Sum Sum Summertime

So we had a pretty good 1st summer together. Isaiah enjoyed doing different activities with the "kid's club" and Sam had fun with his friends too. They had regular visits with their mom. She's been given some extra time to meet the requirements for reunification visits because she's met the initial basic requirements set out. We pray that the Lord continues in this process, we know that whatever happens will be heart breaking for someone, we all love these kids so much.

We went to St. Louis for a Partylite conference and Brad and the boys went exploring every day. I'm continually amazed how well the boys really do in the car, even for long rides. Brad and I are very grateful that no one gets car sick, and we don't hear "are we there yet?". This is very great for a long trip. I put some books and toys in the back seat and then have little toys or snacks in the front seat the hand back every two hours or so. Isaiah came to ask at every rest stop if mom had another surprise for them. It really was pretty fun to shop for little things. Brad took the boys to the zoo in St. Louis and they were ready to go pretty quickly, so it was a little discouraging that he still had 3 more days to find things to do that they would enjoy. We found the "Magic House" in St. Louis and that was mostly a hands on children's museum and they all LOVED it! In fact Brad said if they had more time he'd take them back because they didn't get to see everything and they were there several hours. The next day after my meeting we all packed up and went to the arch. Brad had never been and I hadn't been for years (last time I was in 8th grade). Brad was amazed how big it really was, you really can't appreciate the size till your right next to it. Isaiah took some pictures and Sam liked riding the "train" to the top. It was a very busy Saturday and my claustrophobia and timidity of high spaces really kicked in and I just stood close to the middle end of the hallway up top and tried to breath so the boys and Brad could get some good pictures and enjoy the view. I was glad when we were back at the bottom and could get something cold to drink. But we all had a nice time in spite of me almost freaking out :).

Earlier in July, Bliss, my sister gave birth to Cadence and as his name suggests he already has perfect timing. My folks were on their way up to Madison to visit us for the July 4th weekend and before they had even reached Chicago they got a call the not only had the baby not waited till his July 8th due date he was coming today! Mom and dad turned off in Chicago and headed to Green Bay instead and I took the boys up the next day on the 4th to see Cadence, Bliss and Chad. It was great fun and the boys did so well with the baby, it turned out to be a good thing because within two weeks we found out that their mom is expecting. So it's nice that Cadence could give us an easy baby -pre and post birth to talk about and answer questions for the boys.

Cadence brought Bliss and mom and dad down to visit a couple of weeks ago and at 7 weeks he's already been swimming 3 times, he's my type of kid! Speaking of swimming, the boys and I have been swimming as much as possible this summer. So there are MANY boxes still packed. It's hard to want to unpack the boxes anyway but when you add a beautiful summer day and a swimming pool that is NEVER overcrowded that's within walking distance....well, let's just say that maybe this fall it will look more like we've finally unpacked. But if the boys can give me a reasonable excuse....I doubt those boxes will ever get unpacked.

Brad's job is going well, we have been blessed with an ever changing schedule. Seems the Lord is teaching us how to go with the flow. I've learned thru this whole parenting experience that timing changes significantly with kids. There is NO hurry up, NOTHING takes a couple of seconds to do (except perhaps a huge mess that stops everything) and even when everything goes exactly as planned and you get out the door early, it's probably because you forgot to do something.

Since the move we have noticed that things are calming down. We're using positive reinforcement with the boys that seems to be making a difference. So we enter next week, the first week of school with much hope and prayer.