I don’t really have anything to say, I was just going back through my old posts looking for something I knew I’d written here, and the archive goes WAY back! I didn’t realize I’d been blogging for so long! Anyway, I was just skimming all the titles looking for the one I wanted and it occurred to me, there are a lot of clever and entertaining titles to my blog posts. I’m not meaning to toot my own horn, simply saying that I was entertained running back through them, and so I truly hope that you have all been entertained by them as you’ve received them. As I was going through the lists, it amused me that often just reading the title was enough to remind me of the entire experience I’d written about, and it amused me further still when a title would catch my interest as something even I wasn’t sure what it had been about so I had to go back and reread the entire posting. I think one of the funnest things about having this blog, aside from how well it allows others to know whats going on with our family and see pictures etc (I know you’re out there! I appreciate your comments!!!), is that I can go back and not only remember the things that I’ve written about, but also what I thought about it at the time. I love photographs for keeping memories, but the words and expressions, sometimes slang that’s out of use now or a catch phrase that I’d forgotten about–it’s … well I just can’t find the right words for what I’m trying to exress, its just fun.
Archive
Well, here it is, the first day of school! It really has been a pretty short Summer. And although I felt pretty busy most of the time, it occurs to me that over the course of the Summer, we didn’t really do all that much–I mean, not compared to Summers past. I think the kids are ready though, excited to see all their friends again, and hopefully learn some stuff too! And I am hopefull for all the stuff I think I might get to with them out of the house all day. Still, there is always that brief moment as they’re crossing the yard to the school that just >AH!< gets you. Hundreds of thoughts and emotions all surging through you at once, enough to make some parents cry--not me of course. ;) So, here are my no-longer-babies waiting for me to let them out the door. 
The FOURTH Grader 
The SECOND Grader 
& The FIRST Grader 
Their first attempt to leave
The final goodbye and goodluck
And their inevitable departure
(sniff)
After YEARS of battling with Elise over her unruly hair which she can NOT seem to keep brushed, she finally conceeded this afternoon when I was trying to detangle her jungle-thick locks to get them trimmed up! And lucky for all of you I thought to pull out my camera phone which I almost NEVER use! 
I was too busy yesterday and too tired last night to get to the computer to post, but yesterday was Cameron’s 6th birthday!!! My little kiddies are getting SO big! I spent most of the day running errands getting stuff that I didn’t realize we didn’t have. I asked Cameron what he wanted for his birthday if he could have anything, what would make it perfect? He said Alfredo, Totinos pizza, Brownies, Legos, video games, and Pokemon! So on one trip I took him with me and he picked out two Mario and Luigi video games. We got back just in time for him to gobble up some Totinos pizza before his party guests started to arrive. We had a nice little group of some of his best friends from school and church. All such CUTIES! 
They spent the majority of the time just playing and jumping in the pool. 
But then Josh brought out the water balloons! 
Which turned into an all out water battle! 
With Josh as the eventual loser! 
So I rescued Josh by declaring it time for cake and presents. Cameron had helped me pick out his cake at the grocery store earlier that morning. I had been planing to get him an ice cream cake, but he informed me that he didn’t really like ice cream and so at the last minute we went to pick out a regular cake. Unfortunately, it was a very warm day and on the way home the frosting on the cake melted and slid completely off one side of the cake! We stuck it in the fridge and were able to salvage it for the most part, but it made it difficult to decorate as we’d have liked, so just before putting it out I wrote his name on it and Jacob found some pokemon toys to top it off with. 
Parents started to arrive to collect their kids as Cameron was opening his presents, then it was time to clean up the yard and take the toys inside. 
Cameron really wanted to open all his toys and play with them, but I told him he’d have to wait because we needed to get ready for the second party! He made THE Cameron face at me! 
But in practically no time at all, the family started arriving for the second wave of celebration! We had all the local Aunts and Uncles and Cousins over for a lovely alfredo dinner, and for dessert…Brownies! Jason’s family brought a gift for Cameron from his Grandma Thrap 
and they got him LEGOS!!! And Aunt Jenny had found some of his absolute favorite Pokemon toys that he had been begging me for just hours earlier at the store! 
When the Aunts and Uncles left, 
it was finally time for everyone to watch the SYTYCD Finale show! AWESOME!!! Of course Cameron crashed halfway through. He’d had a long day.
So You Think You Can Dance
My favorite television show of the Summer! Last night was the finale.
Well, sadly, Wheeler week has come to its end. Kate and her kids came home with us last Sunday and have spent the week eating with us 
, playing with us 
, scrapping!!! 
and just having fun 
! Yesterday Chris had his last final for his first semester of Nursing (WAY TO GO!) and he came here to celebrate with a movie with Josh and then Josh’s brother and his family came over for a rousing game (or three!) of Singstar! (well, we HAD to have a tie-breaker! which the girls SWEPT 
!) And Josh had to crash cause he still had to work today, but the rest of us watched the finale >sob< of SYTYCD! It was good and I am already looking forward to the next season! But Josh stil hasn’t seen it, so don’t say anything to him about it–don’t want to ruin any surprises! Anyway, so this morning first thing the Wheelers packed themselves up and headed home. It was a good week and they’ll be missed, but now to focus on preparing for Cameron’s birthday (which is TOMORROW!!!) and getting ready for school which starts next …Thursday, I think. Can’t belive the Summer vacation is over already.
Congratulations Jason and Elise on this, your 5th wedding anniversary!
CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!
I have been away from my computer for a few days, so I wasn’t able to post all the congratulations, but this week is another one of our big birthdayful weeks. There are many others with birthdays this week of course, but the three big ones for me are the 23rd (My Russian “Mother” Tania’s birthday), the 24th (My actual biological mother and her little sister’s birthdays), and today (my little sister’s birthday). So, best of all to my ladies. Glad you were all born (even you, Sarah ).
After another late night to end the long weekend, I was somehow able to ignore the lightning storm beginning as I got into bed around 12:30 and fall fast asleep. This was fine, until about 3 am when I realized that I was awake and the tornado sirens were going off! I woke up Josh and asked him to check his phone for weather alerts and to see if he could figure out what the danger was. While he stumbled around with that I looked out our bedroom window just in time to see our swimming pool–full of water–get blown up, flipped over, and tossed across the yard! That sufficiently freaked me out! I have tried several times and several ways to move or turn over the pool to make it empty faster, even when there is just enough water in it to cover the bottom it is insanely difficult to move at all or flip all the way over, and this time the pool was really full from our party the other night. The yard was instantly flooded. That’s when I leapt out of bed and went for the kids. It seemed to take FOR-E-VER! Jacob didn’t want to wake up and Elise wanted to bring all kinds of stuffed animals with her to the basement. And once again, the timing was most unfortunate! We’d had all the laundry done before the weekend, but after all the parties and water play etc, there was a huge mound of wet and filthy laundry covering the basement floor. So there was very little room for us, other than on top of the messy mass. Also, 3:30 am is hardly the time I want to wake up my kids for an hour of family panic in the basement! They got thirsty, they had to pee, the wanted to eat, they kept getting in each other’s way, in short, they were then wide awake! After the storm had passed and we were finally able to safely go back upstairs to our beds, the kids did finally settle down and go back to sleep. Josh slept through most of it all anyway (on top of the laundry). When I got back to my room I checked out the window again and although my pool had flown out of view (it lodged itself under our deck, so we didn’t lose it) something else that looked even larger had been deposited in the field just behind our yard. It looked like just a big black mass, until a particularly bright lightning revealed that it was someone’s huge trampoline!
We celebrated Josh’s graduation yesterday. He is now the official holder of a Master’s degree in Business Administration, and we are so proud of him! The ceremony was graciously brief (an hour and a half) and well-attended on Josh’s behalf. I took all four kids and was joined by the four Wheelers, Josh’s parents and grandmother, his uncle and two cousins, and his brother Jason’s family. We know that many of you who could not be with us physically were with us in spirit and have supported us throughout this long and tedious process. (And of course, I have pictures to share! I haven’t had a chance to crop them all yet, but here you go!)
