school & church & harvest.

Things are jiving well here. 

School: Everyone asks how Maleah is doing with school.  The answer is: spectacular!  She is loving it, and looks forward to going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Her favorite things about school were no surprise to me; music and art.  While I haven't had to battle a day of school, her favorite part of the day is coming home.  Maleah is my home body.  She appreciates quiet (the bus is too loud for her!), and likes to be home where she is comfortable and peaceful.  I'm thankful for our school transition and how well it has gone.

Church: We started MOPS and The Grove this past week.  Joy!  These days are my favorite days of the week.  I have learned so much from friends and fellow mommies, and look forward to growing as daughter of Christ and mommy.  I am doing the study Nehemiah, about having a heart that breaks for the things that break His heart.  I am anxious to see what God has in store.  The first day was already fantastic, and very convicting. 

Harvest: Well, it was a rough start.  Dallas finally, for the first time, was at the field yesterday. He spent the first many days fixing and fixing and fixing.  Last year went without a hitch, from start day to end day, so it was expected to have a few hiccups now and again.  Trouble with the combine a few times, endless amount of dryer trouble, and not so great yields gave a rocky start, but they seem to be cruising now.  It's a fun time of year, and while we don't see much of Daddy, I am so grateful he loves his job so much.

cousins and best friends.

The last couple weeks of summer we had the chance to be with my sisters and kids two times!  Oh joy.  I absolutely adore my nieces and nephews.  Every single one of them is such a treasure to me, so to see them all together, the goodness is multiplied!  The kids feel the same way I do about them; love, love, love. 

Picnic at Grundy County Lake!

Meeting my newest niece, Julia, for the first time. She is darling as can be.

The kids played and played and played.  Good, old fashioned, fun!

Working hard...

Cutie-patooties ready for a bike ride!

Nana and Papa relaxing and watching all the little people that came from them.  Amazing!

Beautiful evening.

There they are!  All 11 of them!

New baby sweetness. Love.

Labor Day weekend we had the chance to rendezvous again!  Mark and Erica were in the Des Moines area, and if they are only two hours away, we must see them!  We overnighted at a hotel with a fun water park.  It was a blast!!

Charlie was certain he was Captain of the ship.  He would sit there and direct traffic, until he decided it was his turn.  Then, he stepped right in front of everyone and down he came.  Okay, Mr. Boss.

Here comes Charlie and Daddy!

The triplets!

Goodness.  This is cute.

What do ya know...Dallas is chaperone in the hot tub.

Goooo!!!

Birthday boy and little fishy, Charlie!

Best buddies!

Pals!

We celebrated Charlie's 2nd birthday at the hotel.  Tractor cake and a happy little boy!

What sweet memories the kids are making.  They are so blessed to have each other!

Random...

What have we been up to lately, you ask?  A little of this and a little of that.  But, all good.  Well, mostly.  How good can potty training be?

I brought Maleah to the eye doctor just because.  I got a card from school I thought was required to be returned (turns out it wasn't), so basically went to the eye doctor to get it signed off and on with the day.  Boy, was I wrong!

Turns out Maleah has amblyopia in her right eye.  Her brain has never connected with the right eye, therefore her left eye has been doing all the work the past five years.  Her left eye has perfect vision, while her right eye is pretty much out of commission.  She wasn't seeing some of anything, doubles of some things, and had little to no depth perception (no wonder she can't catch a ball!).

We do drops on the weekends in her left eye, causing it to be blurry and super dilated.  This forces her brain to use her right eye.  She also has glasses,with a super heavy prescription in her right eye.  Even with correction, her eyes are still only 20/60.  This is why we are forcing the brain to catch up.

She is loving her glasses!  She can't believe the things she can see with them.  She puts them on instantly in the morning, and we have had zero problem keeping her on top of wearing them.  She looks cuter than a button in them, and I think she likes the idea of another "accessory." 

We will go back in seven weeks and see how the drops have worked.  From there we will decide next steps.  I am so thankful we went in for our routine check!  She went through the ringer that day, and was such a good little girl.  The doctor was so impressed with her behavior and cooperation, even when it hurt.  I was, and am, so proud of how she is dealing with it all.

Purple glasses.  Cute!

Pink glasses. Also cute! 

 I have started the daunting task of potty training Charlie.  Believe it or not, I didn't mind potty training the girls.  We did it early, and it came fairly easy to both of them.  While I am certainly not expecting that with Charlie, I am hopeful we can stick it out and be out of diapers soon!  So far, we haven't been super successful, but that's okay.  After all, how confusing would it be to go potty in a diaper for two years and then boom; now we go in the potty. We will get there!  Fun times, huh?

He has a pretty awesome support crew.

Yes, Charlie.  You are stinkin' cute.  Now go potty, pllllease!!

 It's been beautiful outside, hasn't it!  We had great outside time this weekend.  It put me in the mood for fall!  I'm ready to get out the fall scents, decor, pumpkin bars, and sweatshirts.  I love this season!

I find so much joy in being their mommy.  This photo absolutely swells my heart.

 Maleah was one excited girl on Friday!  She got to bring home Honu, the class pet!  We were to do an activity with Honu, draw it and write about it in the journal, then return Honu back to school today.  Maleah chose to bring Honu on a 4-wheeler ride.  It was so cute to see how excited they were, especially Charlie!

Maleah's journal of her time with Honu.  She drew the 4-wheeler and the flowers they found on their adventure.

Maleah with Honu.

More outside play time!

My master trapper, getting after the mice!  He knows the way to my heart.

It was quite the scene for the children.  Maleah was nervous as could be, Layla was giggling, and Charlie was attempting to get to the top with Daddy.

The next Gabby Williams?  I think yes!

I've had such a sweet time with Layla.  When Maleah is at school and Charlie is sleeping, we play games or cuddle up.  It's been so good to have one-on-one time with the one child who will have the least of that, being in the middle.  She is such a joy, and her company, allllll.day.long. makes me smile.

Pretty girl with a BIG smile!

I think that's all for now.  I am back in the swing of things this week.  The Grove, Kindermusik, MOPS, story time, and farm wife are back in full throttle!  I have meal plans made and laundry on the schedule. It's go time again.

Happy Monday to you!

Happy Harvest 2012!

The men just took off with the combine.  It is September 6th, and this is crazy early to be picking corn.  With the extreme heat and lack of rain this summer, some fields are as ready as they will be!

Please pray for safety, energy and stamina for the work crew, everyone to get along well, descent yields (even despite the bad summer), and good spirits if yields aren't stellar.  We know we are so blessed, even in the "down" years, and will continue to praise God for his provision.

Also, please pray for us at home (patience, no worrying about safety for him or us, energy to keep up).  Dallas wasn't even out of the driveway and Layla said, "I miss Daddy."  Maleah starts in, "Yeah, now we never see Daddy, not even when we sleep."  I immediately thought; Lord, help me.  But my perspective shifted, and I thought, He has! 

I feel so excited for harvest season, look forward to making meals and the traffic in and out of our home, can't wait to have my nephews and nieces out to ride, and feel completely at peace about the long days.  We are coming off of a spectacular summer, and have had a lot of time with Dallas around.  Things are good.  And I am grateful.

Happy Harvest!!