The Bi-Monthly Update

WE LOVE SUMMER!!!!!

The kids and I are still loving these fun summer days! I was hoping for a few "lazy days," but we just haven't made time for those yet. I thought there'd be more time for me to post about all we've been up to, but that just hasn't happened. So I'll just do a big summary now... and try to catch you up on some of our lastest adventures!

Madison is 8 months old! She loved her first swim lessons, and is enjoying having the kids around all day because they are always amusing to watch. Madi's definitely our quite one. She sits and smiles and plays independently, but doesn't make much noise... until nightime. She lights up as the kids are having their last bedtime story- she starts squealing and pounding on Owen's head and laughing. She knows her competition will soon be off to sleep, and she'll have a bit of alone time with mom! She is not quite crawling yet, but can get where she needs to go by sliding, and rolling. I am trying to sneakily throw out all of Kylee's teeny rings and jewels and beads... but somehow I keep finding more and more on the carpet. It is much more dangerous in our house now than it was when the other two were babies... these big kids have way too many small chokable items to keep up with! Luckily, Madi's still safe in her play pen and crib, and of course in her favorite place- mama's arms. I just love my sweet baby girl!



I was definitely the most worried about Owen adjusting to a big change in his routine when school got out, but he is actually thriving! He's still my determined little guy, he had his heart set on riding his bike just like Kylee does- and made me take his training wheels off his two-wheeler. After a couple days of practice, he's been riding around like a champ... and his favorite summer activity is going to the black top at the elementary school so he can race around like a maniac. His second favorite activity is fishing with dad. I am a self proclaimed non-fisherman, and have no idea how that fishing pole thing works. So, I'm not much help when it comes to teaching the kids some fishing skills. But, we got lucky on Father's Day, and Wes, his dad and brother took a day off for the first time in so long, and we went to the lake! After a few miutes of watching Dad cast... Owen could do it all by himself. I even tried to do it on Owen's pole, and did it all wrong... but Owen has it down. He'll sit there for 20-30 minutes, just casting and reeling in the lures- and it's hard to keep Owen focused on one activity for more than a few minutes (anyone who has eaten a meal with Owen can vouch for that. The kid just can't focus on sitting at that same table with that same food for that long.)


Owen did great at swim lessons, and can swim underwater like a fish... well, with his unique style, it's kinda more like a worm!

I'm just super happy that Owen is now well past the 3 1/2 year old mark, and he is physically thriving, he is actually able to do the things he has his heart set on- which means he doesn't have all the frustration and anger issues he's been battling (don't get me wrong, he does still have his temper... but it's much more manageable!) Yay!

And Kylee is loving these summer days. She is definitely the social butterfly of the group. Every morning she wants to know what we are doing, where we are going, and who we are meeting up with. She loves our playdates, library days, the community pool days, and is really excited for many July birthday parties, our upcoming travels and all the awesome people we plan to have up for visits this summer. We were so lucky to have Katherine, my next door neighbor from my childhood, and her fiance, Fred, come up for a visit last week. We had such a great time together! The kids are still talking about all the fun they had with them, and can't wait to go to their wedding in August. And Katherine & Fred were troopers, some of the plans I had for fishing at the lake and what not didn't work out, but they didn't mind just hanging in town and helping us get ready for our 1st ever Yard/Lemonade Sale extravaganza. Next up, we've got a huge bunch of my Franco Family making the long drive to join us in some 4th of July fun!
Thanks for all your help, Katherine and Fred!
>
Kylee is becoming a swimmer! She can tread water like a champ... and can swim halfway across the pool with her "treading water" form.


Probably the guy with the most going on in our house right now is Wes. He's got some big life changes on the horizon, and we are very excited. He's been working with the family construction business since we moved up in 2002. This winter, for the first time since we've been here, work really slowed down. The slow down in the economy actually reached our small town, and the business struggled. Wes' dad is an amazing father, grandfather, boss, all around person... and the weight of carrying his employees, and not only his household, but the households of his two son's and their families... is a lot of a load for one man to carry. When there were no homes to build, Wes, his Dad, and brother had to find a way to keep the families a float. They started a new business, and have been building custom shower trailers. They are signing these trailers up to be called on when wildfires break out, and camps are set up for the crews fighting these fires. The guys have been spending every free moment since February building these shower trailers and are almost done. They picked up a water truck and will be ready to go if there is a need for shower trailers at fire camps this summer.


And, this April, a job opportunity came up at the Dept. of transportation. Wes has been thinking of getting back into Engineering, and this opportuntity seemed too good to pass up. It was a long application and interview process, and he found out last week that he got the job! It is an entry level position, so he'll have a pay cut, but in the long run it'll be so great for him. He is ready to have a job that he can leave at the office, that doesn't call him at all hours of the night, that'll allow him to have dinner with the fam and time in the evenings to coach the kids, or help with homework. He's excited for the stability, looking forward to some of the road projects he is going to be involved with in his new role, and to finally be able to take some of the financial burden off his dad. He is going to miss the crew, the comraderie with the guys and working with his family. But, he knows he'll join in where he can on the weekends. And one of the absolute best parts of the new job has got to be the commute... I don't think you can get a job much closer to home without working from home! Yep... we look over the roof of the DOT from our driveway!
Next on the agenda... sell the truck!

Whew... sorry that this update is so long, lucky for you readers all I have going on in my life is exactly what I already posted about, just keeping up with my family and maintaining the maddness! Oh, and my awesome hubby took the evening off last night so I could get my hair done. Yay for much overdue mommy time!