How does it happen that it feels like I just dropped Ryan off at school and it is already two o’clock and I have to pick him up in a little over an hour? I don’t know how the days go by so fast, but they sure do fly by.

Yesterday Ryan brought home papers that were almost all 100%. Yea, I think he is starting to understand he needs to take his time when he’s doing his work.

We had a fun time at the circus. It was actually under a big top tent. It was a one ring circus on a much smaller scale than the one we went to last year that was in the big arena, was three rings and was packed with people. Matt and I joked that this is where the performers come to learn the trade and then they join the big one. But really, it was actually nice to have it on a small scale. We couldn’t even keep track of everything that was happening at the three ring one. Here are the pictures.

Notice those dark gray clouds? It has been raining like crazy lately. However, we have been so lucky to not get wet. We got in the tent and it started pouring. Then it stopped while we walked to the car afterwards. Then once we got into the restaurant afterwards it started pouring again. Then it let off a bit while we got into the car until we got home. The same has been happening in the mornings. It pours a ton, stops, I go for my walk , and then it starts raining again. I’m not sure how we have been getting so lucky.

Well, I better go fold some laundry before Ryan gets home and we have to do homework, play, dinner, reading and bed. Matt is out looking for a stuffed cow for his sermon illustration on Sunday.

C-

We’re off to the circus this afternoon. We had bought tickets and then someone from church also mailed us some tickets so we gave one set to another family at church. There is a 4:30 and 7:30 show so we opted for the 4:30 so we can get home for bed. I’m hoping it will be less crowded too. We shall see. So as soon as school gets out at 3:20 we are driving over to the town about 20 min. away to enjoy the show. Should be fun!

Ryan has a fun day at school today. It is the first normal chapel day, first hot lunch day (they do that once a week), and first library day. He is doing pretty good. He has a tendency to rush through his work and not do his best job so we’re working on that. He has been bringing home B-C grade papers, (a few A’s in there too) but most of the mark downs are for sloppy mistakes. I probalby wasn’t as picky as I should have been on his handwriting while we were homeschooling, but I’m pretty sure he will catch on quickly. (or at least I’m hoping) Yesterday he spilled pink yogurt juice all the way down his white t-shirt so I got a call from school asking for a new shirt. When I saw the school on the caller ID I thought – “oh no, what did he do!”. LOL I was quite thankful it was just the need for a new shirt. I’m also very thankful I can work at home and be available to do things like that. I’m also worried I am going to have a football player on my hands! He is getting a little too good at throwing the football (with either hand).

Christian is just his normal self. He has been pretending to be a kitty a lot lately. Too cute! He is loving preschool and we have had nothing but good reports.

Dane has had a diaper rash for three weeks. I have tried numerous creams and it always almost goes away and then comes back. Then a copule days ago he started getting what I thought were hives… I thought maybe he was allergic to peanut butter since that was the only thing different he had been eating lately. Anyway, so yesterday I finally hauled him into the clinic. He has a yeast infection in the diaper area, and then I guess the dots are not hives, but a staff infection. The nurse practitioner we saw called it Impetigo, and said it was not contagious. However, after we got home I looked up Impetigo online and I don’t think that is what he has. The rash looks different and it says Impetigo is very contagious. HMMMMM Anyway he is on oral antibiotics and a couple creams so hopefully our problems will be solved… Who knows…. His rash is starting to look better again, but it has done that several times already so we’ll see!

Oh and then while we were at Wal-Mart getting the prescription filled, I had Dane strapped into the cart and Christian standing right behind me and I had my back to them while I was talking to the pharmacist. Christian decided he wanted to climb into the cart over the side, and it just so happened we had a cart that was a bit tippy (one of the wheels was weird) and the whole cart – with Christian on it and Dane strapped in tipped over. YIKES! It is a miracle they didn’t get hurt. Dane’s head landed about 1/4″ from the metal shelf. They were of course scared to death and the pharmacists came running out to help (I’m sure they were scared they were going to get sued…) but the boys were fine. Of course now Dane won’t ride in a cart for anything… not that I blame him.

We hosted a BBQ / Potluck here Sunday for the Church in celebration of Ryan’s Birthday. Unfortunately, the weather was not all that great so we didn’t have a very large crowd and it didn’t last real long. It started to rain about an hour into it and everyone packed up and went home; but we all got fed and a little bit of chatting in so I’m still calling it a success. Here’s a picture of the kids doing the pinata.

And then Dane ALWAYS is asking me to take his picture. So here is one of his “cheese” pictures in his new frog outfit. Those are supoosed to be long shorts but they’re a bit big. LOL He was 27 pounds and 34 inches when we went in to the clinic yesterday. She was also very impressed at the amount he is talking.

Take Care!
C-

Wednesday was Ryan’s First full day of school, Christian’s first day of school and Ryan’s Birthday. So I made my first trip to school at 8:00 to drop Ryan off. I walked him into his class, got him all situated, gave him a big hug and he gets a huge frown on his face. What’s wrong I ask? “It’s my birthday and you didn’t let me walk into school all by myself. You ruined my birthday, it’s my special day!”. Um….. of course first comes guilt. (but really it is only the second day and I wanted to make sure he ended up in the right class!). So of course I apologize, explain that I wanted to make sure he made it to the right place (which he of course assures me he would have been just fine), and I give him another big hug and tell him I’ll see him in a bit with his birthday treats. So at 10:15 our whole family shows up with birthday treats, and what is the first thing he says? “Why didn’t you let me walk to class all by myself?”. Once again, the whole spiel of I’m sorry, etc. etc. We carry out the rest of the day and then at bed time. “Mom, all I really wanted for my birthday was to walk to class all by myself…”. Mind you, he never brought this up until after I had walked him to class so it wasn’t even something I had considered. So we had a brief discussion on forgiveness etc. and I think we’re over that, but boy I guess I was the crusher of birthday dreams. Needless to say, he walked to class by himself Thursday and Friday.

Here he is while his class was singing happy birthday to him.

Eating his cupcake.

When he got home from school we had presents.

Then we went out to dinner at Burger King (Ryan’s pick)

Then we came home and had cupcakes.

Dane takes after his daddy and eats the frosting and not the cake!

It was a good sixth birthday I think, minus the school issue.

It was also Christians first day. Of course he had to have a RED backpack!

It was a warm day – It was 93 at noon when I took Christian to school. After we got back from dropping Christian off I put Dane in his crib for a nap and he cried and cried “Where’s Christian?” Poor little guy misses the boys when they’re gone! Thankfully he naps during most of the time Christian is at school so I get a break and the time goes fast for him.

Ryan made it until Friday (yes, 3 whole days) before he got in trouble at school. His teacher didn’t say anything, but later in the evening he informed me that he lost five minutes of recess because he was talking. Most of the kids are used to the classroom setting, but this is Ryan’s first time so I think it is going to take a bit of time for him to get used to everything. I think he’s a bit bored too by my guesses since the work he has been bringing home is all stuff we worked on long ago. I’m sure it will get harder soon. (Or at least I hope!) Anyway, I wasn’t too surprised or concerned at this point. If it continues then we’ll have to investigate a bit more.

Last night we went to dinner at another pastor’s house about 35 minutes away. It was 4 couples and a few kids thrown in. We had an okay time.

Tomorrow we are hosting a church picnic/potluck for Ryan’s birthday. So we’re off as soon as Dane wakes up to shop for all the food. Unfortunately there is an 80% chance of rain, so I’m guessing we’ll be holding it in the church basement instead of our backyard. Oh well!

C-

We made it through our first day of school – the whole three hours. LOL I didn’t even cry. I walked Ryan in and got him all situated and he then asks “when are you going to leave?” He was ready! I left as soon as the final bell rang and made my way over to the chapel for the opening service. I was home a little after 9:00. I made a couple mommy first day mistakes. I forgot to send offering for chapel, and I didn’t send a snack for snack time because I figured since they were getting out at 11:00 they weren’t going to have snack time. OOPS! I think he has forgiven me though. Here’s the pictures.

So tomorrow is the first full day and Christian’s first day as well. It is also Ryan’s big birthday day! I guess I better wrap those presents tomorrow while he’s gone. Here we are making cupcakes this afternoon for his class.

I just figured out that I will have to drive to school and back four times tomorrow – once in the morning at 8:00 to take Ryan to school, once at 10:15 to bring the treats, Once at noon to take Christian to school and Once at 3:15 to pick them both up! Good thing it isn’t too far! Matt will be gone for the day so I guess I’ll be hauling Dane with me as well.

We had another first today as well. Dane came to me with his diaper off (which reminds me…I still need to go figure out where he left that!) He said “potty” so I took him in there and he said “out!” The boy needs his privacy I guess…. He sat there forever, but he did his first poopy on the toilet! He has been peeing a lot, but this was the first time for poopy. YEA!

I personally have been dealing with a couple technical website and e-mail issues today. YUCK. I wish things would just run smoothly on the technical side as I rarely know totally what I’m doing when it comes to that! I think I got them both figured out though. I’m crossing my fingers anyway!

I’m off to bed. The boys were up at 6:30 this morning ready to go to school! I’m guessing by the end of the week I’ll be dragging them out of bed. We’ll see!
C-

We had a nice time on our little get-away. It is only a little over an hour away. We could actually go there on a day trip at some point if we want. Camping was fun. The boys had been asking to do that for quite awhile, so it was great to watch them enjoy it. I personally was quite happy to take a nice long hot shower and put anti-itch cream on my mosquito bites when we got home. The weather was great. A bit hot at times, but very enjoyable. It ended up raining early this morning, so of course we had to pack up everything wet. We were home by 9:45 this morning (they are an hour ahead in Indiana). The tents are out drying now. The laundry mountain is huge, the kitchen is full of food that needs to be put away, but the memories made make it all worth it! So we unpacked the car, did the little things that needed to be done and all of us but Ryan crashed this afternoon with nice long naps. Ryan slept 12 hours last night so he was doing okay. He had to go to bed early because he was so worn out.

We spent Wednesday on the rides. Dane even joined in the fun on the kiddie rides and had a great time. Christian is right in the between stage where he finds the kiddie rides a bit boring, but he’s not quite tall enough to go on most of the big kid rides. His favorite was the log plume thing. He thought the paratrouper was pretty fun too. Ryan was tall enough to go on most rides. He even hopped on two BIG roller coasters with daddy! They had five there but a couple he wasn’t tall enough to get on and the other one we plain ran out of time before he got a chance to ride. The ride passes were good from 11-6 and we took a couple hours out to rest. Ryan has never been my big ride guy, so I was shocked to hear that he loved the coasters! I didn’t bother getting a ride pass since I have never been a huge ride fan.

Thursday was water day. We were going to go to the new water park that was at the campground. It is smaller than the one at the actual park, and looked like something all of the boys would enjoy. However, when we went to purchase our tickets we found out that Dane wasn’t tall enough to go in. So….that ideas was nixed and we headed over to the sandy beach and “Splash N’ Bash” at the big park. The beach is on a man made swimming area that pumps in nice cold filtered well water. (One of the original reasons we had decided to go to the campground park was because we heard the water was much warmer than the Indiana Beach Water Park. ) However it was quite warm out and we actually got used to the cold water after a bit. Ryan was also tall enough to go on the lazy river so he and Matt did that as well. We didn’t buy tickets to the actual big water slides since Ryan was the only one tall enough to do those. Anyway, the kids had a wonderful time playing in the sand and water. They of course were totally exhausted afterwards. Both Christian and Dane fell asleep on the tram ride back to the campground and Ryan hopped into bed pretty soon after we got back – he didn’t even eat dinner.

All right, so here are some pictures for you.

This evening we took Christian in to register for preschool and to meet his teacher. I really like his teacher from our first meeting tonight. His class consists of 7 BOYS and no girls. Should be interesting! I’m sure Christian will love it, the teacher on the other hand I am sure would like some girls. The class is quite large for only 7 little ones and the schedule looks outstanding. From my initial visit I would say this is the best preschool we have had so far! After registration we headed out for dinner at our favorite pizza place in the area.

The countdown is on! 4 more days until school starts and 5 more days until Ryan’s birthday! His birthday presents arrived today, so we’re all set in that department. They just need to get wrapped up and we’ll be good to go.

C-

We’re working on packing up and we’ll be out of here tomorrow morning (or afternoon…) We did all our shopping this afternoon – except for our propane for our camping stove. The package we took up to the front at Wal-Mart of course did not have a UPC on it. We waited a good 15 minutes for her to figure out the UPC numbers (we couldn’t just give her the price…) and finally we said nevermind we’ll get it somewhere else…Oh well…

We bought a chicken from the deli at the grocery store and picniced at the park for dinner. It was a nice evening.

Well, we’re off for more packing and cleaning, and tucking kids in bed – oh and we probably should drop in on the Bible Study going on at church as well.

Keep us in your prayers for safe travels and health. (and no funerals this week so we can enjoy our vacation.)

C-

Here’s what I bought myself for my birthday. It will look a lot better once I get my black and white photo’s in there, but I am so excited to have it up, I just had to share! It is eight feet across. I won’t tell you how long I spent arranging and re-arranging, and re-arranging the picture frames on there. You pick what size frames you want and then you have to figure out how to put them up there- they don’t tell you! The stars are red by the way, they kind of look black on my monitor.

For those of you who are wondering…. No I did not get my nap earlier, Matt took Ryan and Christian to Big R and about 3 minutes after they left and I laid down Dane woke up…. So I’m off to bed now!

We’re driving three hours tomorrow to a district AFLC pastor’s family picnic. There is not any church tomorrow – it is Vacation Sunday. Strange but true!

C-