Light the Night

Our family participated in the Light the Night walk for Leukemia on Thursday night. This was our second year to participate in the walk. We were happy to be able to enjoy the walk with some of our good friends. Each employer sponsors someone and this year Aaron's employer was walking for Jillian. There was a big group of us. Last year Jillian had only been diagnosed with Leukemia for about two months when we did this walk. It is so amazing to see the difference in her from last year to this year. She is in maintenance now and still undergoing chemotherapy, but is a shining example to all of us. She (and her family) are great examples of courage and faith through such a tough trial. Here's our little gang of walkers - all sugared up. They provided hot dogs, chips, and an endless supply of popsicles for everyone. I think each kid had a minimum of about four popsicles (notice the red lips!) Jillian is holding the white balloon in the picture above.She was so proud to have her own bag of chips.

A Man and His Chainsaw

Our neighbors had several trees cut down and told us we could have some of the wood for our fireplace. Aaron is thrilled to have an excuse to use his chainsaw and all of his gear. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him at work last night. This weekend he has big plans to cut down one of our trees (yikes) and hopefully split lots of wood.

What a man!

Chalk art

Our family has thoroughly been enjoying the cooler weather. Last night we were outside and the kids were busily trying to fill our front driveway with sidewalk chalk. Will came home from pre-school this morning and realized they missed a few spots so he had to get the chalk back out. We have some aspiring artists who will be so sad when the rain washes away their hard work. Madelyn even joined in on the fun and pretended she knew what she was doing.
Aaron made good use of the time to hang his Buckeye flag in preparation for this weekend's big game against USC.

Family vacation

We had a great time on our family vacation this year. We began by spending a night in Idaho Falls with our friends from Toledo, the Liljenquists. Justin stayed with them for a couple of days while we went on to visit with my family. He had so much fun and was able to do a lot with Jackson. Jackson has been one of Justin's best friends - it was fun to see them together as if they hadn't ever been apart.

We spent the next ten days with my parents and siblings. The kids were constantly on the go spending the night and playing with cousins. In fact, Bruce is still asking me almost everyday if he can spend the night or go play with someone. Bruce and Will were old enough this year to really appreciate the cousins they have their age. My sister Amy was brave and had five of the little boys at her house for the night. I'm sure her house will never be the same, but the boys loved it!

Our last weekend there most of our cousins from Arkansas, cousin Don from California, and cousin Debbe from Boise with her girls came for our family reunion. Frank and Dolly were true sports allowing everyone to crash at their house. I'm not sure their beautiful lawn will ever recover from all of the water. Some of the highlights from the reunion were: making smores (Bruce's fav), slip-n-slide, the hammock, visiting with cousins, good food (including a roasted pig!), the blow-up slide, and more good food. Thanks to all who helped make it such a fun weekend.

School is in!

Justin and Elizabeth started school last Friday and Will and Bruce started pre-school on Monday. Who ever heard of starting the middle of August? We still have over a month of summer left! Despite my poor attitude, they are enjoying it and I even enjoyed it today when it was just Madelyn and I at the grocery store. Wow, was that ever easy! After taking five kids around with me everywhere all summer, it was a treat!
Justin is in the fourth grade this year and Elizabeth is in the third. Will is actually old enough for kindergarten, but we decided to wait another year which is really common here. Bruce is in his first year of pre-school and is thrilled to be among the big kids who go to school now. Madelyn and I have been outside waiting for the bus everyday when Justin and Elizabeth gets home and she is so excited to see them. I'm sure it's a big change after being played with constantly all summer - she just loves her older brothers and sister!

Baby news!

We just returned from our annual trek out to Idaho for a family reunion. We had a great time, but have wayyyy too many photos to go through so I'm trying to pick a few out for our blog. Until then, just wanted to update some of you who may not have heard our latest news...we're expecting a girl! We found out the day we left for Idaho that it's a girl. I took all of the kids with me to the doctor appointment. The kids were all just sure it would be a girl because this evens out the scale. We'll have three girls and three boys. Could life get any crazier?! I'm sure it will in a few months. She's due to arrive January 26th. We haven't really talked about names yet, but the kids would like to have a say in it and have suggested a small election. Any suggestions...?

Will's 5th Birthday

Playing with friends on the waterslide

Will is loving being the center of attention

Will celebrated his fifth birthday on Friday, July 11th. The celebration started on Thursday with a friends' birthday party at our house. He was thrilled to be the center of attention and loved every minute of it. He picked out a "bike" birthday cake because learning to ride a two-wheeler was his big accomplishment for the year and he loves riding his bike.
Friday we went to Ohio for the weekend and the celebration continued. I think about everywhere we went, someone had another gift for him. The cards continued coming in the mail this week so he has truly felt loved.
Another big first for Will was losing his first tooth two days before his birthday. I don't know that you can call it "losing" his first tooth because he had a little help from the dentist. He fell at the YMCA a few months ago and the dentist didn't like the way his roots were looking in the x-ray at his last check-up so she thought it should be pulled. The good news is he did great. She said he did ten times better than he expected. I didn't go back with him, but I could just imagine him with a big grin during the whole appointment. That is typical Will!

Although Will is now five, we have decided (I think) to wait another year before he starts kindergarten. He barely makes the cut-off (August 1st) and it is very common here to wait for summer birthdays. It's a big school so we feel it will give him another year to prepare and another year to enjoy time at home with Mom, Bruce, and Madelyn. This decision has not come easily for us, but we feel it's right for him.