Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Karson's Big Graduation Day

Well, last Friday was Karson's official last day of his preschool 3 class. 

Then on Tuesday (May 28th) he had his graduation with his entire class at the Methodist Church.

Karson is READY for summer break. But I think he was excited to go to the graduation to see his friends for one more time before summer break "officially" began. He wanted to stand with my flag and have his hand on his heart. Cute Cute Cute!


Little brother is still in a cast, but thankfully doing well with it. We have 2 more weeks of the cast.

All smiles :)


We are so proud of Karson. Even though we struggle sometimes as parents, we love Karson unconditionally  and always will. Parenting is HARD work! I pray every night that I did OK as his mom that day. We are hopeful that Karson will grow to serve and have a love for Jesus Christ and not be afraid to share.




Karson had to go back with his class, so we sat waiting for his grand march. 


Here they come! Of course he would be holding Ms. Rachel's hand. He has LOVED her all year and talks about her so much. 


Each child was assigned a poem to say out loud into the microphone. Karson's poem was "Little Boy Blue". We have practiced lots and lots and they have also practiced lots at school. 

"Little Boy Blue"
by: Mother Goose

Little boy blue come blow your horn.
The sheeps in the meadow, and the cows in the corn.
But where is the boy?
Who looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack,
Fast asleep.


After each child said their poem it was time for awards with their certificate. 




Proud daddy! These two could not be any more alike if they tried. Not just in looks but in personality as well. They are both so laid back about some things and so outgoing about their strong suits. Karson is absolutely head over heels in love with Kevin. 


Karson we are SOOO proud of you for finishing your first year at your preschool. You grew to love going and making new friends. You loved Cyrus and Millie in your class and you loved your teacher Ms. Rachel. You were excited to share your news with me after each morning you went, and tell me what you had for snack. You loved playing on the playground and even called one part of it your "rowboat". But most of all, it is a preschool that is open to pray, talk about Jesus, and learn how to be more like him. That is the most important part of this whole year. 

Horray for Summer Break!!!!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Karson's year of Preschool 3

The infamous first and last day picture is here! I can't believe how fast this year of preschool has come and gone. After much thought, I decided on the whim to enroll Karson into the 3 year old preschool at a methodist church in our area. 

The first 3 months were hard, I'm not going to lie. Karson has been my child to have separation anxiety when being dropped off. We got over that, thankfully and then it started back again here in the last few weeks towards the end. He sure likes being home and being with Kevin and I. 


He has learned a lot, and all 3 of his report cards were wonderful with all checks and check plus. That shows average and above average performance. 


Karson has had two favorite friends while in school this year. 

Cyrus and Millie

I hope to get their picture together at graduation. 


He has grown so much. 

Here is a little about Karson from ages 3 - NOW. He turned 4 in March. 

Recognizes all letters of the alphabet. A-Z
Knows the "letter sound" of all letters A-Z
Recognizes numbers 1-13
Can count to 30. (then says 100) :)
Knows pledge of allegiance.
Knows many different prayers said at school.
Can write his name.
Knows his phone number
Knows his state and the flowers, bird, and tree.
Can write other letters besides his name, but not all. (yet)
Complete puzzles larger than 10 pieces by himself. 

*Not all of these things were learned at preschool. I help him at home for about 30 minutes after nap time each day doing some kind of learning activity. Most of these things were not required for his 3 year old class, but I taught him them anyway, like his phone number.*


Karson was recently moved to a boost seat. He is much more comfortable. 


He sure is the outdoorsman. Loves to fish, hunt, play outside. Loves to be on the trampoline, could swing ALL day long if you pushed him, play in our sandbox, walk in the woods, ride the 4-wheeler/ranger, and our new thing is play baseball. We have waited to begin organized sorts for many reasons, but I would say that next Spring he will be ready for t-ball. He is in LOVE with the Reds and Joey Votto. 


He sure does love his daddy and his brother. 


I hope he loves me too. He does tell me from time to time! :)

I sure am proud of him. He is so smart and a very sweet, kind hearted boy. I am thankful to be his mom!

(after baths last night in our matching shirts)

His graduation is next week and I can't wait to see him recite his poem "Little Boy Blue" into that microphone for all to hear :) 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Our week on the Homestead

Our garden is growing like crazy! We have gotten lots of rain here lately so our beans are growing tall. This is the first time for us to do green beans. 


Karson's brussel sprouts are doing good as well.


My little guy is helping around the homestead. Mowing grass for mommy. Hurt and all.


Kevin has been working over time helping in the house with me and helping get a lot of unfinished projects done outside. We are having a party in June that I'm getting ready for. 


I haven't written much about each individual boy for a while and I will do that soon. Karson has an "invention" that he has created uo in the woods. Here he is with his invention. A good entertainment piece for him and good for me to get things done outside while he is building traps and inventions. 


All of our flowers and bushes are in full bloom. Our knock out roses are looking the best right now. If I can just keep the bugs off of them!


The weather has been in the high 80s here in West Virginia. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. I guess you could call me a "fair weather" farmer. I don't like getting out doing the chicken and duck work when it's blazing hott but I know they need fed and watered. As well as a lot of mowing and weed eating here. 

Have a great week!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Blessed

Wednesday: Kipton fell in the living room after his bath while playing with his brother. He cried, but this was a different cry. A serious I'm really hurt cry! He kept telling me it was his arm. So we looked at it and he wasn't moving it much. Kevin came home from work and we were going to decide whether or not to take him to see if it was broken. After Kevin looked at it, we thought it wasn't broken and we would wait till morning to see if he still wasn't using it. We all went to bed.

Thursday: Kipton woke up about 7:30am I went to give him his warm milk and he wouldn't drink it with that right hand. I knew something was wrong. It looked swollen. So I got him some cartoons and got a shower before Karson woke up. Kevin was already at work. I got a shower got dressed, got the boys dressed, packed up breakfast to take and eat in the van, and out the door we went at 9:15. About 10 minutes from our house it was sudden air bags in my face and we were pushed into our local firestation doors. I realized that someone had hit us head on coming from the opposite direction. All I could see was smoke and I thought the car was on fire. I got out of the van, got Karson out of his booster seat, and then ran around the back of the van to get Kipton out. I saw the car that hit us sitting in the middle of the road, but was too worried about the boys to think about that old man. We were all out and looking to be fine. Kipton has some bad seat belt marks on his neck but other than we were ok. The longer I sat, the more my back and neck were hurting. I decided it would be best to go to the hospital to get checked out. I had called Kevin but he was away on the boat and would be a while to get to us. I called Erin (a friend) to help with the boys and she was soon there. She followed the ambulance with the boys in her car. We went to the hospital and Kipton and I both got checked out. I ended up with just muscular soreness in my back and neck, and Kipton ended up with 2 broken bones in his arm. So he now has a cast.


Most of the damage to our van is in the front end. We are so LUCKY and thankful to only have some back and neck pain and a broken arm. Kipton will wear the cast for 6 weeks and then we will xray it again to make sure the bones are healing the right way. I have had lots of resting but after 4 days I'm up and moving around and feeling a lot better. 

Kipton and his temporary cast before going to get his new hard cast.



Trying to maneuver eating cereal. 


He has been a trooper. He has been a little more whiny, but overall he's not complained. He tried to continue to play just like he did before. He sleeps in the weirdest ways, it looks so uncomfortable. 


To keep from getting it dirty outside, I put a grocery bag on it. He never even cared! Just went on with playing with his mower like he didn't even notice. We did spend $43.00 extra dollars and got a water proof cast. I do still put the bag over the cast in the bath anyways. It's going to be a long 6 weeks with keeping this cast clean. 




The only word I can think of when thinking back to the wreck is blessed. 

It could have been so much worse. I have two babies still walking around being wild, crazy, and loud! Just like they are supposed to be. I am walking and able to talk. 

We are blessed. 

Thankful for a God who watches over us. There were many signs that showed me he was there. 

Friday, May 17, 2013

Fishing season has begun!

We had the best time visiting with friends last week and going fishing at Beech Fork Lake with the kids and friends. Erin and I packed up our dinner to grill and we headed out. After dinner we were in front of an amazing sunset. It was truly one of God's beautiful creations. 

My sweet husband of 6 years. He is so good to me.


Kevin and Josh are fishing NUTS! The are both just eat up with fishing season. Kevin has passed his love on  down to Karson because it is all he talks about here recently. I am thankful for happy outdoors boys. 


We packed up some firewood to take with us to build a fire after dinner and roast marshmallows and have smores. But then we couldn't get our lighter working so we had smores that weren't cooked. Hey! You'll take what you get  :) The boys didn't mind 1 bit. 


A not so wonderful picture of myself, but I love my family. I am so thankful we are healthy! 


A sweet momma duck and her babies all in a row. I can't wait to see some ducks hatch from our momma ducks someday. This was so sweet. 


My poor Kipton is such a wild man. He is constantly getting hurt. Right now, with a broken arm (more on that to come). He sure is a mommas boy and while Karson is fishing nuts, this boy is still sticking around mom for a few more years anyway. I am happy about that!!


I am thankful and blessed for many things! 

A wonderful husband, healthy babies, great family and friends. Even though I am not a good fisherman or even really like it, I enjoy the time it brings.

So I guess I should say "Welcome back fishing season!"

Monday, May 13, 2013

Spring on the Homestead


Here on our homestead, there are MANY ways to tell that Spring is here. 

My pansies are in pots and adding spring color to the porch. I have decided to just stick to flowers in my pots so that I don't have to continue to re-do mulch after planting. 

I am thankful for the growth of our landscape. We just planted all of this ourself last summer, and praying that it would harden up through winter and come up this spring. 


Our grass is growing! A sure sign that spring is here. I just spreaded another bag of seed yesterday, and hoping it takes to cover the bare spots. 


We have a robin's nest in one of my evergreen bushes. I am so thankful to see that she reused some of Bailey (our dog)'s hair that I threw into the yard for her. That is all of the white hair you see. 


This momma robin did NOT want the boys and I looking at her babes. She was NOT happy when we were taking a look and kept swooping our heads :) It made for good entertainment for the boys. 


My "bell" flowers as I call them are looking good. I forgot the actual name of them. Maybe one of you may know, but they are super easy and add lots of color.


A spring wreath on the garage door is a sure sign that spring is here! My mom made it. 


And lastly, our garden. After seeing some other garden pictures ours looks pretty drabby. We will have to work on this once Kevin has some days off work. We need some sort of border around the garden as well as fence. I know the deer are trying to find it, they just haven't yet. 


Karson choose brussel sprouts to plant. (this made me happen, the boy will eat ANYTHING!)


Our green beans are going crazy and we put up this twin so they can eventually grow up. I had just sprinkled them with Sevin dust. Hoping for a good season for the garden. This year we have a new spot and we are hoping the deer stay out of it, and it does well.


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Happy Spring