Where has the summer gone?

With only 2 weeks till school starts, we find ourselves asking what we still need to do before school starts. The only response I get is "Back to School Shopping!" Apparently I did not keep them busy enough to keep them from getting bored. MY BAD!
So we have a new family member. Lemmy joined our family on Friday, July 16th. Kurt had been researching bull terriers for a couple of years. He decided that this Christmas would be a good time to get one for the kids. So I thought I had a few months at least to get used to the idea. Or so I thought! Kurt found a breeder in North Topeka, who just happened to have exactly what Kurt was looking for and for DEAL! So the kids and Kurt went up there Friday afternoon, TO LOOK. 3 hours later, Lemmy arrived home. So here we are, just over a week in, not quite house broken, but getting closer. The kids are in love, as is Kurt. He is going to take a while to grow on me, but hopefully the kids will learn a little responsibility along the way. Pictures to come.

Brewer-Thomas Family Reunion

June 26 was the Brewer-Thomas family reunion held at Steve Thomas' house in Leawood. Steve is Kurt's cousin, his dad's sister's son. Wendy, the other cousin and her family were there too. Along with quite a few on the Thomas' side that we have never met, and didn't get much time to get to know. Chasing kids and catching up with those that we did know made the time fly. We had such a great time, we let Rory, Steve's wife, talk us into spending the night! Well, there was tons of food, wine and the kids were having such a great time that we stayed. So the Brewer's, Thomas', and Guillies dance partied into the night.
Along with making new friends with our relatives, Rory revealed to us a history that she had done on the Brewer family. She had it bound into a very nice book as well and has promised to share all her research with us. Kurt was so motivated, he dug up his previous research into the Brady family reunion that takes place in Pennsylvania. So our 2011 vacation will be to the Northeast to do some history chasing. The girls are very excited, which makes us pleased and will provide some valuable lessons.

Anxiety

So a while back we noticed that Zoe seemed to be having a lot of nightmares. Not the screaming, up the rest of the night nightmares. But it woke her up, into my room, wanting to sleep in our bed, kind of nightmares. We kinda blew it off as a phase that she would outgrow.
Then last November, I took a part time job bartending, for reasons that I will post another day. We felt that Domino was old enough, and had taken her Safe Sitter course at the hospital, that she could be responsible enough for a few hours in the evening while Kurt and I were working. It started out ok, but then Zoe starting calling and texting wanting to know when I would be home, how much longer, why was I not there yet. This started to bleed over into the day time. So we decided that her anxiousness needed attention from a professional. Dr. Loveland "diagnosed" her with separation anxiety and referred us to a therapist. Just having the conversation and describing her actions out loud, we realized that it started about the time that Kurt's mom passed away. So this all made lots of sense to us and we just needed to get Zoe dealing with her emotions.
Fast forward and we are about a month into the counseling sessions and things are only getting worse. Night mares have subsided but phone calls have increased and now Mom or Dad home is not enough, she needs both of us. Now I realize that a summer schedule, or lack thereof, is very much a part of this. Not to mention, severe weather season! We have added anxiety attacks to the problem. The poor girl gets herself so worked up that she is getting nauseated, which leads to crying.
Two of these in less than a week, and I almost feel the need to quit my job, unfortunately that is not an option, so how to deal???? Today, I woke her to tell her that I was leaving for work, and Kurt was already gone. She wimpered, I assured her that she was fine, and I would be home around lunch time. She got up and came downstairs before I got out the door, so I thought, she is awake, and alert enough to think straight. Not 10 minutes later, she called. I was not even to the office yet. "I fell back asleep and just woke up" By 9am I had received 3 more calls, one of which was Blaise telling me that Zoe was throwing up. I had to come home.
I have always been conflicted between work and my kids, and this just really makes it more challenging. Not sure what this means, what to do.......

Summer fun

This summer we decided that since the girls did not want to go to Boys and Girls club. We decided that they could stay home and since finances are as they are we also decided that they could keep Blaise. So we saved some money but did not think about Blaise missing his friends.
Domino and Zoe are having friends over weekly, but poor Blaise has not seen his friends at all in about a month. So we finally made it happen, Blaise's friend Kaden came over to play for a little while. They played baseball out side, legos downstairs and even tried a little Wii time.



They were so shy at first and really were pretty quiet. Kurt pitched to them both and they are going to be quite the athletes. I found myself chasing a few fly balls further than I expected. Kaden left with both boys making plans to see each other soon.

What a busy week it has been!

The week started with 5 softball games on the schedule followed by the Douglas County Relay for life, and an evening with the Schoenhofer girls. How bad is it that I have to refer to the calendar to see what happened last week?!
Well Tuesday's game was called because of rain, so that was ok, but we still make it up later, so, whatever. Wednesday night Zoe made her pitching debut. She was so excited. She got one inning because there are so many girls that want to pitch, that is the only fair way to do it. However, she got to pitch again on Thursday and actually struck a girl out! Now that was exciting. She was so stoked. That was exactly what she needed for confidence.
Friday was a very long day, worked most of the day at the JW, then had to get ready for the DgCo relay for life. I wasn't walking but got 5 coolers full of ice to support the Wellcommons booth. We hoped to talk to people about the site, and sign them up as members. Anything to drive traffic to the site. I picked up the kids about 4 and took them with me. They had a pretty good time. There were kids activities and they got some food, walked the track, and in general just got out of the house. Kurt was a mid at LH, but came and picked up the kids about 9pm. I stuck it out till around 11. Stayed long enough to see the luminary ceremony. Quite moving. The kids decorated a luminary in honor of Bob and Ramona.

Saturday morning starting with my going back to the relay to clean up, then off to the Farmer's Market. However the rain was not going to play along. About 2 hours in we had to pack up and call it a day. I was ready for a nap anyway.

first day on the job

So I have seen so many great blogs by friends and they have great photos of their kids and activities. I am inspired! While I have always detested writing (sorry Mrs Steffen), I have become so enveloped in social media and technology that I thought I would give it a try. After all, I have beautiful children, a wonderful husband, and lots to be proud of, so why not share it.