12 on the 12th

I started doing the 12 on the 12th project last August thanks to my friend Heather. It's been a year now and I've really enjoyed the excuse or means to capture slices of our everyday life. But, since I've completed a year (well, most of the year...I missed November, March, and May) I think I need a new project for the next year...what do you think? Anyone got any good ideas?

Anyway, since it is August 12th, I thought I better get the compilations I've completed for the past 3 months posted starting with April.



1. Jensen and her babies strewn all over the place.

2. A moving box because we were getting ready to move out of one temporary apartment into another. We had given 30 days notice, but unfortunately, our house would not be ready in time. Meanwhile, they rented the apartment we were in necessitating a move into another apartment. Ugh.

3. Jensen and her babies later in the day.

4. Jordan trying not to be captured in a photo.

5. Gotcha!

6. Me at the house trying to get some of the painting finished upstairs. We needed to have the house re-painted and to save a little money we decided to do the upstairs rooms ourselves.

7. & 8. Jackson and his Heelys. These are tennis shoes that have a removable wheel in the heel of each shoe. You can sort of skate along in them or remove the wheel and use them like regular shoes.

9., 10., 11., & 12. Some of the things I like about our house: the light fixtures, the microwave down at counter level so the kids can reach it, our wood stairs, and our front door.

I skipped May, mainly because we had just moved into our house on May 11th. So on the 12th I'm sure I was surrounded by boxes trying to make some order of our home. I actually wish I had remembered to take pictures on the 12th. I would have liked to have a record of that happy time!

June



1. Jackson's crazy bed head hair. He had been growing his hair out since the beginning of the year. I hated the growing out process but love the end result! Over the summer it has gotten so blonde he looks like a little surfer dude. Unfortunately, he's been talking about getting it all cut off again. I'm dragging my feet on taking him to get it cut hoping he changes his mind.

2. Jordan eating breakfast at the counter. The kids eat almost all meals except "family dinners" sitting on the barstools at the counter.

3. During the summer, the first laundry load of the day usually consists of pool towels from the day before. I wash a lot of towels.

4. One of the "joys" of summer...grocery shopping with all three kids.

5. Heelys make grocery shopping bearable for Jackson.

6. & 7. Jensen had been taking a gymnastics class once a week this summer at the Little Gym. This is a new place that opened up very close to our house. It's soooo convenient and she really loves it.

8. The Gameboy makes watching Jensen's gymnastics class bearable for Jackson.

9. & 10. Jordan competed in the Summer Champs swim meet that was June 11-13. It was her first year competing in this meet. You have to make certain qualifying times in order to compete. It's a competition between all the area suumer league swim teams. There were 18 teams competing and our team alone had over 100 swimmers entered. The Gators won the overall trophy. Jordan swam freestyle, backstroke and butterfly plus two relays...100 medley and 100 free. Her Medley team took 6th place and her free team took 3rd place overall. So awesome! The meet was held at Atascocita High School in the evenings. Teams set up in the high school parking lot and man, was it hot!

11. Our house as it looked this day...the day before our landscaping was set to begin. What a mess!

And, finally, July




1. Looking for activities to fill the time after swim season, I signed Jackson and Jordan up for a week-long tennis camp at the Kingwood Athletic Club. They've both been wanting to learn to play tennis and we had gotten them raquets last summer. The camp was only an hour a day each day of the week, but the kids got a taste of tennis and really seemed to like it.

2. & 3. After tennis, it was off to Sam's Club. Madison Enochs had done the tennis camp too so we picked her up and brought her along. We were going to Sam's to stock up on stuff to take on our beach vacation.

4. & 5. Filled up the Suburban with gas while at Sam's. Gas was around $2.90 per gallon that week.

6. Lunch was also at Sam's Club. There's no better bargain around! A giant slice of pizza that two kids share, plus a giant drink that two kids also share for under $2.00. You can't beat that!

7. Next stop, the dollar store. Typically, not one of my favorite places but I told the kids they could pick out some activities and treats for the 10 hour car ride to the beach next week. I had read about a car activity that I was going to try. I made a copy of the map of our route for each kid. I circled a few cities/towns along the way. When we reached each place, the kids would get a little bag with some goodies in it. The kids enjoyed this activity and I would try it again on a long car ride.

8. After all our errands the girls decided to go swimming, while the boys...

9. decided to play on the computer. Typical. This is Jackson and his friend Austin. They are two blonde peas in a pod.

10. Starting to set aside the groceries to take to the beach. Most of my time this week was spent packing and planning for our beach trip. We leave on Sunday, July 15th to Gulf Shores (Ft. Morgan), Alabama for a week long stay in a condo at The Beach Club.

11. Our house with our landscaping finally done!

12. With all the landscaping we did, front and back, these pots of ferns on the front porch are actually my favorite thing. I bought the urns at...your guessed it...Sam's Club!

So that wraps up my 12 on the 12th project for 2006-2007. I'm on the hunt for a new project to start in January so if you have any ideas, let me know!