Can Blogs Expire??

Wow – I guess I’m not all that good at writing a blog.  There has been so much going on this summer & now school has started.  What happened to all of that precious time?  I took an intentional blog break early on because I decided I didn’t want to spend any more time on the computer than was necessary. Basically work, online banking and the occasional Facebook post.  (What?  That last one was not really necessary?  Oops!) 

Anyway, after that break – I just had too many things to update about that I ignored all of them and chose to focus on my husband and kids and just enjoy summer.  I still worked, but I actually took some time off.  We went camping (much more than we did last year), spent a weekend at the lakes, took the kids to a waterpark, and just generally enjoyed summer.  June started with a week of VBS, and then was ridiculously busy with baseball.  But it was still so fun.  Brett did rec ball and was on a tournament team.  Trevor did rec only.  I think they both enjoyed it a lot but were still happy when they could have a breather.  Eli was a trooper and went to lots of games.  Truth be told, I ended up bribing him with Icee frozen slushies (or he conned them out of Grandma).  Oh, and did I mention the major event of Brett hitting “teenage’ status?!  WHAT??  Great. 

July & August were when our summer happened.  Although we didn’t go on a big, major vacation – we did relax.  Brett & Trevor learned how to fish.  Eli learned how to ride his bike without training wheels and a Ripstick.  He is a determined little fella.  Good thing we did all that camping so that he’d have some concrete on which to practice.  The bike thing he picked up on the very first try.  I guess this means we may have waited a little too long to have him try it out.  ;) 

During August we have had a few more big days… Trevor turned 11, Eli turned 6, and Matt turned … ummmm… older.  Ha!  We are just grateful for every day that God gives us as a family.  We know that each day is a gift, and we do our best not to take them for granted (even though I know we still do). 

And as of Tuesday, August 20 – we now have a 7th grader (JUNIOR HIGH!), a 5th grader (MIDDLE SCHOOL!) and a kindergartener (FULL TIME, BIG KID SCHOOL!).  This also means we are done with sending our kids to their “2nd mom”.  Gretchen has been our daycare provider for the last 13 years, and we could not have gotten this far without her.  She has been amazing for all of it – and she probably has no idea how much she’s taught me about parenting over the years.  It makes this mom a little (or a LOT) sad to think of how fast time is going.  I’ve always known it to be true when other parents have said “enjoy this time” or “they grow up so fast” or “before you know it, they will ____”.  I just hope we are doing what we can in order to enjoy this to the fullest, and also giving glory to the One who deserves it all.  God, your blessings on us are wonderful, and we are so very grateful.  I sure do love this life! 

Here are my school kiddos… :)