Once upon a time I was a blogger.....

I am not a good blogger. I am excellent at facebook though! I just looked back and realized I have not posted since June. I will give a quick update for those who follow us on our blog.

Carson turned a year old in July, I was so excited to finally have a summer birthday to have a party outside, but the weather did not cooperate so we were inside like all of the girls' parties. Hopefully next year will be nicer and we can head outside. He is walking and working hard to keep up with the girls. He tries to run, but is not quite ready for that. Crawling is still faster. He is such a sweet baby and his smile lights up the room. After a feeding episode the doctor had him tested for allergies. We found out he is allergic to peanuts, egg whites and dog dander. I guess it is a good thing we don't have a dog anymore! We have been making adjustments to what we eat and keep in the house, everyone has been good sports about giving up peanut butter.

Allison is definitely in her terrible twos. She has tons of energy and is quite sassy! Her speech is getting much better, she seems to be saying new words everyday. She began seeing a speech therapist this summer and started preschool yesterday. Her preschool is a special ed program and will focus on her speech delay. Her therapist seems to think that one year of speech preschool will do her a ton of good. If she still needs therapy next year she will just go to school for speech an hour a week, but she may not need it if she continues to improve. She loved having the girls home this summer and got to go to school herself yesterday, but today she is missing her big sisters. She had a great summer playing outside. She would be out there all day everyday if it was possible. She loves to jump on the tramp, play in the sandbox and on the swing set. She loved to take walks through the neighborhood...no stroller, she is a big girl. She would hit daddy up for a walk as soon as he walked in the door.

Katie started fifth grade yesterday...I just can't believe that one! This summer she played softball and went to basketball camp. Basketball starts in November and she is currently playing "Fall Ball" softball. She went to Lake Ann this summer for the second time, she had a blast and can't wait for next year. She was very excited to start school, she loves her new teacher and couldn't wait to get back into it. This morning she rode her bike to school all by herself. I was a little nervous, but am learning to let go. I need to give her more credit, she can do alot more than I let her. This year she wants to join the orchestra. We have a parent meeting next week to get her instrument and all that stuff. She wants to play the violin.

Jess started 8th grade yesterday. One more year until high school...yikes! She was very busy this summer with softball. We all were in fact! She played little league and then little league all-stars into July. All summer she played on her travel team and that took up alot of our week-ends. We spent fourth of July in Canton for a huge softball tournament. It was alot of fun and she loved every minute of it. When try-outs rolled around she decided she wanted to try out for some other teams. She had lots of fun and made great friends on the Storm, but she wanted to try a more competitive team. She was the number one catcher for them and got tons of playing time and it totally paid off. In August Sean was fielding calls from other clubs and coaches inviting her to try out. She decided to play for the West Michigan Sabercats. On this team she will be sharing the catching responsibilities with another catcher. She is really excited. She loves to catch, but knows she needs to develop at some other positions for high school. She also went to a couple of volleyball camps. Junior High volleyball tryouts are this week. I am a little nervous. She tried out last year, but did not make it. She worked on it this year, so hopefully she has a better chance. She is still in band this year, but has dropped choir. She decided going forward she did not want to do the zero hour at school. If you are in two music classes you have to be at school at 7 am for zero hour. She did it all last year, but didn't want to do it this year. She enjoys band more than choir, so the decision was made. Works for us too....getting her there by 7 am every morning was tough. especially in the winter.

This summer Sean coached Jessica's Little League and All-Star teams, so he was at the fields alot with the girls. Now he is buckling down for the Griffin's season. The home opener is about 5 weeks away....crazy, seems like the season just ended.

I am subbing AGAIN this year. I know I said I wasn't, but I am. I had an interview in August, but did not get the job. Starting to feel like I will be subbing forever. Not really what I wanted to do with my $50,000 education, but that's where I am at.

Sean and I enjoyed a great week-end in Detroit while the big girls were at Lake Ann. We took a vacation to Silver Lake as a family in August. We went to Jellystone Campground. We use to go every year, but haven't been up there in a while. It was a ton of fun with the babies. Allison was trilled to be outside all of the time and enjoyed doing the activities and swimming in the pool. One night my parents came out for dinner and we took the big girls mini-golfing. Another day Charity came out with Max and Abigail. We had a great time!

Well...we have started another school year and are close to starting another hockey season! I will try to keep everyone updated with schedules and concerts and all that jazz...but as I have proven I am not really good at the blogging thing! Check us out on facebook if you are on facebook, I seem to do better there! If you aren't on facebook....get there!