A day late and a dollar short....

This is how I feel my life has been for the entirety of my summer. From having my cousin Lea come and live with us for 2 months in June/July and everything that went with that, to Bryce's birthday, to the girls' birthday, and every one of my kids being home day after day after day and trashing the house with no hope of ever getting it clean....yeah, that pretty much sums up my life the last 3 months.

But now....school has started and I'm feeling like I've at least in part, gotten my life back again. Allison just posted about Macy going back to school and asked if you were a summer mom or a back to school mom. I had to think about that for a while...it's actually kind of a hard question for me to answer. I like the summer time. Naturally I'm a very laid back, go with the flow kinda person so it's nice to be in my "element" of no structure, no schedules kinda living. But on the other hand, the kids (boys mostly) fight and argue and I'm never alone during the summer. Ever. And I really DO like structure and schedules but can't keep one on my own...so it's nice to be forced into one. So I guess I would say that I'm a back to school mom. September is turning into a time of "new beginnings" for me. Coming in with the bite of fresh fall air also comes my motivation to do something....anything! I get to start over. Regroup.

Part of the reason (okay, most of the reason) that I haven't blogged for so long is because I feel like there's been so much to blog about that I'll never get caught up. And it would be terribly overwhelming to try. So I'm going to go through some highlights of our summer. Then I can at least feel caught up. And then I can go back and re-visit some of the events if I want to add more details. But let's be honest. I probably won't.

*The first highlight that happened was my cousin Lea coming to visit. She lives in Kansas and I hadn't really even seen her in person for like 15 years or something like that...so she was little. But we've been instant messaging/emailing for several years back and fourth and knew each other fairly well. So it was very fun and interesting to have her come stay with us. She's 18...I knew her pretty well on the inside, but not on the outside. Such as what she liked to eat for dinner, etc. So that was fun trying to figure all those things out. Lea is at a pivotal point in her life. I felt like God used (and is using) Josh and I in her life to help her get some things figured out. I don't see an end in sight yet...but it is exciting and humbling to experience God working through you.

*Bryce turned 9! Ahhh! When did my kids get so old? Because last time I counted, I was like 24. For Bryce's party, we asked my mom to host so we had a little bbq and water party at her house. It was a great time and lots of people came out to celebrate with him. His big present from us was a rabbit. He had really wanted one and we decided that he was responsible to be able to keep one. She is all black and really very sweet. He named her Cali.

*From about May to the middle of August, I lost 14 lbs! Whoo hoo!

*The girls had their 3rd birthday. **sniff** It's so hard on me that they're getting older. However, I do have to admit, that so far 3 is shaping up to be far better than 2. They each got a little two wheeler bike with training wheels for their birthday and helmets to go with of course. They got the idea of riding right away! They were super excited about the bikes. We celebrated their birthday at Blue Lake park.

*Potty training is in full swing and honestly just about completed! It was sort of a natural progression. I knew they were ready...they'd been ready for a long time, but I wasn't ready to deal with it. But one day I just stopped putting them in diapers in the morning and they just sort of did it. Sounds easier than it was. But they're learning now that there are bathrooms in places that we go away from home, and they tell me when we're in the car and they have to go and I can take them out of the house now without too much fear of accidents. The only thing that is still a struggle is Ellyanna with her poop. It's a very dramatic thing each day. She fights the idea of going in the toilet or potty chair. I think the issue is mainly that she stands to do it...and obviously she can't stand to do it while on the potty chair. I'm kinda ignoring it for now and 'hoping' that eventually she'll figure it out.

*Kynden had surgery! We found out that Kynden had a hernia almost a year ago. They had told us that she needed surgery to get it fixed but that it wasn't super urgent. So we waited. Mostly because we were trying to juggle health insurance etc....but for the last few months, she was obviously in pain or at least discomfort when she needed to poop and we felt so bad for her. There was a LOT of drama and tears. So we decided we needed to do it sooner than later. It was an outpatient surgery, lasted less than an hour and boy was she funny on those relaxing drugs that they give before the surgery. Josh and I were laughing so hard at her that I got tears in my eyes. And lo and behold, a few days after the surgery, she pooped without any crying, or drama and she's been going in the potty chair or toilet ever since! We're thrilled!

Well, I know there's more, (such as the church camp out in August that Bryce dubbed as the "best weekend of my whole life") but I won't make this any longer than it already is. Looking forward to writing a current blog post pretty soon!