The BIG 1-0!

He was so little once!

Kale is now joining the world of double digit age.  He turns 10 today! Oh my. I really don't know how that happened.

We celebrated on Saturday with friends.  He invited 3 other guys his age to go see the Lego move (of course!) and then to lunch. 

It was sooo hard getting a good picture of 4 goofy 10 year old boys. Especially in a dark theater before the movie started. Kate was such a trooper hanging with 5 boys! 

Here are Mark and I taking a selfie before the start of the movie.  Note our excitement ;) 

The movie was good (the boys of course loved it).  Getting them out was like herding cats on cat nip.  They were bouncing off the walls so excited about everything. 

We headed to Wendy's for lunch (Kale's pick) where he opened presents.

You'll be shocked to learn that he got a LOT of Legos...which he very much wasn't disappointed with. 

These four boys were hilarious.  Their conversations were so fun to listen to.  At one point they were discussing the cost of Legos and blaming it on Obama. Haha! I know you'll never believe me when I tell you that that wasn't from Mark and I but I promise you we've never said anything like that to Kale.  That was all them!

After lunch we enjoyed these huge cupcakes from the Yellow Carrot.  They make gluten free cupcakes which were wonderful! One of the boys can't have gluten so it was a fun and different treat.  The kids devoured them! 

Mark is working today and then has a meeting tonight so instead of doing dinner we had lunch.  Kale picked Denny's. :)

He also got a package in the mail from his aunt and uncle.  I think he reminds me of Maverick from Top Gun. 

I'm in awe that this sweet, smart and kind young man is 10 today.  He's definitely at that age where he doesn't want to be a little kid but is trying to figure out how to be around adults.  

He's a joy and we adore him! 

Legoland, Colorado.

We didn't have a lot of BIG things going on around here this weekend. We did lots of things but not many that were picture worthy (as you will see). 

I suppose the highlight (for the kids for sure!) was Kale had his friend, Michael, over for their first sleepover. Kale met Michael at church about 8 months ago and once they discovered that they both loved Legos they've been begging for time together. 

We finally were able to coordinate schedules and it happened. Michael had a football game on Saturday morning then he came home with us and spent the night. 

This is pretty much all they did. 

Does this surprise me? No. They played Legos, jumped a little on the trampoline, played some more Legos, then played a little Lego Star Wars video game, then played Legos. I'm pretty sure they both were in heaven. 

Michael even said he loved our family when we fed him banana pancakes for dinner...yeah us! 

2 in a Week?!

2 times in one week?  Watch out.  I may be back....nah.  I just can't commit fully yet :)

I figured I'd update a few more things.  I forgot to mention in the last post that my children are phenomenal at swallowing vitamins now, which really opens up a whole new world of medication and allergy meds (no more grape flavored chewable or drinkable expensive gunk!).  They can be super slow in swallowing the hand-full of vitamins they are currently taking BUT they get swallowed eventually.  I consider that a win.

We are chugging along in school.  Both kids are doing better and better.  There is less fighting me than before.  I also consider that a win.  There is still fighting, to be sure, just less of it.  I changed math curriculum to something called Making Math Meaningful.  It helps them to not only understand math equations but also math concepts (something I'm getting a ton out of myself!).  I think it'll be good in the long run even though they are having to get used to doing a bit more work.  Kale has moved on from studying just the U.S. to now studying different countries.  He and I are currently playing a geography game of North America.  Seriously I've never known more geography in my life.  Sad!  Kate is steadily reading more and more and doing amazingly well.  So proud of her!

On that note, her eyes have improved since starting therapy and we had them rechecked by the eye doctor.  He approved of her going from the bifocals back to just one lens.  We were super excited to see serious progress and we put the new lenses in right away.  Unfortunately she couldn't focus up close on her schoolwork and it frustrated her (and me) so we had to change back to her bifocals.  Bummer.  But we'll keep on trying!

Mark and I went to Branson, MO. at the beginning of October for a pastor's conference.  It was the first time in a long time that we've been away from our kids.  I loved it.  I was so desperate for a break and it turned out to be such a nice time.  We went with our associate pastors, the Quisenberrys, and had a great time getting to know them better as well.  The kids shared their time away with us with both sets of grandparents.  It was so nice to be able to leave them with family.  

On that note, Mark is doing an amazing job as lead pastor.  Honestly I couldn't be more proud of him.  He works hard, loves people, seeks God and has just blown my mind on his capacity to minister!  He's also going to school and working hard reading textbooks and writing papers.  On top of that he has dealt with our issues with Kate as well as my struggles.  He's been a rock and a help and support and I'm super blessed to be married to this man.  I don't normally gush but just when I start thinking about all he's had to do and deal with in the last few months, I'm blown away at how God has faithfully used him.  So awesome.

Two weeks ago I helped lead my first women's retreat as lead pastor's wife.  Overall it was a huge success thanks to the amazing ladies who helped put it all together.  So much of the original planning was done when my mind couldn't focus.  It was so strange to me to not be able to concentrate and make decisions.  Normally I know just what I want to do ;).  But I struggled with reading the curriculum we were using and putting it all together.  The ladies on my team stepped up and took over much to my great delight.  My mind has been coming back and was much better at the time of the retreat.  Honestly the few glitches we had were in areas I was in charge of. We had 55 women come (way more than I thought would come) and my overall goal to have women get to know each other and just have fun together was reached.  It was thrilling.  There was even a ropes course there and we had a blast going down the zip line and trying out different elements on the high ropes course.  I told people that God just filled in all our cracks and the retreat was successful!

Wow.  I don't think I even shared about our trip to Breckenridge over Labor Day weekend.  Sadly I need to get going so I'll have to save that for another post.  That just means there's another one coming!

Sails, Baseball, Play-dates and Mice

Here is some more randomness for your Saturday enjoyment (hopefully).

While I was up in Denver for the bridal shower we went to Heaven's Superstore (you may know it as Costco - I really wish we had one in Durango...) to get food stuff.  I, however, also found some sunshade sail thingys for a great price for our back deck.  We've been looking online trying to find affordable ones but it was tough.  I brought them home and have been begging Mark to help me put them up.  

It was somewhat of a project since we didn't have poles to attach them to away from the house.  Our first try was with iron hanging plant holders.  They looked super nice but turned out they couldn't withstand the gusts of wind we can get {hence the need for the sails -- we have a shredded umbrella that has pretty much had a tour of the neighborhood thanks to the wind).  The stands bent somewhat so we took those down and searched for stronger metal poles.

I'm super pleased with the results and have LOVED sitting out on our back deck during the day (something we've never really been able to do in 10 years!). 

Here are the before and after pictures.

I wish I had another one from the back view but apparently I didn't take one and I'm too lazy to go take one, load it on the computer and then upload it to the blog.  You'll have to trust me that it's awesome and I'll post another picture later.  I spent most of the day Thursday planting flowers in my pots and cleaning up the yard.  We (as in me) have more plans for more landscaping.  Mark just goes along with it most times.  Although I did join Pinterest (yes I know...finally) and have gotten a couple cute ideas for landscaping.  Mark seems to think I'm gonna turn our yard into a junkyard.  No I will not plant flowers in a toilet. I promise!

Here's my little superhero, Jack, enjoying the swing on our newly covered deck Thursday morning.  Cracked me up with his goggles on.

 

On Thursday Kate had a play-date with her BFF Madi.  They threw on their swimsuits and jumped on the trampoline (that is now bungeed together and sandbagged down, again, thanks to the wind).  They had a blast!

Kale has had a couple baseball games.  He used to hate to catch and now I think he tolerates it.  He looks like such a big kid in his uniform.

These two are from his game this morning (they lost).  It was a gorgeous day!

 

I snapped a picture of the antics of 8 year old boys during warm ups.  Stealing ball caps.  I'm beyond thrilled that Kale has made new friends on this team and that he's having a good time playing.

 Jack, my fearless one, came in this morning while we were getting ready to leave for the game and brought this.

The kids started yelling "Jack's gotta mouse!!!!"  I didn't believe them at first but I looked over and sure enough he was holding it like a pet in his hand.  *gag*.  I tried not to get grossed out {pretty much failed at that} and excitedly told him to throw it outside and wash his hands!!!! 

I was gonna just throw it over the deck (Mark was gone by the way) but Mishka was far too interested in it so I had to pick it up (with the shivers) and throw him away.  What a way to start off my Saturday.  Blech!

 After baseball we headed to a garage sale and picked up a couple light sabers. My 2 little Jedi Knights were pretty stoked.  Fun light effects eh?  That was natural I promise!

After the garage sale we met friends for lunch then came home for naps.  I did some yard work (we're gonna do the straw bale gardening again and I had to prepare the garden) while Mark worked on his message in the office (aka the trailer - love that thing!).

And that's the last few days in a nutshell!

jklj;kjkljklj;ll

And then he was 8

Friday was Kale's 8th birthday. I completely ran out of time this weekend to blog about it so here is my Monday morning update before we start school (yes he has school today - his teacher gave him his birthday week off...)

He woke up to his family singing a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday, opened a few presents - Legos and a book to keep all of his art - then put Legos together with dad while I ran errands. When I got home we all went to lunch together. Kale requested ice cream so we headed to Dairy Queen.

He had a few gifts and cards (with $) in the mail. Baseball stuff from the CoopersAdventures in Odyssey from Chad and AlishaIron Man fist and special crayons from Aunt Kelly and almost Uncle CarsonDinner was corn dogs...his request again.
Silly little brotherSilly little sisterWe had small group Friday night so the kid party was Saturday morning. He had invited 4 friends but only 2 were able to come. It turned out to be just fine and we had a blast. We took the kids to the Rec Center to go swimming and then to Burger King for lunch and presents.

Jack, Anna, Kate, Kale and TobyAnna gave Kale a signed painting of a whale shark that she had painted. It's really cool!And he is always thrilled with Legos (thanks Toby!)I think overall he was pleased with his birthday weekend.

I'm a bit amazed that he's 8. He is now not required to ride in a booster seat. A huge, wonderful change for all of us! He's totally not a little kid anymore. He's very independent, very much a thinker, loves to play Legos (alone), will still snuggle occasionally, is definitely the oldest child (meaning he's king of the castle or so he thinks...), funny, smart, learning to joke around with us, creative, sweet when he wants to be and a leader. He almost reaches Mark's shoulder which seems impossible for me to comprehend. He's transforming right before our eyes! He's lost all of his front baby teeth and that really changes his appearance.

I miss my little Bubba but I sure love and adore the 8 year old one. It reminds me that the next 10 years will go by way too fast.
I love you Kale! Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

Interesting...

Kale came out of his quiet time the other day with this picture drawn.In case you are unable to read his phonetically spelled picture it says:
Before 55.4 = poop = After 55.0

Apparently he lost .4 pounds after he pooped.
Interesting....

And we're back!

Blogger has been down for a day or so and it's finally back! It's not like I've had tons to say and am dying to say it but we did have a ball game! 2 actually. And Fun Friday (to be blogged later)! And a doctor's visit. And home art class. I mean there's stuff to say!

Mark had his first men's game on Wednesday night but the kids and I opted out on account that it was stinkin freezing and there was no way I was going to freeze my tail off in the wind. We're fans but I don't think we're super crazy fans. I know there were some dedicated fans there and I admire them...from my home....

So we'll start with home art class.

Nothing too spectacular. Just paint. But they painted for quite a while!

Everyone that is, except Jack. He decided to be a helper and wash his toys in the kitchen sink. I suppose they needed a good washing. And hey! It was clean! And he was entertained!

On Thursday morning the older kids had check ups. I was figuring that Kate would need her kindergarten shots (which is another thing I still need to blog about!) so I bribed them with ice cream {as any sane mommy would do....}. Turns out she was caught up on her shots. But of course we still had to have ice cream!

Then Thursday evening Kale had his 2nd game {his first win!}
Here's a super fan (totally didn't get a picture of the other one and I was so bummed) playing with his stick/planes.... ...and stick/gun.

Kale was 1 for 3 - - meaning he got one hit and was up to bat 3 times (for all my non-sports readers). He hit a double though!

He played 2nd base, outfield and he tried catcher. He was supposed to catch for 2 innings but he only made it about 3 pitches before a ball ricocheted off the ground and hit him in the butt. He was so done after that. He walked right back to the dugout in the middle of that at bat and said he didn't want to catch. His coaches graciously allowed him to be done. He wanted to come sit with me in the stands (typical Kale) but we all encouraged him to show courage and persevere and go back out for the rest of the game. He did and I was really proud of him. He tends to give up when things are hard, so for him to go back out there was awesome. His little bud Toby filled in and was great. He did like putting on the gear though :)

And that's all for this post. I'll be working on Fun Friday though and will post that this weekend.

All in the Family

The boys share the talent of raising one eyebrow.I do not have that talent.
Kate does not have that talent.
Impressive.