Our Summer Pet

We found this little guy walking across the street in front of our house after a rain storm. Of course everyone wanted to keep him. Our compromise, we keep him for one day and night and let him go in a pond near our house. The poor little guy was probably relieved to go after being man handled for 24 hrs.

It's has Been Awhile, Ok 5 Months

We are back. After a long 5 months of chaos, mostly from me returning to school, I have returned to the world of blogging. Last time I made promises of weekly entries and such. What a let down from me, don't you think? I will not be placing such high expectations for myself this time. I only promise that in those quiet moments of time I have to think and ponder to myself that my house could not be cleaner and that the calm, quite, loving voices of my children playing together is music to my ears and the piles of beach towels are washed and folded perfectly waiting to be used at the pool, and no one has changed his or her clothes 50 times during the day, that I will post the memories of my family. Yeah right!!! That will never happen!!! But a mother can dream right?!! We love summer!! And I love the chaos that comes with it. Staying up late catching lighting bugs in a jar, popsicles melting on clean white shirts, BBQs, night games, sleeping in, hot humid days at the pool, water balloons wars, the smell of freshly cut grass(by my oldest son so great now that he can do it),uncontrollable laughter at lunch time, and just having my kids home all day are all things that will come to an end sooner than later and I don't want to miss any of it!!! My kids are only young once and I love my life as a stay at home mom. I wouldn't have it any other way!! So I will post when I can and hope that you enjoy the experiences we are having as my kids are growing up way to fast. I have already posted a few new entries. Enjoy!!

Happening Over the Last Few Months

Mason can now keep up with the 3 older siblings on his brand new 2 wheel Lighting McQueen bike. Those little legs don't have to work quite as fast to keep up.

Taylor received the sportsmanship and Mr. Hustle award for his basketball league this winter. He was also selected to the all-star team. We are still waiting for the Mr hustle part of the award to work at home with chores. It may never happen, but we can always hope!

After a call from the school nurse and news that Brooklynn failed her eye exam at the school, I took her in for her first pair of glasses. She has developed a love hate relationship with them. After learning that she would have to wear them all the time, there was no longer the excitement of glasses as a "fashion statement". But of course, being able to see far out weighs the hate of wearing them all the time. We are thinking about contact lenses before the new school year starts. We shall see.

One by one, Jaxson watched most of his kindergarten classmates begin to loose their teeth. Many of them lost several over the year. Jaxson waited most patiently for his turn. And finally with only a month left of school he lost his first tooth. I have never seen anyone more proud to walk into his or her kindergarten class and announce that they had lost their first tooth. The second followed shortly after.

Who does not love a great Japenese steakhouse? The Cleverlys' love it!! We never tire of the entertaining tricks and wonderful food the chefs continually produce.

This is just a small look at what we have been up to over the last few months!

Future occupations for Mason

Future Joe the Plummer?

Maybe a Paleontologist?

Perhaps something with a little more danger.

Or something with top speed and precision.

He is still undecided what he loved the most and at 4 years old no pressure, but he sure had fun trying out future possibilities at the children's museum.

Christmas post at last

I know I should have these up way earlier but it is just the way it worked out. We had a nice, relaxing and fun Christmas with just us this year. The kids had a great vacation. It was just nice to spend the time together without anything scheduled. Even better, Brandon was home with us most of the 2 weeks as well. We all hope you had a great vacation!

Living Life Carefree

Don't you wish you could tie on your cape, jump on your trike and ride like the wind? Mason, how can you not just love him? He tries so hard to keep up with the bigger kids, but he just can't petal as fast. This has been a big year for him. He is making huge strides in his speech. We are extremely grateful for the chance that Mason has to attend a awesome preschool 4 days a week where they center all activities and learning around speech. It has been a long process and will continue to be a long process. But he has made so much progress and we are just really blessed with all the help he is getting!





Who doesn't love a trip to the apple orchard. Mason picked everyone of those apples himself! He was so proud!

The Season is Over

Taylor's football season came to an end with a lose in the semifinals during the playoffs. This year we started with a new league and really enjoyed it. Taylor, Brandon and I made several new friends and really enjoyed the coaching this year. Taylor had a great season as well. A little rough at the beginning, but after some moving of positions, he ended the season on a high note. He may be small, but he is quick isn't afraid to go up against someone bigger. We are hoping that he grows a good 6-8 inches and puts on 15-20 lbs before next season. Wishful thinking! Highlight of the season, a touchdown run as quaterback. I wish I had a better camera so that I could have capture the moment!

The first win of the playoffs.
















Taylor is #8. He sacked the QB for a loss of yards during this play.















Taylor waiting to go in on defense.