It's HERE!!!

Harvest is here!

That means supper in the field, on the way to the field, between fields, etc.

Jace's happiest place on Earth: The grain cart.  Harvesting.

Even Connor hopped in for one round.

One round...then the kids and I were supposed to head home.  And after they dump, the tractor heads the other way.....

Day 2 of harvest week we went out to ride with Grandpa B.  Dropped Jace off while Connor and I went to Grandma's house, and it didn't take one round before he was fast asleep....

It might be harvest but we have to take time out every day to go to school!!

Apple-Picking

I went running and was getting back about 7:15 and saw this as I was coming up the driveway....apparently Connor woke up and didn't want to wake up Jed, so she put on her mudboots and headed outside to find me.  Notice Angus and Tinkerbell following behind her?  What a crew...

That morning we met Jena, Brook, and Grandma J and went to Schweizer's Orchard in Saint Joe.

It was a lot of fun to taste the apples...and to pick them too!

I didn't get a picture of the whole thing, but this was a semi-truck that had ladders and slides!

Connor took Jace and I for a "drive" in a train.

Our haul: some early jonathan apples for baking, and some fuji and jonalicious apples for eating!  Oh, and some cheesy and caramel popcorn they had in the store.  We also brought home apple butter and we tried three kinds of cider: Regular, Blue Raspberry, and Cherry!

Last Ride

Friday night we loaded up a cooler and some quick snacks and headed out to the river for one last cruise.

It was a perfect night.  Calm water, it was actually hot during the day so even though the water was cold, it was a perfect ride on the boat.

It doesn't seem like we've had it out very much this summer...but the times we have been out have been great!

Our kids are river-rats, and love to swim!  They quickly learned the rules of the boat: where to put your shoes, that you must wear your life jacket, and that we are there to relax!  Even if sometimes they were too wound up to relax!

Until next year!!!

K-State and FOOTBALL!

We watched Max so his mom and dad could go to the K-State home opener....and I actually got him to lay down for a nap!  Go figure it was in Jace's bed so then I had to watch the baby monitor like a hawk so he didn't roll out but wooooohooooo!!!

Meanwhile...Connor slept in her own room...

Jace and Connor were ready and excited to go to the Grable's to cheer on the Cats! 

The next day we gathered at the Grable's for fried food, fun friends, and a pretty friendly game of flag football!

Angela, Ryan, Derek, Jed, Megan, Jaime, Curtis, and Austin

Jace, Cassidy, Colton, Connor, Cooper and Claire.

Photo creds to Jennifer, and the rest of the crew didn't play (Gracie, Ella and Kyler).

When we got home from that...Jace got his first kill with his BB gun!!  What an exciting day!

A Brown Recluse.

Warning: There are some super gross images ahead.

So, after our first night at Perry, I woke up with what looked like a HUGE bug bite on my arm. Weird.  The day went on, and it continued to swell.    The next morning I woke up with it looking like a huge blood, bruise...and it was rainy, and it was really disturbing looking, so we decided to go to urgent care.

The doctor at urgent care thought I could have been stung by a hornet (and not felt it?) or could be a spider bite, but either way, would treat the same, so we got some antibiotics and an ace wrap because my arm was so swollen by that point.

This is Day 1: on the left, and day 2, on the right.

We got home Sunday, and by Monday I was getting a rash all over my body, so Tuesday I made an appointment with my doctor to get her opinion.  The pen marks are where we drew on it when we were at urgent care, to measure if it grew.  It wasn't growing, so that was good! Got some different antibiotics and she was 99% certain it was a brown recluse bite.  Friday of that week I went back to the doctor because it hadn't changed at all, and wanted them to check it again.  Saw a different doctor with the same diagnosis: 99% sure it was a brown recluse bite and I was LUCKY it wasn't any worse than it was.

A few weeks later it finally started shedding skin.  AKA I finally got brave enough to actually scrub it with a loofah and the skin fell off.  Like a sunburn.  Looked AWFUL.  But again, I was LUCKY because it was coming off like that and not creating a crater needing a skin graft.

Over the next few days/weeks it finally got all the scab off.  Was terribly itchy at time thanks to the new skin, but otherwise didn't bother me.  Just looks hideous.  Was fun to explain that to kids at the beginning of the school year!  And, to my own kids.  I couldn't pick up Connor for a few days and if it got bumped I was done for.  As for lucky, I guess I am.  But, what I'm most lucky about and most thankful for is that it bit me, and not Jace or Connor! 

Update: End of September looked like this.

Update: End of December, still noticable, and the bruising is darker than this picture looks.  When I turn my arm sideways you can see a little divet, but otherwise it will just continue to heal.

Pre-School.

It's time.

We have talked about this all summer.  And she has gone back and forth about whether or not she is going.  But, she seems excited.

She really thought Jace would be in her class, but it didn't bother her too much when we explained that he wasn't.  She says, "When I get bigger, I'll be in Jace's class."  And, we went along with that.

We all went to take Connor to her first day.  Jace made sure she knew to walk on the "blue line", that leads to the preschool room.

Connor hung up her bag, Mrs. Stock got out some play-doh, and she was good to go.  She was the first one there.  Most days she will go with Jace to Jena's room, and "that Kamryn girl" will walk her to preschool on her way to class, because the 5th grade is in the same building as preschool.  But it didn't bother Connor at all that we were leaving.

We left the preschool, and got a quick goodbye from Jace as he ran off.

Mom was just trying not to have a meltdown.  I mostly succeeded.

At the end of day 1, these two were all smiles!

And, just because life still goes on, it was chores like usual even after school.  We've got some tired kids, but they are loving school!

Back 2 School.

Jace is in 2nd Grade this year!

His teacher is new, Ms. Freedom Green.

This one got to go too!  She is in 3 year old Preschool with Mrs. Stock.

Always a picture with our favorite TGS teacher, Mrs. Tharman.  AKA Aunt Jena.

Family photo!

And then all of a sudden it is the first day of school. 

I think they were more excited about their photos with their animals than anything else.  But we sure do love Tinkerbell and Angus!

But we did get a photo with Mom and Dad!

And just the two kiddos!

He hasn't gotten much taller since his birthday, but his feet are growing like crazy.  I think he was a size 1 at the beginning of 1st grade, now he is comfortably wearing a size 5.  SIZE 5 people. 

The after school crew is back!  Colton is in 4th grade, and of course Kyler's in 2nd grade with Jace.

We are so excited for 2nd grade!  Can't wait to see how much he learns and grows this year!