1st Grade

Well, the inevitable happened...school started. I'm still in denial, but maybe posting the event will make it more of a reality?!

Ethan started 1st grade on Monday of this week, and he was SO excited. He was up at 6:15 ready to go. He requested homemade cinnamon donuts for breakfast, an everything bagel with cream cheese for lunch, and cinnamon crunch cereal for his snack. The kid knows what he likes!

I was a little curious how the first day would go with his 2 best friends having moved this summer, but it was so encouraging to see him walk up and talk to kids that were new in his class. By the end of the day, he'd become buds with a new boy that shares his love of super heros. Thank you, Lord!

The highlight of his day was recess, naturally. He said Mrs Temple was "super fun" and "all smiles", so it was going to be a good year. I am so thankful for Providence and what a blessing it's been to our family. It was easy leaving Ethan there knowing that he was being loved on and taught well. And that I would get him back the next day!

Stitches

2013 is proving to be an interesting year of health for my first born. He opened the year with a broke leg. He had the usual illnesses in the spring, and this summer had a pretty bad double ear infection, a concussion, and the latest ER trip was to get stitches...

The boys were playing in their room building a fort when I heard a blood curdling scream. I ran into the room to see blood gushing out of Ethan's head. I had to keep telling myself that head wounds bleed the worst... We finally got it to stop bleeding and sent pictures to our ER nurse friends to see if they thought Ethan needed stitches. We ended up going to their house to see what they thought, and they promptly sent us to the ER. Again. Thankfully our ER nurse friend was actually working that night, so she hooked us up with the best doctor to do stitches. They numbed Ethan's head really well, turned on the tv and he did not care what they did to him after that. Four stitches later, and we were free to leave.

I asked Ethan to pose for a picture and this sad, sad face is what he gave me. I then asked for a picture of how he really felt...

...and this is what I got. He said he was pretty tough. Pretty tough indeed, buddy! Pretty tough indeed!

July

I'm in mourning over the fact that July has come and gone. I realize we still have 2 more weeks before school starts, but when July ends, it feels all over. Here are a few random pics from July...

Harper has become our newest little fish this year. I credit it a lot to the Penturf girls who she has spent a lot of time in the "little pool" with. All 3 girls love being in the water!

My sweet friends surprised me for my birthday, and I loved spending time with them! It was definitely a good way to ring in 35. (gulp)

Ethan got his first legit concussion 2 weeks ago. We have been to the ER for head injuries before, but this was the first one that we didn't hesitate taking him. We still don't know exactly what happened, but my best guess is that he was running down our hall and slipped on something. He blacked out and still doesn't remember what happened, and Chris was standing right there but with his back turned. Ethan started asking really random questions over and over again, and then he threw up. Our friend who is an ER nurse talked to the doctor that checked Ethan out, and the doc told her he had been pretty sure Ethan was going to have to stay the night. Thankfully, Ethan threw up again while at the hospital and then seemed to recover. We had to take a week off of any activities, so we watched a lot of movies and stayed inside. My kids should probably wear helmets 24/7.

With Ethan taking it easy, Owen and Harper had a lot of time to dress up...

We also told our sweet friends, the Herrons, good bye this last week. They've become dear friends, and it's not going to be the same with out them around. Montana is lucky to have them!

 We also FINALLY made a trip to Ft Smith to see our buds, the Crawfords. My kids were so excited to see their new world and play with them. It was a little surreal leaving them, though, and going back to G Ct w/o them.

And this past weekend Harper and I went to OKC while the boys went camping. The boys had a blast, but I have no pictures to document it! Harper and I enjoyed soaking up time with the STL Dodsons as well as the OKC Dodsons. Mimi sewed dresses for all the granddaughters, and they all looked adorable. Thanks, Mimi!!

Happy 4th of July!

We were able to go to OKC to celebrate the 4th with the Dodson clan, and I think it's fair to say that we had a pretty perfect holiday. The kids swam in the afternoon, built forts, made water balloons, performed a few experiments (thanks to Jack), ate some wonderful food, and ran up Mimi & Papi's big hill about 100 times. The adults were worn out watching! The weather was amazing, and it's always fun to catch up with a few Roswell Dodsons as well as the Carlozzi family that were there to celebrate too. 

We were pretty lame on our own fireworks, but the sparklers seemed to plenty of "fire" for 9 kids under the age of 7. When is finally got dark, my parents house is situated just perfectly that we were able to watch Frontier City's fireworks display as well as a nearby Country Club.

We ended our time there is a bang too...Ethan got sick the next day (of course), so we drove home earlier than expected. It was really sad leaving early, but we had to keep reminding ourselves of all the fun we packed in in the day and half we were there. Thanks Mimi and Papi for hosting a fun 4th of July celebration!

A few...

 It finally feels like we're having a summer break. June was busy and fun, but now we're loving not having to be anywhere unless we really want to! I think we have been swimming 11 out of the past 14 days...it's been glorious.

 Our buddies came to visit from Ft Smith last week, and it was so good to hang out with them. Ethan and his "blond brothers" ran and embraced when they saw each other. They swam hard, explored, argued just a little, and were very sad to say good bye. We're ready to see them again soon!

 

Owen has a nice new "war wound" on his face. Of course. He was doing "tree falls" in his bed and misjudged how close he was to his headboard. The bridge of his nose is still really swollen, his eye is turning a little black, and he has a nice cut. This kid really should be wearing a helmet. Seriously. The next day he went to try out a karate class, and I told him it just made him look really tough. He really liked the class, and what he lacked in skill he made up for in volume. I'm pretty sure people outside could hear him yell "YES SIR" and "HI YAH". 

Harper (aka: Sassy Pants) is continually cracking us up. She's still referring to herself as "Cee Cee", and I think her favorite phrase is "Me do it." She's loving going swimming and is very proud of putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles. And she's loving having Ethan out of school as they are now into building forts together. It's pretty cute.

Paw Paw's Birthday

 We celebrated Paw Paw's birthday this past weekend...a bit belated but no less fun! The boys packed their boots and were ready to jump in Paw Paw's truck as soon as go there to go get the eggs. Harper LOVED driving us to the chicken coop and told her Paw Paw several times "Me do it!" and "FASTER" while she drove. After checking out all the animals, feeding a few, and collecting eggs, we headed back to the house to for lunch before we headed to the creek for a swim. The kids always love "shopping" for food in Paw Paw's extensive pantry. :)

I didn't trust myself taking my phone to the creek, so we are without photo documentation of swimming...but we had a great time. Ethan had a blast swinging on the rope swing, and Harper and Owen pretty much hung on Paw Paw the whole time.

The bigger kids (Chris, Greg, Alyssa and Paw Paw) got a game of basketball in to wrap up the afternoon. And I got hooked up with about with over 100 fresh eggs and some wonderful veggies from Aunt Kerri's garden. I'm so thankful for the Hoyle family that keeps this city girl with a brown thumb well taken care of!

Happy birthday, Paw Paw! We love you!

On the Pontoon...

 We ended our 4 week whirlwind with a trip to Lake of the Ozarks with our lake buddies, the Harrises. We moms drove up early with all 6 kids and "set up camp". We even took all the kids out for an afternoon boat ride...I was quite proud of us for keeping everyone alive! The dads arrived later that night and the party began. The next day the kids had a blast swimming in the pool,  jumping off the boat, rocking out to their VBS songs, and eventually riding the ski trainer and jet ski.

 

One of the days we went to a restaurant that was on a sandy beach; we ordered food and watched the kiddos swim and play in the sand. We all made a big sand castle with a moat around it, and we took turns burying kids and turning them into mermaids/mermen. I hung out in the shade as mush as I could because I fried my back the day before. At least I got the kids covered in sunscreen...

 The evenings were fun as we ate good food and watched the kiddos run out every last ounce of crazy before bed. Bath time and getting them all in a bed was a long but entertaining process.

 On our way home our family stopped at the highly advertised Redmon's Candy store. The kids weren't super happy that I made them take this picture (you can see it clearly on their faces!), but getting to pick out some candy made up for it.

Thanks, Harrises, for another amazing weekend at the lake! We had a blast and made such fun memories. We're so thankful for your family!

College Buds

After Kobie's visit, the following weekend I drove to OKC to see her again with 3 other of our college friends. Man, I love these ladies! We had a wonderful time going to the pool, eating amazing food, sleeping in till 9 (!!!), shopping, and having late night talks. Even with 13 kids between us all and 16 years (gulp) since we all joined the Theta house together, it was so easy to catch back up and enjoy the time together. I feel very blessed to have such fabulous women in my life! We've already started talking about the next trip together (a beach?!), but those 13 kids I mentioned earlier may need to grow up just a tad more...

Kobie

My dear friend, Kobie, came to visit with one of her sweet boys at the beginning of June; we all loved having them here. Kobie is one of those friends that you can not see for a long time and then once you're together it's like we were never apart. We've been roommates, stood in each others weddings, walked through some hard stuff together, spent many late nights talking together, cried together and laughed a ton together. It was almost a little surreal seeing our kids play with each other this visit because we generally get together without kids. My boys adored her son and fought for his attention. And Harper loved Miss Kobie and soaked up all the time she could get from her. She is still telling people that "Kobie painted her toe nails"! Thanks, Kob, for visiting! My soul needed it...looking forward to our next time together!

Kansas City

Chris and I celebrated our anniversary (nine years, baby!) by going to Kansas City for the weekend. Mimi and Papi came and watched our kiddos, and we were able to soak up some uninteruppted time together. We saw a movie, ate some wonderful food, did some shopping, and to top it off we saw the Lumineers in concert. They were fantastic and surprised their fans half way through the show by coming into the audience to play a few songs. They were about 2 rows behind us. Very cool. It was a wonderful weekend spent with my best friend and favorite person in the whole world!

Thanks, Mimi and Papi, for loving on our kiddos while we were gone! I am fairly certain they didn't miss us at all!

Mimi's Birthday

We were able to surprise Mimi for her birthday this year, and it was so fun seeing her shocked face when we all showed up at her door one Saturday morning! (It was a really, really quick trip and I somehow managed to not get any pics but this one...) My dad did a great job of distracting her while we all arrived, and all 8 grandkids were waiting for her on the driveway. It was a fun day of eating Pei Wei, sitting on their back porch and watching the kids run all over the place, and celebrating how wonderful Mimi is! Here's to 60 more years of spending time with this beautiful and godly matron of our family!

Busy, Busy

We have managed to cram a TON in during the last several weeks. We've been to OKC twice, camping, Kansas City, and Lake of the Ozarks. I just downloaded over 200 pictures from my phone...I have some catching up to do!

The boys went camping with Papi, Uncle Jon and Jack at the end of May. I don't have any pictures from this trip, but I hear they all had a blast! I think they all got a little more sleep than the year before. Baby steps. Harper and I enjoyed spending the weekend doing "girl stuff". I took her shopping at Build-A-Bear, and she left with a pink Hello Kitty the size of her. We ate crepes, sushi, and shared several smoothies. She's fun to hang out with!

Ethan has become quite obsessed with puzzles lately. It's been fun watching him focus intently on each one till they're completed.

Owen is still my "project" man. Give him a job to do, and he's all over it. I really need to utilize this desire a little more! He's been quite helpful cleaning my van and helping water our plants. 

 This sweet and sassy girl is getting more and more opinionated about her clothing and shoes. I don't know why this would surprise me considering her brothers are extremely opinionated too. This is the response I got one more morning when I asked her to put a particular pair of shoes on.

Chris built the kids a fantastic sandbox that they have loved playing in. We were all impressed by his mad carpentry skills! Now I'm working at talking him into building a bunk bed for the boys... (I don't know why Ethan is posing like this....)

We finally broke down and got a seat for Harper on Chris' bike so we could start taking bike rides as a family. She is in heaven riding with him, and she has only argued a few times on who actually gets to steer it.

Our sweet neighbor, Emma, has now imparted the "duck face" pose onto Harper. Between that and some cheer moves, Harper is pretty sure she's 13.

It was a week...

Last week was one massive roller coaster. Some things came to an end, some hard things are beginning, and good things are beginning too...

One thing that came to an end was Ethan's Kindergarten year! His last day of school was a fun one full of water gun fights, getting gifts from his sweet teacher, and playing outside. His first year in school has been such a wonderful experience as he's had a fantastic teacher and has made such sweet friends. Oh, and he's learned a ton too. I'm thrilled to have a few months off with no homeschooling and no where we HAVE to be, but I am sad this year has come and gone. I think he's already looking forward to 1st grade as he said that his new teacher is "so sweet and full of smiles"!

Another thing that came to an end was the "G Court Era". :) Some of our dearest friends, the Crawfords, that have lived 2 houses down the street from us for the past 4 and half years, have moved to a different town. We've lived a lot of life with them, and all of our children view each other as siblings; we're all feeling their absence. I think we're going to feel it most around 4:00 in the afternoon when we usually met them outside to play and wait for dads to come home. Man, that "witching hour" is going to be tough alone!

They came to say the final good-bye to the neighborhood on Friday, and it was only fitting watching the kids all play together in the cul-de-sac. Xander and Ethan, per usual, had an initial rough time compromising on what they were going to play together (first borns), and then they made up and walked the entire length of our block holding hand and talking. So sweet. As they were getting ready to go, it started pouring. The kid's shirts flew off and they all had a blast running in the rain. It only seemed appropriate! I could probably make some comment about heaven was crying that they were moving, but I'll spare you. :) Crawford family, you will be missed greatly!

(from the Crawford's good-bye party)

This summer break is already taking a different shape as we learned of a good friend's illness last week too. I'm thankful we serve a kind and loving God who will give us feet for the path. We're heading into Summer of 2013 anticipating seeing The Lord at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us, and us making lots of good memories along the way!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

 Grandma Debbie turned 29 again, and we went to OKC to celebrate with her! The kids were thrilled to stay at her house, drink her "peach water" and play on her back porch.

 Harper and I went shopping with Grandma on Saturday afternoon, and Harper was in heaven. She skipped her nap to go, and I've never seen her more wired. She bounced her way across the mall, charmed sales workers everywhere we went, and argued with Grandma over which pair of shoes she thought Grandma should buy her! The only time I wondered if we should have brought her along was when we were in Anthropologie and we turned our backs for a minute only to turn around and see Harper carrying a cookie jar that was as big as her. A porcelain cook jar that cost $130. Praise the Lord she had a good grip on it!

One of the highlights of the trip was a lunch at Ted's Mexican restaurant. I've never seen my kids eat so much. Harper and Ethan both gave up using chips to eat the queso and opted for spooning it out.

It was a great weekend celebrating Grandma Debbie! We're looking forward to many more birthday celebrations with her!

Kindergarten Graduation

My first baby graduated Kindergarten last week!!! I cannot believe it. It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was marching up to the school for his first day. I'm not going to lie...I got a little teary seeing him stand on the stage. It's all going by too fast. 

 We celebrated the big day by having grandparents come to town for dinner, and then we all went and watched the ceremony. When each child was called up to receive their diploma, the teachers would read a godly characteristic that thy had seen manifested in each kid's life throughout the year. For Ethan, his sweet teacher chose "Friendship" as a word that described him. She said, "Ethan is a fun, kind-hearted young man that is a friend to everyone and loved by all." That was fun to hear!

The kiddos surprised the parents with a song they had practiced - a song with all the books of the Bible. And of course there was a slide show of the year. We closed the night out with Paw Paw treating everyone to ice cream. It was a great night and sweet mile stone in my first born's life. Now on to summer, no homework and lots of swimming!

St Louis

 We took a trip with the Dodson side of the family to visit the STL Dodsons over spring break, and I think I can safely say we all had a blast! No matter what we were doing, the kids loved just being together, and the adults seemed to feel the same way too. The times where we are ALL together are way too far apart, so it's always special to get time together. Half of us stayed at a hotel there, and it was pretty comical hearing the comments as 7 kids would come down in the morning for breakfast. We started counting how many comments we received each morning, but we always lost track... I'm pretty sure I heard the word "day care" a few times too!

One of the nights there we celebrated Micah, Harper, Caylee and Papi's birthdays. The food was wonderful and I think all the birthday people felt loved on.

We hit City Museum while we were there, and it was a huge hit with the kids. There really are no words to describe the place...it's a big play ground...a kid's heaven... It was really fun seeing all the different personalities come out as we explored the place. Harper had absolutely no fear, and so Micah enjoyed letting her be the leader. Claire always had a plan of where she was going, and Lily was just happy to hang out. Ethan still wasn't walking (his cast had come off 2 days prior), but he was able to get around pretty well crawling all over the place. And with the help of his uncles and dad carrying him around. At one point Chris said, "Ethan, if you'd walk we wouldn't have to carry you everywhere." To which Ethan responded, "If you hadn't broken my leg, I wouldn't have to crawl." Touche.

The kids also loved swimming together. I think the dads did too.

All in all it was a great trip. I'm so thankful for family that loves each other! Time to plan another trip....