MIA

Wow, I have been MIA for a while, life has been speedily passing me by lately. A lot has occured since I last posted.
We enjoyed Lauren's cheerleading season, and Luke and Lauren's soccer seasons, those have quickly wrapped up and now Lauren has started girl scouts (which she is THRILLED about) and Luke is starting Upwards basketball.
Minnie has adjusted to her new home nicely:

We just got back from a FANTASTIC trip to Disney World where we were able to enjoy Disney in the cooler temperatures of October and experience new things. Tim and I LOVED Food and Wine Festival for the first time:


And as a family we enjoyed Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, that was WONDERFUL!

We then came back to the reality of school and work and life, but are enjoying the unseasonably warmer temperatures this year, lots of time outside and sunshine which has been nice for this time of year.
Tim and I have become more active in our new church in the Children's ministry so that has been wonderful.
The kids are both having great years in school and learning a lot, they have a great school with excellent teachers and for that I am truly thankful.
Lauren celebrated her 6th birthday:

I can't believe how fast they are growing. I still cherish every single hug from them and remind myself daily how lucky I am to be their mom. I know the days too soon will be gone where Lauren says "mommy, wanna play with me!?" or Luke begs me to snuggle with him (which now happens daily with both of them). I just feel so blessed to be their mom.
So, life is marching on in our household and we are excited for the upcoming holiday season, so much to look forward too, trying to get the most out of each and every day.

My husbands incredible creativity

My son Luke is OBSESSED with all things Mario Brothers right now. It is fun for my husband to watch because it reminds him of himself growing up with his video game obsessions. I LOVE HOW CREATIVE MY HUSBAND IS.
He told Luke that they would create a Mario Brothers Board game together, and that is exactly what he did. I came home from work today to this:


He even created the two Main characters (Mario and Luigi) so he and Luke could play:


They are playing the game as I type this and it is so cute to hear them talking over the rules of play and to watch the game come to life. These are the days that I'm sure Luke will look back on his childhood and remember......... what fun!

Fun..... Right in our Backyard!

We are blessed to live in a wonderful area of God's country. We live very close to the Little Miami river, although ever since we moved here I had just driven by. I used to canoe on the Little Miami as a child and have great memories there.
Well today was a busy day of running around from game to game for the kids but in between the madness the beautiful sunny day was calling my name. I wanted to take Mickey swimming in the Little Miami. We piled into the car and were there in less than 2 minutes, and it was BEAUTIFUL!


Mickey had the time of his life swimming out into the deep waters to retreive sticks we would throw at him (he is QUITE a good swimmer!)

It was just so beautiful! I can't believe all the time we've wasted at dog parks this summer when this was practically in our backyard - we will definitely be back..........often!

New Family Member

Last Friday night we had friends over for a camp fire, as we were sitting around the fire eating Smore's our dog was franticly doing laps around the yard. Then about a half an hour later Luke yelled from the house to come quick - a kitten was on our back deck staring into the house. When we ran up we startled her so she ran away. For the rest of the night it was constant meowing coming from this freightened TEENIE calico cat. I snuck over to her (she didn't let me get too close) and put a can of wet food on the ground which she immediately devoured.
My friend who is as huge an animal lover as I started in on Tim with me, we both were wanting to let her inside. He kept saying "no way Lesley, no way" : )
The next morning Kitty was back. I fed her again (of course) and then she kept getting closer to the screen, even Mickey (our Golden Retreiver) was begging us to let her in:

The kids and I spent the morning outside petting her and feeding her and the three of us starting working on Tim. About 2 hours after all of this I was almost successful when Tim stated "the only way that cat is coming into this house is if you get her checked by the vet" YES....... PROGRESS!!! This excited me and the kids.
Both kids had soccer games so we left and came back about 2 hours later and we immediately rushed to the back yard to find kitty. Well, we kept hearing meowing but couldn't find her. We look up in the direction of the meows and she is VERY high up in a tree in our backyard. You could tell she was panicked and didn't know how to get down. Tim got out a ladder and we rescued her from the tree..... at this point I could tell Tim realized how vulnerable she was and he officially gave in : )



So we brought her inside and we decided (after a few phone calls from friends with suggestions) that her name MUST be Minnie : ) So now we had a Minnie and a Mickey. We spent the rest of the weekend getting to know her, watching her explore the house and interact with our other cat and dog. All is going as well as can be expected.
Lauren and I took her to the vet last night for an FIV (feline AIDS) test, LUCKILY she tested negative but she had everything else you could imagine: ear mites, flea eggs, and worms. Here she is lounging in the vets office (she is such a diva):

A hefty vet bill later (and I haven't even gotten her shots yet) we came home with a clean kitty. The vet said she is already 4 months old even though she is so small which is a result of malnutrition. We are fattening her up and showering her with love. The kids have never had a kitten before. I came home from school yesterday to see Lauren carrying her aruond the house like a baby. Tim and I are being reminded how cute, cuddly, and EASY kittens are (especially compared to puppies).
I sure am glad we found her, WELCOME HOME MINNIE!

Back to School Tomorrow!

I can't believe the summer is over, it was a great summer! Tomorrow is my first day with students.For those of you who are unfamiliar- I am a multi handicapped teacher in a public school system for 2nd and 3rd graders. It is a very difficult and challenging yet rewarding job. To say it has been stressful getting things ready for the first day of school is an understatement. I found out YESTERDAY that I have a move in with very intense needs and here's hoping I have the aide support that I need to help my stress level, that's to be determined which is probably why I am sitting here typing instead of sleeping as I should be to get ready for tomorrow.
I do insanely love the students that I work with and I feel it is my calling to be with these tremendously wonderful individuals every day, teach them, grow with them, laugh with them, and love them! I wish I could take away the politics, the drama, the STRESS that comes with my job - wouldn't that be ideal! I just pray that tomorrow is a good day. That all of my students have a wonderful and safe first day of school and that I don't come home in tears. Unfortunately my son, who is now wise beyond his years said : "mommy, tomorrow is the day you always come home crying saying you don't know how you can do this anymore!" How sad! I hope tomorrow is a great day!
Lesley

WHAT'S THAT SMELL!?!?!

For the past 2 weeks in our house we have had a HORRIBLE smell coming from our finished basement. We researched things online, poured bleach down every drain, we even had a Roto Rooter plumber come out and they couldn't find anything (fortunately they didn't charge us to come out). Out side of our house our water main had a sink hole of sorts so we had the water company come out and check it out, they repaired it and we were praying that would solve our problems- but that night, the SMELL WAS BACK!?! AUGH!!! We just didn't know what to do. We called our local sewer treatment facility to see if it was a potential backup, they came down and couldn't find the source either.
This has been the topic of our conversations daily for the last 2 weeks, after we had done everything we knew what to do we honestly didn't know what the next step would be and it was causing a great deal of stress.
WELL TODAY I FOUND THE SOURCE OF THE SMELL!!!!! We had gone to yard sales this morning and Lauren had cleaned up with a HUGE new Polly Pocket and Barbie stash for super cheap. I was downstairs helping her clean things up, get rid of old things and organize the new. Well, in our toy bin right by the sewage line in our basement that we had the plumber look at, the sewage company look at, etc. was a baggie and it was MOVING! I looked closely, smelled "THE SMELL" strongly and SCREAMED for Tim to come quickly. The kids had dyed Easter eggs at Easter time and apparantly one of the baggies of eggs had ended up in the toy bin and the egg had cracked and THAT was the source of the smell........... UNBELIEVABLE!!! We were entirely grossed out AND relieved at the same time. I am so thankful that is all it was and even more thankful that we didn't pay for another plumber to come out and were spared the expense. If I would have found the egg AFTER I had paid big bucks for a plumber I wouldn't have the smile on my face that I do now : )

Is it really THAT time already!?!

The summer is winding down.... what a WONDERFUL summer it has been. This summer we spent 18 glorious days in Disney, made new friends,lost several teeth (Lauren's first included), spent endless days at the pool, Lauren learned to swim in the deep end (YEAH!), enjoyed a wonderful vacation on Lake Michigan, days at Kings Island and at the water park,and the zoo,Vacation Bible School,campfires with Smore's,sleepovers; lots of GREAT family times.
I hate this time of year. I love spending the summers with my family SO much, and seeing that come to an end is always so hard for me.
I can't believe I'll have a third grader and a Kindergartener this year. Here is a picture of Luke on his first day of Kindergarten that seems like only yesterday:


I am so sad that I won't be able to put Lauren onto the Kindergarten bus this year - it literally breaks my heart. Her first day is only my second day of school and right in the middle of when I see students so there is no way I'll be able to break away. She's so awesome though - doesn't seem to phase her. Here is my baby girl on her first day of preschool last year:


I am really enjoying this stage of parenting- helping them learn to swim in the deep end, having them fight over who gets to cuddle with mom first, but watching them grow is also just so difficult, I blink and they are another inch taller, their loosing teeth, their entering KINDERGARTEN and THIRD GRADE! Wow!
I am so blessed being their mom, I will soak in every single hug, every moment, I just love them so very much!