You know it's gonnna be a long long time....

Good gravy it's been a while.  I've decided to pick back up though- and maybe not keep trying to go back and update.  Let's just start fresh.  

As a quick back up... we have moved yet again.  But this time we are back in Idaho.  In another small town.  I kinda like it.  

We are renting a little old farm house sandwiched between the highway (ugh- I know I swore I'd never live on the highway) and the Snake River.  We have the most gorgeous views of the river and valley off of our deck- I'm sure there will be pictures to come.  Seriously.  So gorgeous.  Our yard is massive- more than we will ever know what to do with and the kids couldn't be happier with it.  They have several "secret hideouts" and tons of room to play ball.  

Shaun is working across the highway for Sinclair Oil- kind of a turn around in careers right?  He's been a cabinet maker, a teacher, a bike technician, a tractor salesman and now he's the manager at a gas terminal.  He's a man of many talents- what more can I say?

My kids are loving the schools here...  Both boys are here at the local elementary school- 1st and 4th grades... unbelievable right??  I can vividly remember things about my 4th grade year- I'm not entirely sure how I have a son old enough to be there too.  But Ty has loved it.  We were having a lot of problems at our old school with Ty and other boys and behavior... but it has all gone away here.  It's like he turned over a new leaf and I kind of like "new Ty".  He has some great buddies and his grades are amazing.  He's currently playing baseball (right like that was going to go away) and is super excited for the season to really get going.  

Ry is coming right out of his little shell here.  He's been called a leader in his classroom and we have only heard the very best about him from his teachers.  Everywhere we go- Ryan knows someone or some little kid is pulling on his shirt telling him hello.  On the baseball field they call him "Big Ryan" and he just nods his head with a little grin- taking it all in stride.  

Poor Kate ended up in preschool again.  Shaun and I had a LOT of conversations about this- and decided that we couldn't in good conscience send Kate to Kindergarten this year- knowing that she would then only be 17 when she graduated from high school.  I know that there are others out there that were in this same situation and ended up sending them anyway- it probably worked out fine.  But we are not those people.  We enrolled Kate into a preschool/gymnastics class three times a week and she is also thriving.  She is so excited that she has figured out a front roll and has almost figured out a cartwheel- since Kate has the balance and coordination of a stick- this is HUGE!  I wish I had videoed her when she first tried the summer-salt... I thought I was going to die laughing.  She ended up with both her legs wrapped around her teacher's head... and she wouldn't let go.  

As for me... I'm settling in to life as a country girl.  It's definitely different than what I'm used to... but at the same time- I love the room to breathe and the room to create who it is that I want to be.  I'm taking more pictures these days and in my spare time (I'm sorry- what's that?) I'm substituting in our local schools.  I just finished an 8 week stint in the kindergarten- it was SO much fun.   

Anyway- I'm hoping to be better at putting up pictures of our ever growing kiddos and share some of our stories and thoughts as we embark on this new adventure.