SCHOOL!

The 3 months of summer are behind us and we are off and running into a new school year.  Still not quite sure where the summer went, and I'm still not sure I believe it's September.  Whether I like it or not, here we go!

Miss Kenna D is leading the pack and going into 4th grade.  Kenna is kind of a big ball of sweet and sassy.  She has such a tender heart yet at the same time can throw down some major attitude.  Leaves me throwing my hands up in the air frequently.    

I won't complain too loud, however, because she still wanted me to take her to school the first day and let me take a picture!  I love that she will still hold my hand, too.

Close behind in 3rd grade is Miss Allie Gal.  Allie still stays pretty clammed up in public, but deep at her core is a sweet little lady who has plenty of spunk.

She too still loves having mom close and I got to take a pic at her class too:

Love that these two have each other:

A week behind the girls in starting school is Mr. Ty who is now an official Kindergartner!!  He was beyond excited for his new adventure.  It wasn't until the night before his first day I finally found out what time the bus would come pick him up for school in the afternoon.  I was doing fine until I found out that he loads the bus an hour before school starts and is on the bus almost another hour after school.  This one brought me a little lump in my throat, I'm not going to lie.  I wasn't anticipating him being gone that long!  Suddenly all those crazy mom thoughts start to pop up:

-Will he be ok on the bus that long?
-He's going to be so hungry!
-Will he be nice in class?
-What if he poops his pants?
-Am I ready for this?

Unlike his sisters, this dude was determined to ride the bus the first day.  He had no need for mom dropping him off at Kindergarten!  I admit, it was probably best.  I would have just fought tears all the way through the school. 

The morning before he got on the bus the first day was just agony for Ty.  He popped right out bed, got dressed in his new school clothes and shoes, got on his backpack and was ready to go!  I'm pretty sure every five minutes he was asking if it was time to go yet.  It was a looooooong morning for him!  Finally the time came and we headed out to meet the bus.  Seeing his excitement made it a lot easier, but after he drove off I had to have my moment.  Still can't believe he's already going to school, but it's so fun to watch him learn and grow.

 

Goodbye little buddy!

Off he goes!

Here he is waiting for the bus with our darling little neighbor girl, Allee.  She's in his class.  She's also a good 7 months older.

However, I won't lie.  Having Ty and Lexi separated for a while is a very good thing.  Very good.  Those two are quite the pair and I can't keep my eyes on them enough.  For instance, they disappeared last Saturday and discovered mud (again):

After incidents like this, it is a bit of a breath of fresh air to have a change in schedule. 

Now Lexi and I will get used to being little buddies and keeping the fort down while the kiddos are off on their learning adventures!  Have no worries for poor little me, I will still have plenty of adventure with this little monkey:

Master the Tempest is Raging

Sometimes being a mom feels like being on a battlefield.

CLEANING

 is the 

WORST

 battle.

Just because we show pigs at the fair doesn't mean I have to raise them as children.  Some days I sure wonder.  Asking my children to clean is like they suddenly have gone deaf.  The response I get to holding them to their jobs is like I am going to cut off one of their limbs.  Possibly two.  And goodness can they scatter when suddenly it's time to unload the dishwasher.  We're talking superhuman speed.

This morning I wandered down to the depths of the basement to the living area shared by Ty and Kenna which is supposed to be a bedroom, but looks more like a war zone.  How is it possible?  How.  Is.  It.  Possible. that such a mess can happen in such a short amount of time?  I'm baffled.  Astounded.  Speechless.  

I opened the door to the closet.  Bad idea.  The following picture is actual documentation of Kenna's side of the closet.  Warning!  The following image may be disturbing to some viewers!  (That is, unless you're a fellow mom.  Then you may be wondering how I got in your house to take this picture because it will look so familiar.)

Really, Kenna?  Really?  You who has a very specific method of how to put on your blankets and tuck you in at night?  THIS is the same girl?  How many times have we reviewed "how to clean your room?"  5642 times (per day) isn't enough?  And to think you threw a fit this morning because you couldn't find your shoes.  

And the battle continues. 

I can only hold out hope for when my children are grown and someday all my incessant attempts at teaching them to clean comes to fruition.  Then, THEN,

 the 

WAR 

will be

WON

August...so far.

Well, so sorry July but you are getting the shaft on this one.  Don't get me wrong, you really are a dear friend, not to mention full of plenty of important and noteworthy events.  This year you even included a cruise to Alaska!  Unfortunately we will have to cut our losses on a July blog post and part our ways.  It just ain't gonna happen.

Ain't ain't a word and you ain't s'posed to say it.  Say ain't 5 times and you ain't goin' to heaven.....

Sorry.  I just couldn't help myself.

We'll back up to the first of August.

August = Fair.  Yippee-oh-ki-yay!!  The Cache County Fair!  Can't you just hear the fiddles and banjos in the background?  Stomp them boots y'all, it's time for the county fair!  August 2015 goes down in the history books as our first official year at the fair.  Here's the breakdown:

Ya gotta wash yer hog:

 What?  You don't wash pigs for family home evening?  Weird. 

Next, refine the swine:

Pick you out a prime piece of real estate:

A little TLC doesn't hurt either.  It's a family affair, remember:

Get all gussied up and enter the ring!

Oh the nerves about did me in!  I was so proud of Kenna and Princess!  Yes, this particular pig is named Princess.  This first day was the market show.  Princess wasn't the hottest hog in the show, but was just perfect to give us a year to get our feet wet.

Still, a blue ribbon and $11 is good enough!

Oh thank heavens for a fabulous father!  Thanks to him, Kenna had this great opportunity.  Me, well, I just basically show up and cry.  And snap the photos.

Nothing says fun at the fair quite like finding a used, discarded plastic spoon to play in the dirt with. 

Digging or yoga?  Could be both.....   

Finally the first day of showing was over and we could just kick back and relax a bit.  Ask me just how much I LOVE this picture:

Since the weather was going to be possibly stormy for the next few days, I decided Thursday would be the best day to hit the rides for the kiddos.  With the exception of Ty who decided to not cooperate and lost his chance at the rides.  Darn.  We had to circle the carnival rides a few times until the girls officially decided the two rides they got to go on.  Yes, just two.  I'm not interested in taking out a small loan so my kids can have unlimited rides at the carnival.  Such deprivation!! 

Lexi wasted no time in hopping right up in front of the roller coaster.  You go girl.

The first day of the fair was topped off at the rodeo with some friends.  Giddyup!

 

Day 2 at the fair was Fitting and Showmanship.  This time we had to wait around quite a while before Kenna's group came up.  What a crew!  We just about needed to invest in a tracking device for Ty and Lexi.  Those two could disappear so quick.  Ooooooh those two...... 

No question who Kenna belongs to.  She looks just like her dad here!

Once again Kenna did us proud and rounded herself up a 3rd Place ribbon!  Not bad for a first year!  

Let's not forget the Pee Wee show!  Allie and Ty were excited to hop in and get their share of all the pig- showing excitement.  Not to mention the thrill of pocketing 2 bucks for showing!

 Many thanks to earning a bit of money, Ty lucked out and got a chance to pick out one ride to go on:

I've pretty well decided that Cache County would fall to pieces and cease to exist if it weren't for this gentleman here:

We personally refer to him as Grandpa, but he is sure a talented fella and does a LOT of great things.

Jacob and I got a babysitter for Friday night and went to the rodeo again.  Well, we attempted to go to the rodeo.  It started out with a pretty good rainstorm which put the rodeo back a good half hour or so.  So, we just ventured out to check on the pigs and made it back in time to watch Benson, Lee, and Daniel in the wild cow ride.  Sorry boys, I don't even have a good pic to put up of your adventures!

Saturday at the fair was the sale.  After two days of chasing Ty and Lexi all over, I decided to stay home with the littles and sit this one out.  It ended up being a pretty long day for Kenna and Jacob, and the ending of our first adventure at the fair.  Adios Cache County Fair!  See you next year! 

The last day of the fair also happened to be Allie's 8th birthday!!

It's

GREAT

to be

8!!

The majority of her day was focused on getting the fair all wrapped up, but we tried to get in a little celebrating nonetheless.  Lunch request was McDonald's.  Despite going there to celebrate with Grandma Shelly just two days before since G & G Otte were going to be out of town for the weekend.  Nothing says Happy Birthday like McDonald's!  We made her cake, but ended up saving it until the next day because of all the coming and going.  Cake request was.....a horse!  Miss Allie loves horses.  Just today as I am writing, we finally managed to get a child-size saddle.  "Hey Allie, we finally got a saddle to fit you!  Oh ya, and school starts tomorrow."  Brutal.

Grandma and Grandpa Israelsen stopped by for a birthday visit and gave Allie this AMAZING minky blanket for her birthday.  Kenna also got one on her 8th birthday and they are the most perfect, comfortable blankets!  

 

The first week of August (aside from the fair) was spent in absolute excitement and anticipation for the pending arrival of our newest niece/cousin!  We waited, and waited, and waited.  We hoped for Allie's birthday, but had to wait just a few more days until the sweet new little lady made her debut!  Congrats to Aunt Connie and Uncle Dustin!  We are beyond enamored with this precious little angel! 

Seriously, isn't that just heaven?!  Can't you just tell how much she loves me?!  Oh, fine.  It's the other way around.  Nothing quite like newborn snuggles, I tell you what.

 

A few quick other highlights of our summer adventures:

"Managing" the goat herd:

 No childhood is complete without a round or two of goat head-butting.  Goat people are weird.

Of course the classic summer activity of swimming:

We made it to the Martin Harris Pageant with our friends Maddie and her mom, Chey (they were our rodeo friends too).  Maddie came to play at our house every Thursday this summer and we loved having her: 

Must give honorable mention to fun, games, and mud with irrigation water:

And just to give you something to make you shiver a bit, here is what I found in the garage yesterday that caused me to do a double-take:

 

 Um, creepy!  Just what part of "put your doll away" was misunderstood?  Never a dull moment.  

Father's Day

Since my back has been giving me troubles (again), I have frequented a few doctor's offices in the past few days.  This morning as I sat waiting for an appointment, I listened in on a conversation that made a huge impression on me.  This is one I feel I really need to remember (hence it's going in my history books.  aka- the blog).

I was sitting on a couch, and directly across from me on another couch were two wiser women who, after a short time of eavesdropping, had obviously both lost their husbands.  As I started listening in, I was so intrigued at what they were saying.  I felt a huge stab in my chest as I realized I take so very much for granted.  This one really got me.  It went something like this:

"My husband never really liked to go grocery shopping with me, but when I got home he always came out to help me unload the groceries.  Shortly after he died I had gone grocery shopping and when I came home, I found myself looking around as if waiting for him to come help me.  I then realized...he wasn't coming.  It was so hard."

The other lady soon followed with:

"One of the hardest ones for me was the first time the ward directory came out after he had died. I was sitting there in church looking through the directory and then when I came to my single name it hit me.  I was so upset I had to leave."

I don't know why this particular experience hit me so hard.  I felt as though I had just been hit with a ton of bricks.  I felt such sadness for these sweet ladies.  Mostly I realized how selfish I am.  It's so easy to get focused on me, or the kids, or whatever else I think of poor little me, I don't take time to appreciate what I have.  The adversary has an incredibly sly way of getting us to focus on the weaknesses and shortcomings of others that we don't take the time to truly appreciate their greatness.  I never want to be a victim of regret and have to painfully say "you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

The thought came to me briefly that I was supposed to be there, right then at that very moment to hear what those ladies were saying.  I needed to hear that.  Perhaps I also needed this experience to help me realize just how much we need each other.  You could almost feel a tangible connection those two ladies were making as they visited for those few brief moments.  I have no idea of any prior history they have with each other.  From what I could gather they had just met.  But the connection they were making seemed to be very healing for them, even though throughout their discussion I learned their husbands deaths weren't recent.  One had even remarried.

There are no coincidences in life.  We are where we need to be when we need to be.  In my case, I needed to be right where I was to hear those ladies talk about their dear husbands and make me realize I need to appreciate mine so much more.  Those ladies needed to be right where they were to be a strength and a comfort for each other.  For all they knew, I was lost in whatever as I pretended to be engaged in my phone.  In reality, their words made a huge difference to me.  Lesson number three: you never know who is watching you.  We may very well be changing the lives of those around us when we think no one is even paying attention.

Our Father's Day was actually a very nice day.  I was able to pamper Jacob a bit and spend time with both my own father and my father-in-law-  3 of the most incredible people I know.  I am so grateful I was able to enjoy a beautiful day.  If anything, I know that I really don't know just how blessed I really am.  So grateful for my experience at the doctor's office to remind me even more.

Summer!

Yep, summer is here.  Yep, been over 2 months since I wrote.  Oh well, moving right along....

Here's a recap of the past lil' bit.  Certainly not exhaustive, but it'll do:

Ty played spring soccer and enjoyed each and every millisecond of it.  He would beg, all day every day, for someone to come out and play soccer with him.  We had a bit of a problem during games, however, when it was his turn to sit out a quarter and let the other teammates play.  He was less than happy about it and even had to spend the very last quarter of his very last game in the car because of his less-than-happy outburst.  Still, this is such a fun age to watch these cute little boys play.  They were so darn fun to watch.

The girls ran in the Mountainside Mile at school.  They both did awesome!  It was so fun to watch.  I, of course, cried.  Yes, really I CRIED.  Thankfully it was sunny and I had my sunglasses on. When it comes to a first for my kids, it just gets me and I.......cry.  Annoying, I know.  I try so hard to avoid it, too.  Drives me nutzo.  Anyhow, Allie came in 13th with the 2nd grade girls, and Kenna came in 2nd with the 3rd grade girls.  Kenna really has a knack for running so hope she will give it a whirl.  We need to gear up for the Wellsville Mile next year.  I think I already want to puke.  I'm sure I'll cry.

Allie has really gained a love of horses.  She hops up on our horse Denny and rides like a champ.  She has me beat, hands down!  I'm amazed at how comfortable she feels on a horse.  It didn't come from me!  I of course spend the majority of the time as a ball of nerves when she rides, so thankfully she has her good papa to help her with all the equine stuff.

Speaking of horses, Jacob got a new hoss.  He's very large.  He likes to buck.  I keep a healthy distance.  But my goodness that is one handsome man.  Jim Craig, is that you?  One of my very favorite things is to see Jacob on a horse.  And then to watch him take off and run on a horse?  Ooooooh he looks mighty fine! 

This is the kind of horse ride I don't mind one bit.  Giddyup!

Kenna had a science fair at school.  She picked the project that required growing plants.  I have a black thumb.  Needless to say it didn't turn out fantastic, but she at least had a project to take.  Here she is sporting all her Harry Potter attire.  The end of the school year they spent reading the first Harry Potter book and doing a lot of fun activities surrounding the book.  My mom sewed her a wizard robe:

Allie's class did a little opera at school.  She was a deer.  I would like to announce that Jacob can no longer say I NEVER sew.  I pulled out the ol' sewing machine to sew part of Allie's costume.  Because if you're going to be a deer, you MUST have a little white patch on your behind, right?  Right.  Just don't look too close.  Any deer would be horrified of my handiwork.

Speaking of talent, here is another great one.  It happened while I was making bread a few weeks ago.  I started mixing the dough but for some reason could not figure out why it just didn't seem right.  I went through all the ingredients in my head and was certain I had put everything in, so that wasn't the problem.  Finally it dawned on me.  Check this out:

I was starting to mix my bread with the whisk-type attachment.  Hello?!  Fortunately I didn't break the wires.  Unfortunately I had to dig a LOT of dough out of those suckers.  Ha!

Lexi turned 3!  Yay!  The request was a pink cake.  Well there you have it, my lady.  Can't believe my baby is THREE!  She likes to let us all know her place in the family, that's for sure.  It is so fun to watch her little personality grow and change every day.  She really isn't my baby anymore!

Ty man graduated preschool!  He had started at a wonderful preschool down in Enoch last fall.  It was the same preschool Kenna and Allie went to, and I was so sad he wouldn't get to finish.  When we first moved up here to the Valley, I had a hard time finding a local preschool to send him too.  Seeing as though he has a late birthday, I was worried this would really put him behind in starting Kindergarten.  When we moved to Wellsville, I found a preschool just down the street that had an opening.  I considered it a huge blessing.  He LOVED preschool and I was so grateful he could continue on to prepare for Kindergarten.  Congrats Ty!

 This year was a BIG year for the Richmond Black and White Days.  (Once again, due to my agriculture-deprived childhood, I didn't know such a thing existed).  Papa Clark was recognized for his many years of service and hard work for B&W and it was so fun as a large majority of the Israelsen clan was able to make it up to Richmond to see him receive his award.  My phone didn't get in the mix for the big family picture, but these two look great!  I'm sure blessed to have married so well.  Thanks for putting up with me!  Such an honor to carry the Israelsen name.

Lately there seems to have been an abundance of roly poly bugs.  I was so pleased to hear my sis-in-law Andrea say she called them potato bugs.  Yes Ann, they ARE potato bugs to me too!  Lexi especially has loved collecting the poor little critters.  I didn't think I'd ever hear myself saying, "No roly polies in the house!  They MUST stay outside."

Thank heavens for uncles.  Especially when they give Ty a phone to play with.  Uncle Dan, you're a good man!  This little situation here has happened more than once.  Ty loves his uncles!  And don't you even think for a minute that anyone is tougher than Uncle Dan.  And don't you even think for a minute that anyone is more relentless at getting his uncles to go outside and play with him when we are visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house than Ty is. 

Summer is in full swing!  We're trying to make the best of it.  So far so good.  We've had a few trips to the library, been to some parks, and had plenty of nagging from Mom.  Clean your room!  Shut the door when you go out!  Fold your clothes!  Be kind!  SHUT THE DOOR!  Yep, it's summer alright.