Kaleb gets his Bear

Kaleb earned his Bear this year and we are proud of how hard he works and how excited he is about scouts. It's a great program and he has so much fun going. We're grateful for the great scout leaders we have!

Father's Day

Father's Day was a good day this year. We pampered dad, and I know he was grateful to have all four kids home with him and doing well. Recent events have definitely helped us both be more mindful of how blessed we are to have our four kids with us!!

Dabama Theatre Children's Playwriting Festival

So, for those of you who didn't hear, there is an independent theatre here that has a children's play writing contest each spring. The children were required to write the plays entirely on their own. The only help they could get was with spelling and the actual mechanics of setting it up on the computer. They had to do all the writing/dialogue and plot themselves. Mayson thought this sounded like fun and decided she was going to write a play. Her play was entitled Who Gets The Cookie, and was about a thief trying to steal a cookie and the mishaps that followed. It was really cute!! If anyone is interested I can email you a copy. Of the over three hundred applicants, twenty were picked as winners and twelve of those were produced. Well, Mayson not only won, but hers was one of the plays that was produced. She was so excited and we were so proud of her! We got to go to the theatre for the opening night of the festival, watch the plays and be there for the playwrite reception where she received her award and savings bond. Needless to say, this of course occurred the same night that Asher went back into the hospital, why would we expect anything to be easy. We were so torn between Asher and needing to be there for Mayson. Let me just say the nurses at Rainbow are awesome. They sent us off to watch Mayson's play, and took Asher to play and fed him dinner and put him to bed. It was the most expensive night of baby-sitting we will ever have!! We went back to spend the night with him after wards, but I am so grateful for the wonderful nurses and doctors who were so willing to help us and take good care of our Asher. I know that Mayson was so happy we were both able to be there with her. The first two pictures on here are the ones the photographers took to put in the book that all the scripts were in, and to hang up and put on the post cards that went out and posters hanging around town. Mayson thought it was really cool when we went to the pool and here picture was on the poster hanging on the community board!

Back to the Hospital

So, once again our Asher ended up in the hospital for two days. This time he got to be on the children's floor instead of in the PICU and he loved it. They had a big toy room with an air hockey table and balls and ride on toys. He thought his crib he was in was a jungle gym to climb under, and once again all the nurses fell in love with him. Also, once again, we came home with no more information than we had the first time. For whatever reason his body was struggling to keep his blood sugar where it needed to be. When we were admitted this time, they thought he was in early onset type 1 diabetes. Thankfully through all the lab work and test that has been ruled out. Once again he was happy and cooperative and all that you could ask for with a two year old in this situation.

Scout Camp

Kaleb went to scout camp in June and LOVED it!! He came home so excited each night about the archery and the bb guns and everything else they did. He earned lots of awards while there and just overall had a great time. Mom even got to come and help for a little while. I was supposed to be for a whole day, but once again, Asher stole Kaleb's thunder. I ended up back at the hospital with Asher by noon that day so I only got a few hours with Kaleb that morning. Hopefully I'll be able to spend more time with him next year.

Checking out the Dinosaurs

We went to check out he dinosaurs at the zoo and for the most part the kids loved them. Rhyan was a little cautious but enjoyed herself up until the very end. As you can see, she was not happy while she was sitting on the dinosaur at the end. The funny thing is that she wasn't afraid of sitting on the dinosaur, she was scared of the ones right behind us. There were two of them shooting water out of their mouths and she was terrified they were going to spit on her. It was actually pretty funny.

Mayson's Dance Recital

Mayson is with a new dance studio this year, and is doing great. She does tap and ballet and has learned so much!! She had her recital at one of the big auditoriums at one of the colleges here and was very excited about it. She looked beautiful and she did so well!!

Asher's 2nd Birthday

asher turned two this year, and we are so grateful he is here with our family. He is so happy and full of life. He is such a boy, and is constantly throwing something, jumping off something or tackling someone. He definitely does not have a shortage of energy. We just had a little family party with him here at the house./ He got a GeoTrax train for his birthday and has been in heaven with it ever since!

Kaleb's 10th Birthday

Can you believe he is really ten?? It does not seem like that long ago that we had him. Well, maybe that depends on the day! We love him so much and he has grown into such a nice young man. He kind of didn't have the greatest of birthdays this year as his little brother was still in the hospital. Asher cam home that night and we all went out that night for birthday dinner. His party didn't happen until about a week and a half later, but it was worth the wait. We had a kickball party over at the school and it was so much fun. We had pizza, and as you can see a lovely "kickball" cake that was melting in the heat, and we all had a great time playing kickball. It was a lot of fun!