Austin at preschool

I'm so thankful that Austin was able to start preschool here in SD while we are here. Mrs. Lowder and Miss Haskins have been so kind to Austin and really seem to "get him." He's a special boy who often needs a little extra care. He has gained so much confidence and has so many friends. There are some really sweet children in there that we will miss when we move. Ezra, Danny, and Blake are among his best friends.

Here he is reading a book he wrote to the class.

Ezra and him playing with the baby dolls. Such sweet boys!

Lately...

Austin just finished his soccer season. He was so excited to go every week, really improved, and was a great team player. He was always cheering on his teammates. He says he got second place because the medal is silver and not gold (ha!), but he's still extremely proud of his first medal. Love this little jackrabbit!



Went to eat lunch with Parker at school. 9/10 parents brought McDonald's for their kids despite the email that said, "Please come eat a healthy lunch with your first grader." ha! I was one of the 9, but unfortunately no one else at our table brought in lunch, so it made one of the girls very sad. Can't win em all.


And this is how Jackson does church. Now that he's more vocal and on the go, he doesn't really like the restriction of the pew. So we sing songs about Jesus in the hallway.

Photo catchup

This is the start of trying to get caught up on posting...

Jackson... not walking... crawling like a maniac... stands on his own and then laughs and slowly lowers when we tell him to walk.


He sings A LOT! It's basically the best. He sings, "Goodbye Ella, goodbye ella..."

We took some shots with the kids in their new moccasins from Freshly Picked. So cute!

The littles love the mall play area.

Austin has loved soccer this season. It's been a great introduction, the coaches are so animated and fun, and he really feels empowered when he's out there. He looks forward to going every time, which I was quite surprised about, and next week is our last week. So glad we did this for him! He has been so sensitive lately and not wanting to be left anywhere or do anything if he doesn't know people, but this has been one area where he's been super brave.

Carving pumpkins with Ella. I cut the top off and they scooped out all the seeds and guts. Then I carved the face. It was the most painless carving session yet. It was great.

I took Parker to see the "Wizard of Oz" and it was his first theater experience. He loved it. It was a really well done production (my friend's daughter was in it) and with every scene change, Parker would close his eyes and say, "I want to be surprised." It was such a fun night out.



Pete and the boys helped Papa to dig some trenches for the sprinklers out back. I love that they are learning to work hard and fix things. They love helping and getting dirty!

We are so lucky to be living here while we aren't ready to move to Camarillo. We have a house there all set up for Pete to live in during the week, but without a first-grade spot open at the neighborhood school, we will just wait a little longer. The boys are so happy here and their school situation is so good, we aren't pushing to leave any sooner than we have to. But I am getting weary of being in limbo. To not have all my stuff in one place and not be able to plan ahead too far because we don't know where we will be... it gets old. But I'm grateful to have two great locations to go between in the meantime.

Halloween 2016

We had a fun time dressing up for Halloween this year. Parker was originally supposed to be a Ninja Turtle, but like I predicted, we bought his costume too early (beginning of Sept) and he changed his mind by Oct 1 and wanted to be Black Panther (Marvel character). Austin was the cutest Yoda. And Jackson was a bluebird. I had to search high and low for the right size costume in that thing but finally got it right. So sweet.

We had trunk or treat on Saturday night and went trick or treating on Monday night.

Parker's friend Charlie was the world's strongest man. The whole family was a circus theme.





Trick or Treating:











Austin's Costume parade at school with Mrs. Lowder.









Parker's class party.

Cuties in the kitchen.

15 months and not walking

Jackson is hilarious. He is 15 months and is in no hurry to walk. We aren't concerned because he definitely has the strength and coordination, but the desire is simply not here. He cruises around the coffee table and crawls the rest of the time. 

We've been trying to get him to practice standing. This was particularly funny. 

Long time no see...

Blogging has just gone by the wayside, but thought I would update with a couple recent pics.

I was running errands one morning with Pete was watching the younger two. I get texted a picture of a tons of ingredients Austin had gotten out on the table. He told Pete, "I got out all the ingredients and now I want to make a chocolate cake with chocolate chips and a strawberry on top." haha. Pete's response, "I think we can make that happen." I love how he is a "yes man" to most of the kids requests. He feels like if we can say yes to them or make their wishes happen, we should. I love that about him. I would have said no or maybe later simply out of convenience, but this was such a great memory. It really made me reevaluate when I can say yes more often. Look at that proud face!!

Cutie pie is almost 15 months old. He is delightful most of the time, but cutting teeth is no fun. He still prefers to be with me if I'm in the room and whines for me alone, while being a dream baby to everyone else. Good thing he's cute!

I love that Papa is always wanting to include my boys in helping out. Here they are laying sod. That morning they had already assisted him in fixing the front doorknob. And the little girl is Ella, my parents next door neighbor. She is the best. She is a fun friend for the boys and is so good with Jackson. I'm taking her with us to Camarillo.

We went to Sadie's Ninja themed birthday party. The kids loved dressing up. I had PTSD driving over there because the last time we went to her party (again held at this same park) was the day before we moved to Virginia. Ah! Time sure has flown by and I am SO glad to be back!

Little driver

Austin's first day of Preschool

Austin's a tricky one. He is so loving and kind and sensitive, but he's also had the hardest time transitioning. Especially since we're away from Pete at this time, he goes to tears very easily. But I was excited to get him started in preschool here even though it's only for a short time, because he thrives with routine and he desperately needs to keep up the socialization aspect of his life. :)

His teachers (Miss Haskins and Mrs. Lowder) are soooo sweet and I knew they'd love him and take good care of him, but Austin still had some nerves those first few days. By Friday though, I dropped him off without tears. Victory!

How cute is Aussie?!?!?









Grammy also had her first day of school this week! And her CT scans for her aortic anyeurism came back with the results that the size is unchanged from 6 months ago so that was a huge relief and blessing to hear!

Austin started his first soccer class and jumped right in. His is so proud of his shin guards and he kept pumping up the other kids in the class, "C'mon guys... we can do this!" (When they were kicking balls at the coaches).


Parker also started a league and while he did a great job and got the player of the week award, there were a lot of good kids on the other team that gave him a run for his money. Love to see him being challenged and doing his best. He sure hustles!