Driving around the farm...

Konnie took the boys around the farm for a ride on her John Deere Gator. It was so sweet to watch. Of course the boys absolutely loved it!!!

Konnie gave Kaden a ride first...





Then it was time for Kory's ride...



Then our fearless boy felt that he was ready to take the wheel...



This is how Kaden felt about taking a break...



The next day, we decided to let them all ride together...



Then everyone was happy!!

Swimming in the pool

It is so amazing that is almost the middle of August. Where did the summer go? It seemed like it was just a week or two ago, that Konnie finished her first year of preschool (for 3 yr olds). Now in less than a month, she will be going back to preschool (for 4 yr olds). She just misses the age cut off for starting kindergarten, as she will turn 5 in early October. So we are off to another wonderful year at St. James School.

We are trying to fit in as much as we can before September arrives. We should be able to do a lot more fun activities after this week is over. Kraig has his final for school on Thursday evening, and then 4-5 weeks off before his next term starts...YAHOO!!

So...without further delay...our summer fun!

Konnie took two series of swimming lessons this summer and wow - what a difference. She has had several lessons over the years, but is really taking off with her swimming skills. We are so proud of her!!!








Konnie - our swimmer girl -





Kory having fun splashing in the water. He does very well with the water and rarely minds being splashed in the face.



Kory's funny face after he splashed a lot of water in his own face.






Kaden also loves playing in the water.

Feeling blessed again...

Kraig was doing some work for my Mom's business yesterday and came so close to losing his life. It feels so sickening to even say or type the words. But, by the grace of God, both Kraig and my Mom's employee are fine. They were replacing a 8" backflow device that was in an old vault. Fortunately, Mom decided to insist that the customer remove the lid off of the vault, as a precaution. Without this insistance, Kraig and Tyrone surely would have drowned. While they were taking the old backflow device off of the water line, the old valve blew off and within 5 seconds the vault was full of water. Normally, work is done with the vault top on the vault and the vault door open. Since the lid was off of the vault, they were able to quickly climb out and escape the raging water.

The City employees came out to try to find a valve in their system to shut off the water, but were unable to find one to close off the water flow. Over the course of the 18 hours, the water raged...they estimate that approximately 3 million gallons of water flowed out. The part of town that they were working in is very old and is not up to the current codes. We know that without a doubt that God was leading Mom to insist that the lid be removed to keep Kraig and Tyrone safe. In fact, she couldn't sleep the whole night before the job, worrying about things...and now we know why.

Oh how our lives could have changed forever...thank you Jesus!!!

Cooling off in the summer heat

This weekend we took the kids to a great park in McMinnville. They have a lot of great equipment to play on, wonderful padded flooring, a sand pit, and fountains to cool off in. Mom and I took our three kiddos and our niece Sydney on Saturday to play. Then on Sunday, Kraig was able to join us for another great day of playing.

Kaden and Konnie enjoyed the water a lot on Saturday, but Kory wasn't so sure about it. Kory enjoys the water in the bathtub, and in the pool at home, but the fountains make a lot more noise as the water collides against the pavers, plus the water is a little cooler. But having Kraig's help today, we were able to let Kory explore the water again, and really take his time. Kory did great!!!

Kory getting ready to brave the water





Kraig and Kory exploring the stream of water





Mommy and Kory playing in the water





The boys enjoying the water together



Kraig and the boys




Kaden really enjoying the water





We all had such a wonderful time, and it helped cool us off from our 90 degree heat.

Ahhhh the park

Oma and I took the kids to a park in McMinnville and had a wonderful time. We had two of our nieces join us as well, Kristen and Sydney. The weather was nice and sunny...it was a little too hot, but there were a lot of great big trees to provide wonderful shade.

Kaden in his first football stance...




Konnie enjoying the fountain...




Kory enjoying the sites...



Poor Kraig has had to miss out on a lot of time with the family now that he is going to school. For those of you that don't know...Kraig will be losing his job in June 2010, and the Freightliner plant is to finish relocating to Mexico. Fortunately, the employees will qualify for NAFTA retraining and Kraig is going to go to nursing school. It is a job that he has wanted to do for a very long time. His interests were renewed when the boys and I had so much hospital time last year. He thinks that he might like to work in the NICU, imagine that...a big 6'2" guy handling little tiny preemies...too cute!! He certainly has a lot to offer...a wealth of experience. He will be a great nurse wherever he decides to work. Kraig is doing great with his studies and is getting excellent grades!!! We are very proud of him.

Two brother wrestling...

I couldn't resist sharing a couple of photos from a few weeks ago. The boys were just playing on the floor as usual. They both wanted the same little toy and then the wrestling was on...

Kory pins Kaden...



"It's mine..."



"No it's not..."




"Yes it is..."



And the tables turn...

Day at the beach

We spent a day at the beach last week...it was so much fun. It was 90 degrees at home in the valley, so we thought that the beach should be warm, around 70 or so. Unfortunately that was not the case, as the beach was in the low 60s. We had a great time playing with the kids and visiting with our friends. Konnie has always loved the beach and it appears "her boys" do too.

Kaden has a great time crawling all over. In fact, he crawled all the way to the water and would have kept going if Kraig and Konnie hadn't stopped him.



Kory had a great time too. He loves crawling in the sand. This is especially great considering that he used to have some fairly significant sensory issues, and many textures used to bother him and he would quickly pull his hands away from things. Kory also had a great time rocking on his blue dog...




Konnie loved running around, blowing bubbles, roasting marshmallows over the fire, building sand castles, and playing in the water. I really think that the beach is her favorite place on earth.



We decided to put the boys in a play pen, to keep the wild boys contained, and build a sandle castle with Konnie. Kraig was really getting into it. He is a very serious sandle castle contractor. He took his folding shovel and dug a big area out and put the loose sand in the middle for construction. It was a lot of fun and turned out great.



What a wonderful day!!!