Things have been just a little bit crazy around here.  But hey, that’s life!  I feel like we are just barely pulling it together each day – living on strings, hoping everything is covered for the day and that we can make it through. 

Annika is BUSY… She is walking quite a bit (she started that on her 10 month birthday) she is great at emptying out cupboards/drawers.  and she CLIMBS just like Dane did.  Welcome to toddlerhood – she is into EVERYTHING!  But she is too darn cute!

She isn’t talking much yet.  She says dada all the time.  She said mama quite a bit a couple weeks ago & hasn’t said it since.  I say “say mama” and she says “dada, dada”.  She babbles a bit, but no other real words yet. 

She got her first pair of walking shoes the other night.  But so far… she HATES shoes…  Fall is coming though, so she is going to need to get used to them at some point! 

Ryan is doing good in school.  He has two male teachers – 1/2 a day each.  One teacher is the same as last year (who he is not super fond of, but they do okay together) and then the other teacher is new (his other teacher from last year retired)  The new teacher is also the new principal.  He is a grandpa of one of the girls in Dane’s preschool class, and Ryan LOVES him.  He says he is the best teacher he has ever had. 

Christian is getting used to the homeschool schedule, and for the most part I think he is enjoying it.  We have a long ways to go on the reading front, but I do feel like we are making progress already.  He went with me to pick up Ryan after school today and so he got to see some of his friends, which he really enjoyed.  We will need to have some of them over sometime soon here.

Dane is loving preschool.  He has all of the same kids in his class this year as he did last year, with the exception of 1 less girl & 1 new boy.  Same teachers, same friends, he’s happy.  They are studying rockets right now.  I can’t believe he is going to be 5 in a month & Annika is going to be 1.  I think I say “I can’t believe it” each time one of my kid’s birthday’s come around, but it is true.. they just grow up too quick! 

We are planning a quick get-away to North Carolina in 3 weeks.  I am going to the Type A Mom Blogging Conference.  They really have it designed to be a family event, with even a mini conference for the kids!  Matt is going to attend the classes with me (at least some of them).  I have never been that far East, so I am looking forward to it.  It looks beautiful from what I have seen online.  Of course, we are driving an extra 3 hours past where we are going so Matt can go to the NASCAR Hendrich Museum.  We are taking the 3 youngest with us and Ryan has the choice to come or stay with a friend.  If he comes he will miss 5 days of school & a football game, but if he comes I think he will really enjoy it… so it is a hard decision for him! 

I think that updates you a bit.  I’m off to bed.

C-

You’ll just have to read about our day here:  http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/blog/it-was-one-of-those-days

C-

Nine years ago today… I became a mommy.  Now my baby is half-way to adulthood.  And my what a wonderful 9 years it has been.  We’ve had so many life changes, so many good stories, so much fun.  I’m so thankful for my “baby” boy & and I am so proud of the young man he is becoming.  Happy Birthday Ryan, I love you more than you could possibly imagine – you are an incredible boy!

Here he is first thing this morning opening a couple birthday presents.  Of course he just “LOVED” the Sesame Street wrapping that Matt came up with in the middle of the night.

The sleepover he was talking about was a few nights ago.  He had 3 friends over then.    We just had the Borger boys over last night.  (and they slept – quite well actually!)

Tonight just our 3 boys are camping out in the living room – the last night before school starts.  Christian starts homeschool tomorrow, Ryan starts school Tue. and Dane starts Wed. 

C-

Hey there, sorry it has been a bit since the last update.  Life seems to just keep moving on fast-forward and I just am trying to hold on without falling off this fast ride! 

Things are good – we’re good.  We have been enjoying the last few days of summer:

-Staying up late & sleeping in (slightly)

- Making homemade ice-cream & snow cones

- Consuming way too many slurpees from our local convenience store

- Swimming

- Celebrating birthday’s

- Having Play dates & Sleepovers

- Back to School Shopping

- Back To School Dr. Appt.’s

- Garage Saling

- Playing our new Wii

- Working on my business

- Going out to dinner with friends

- Girl’s Night Out

- Visiting the Farmer’s Market

- Ignoring our garden (oops)

A couple weeks ago the infamous football program began again – the life consuming football program that my two oldest boys adore.   Practice is every night and this week we start games too – one on Sat. one on Sunday.   Practices that we leave the house for no later than 5:10 and return around 8:15 p.m. The practices that make cooking dinner somewhat of a past-time around here.  I need to reacquaint myself with my slow-cooker & freezer cooking methods I suppose.

School starts Aug. 25th – that is 12 days away! (which means Ryan’s 9th b-day is 10 days away!)  I can not not believe it is that time already.  With our long vacation it seems like summer just began.  I am kind of sad to be sending them back to school already.  We are homeschooling Christian this year, and he is really excited about it.  I ordered his materials and they should be here Sat. (so the tracking says – does FedEx really deliver on Sat.?)  At any rate, they shall be here soon. 

Some exciting things have been happening in my business.  We have partnered with The Cooking Club of America which looks like it may turn out to be a very successful partnership.  We also are heading to Asheville, NC towards the end of Sept. for a conference. 

Matt got to ride in a tiny little airplane the other night and fly over our house & the church.  A friend of a friend from church invited him on the trip.

I started Ryan a blog last night.  It isn’t too exciting yet, but you might want to go take a look soon.  www.ryfrog.com  We told him when he learned to type he could have one, and he is getting there, so I set it up.  It still needs a bit of work (needs some frogs he says.) 

C-