homework is finished and dinner is over.....oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth over that one! But now that we've finished our second week of the new routine, things are turning around! Tonite, we pulled out and oldie but a goodie...Legos! Evan and Isabella spent at least an hour creating all kinds of things! Then after dinner, we all headed out to the pool till bedtime so the tv wasn't even on today...sweet!

Gotta share some pics of this creature that has been hanging out in the lanai with a few of his buddies this week! We first saw one at our neighbors lanai and were fascinated...and convinced it was some kind of poisonous mutation of a crab! But, nope it's just your ordinary garden variety spider called Gasteracantha Cancriformis, otherwise known as a Spinybacked Orbweaver...not poisonous and apparently very common in Florida...yippee.

This picture shows that really they're pretty small...but no less creepy!

Nature Up Close...

This is what Bruce woke up to this morning when he let Harley out! This big guy was on the roof of the house right next door...and he was huge! At least as tall as Isabella! Pretty cool huh? At first it looked like a stork...which had me a litttttle nervous! But nope...it's a pelican! There are so many cool birds and critters around our lake that it really feels like we live in some kind of nature preserve!

Looks like there's a few more weather things going on in the Atlantic, which means we'll probably have another weekend of rain (and moving everything in from the lanai...again!) so today, Rade, Colleen and I headed to the beach...just in case! August is definitely the hottest month in Florida and even I, sun lover extraordinaire, had to move to the shade! I love the fact that I can get the kids on the bus and head to the beach for a few hours!

MISC Monday...

I've been a little low on blog fodder lately (hard to believe I know!) so I've decided to institute MISC Monday! What better way to kick things off than to steal a post from Sue over at Happy Meals and Happy Hour (with her permission of course!)...seriously people, she is one of the funniest people I've ever read!
I have to admit that I'm guilty of this one...in fact, I'm planning a Silpada party next month! The difference is that I tell people NOT to buy anything unless they really want it...and I don't always buy when I go to a BuyCrap party...unless there's hardly anyone there...then I feel GUILT! Enjoy!

UGH. You know the invitation. Where you think it's a real party invite but - PSYCH! - it's a BuyCrap party.

Pampered Chef. Southern Living. Discovery Toys. PartyLite Candles. Cabi clothing. Longaberger Freakin' Baskets. My Step Sister-in-Law's Beaded Jewelry.

What you think your invitees are saying when they open the invite: "Ooooh!"
What your invitees are actually saying: "DARN!" ..not exactly Sue's choice of words!

Dude, seriously? I like you - but not enough to spend $19 on this:

Because I'm pretty sure my FINGER has been doing a good job up to this point.

And I don't need a $69 wrought iron anything. Everyone knows you can get anything you want in wrought iron at TJ Maxx for $11.00 Wrought iron mirror? Yes. Umbrella stand? Yes. Underwear? Sure: $11.00.

"But there's wine!" Yes, I know there's wine. And dip. And cheese, don't forget the cheese. But here's the thing:


Wine & cheese at MY house: $0.
Comfy couch & a new episode of Project Runway: $0
Not being the proud owner of a wrought-iron grape peeler: Priceless

A Night At the Batmans...

It's been raining here all day, the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay still battering Florida. We've been lucky that all we got was some rain since all around us, the towns have been pounded with flooding. This evening we went to our neighbors, the Batman's, for an impromptu game night with them and the Liptons.
The kids (and the adults!) had fun playing Guitar Hero Aerosmith, watching Gremlins on DVD and playing Trouble. I taught all the kids our new favorite game Left Right Center! We played with Hershey Kisses, so the kids were good and sugared up for most of the night!

Evan with the girls watching Gremlins

Isabella and Pierce playing Trouble

Bruce, Chris Batman and Jason Lipton

Me and Rade, Chris's wife

the LOVE of my life...who brought me roses today...for no reason!

First Day of School...

Yesterday was the kids' first day of school...and of course today is their first "hurricane day" (kind of like a "snow day"). Isabella, up bright and early, was a walking advertisement for Disney Channel advertising...High School Musical outfit, Camp Rock backback, Zac Effron folder, Disney Princess lunchbox! She looked so grown up that it made my heart hurt...and I told her she MUST. STOP. GROWING. NOW!! She loves her new teacher, who seems pretty awesome from what Isabella told me and Isabella was so happy to see her old friends and meet some more new ones!Jonah headed off to middle school today...with a very heavy backpack! Apparently they don't have lockers at his school, but they do get two sets of books (one for home and one to keep in the classroom) so he has to carry all his binders and supplies with him all day. Despite his nervousness, he was bubbling over with information when he got home! Really likes all his teachers, found his way around the campus without any problems, saw his old friends...I think it will be a good year!

Evan refused a picture this morning...he was a little grumpy because we couldn't (and still can't) find his new lunchbox and I couldn't get his new shoes tied just right (the skater shoes with the laces on the inside?). He really likes his teacher and has some kids in his new class from his third grade class so that made him happy! I'll try to get a picture of him later in the week.

Goodbye Fay!

Much to my children's disappointment (ahh the innocence of childhood!), Fay made landfall about two hours south of us near Naples and is continuing north through central Florida. We're getting some strong wind gusts and some rain, but I think that might be the extent of it. Hurricane season still has about nine weeks left though so the kids could still see some action...but I'm hoping they won't! If nothing else, now that the lanai is empty, I can give it a good scrubbing tomorrow with the power washer....yippee...not!

Fay

School has been cancelled for tomorrow and I guess Fay is really on her way! It's hard to believe because the sun is still shining and it looks like a regular old day in Florida. I wasn't even concerned about it till I went to the store this morning and saw empty shelves and generators for sale front and center as you entered the store. I stopped for gas on the way home and the gas station by our house was PACKED! Some of the pumps were already closed and there were lines of people filling up the portable red gas containers(for their generators). It looks like it's tracking our way, but things can change pretty quickly...so we're preparing for lots of rain and wind. We'll keep you all posted...and you can keep us in your prayers!

It's That Time!

Don't get me wrong...we've had an awesome summer...but it's that time again! Unless Tropical Storm Fay decides she is more important than the first day of school, the kids head off to elementary and middle school tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to share this week!

Heading Home...

Sorry I have no original pictures to share from the rest of our week, but I did something to my camera and of course, didn't bring a spare. I think I took enough the first part of the week though! Yesterday we drove to Myrtle Beach Airport in the morning to drop Chelsea off for her flight back to school in CA. We probably won't see her until Christmas, but she was really anxious to get back to see her friends at Biola. The rest of the day on the beach was beautiful and last night we headed up to the Pier. Ten years ago, when we first started coming to HB, it was 25 cents a person to go out on the Pier...now it's a dollar a person. Still not much, but it's funny how things change! We saw LOTS of jelly fish from the end of the pier, which is something we rarely (and I mean once in ten years) see here. Even the neighbor's daughter was stung earlier in the week, though we didn't see any when we were swimming, only from the pier. A lot of the fisherman were also catching quite a few small sharks, which is always a little unsettling!

Our last day at the beach today was sunny and breezy! Jonah and Evan played volleyball, kickball and baseball on the beach with the group of families and their kids next door. Also got in lots of skim boarding and swimming too. Isabella is a pro at jumping even the big waves now without holding our hand, but she still wants us out there with her. She and I went searching for shells and tried catching fish with the nets with zero success...we'll leave that to Collin and Evan who are the real professionals!

So we leave in the morning and have decided to drive straight through to FL, instead of spending the night halfway...we'll see how that goes! It was a pretty easy drive up and we're hoping it will be the same on the way home. It'll be nice for the kids to have a whole day to do whatever they want before they start school on Monday. Isabella CAN.NOT.WAIT for first grade to start...Evan thinks he's going to be sent back to third grade...and Jonah is pretty much terrified to head to middle school.

RAINY Day 5

It rained hard all day on Wednesday, something it hasn't done in all the years we've been coming to Holden Beach! I guess we were due! It's also 70 degrees and the Ferber part of our family is FUH-REEZING! Supposed to be sunny and temperatures in the 80's for the rest of the week! I also did something to my camera so I won't have any more pictures this week...good thing I already took about a million!

Day 4...Groundhog Day

Just like the movie Groundhog Day...another perfect day at the beach! The waves in the morning weren't quite as rough...just right for Mom to hang out on the raft! Lots of digging on the beach, trying to catch fish and collecting shells too. Isabella discovered the fun of making Silly Sand Castles

I have a picture of me like this with the boys ever since we started going to HB

Collin is taller than me now!

Family Photo Session

Lolli has an amazing camera so we took advantage of her being here and the first time in a long time that our whole family was together to take some family photos! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get NINE people looking pretty good ALL AT THE SAME time?? Despite the overcast sky (we had to do the pics Tuesday night because it's supposed to rain all day on Wednesday and Chelsea leaves for CA on Thursday) ...130 shots later...I think we got a few!






Our tribute to High School Musical! Not surprisingly, the older boys were not cooperative!

Lolli left this morning to head back to MD and Iwas very sad to see her go. I've known Lolli for almosts thirteen years and we share quite a few memories together! We met when we were both Creative Memories consultants (she still is!) and through the years became best friends! She and her family have vacationed at Holden Beach the same week as us for several years in a row and many times, that was the only time I had seen her for the whole year, especially after we moved from Gaithersburg to Mt. Airy. This week she taught me how to use Storybook Creator and I taught her how to get a blog up and running...check hers out at Lolli Logic! Hopefully she and her family will be able to visit us in FL soon!

Day 3..Skim Boards, Boogie Boards and Ice Cream!

Today was all about boogie boarding (awesome waves!), mastering the skim board (Collin bought Jonah his own board and then taught him the basics and Jonah took off from there!) and ice cream at our very favorite ice cream place on the east end of the island called Sandman's. After a day on the beach, we headed out for ice cream then continued down to the east end of the island, which is sooo pretty! It was low tide so there were lots of shells and another amazing sunset!

Jonah and his friend, Matt

Jonah even figured out how to do a spin by the end of the day!

Chelsea got some very cool photos with the waterproof camera that I was never able to get before this year!

This is my favorite picture I think! Look at that concentration waiting for the perfect wave!

Youngest to Oldest

Obviously it wasn't discussed whether this would be a funny or a serious photo!

Three very relaxed people!

Evan took this picture! He has a thing about sunsets and always grabs the camera to photograph them!