Well, it's a little overwhelming to update the blog when I haven't posted since May!  When I worked full time, I think I posted on a monthly basis...then again, I was in permanent supercharged mode and I look back and wonder how or why I did all I did!  Makes me think of one of my favorite verses, Romans 7:6: 

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Rylie graduated from 5th grade and moved onto to MIDDLE SCHOOL.  That has been a big transition, but she has been really impressive in her ability to adjust to even/odd schedule of classes, having a laptop for classes, and meeting new people.  She has started displaying a bit of "tween angst" with hormones changing this way and that.  Big learning curve for her parents.  She and Eric have been rock climbing and she's working on some pretty complicated routes at the climbing gym.  She's also joined the rock climbing club at school.  We got into America Ninja Warrior over the summer and women with gymnastics and climbing backgrounds really inspired her!  She is taking orchestra as her elective so her violin skills are improving.  She is such a sweet, fun girl and I love the passion that she shows for learning new things and her friends.  She is also enjoys participating in our church's youth group (while in "helicopter parenting" mode, a few moms and I had a meeting with the youth pastor before that started: So you have 11-year-olds and 18-year-olds in the same group?  What do they talk about with each other?  It works?  Yikes!)  With all this growing up and changing, it is a blessing that she still loves to play American Girl dolls and dress up with her sister.  Thanks for keeping her young, Madelyn!

Rylie and her friend, Athena, at 5th grade graduation

End of season bounty from the garden at the kids' elementary school.  I got way more excited about harvesting then they did.  I loved volunteering in the garden and making a big deal about growing and eating your own veggies!  This photo makes me laugh because they are just humoring me.

One of her violin performances

Happy 11th Birthday, Ladybug!

Rylie and her BFF Emma (who moved from SC to NY) met in PA and camped!  She misses her so much!

Speaking of Madelyn, she is in 3rd grade and started a new elementary school.  She misses her old friends, but is slowly meeting new friends and settling in.  She started ice skating again after a summer break.  Her little faces just lights up when she's out there.  She doesn't really enjoy sweating, so maybe this is the sport for her!  Seriously, skating does require strength, persistence and detail, so we have been proud of her work.  She has been doing a Girls Scouts-like program at church called MPact Girls and is awesome at Scripture memorization.  She also loves drawing, music (One Direction, in particular) and watching Dancing With The Stars with her mommy.  She is hilarious; it is a pure pleasure to just chat with her and get her take on life.

Jumping rocks this summer at the James River

We really enjoyed our visit from Grammy and Pappa!

Kai started Kindergarten and quickly developed some strong friendships with three little boys.  He was getting warned for talking instead of learning, but soon realized that it is best to play with them at recess and sit apart from them during class.  Good choice, Kai!  I love seeing how his reading has improved in just 9-weeks of Kindergarten.  He and Eric are in heaven watching football games Sat, Sun, Mon and Thurs.  Much, much football on at our house.  Bring on the IU basketball, I say!  Side note: Kai always cheers for the teams that our teams are playing.  He cheers for whoever is playing the Hoosiers!  He cheers for whoever is playing the Carolina Panthers!  He even cheers for Ohio State!  It is infuriating that my brainwashing techniques haven't worked.  This little guy loves numbers, math and planning.  His favorite sentences include, "When are we going to...", "How many more days until..."  We started a paper chain countdown to Christmas at 51 days!!   He is doing a Boy Scouts-like program at church called Royal Rangers and loves checking off little assignments to earn badges.  Quick funny story...football announcers where promoting an upcoming NFL game and said something like "J.J. Watt takes on the Eagles".  For the rest of the week, he was convinced that J.J. Watt was single-handedly playing the whole Eagles team.  He's so funny because he's hard headed and can't be convinced otherwise when he "knows" something (He still won't admit that he learns anything in school.  He believes he knows everything already.)

First day of 6th grade, 3rd grade and Kindergarten

Sweet Frog sugar high for Kai's 6th bday

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Madelyn tagging Ry out during our friendly baseball game for Kai's party

Kai and all his buddies--from top left: Landon, Liam, Matthew, Mad, Cooper, Ry and John

Since a cat, a 13-year-old dog and 2 hermit crabs aren't enough, we adopted a beagle mix puppy in Oct. named Chase.  Aptly named, he is full of energy and bounce.  He loves to chase squirrels in the backyard and mutilate his chew toys.  Thankfully, he's brought life back to Taylor and it is so cute to see them play.

The girls and their hermit crab maze (crabs, Lucy and Desi, are an impulse buy after several rainy days at the beach)

Look at that sweet boy!

Pardon Chase, he's not modest

Eric and I started leading a couples community group on Wed. nights and it has been great getting to know those families and sharing our home.  Eric is steadily looking for a better job and has had, unfortunately, too many dead-end interviews to count.  Something right WILL come along.  Meanwhile, we are extremely frugal and prayerful.  If you ever want to trim your budget, give me a call--we have gotten really good at saying "no" to wants.  Although all my kiddos are at school during the day, I haven't had a dull moment!  I have been steadily working on my Postpartum Doula certification and should meet all requirements by the end of the year.  I have been busy getting my name out into the birthing community...handing out business cards, creating material, meeting birthing doulas, presenting to various groups, etc.  I don't have any paid clients yet, but I have served two families gratis to get that portion of my certification moving along.  It was such a joy and affirmation to snuggle 5-day-old and 11-day-old babies and help those families adjust to their new life.  I also help out in Kai's classroom on Thursdays as well as serve as a table discussion leader for MOPS.  My tennis season sucked (to put it mildly) this summer and fall, so hoping for a better outcome in the next report!

Apple picking at Carter Mtn. with Jan and Leon.  Yum!

My last pictures are from our family beach trip to Wrightsville Beach this Aug.  As I type this blog it is 45 degrees outside and my fingers just warmed up after cheering for runners this morning in Richmond's marathon (Hooray for our friend, Jill McCormack!!), so it seems fitting...

All week long we were presented with this view

Ry and Mama

Mad and Aunt Sandi

On our way home, enjoying a Pepsi at the birthplace of Pepsi in New Bern, NC

The Vet and the Caped Crusaders getting ready to binge on Halloween candy

Whew!  That was a long blog!  Maybe that's why I used to post more...THANKS FOR READING!

Like a whirling dervish, as my mom would say...

That's what I've felt like lately.  We have always been pretty protective of our family time and our schedule, but all of a sudden, each of my three children were 1-2 activities.  All of a sudden, we are breaking down the calendar into hours and trying to avoid both Eric and me having to be in two places at one time.  All of a sudden, Rylie is quadruple booked one Friday evening.  I know this is a way of life for many families, but I am looking forward to things slowing down again.

 

Rylie finished up gymnastics in March, hoping to go back after her birthday.  She decided to participate in our church's Amazing Grace Race play (in which I agreed to be on the "props committee" and help back stage) and did a cute dueling duet with a little boy to kick off the show.  In addition, she fractured her wrist during her last gymnastics class, at the same spot and same degree as Madelyn's fracture in Aug. 2013.  So, bifocal glasses, braces and a cast--I don't think we could add another apparatus to this little body if we tried!

Madelyn took an 8-week ice skating class; she loved it and wants to do another 8-week session in Oct.  She also decided to participate in the school's Seussical, Jr. play.  We are so fortunate to have a 5th grade teacher with drama experience who directs two plays a year for these little ones to experience the stage!  She was a "who from whoville" and a "clover" and I spent several hours decorating costumes, painting sets and keeping thirty 1st and 2nd graders under control during practices.



Our pretty Maddie Lou Who



Mad and her friend, Maya

Kai started t-ball with games every Sat. and a practice during the week.  If you've ever seen a t-ball game, you know that some kids are more interested in throwing their mitt in the air and playing in the dirt.  Kai is seriously into this game.  So fun to watch!  I even got a pink trimmed baseball mitt for Mother's Day so I can play catch with him more--his throws are getting hard and accurate!  And, we now watch lots of MLB at home.  That takes me back to my days of being an '80s latch-key kid watching the Chicago Cubs after school!



He's so proud to be a Washington National!

Hitting off the T



Kai and his friend, Cooper.  Cooper's parents are both tall!  :)

 

During Spring Break, we went in a few different directions.  The kids went to Charlotte and spent the week with Jan and Leon fishing, watching movies and passing around a stomach bug.  I drove to N. Indiana and spent the week with my new great-nephew, baby Sullivan, and his parents.  What a treasured experience that was!  Not the part where I made that 12 hour drive for the third time in 8 months, but the part where I got to snuggle that sweet thing and help my niece and her husband transition into this new life!  I did sneak in a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on the way home: highly recommend!!  Sadly for Eric, he stayed in Richmond and worked.

 



Sweet Sully during his first professional photo shoot



Me with the new mama



I got to be his 1st babysitter while Matt and Emmy went to the doctor

We have also squeezed in some hiking and geocaching along the James River, Eric's and my birthdays and anniversary, a Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) retreat, a Flying Squirrels baseball game, a trip to the Chesterfield County airport to see rescue/medic helicopters and Kai's preschool graduation.  We also found a new house in the 'burbs (moving at the end of June for better schools and a little more space).  I am going to miss this awesome urban neighborhood with old homes, loving community and cool character, but it's the right decision for the family.



My three monkeys.  You can see Ry's cast in this photo (still climbing trees with a cast)



Our 13th anniversary



His new dream: to be a rescue pilot

Awesome tour!  We even got to see this helicopter leave on a mission right before we left.

Now, you might be asking, what have you been up to April?  Well, after not playing tennis for 18 months due to an ankle injury, I joined a 3.5 tennis league where I routinely get my butt kicked.  I love being on the courts again, but my ego is hurting right now.  And, with all three kids in school this fall (boo hoo!  I can't believe the time has already come!), it is time for me to go back to work.  I systematically set up my LinkedIn profile, started getting my feelers out, blah blah blah.  All the while, dreading the thought of entering the corporate world again.  Thankfully, the Lord made it clear to me that he has already delivered me that and it is time for a new thing...I have decided to become a birthing and postpartum doula.  This is something that's been a quiet dream of mine since I had Rylie almost 11 years ago so I am so excited to start this new journey!!  I am working on the postpartum certification process currently, with the plan to be working by this fall.  I have a 27-hour training class next weekend, I have completed a 7-hour online breastfeeding class, and read a few required books thus far on becoming a mother and newborn sensory development.  I joke that with that much training on breastfeeding, I feel like I might start lactating any moment!  I am going to work on the birthing doula certification process during 2015.  Keep me in your prayers--this is important and life-giving work and I want to do it well!



It has been a while...

Lots to post, but I will try to keep it concise and with the highlights:
1.  Thanksgiving in Charlotte where I got to be Pickles the Clown in the Charlotte Thanksgiving Day Parade with my mother-in-law Tilly the Clown.  It was so fun!  Didn't Jan do a great job with the make-up, making me into a cheery clown instead of scary?

2.  Christmas in Indiana.  My nephew Erik and my niece Cori and her family were there from the West Coast.  We haven't all been together in years!  The kids loved playing with their young cousins Gunner, Kaiden, Aria and new baby Zadia.  We took an impromptu trip up I-69 and met nieces Audrey, Bridget, Ashleigh and Courtney and my sister-in-law Kenna for lunch.  It was so awesome to see so many loved ones!

My sissies and mommy

Erik, Zadia and Ry

3.  Rylie is learning violin at school and loves it.  She is still taking gymnastics classes, but we are going to take a break from that at the end of March.  She ended the 3rd 9 weeks improving 3 grades, with 3 As and 1 B.  She worked so hard and met regularly with her school counselor to discuss learning strategies and calming exercises for test-taking (while her momma prayed lots and cried lots). We are so proud of her!  I need to post a separate blog one day about what I learned about myself, my daughter and God's loving kindness to his children through this experience.  In other tween events, she got braces yesterday.  Her little mouth is too small for all these new adult teeth coming in and it has caused major shifting of teeth, with some not being able to drop down.  If you have any creative ideas on what to feed her now, I am all ears!  Here are before and after pics of the cutest 10-year old in braces:

4.  Madelyn starts ice skating classes this week.  This is something she's been wanting to do for a while and is using some of her birthday money to pay for it.  She made the Scholar Roll at school with all As.  I am her class's room mom and have enjoyed getting to know the students, organizing class parties, attending field trips and recently completed a big project of cataloging and labeling all the books in her classroom for their new Accelerated Reader program.  Here's a picture from her birthday celebration where we went ice skating with our family and some of Mad's friends.  Without all the friends of our old neighborhood to keep them busy, the girls have gotten a lot closer and spend hours playing American Girl dolls and perfecting Rainbow Loom bracelets.  We're still working on them incorporating poor Kai into their play.

 

5.  Kai is making lots of friends in preschool (John and Matthew are favorites).  He can write all the  letters of the alphabet, knows their sounds and is getting interested in reading.  They recently completed a 2-week study of Community Helpers in which parents presented interests and skills that help our community.  Eric presented his "nature box" full of turtle shells, deer antlers and other items to encourage a love of nature.  Through a bit of trial and error, we discovered that our normally amiable afternoon play of board games, cards, outside play when terribly wrong when mommy and son tried to play "army men" together.  He didn't appreciate my tactic of ramming the tank straight into enemy lines and bulldozing everything in my path.  He prefers a more strategic approach and gets bossy so we have decided to leave that activity as a daddy/son thing.  He has a new found love for John Mayer and Michael Jackson so I've listened to Billy Jean and Man In The Mirror (his 2 faves) more times than I can count in the last month!  Great musical taste!


6.  We have had such a long, cold Winter (I know it's nothing compared to people who actually experience Winter); since Christmas Break, the kids have missed at least one day of school almost every week.  We have made crafts, played lots of games, watched too much TV, made forts and snowmen, drank our weight in hot chocolate, and I am all caught up everything on my to-do list (no exaggeration!).  We are ready for Spring!  In other updates, I am starting to think and pray about what type of part-time job I'd like when all kids are in school this Fall (I really don't even want to think about my last baby being in Kindergarten).  Ideally, I'd like to work during the time they are in school only.  Our lease is up in July and, with Rylie heading to middle school in the fall, we are exploring areas of town and suburbs with better middle school options than where we are now.  Lots of changes on the horizon.

 

Sending you lots of love!