I don't want to forget....

This sweet boy turned 4 on August 20th. He was SO excited when he woke up that morning and told everyone that he was now FOUR! I love this boy with all my heart. He adds such a different perspective to our family and I wouldn't have it any other way. AK is ALL boy! He's rough and tough, loves to play with cars, trains and planes, loves his sisters and is very affectionate when he wants to be. He's smart, creative, kind, helpful and outgoing. **Here's a sweet story that shows his personality: We bought him a big wheel for his birthday. I didn't have time to put it together so we kept it in the box. After he opened it, we realized the BIG wheel was missing. I was so frustrated with the store! You could tell he was disappointed but he decided he wanted to eat his pizza. Every 15 minutes or so, he would walk over to the box and ask "Why the big wheel isn't in there?" He never cried about it. He just couldn't understand why it would be missing. We to...

EK is technically in 4th grade this year at ERE. She has Ms. Flood again, which makes this mama happy. I had no anxiety about sending EK to school on Monday. We went up last Thursday to meet with Ms. Flood and take up supplies. EK didn't want to leave an hour later. :) AC started 2nd grade on Monday. We are homeschooling again this year. I enjoy spending time with her and teaching her. She makes it enjoyable most days. ;) We all have our moments, right? We are using MFW "Adventures in US History" for Bible, History, Reading and Science, Saxon 3 for math and All about Spelling 3. I'm also adding in extra things as we go along...things I see she needs some help with. We'll learning cursive later this year too. AK is starting preschool next week and he'll go two days a week. It will be strange having him gone, but I'm expecting to get quite a bit of schoolwork done on those days. :) He's going to love it too.

You might think you know what I'm about to say. We all struggle with contentment, don't we? It may be different areas. Struggling to be content where the Lord has placed you, struggling to be content at a job, struggling to be content with the material possessions that you have. The area I struggle to be most content with is where EK is today. When she first received her autism diagnosis at age 3, she was able to speak. It was mostly repeating what she'd heard, but none the less, she had words! We really thought that starting speech therapy, occupational therapy and ABA (behavior therapy) would catch her up to her peers. I never dreamed that my 9 1/2 year old would be non-verbal, not potty trained, need me to bathe her, dress her, help feed her at times, keep a grip on her when out of the house, etc. I sometimes forget how old she is, since she certainly doesn't act like a typical 9 1/2 year old who's about to start 4th grade. And sometimes, that just makes me sad. ...

I think I wrote about how we tried to hire some help back when EJ was first born. We went through an agency and it didn't work out so well. It was weird inviting a stranger into your house. We had always used college students or high school girls from church. Girls who had experience with EK and loved being with my kids. Last summer the school district declined services for EK. They said she didn't qualify. I knew the same thing would happen this year. This past spring my mom was talking to a friend from our church who mentioned their neighbor. The neighbor had gone to high school with my friend's daughter. She was majoring in special education and thought she might be a good fit for us. I met her in May and told her what we expected/needed help with. Ms. K agreed to work with EK for the summer. We were so blessed by this young lady. She has a heart of gold and EK really liked her. Ms. K played with her, read books with her, went with us on a few outings, worked on hel...

How in love I am with this baby girl! I can't believe she's been a part of our family for half a year! Next I'm going to blink and she'll be a year old. :(  It's so fun to see her little personality emerge. She weighed 17 pounds, 3 ounces on July 30th. At her well check mid July she was 25 inches long and her head measured in the 80th percentile. That's no surprise for Sanders babies. :) I finally moved her to the crib when she turned 6 months old. My main hesitation was that she wasn't going to sleep well. The girl usually slept at least 8 hours in her bouncy seat. She really has done pretty well. The first night was horrible but it was because she was cold. (I had her in a onesie and she kept coming out of her swaddle.) No new teeth yet. We started baby food on the day she turned 6 months. She is not a fan. She has tried sweet potatoes, squash, peas and carrots and not much stays in her mouth. She's starting to sit up unassisted for a short peri...

Just a few more pictures...The kids loved the DVD player in the conversion van. Did I mention that the van was worth it just for this? EK didn't watch movies but she was pretty happy. :)  AC and cousin M on Grampa's porch...lots of memories for me on this porch. The entire family on the porch. I wish I had gotten a better picture but my battery died after 2 shots. So disappointed in myself for not being more prepared.