Double Take

According to the vet, Scout still has some growing left to do, but we are amazed how big she's grown in just seven months of life.  It seems like in the blink of an eye, she's changed from a cuddly puppy to a giant lab.  I miss the soft puppy stage.  It went SOOOO fast!  Check out the "Then" and "Now" pictures. 

Move over, Kate!

Then, she couldn't make it up onto the porch...

Today, however....WATCH OUT!!!!

I feel like I could do a dog food commercial or something.  Before Beneful Premium Dog Food...After Beneful Premium Dog Food.    She's a growin' for sure!  And we're only 7 months in!

Some glad morning when this life is o'er...

On July 15th, Scott and Natalie were baptized!  Scott had been asking to do this for over a year, so the time had certainly come.  Kate also trusts in Jesus as her Savior and requested to be "bap-a-tized" too, but we discovered on vacation that the putting her head underwater part was going to be an issue!  She'll do it down the road.  Jon had the privilege of baptizing the kids, and it was certainly a special day.  

Here are their brief testimonies/reasons why they wanted to be baptized-

Scott wrote, "I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was four years old.  I know that I need Jesus and that I am a sinner.  I want to show everybody that I believe in Jesus by obeying Him with baptism."

Natalie wrote, "When I was four, I realized that I was a sinner and that I needed a Savior.  I want to be baptized because I want to show everyone that I love Jesus and want to follow Him."

We rejoice that Scott, Natalie, and Kate have decided to allow Jesus to be the Lord of their lives, and we pray that they will continue to follow Him closely all the days of their lives. 

August Adventures and Adjustments

During the final weeks of summer break, Scott took a trip with Grandpa & Grandma to a state park for a full day of hiking.  He had fun and was worn out when he returned!

On another day in August, I spent a day in Ohio, Jon & Scott went "gatoring", and the girls had a wonderful day with the grandparents!  

(Prior to going) Kate:  We're going to have a fun girl day!
Natalie: Grandpa will be there.
Kate- Yeah, but he's a really nice boy.

Scott also spent a day boating with his buddies.  What a cool opportunity!! 

During the boating trip, the girls and I redeemed a coupon for free Build-A-Bears.  They ended up being not-so-free by the time you bought them sparkly outfits, shoes, and made them smell like bubble gum, but it was still a fun outing!

In an attempt to get Kate to try some new foods before kindergarten, I started giving her "lunch points" in an effort to earn a new lunchbox that she had her eye on.  She practiced packing new foods in Natalie's old lunchbox and seemed very motivated at first to try new foods and earn points toward her goal.  After a few gag sessions though, she gave up.  One day, she brought me Natalie's old lunchbox that clearly has NATALIE written across it in permanent marker.  She said, "You can just cross off Natalie and write Kate on it.  I'm fine with the old one."  Plan failed.  Anything's better than actually swallowing a fourth of a peanut butter sandwich!  AHHHH!!

Obviously, Kate has a very limited diet.   I was frustrated with her one day and was telling her that she needs to eat more foods.  She insisted that she eats many foods.  When I asked them to name them she started off her exhaustive list with, "Salt, pepper..." 

Earlier this summer, I was reading the school newsletter and told the kids that they were lengthening the school day to allow for more instructional time.  The older two sighed, and Natalie said, "This is gonna be a long year."  Kate said, "YAY!"

Fast forward this to Day 3 of school...Kate burst into tears as soon as she got into the van.  She said that school was just too long.  Scott and Natalie listened empathetically to Kate sob, and then Scott quietly said, "See Kate, we told you so."  The sad reality of school.  

Kate continued to struggle with going to school for the next week or so.  She said that the mornings were fine, but that by lunchtime she was always ready to just come home!   Lately though, the complaints have greatly diminished, and she's starting to enjoy her time at school.  She told me that one day during recess, she went around to the preschoolers and kindergartners and asked as many as possible if they believed in Santa Claus or not.  If they said yes, she proceeded to inform them that Santa wasn't real.  OH NO!!!  I asked her why she was doing this and told her that she shouldn't spoil the fun for others.  She looked at me very confused and said, "I thought we were only supposed to believe in Jesus."  (Sorry fellow preschool and kindergarten parents.)   

 

Since Kate had a rough start to kindergarten, I found myself not enjoying the days at home without kids.  I hated that she was sad and missed having them home.  Now that she's doing better, I've noticed a change in me, as well.  I think I'll quickly get used to this all-kids-in-school thing.  I feel like I'm now getting so much done while they are away and today found myself thinking, "Back so soon?" when they arrived home!  Should be a fun year for all!:)    

Summer Moments

Catch-up time again...

We celebrated July 4th at Mike & Carol's.   All decked out in red, white, & blue!

Jon and Scott started a new hobby.  After much thought and toil, they found a way to load the gator in the back of the truck and took it to some off road parks.  Jon said they got a few looks when they came driving down the interstate with a gator in the bed of the pick-up.  Where there's a will, there's a way!

Scott is really into gators and can tell you all about them.  In fact, they just came out with the latest model a couple of days ago, and Scott immediately wanted to print the picture and specs to hang on his door. 

He thinks we need a four seated gator so more family members can come along, but I'm fine with the two-seater.  Shucks, I'll have to sit this one out!:) 

Natalie had a special day at the zoo with Grandpa & Grandma and LOVED the extra attention!

 Kate and her pink boots!  They're certainly a fave, and she's been told quite a few times when getting ready to leave the house to go back in and change out of her pink boots.  She would wear them everywhere if we let her!   

 Crazy girls!!

An engineer in our future???  Not if you ask Scott.  He told the doctor this year at his well check that he wants to be a farmer AND a dog breeder.  Scott was (to quote the doctor) "way off the chart" for his height.  He continues to shoot up and is now 5' tall at 10 years old!

Natalie & Kate still love to be matching.  On this particular day, they really got into it and were trying to color a picture exactly the same. 

Kate had an arm injury fiasco over the summer.  She was trying to do an obstacle course, tripped over a cone, and hurt her arm.  We went for two different sets of x-rays and to the doctor, all to find out that it wasn't actually broken.  It was pretty painful for her though, and she was pretty cute in her oversized sling!

Officially Underway...

A fourth grader, third grader, and kindergartner- who would have thought this day would come?!:)  Kate has been counting down to this day with much anticipation for a loooong time.  She was so excited to head off to school.

It seemed extra hard this year dropping ALL three kids off.  They did great- it was only me who had issues.  Unexpectedly, my cat came up and jumped up on my lap as soon as I got home from dropping them off.  It was Piper's way of saying, "You can still love on me!"  Thanks, Piper!:) 

A few weeks ago, I overheard this sweet conversation between the girls: 

Kate:  I'm big now and can ride without training wheels and I'm going to kindergarten.

Natalie:  I know, Kate. Soon you're gonna be driving your car off to college. 

(This was actually running through my head on my drive home this morning.  Thanks a lot, Natalie!)

On a similar note, Scott was telling me last week that he couldn't believe Kate was about to start kindergarten.  Like a proud old man he said, "I remember the day she was born."  I guess we all were getting sentimental. 

My stomach was in knots most of the day- just anxious to hear how things went.  Jon and I have joked for a long time now that we would have a Mountain Dew to celebrate August 8th.  When the kids would ask us what we were going to do when they all went back to school, I have been telling them, "Drink a Mountain Dew."  We have switched to boring water-only people and haven't allowed ourselves to Do the Dew now for over a year.  

So...lunchtime rolled around today, and my highly anticipated Mountain Dew didn't even sound that tempting anymore.  Jon wasn't even that excited about having one either.  However, he's not one to change plans easily and he said, "Well, we've talked about it for so long now, we've got to do it."  So with guilty grins, we filled up our cups with Mountain Dew- a celebratory drink to our kids returning to school. 

(Ignore the glass- CLEAN PAWPRINTS OFF OF GLASS is on my "do when the kids return to school" list...maybe.) 

Before long, it was time to pick up the kiddos and get a full report.  Kate didn't disappoint me with details, and all three kids competed to get in words on our drive home from school. 

Here were a few of my favorites from Kate:  

(First words out of Kate's mouth and said with huge eyes)-  "A boy in my class had to go to the principal's office, and he sits RIGHT next to me!"  

(She then proceeded to tell us many more hilarious stories about all of the "bad" things this kid did.  I have a feeling I'll be hearing his name a lot this year!:)

"I made three new friends today, but they didn't tell me their names."

"I had to have quiet time, and it was just wasting minutes of school."

"I love school, but it was a little bit long."  

All in all, Scott, Natalie, & Kate enjoyed their first days and had many positives things to say.  I think it's going to be a great year!

(By the way- in case you're wondering- the Mountain Dew tasted SO good!:)  Back to water though until next year.  Perhaps by then, I will have this all three kids in school thing under my belt and will be able to enjoy my sugary rush a bit more.