Thank you, Mrs. Sweet!

(taken at Easter time...Nick, Mrs. Sweet and Steven)

Nicholas has been blessed with some great teachers in his short life. Only a few stand out and usually those are the ones who have to move on. So, with much gratefulness and thankfulness, we say good bye to a wonderful teacher's assistant, Mrs. Sweet. (and we hope she doesn't mind!) Mrs. Sweet has been Nicholas "shadow" since the first day of school. Along with his therapists and class teacher, she has seen and helped him progress throughout his first year (and summer!) of school. She has been a main part of his life. We want to thank her for her patience, guidance and efforts in making Nicholas part of who he is today. We will definitely miss her. We wish her the best and hope to continue to see her once in awhile.

Happy Anniversary!

13 blissful years!!

(I'll try to find a better picture!)

At the cottage

Nick's new do!

Papa and Steven reading! Steven was jabbering away...
Grandpa would ask "Where's the horse?" and Steven would point
and bable like he was answering him!

Chatting with Papa while he eats...he's always the last one to finish!!

In the water with the kiddies!

It was FREEZING!

Sami learned to float on her back and tread water.

Playing with Duke...he loves the water!

Nicky was brave and working his way into deeper water.

He made it up to his chest...only holding onto the dock!

And it was wavey!

Jonathan finally jumped off the dock by himself..without

anyone catching him!

He swam underwater without holding his nose and

opened his eyes!

He also learned to tread water!

Very helpful in the deep part.

The Dukester!! Loves the water!

Loves to chase a ball...a squeaky ball!

He even swam around with us for awhile.

The kids thought that was cool!

We love spending time at the cottage, or camp, or Papa's beach as the kids call it. Nicky has come to love the water. Of course, I had to swim him around! He does not like to be splashed though! It is great to see him enjoy himself with the other kids. He loved watching everyone jump off the dock and watching Duke swim after the ball. It's great to see the kids having so much fun..even though the water was so COLD! The kids don't care! We had a great time with Grandpa. I am sure he is enjoying the quietness and being able to sleep in!! As usualy, Nick was the hardest to get to bed. I thought bringing another playpen, we could put him in one and Steven in the other. Sure, if Nick would stop climbing out! Finally after about 2 hours he zonked out beside Sami! The following night he was out in 5 minutes. But he was up at 5am!! Jonathan got to shoot a BB gun...and did fairly well! Sami almost got shot by the BB gun because she walked in front of it. Then she was mad because she had to come inside! All in all, it was a great weekend to relax alittle before getting back to normal now that everyone has gone back to their home state!

We have a couple weeks before school starts. Please pray that we will get the rest of the funds to purchase the materials we would like to use. God is gracious in supplying all our needs so hopefully, he will see fit to supply this one! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! We have always joked about this black cloud over our heads, an omen! Because just when we think things are headed in the right direction....something happens. I guess that would be Satan getting in the way of things! Which causes me undo stress and worry, which turns into a massive migraine...until I let go and let God. Much easier said then done! But, in the meantime, we will be cleaning the upstairs and getting the office reading for 2.5 students! The .5 is Nicky. I am going to do some stuff with him this year. See if I would be able to homeschool him. Will be interesting!

Nicky and Steven

Nicky picks up things quickly. He has seen many people doing this to Steven! Still, I was very surprised and impressed he knew exactly what to do. It was soooo funny!! Of course, I managed to get the tail end of it and Steven getting upset!

Pugsy in the tree!

One afternoon, Pugsy escaped from house and went up the black walnut tree. Couldn't just leave her there!! Of course, when trying to coax her down, she went higher and higher! Good thing Jason is not afraid of heights! He managed to get her to come to him. Climbing down the ladder was a challange because she was afraid and has front claws! (our other cats are declawed!) All in a days work!

Boys afternoon out

We had a great afternoon with the boys yesterday whild Samantha was at her grandparents house. We needeto get chicken feed so we took a trip to the feed store. Then we went to a store called Country Max, where we were planning on getting the feed. They have animals, fish and snakes. Jason thought Jonathan would like to see the animals. All the boys liked them! We spent some time walking around the store looking at things. Jonathan tried to get us to get him a bunny! I told him he needed to earn his own money if he wanted something. I told him how I wanted a guinea pig and I saved my money to purchase one. Little did I know she was pregnant! Ended up with 4 for the price of one! After that we went a pet store. Nicholas loved the puppies! He went back and forth just barking and laughing! It was so cute! A customer was in with a dog they were baby sitting and Nick walked up to the dog and started petting her. Then he took the leash from the lady! So she let Nick walk the dog! The lady was holding on to part of the leash. We petted some really tiny hamsters, some ferrets, a bird and some guinea pigs. Jonathan asked for a boa! We even played with an $1100 beagle puppy. They loved it! It was great hearing the little ones laughing at the puppy's antics! We gave the puppy kisses and sent her back to her cage. I think we could have stayed longer but it was very crowded. Now we know a cheap field trip! After that we ended up at Pet Smart and Jon purchased a Beta fish. A cheap pet! Finally, I got to share my love of animals and the kids actually enjoyed themselves! The beagle puppy was the best though....watching Steven and Nick pick her up and play with her. It took Jon quite a bit of coaxing before he finally picked up the puppy. She was so tiny! Of course, I would love to take her home but not for that price!!