EYE SEE YOU!

Sweet boy

We went to meet the teacher night and my sweet Kale came home and threw up. Poor guy was so stressed out about school starting he made himself sick and the crazy thing is he is scared he won't pass! The boy was in gifted and talented last year, he made nearly perfect scores on almost every paper he turned in and he is scared he won''t pass. Poor kid is so much like his mother. It breaks my heart to see him worry. I wish I could take it all away but all I can do is pray. I know he will do great , I just wish he knew.

This moment

Kale, Kasen and Knox start school Thursday and today we spent a magical day at the Zoo celebrating our last day of summer. The weather was awesome and there were very few people there. It was amazing. We are fortunate to have one of the top rated zoo's in the nation in our state and my boys and I love spending days there marveling in all the wonderful creatures of God.
   Kale is in to all things nature related. He dreams of being Bear Grylls or the guy from River Monster's Jeremy, whatever his name is. It warms my heart to see him get excited to see fish and name them correctly. I wish more people took an interest in the other inhabitants of our planet.  But that is another topic for another day.
    The day was pretty perfect! After spending the last weeks feeling like I would go crazy if they were home another second, today I became sad that school is starting. Yes, summers are long and crazy and they fight, make messes, scream and snack too much..But man do I miss them when they are not here. Every year I cry when I drop them off. But for today I savored spending, unhurried time in the great outdoors with my sweet baby boys who are growing up way too fast!

On a side note we have a Chimpanzee at our zoo who has one arm! Her mother died shortly after giving birth and the baby was born with an infection, they tried to control it but the only way to stop it was to amputate her arm below the elbow.   She is amazing to watch and the boys are fascinated by her.  The other chimps are very protective of her and she is a bit onary! So precious.  She is also a great conversation starter about being different and not seeing someone as handicapped but handi-abled!

I am obsessed..

I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to paint something! So I broke down and painted the entertainment center to match our coffee table. I love how it turned out! Really brightened up the room and I got rid of that stupid glass in the doors and replaced it with chicken wire! No more finger printed glass!!

Collages

I decided to make collages of all the kids. It was so fun making these. I still don't have M's done but I  will shortly.  I had never used a storyboard templete before but I am hooked now.

What a summer alternately titled catching up

WOW, I cannot believe summer is almost over. It has been a hectic, hot, crazy summer. We have had some of the hottest temps. on record here for more days than I care to count which makes it hard to find things to keep 4 active boys entertained. There has been way too much movie watching this summer.
     This is the first summer I have had a job, so it has been interesting trying to juggle everything. I also got back in school and completed my first college course in over five years! It was so wonderful. I made an A!
   Kale and Ashleigh both had surgeries in the last three weeks. Ash tore her meniscus (knee) and had it fixed today. Now it is 6 weeks on crutches and physical therapy after that.  Kale had a badly deviated septum that was keeping him from breathing well and making his allergies worse. He had is fixed and feels so much better already.  Thank God for insurance!
    Everyone else had been well, just trying to adjust to the crazy schedule of this summer and keep cool. Krews thinks he is Captain America and wears a mask almost everywhere. Kasen has been totally into helping his daddy and asking 1 million questions a day! Knox has been crazy and wild as usual and M has been working, saving for a car and preparing for his senior year.
      The boys are all back in the school they were in year before last. It just made since, now that I am working. Plus they never got over asking about it and we love it there. Now Knox will be in all day prek with his brothers. Krews will be going to a great church mother's day out program while I work and I am both scared and excited for him. I know he will learn so much and enjoy the other kids but I hate to see my baby grow up.
       It seems as though things will never "settle" down around here. There is always a new challenge, a new problem to solve. We have been in a rut lately, not praying like we should, not attending church regularly and trying to solve everything ourselves rather than seeking God's direction. I am reminded lately just how much we have been lacking in that area and we are working to remedy that. I know we can't do this alone, I know God has a plan for us, I know life can be better, all we have to do is ask.
   I just wanted to pop in and say hello. I miss reading your blogs, I miss blogging here. Hopefully I will be able to be better about posting here in the months ahead. But who knows! If there is one thing God is showing me in not so subtle ways lately it is that I cannot do it all, I have to let some things go. I cannot have the perfectly clean house, keep perfectly documented scrapbooks for 6 kids and post to a blog frequently no matter how much I desire those things.

   I will leave you with a few pics of our summer! To the 2 of you still reading, thanks!