* Michael turned 4 on July 2nd!! He's my big boy now...even though he still thinks he should sleep with us in our bed instead of his. Oh well, they're only small once, right? He got a new bike for his birthday and we're working on riding with out the training wheels. He's so close!
* Andrew is signing like crazy these days. He's added about 10 new signs to his list, including dog, french fry, potty, please, among others. He's also doing combined signs (2 or more) and verbalizing alot more, too. His speech is really really blossoming right now and I'm doing my darndest to take advantage of that and teach him all I can. He 'stops traffic' wherever we go. Strangers will literally come from 3 aisles away in Walmart to talk to him. It's actually happened.
* Ellie had her first year of swimming lessons this year and proved that she is, indeed, a fish. She had a great time & passed Level 1 with flying colors. She has a great time practicing her skills at the lake and even tried water skiing this summer. (I said 'tried'....not succeeded. he! he!)
* Brady. Brady, Brady, Brady. My young man still has the same girlfriend...since the beginning of last school year. Not sure how I feel about that, but atleast I see that he's loyal! Brady has become a champ at water skiing...and can easily drop one ski and slalom. He also does 360's on the kneeboard...looking like a pro the whole time. He'll be going into 7th grade this year, a fact that he's quite proud of, and thinks he's going to join the football team along with the golf team.
* Along with my own 4 kiddos I have been caring for my sister, Heidi's, baby boy. Jaden is almost 4 months old...and a great baby! I watch him Tuesday-Friday, from 7:30am to 5:30pm while Heidi works. I was also planning on watching a 5 year old little guy as a favor to a friend. But....I recently started having something similar to anxiety attacks, brought on by stress, and realized my plate was getting too full. I've come to the conclussion that I can't take on the 5 year old and I've had to cut my time with Jaden as well. I feel pretty bad about doing this...but I realize I need to care for myself and my own kids, first and foremost.
* So, we added more stress to the mix. We've decided 100% to move. That oughta help matters, right? We will be moving to Renville. We weren't really looking to buy a house at the time...but we stumbled upon our dream house. It's a modular home (although you'd never know by looking at it)with 5 bdrms, 3 bathrooms & a beautiful open floorplan. We made an offer, the seller countered, we countered, he countered & we countered back, stressing that this was our final offer....then he wanted to think about it overnight & we'd know something right away the next morning. Well, morning came & went. When we got the news it was that the seller wanted another day to mull it over. Ok, you do that. But, in the meantime, Randy found out where this modular house was built and priced it out. We could get this house, same as the one we made the offer on, for the same price as our final offer. Meaning we'd have our dream house, brand-spankin'-new for the same price as the older one. So, while Grandma & Grandpa Visser watch the kids Saturday afternoon, Randy & I will go pick out out cabinets, trim, floorcoverings, etc. for our new house. We were told it would take about 2 months to complete our new house. Yeah, there's just a tad bit of excitement around here these days!
