A Walk in the Woods and Other Stuff

Nature's beauty surrounds my gorgeous little girls
We have this beautiful walking/bike riding trail right by our house and we like to explore nature and walk down to the river there.

Courtney

Caitlin

I am having a hard time keeping up with the blog these days. Here are a few highlights of my life lately:

• Spencer is having a difficult time adjusting to all-day 1st grade after half-day kindergarten. He constantly complains that school is "too long." He wants time to play with his friends and especially dislikes homework and activities after school that don't allow him play time. On Monday, we had to go to the orthodontist and soccer practice after school. He did some of his homework at the orthodontist but didn't finish it. By the time we arrived home from soccer, it was after 8 and he was tired and grumpy. He tried everything to get out of completing his homework. He told me that his hand shocked him everytime he tried to write and demonstrated (by jerking up his hand whenever the pencil hit the paper) on EVERY letter he wrote. After writing his spelling list once, he told me that I needed to write it the second time because that's what all the other kids' moms did. It was painful and aggravating but he FINALLY finished so he could go to bed. I am pleased to report that I remained calm but mentally, I was pulling out all of my hair! Thankfully, the last couple of days have been better with homework issues. I'm sure he'll get used to the school routine eventually but until then, we will continue to forge through the challenges.
  
• We're in the soccer swing of things these days. Because our teams are traveling teams, Paul and I often have to divide and conquer. On Saturday, Rachel played in Slatington, which is close to an hour away and Spencer played in Forks (which is 20 minutes away.) I took the long drive to the Northern Lehigh game and Paul went to the Forks game. Both of our kids' teams won and Rachel even scored a goal. Spencer stopped several goals playing goalie so they both contributed to the wins! It was a great soccer day for the whole family.
  
• Caitlin and Courtney are so fun to have at home. I just love listening to them play with each other during the day. Yesterday, we took a walk in the woods by our house and their fascination and appreciation of nature reminded me of the beauty we have all around us. We truly are blessed by God's creations.
  
• I still teach Laurels and Mia Maids at church and it's so much fun. I love my 14-18 year old girls and feel so grateful for the opportunity to teach them about the Savior and His gospel. My lesson last week was about living righteously amid wordly pressures. It was a good reminder to me that we need to stand fast and hold to our standards despite the temptations we face. The world would have us lower our standards but that is not the path to eternal happiness.

Fun at the Farm

Caitlin and Courtney and I had a wonderful time visiting Klein Dairy Farm with their nursery school class. While there, we toured the farm, met some of the animals, took a hayride and the girls even got to sample delicious farm-made cheese.

The girls loved visiting the animals and listening to the farmer talk about them.
Petting the cows was pretty exciting!

Moo! Gotta love that dairy air!

Got milk?

There's nothing better than a hayride in the fall.

Break time in the barn!

Giving the kitties a pat!

Aren't they precious?

They even had a peacock strutting around the place!

Sweet sisters!

Is it Monday already?

Another week has flown by and I have no pictures to show for it. I am trying to ease myself into the fall routine, getting accustomed to four kids going to three schools, soccer practices, piano lessons, activity days, etc. I also did something just for me and joined Weight Watchers. So far, so good but it's only been a week and a half. Thankfully, the point system is a lot easier to figure out than I thought it would be and I am particularly lucky to have a friend going with me which helps me stay motivated. I've had a few weak moments. . . Friday night's pizza was a real temptation but I managed to keep myself in check. I haven't eaten cheese for a while and I CRAVE its melted, oozy goodness. Okay, okay I can't even talk about it without wanting it so I'll stop now!

The weekend was a relaxing one. On Friday, three of my friends came over as we resumed our weekly scrapbooking/project days at my house after a summer of occasional get togethers. This weekly event is really my mental health day because I get to hang out with some of my favorite people, eat delicious lunch together and accomplish something at the same time. Afterwards, Katherine stayed with all her kids until 9 p.m. Rachel also had a friend sleep over so all the kids had a playmate. When Paul finally arrived home from work and I had all the kids in bed, I ran over to Katherine's and watched the last few minutes of the movie we didn't finish before the kids' bedtime. It's great to have her living in the neighborhood. I'm so glad she's back. . . Brazil was just way too far away!

We had two soccer games on Saturday. I went to one and Paul went to the other. Spencer's team won and Rachel's team tied in a real battle. Saturday also brought the BYU/FSU game and Paul desperately wanted to see it. However, DirecTV is having a contract dispute with Comcast so they're no longer carrying Versus, which was the network carrying the game. We are not happy because we specifically purchased the Sports Package so we could watch BYU football. Despite all that, my BYU football fanatic husband still wanted to see the game so he called all the local hotels to see if they had Versus there. He finally found one and was ready to rent a room at the Marriott for the night just to watch the game. Just as we were packing up the family to go, a friend called Paul and asked if he wanted to watch the game at his house. Whew. . . what a relief, especially when FSU stomped BYU. We would have wasted our money to watch an extremely disappointing game. I am so glad I didn't see it! It's a real shame that BYU lost when they were finally getting some respect for the conference.

Sunday was a typical Sunday although we were extremely late to church (the culprits shall remain nameless.) The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating a delicious Sunday roast beef and mashed potato dinner and enjoying spending time as a family. I feel so blessed to have my husband and kids in my life. They are the best! Now it's back to the treadmill of the week. . . gotta get running! See ya!

The Sun Sets on Summer

We spent Labor Day 2009 at Beltzville Lake with some of our favorite friends. The weather was overcast, dark and a little chilly but that didn't stop us! We spent the day swimming, boating, riding the tube, playing in the sand, walking around the lake, visiting and eating! It was a wonderful way to end our summer.

Sunset on the beautiful, glassy lake
Rachel with the gorgeous Vallem girls: Lindsey, Courtney and Madison.

Courtney heads to the car after a fabulous day on the lake

The sun glints off of Rachel's wet hair

Are you cold, buddy?

Caitlin shivers after her last swim in the lake

Here she is, jumping off the back of the boat

Caitlin gets a chance to drive the boat

So does Courtney

Feel the wind on her face!

Caitlin enjoys the smooth ride

Spencer loves to drive the boat with hard turns and circles.

We're glad Greg and Laurel (Paul's bro and sis-in-law) were visiting and could share our lake adventure.

We're especially thankful to Brad who took our kids on the boat many, many times and drove all day.

Here's more kids--Brooklyn, Courtney, Tammy (my friend) and Madison

I love how happy Courtney looks here (although I don't know what she's doing)

Rachel and her friend, Madison splash around in the lake

There's my boys!

The girls check out the water

They especially loved skipping rocks with Aunt Laurel and Uncle Greg

Digging in the sand was fun, too!

Tammy gets Rachel in on a photo op! Aren't they cute?

Rachel, Madison and Madison head to the water.

They made it!

Goggle boy

Snacking was one of the favorite activities.

Looking cute, Caitlin!

Spencer hangs out with his favorite buddy Josh who will soon be leaving on his mission to Brazil! We're going to miss him!

The Last Swim of the Season

On Saturday, Laural (my sister-in-law) and I took the kids to the pool for one final swim before it closed. The water was a bit chilly, thanks to the cooler nights we're having now but they still had a good time. When we arrived home, we enjoyed the barbecued steaks, corn on the cob and other delicious food that Greg (Paul's bro) and Paul prepared for us. It was a delicious day!

Rachel warms up after a bunch of dives

Courtney plays at the baby pool.

Caitlin jumps in the big pool with her flippers

Spencer stops swimming for a snack.


Rachel gets a little sun on her already suntanned skin. She's got the best skin and doesn't take after her mother!
Caitlin has a hard time walking with her flippers.

Courtney plays with a toy boat in the baby pool.

Back To School

Rachel and Spencer started school on August 27th. It was a bittersweet day--the end of summer (boo hoo :( ) but the beginning of school (woo hoo!) So far, the kids are enjoying school. I have been waiting to determine their feelings about school until this week because they finally had full school days. The first week was just half-days.

I believe Spencer's adjusting well to going to school all day long, thank goodness. However, I was a little concerned when Spencer came home the first day and said he had a substitute. After reading the note sent home and discovering he'll have a permanent sub until January while the real teacher's out on maternity leave, I became even more worried when I realized the sub has no experience (aside from student teaching and most of that was in 6th grade, not 1st.) I will have to monitor things and see if Spencer's learning as he should. I had to laugh at Spencer's response when I asked him what he thought of his teacher. He said, "She's the nicest teacher in the whole wide world because she hardly makes us read at all." I chuckled and told him "Well, I'm sure that will change very soon." Hopefully, he'll still like school when he has to read all the time.

This year, Rachel embarks on her second year of middle school (6th grade.) It seems to be a lot easier for her than it was last year. She has a few friends in her class and even more friends on her team (a group of kids that has the same teachers and goes to lunch and field trips together.) I'm sure that knowing her way around, being accustomed to 10 periods a day and knowing how to open her locker has made going back to school much simpler.

The twins start school on Wednesday so we will soon be in the real swing of things! Now we'll be busy going to the bus stop four times a day, dropping off and picking up at pre-school and getting back into soccer, piano lessons, violin lessons, homework, activity days, etc. It's going to be a fun year!

My handsome boy is ready for school.He's excited to be a first grader this year!

Here he his with all the kids at the bus stop.

The bus arrives right on time.

See ya, buddy! Good luck!

Rachel poses with her friends, Lauren, Lauren (yes, there are two), Megan and Kelly at the bus stop

She looks pretty excited!

The bus finally pulls to a stop.

She's off on her 6th grade adventure!