Large Animal Auction...

The kids sold their goats at the large animal auction for the first time today. They usually sell in the small animal auction and we've been trying to get them moved for the last couple years. This year the goat committee voted and put us in the large animal auction. We are so glad! Last year, the best price our goats got was $1.75 per pound. This year Lexi got $3.00 per pound, Merrit got $2.75 per pound and Makayla got $4.00 per pound. We are so happy!

Update

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, Charlie didn't get the job in Wisconsin. Oh well. Moving on...

Blahhh...

We've been getting ready for the Genesee County Fair all week (well really over the whole summer so we wouldn't have to cram at the last minute, but here we are still cramming). I think we are almost finished with our preparations. We are actually going to camp at the fair grounds this year (1st time) and that means that I have to get the camper ready and figure out a menu and food for the fair too (something I haven't had to do before). Plus, of course, our regular lives don't pause for us to be able to do everything we need to for fair either. It's been a "fun" week. Can't wait until it's over. We've had some fun weather the past two days too, to top it off. It's been rainy and in the 60s. Not what we've been used to this summer, but I'm not complaining. I actually like the rain and cooler weather. I also have an update, sort of, about Charlie's job search. He put in an application for an assistant principal job at the same school in Wisconsin that he taught at 4 years ago. He told me he did it only half thinking that they might call him back. Well they did call him back and he has an interview there on the 13th (of course it's the day our kids show their goats at the fair too). We've been doing a lot of praying and talking about our options in the future and here is kind of what we've been thinking... If Charlie is offered the job and we decide to accept it (we are pretty sure we will accept if it's offered, but not 100% yet), then he will move to Wisconsin and I will stay here with the kids for this school year. We don't think we could sell the house that quickly, and there are several things we need to finish in the house before we feel like it would sell well anyway. We think we could probably get those things finished within a year. Charlie would probably only be able to come home once a month so we'd be skyping a lot (which sucks!). We've thrown around the idea of buying him a small fixer-upper to live and work on and then sell at the end of the year. That way we could potentially have a little more money to put down on a new house and we would have a place to stay with him if we were able to go visit him. We think this might be cheaper than renting an apartment, but haven't really done any serious looking into it yet. We think he could also rent a room from a member of the church there. We still have several friends in that area from when we lived there before. In fact, Charlie is staying the night at the bishop's house the night before his interview. So that's another cheap option for his living accommodations. I only have 10 classes left before I finish my degree. We think it's the best thing for me to just get finished so I don't have to transfer anywhere if we have to move. So this fall I will be taking 5 classes a semester so I can finish and graduate in the spring. I'm a little freaked out since I've been only taking 2 classes at a time, but I think I can handle it. I just might not get the grades I like to get. I will be doing this even if Charlie is in Wisconsin or not, so it's going to be ten times harder without his help. If he doesn't get the job, he'll just remain teaching at Beecher (which he's really ready to be done with) and we will still fix up the house, just in case we need to move next year for an administration job. The kids are glad that we won't have to move quite yet, especially Alexis. They really want to stay in their schools. I don't blame them. I know it's hard to start over at a new school. I think they may not feel so happy to be staying once we've been away from Charlie for a long time (if that becomes the case). So here we are, living in limbo again. Waiting to see how things will play out. I kind of wish I had a better idea of what was going to happen. Oh well.

The faces of Wyatt

Caroline's first birthday

Caroline's first birthday cake

Father's Day pictures

Last month for Father's Day my sister gave me the idea to take pictures of the kids and give them to Les as his present.  This way he would have some updated pictures for his desk at work.  He had already told me he didn't want me to get him anything so, this would be a cute little surprise.  I got the kids dressed and we headed over to my parents house.  I didn't want Les to see what I was doing and this way my mom could help wrangle the kids a little bit.  With the summer we are having, it was of course a very sunny day and the kids kept complaining everytime the sun was in their eyes (like who complains about that..hahaha).  In the end, we were able to get a few very cute pictures.

 

I just love this one!!!  They all look great, but I particularly love Logan's happy face.

In case you can't tell, the kids feet says "We love Dad"

(I was totally bummed because I left that white baby wipe in view for the picture)

We say this shows Audrey's true colors :)  Trying to elbow her brother in the face!

And here is a super sweet one of my Five Beautiful Babies!!!!!

Chicago

The day after we got back from The Falls, we packed the car back up and headed to my sister Lisa's house for a few days.  She relocated from the DC area to the Chicago area last year and we hadn't been to see her yet.  A situation came up for us to go there and so we took advantage and went.  The kids were of course thrilled to be able to see their cousins and I was happy to see my sister.  When we arrived at her house she asked me if I was going to leave the kids with her the next day so that Les and I could go into the city.  I told her that I hadn't planned on it because I of course was not expecting her to watch my kids.  She practically insisted (haha) so we totally took her up on her offer.  As many know, we are experiencing some extreme heat over here so, we didn't stay very long.  It was just to hard to walk around with little Wyatt in tow because we didn't want him to get too overheated.  However, we were able to spend a couple of hours downtown and had a great time.

Les and Wyatt with some fabulous downtown behind them!

Wyatt and I on the Water Taxi

On the Metra heading back to Lisa's house.  (Lisa dropped us off at her local train station and we were able to take the train into the city and not have to worry about driving and parking.)