And the AWARD goes to...

Loren made it home from Ireland late last night. But not before we had the traditional trip to the ER. It seems that every time loren goes out of the country that one of the children ends up getting hurt or ill and we end up at the ER. We made it all the way to 8:30 p.m. Saturday night before it happened though. I thought that we had actually made it with out an injury this time. The High School kids had a party at the outdoor pool and Braden and some of his friends went. I got a phone call at 8:20 saying that he needed a ride home. When I picked him up he was holding his hand and said that someone had kicked him while in the pool. I didn't think much of it until I heard him breathing through his teeth. I asked him how bad it hurt. "BAD" he said. So I pulled over and turned the light on inside the car. I could tell right away that something was wrong with it. I called Paige at home and asked her to get all the younger children to bed that we were headed to the ER. We arrived and did the normal check -in. They took x-rays and yup it is BROKEN. So they put a splint on it, gave him pain medication and sent us home. We now have to get an appointment with a specialist and have it checked out. He may have to have surgery and pins to keep it in place. He stayed home from church because he has to ice it for 20 minutes every hour, for 2 -3 days. No school tomorrow and maybe Tuesday. Braden is the second one in the family to have a broken bone. So the award for breaking a bone goes to Braden (Paige broke her toe in May).

Susan sent us an adorable Thank you card with a letter written in it. It was good to hear from her. She says that it is very hot but she's doing alright. She says she's ready to have the baby-at least she wants to. I know how those last few weeks feel and I'm sure she will be happy when the real day comes.

1st day of Kindergarten

Parker getting ready to go to his first day of Kindergarten. He has been waiting for this day for a year now. He has afternoon school, so he keeps asking me if it is time to go. He has probably asked about 25 times now. We are leaving early and walking just so we can say" it is time." Lining up to go into school. The lady with her hand out is his teacher, Mrs Belnap.



Parker playing on the school playground. Waiting for his teacher to come out and get them.

Ready to go to school!

Parker said that the walk home from school was a killer! It was HOT out there.

He said that his favorite thing about school was the cubby for his pack pack.

They read the book" The kissing hand" and "Playground manners". He said that they didn't learn very much. He thinks kindergarten is going to be easy. We will give him a few weeks to see if he changes his mind.

I was so impressed with him. When I dropped him off he gave me a hug and said see you later. I was excitted for him to finally make it to kindergarten. There where other children clinging to their mothers and crying, some mothers crying as they had to leave their children. It was bitter sweet for me. No tears, this is my 5th child sending to school so I guess I am use to it now. I have to admit that the 2 hours of a quiet house sounds good, also.

School, do we have too?

The children have started school. Some of them aren't to happy about it though. They had too much fun during the summer. All of them like their teachers and they have all had homework, already. Except for Parker. He had his kindergarten pre test today and kindergarten starts tomorrow. He is so excited, he can hardly wait. He is also counting down the days for his 6th birthday on September the 2ND. I can't believe how much cleaner my house is with the children in school. And I can actually get things done with out hearing "MOM". It is sort of nice. Loren is in Ireland for one week, for business. He calls everyday to see how we are. He says he is tired of all day meetings. And that the time change is hard on him. He will probably be use to it by the time he heads home. Oh well, that's life-crazy. Susan our birth mother is about 36 weeks a long and says she is ready to have this baby. We would love for it to be born early, but not too early. I think that we are prepared for the arrivial of this baby. We will see what we have forgotten when we bring her home, I guess. The adoption is semi-open, so we only know a little about the birth mother and we will not get to meet her. But we are so grateful to her for choosing us as the adoptive family to raise her child. We know that she is making one of the most selfless acts that a mother can make. And by doing so, answering our prayers. We think of Susan as a part of our family. Parker is always pointing to things at the store and saying,"mom, we should buy this for Susan". It warms my heart to know that he thinks about her and understands what is happening at the young age of 5. Paige is beside herself at the idea of having a sister. She talks about it all of the time. I know that she will be a great big sister and a big help with the baby. She told me the other day that she isn't excited about all of the people that will come over to see the baby when we bring her home. Because that means she won't be able to hold her. I laughed at that. I told her that the baby isn't going to be held 24/7 anyways. That babies need their space and quiet time too. I don't know how Paige felt about that. But I'm sure she'll figure it out. Well, I need to finish laundry before all of the noise and chaos begins...children getting home from school.

Wow, one more day of Summer

The last week has been a busy one. Last minute school shopping for the kids and hopefully we are finished until teacher send home their supply lists. The kids have had their last slumber parties and late nights for quit a while. We started having the kids go to bed earlier to get ready for getting up on time for school. Some of us have to be early risers. Braden has to be at the bus stop at 7:00 for High School and then Paige catches the bus at 7:50. I had the Elementary kids moved from the 8:00 schedule to the 9:00. Parker is in Kindergarten this year and they are only on the 9:00 schedule. I didn't want to have to make four trips to the school during cold weather, so we switched. Parker was in an A.M. class but I had him switched to an afternoon one. I am teaching Preschool in our home in the afternoon and didn't think he'd enjoy coming home from kindergarten and having to do preschool.

We all have been cleaning house and throwing out broken or worn out items. Also a few items made it to a thrift shop. Braden's room was the cleanest I have seen it in a long time. In fact, Paige thought it might just be cleaner than hers. So she cleaned her room. I went to take a picture of Braden's room the next day and guess what? Clothes all over. He needs to clean it again so I can get a picture for proof. I* started washing carpets again. I can't believe how fast the can get dirty. I trying to get all of the big cleaning jobs done before we get our baby in September. We are so excited! We have started counting down the weeks.

Summer is coming to a close

How can you tell summer is coming to a close? Canning begins! Today, Braden and Parker helped me make home made spaghetti sauce. We got 4 quarts worth. It smells so good...I want to eat it now. How bad is that?

This is an ultra sound picture which we received from Susan.

Pictures from the boys fishing trip to Strawberry Reservoir.

Oh, Mondays

It's Monday-again. The day I clean up the messes from Sunday. Although today isn't too bad. The boys had their sleep over with the grandparents last night. I have to pick them up around 2:00 p.m. But I think I like a quiet house. But I also miss the laughter.

We received word from our case worker that our birth mother -Susan- had another ultra sound and the baby is doing well. She is about 3 lbs. 13 ounces right now. They our sending ultra sound pic's to us...I can't wait to see them. Susan is tired of being pregnant and is looking forward to giving birth. She still has six weeks to go,so we sent her this fun card/puzzle with a letter on the back of it.

Fun Fun Fun

Loren and the boys headed out to camp at Strawberry Reservoir yesterday afternoon. The were unable to make it to the wards Father's and sons because Ethan was being Baptized the following morning. So Loren decided to have one of their own.

Paige and I enjoyed the quiet peace fullness in our home. We went to the Olive Garden for dinner. Great food but the worst waitress ever. We then went to a toe nail painting party at Kelly Meiners. It was a lot of fun. We now have pretty toes.

Today, Paige had her last day of Leadership Team Training at the Jr. High School from 9-12.

While she was gone, I cleaned the playroom in the basement and started getting it ready to teach preschool in. It still needs some work done on it,maybe tomorrow.

We then went to Smith's do do some shopping and got a salad for lunch.

The Spencer's brought their sweet baby girl home last night. Paige couldn't wait to go and see her. I wanted to give them some time alone and told her we would go Saturday. But she keep asking if we could just go now...so I gave in. We took them a gift and got to hold tiny Eliana. It is hard to remember how small they start out, they grow so darn fast. We are so excited that Greg and Heather finally have a child to raise. They have waited along time(about 5 years, I believe).

My Mother has the grandchildren sleep over once during the summer. Tonight is the granddaughter sleep over, so Paige is there having fun with her female cousins.

I am home alone. This does't happen very often. The house seems too quiet. But I guess that I should enjoy it while it lasts.

Our Summer Fun

We had a family reunion with the R's over the 24th of July. It was in Hyrum Utah. My Uncle Doyle was kind enough to loan us his ski boat. A lot of us had fun being pulled on tubs behind the boat. A few where brave enough to try skiing. Too bad I didn't get pictures of everyone.

Parker had fun just riding in the boat.

Ethan wanted to try the tub but only if I did it with him.

So we climbed on and went right under in the first 15 seconds. We tried again and stayed on for quit a while, Ethan asked me if I was getting dizzy 'cause he was. So I quickly motioned for them to stop the boat. That's all I needed...a sea sick child.

The youngest kids had fun playing on the beach.

A funny part to remember...a of the kids let a beach ball go in the water and it foated away. So we asked Uncle Rob to swim out and get it. He had to swim quit a ways out to it, when he would get out an arms length away the current would take it further out. He finally gave up and swam back in. Later peolple in the ski boat went out to fetch it and bring it back.

The last night we where there a BIG wind storm came up around 2:30 a.m. and blew our tent real hard. Loren thought maybe the poles had come disconnected and tried to find out where, with no luck. We then opened windows in the front and back of the tent so the wind would blow through the tent. A few moments later Braden and Zach (who where in a seperate tent) came to join us in our tent. They said that their tent was trying to blow over. Funny thing is Grandpa said he found it upside down in the morning and stood it back up. Later, while tearing down our camp site, we found that 2 of our tent posts had snaped in half and were only being held together by the string inside of them. No wonder our tent seemed to be falling in on us.

Some of the guys went fishing but didn't catch anything big ewnough to keep.

The last day we went to a park and small zoo in Cache Valley. The children enjoyed it.

Here are some pic's of the reunion.

Summer-coming to a close

I can't believe that summer is almost over. We were talking about it at the dinner table the other night and Ethan said,"What? You mean summer has almost expired-Not fair". We all got a good laugh out of it. I can't believe we start school shopping next week. This summer has gone by fast. We went to Raging Waters the other night for Foster care of Utah. It was a blast. I can't believe that we have been licenced with them for 10 months now and still no placement. We are counting down the weeks for when Susan(our birth mother is due). Only 7 weeks left. Susan recently had Bronchitis. She had a difficult time getting over it. So Loren had the idea of embroidering towels for her. So I did. I also sent along home made bath salts and soap. The agency said that she loved the gift. And couldn't get over the fact that the towels had her name on them. Paige and I love shopping for cute little girl things. This baby is going to be spoiled.