1st half of September

I know, I know...I've taken a huge leave of absence from this blog, but I plan to get all caught up.  It may take me awhile ~ I thought it would be easiest to work backward and forward at the same time.  That way if you don't want to read the 'out-of-date' stuff you won't have to, but I want to put as much as I can remember on here since this is our family's scrapbook.  I'm sure I will forget somethings, especially if I didn't take pictures or didn't have the event marked on my calendar. 

If you're wondering why the extended furlough...I have no real answer, only excuses.  To sum it up... the first part of April we lost a friend in a tragic accident, and I guess I felt guilty writing about all the good things that were happening in our family when I knew so many were suffering.  He left behind a pregnant wife and two young children, so I guess you could say it hit close to home.  Then I had to deal with the tiredness, etc. of being pregnant.  Those first couple of months it took all I had just to take care of my family.  Luckily by about month four, I started feeling a little more energized, but then summer hit, and it was hectic.  Looking back I don't really know where it went.  We packed a lot into July and August.  And now it's just been a matter of feeling a bit overwhelmed with about 500 pictures to go through and figuring out which ones to add to the blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night we went to the Mid-States Rodeo Finals in Madison.  It was a cold night.  My brother, Dusty and brother-in-law, Kyle both were in the rodeo.  It was fun watching them. 

Allyx, Jenae, Tyson, Brooke, Aubree, Cooper and Kellen all bundled up watching the rodeo

On Tuesday, Kevin and I celebrated our 8th anniversary, by going out to dinner and to a movie.  We saw "The Change Up", it was good, it was funny and had a good message.

On Sept. 7th, Kellen started preschool.  He has been waiting for his turn to start school and it was finally here.  He goes M-W-F afternoons and loves school.  He actually gets upset on days when he does have school.

Kellen's first day of school

Kellen wanted his picture taken with Tyson new bow-n-arrow.  I had to oblige.

The Sunday of Labor Day weekend we went to Kevin's aunt & uncle's house.  It was a lot of fun.  The kids had a blast swimming, boating and playing in the sand.  Tyson was a fish, he was in the pool practically all day. 

Tyson jumping in the pool

It was kind of cold for kids when they got out of the pool, but that didn't stop Tyson

Cooper wasn't really interested in the pool or the boat, but I did get him to stick his feet in the water

Ali and Kellen

One day after dinner, Cooper pulled the stool up to the sink and just started doing dishes...he did a good job.  I think he had more fun playing in the water than anything though.