House Full of Boys!

This week is EB awareness week! EB stand for Epidermolysis Bullosa. It is a rare, genetic skin disease that involves the connective tissues of your skin. The slightest friction to the skin can cause severe blistering. The EB kids are referred to as 'Butterfly children' because their skin is so fragile. To learn more go to http://www.debra.org/ . I came across this disease through a blog about little Jonah. You can follow Jonah by clicking on his picture to the right. I have since come across several EB kids that I follow on a regular basis. EB is a horrible, painful disease. This week I will be running in a 5K race in support of EB. A few of my friends from work and myself made shirts that have the kids we follow on the back. Unfortunately shortly after the shirt was made little sweet Bella passed away. She was at the University of Minnesota for a clinical trial for an EB bone marrow transplant. I think she was patient #12. So far this is the only hope these kids have. I miss B...

Labor Day was over a month ago, but here's what we were up to: I ran in another race, this time the Apple Festival 8K. My time was 49:33. I was happy to be under the 50min mark. It was the hardest race I've done thus far. It had quite a few hills and was rather cold and windy that morning. Next up - a 5K race on the 30th to support EB kids (see my side bar). A picture that was taken at the finish line Then after the race we headed up to Big Creek on the NC/Tenn border to go camping with Jared's family. We had a great time. We took some adventurous day trips up windy dirt roads but it was worth it for what we saw: Elk have been reintroduced into the wild in this area - they first started out with 17 I think and are now over 50. Max's Patch - what a beautiful view. I will be happy to take any that want to visit me up to this place for a picnic. The cousins Eli & mommy taking in the sun and fresh air Hiking down Arts & crafts - thanks to Aunt Emily & Je...

Phew! - I am glad that moving is over......for now anyway, I will be really glad once we are in our new house. We moved over 2 days, which wasn't quite long enough...we worked up until the last minute. Good thing we had been taking small loads in the van to the storage unit for a few days. We had some help from church and Jared's dad. The kids hung out and played with what they could. They all wanted to 'help' a little too. They loved the big moving truck and especially running up and down the squeaky ramp - Ugh! Moving in the rain is not fun! It rained for both days. Sometimes a sprinkle, sometimes a downpour. We have our things spread between 3 places now - storage, Jared's parents house and their business. I think we have found most of the necessary stuff for now. The kids are adjusting well, but bedtime is proving to be more and more difficult most nights. I know the move has been hard on them too so I'm trying to be patient but it's hard. ...

So the kids started school - 2 and a half weeks ago!......I know I am way behind, but getting a house packed and all the other things that go along with moving are exhausting me, plus throwing in a weekend camping trip and all the clean up that follows and well I am more than just way behind. Aidan started the 2nd grade and so far he loves it - it's 'way better than first grade mom'! He is growing up so quickly. His new favorite things are to 'rock out' and wish 'peace' for everyone. Aidan was quite the little reader over the summer and finished 4 Harry Potter books - he had already read the first 3 so he is done with the series...I sure hope they find something else for him to read to keep him challenged. He is growing like a weed and eating everything in sight....I may need to start a donation basket for future grocery bills when the boys get older. Adley started kindergarten. Can I just say that it is so nice to have only 2 kids at home. It is such ...

The past few weeks have been so stressful at our house. From selling the house to finding a house to packing to losing a house to losing our contract to unpacking...you get the idea. What an emotional roller coaster we've been on. We keep telling the kids we are moving then not moving and now all of the sudden another offer on the house. Are we moving??? I have no idea! I won't hold my breath until we close. Another problem is trying to figure out where we should start the kids in school. We won't close until after school starts and our plans are to build in another district. Decisions, decisions! I keep trying to find the positive in all of this, really I do. I know I often times focus on the negatives around me but I am determined to start seeing the positives. I can't control everything or change a lot around me but I can choose to be happy and roll with the punches. So I'm rolling..... We've had a great summer with the kids. Many outings with f...

Yep, I'm still slacking and far behind on posting. It has been a hectic week - from making an offer on a house to having someone else make an offer on the same house and us losing out. We've seen 21 houses so far now and still no luck. We may be homeless soon - this whole process is overwhelming and tiring. My house is a circus - people coming and going fixing odds and ends in preparation for our home inspection this Wednesday. The kids coming in and out of the house all dirty, sweaty, stinky and of course always hungry...while I'm trying to do the normal household cleaning and cooking while packing a few boxes everyday...and still working full time in between all this craziness. I need a good nap! Okay on to catching up...about 2 weeks ago we had the pleasure of a quick visit from my Grandma, 2 aunts and an uncle. It was so much fun to get to visit with them. We of course took them to breakfast up on the parkway and to one of the waterfalls to show off the beautifu...

Man oh man have I been slacking lately - well with the blog anyway. Really I have been super busy and blogging hasn't been a priority - sleep has! So here are a few updates: 1) first things first - we sold our house! So we have been busy trying to find the perfect house and neighborhood for our family. It is very very stressful to look for houses. I am exhausted too. We go for our 4th outing with the realtor tomorrow. Let's hope we find the right house. We do have 3 that we like but they are all at the high end of our budget. I did find 2 houses to look at that are at the bottom of our price range with unfinished basements - not that unfinished though - all we have to do is sheet rock, paint and carpet. The finished part of the houses are already bigger than our current house. I started packing up the kids closets yesterday. Little by little we will get this done, hopefully before Sept 10th which is when we have to be out of our current house. We are a little sad to b...