Ready for school

Whatever happened to the day when you could buy some pencils and a Trapper Keeper and be ready for school? I have finally finished Collins back-to-school list put out by the teachers from each grade. Wow....it is expensive!! And we haven't even bought any clothing yet! Kaden is still being "processed" to see if he can attend preschool this year. The district wanted $1500.00 for preschool which we don't have and I wouldn't pay anyways. I was talking with a former teacher (our insurance agent now) and she said that with his medical issues, he should qualify to go for free under the special ed program. I have filled out all the paperwork and am now waiting for them to call with a decision or more questions. Even if he does get accepted, we don't know if he will even be able to go to Collins school, which is about 1/2 mile from home. I may have to drive him about 6 miles into town. We went to school yesterday to have his vision and hearing screenings and he failed the vision test, so I have to take him to the eye Dr next Monday. We also have to go to Children's Hospital of Dallas Monday to have another swallow study done.

I have decided to tackle more painting in the house. For those that don't know, we bought a brand new house last year which means that every room in the house was off white builders paint, which is awful! You scrub fingerprints off it once and it turns to a powder. We got the kitchen, breakfast area, living and dining rooms and entryway done a few months ago then ran out of steam. I got to the point a few days ago that I could not possibly wash the fingerprints off the stairway anymore or I would be down to just drywall. The problem I am running into is that our stairway is VERY tall. I borrowed Martha's extension ladder today to hopefully get me to the top when I resume tomorrow. Did I mention that I hate to paint and am not fond of ladders??? I will post pictures of the finished project when I am done.

Professional pics

Some summer pics

Kaden watching the 4th of July parade in Dorr, MI.

Collin at the parade.

Kaden and daddy getting their speed fix in for the day on Green Lake.

Collin and Kaden roasting hot dogs and marshmallows behind grandma and grandpas house.

On the way home from MI, we stopped in St Louis at the Arch. Kaden and Collin were listening for the trams that go up inside the arch.

Figuring this out

OK, I think I may have this figured out. I have been playing around with things for over an hour.

Anyways, I will start by telling about our summer so far. We left for Michigan at the end of June and had 2 weeks there visiting and playing and just hanging out. A good time was had by all. Grandma Gini came back here with us and spent 3 weeks here and just left Tuesday to head back home. We enjoyed our time with her, but I know she didn't exactly enjoy the summer heat here!

Last Friday, we had to let go of our family dog, Keta, whom we got 4 weeks after we got married over 11 years ago. She was 11 1/2 years old and was in heart failure. It was a VERY hard thing to do and we will never forget her. She was a great dog. Some people questioned when we got her why we were getting a rottweiler due to their reputations, but we never second guessed our decision and never regretted it. She will be missed.

Our Family updates

Hi all. I have decided to set up a blog for our family updates now that we are living so far away from everyone. I had been kind of updating things on Kadens Carepage, but they changed their format and I REALLY don't like it, plus, that page is supposed to be about him and his health situations. So, welcome!! I am going to try and update this blog at least once a week so everyone knows what is going on with us! I am able to post updates and pics and really like the pages that so many of our friends have set up for their family updates so I decided to do one too.