Preparations

Backpack: check (she chose to use one she has)
Lunchbox: check
Supplies: check
Clothes: check
Shoes: check
Excitement: check

Emily starts second grade Monday and we are as ready as we can be! She has everything that she needs (and then some!), and we are all so excited, especially her! She loves school and is an enthusiastic learner!

We received the letter from her teacher this past weekend and we are so happy with the placement! It is what we had hoped for and what we, along with her first grade teacher, decided would work best for Emily! We also found out that her closest friends are in class with her as well, and Em can't stop talking about it!

We will have our annual "camp-in" this weekend. Our tradition is to have a camp-like dinner (hot dogs, beans, chips) and "camp" in the living room the Saturday before school starts. We also make s'mores over the firepit in the back yard (a propane flame works just as well!). It's a tradition that we someday plan to move to a real campsite in the mountains, but we have a blast and we are especially appreciative of the air conditioning!

In other news: Zach is finally home from the hospital and is doing well. They are still in need of prayer, and Zach isn't eating very well, but they are working on it and are thankful to be home.

Supplies, minus a few

These are NOT all new, but we're definitely stocked up!
Side note: Those are not empty hangers, they have tank tops on them
(empty hangers in between clothes is one of my biggest pet peeves)

She really wants to wear her new shoes (and I want a pair of those little Esprits!)

Happy Wednesday!
A

Sneaky guy

Ethan was napping earlier, or at least we thought he was... I was standing in the living room and looked into the front room and saw him standing there, looking quite guilty. I thought he looked guilty because he was supposed to be in bed and he had snuck out. I should have known better.

Nick took Ethan back upstairs and put him in bed. A couple of minutes later I walk in the front room and just happen to look in the corner where I see a pile of paper, and after closer investigation realize that it is gum wrappers. I count them... 1, 2, 3... NINE gum wrappers. That little bugger ate nine pieces of chewing gum. Luckily it was tropical Trident and the pieces aren't too big.

Do you think that counts as one of his five fruits for the day!? Silly boy!

Happy Saturday!
A

"Wordless" Thursday

Some people blog "Wordless Wednesday"... I'm using it a day late.

My favorite picture from last summer

Happy Thursday!
A

I'm not ready for this...

Driving in the truck on the way home tonight:

Em: "Mommy, for my eighteenth, or maybe my fifteenth birthday, can I get a phone?"
Me: "A cell phone?"
Em: "Yes."
Me: "I'm sure that you can." (Thinking to myself that she's going to change her mind
in about six months, and she's going to want a cell phone for her eighth birthday.)
Em: "You know, so that I can call you from parties when I need to."
Me: (Thinking about how I'm going to respond to this one, and trying not to run the
truck off the side of the road.)
Em: "Slumber parties."

Whew.

Happy Thursday!
A

Back in time...

We all have those certain moments when something we see, smell, taste or hear takes us back to another place in time.

Lately, I've been having this happen to me quite a bit. I think that it may be that it's summer, and that a lot of the memories that I have from my childhood seem to be from the summer. Most of them center around the pool, which is where I spent pretty much the majority of my time... year-round even, but I relate it to summer. To this day, whenever I smell sunscreen, I'm immediately transported to the pool deck at Fremont, where I was proud to be a "Flying Fish".

Pop Tarts take me to a sunrise over the mountains, sitting shore side on the Barnes' pontoon boat at Canyon Lake.

Jeopardy has me sitting in Mrs. Ricketts living room, usually playing cards.

The other night I was sewing... yes, I was sewing. Nick wasn't home from school yet and the kids were in bed. I was "listening" to the D-Backs play and there was a floor fan blowing. All of those put together also take me back to my childhood. My mom was/ isn't a TV fan (but still loves Angela Lansbury and Perry Mason!), and listening to baseball was common in our house... usually with some element of static because sports are always broadcast on the AM talk show station. The fan, well, we live in AZ... they're necessity.

To today... Emily has swimmers ear (also something that I'm very familiar with). After her ears get wet, I know to put equal parts rubbing alcohol and white vinegar in her ears to dry them out and kill the bacteria. The second the vinegar hit the alcohol and the fumes made their way to my nose, I remember lying with my head on the kitchen table and having this concoction put in my ears... constantly. My mom always kept it in a small brown bottle with a screw on dropper lid and I can still remember the sound that the lid would make hitting the bottle as she was closing it up.

It's amazing to me that my memories are so vivid and it always makes me smile a bit. Those were some really great times. I wonder if it's happening more now because Emily is about the age I was when some of these things happened, or if it's that I've slowed my pace a bit and am taking in more and being in the "now" (which ironically ends up taking me to "then"). Whatever the reason, I'm thankful for the bits of nostalgia, as once again, I'm reminded that time goes by so very quickly. It helps me to slow down and just be "here".

Happy Wednesday!
A

Enough to go around

Ethan just did the cutest thing and I want to be sure to write it down so that I remember, and I'm sharing it because it's adorable!

I'm at the computer for a couple of minutes and Ethan was in here talking with me for a minute and Em was playing in her room. Ethan went downstairs saying something about his baby cars (Nick's Micro Machines from when he was little).

Ethan must have forgotten about the cars because after a few minutes he was back up here standing by my chair with three little boxes of raisins. He handed me one and said "You open it me" traslation: Will you open it for me? After I opened that box he handed me another one "You open it Em", then the other "You open it you". Such a proud moment... he thought of sharing and he even got the right number of snacks! Oh, he is so cute these days. The things he does and says are so precious and I'm loving it! I love all stages, but this one with him really starting to talk a lot and putting things together (like 3 of us, 3 boxes of raisins), it's priceless to see.

Thanks for the raisins, buddy!

Happy Tuesday!
A

Wonderful Weekend!

We have had such a fantastic weekend!!

Friday evening, Emily and I went and did some shopping by ourselves... more fabric, I'm addicted to sewing now! I love to spend time with her alone, she is so awesome and we don't get alone time often.

Nick signed the kids up for craft Saturday at Lowes and they made dune buggies, totally cute! We went out to brunch, then went to see Wall-E. It was cute, but I'm surprised that it held Ethan's attention for more than twenty minutes, and Emily expected more laughs. We went to church last night and were able to see a Pastor that moved away a couple of years ago! It was great to see he and his wife since we miss having them around so much. As always, his message was great!

This morning we all woke up early and headed out to the desert to ride quads. Around here, we call any land that isn't developed "desert", even though we live IN the desert, we don't like to think of it like that. Some of us do have grass, you know. Which brings me to the next activity... Ethan and Nick cut the grass, together. I think Ethan did a better job, but maybe I graded him on a curve. Also, Emily kicked my tail in Monopoly Jr.

Enjoy the pictures...

Happy Sunday! A

They are so proud of their cars!

Ethan climbed the ramps half the time we were out there!

'Riding' Daddy's quad (and making the quad noise)

Em had her best riding day today!

7 going on 16

The last ride of the morning"Hey, wait for me."

Please pray for Zachary **UPDATED**

UPDATE: It has been determined that sweet Zach's fever is being caused by an infection. Please pray specifically for the healing of this infection. Thank you.

Sweet Zach has developed a 102* fever and is struggling a bit to clear the thick mucous from his lungs since they removed the ventilator, and also to release the extra fluid from his body, and he is quite uncomfortable.
Please pray for healing in Zach, for peace for Ray and Amy, and for wisdom in the doctors and nurses that are constantly in contact with Zach.
Thank you, my friends. A

Tuesday

The kids and I have had a relaxing day at home, doing pretty much nothing, and now Em is at cheer for an hour.

I've been practicing cute hairdos on Em, types that I don’t typically see, (I know why, some of them take forever). I was given the link to a site all about cute hair by a friend and I'm addicted! It's a great site and I've added a link on the side bar under "faves". It's Hair Today, and if you have girls, you'll love it!

I spent some time at the hospital yesterday visiting with Zach and family. It was great to get to see them and to talk with Amy for a couple of hours. I haven't spent much time with them at all since Zach was born, just because I've been so worried about passing germs from my kids on to him, which would be so dangerous for him. I'm a freak about that... I don't like kids around my babies when they're little and I don't take my kids around other babies. You never know what type of germs are waiting to be passed on. Even though I haven't held him much, it was so difficult to be so close to him and not be able to touch and love on him... he's so darling. He was resting the entire time and looked as handsome as ever. He is still in need of prayer.

That's about it... I have to go pick Em up and then get back and throw dinner in the oven! Sorry it's a bit boring today, but enjoy the pictures!

Oh, oh, oh... Ethan has mastered potty training and has been accident free for six days... he's a rockstar!

Happy Tuesday!
A

There are two braids on the top that cross over to the top ones on the back

Pictures from the Fourth

We had a great weekend! Nick took Emily to the movies Friday morning, then we packed up and headed west... and I mean it when I say 'packed up'. Our friends (we met them in the Army in CO, but they're from here also. They moved a bit, then moved back here!) live in the opposite side of the valley from us and we rarely just spend a couple of hours at each others houses. It's an overnight deal, which ends up working out really well! We swam and ate and the kids played like crazy! We watched some fireworks, what we could see from their front yard since it was a little stormy.

Ethan was the only boy our of six kids, poor guy. The other girls are 3, 5, 6, 7 & 9. So Saturday morning the kids are playing upstairs in the loft and we see that they have set up a table with and afghan for a tablecloth, a lei necklace shoved in a tall silver cup as a bouquet of flowers for the centerpiece, books for the menus, play plates and silverware, and play food. We see that Ethan and little miss E are sitting at the table looking at their "menus" that are really books and the whole setting is hilarious. We were told by the older girls that this is Ethan and little miss E's wedding dinner... they're getting married... I don't think I'm ready for this, he's my baby. We were lucky enough to get a few pictures of the ceremony. Seriously people, when you have four older girls pushing you towards one another, there's no turning back, there's going to be a wedding, and it's going to be good... veil, flowers and all!

Later Saturday, we all went together and saw some other friends that we met in the Army that we haven't seen in almost four years... nice to see them and meet their kids! Nick and the kids napped until 7:40pm Saturday, then the kids were still in bed by 9, they were so worn out!

Enjoy the pictures, and enjoy your Monday! I love Mondays, they always seem to have a "fresh start" feel to them, don't you think?

Happy Monday!
A

Ethan and his Uncle Sam finger puppet

Em and K

Ethan and Little Miss E watching fireworks

Ethan and Daddy watching fireworks

Me and B

Ethan and little miss E after the "wedding".

She'll figure out someday that she got the raw end of the deal in the ring department.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!
Have a great weekend celebrating the freedom that we are so blessed with!

The Kahler Family

Zach's surgery - prayer request **UPDATE**

Thursday morning at 7:30 sweet Zachary will undergo open heart surgery, then will be in the hospital for about 10 days. Will you please pray for Zach, Ray and Amy, and the doctors during this time? This is such an incredible family and they are dear friends of ours. Zach is such a huge blessing to all of his family and friends.
Thanks for your prayers.
A

Zach is doing well! The surgery went really well, Praise God! Please continue to pray, the first couple of days are critical. Thank you!

Sliding through summer

July... Seriously? Months have a tricky way of flying by, don't they? I was filling out a form the other day put May for the date... I really feel like we skipped right over June. It makes me a little more aware that summer is speeding by and that there's just a month left until school starts again... then time really flies by. Now I'm looking at these summer days as more of a blessing than the drag that they can sometimes turn into when the kids are saying "I'm bored" and fighting, and wanting to eat every five minutes. Some of you are parents and you know exactly what I'm talking about... sometimes it's hard to get up off of the couch and do something (at least it is for me). Everytime I find that I'm at this point I remind myself that these days are so precious, and they go by in the blink of an eye.

We spent several hours at the pool with friends the other day, then two more hours at McDonalds. The moms got to enjoy some conversation and the kids burned off some extra steam! I don't usually let my kids play in play areas at restaurants or malls, but sometimes you just have to give when it's 112 outside and any playgrounds are out of the question. I'd rather brave the germs than risk 3rd degree burns to the kiddos bums.

We played on the slip and slide the other day, and by saying "we", yes, I mean me too! Ethan came over to me and said "You try it." How can I say no to that? Let me tell you... if you want to feel like you worked your abs for hours with minimal work... just slip and slide... once. I'm still hurting, but I think it might have something to do with the "belly flop" that I did into the solid ground!

Enjoy the pictures! Notice how you can see the water drops in the air... I love my camera and lenses and am so happy that we made the investment. It has made such a huge difference in the way that we take pictures. The quality in comparison with our small digital is so great, I highly recommend it! Nick is really pleased also, I have to give him the credit for these pictures... nice job, honey!

Happy July!
A