And we are back...

Okay, so we kind of disappeared for a while but hopefully we are back.  Things got a little crazy at our house (and still are) but I think we are getting it back under control and want to share with all our friends and family how we are all growing and changing.
Since last we posted, lots of things have happened.  The kids have grown up so much.  Abram is now 7 and getting ready for second grade, Katie is 6 and getting ready for first grade.  Daddy is teaching special needs high school kids and Mommy has moved out of the regular classroom and is teaching reading.  The biggest change for all of us has taken a year of hard work...after spending 35 years in our house it was time for a change.  We decided as a family that we needed something different, so we started packing and sold our house.  There were lots of stumbles along the way but a year, lots of camping out, help and encouragement from lots of loving friends and family, 3 PODS, 3 storage buildings and several relatives' garages later...we are in our new house.
On April 26, with mixed feelings, we said good-bye to an old friend that we had cussed and yelled at but that served us very well.



Since things don't ever work out for us like they are supposed to, we spent the next month with our wonderful and ever so gracious cousins...who might I add thought we were only going to be there a couple of days!
Fast forward to the first week of June and we finally closed on our new house...same town, same basic area, new house for the Fletchers.

 

And so, this is where we start our new adventures.  I hope to keep you all up to date on the goings on at our new abode (did I mention it is a fixer-upper), as well as with our wonderful family, sometimes known around here at Team Fletcher because we all work so much better when we work together like a team.  Go TEAM FLETCHER!

Adventures in Food

So we are all back in school and into the routine of being in school.  Each day, we get up early, get everyone dressed and fed.  Daddy heads out before the kids are up.  Mommy heads out after Grammy gets to the house.  Abram and Katie head to school.  Followed by lunch, naps, then time for Mommy to pick up the kids.  Go home fix dinner and get everything ready for the next day.  Followed by bedtime and then we start it all over again.  The days can get kind of montoneous, so to spice things up we are trying some new food ideas.  The latest excitement was homemade pasta.  The kids were so excited to help in this adventure. 

 Abram was great at scooping out the flour, while Katie stirred up the dough.

 As Mommy cut apart the noodles the kids hung them up to dry.  They loved seeing how long they could get the noodle and keep it together.  Notice Katie had to have a wardrobe change...not really sure why, just seems to be what she does now a days!

 After all the noodles were cut and hung up, we had to get them in the pot of water.

Then we added some of our homemade pasta sauce and waaa-laaaa a wonderful meal from scratch.  You can't tell from the picture but the kids ate all of their noodles and asked for seconds!  I think our next food adventure will be sushi?

First Day

The first day of school rolled around for the kids.  Isn't it funny how sometimes you forget the excitement of the first day of school even when you do it every year.  We were once again reminded of that excitement as Abram woke up in the morning with a giant smile on his face and a "I get to go to school today!" 

They got to walk up all by themselves...well actually they walked up alone with Mommy right behind them.

Katie walked right in, found her cubby and got right to business...

building with those blocks, again.  That's okay, she's a girl she can do anything she wants!

Abram's room was next. He had to check and make sure his name was still on the door, Yeap, still there!

Big surprise, he went straight to the computer.  Sadly, someone was already there.  So we quickly found "the real Gunnar" and life was okay.  "The real Gunnar" was his friend who has been with him in class since he was 2.  Sadly "the real Haley" was not there.

As Fletcher tradition has established, Mommy takes the kids to school on their first day and Daddy picks them up.  Daddy got there early enough to see Abram and his friends crossing over to the big boy playground (another big thing when you are 4).

Then time to big up big 3 year old Katie.  Her teacher brought Katie to the car with a giant smile...

which Katie shared with her Daddy along with some apples and a beautiful red finger painted picture.

Then across the parking lot again to the big boy playground where Abram gets picked up this year.  As the story goes, he told his teacher to let Daddy know he was not quite ready and could Daddy please wait just a minute.

Abram finally decided it was time to head out and with another giant smile he too climbed in the car.

Big smiles and "I can't wait to come backs" from everyone as the car started out for the next part of the tradition Kilwin's on Main Street for chocolate of choice.

 If I haven't already said it THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR for the Fletchers.

Back to School

It is that time of the year again.  All of the Fletchers are headed back to school.  Daddy and Mommy have been back at it for a couple of weeks but the kids just got started.  Mommy took a few minutes off to take Abram and Katie to meet their teachers.

On the way to school the kids got into a discussion in the backseat about walking in by themselves (a big deal when you are not 2 anymore).  The next thing to be seen was this picture.  They rode like this the whole way to school.

Once we got to school, we all hooked up and traveled together through the parking lot and into school.

They had to practice walking in alone, so Mommy and Grammy had to stay behind and take pictures.

Katie's room was the first stop.  She walked in the door, saw the blocks and started playing.  She basically stayed at the blocks the whole time we were there.

She did ask Mommy to help her build for a few minutes.

Then it was off to Abram's room, to check out all of the new excitement.

Hermit crabs, goldfish, and a gerbil!!!!

And a computer, that he can play all by himself!!!

THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR for all the Fletchers!

Tube Time

Abram got brave at the lake this year and decided he was ready for the tube.  I think it had a lot to do with the fact that Will was riding it!  After some thought Mommy and Daddy decided it would be okay as long as a "big person" rode with him.  Surprisingly, he crawled right out there and held on.  He rode like a champ while Daddy bounced him around on the tube.  He even learned the proper hand signs from Papaw so he would be able to tell him he was ready to stop, go, speed up, slow down, and I'm OK!  We were so proud.  Katie got brave the next day and decided to ride too, unfortunately noone got a video of her and Mommy on the tube, but she did a great job too!

Lake Trip 2010

It is time once again for the annual lake trip.  For the past 5 years, we have gone with Mommy's family to the lake for a week.  It is great to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often and to get to enjoy all the pleasures that are lake life. 

Mommy and Katie enjoying a boat ride.

The 3 Amigos (every waking moment was spent together).

Painting t-shirts with squirt guns.

One of our nightly shows.  Always entertaining.

Ice cream was enjoyed, they even got some in their mouths.

Decorating Uncle Luke with foam stickers!

All of the grandkids in their outfits from Papaw and GramT.

We even found an island one day for a picnic.   Too bad it started storming!

Kisses for Daddy for helping her learn to swim.

A man on a mission (think he was helping Will build a moat for the castle)

Abram, Daddy and Will riding the tube.

Mommy and Katie riding the tube.

Abram, Daddy and Landon riding the tube.

We all had a great time at the lake this year.  The kids are getting to the point that they can play in the water a little on their own, which was much more relaxing for everyone since there wasn't the battle of when to be in and out of the water.  Most of all it was great to have some quality family time with all of our family.  Until next year!

Astronaut Down

Astronaut Daddy's rocket crashed, thankfully Doctor Abram and Doctor Katie were there to save him!