The DMV

This morning I took a last minute trip to the DMV, my tags expire today and my drivers license next week. I do realize the tags could have been taken care of online, by phone, or by mail if only I would take the needed steps ahead of time. I am pretty sure that every year of my married life, which is also every year of my adult life, I have forgotten to assess at the proper time ( which is apparently Jan 1- may ?). I always realize my tags are about to expire and something inside of me thinks "isn't there something else I have to do first?", but it is August so I do it but not in time to take the easy road.
I'm sure this says a lot about my personality. No matter how much I love or long to be organized it does not really come natural to me. I doesn't matter that HGTV sends me organization e-mails or that a book on the subject peaks my interest, not even that the Container store is one of my favorite places. It just isn't me.
Why do I not know these unknowns? Am I just spoiled to a world with lots of reminders? How do you organize the things in life you can't even remember exist? I wish somewhere in my education (K- college) I would have had a class on these things, like commonly overlooked things101. I am pretty sure it would have served me better than Geology or even Chemistry, after all I was a Fashion merchandising major and obviously not really interested in science. Chances are something like this existed and I just some how missed that too. So just in case you are like me here is a friendly reminder to assess, the number is in the phone book. And even if you have already done it for this year go ahead and put it on the calandar for January, I did.

Back to MDO

New school year, new teachers, new nap mat.... it was a very exciting morning around the Loibner house as we prepared for the first day back to MDO. Plus a morning off for both Peter and I. It was so fun that we got to drop off and pick up the boys together. Plus they had a good day and we are looking forward to a good year. Hard to believe Wilson will be starting Kindergarten in a year.

August BAM

It is the weekend for the August Basket of the Month. We went this morning and got our basket and a few treats from Boulevard. After we left I tried to explain to Wilson and Campbell why it is important that we shop at the river market and buy things from Arkansas farmers. I feel like 50% of what comes out of my mouth is wasted breath, it's probably more like 75%, but I'm working on it.
This is a picture I took a few years ago at the market, but it fit because we did get several peppers today and.....
3 lb. sweet potatoes
1 1/2 multicolored new potatoes
jalapenos
roasted sweet peppers
spring mix
grapes
muscadines
butternut squash
cantaloupe
speckled butter beans
honey
whole wheat pasta
cheese, now certified organic
eggs
fresh side bacon, this is bacon with no nitrates or nitrites---by the way i have no clue what that means, but I just shook my head as he explained. I'll let you know how it goes over.

Happy 85th

Today is my Grandmothers 85th Birthday. Happy Birthday Gippy! We went to Dallas for the weekend to celebrate. Here a few pictures from the party, it was lots of fun.

I wish I could pretend this was an isolated incident with Campbell and the Cheetos, but over the past 4 days he has lived on Cheetos, cake, bagels, and grilled cheese- maybe a few grapes. He has been a happy boy. Reese was pretty happy too, she made friends with anyone who had a chip.

Smile Kids

I take group pictures somewhat often and so this weekend when I decided I would try to get a picture of my parents, my brother, and I it seemed like no problem. I was wrong.

In the last picture my parents are attempting, but failing, a trick I learned watching Americas Next Top Model.

Commander Wilson

...from Outer Space. When we arrived home on Thursday Wilson had a gift waiting on the stairs. Our sweet neighbors pass some things down to him when their little boy outgrows them. This time it was a bicycle helmet. In my opinion it is far too hot to be out riding a bicycle, really to be doing anything but swimming. Because of this I thought we could put it away for a few weeks until it cools down a bit, but Wilson had other plans. He has always enjoyed pretending, for about 6 months when he was 2 he would only respond when you called him Buzz Lightyear. So for the past 4 days he has been Commander Wilson from Outer Space. My favorite part is the aviator sunglasses, which he actually takes off when he goes outside.
The picture is as we are walking out the door this morning on the way to church. I am actually a little picky about what he wears to church, other days I let him pick out what he wants, but we all need some accessories.

the quiet moments

Amy and Nathan came over for dinner tonight. This is something we really love and the boys look forward to and this was the first time since the James have become a family of four. At some point in the night Nathan realized Campbell and Eli had gotten very quiet and upon further investigation we found them both laying on their bellies reading a book- so cute. Wilson had to join in.

I'm here, but it's not

After a very exciting and a little bit tiring visit with Pete's family last week we decided to head to a place where children are outnumbered by adults, so we went to Hot Springs. If this seems like a theme it is because we try to spend as much time as we can there. We love visiting with my parents, being around the water, having a break from our house and sometimes they even let us sleep in.
Anyway on Tuesday I had talked Pete into watching the boys and my mom into driving with me to Pine Bluff. What? you might be asking why PB? It is not close to HS and lets face it that when you think of thing to do with a day off from your children this does not top the list, but I really wanted to go. Sometime last year we discovered that what use to be a Gap in the Pines mall had turned into a gap Outlet and both times I have been they had great stuff. So I planned. i had Alison's list of clothes her kids need for the fall and a mental list for my kids. It took my mom and I about an hour and a half, a small price to pay for a good deal and it was 1st Tuesday so we would get an extra 10% off. The only problem was that while I was at the Pines mall, the Gap Outlet is not. I could feel my body temperature rise. Why did they close this store. First McCain mall and then this. I learned three lessons. #1.. if you are traveling a great distance or going out of your way to go somewhere, make sure it exists. #2.. no real reason to go to the Pines mall, well unless you live in Pine Bluff. #3 If something like this seems to good to be true, it probably is..last time Alison and I went we couldn't believe all the deals and how uncrowded it was.
I am laughing now, but I might have cried a little that day. I'll just blame the tears on the heat, man it is hot!

yep, there are nine.

There is always some cousin love around the Loibner home, but this week it reached the ultimate with the arrival of the Davidson cousins from Chicago. All together there are nine cousins, the best part is they are 10 and under. 10, almost 8, 7,6, almost 5, 4, 2,1, and 5 months. It has really been a great week. We have swam, played hide and seek, lots of games, we even braved Wild River Country with the 6 oldest. They out number us and I'm pretty sure it won't be long before they realize they could take over. For now we are enjoying the end of the visit and are all ready for a nap.

Oh and we even got a picture. We decided it was the first time we had a photo session without tears. Very exciting.