UPDATE MANIA!!

Ok, so after almost two months of not blogging I have much to tell, so...I will just fill you in with the highlights. The last part of August we were going to receive a special visit from Austin's parents for the first time since we have lived here. A few weeks before their arrival Austin got a phone call from his parents saying they were not going to be able to make it. Bob was going to be going in for a Sextuple Bypass Surgery. So.... basically he wouldn't be able to make the flight. I am happy to report that he doing well. Hopefully in the future they will be able to reschedule a trip out here. Around the same time we got another call from Austin's mom who told us our brother in law had been in a motorcycle accident. He had quite a bit of damage and was in ICU for quite a few days. Although there was nothing we could do being so far away, we had lots of prayers extended to our Father in Heaven. We are so grateful for both Dave, and Bob's recoveries! They are still not 100% but, they are on their way back. The power of prayer is real, and I know that the Lord has his hand in ALL THINGS. I believe my last post consisted of telling of Payton's bully at school. Well, after a few weeks of trying to figure out what was wrong with Payton, we finally pinpointed it. After her first week of school I told Payton that I would be leaving for a few days to go to Cleveland, Ohio for a GIRLS WEEKEND!!! She seemed to take the news ok, but after that point, she didn't want to go to school. So after much discussion between Austin and I, we decided to take the whole crew up to Cleveland. We did have to make one pit stop though, Cincinnati, Ohio. That is where we picked my mom up. She flew in for the girls weekend, and also to do a conference down where I live. So... after a fabulous weekend ( I will be posting about that as soon as I get pictures from my dad) we returned home with Grandma Colleen. I thought for sure that Payton would be ok now going to school. But... she still hesitated. Here is my conclusion...She was initially upset because she was experiencing something called separation anxiety. (very common in children starting school) Also... I think it runs in the blood. I dont' know how attached Austin was to his mom, but I sure was to mine. I remember every time she would leave I would sleep with her robe. So... poor Payton didn't have a chance. Now even with us being back home with my mom, she was still very reserved about the idea of school. Everyday she would ask me, and still does "Mom, what are you going to do today?" I figured out that she is afraid she is missing out on something fun at home. So I tell her "Well, I will probably clean, and Jaxon and Ashton are going to clean too, and have naps." So... life at home doesn't sound so fun! I am happy to report Payton loves school. So much so, the other morning I thought I would be sly and sleep in and take her late to school. Well it doesn't work out so well when we look out our front door and she can see her school. She saw all of her school friends being dropped off, and she wasn't even ready, she was still in her PJ's. So.... she came in to my room and got upset and told me she was going to be late. I guess I can't get away with that!! Such a responsible little girl! To make it fun for Payton at school we decided to make treats for her class one day. These are the treats: Now... On to Austin. Oh wait... Who is Austin? I once was married to a guy named Austin!! Ok, just kidding. But it is kind of true. Austin is in rotations now for medical school. He has already gone through, Emergency Medicine, Psych, Pediatrics, and is now currently on OBGYN. So in the last four months I see Austin on Friday nights, Saturday, and Sunday. He leaves Sunday nights usually and will head back to his dorm room. At this point in his rotations, he is still undecided about which specialty he will want to pursue, but it is leaning towards OBGYN. He is loving his rotation now. He will be on call for the next 2 weekends. So.... I will basically not see him for 3 weeks. Unless... I go visit him. But it is better this way. He gets to focus and spend all of his spare time studying. This will probably continue for the next year and a half unless we can come up with a new idea. The kids miss him. We went to visit our friends the Pierson's the other day before they moved, and Stewart came in and said "Its obvious that Austin is never around, Jaxon just asked me.. Are you my daddy?" We started laughing. When Austin comes home on the weekends we try and have as much fun as possible. I try and make sure there is no work to be done so all we need to worry about is playing. A few weeks ago we had A SLEEP OVER. I know... I felt like I was in high school again. But we really did. We went up to the Holler and slept over and had a blast. That is old news though, because every time we go up there we have a blast. I am even going up there tonight to have another sleep over (minus my husband). But Austin had his first experience "critter huntin'" and caught himself a squirrel to make squirrel gravy. He loved it!!! He just has to get the lingo down, explained to me about the skinning of the squirrel but called it "de-furring the squirrel." We spent the Saturday going on a four wheeling expedition. We went to the top of the mountain to see the entire valley. We went on a little hike to see Sand Cave. What a beautiful hike, and beautiful day. The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast, the only thing for me that was a little off, was wearing flip flops on a hike. Not that I intended for it to be that way, I just forgot normal tennis shoes. My muscles were sore in very interesting places the next day. Here are some pictures of our fabulous adventure: