Kentucky 2017

I fully intended to do some sort of wonderful entry about each of our recent trips, complete with pictures and stories, but right now I don't have it in me. I am exhausted and just ready for school to start so we can get some sort of routine and normalcy back in our lives. That's not to say we didn't have a great time on our trips because we really did, but my soul is heavy lately and my eyes burn with exhaustion.

The kids and I went down to Kentucky at the beginning of the month. For the first night, we stayed at Christy's and the kids got caught up and played Roblox while Christy, Carol, and I enjoyed the hot tub (as best as we could with a billion kids running around). It was wonderful to catch up with everyone! The drive down was thankfully uneventful, and we made it safely with no mishaps. For the next three nights we stayed at Jellystone in Cave City. We had been there before back in 2013, but tent camped that time. This time we had bunkhouse style cabins next door to each other where Carol and I shared one and Christy and Jenny shared the other. We all had moments where we totally lost our minds and I may or may not have had an epic adult temper tantrum and drove off with boys so we could cry without everyone staring at us awkwardly. We did have a great time decorating our cabin for the Hawaiian themed contest (ours looked rad but the jerks across the way must've spent a trillion dollars on their pimped out cabin and won) and managed to fit in a few rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes. The kids swam and swam in the pools and on our last full day at Jellystone, we ventured out to a nearby state park to swim at the beach. Our friend Misty and a couple of her kids joined us and we really had a great time. We spent our final night in Kentucky back at Christy's place where the neighbors joined us for some Dominoes. All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I miss my friends, but it was so good to get back home and unwind for a couple days. I will add a couple pics from our trip just so it's not totally boring. 

Swimming at Christy's on the first night

The kids were able to watch movies at night

Our awesome group of kids ranging in age from 5 to 13

The kids were able to go make slime and if you can't tell by the looks on their faces, it was an epic fail

Timmy and Elliot, two of the reasons we all know each other

I think I will save our UP trip for another post because, like I said, I am exhausted. Maybe I will feel like actually sharing real experiences if I wait awhile to post! 

Long Lost Blogger

Yep, as usual life got going and I haven't update in ages. Let's see, what is going on here in Cavaland...

+ Timmy started kindergarten! He is having so much fun in his new class and has already made some new friends! He talks a lot about Eden (a friend from preschool!), Mussa, Ryan, and Riley. The days are long and he often comes home an emotional mess, but he is learning so much and his mind is such a sponge. He is sounding out words and trying to spell words on his own. Yesterday he spelled out a-b-l and said, "Look! I spelled apple!" Even though it wasn't even close to most people, I was really impressed by him trying to find the sounds in the word.

+ Natalie started MWF preschool This is going to be the year that will decide if I put her in kindergarten next year or in young 5s. The way she is going now, I can see her going straight into kindergarten, but it's so hard to say. She IS potty trained FINALLY but recently has been having random accidents again, but I remember Timmy doing that at 4. She loves school and has so many little friends to play with, her favorites being Megan, Kenzie, and Ki'ahir.

+ Sammy turned 2 over the summer and he is definitely taking the terrible twos very seriously lately. He is exerting his own will most of the time and yells NO to us a lot, but he is still a very sweet snuggler who jabbers nonstop.

+ We went to the UP with Tim and Nat in August. It was actually a lot of fun with very little issues! We hiked and went to Lake Superior but most of the time we spent our days being lazy at the cabin and enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery. Natalie loved collecting toads in a bucket while Timmy loved fishing and swimming with Chris. I enjoyed not having to chase a two year old, but did miss my Sammy. He spent that week with Grandpa and Grandma C getting to have his own special time being spoiled.

+ We said goodbye to Wriley last week. It was her time, as the saying goes. Her hips were getting really bad and her legs would go out from under her while she walked and her aggression was getting really bad. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Timmy and I were a mess. Every day now we talk about what Wriley and Cooper are doing in Doggy Heaven. We agree that they are usually swimming or eating.

+ I joined a Moms Club through an online friend who actually happens to live by me! I haven't been able to do much with the group yet because Chris was gone to the UP for a few days and then had a work conference for a few more, but I'm really hoping to be able to do some more things with them in October. The ladies are all really nice!

+ I'm starting a new "job" this week! On Thursday mornings I'll be helping with childcare at a church nearby while there is a Bible Study going on. It does pay AND I get to bring my kids with me! Awesome! It may not seem like much, but it's a start! It won't be long and I'll be heading back into the working (out of the home) world and will need some things to plump up my resume considering I haven't worked out of the home since 2008!

That's about all I can think of right now. I'll try to do individual posts about the kids and how they are doing eventually, but for now I am just trying to keep up on any updates!

BTW - I don't plan on making this blog be JUST about the kids - I have so many other things I want to write about - my struggles with weight loss and health troubles, things I like, crafts and what not...but for the most part I do just love writing about my kids and about parenting from the perspective of a flaky mom with her hands full most of the time. I hope people do continue to read even if it does get boring!