Wow, I can't believe it has been since May that I have sat down and blogged on here. In all honesty, I tend to keep up with everyone on Facebook now so I don't make it over here very often.
Our summer was busy, beginning with a trip to Virginia. We had a lovely time visiting with my sister-in-law and her family. Two of my nephews graduated from high school so we had a graduation party for them. My mother-in-law was also visiting from Thailand so we were able to spend some great time with her. Speaking of my mother-in-law; she came to our house and stayed with us from Mid-June to Mid-July. A lot of great memories were made.
This summer was also busy for me as I decided to do more canning than I normally do. I made several jars of blueberry jam, zucchini relish, bread & butter pickles, three bean salad and just a few weeks ago I made applesauce. It's nice to have all the jars on the shelves and also nice to have all that work done. :)
One rather scary moment occurred a couple of months ago. I had given Keira her breakfast and then walked into the kitchen to fill out some paperwork. She started screaming so I went back in but didn't immediately see anything wrong. I thought maybe she needed a diaper change so I took her upstairs to check that. As I was checking her I noticed her lip swelling. As I watched it kept swelling and she kept screaming. I had my neighbor come over and decided to call for the ambulance as her eyes were looking a bit puffy too. As soon as the ambulance got here they said it looked like an allergic reaction and that she needed to go to the ER immediately. After a visit to the ER and her pediatricians the next day it was determined that she most likely has an allergy to apples (she was eating an apple when this happened and had just started having them). So thankfully it was not a reaction that affected her breathing but we do have to carry an Epi-pen JR for her as a precaution.
As the summer started winding down we prepared for the start of Ethan's first day of school. He was very excited, although a bit apprehensive also. One thing that really helped him to be "okay" with going was a park day that was organized by one of the other moms. She invited all of the incoming kindergarten kids to meet at a park for snacks and a time to play and meet each other. It was also nice for the moms to be able to meet each other.
Ethan loves school and is really enjoying being around the other kids. I have started being active with the Boosters club at his school which is the volunteer program for parents to help with tasks the school needs help with.
As for the girls, Hailey keeps busy helping me with things at home and practicing her letters and numbers to try and keep up with Ethan. Keira is very busy and has started walking and climbing. It's hard to believe she'll be a year on Wednesday. Time has certainly flown this year.
Recently I have started preparing for the holidays. Every year we have a Christmas party at our house and I like to include some sort of homemade item with the invitations so I am about 1/2 way thru making those.
As I close this post I did want to share our most exciting news of the summer. We found out in August that our 4th blessing is on it's way. I am due April 28th and now that I am thru the first trimester I am feeling a bit better. I still get tired easily but I am hoping that over the next few weeks that will get better also. The kids are very excited about having another baby in the house and it's been a lot of fun seeing how involved they want to be in everything.
I know this is long and only skims the surface but I did want to update and will do another post with some pictures from the summer and fall.
Ethan with his pumpkin
Ethan with his pumpkin
Keira's 1st birthday celebration
Grammie B with 7 of her 9 grandchildren
