It all starts in a few hours

In a little over 12 hours, we will be meeting Carson's teacher for the first time. Never mind, we don't even know her name right now. We will go at 10:30 in the morning to meet and greet. The school has 2 sessions, and everyone we knows is in the other session. Hopefully, there will be some familiar faces for him. He says he is excited and not worried, but we will see what he thinks tomorrow. I will of course take pictures and report back on our morning!

Poor Macie

Ann Bennett is here this morning. She and Carson are playing games. They just pulled out Candy Land. Macie gets excited because it is Dora Candy Land. She says "I play Candy Land too." Her brother replies "It says 3 and up and you are only 2. You can't play." I just thought it was funny this morning.

Pray for Stellan today. He is not doing well.

Sunday at the lake

My dad lives up on a lake not too far from our house. My kids love to go up to his house and go out on his boat. Today, after church, we went up to hang out. My niece Ann Bennett is with is for a few days, so she was with us.

When we arrived, there were a couple of unexpected guests.


Macie and Ann Bennett loved to the chocolate lab puppies that were visiting from the neighbors house. They even named them Brownie and Belle (or Princess at times).
















Dad helped the kids roast hot dogs on a fire for lunch.


Then we hit the lake. We started on the tune this time. The kids always get tired if we go for a long ride first.

Macie rode with me. But, she almost fell asleep helping Grandpa drive the boat. She loves to help people drive.


















Carson and Ann Bennett tried to ride together. It only lasted a few minutes because they were squashed!







We then came back to the house and ate some s'mores. The puppies tried to taste some of Macie's. They seemed to understand that she was the weakest of the people!


Ann Bennett just liked loving on them. They are very cute little puppies. Macie would be very excited if we brought one home, but we are not ready for another four legged member of the family. And these 2 little ones look like they should stay together!


(Sorry if the pictures don't match the description. I can only get pictures to cooperate if I load them one way. It was changed when I loaded the first set of pictures.)

Not ready for this

Today, Jeff bought Carson his first Bakugan. It is some toy that can be a game from what I understand. I don't know much about it, but I do know it has a television show. I thought maybe I should do a little research before I let him watch it. He has not asked, but I am sure he will soon. From what I can tell, it is not a bad show. But, let me tell you I am not ready to move on from our current shows. I like that he still likes Playhouse Disney shows and PBS kids. Every now and then he still watches Thomas or a baby einstein video. Reading all the information about shows for 5-8 year olds does not excite me. I would love to keep him watching the nice pre-school shows. But, I also know he is going to start school with other kids who are going to be an influence on his likes/dislikes. And lets face it kids can be mean. I don't want other kids to make fun of him because I think the shows for his age group are rediculous. I guess this is just the beginning. (I don't mind that Jeff got him the toy. It just led to reading about what is probable coming soon.)

Slip and Slide

I'm on the ball today-this is my 2nd post.

For Carson's birthday, he got a Target Gift Card. One of the things he picked out was a Slip and Slide. The kids have had a great time playing with it this summer. This little montage is from earlier in the summer and the 4th of July.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

12 plus hours

Wednesday night Carson had a sleep over with a friend. I am not sure how long he slept, but I did hear he went to bed about 10:30 and got up while it was dark.

Thursday, Macie started to fall asleep in the chair with me before her nap. When I took her upstairs, she stayed in her room about 45 minutes, but I don't think she ever slept.

At about 2 yesterday afternoon, I decided they were both going to bed at 7. We rushed home from the pool, gave them a quick bath, ate a quick dinner, and put them to bed. I came out of Carson's room by 7:10.

I was expecting an early wake up call, but thankfully it was no earlier than usual. Carson was up about 7, but Macie slept until about 7:30. (Amy this is about normal or late for them)

Now, my question is, How early does Carson need to go to bed to get on the bus at 7:09? We are all going to be getting up before the sun. He takes a long time to eat breakfast and is not use to getting dressed as soon as he wakes up. I think next week, I might have to set a timer to get him going! This time next week, we will be enjoying our last day of summer.

4th of July

I tried making my pictures smaller on this post. It might be a little crazy..Sorry

Our town has a parade for the 4th of July. We have been gone for the 4th many years, so we have never been able to see it. This year, we had company. We all went with the Morrows to celebrate the 4th.


Carson watching for the parade to start.














An actual picture of me with M and C.














The parade.














Macie, Cole, Carson, Connor














The Cousins-Macie, Carson, Cassie, Jake.

Little tidbits

I thought I would document a few things about the kids for me to remember down the road.

Carson is 5 years and 4 months. He is excited to start Kindergarten in a couple of weeks and ride the school bus with his friends. He loves the Wii we got for Christmas. His favorite game is Mario Cart. But, he likes all the sports games too. He usually beats all the people he plays. Even when he is not playing the Wii, he is playing Mario Cart. He draws track with chalk and crayons; he creates tracks and "drives" them on playgrounds and at the pool; he races his cars around the house.
He is good at swimming and loves being able to go to the pool almost every day. He is starting to like golf and tennis as well, but he does not really know how to play. He is planning to play soccer again in the Fall. Hopefully, he will have an easier time now that he is older. He is still a little shy around new folks. He is most comfortable around his good friends. He does not like to initiate playing with new people, but he is fine if they want to play with him. This makes his mommy a little nervous with him going to a BIG school in a couple of weeks.
He is a sweet little boy. We rarely have to punish him, and when we do he gets back on track quickly.

Macie is out little spitfire. She is as adorable and loves to cuddle. She is a typical toddler with tantrums and whining and wanting things her way. She talks all the time. We joke that she talks all but about 30 seconds of our drive to church every Sunday. I love to listen to her 2 year old way of speaking. She still asks for you to "Carry you me", and when you ask her if she wants something she either says "Sure do" or "Yes I am".
She loves the pool and is doing great at swimming for a 2 year olds. She adores her friend Addison and wants to play with her every day. She loves to wear other people's shoes-especially lop lobs (flip flops). She could watch Dora for about 6 hours a day if I let her. She likes to climb and explore and get into things she should not bother. She is doing great with the potty and only has a very occasional accident. She is very attached to her pacifier. I want it gone, but it is a source of sanity for me at times. She tries to sneak Diet Coke from her daddy all the time.
Macie is our parenting challenge. She wants things her way and will fight you to get it. She yells and screams and tries to hit and tells you no. I quote a lot of scripture in my head and say a lot of prayers to be patient with her. I'm hoping she will out grow some of it.

One more Macie story that I have to share. Last Monday morning, Carson was sleeping later than usual. Macie ran into his room to wake him up. When I go there and realized what she was doing, I grabbed her arm to keep her from hitting him. Then I heard a POP. Her elbow had popped out of place. I knew right away what happened because it happened to my niece when Carson was a baby. I called our doctor and was able to get her in with the doctor. It is a very common occurrence with young kids and all they have to do is pop it back into place. Poor Macie, was miserable for a couple hours. She was fine if she sat still, but when I tried to move her arm, she would just wail. She did great at the doctors and was back to her normal chatty self two minutes after it was fixed. Our sweet doctor even brought both kids a Popsicle. The cute thing is Macie told people the story for days. It was cute to hear her give a very accurate description. It has made me very aware of how often grab her by the hand and pull her arm. Every time she jumps out of the van, I have been afraid it will happen again!

MckLinky

I thought I would play this with Kelly today.

Enchilada Casserole

1 pound Ground beef or Chicken
1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1 can black or kidney beans
1 envelope of taco seasoning (or enchilada)
1 package of corn tortillas (or flour if you prefer)
Shredded cheese

Cook the chicken or beef. Stir in the soup, seasoning, and beans (unless your husband hates beans and you are forced to leave it out). Layer the tortillas meat mixture and cheese like lasagna in an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish. I start and end with different ones depending on my mood. I don't think it matters.

Bake at 350 until the cheese is melted and bubbly (about 30 minutes)

Let's see if I can make the links work

Zoo

Jeff's sister and her family came to visit for a few days around the 4th. We went to the zoo one of the days. It was actually great weather. Most of the animals were out, and we did not get too hot. My kids love the zoo. When I asked Carson what he wanted to do this summer, the only thing he said was go to the zoo. I just wish it was closer to our house.

Carson watching the tiger. We rarely see him well, and this day he was right out in front.

Macie liked watching him, too.

The tiger

Macie and Jake on the playground. One day, we are going to start on the playground so Macie isn't so tired when we get there.

I gotta run. The kids are asking for breakfast!

Swimming

We have spent a ton of time at the pool this summer. I think we might have gone all but about 5 days since the kids got out of school. There are some days where we even go in the morning and afternoon. I am going to be sad when Carson starts school (in 2 very short weeks) and we don't get to go as often. It is a great way to pass the time with my two water bugs.

This is not the best video, but it gets both of the kids swimming. They are both doing great in the water. And, they love being there. (Yes, Macie has been taking some lessons. She has done much better than we thought she would do though)


Carson on the water slide earlier this summer. He can go down it all day. Macie has just started to like it in the last week. She tried it earlier this summer and came down backwards. Once she figured it out, she loves it too.


This is Macie on the Fourth of July. She still wears her backpack at the pool sometimes, but she usually swims without it.

The beginning of catching up

I have been really bad about blogging this summer. This week, I am going to try to blog every day so I can catch up a little. In the mean time, I thought I would give you video evidence of why I can not find the time to get on the computer these days.

Just so you know, this was her second tantrum of the day. The video was taken during a calmer moment. I think this one lasted at least 10 minutes.

Pray for them

Most of you know that I have followed several families in their journey with cancer. It started 5 years ago when I was tutoring and teaching Will. He is now in college and doing well. I fell in love with his family and in the process was introduced to may other families on the same road. Most of the kids I have followed are not longer in the daily battle. Some have finished treatment and are flourishing post cancer. Some, sadly have not made it.

One family, I have followed since that time really needs your prayers. Super Ryan was 5 when I first started to follow him. He went into remission, but then he relapsed. He is not doing well and spend most of his time in pain. He is now 10, but he does not get to live at all like my 10 year old nephew.

In addition to Ryan, his mom Missy also has the disease. She was originally diagnosed with breast cancer with a great survival rate. But, the cancer came back in more places and her chances are not at all good. She is currently in very poor condition.

Here is the post from his dad this morning

Since we got back home last Friday, Ryan has been doing relatively well with his IV pain medicines. He had a couple dose adjustments over the weekend. He is getting fluids during the night but still refuses to eat anything even though he and I had ventured out to the grocery store and bought a bunch of all his favorite snacks. His esophageal pain is better but he still winces and crys when he swallows because of chest and tummy pain.
Missy has gotten so much worse since Friday. She can no longer stand and is confused the majority of the time. Occasionally she is cognitive and that brings a much needed smile to me. Thank goodness my mom is still here. She has extended her return home by a couple more weeks. With both of them this ill, you can't leave either alone hardly for a minute.
Their new Doctor is coming out today with their nurse. We need to revise the plan and have a nurse here all during the day. With prayers, Les, Missy, Heidi, Will and SuperRyan

I have not met them, but heart breaks for them. Please pray for the entire family. I especially feel for the dad, daughter and other son. How do you even begin to deal with such a thing?