Swimming

The girls had their last day of their second session of swim class this summer and they met a little girl Ellia. Ellia saw Audrey and Olivia wearing their flip flop shirts one day and decided that she had to have it. So her mom looked it up online and found it and Ellia was so excited. So I told her mom we should dress them the same for their last day so we did. Olivia and Audrey have the shorts she is wearing too but for some reason I didn't think Ellia had those too so I my girls didn't wear them.

Family Night at The Bay

We are trying to have a family night each week where we just spend some quality time doing something fun just the 5 of us. So this week we went to a little water park. On Fridays from 4-8 the whole fam can get in for $10.00. That worked out nice and it was really hot still.

Bubba LOVES the water!

Party at Katie's

We got to make a fun visit to see my cousin and her kids because Miss Katie had a birthday party. Another fun thing about it was that my cousin Nathan, his wife Traci, and their two kiddos were there passing through. It was great to see them too!

Mr. Owen thought he'd dress up with his tie.

Annie is very talented and created this bat cake without instructions and then Katie got to decorate it, so fun!

All the cousins had so much fun together.

5 Years Ago Today....

...Miss Olivia Amber was at Children's Hospital after her diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. I CANNOT believe it's been 5 years. Really? Are you kidding me? I still remember many moments at the hospital and I don't really want to relive them. But she is doing o.k. and making it with this disease and we are managing. Here is the letter we just sent out for the Walk to Cure Diabetes event that we participate in every year:

Hello! It's time again for JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes. As most of you know, our daughter Olivia has Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, and it is a devastating disease that affects millions of people, a large and growing percentage of them children.

Here is a recent conversation I had with Olivia:
Olivia: Mom, will I have diabetes in Heaven? Me: No Olivia, you won't have diabetes in Heaven. No pump, no shots, no checking your blood sugar, no counting the carbohydrates you eat, no getting a low blood sugar that makes you feel terrible, no chance of getting any terrible disease that might come from having diabetes, no worries about feeling different. Won't that be wonderful? Olivia: Yes, it will!

Until she gets to heaven, please help us raise money to help Olivia live a little easier down here on earth. JDRF has really made great strides in making life better for kids and adults with Type 1 diabetes. She will not grow out of this. She will have it for life or until there is a cure. Your support means so much to us.

Steve tells her all the time that she is not different she is strong. That's true, it was part of God's special plan for her because he knew she could handle it. BUT it can still be a struggle and some days are harder than others. If you can help, please do. If not, that's o.k. too. If you can pray for her, that would be the most we can ask.

August 21st of this year marks her 5 year anniversary that she was diagnosed with this disease. 5 years, can you believe it! She is starting Kindergarten this year. She is doing pretty good with her diabetes but it fluctuates. She is wearing an insulin pump still and we or she checks her blood sugar 6-8 times a day.

We also have 3 other family members in our lives that we are fighting for too. Our brother-in-law and his two kids also have Type 1 diabetes so Olivia has family in Oklahoma that she can relate to and we hope this will also help them.

JDRF funds more type 1 diabetes research than any other charity worldwide and it's making progress along many promising paths toward better treatments and a cure. Thank you in advance for your support and mostly your prayers!

Love, Heather, Steve, Olivia, Audrey, and Owen

Here are our walk pages if you would like to help or see how we are doing:
My page
Steve's page

1st Day of Kindergarten

We started school today! Olivia is in Kindergarten and Audrey is in Preschool. Olivia will be homeschooled 4 days a week and then on Fridays she will attend a school program for homeschoolers where she will go to "school" with other kids her age. Her first day of that isn't until after Labor Day but we wanted to get a jump start on her school at home so we started today.

I read on a website some things to do to make the first day of school at home fun and one idea was to make a special breakfast. They wanted pancakes so my mom was visiting and she made them pancakes shaped as their first name initial. They thought that was pretty cool.

Another idea was to wrap up their school supplies and let them open them before you start.

Before we started our day I asked them some questions like a little interview and I might ask them the same questions every year to see how their answers might change.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Olivia- a vet
Audrey - an astronaut (she said it so cute and I this was a surprise to me, I didn't even know she knew what that was)

What is your favorite color?
Olivia- gold (WHAT? I didn't know this, I thought it was blue or orange)
Audrey - pink

What are you excited about school this year?
Olivia- coloring inside the lines
Audrey - cutting

What is your favorite thing to do when you're not in school?
Olivia- playing with Angel & Adolfo
Audrey- playing with Alexia

What is your favorite food?
Olivia- spaghetti/steak with sauce
Audrey- pineapple/avocado/Chipotle/spaghetti

What is your favorite thing to play with?
Olivia- Ollie (my mom's dog)
Audrey - Alvin and the Chipmunks (her stuffed animals)

I meant to take a picture of them before school started outside the house but forgot. Olivia had already changed clothes but I took a few after school anyway.
My Kindergartner

My Preschooler

My Class

My Little Man is 9 Months Old!!!

Hey Buddy! This month:

• you are 18 lbs. 7 oz. (but this was at the pediatrician's office and the last two months you were weighed at the dermatologist's office so maybe the scales are off. If not, that's not good because then you have lost weight from the last two months. You were also very wiggly and they couldn't get you to sit still on the scale so maybe that had something to do with it.)
• you wear 9-12 month clothes
• you wear size 3 shoes
  
• you got another tooth on the bottom so now you have 5 teeth.
• on 7/16 you threw your first tantrum and it was not pretty. You were fussy and I walked away from you to do something, then as you came toward me I walked past you to do something else and that made you mad!!!! You had it, you threw yourself on the floor and banged your head and just laid there until I picked you up.
  
• 
• On 7/26 you crawled up the stairs for the first time by yourself, and yes, we were right behind you. Up went the baby gates after that.

• you have the sweetest personality and are by far our easiest baby.
  
• you love to just explore on the ground and see what you can get into.
• we call you bubba a lot or brother.
  
• the other day grandma was watching you and she stepped away for one second. You were so fast you went into the bathroom, put your shoe in the toilet and were dunking Olivia's clean undies in the toilet and then let it drip all over the floor. I think this is a foreshadow of what is to come.
  

I love this picture of you with your sis!

"We Went to the Animal Fair...

...the birds and the beasts were there. The big baboon by the light of the moon was combing his auburn hair." Well not exactly, but my grandma Thompson sang that song to me when I was little and I loved it. We did go to the Adams County Fair for the first time since we have lived here. It is so close by our house and I didn't even know it. So for all 3 of my kids this was their first time at a fair and they had so much fun!

They had a pony ride

Loving a lemon!

We went to the petting zoo.

This guy was like, "I don't want to eat out of your hand, I'll just go ahead and stick my mouth right in your cup."

Owen wasn't quite sure what to think about the animals that close.

They explored the jump castle

They got to ride some rides. I know, I know, scary carnival/fair rides. I prayed A LOT!!

Audrey, the rules were to keep your body parts inside the boat at all times!

We just hung out and watched everyone have fun.

I love this one of both their faces.

They got to explore a fire engine

I wasn't going to post this picture because Olivia's eyes are closed but then I saw Steve's face and died laughing. Click on it to see what I'm talking about.

This little man could not last. He was too pooped to party.

Oh and on the way to the fair, I looked back and saw this...

Yes folks, after 5 years she is still sucking on her blankies. At least it's only in the car or at bedtime. I told her it's probably time to give them up but we'll see. I don't think she will be 15 yrs. old still sucking on them so I'm not pressing it.