summer 2011

Wow, the time has flown. Summer 2011 has come and gone and I didn't post a single thing. Well, I guess if circumstances were different, I would have posted a little better. We just survived summer and that is about all we did. We had fun, mind you, but family reunion, family reunion, more family stuff, and work and work and work and more work. We did it all!!! It was fun. I just got a little overwhelmed, but NOW I am not feeling overwhelmed and back to reality.

All of the kids had birthdays since May. Kjelden and Simon in September. Brayden in May. Sheyna and Cheston in July. They had fun birthday parties. Kjelden took some friends to the pool, his new favorite thing to do. Brayden invited friends and cousins to Washington Park where they played and had a good time. Simon had some friends come over and just play. That was great for him. Great for me too. Especially when he said to a friend's mom "Is Stuart going to come to my birthday party?" I didn't even know he was having a birthday party. Sheyna just celebrated the fact that she was no longer two!! For Cheston's birthday, we hung out at Aunt Mony's house. Whew.....I got them all. Thanks to Brayden for his help. I couldn't remember some of them. Old age, I guess.

We have gone four-wheeling several times this summer. It is interesting that you can go in the McCollough Peaks several times and still see places you have never seen before. AND we have gone camping once. Woohoo!!! Like I said, we have been busy and recreation has not been top on the list. It needs to be a little closer to the top. We are burning ourselves out, I think.

So, now we are all back in school. Kjelden, Brayden, and Simon. Kjelden is in 5th grade this year and absolutely LOVES his teacher, Mrs. Reynolds. He has been on the fifth grade campout and is enjoying learning.....Algebra. Yes, that is what I said. Algebra. It works his brain a little but he does enjoy it.

Brayden, on the other hand, has not enjoyed 2nd grade all that much. The first two or three days were ok. And then he was done. We are hoping that we now have a solution for him. This past week, he has been the first one up and ready to go to school and yesterday, he walked to the bus without Kjelden and Simon. He was just ready to go, nobody else was. It certainly has been surprising since he has done this....total change of attitude. One day, he was in the van and he said, "I don't want to go in there, but (big sigh) I have to." So he hoisted his backpack up further on his back and exited. It was pretty funny, but it was also the turn-around.

Simon is in Kindergarten. Yes, Si. In Kindergarten. He absolutely LOVES it. Loves Ms. Smith. Loves recess. LOVES school lunches. Loves learning. Loves making new friends. Did I mention he loves it?

Sheyna and Cheston get to stay home with Mom and Dad. They get to do home inspections with us. They get to just hang out with us. Sheyna loves to be a big girl and help out with just about everything except Cheston. She is kind of mean to him, actually. I have caught her recently pulling really hard on his ears and pulling his hair. She hugs him a little TOO tightly around the neck.....just kind of mean. But then there are the times when she is playing nicely with him. That warms a heart.

And yes, Cheston is growing. And growing. And growing. He is just about as big as Sheyna. They can at least wear the same size of shoes right now. And there are a few times I have had to put Cheston's clothes on Sheyna. They are just about the same size.

Well, that is us in a nutshell...at least our kids. Brian and I have been surviving.....work, work, work. Brian has been doing home inspections and harvest and now he has taken on a new responsibility at work. He goes to North Dakota every Monday and Tuesday. So we don't see him til Wednesday morning. Actually, we haven't seen a lot of him lately because of harvest. I have been doing the home inspections. We have survived. We are looking forward to our annual snowmobiling trip in February and our 20th anniversary is next year so we are working on a trip to somewhere we haven't been before.

I hope that brings us all up to date. And to top it off, I have added the latest pictures of my kids. It was a fun day with a beautiful background. And to make it even better, ALL THE KIDS COOPERATED!!!!!

Kjelden 10 years old

Brayden 7 years old

Simon 5 years old

Sheyna 3 years old

Cheston 1 year old