Scovill Zoo

This Summer has been SO incredibly hot, we haven't really done much outside. But this past weekend was absolutely gorgeous. So I convinced Jamie to take the day off of work (he was working Sunday after all), and spend the day with me and the boys. We thought it would be fun to go to the zoo to take advantage of the great weather. So we packed up and headed to Decatur... our favorite zoo. :-)

While we were there, we ran into our friend Amy, which was a nice treat! Here is Sean with his buddy Jack (Amy's son).



Just relxin' (it's clearly a rough life)



Nathan enjoying the train ride



And finally, somthing I just don't see every day. *WARNING: GRAPHIC* ;-)

First day of Kindergarten

As I write this post, we are actually one full week (and two days) into this school year. I... cannot... believe it. Sean is doing absolutely great, and is just loving his new class and teachers.

It's amazing to me to see the change in him from Pre-school to Kindergarten. He just seems mo much more grown-up! The things he says, wanting to take his lunch to school (rather than hot lunch), being more responsible (he had to remind ME that we needed to put the book he checked out from the school library back in his bag), and even practicing his memory verse every night (see post to follow). And now (seven days into school), he doesn't even want you to walk him in - "I've got this." he says. It just amazes me!

He was SO stinkin' excited for the first day of school! The night before, we were reading our bedtime/bible stories, and he just kept wiggling. I finally had to tell him to stop and calm down. His reply, "I can't stop wiggling. I'm just to excited!" How can one argue with that?

Here's my big boy on his first day. I think his sweet smile says it all. :-)



Check him out here on the first day of Pre-school. What a difference a year can make!

Ouch

This weekend, the boys and I were watching a cartoons, when I noticed this bump behind Sean's ear. He said it didn't hurt, but appeared to be a little tender to the touch.



Upon further examination of his head, I noticed he had another bump on the right side of his head as well. Mommy-freak mode was now in full swing.



I examined them the best I could (with a wiggly five year old), and didn't see any bite marks, thinking maybe spider bite (?), so I called the doctor. In typical Saturday doctor's office fashion, they saw no "acute" need, so they said they could get him in sometime in October. Um, no. Apparently you didn't hear me when I said my son has two lumps on his head. October is not acceptable. I hung up the phone and texted Jamie a picture of Sean's head, and we decided that we should take him in to convenient care.

Turns out that he had a sebaceous cyst, and warm compresses and an antibiotic would do the trick. I'm SO glad we took him in, because by the afternoon, it looked like this.





Fortunately, we are on the up swing, and are seeing major improvement already!!

10 years, nine months and 121,000 miles

This week, for the first time in 10 years, nine months and 121,000+ miles, I GOT A NEW CAR!

The Rendevous will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the car that drove me to my wedding, the car we brought both boys home in, the car that took us to many family outings.



But THIS car, this one doesn't leak power steering fluid. :-)

Random pictures that make me smile

This one is totally random, but makes me giggle every time.

Really?

Okay, so I know you Moms out there who have children who are school age, will be shaking your heads, eyebrows raised, and muttering "Yep" under your breath. But seriously? $100 for school supplies for ONE kiddo? OUCH! And that doesn't include the backpack, lunch box, PE shoes or back to school clothes. That is LITERALLY what I paid for Sean's supplies. So much for being frugal.

At least I still have two more years before I have to spend that much on Nathan. For now, it's a $30 check, two canisters of Clorox wipes, and a full size backpack. That I can handle. I did have to email his teacher to see if we could go with a little smaller backpack.




One thing that I thought was SO cool, was the card Sean received from his two teachers for this year. It invited him to a "meet and greet", to drop off his supplies, see his room, and meet the teachers. I just thought this was the coolest thing ever. Gives me such a great feeling about this year!

Peace

JOHN 11:25 NKJ
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.



On Friday, July 20, we received word that Jamie's Aunt Kelly, had passed away. Kelly had been sick for quite some time, and is truly one of the most amazing people I know. She never complained (at least to us), always had an infectious laugh, and despite waiting for a double lung transplant, always found a way to see good in things. Kelly will most definitely be missed, but we are so thankful that the Lord saw it fit to not have her suffer any longer.

July Happenings...

*Warning: Picture overload.*

Ah July. My beloved birthday month. For those of you I'm NOT friends with on facebook, let me give you an explanation of why I love my birthday so much. Yes, I admit I love to be spoiled a little (okay, maybe a lot), and I love being treated extra special, but it's SO much more than that. Why wouldn't I celebrate another year full of blessings? Why wouldn't I love the fact that God gave me another year to watch my children grow, celebrate another year of marriage with my husband, celebrate another year of memories with my friends and family, for they have all made me who I am today! But I'm getting ahead of myself... let's start at the beginning of the month.

The fourth of July was another fun day spent swimming at my parents. Like usual, it was 1,000 degrees, so the pool almost felt like bath water! It was still a nice relaxing day, and I'm always happy when Jamie doesn't have to work.

We had a couple of days where the heat "broke" (aka, it was 90), so we tried to spend a little time outside. You know it's bad when you welcome 90+ degree heat, and even sit out on your deck to test out the new fire bowl! Speaking of, Jamie completely redid our deck in Cedar, added a food prep station, two burners, and a cool cabinet. Other than a brick oven, we have our outdoor kitchen! My favorite part, however, is the amazing fire bowl he made. It is SO much prettier in person. Come on over and check it out!







The middle of the month was less than "happy", if you will. On July 19th, Nathan had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids. Fortunately, the surgery went very well, and he's doing great. However, from the point where they had us back in the recovery room as he was waking up (THIS.WAS.HORRIBLE), to the 10 days of hell as far as his sleeping, I could have done without. He was such a trooper though, and I'm so, so proud of him!

Here he is (very early) waiting for surgery to begin. My Mom and Dad came to the SurgiCenter with us, which was wonderful. Something about your parents being there gives you that sense of calm. Plus, Nathan was ALL about Grandma and Papa. :-)



Once we got home, he finally calmed down, and slept for a good part of the day. I loved the cuddle time, and was thrilled that he wanted something to eat when he woke up. Look at his eyes though... isn't that so pathetic?



Get well balloons from my sweet friend, Amy, and her sons



The end of the month was definitely cause for celebration. My sweet baby was finally feeling (and sleeping) better, and the Lord blessed me with another year! Of course the celebrations were many, so I'll just share a few (okay, several) of my favorite photos.

S'mores with my family (my FAVORITE dessert)



Dinner with my friends





Me and the hubs :-)

June happenings...

June was another busy month, but in a different way. Jamie was blessed with a HUGE project at a retirement complex called the Inman. He spent most of the month (including week nights, and weekends), working his tail off. He's still working there, but not quite as much now, which is nice.

My sister and I decided that it would be nice for all of us to get away, and spend a little time together, since everyone has been working so much. So my parents, my sister and her family, and us of course, all packed up and headed to St. Louis for Father's Day weekend. It was a quick trip, but so nice to be together. Jamie and Sean went to Six Flags with Elaine, Rick, Nick, and Kyle, while Mom, Dad, Nathan and I spent the day relaxing at the amazing hotel.

Elaine and Sean spent the day doing the smaller rides (of which he is STILL talking about). Elaine was great about sending me pictures and updates throughout the day, so that I could kind of experience what Sean was doing. It was SO hot that day, as you can tell by Sean's expression in this picture.



Nathan and I went on a short walk (aka, going down to the lobby and pressing the button to open the front door of the hotel 100 times). Isn't he just too cute?



Here is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend. My three favorite boys. Love.



The month ended with a visit from Grandma Becky and our niece, Rebecca. It was a great visit, but too short as usual. Becky's birthday was the 26th, so we were able to actually celebrate with her this year! Since she is a big camper, we got her a Large Utility Tote that she can use to transport and store stuff to and from her camper. And of course we had to come up with some fun phrase to put on it. :-)

May happenings...

May was a wonderfully, crazy busy month in the Lance household. The month always starts off with a celebration - Nathan's birthday! My baby is three. THREE. How on earth is that possible? Since he is SO into farm animals (especially cows), we did a farm animal themed birthday party. And in true "Jenn-fashion", the celebrations went on much past the 1st. :-)

Here is a picture of his invitation, along with the goodie "bag" the kids got to take home from the party (included either a stuffed pig, cow, or duck, farm animal stickers, animal crackers, and a red bandana).




My Birthday Boy (shirt made by my friend Janay... isn't she amazing??). Shoes found on Etsy.




Once we got past Nathan's birthday, it was time to wrap up Sean's first year at Judah! Hard to believe just how quickly pre-school went. And since I'm just updating this in August, I will let you know that he starts Kindergarten in FOUR DAYS! Oy vey.

Sean had a great first year, and I am SO very sad to be leaving his teachers. But I know that God has in store for him more amazing opportunities, and more amazing teachers. Unfortunately, Sean's two best friends (Finn and Ryker) will not be with him at Judah next year. The good news is, we get to see Ryker at church, and we are friends with Finn's parents. :-)

Best buddies (Sean, Ryker, and Finn) on the last day of school



The middle of the month brough some crazy weather. In fact, we had one day where the tornadoes got a *little* too close for my comfort. This picture was taken near the airport.



And this is right in front of our doctor's office, on Curtis Road.



The end of the month brought more family time, as we celebrated our nephew, Kyle's, birthday. I cannot believe my baby nephew is now officially in the double digits! The sad part is, he doesn't like Aunt Jenny kisses like he used to. Sniff, sniff. We also spend Memorial Day at my parents pool since it was about 105 degrees, with a heat index of 1,000,000 (okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but barely). Sean is completely fearless when it comes to the pool, and would swim all day, every day if we would let him. Nathan is hit or miss as to whether he likes the pool or not. Fortunately, that day was a hit. Check out my big boy!



And what better thing to do on Memorial Day, than have a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a fried turkey and all!

April happenings...

Yes, I realize I STILL need to get caught up on everything, but now that it's AUGUST (yikes!), I'm going to do this fast...

April was super crazy for me in regards to Thirty-one. It was my highest month of sales ever since joining last July. That was awesome, because it helped me earn a $1200 American Express travel gift card!!! We aren't sure exactly when or where we are going to use it, but we were so excited!!

We had a lovely Easter with my family, but of course I was lame and didn't get ONE picture. :-( I did manage to snap a couple pictures of the boys dying Easter eggs, and a couple a few days later when we spent an evening mixing food coloring into water (Sean LOVED making all kinds of differnt color combinations... Nathan just liked stirring).






It seems like it was a slow month for us, but I think we kept mostly busy attending my nephews baseball games (two nephews x two games per week = busy!), and with my Thirty-one business. I'm so thankful (and grateful) that I have such a supportive husband. Although this side business is helping feed my habit a little, it's helping us pay down some debt as well, and that's ALWAYS a good thing!

Nathan and Aunt Laine at a ball game