Jansen and Natalie love to visit Priya, our friends' German Shepherd. Natalie will even happily scoop her poop. They have fun throwing her ball and getting her good and tired, which is a a win-win for us and the Kartchners.
Nate's impending deployment really got us thinking about getting a dog. I thought it would either be the best idea ever, or possibly the worst. We did some reading, I listened to podcasts, we talked to friends, and we finally decided to go for it. More on that later.
Jansen attended the Folks Middle School open house in August. It was a little surreal buying him gym clothes, helping him with his locker, and walking the route of his classes with him. He is such a confident kid, and I'm grateful for that. He really wasn't too nervous about the whole thing.
Leah still loves her blanket. Lately she has been wrapping it around her neck like this.
When the kids caught wind that a dog may be on the horizon, they got to work making signs for the people from Alamo Boxer Rescue to see when they came for a home visit.
The kids made aluminum boats to race down the gutter one rainy afternoon.
I hadn't planned on letting Natalie have a party this year since she had one last year, but I caved. She created this invite for her party.
We had a fun Saturday afternoon at Culebra Creek Park. They have a giant metal soccer ball in the middle of a field there and everyone took turns playing king of the mountain.
It ended up getting pretty muddy and messy which just meant more fun for the kids.
These are the times you just cringe and let the memories happen.
Emmy is so proud that she can do one of these all by herself with a towel when she has wet hair.
The first day of school was a little rough here. Emmy was mostly excited all summer and all the days leading up to school, but I could also sense that she was nervous. When it came time to actually drop her off in the gym with her teacher and classmates she was crying a lot. I had to literally pry her off my body, and she was wailing. It was such a hard thing to do, and I just went to my car and cried too. That whole week was ups and downs. A few times I dropped her off and she was all smiles, but most days she was crying and upset.
Natalie loves school and was so excited about her teacher, so she had zero issues.
Being home with just this one ended up being easier than I thought. She is used to having her siblings home with her, but she keeps busy and we have a lot of fun together. After the difficult first day drop off with Emmy, we hit the donut shop together.
Dinner time sure is a hard time of day. I am always trying to think of things to keep the littlest ones happy and busy while I get dinner ready. Most of the time they just watch a show, but there's stuff like this that happens too.
August is an important month because of Natalie's birthday! I came to her school and had lunch with her on her big day.
She loved her gifts.
It seems like we had balloons in the house for a month between Jansen, Natalie, and Emmy's birthdays. Leah has set herself up a little picnic here.
I love my little errand buddy. She parked herself here after we made a trip to Trader Joe's.
The most peaceful sight at the end of the day.
Nate went on a guys' camping trip at the end of August. Of course I can't even remember now where he went, but it was in Wyoming!
They had such a great time and more than a few stories to tell.
