overheard

Putting clothes away upstairs I could hear the boys and Brian talking downstairs today and caught bits and pieces of a conversation.

Elliott: "Ethan, there are lots of kids in the world who don't have _________ (I couldn't understand what he said). You should be more thankful for what you have."

So I'm thinking "wow, he's really getting what we keep trying to teach him" It always seems like we talk and talk about how fortunate we are and that there are many many people who don't even know if they will be able to eat each day, but they don't see to get it. So I was really excited to hear him say this even though I wasn't sure what they were talking about.

Later Brian came in to tell me the rest of the story. They were listening to jazz music on his iPod, and the conversation actually went like this:

Ethan: "I don't like this music!!"

Elliott: "Ethan, there are lots of kids in the world who don't have jazz. You should be more thankful for what you have."

Well, at least he gets the general idea, right?

7 years

This cute little 2 year old.........

just became a fun-loving 7 year old today!

Happy 7th Birthday Elliott!!!!!!

life after vacation

I haven't blogged in so long, but our lives have kind of felt like a whirlwind lately so I thought I would blog like that (enjoy!)

We went from this......

to this

(new scooters courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa!)

and then to this.....

(the line of cars trying to get out of our neighborhood

on the first day of school - I think this bus driver

was being very thorough cause he/she stopped for about 5

minutes each time a child got on the bus!)

to get to this

(he was about the last one to arrive - see above- so he

wasn't too keen on mom being in his classroom taking

his picture. You can't tell, but he was in the middle

of rolling his eyes)

and then this

(again, no cooperation with the pictures)

which meant this........

now looks like this......

and the counters now look like this.....

(papers from Elliott's school)

and this.

(reminders of my errands that have to be done

that morning)

But you gotta love pulling into the driveway to this.....

and then getting to see this....

(The Red Dragons are doing very well this year!)

and this.

(The Black Pumas are fantastic also!)

And it's not everyday that I get to see this....

(My cousin Tara dancing with her dad at her wedding)

or this.

(don't you love when you get surprise photos on

your camera after you leave it with someone?

Thanks Zach - I really do love these!!! Love

that we all got to see each other and need to do

it more often)

So loved seeing this.....

(Baby Eli is not so little and definitely a man

on the move!)

and of course THIS!!!

(Benjamin Gill Koertge born August 18, 2009. Look

at those sweet little toes!)

And then this.....

became this!!

(Elliott learned to ride a "two-wheeler" as the boys

call them. He finally just decided that he wanted

to do it, so he did)

This......

(there's not really much to say about this. Just kind

of speaks for itself, huh?)

 

aloha!

Isn't it crazy how you get back from a vacation and just get flung into everyday stressful life again? Yeah, that's how it's been here ever since we returned Tuesday. I haven't been able to get through even half of the pictures that we took in Maui, but here are some of my favorites. Such an awesome trip!

{Ke'anae shoreline along the Road to Hana}

{at the Old Lahaina Luau}

{ahhhhh.......I remember how relaxing this was}

{beautiful scenery - Lanai in the background}

{spotted a rainbow in the West Maui Mountains the day we left}

random things I loved about the weekend

1. Getting to ride to Tara's shower with Erin, Mom and Grandma - so nice for it to just be us girls!

2. Cuddling with Eli (I've gotten over the fact that he threw squash at me and then threw up on me)

3. Talking and laughing with Erin, Ryan, Mom and Dad at the dinner table - miss them so much!

4. Seeing Tara, my aunts, and my cousin's kids at the shower - and yummy cake too!!

5. Twice people displayed kindness on the road during my trip home. Once I let a semi get over to my lane and he blinked his lights in gratitude and then waved again when I passed him. Another time a truck pulled out in front of me as I was coming over a hill and I stopped to let him go ahead and pull onto the road and he gave me a huge wave, too. I always do these things but rarely get any kind of gesture of thanks.

6. FRIED CHICKEN. Haven't had this in such a long time and it's just not the same as when you go to a small town get-together....this one was at Johnsonville Days. Oh, so good!! Plus there was mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans (with real butter and bacon, of course).

7. Getting to go to Sunday School with my mom. Loved getting to talk about the lesson afterwards.

8. Seeing some people from high school and just from growing up that I hadn't seen in a long time.

never a dull moment....

So I'm sitting on the couch at Mom and Dad's Saturday evening just at dusk and see these animals scurry down the tree in the backyard and start eating the cat food.

"What are those?!?!?!"

"Probably either some possum or raccoons" says my Dad

This caught the boys' attention and they were right at the sliding door watching with me....yep, it was a family of raccoons - a very stubborn mama and 3 babies.

The next thing I hear is a bb gun being shot off from the back door. Of course this brought squeals of excitement from Elliott (you see, after "spy school" ended last week I guess he considers himself a marksman)! He kept telling Grandpa that he could probably shoot it himself. I don't think so.

So here we are, all the lights off in the house, two of us standing at the kitchen window and the other 4 crammed into the back doorway trying to shoo that stubborn raccoon away with bb pellets. All the while Elliott is still squealing about Dad having the bb gun out, Dad is running back and forth between the door and the closet reloading the weapon and trying to figure out why in the world the raccoon is still standing there just looking at them, and Mom and I are standing at the window laughing. That mama raccoon was the most stubborn thing. The younger ones scurried back up the tree as soon as they heard the ping-ping of the bb gun, but mama stood her ground!

What made it even funnier was that Erin had left the room before any of this started and when she came back a few minutes later, there we all were with our noses against the window, lights off, shooting bb guns and squealing with excitement! I'm pretty sure she thought we had lost it.

frogs

Lately, all the buzz around here is about frogs. Almost every time the boys go outside they are off on their quest to catch a frog (well, unless spy school is in session, of course). Their friend, here, is pretty much a frog-finding expert, so they're always glad she's around to help them out. I am not a frog person so this is not my thing, but it's fun to watch them be so excited about it!