We Miss You

I was looking through unedited pictures this morning (in all my free time...) and came across this beauty. I guess I should say, these two beauties... We were so blessed to have a visit from our favorite Aunt Joyce this summer. We only wished she didn't live in Colorado so we could see her more often. The kids adore her about as much as I do. We had a great time going to church and going to Dewey's Pizza. We also had a blast sharing a wonderful picnic on our boat. The weather was perfect, and the company was as close to perfect as you can get. We miss Joyce immensely and hope to see her again soon.

On a side note, Trevor and I had the pleasure of going up for an open house at his new school. Aaron was able to make an appearance as well. The new school is gorgeous. I only wish I was able to teach at such a high tech, clean, air conditioned, huge, and resourceful school. I was amazed at the technology, the space and the organization of the building. You could feel the excitement and energy from the student and staff. I hope and pray the year goes smoothly and that Trevor embraces what has been given to him. Trust me...when I taught SED (I'm not sure what they label it now), but when I taught students with emotional and behavioral disorders, we had a building over 100 years old (I think) and textbooks from the 1970's. You know your textbooks are a little outdated when the cover includes little kids with suspenders, hiked up tube socks and afros the size of Texas on them. We had to use personal computers for classroom use, no Internet access or smartboards, etc. But, it didn't stop me from loving what I was doing...on most days... I would have to say, however, that I like my job now much, much more. I am so blessed to be able to be home with the kids. I am going to miss Trevor this year. I am having a hard time realizing that he will be gone all day every day. As much as he drives me crazy at times, I am going to miss the craziness. I am going to miss the little moments. I am going to miss those teachable moments with him. I know summer will be here again before I blink, but in the meantime, I am going to miss my little buddy.

Of course, I will probably be singing a different tune in October when baby #4 arrives. I will most likely need the break. However, this is the first time I will have a child/children capable of helping me. I have never had just a baby-baby. Because the kids are all 15 months apart, I have never had a kid that could help or remember the birth of their sibling. I have had 3 in diapers at one time. I have been potty training one, sleep training another and de-binkifying another...all at the same time. This should be a breeze, right? Haha. I am sure this one will have its' own set of rules and issues. But, at least this is the first time I will be able to enjoy having just one infant in the house. Well, just one infant, a five year old, a four year old and a three year old...

Little Miss Sunshine

Well, we have had quite a few weeks with this little angel.  So much for the terrible twos.  It is the tantrum throwing, twisted, terrible, tattle taling, threes.  I have to say, though, that her cuteness helps her cause.  She is a spitfire with great personality.  She just needs to learn who is the boss.  Or, maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe I need to learn who is boss.

So long, summer salsa

Well, here are a few reasons why I am sad that summer is coming to an end. Our garden was extremely abundant this year. We had more tomatoes, peppers, brocolli and herbs than we could consume. We are very lucky that the kids love to eat fresh foods, but our neighbors were even luckier because we could not keep up with the garden. There are a few straggling tomatoes that are hanging in there. For the most part, though, it has become a weed infested mess. I am finally beginning to feel hot, tired, and irritably pregnant. Funny, since i am just about 32-33 weeks. I think I did pretty well considering it has been the hottest summer since I was pregnant with Trevor. I am still very active, though. Just starting to get a little miserable by late afternoons. This tiredness is not keeping me from riding about 3-5 miles a night on the bike with the kids, or walking with the family on most evenings. I think I will probably continue to run and weight train until the day I deliver this baby as well. I am just starting to feel more like I should at nearly 8 months pregnant, I suppose. I will post a new belly picture soon. I keep telling Aaron I want to get a couple of pictures one night when we go for our nightly family bikeride. I am sure I am a sight for sore eyes. Between pulling the trailer with 1-2 kids (depending on who is riding at the moment), the puppy running beside me on the leash, and my fat belly hanging out in front, I get a lot of funny looks. It won't be long before I am pulling the new baby in the trailer as well. Anyway, I am sad to see the summer come to a close because this has been a great summer to remember. I will miss the boys. They start back to school over the next few weeks and I am not sure what to do with my time with only one at home. Well, one at home until October that is...

Water balloon fun

Been a while

Well, I figured it has been forever since I posted on here. Things have been a little crazy-er...We have been enjoying our summer. We have taken several "mini" staycations. Taking long road trips aren't exactly easy these days as I have hernias and vericose veins that are extremely painful when sitting or standing for long periods of time. Not to mention the faxt that I am almost 8 months pregnant and still puking about once a day. So, we have limited ourselves and taken a few 2-5 hour road trips. We have also enjoyed hiking around a majority of the summer. I think it is probably one of our favorite things to do as a family. I still have many, many pictures to organize and post and hope to get to them soon. As summer comes to a close, I have many mixed emotions. Although I am ready for a break from the boys, I miss them dearly about 2 weeks into the schoolyear and wish they could stay home and read, do crafts, and play with me at home. I am also mixed about the upcoming birth. We still have no names. We had a scare this summer when the kids and I contracted fifths disease. Because of the exposure, I have to have ultrasounds every two weeks. This has made it extremely difficult not to find out the sex of the baby. For those of you who know me well know that this is no easy feat for someone as impatient as myself. What makes it more difficult is that I found that I gave away many or most of the baby items we used for the three other kids. So, we are starting over and will need to buy new clothes when he/she is born. So, knowing the sex would be great because I could do that shopping now, have it all cleaned and ready so when the doctor says, "It's a ..." we will have clothes to put him in...her in...whatever. But, I am not about to find out now since I waited so long. But, trust me, when I see the sonographer every two weeks, I have to remind myself that it was SOOOOOO much better not knowing with Caleb and that everything will fall into place.
So, I will have more pictures to come as soon as I find a few spare moments to download and organize them. Please continue to keep the new baby in your prayers. Everything has been looking good on the scans, but we are not out of the woods yet. They ARE saying,however, that the baby is large for dates. This is not a real shocker because Trevor was almost a 10 pounder. However, with me being so sick, I have only gained about 3-4 pounds. So, I guess everything I amkeeping down is going right to the baby. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and i hope to make more of an effort to keep this blog updated...

Lake Norris Take 2

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Hocking Hills

OK. They are finally here. I finally got through the 642 Hocking Hills pictures. Here are the jewels I found. We had so much fun and are planning another trip within the next few months. I am so glad we have raised kids who don't mind to hike. McKenna had a few moments of wanting to be held, but for the most part was a real trooper. Any pictures taken of me and Aaron were taken by "photog Trevor" as we like to call him. He also took the kissing pictures of me and Caleb. I think we have a future photographer in the making. This was such a fun trip and we can't wait to go back. I think we will take Winnie the next time as well. We weren't sure which paths were dog friendly and which ones weren't. Ash Cave and Old Man Cave were the ones we went to and both allow dogs. It will probably be a while before we can hike after the new baby is born, so we are going to try to get as much in this summer as we can. I can't wait to find some new spots to try. The kids are excited as well as we are plotting out our trips on the map.