A big "catch up" blog...

OK- Things are starting to settle down around here, so I can finally catch a few minutes to blog. Where to start.....

A few things on my mind...
We are so lucky to live in a city that is completely smoke-free indoors. While on vacation, everywhere we went people were smoking inside restaurants. And I don't care where you sit, you can still smell it and it flared Brayden's asthma....ugh.

How do you teach a child how to study? Maybe some of my teacher friends can give me some advice.

And lastly, where did the summer go?????

Since I haven't blogged since telling about vacation, I will start there. Anthony is now at AIT (army training). He says it is worse than school, but better than boot camp! I like this better, because he gets to regularly check in with us by phone instead of letters.

Janessa and Carson both had a great start to school. I can't believe Janessa is in 4th grade and Carson is in Kindergarten!!! They grow up so fast!! I just don't want to miss anything...

Brayden had his skin scratch test to see what he is allergic too. It turns out he is allergic to half the human world including all kinds of grasses, trees, dogs, cats, dust, dustmites ect..... He is now on 6 medications! My sister-in-law spent all last week with us to help me de-dust my entire house. She worked me to death, but we finished! Now every ceiling fan, baseboard and shelf is dust free, but who knows for how long. We pulled all the furniture away from the walls and vacummed up 5 years worth of dust! Who knew dust collected there? Now, I'm just working to keep it that way.

Carson's birthday was Friday!!! My baby is officially 5 like the rest of his class. He seemed to have a great day. Vernon took the afternoon off and had lunch with him at school. He also took cupcakes to his class. That night we went to Stevie B's for a pizza dinner and then to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda! I spent all day writing in his journal about what a special boy he is. I cooked his favorite meal Saturday and Janessa made him a cake. Then Sunday my mom cooked him a dinner and had him a cake! So his birthday turned into a birthday weekend, instead of just one day!! And we are all caked out!!!

Oh, we had our first monthly gathering at our house and had a blast. I really enjoyed hanging out and getting to know everyone more. Next month we are combining it with the boys' birthday party. I know it sounds weird and I am catchng a lot of slack for it, but we are having 1 party for both boys in September. (Brayden's birthday is actually not until December 30.) I talked Vernon into it this year, but I doubt I ever will again, so I hope Brayden enjoys having a good (hopefully warm) birthday party for once!

Well, my time is up...back to work!