Life's happenings this summer

What a busy, but very fun summer! Mostly spending the days with the kiddos around the house, but we've done a little traveling around to hang out with and see wonderful friends :) Here are just a few pictures.

The seven dwarfs :) Camping trip with the Andersons to Big Bear.

The Moms with Livvy, Micah, and Misha (two other "orphans-no-more" from Micah's orphanage).

Marianne & Darya Fick (the inspirations for our adoption journey) :)

Another with Darya

The littles with two of the Meyer girls. Their mom, Mandy, is my childhood friend.

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I think I posted about Barry's job offering him to go with his job to Georgia back in May. We politely refused the offer and were so happy to stay here. But I've been an emotional wreck since then as the "Big Wigs" keep trying to get him to go, and are posting a promotion he wants to apply for, then he went there for two weeks to work. W e've gone back and forth THOUSANDS of times on what to do. And for now, I "think" we are still staying here. It is really what we want to do. Our lives are so wonderful since we bought our home and have settled very nicely into our new community. The schools are great, our home is HOME, we have a wonderful church family, and the greatest friends ever.

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Fischer has decided to go to Seattle, WA to visit or stay with his uncle. It's supposed to be a visit, but he really wants to plan on staying long term. He leaves September 6, after he comes home from a two-week cruise to Alaska with his grandmother. He is very excited to see what the next chapter holds for him. I, on the other hand, have realized that if I had never met Barry and had four more children,  I could quite possibly have been an empty nester at the age of 34. I don't want him to go, but the time has come (way too fast) to let him spread his wings and fly. I pray that he will be happy and safe. This part of parenthood is the pits.

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Gracie and Micah go back to school August 16th. We are all so ready for school to be back in session :) Gracie starts 1st grade, and Micah will be doing his final year of preschool.

Chloe is enrolled for Pre-K with her wonderful teacher, Miss Jessica. She was in her class for preschool last year, and will continue on to the bigger kids' class with her. I have been wishing that it was more than two half-days per week, since she is really ready to get into some good curriculum. It stinks that her birthday falls short of our state's deadline for entry to Kindergarten, because she is SOOOO ready.

I have been researching programs, and it looks like the only option will be to enroll her at a second preschool for two opposite days per week. It's a bummer that it can't be all at one location, but I'm excited about her going to the 2nd school (this is the same program that Gracie did a couple years ago). The preschool director through our school district said all the kids who come out of Miss Kathy's class are more than ready for Kindergarten. It will be a great program for Chloe, and she'll get the added benefit of learning about Bible stories in the process :)  So she'll be in Pre-K for four days per week starting September 4th!

**I could also start homeschooling her for Kindergarten once she turns 5, but I'm opting out of that idea for now**

That leaves Little Miss Annie. My sweetheart is turning 3 in just a few weeks. I have decided to keep her home for this coming school year, and wait to start her in preschool until she turns 4. The main reason for this is because her birthday will fall short of the state's Kindergarten deadline the year she turns 5 (in 2014/15 the child must turn 5 by September 1, 2014... her birthday is 3 days after that - go figure!) So that year, she will be enrolled in Transitional Kindergarten (another name for a public pre-k that is paid for by the wonderful State of California), then she will start Kindergarten in 2015. I have always felt that two years of preschool is plenty, so she gets to stay home with me this year (YEA!)

I didn't want my baby running off yet anyway, ha! I have no clue what I'll do when I'm home alone... other than the countless number of fun projects that have collected dust over the years. Yet I think I'll still be bored out of my mind without the noise of laughter and fighting :) I love my crazy children.

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I'll need to come back and add more to this post later. The kids are playing in the sink, wanting me to fix their tent, and asking for snacks, and for me to get off this thing... ha ha! How dare I try to write a blog while they're awake? Such a bad mommy. Now you see why I don't write very often. Off to mommy work!