and he's 10...

Where did the time go?  When you say 10 years old, it is a big kid and it just doesn't seem real we have one of those. :)  Kade has been waiting a long time for this since all his buddies have birthdays before his.  He's been wanting to play football and soccer with his friends for his birthday but as the day came closer we knew we would have to do it in the water because of the heat.  Let me tell you, living here we're not used to heat waves at the end of August. :)  And even though I've been trying my best to not say anything negative about the weather because like everyone I know all too well what is coming (the never ending winter weather) this week the heat is just draining all the energy and motivation out of me.  I keep checking the forecast and I can't wait for it to go down to 70 in a few days.

So Kade had 6 friends over and they had a lot of fun for the most part.  Kade has been very much into sleepovers this summer so he had to have them stay overnight. :)  I thought we can deal with one bad night this one time but it's probably the last party with a sleepover.  Of course half of them didn't want to sleep and did all they could to keep the other half up.  For a while they played musical beds, downstairs, upstairs and finally after 1am they were quiet but not for too long because they were back to playing kick ball at 6:30am, in the house. :)  Kade is in the stage where he loves getting together with his friends and if there is one day for us to be home and relax together you can be sure he'll ask who can come over or whose house can he go to.  I'm expecting it will only get worse as he's getting closer to teenage years so I'm trying to enjoy the time we still have with him.  I see a lot of myself in him, he is an extrovert where he gets energized being around friends but he's not the loud outspoken person like you expect extroverts to be. 

And this past year it is becoming very clear to me we have a tween at home.  It is so different and so challenging at times.  Some days me and him just clash mostly because he's becoming so independent and thinks he knows best so we're trying to work on respect and obeying.  Sometime I miss the days when he was a toddler or a preschooler because he was so compliant and listened from a very young age, always at the first warning .  A complete opposite from his brother Kason who has kept us on our toes from the beginning. :)  But it is interesting how the closer to puberty they get that childlike innocence and obeying goes out the window and the outbursts and emotions can take them over.  I got a book for Kade for his birthday - "so you're about to be a teenager" by Dennis Rainey and I hope to read it with him.  I've heard a lot of good reviews on it and in the midst of all the stuff coming at the kids from the media, school, peers I hope Kade is able to see the path God has for him.   

Kade's cousin Emily had some kittens on their farm about 2 months ago and Kade has been asking and asking to keep one.  I told him he needs to ask dad and dad said no, we already have a cat.  At first he was bummed but then he accepted it and stopped asking for it while at the same time I told Ehren maybe we should let him take care of his own kitten because after our other one is dead Kade will probably be in college.  He agreed and we schemed a surprise where he opened his present of kitten food.  He didn't say anything for a while because he didn't want to assume he's getting it but when he saw the kitten he smiled from ear to ear. :)  All the kids have been loving the kitten today and I'm glad she's ok with being carried around and held a lot.




So it was a good birthday celebration.  I feel like it marks a new chapter in our life where Kade is not so little anymore and it will bring a lot of new challenges with it as well as joys of watching him mature and figuring out who he is and who he can be.

two more weeks...

Two more weeks!  "I can do it, I can do it" is what I keep telling myself these days.  Honestly, the kids are driving me crazy, seems like every summer right about now.  It's not so much having extra kids I watch as it is my own kids.  Kade and Kason clash quite a bit on a daily basis but now that we're home all the time it is even more so and sometimes I feel like I'm just separating them or resolving issues.  I know that the biggest part of it is this forever long break from school.  I don't know who decided that 3 months off of school is a good idea, especially since they don't seem to be doing much during the school year either.  Kids need structure, they need to be learning or else they get bored and sooner or later they get into smaller or bigger trouble.  Even though the kids are outside a lot every day, they still need structure after such a long time of nothing on the schedule.  So, more than anything right now, I am craving getting into our routine of school, homework, church, sports, and so on.  

Originally I thought I'd have at least a couple of weeks now without the daycare kids but that didn't happen so I think it is also adding to me losing my sanity.  I just can't say to them they can't bring their kids since 3 families don't have anyone lined up until September.  I also feel like I need to stick with it until the end since I'm going into an unknown period as far as being called in to sub and getting paid.  So, 2 more weeks and then I'll be free. :)  Free to have my mornings and early evenings with my kids, to not have to stress about meals every night, it will be beautiful. 

Another thing that I am really excited about is that Kade is old enough now to watch Kason and Anika for a little while, if I need to run errands, have an appointment and stuff.  It is so freeing when the kids get to this age because it's not easy to always find someone to watch them or juggling it between me and Ehren only.  So, despite the negative of kids growing up like the outbursts and hormones acting up (yes, already at 10 years old!) I still love the extra freedom it brings with it and how it allows us to have fun family outings and trips.  And the kids don't cry after an hour in the car anymore! :)  So many little things you forget.  When you're in the middle of it, you don't know any better and just deal with it but once you're passed that it is so hard to think about going back to babies.  It also just occurred to me recently that it's not just my kids getting older, it's me too. :)  There are a lot of new moms joining our mom's group and as I looked around the last time I realized how different my life is now from theirs when it seems like just yesterday when I was there having toddlers and preschoolers and running after them like crazy whenever we'd be out and about. :)  So life changes and it changes faster than I realize.  I just hope I am able to hold tight to these moments I have now with our kids, when they still listen and want to listen and cherish them because before I know it they'll be graduating.

biking day

Today was a great day.  We had a nice family time away in the Itasca state park that's nearby.  We talked for a while about taking kids there to go biking and today we finally did it before the summer is over.  We knew the area is hilly, but oh my goodness those hills are crazy for little kids to try to bike up and down on.  Poor Kason on his little bike tried hard but pretty soon when at each corner there was a new hill waiting for him to conquer he got discouraged pretty quickly and decided he'd rather walk up the hills.  It was a bit stressful at times too since Kason hasn't done much bike path riding at all and has no concept of staying on the right side or even any hills at all.  We are fortunate to live on the top of a pancake and so never have to worry about hills when running or biking. :)  And it is the reason why I about had a heart attack watching Kason zoom down those steep hills.  He wasn't worried at all but I'm sure everyone that met us could tell I am as I was yelling "Brake, Kason. Brake!" "Get on the right side, Kason!  Watch the road, don't look at me!" and so on :)  I have to admit it was very stressful watching his little bike wiggle from side to side as he was going downhill full speed.  He loved that part of the biking, but going up the hills not so much. But we made it to the end of the path and even though we originally thought we would make it back the same way, both Ehren and I were terrified at the thought of Kason walking up every hill on the way back and so Ehren stayed at the play ground with the kids while I biked back and drove the van to them.  I am so glad we decided to do that because I haven't had that much fun in a long time.  I was going faaaast and loving it. :) Well, of course there was an old man biker who zoomed by me on a big hill like nothing but for the shape I'm in right now, I was going fast. :)  And just not having to worry about any child falling and braking a leg or something worse was so nice and I fully enjoyed it.  I told Ehren next time we need to drop the kids off somewhere and go bike there just the two of us. :)  Now I'm sore but I love being sore and need it badly right now.  I was going to take some pictures of the biking but somehow it didn't happen.  I at least got some of the kids at the Headwaters and Bemidji.  It was a beautiful afternoon so we spent some time in Bemidji which we always enjoy.

Heaven...

Kason is in that age when he loves talking about Heaven, about seeing God and Jesus and then of course about dying and stuff. :)  We had a nice fire going tonight, since we've been having a very Fall kind of weather lately.  Somehow it started Kason thinking about hell and probably for the first time he really felt convicted and worried he'd be with the people burning in hell.  We talk about having Jesus in our hearts and asking Him to be our Savior but I always disliked people almost pushing it onto the kids.  I haven't met one young child yet that would be like "oh no, I don't care if I end up in hell.  I don't need Jesus."  And so, with our kids, I really want it to be something they bring up, something they feel very strongly about.  With Kade, he was still little, about 4 years old and for some reason he started thinking about death a lot and what will happen after he dies and that was it, he really wanted Jesus so that he would be sure that's where he's going to be.

With Kason I've been waiting for him to bring it up and recently he has put a lot of thought into it so I tonight after he brought it up by the fire I asked him if he'd like to ask Jesus into his heart.  It was so touching to watch a child-like faith.  He cried as he prayed about his sins and when we were done he jumped up and said "I can't wait to see Jesus!"  It made me smile and I told him that Jesus is not the only one excited, that the angels are singing and having a party all because Kason is going to be in Heaven one day.  He couldn't believe it and got even more excited about that. :)  I love how honest children are and how big their faith can be.

I talk about this off and on with Anika too but she's ever so compliant to everything and I'm almost afraid to ask her to do what Kade and Kason have done because it feels as though she would just do it for me and she probably already said yes to it but I'm not sure it came from her.  And so I'll wait until she asks me, until she realizes she wants this for herself and it is something that she decided on her own.

I know that our kids have a long road ahead of them, a lot of ups and downs and it almost seems to me that a person has to make a decision to follow Christ over and over at each stage of his life.  To recommit his life to Him and get back on track. We have not been very good about our devotion times lately and I've been feeling bad about that.  So I'm very thankful to God that He stirs the hearts of our kids even if we are lagging.  I pray that we can be the parents He created us to be, to encourage, guide and pray as our kids grow. 

We read our old kids book about Heaven tonight.  Kason and Ani both love imagining what it will be like there as we read it.  The angels sang praises there today and the thought of it makes my heart smile.  We are not home yet and have no idea just how awesome it will be once we get there. :)

getting a tech upgrade

Not everyone knows this, but I've never been a phone person.  I'm not one who can talk on the phone for hours and usually hide when I do get on it so I don't hear the kids yelling and screaming which is what they do the very minute any mom gets on the phone. :)  It probably has to do with growing up where local phone calls were expensive and you just didn't use it to chat, it was always quick say where you're meeting and hang up. :)  So I never got into it and to this day I could care less about cell phones and most of the times I don't answer it anyway because I either can't hear it or find it in time.

So I've always been just happy with my little tract phone, paying $30 every 3 months or so.  It worked when I needed it to which is what I needed.  The last couple of years we've been talking about getting rid of our land line but mostly because I do day care I wanted to keep it.  So now that I'll be done with it, we can finally say good bye to the land line phone.  We barely even used it anyway and if I can get a calling plan on a cell phone that costs less than half of our land line bill, I'll take it.

So Ehren did the research because he's my personal tech guy for every need :).  He thought I should get a motorola droid and I agree, it is a nice phone and I love all the free apps I can get.  Although our kids love the apps even more because they're already starting to fight about who's turn it is to play with mom's phone. :)  But overall, for $12 a month and no contract you can't go wrong with it.  The only thing is, from now on I have to get better at answering it but people can always leave a message which seems like nobody does anymore.  People either want to talk to you and can't wait or they text you so they can avoid even having a conversation.  It is becoming a different world for sure, where people get together and they all pull out their phones instead of talking to each other.  And teenagers would much rather text to the friends sitting next to them than to have a real conversation.  The phones are becoming almost a part of them and if someone asks them to turn it off and place it in the basket for a while they feel like someone just asked them to strip down.   I am just waiting for the day when the time comes in our family where we have to have rules about cell phones and stuff.

And in the light of my new phone, I have to write about my morning.  So I decided today is the day I am getting up and exercise. :)  I had to try out my new phone for an alarm clock of course.  I am a very light sleeper in the morning and any obnoxious loud alarm clocks make my blood boil so I tried to pick the most mellow ring I could find.  But since the alarm clock on there had barely any choices I downloaded a new one and it seemed great.  Until I woke up to a loud GPS kind of voice saying "It is 6 o clock!" and then beeping and buzzing and something else loud 5 minutes after that.  I didn't just have one but 2 alarm clock apps going at the same time.  In a way, maybe it was a good strategy because it made me so upset I couldn't go back to sleep. :)  But I will make sure that won't happen again.  I am really glad I got outside for a bit before the kids woke up because it was a beautiful morning and just the right temperature too. :)


  

what we've been up to...

Ehren mentioned the other day how I haven't posted anything for a while.  It's true and I don't have any good reason for not posting on here.  Kind of like I have no good reason to not get my butt out of  bed early so I would get back to running and working out. :)  Getting so very out of shape and the longer the "break" the harder it is to get back to it.  But I know I need to so hopefully very soon.

We said good bye to my parents almost 2 weeks ago.  Ehren and I couldn't appreciate their help more and I'm sure we accomplished as much as we would in at least 3 summers on our own. :)  They both worked so hard and helped us in more ways than I can count.  The thing Ehren and I are most excited about is having our deck all finished.  It was a huge project but they did it all, even the steps which dad and Ehren were not sure if they could pull off. :)  It is so nice to be sitting out there, listening to the birds singing and enjoying the outside.  After about 7 weeks of my parents staying with us, it is also good to get back to normal, having all the responsibilities of cooking/cleaning/housekeeping like before and I know they couldn't wait to get back to their home, food, etc.  :)








Enjoying the finished deck:

A day after my parents left we had a huge storm that broke our swing set into pieces but luckily that and some more trees down in our woods was all the damage at our place.  Ehren did a great job turning the pieces from the swing set into a tree house and the kids love playing on there.  I think it's way better than it was before.   Thief River made the news because it looked like after a hurricane, huge trees down all over town and trampolines flying everywhere.  But not our trampoline this time - thanks to my dad who ankered it way down to the ground so the 100 mph winds didn't take it down.


 After the storm:

 

  

After the remodel:

Last week I got busy pulling out all the baby things I don't need to keep anymore.  There's a facebook page where you can buy and sell used kids' things if you live in our area and that works perfect for bigger things.  I sold 3-4 pieces for about $130.  It is a great feeling to be able to get some money back on some things and to get rid of things at the same time.  In a way, this is my way of saying good bye to daycare.  Now there's no turning back because I am getting rid of almost everything I would need to take care of infants/toddlers. :) I'm also excited to make more room in our kids' bedrooms as they are quite taken over by the little kids' toys they don't play with anymore.  So I had a lot of fun getting rid of stuff, except our jogging stroller.  Somehow, over the course of having 3 babies and taking care of more I grew really attached to it.  Maybe in a way it was because it was a gift when we were expecting our first - Kade and I loved every moment I spent running and walking with him as a baby.  The more kids we had the less I used the stroller for every day walks/runs because it just doesn't happen as easily as when you only have one baby.  So the time came and I said good bye to my buddy jogger.  The lady who bought it from me was so excited which made it a lot easier to give it up.  Their son is 3 and has a heart problem which makes him very tired walking but he's getting heavy to push in a regular stroller so this will be perfect for them.  I'm really glad it is in good hands now and it's not just sitting in our basement waiting for who knows what.

So that is a bit of what we've been up to since my parents left, skipping lots of things like Kade's big soccer tournament last Saturday (they got 2nd place after playing for over 5 hours straight), going swimming a few times, going to the parade and fireworks, then fair with Emily, and some other things in between. :) We keep waiting for a few days of complete nothingness going on but I guess that's not going to happen very soon.

a little break

Our deck is almost done now and it is so nice to see so much getting done in a short time my parents have been here.  Ehren's parents have been calling them to the cabin and this weekend was a good time to go so my parents took our kids to see Bemidji and then to the cabin to spend some time at the lake. And to give us a little break from the kids. 

I always forget how nice it is to be home without our kids.  It takes Ehren and I a while to figure out what we should do with all our time all of a sudden :) but it is such a nice little break.  I hope all the grandparents know how much it means to their kids when they do that for them.  It refreshes us, keeps us closer as a couple and the grandparents are able to build long lasting memories with their grandkids.

Little breaks like this are so important for so many reasons.  You realize how much your kids impact your life, how sometimes it's hard to think what to do on our own for fun because all our fun things involve our kids :).  It's almost a little glimpse into our empty nest down the road.  It made me think of how different life will be then.  I love spending time with our kids now, taking them places, having new experiences with them, watching them grow.  It brings so much joy to us and I hope we don't ever take it for granted.  But at the same time we can't forget about each other, finding things we can do alone.  Usually when we find someone to watch our kids we have our date all planned out and it goes by so quickly.  But this time we decided about it at the last minute so we just stayed home with no plans and in a way it was a nice change because we are always on the go, trying to do so much stuff that we don't get to do when we have kids with, that sometimes we forget to be still and just recharge together.

Today I have 4 kids coming to day care and it is strange that my own kids are not here.  This is what it's like when people keep doing daycare after their own kids are in school already.  It is very strange to me and it tells me I'm doing the right thing trying out something new in the Fall.  As the summer is trucking along, I'm getting more nervous about subing, but at the same time I'm so excited to have our house back. :)  No more baby/toddler stuff around, no high chairs, sippy cups, play pens and so on.   And most importantly, I'm looking forward to calmer evenings when I get to spend time with just our kids after school.  Doing daycare, the time from 3:30-5:30pm would be the most stressful for me as I was trying to make a quick dinner for us, keeping an eye on our kids doing homework and watching all the other kids on top of that.  So it will be very different having a quiet home in the afternoon, just us.  I know our kids will miss their little friends, they already tell me that so I'm glad that our nieces Emily and Aveah live less than a mile away and we'll be able to have them over a lot.