The never ending post

Where do I even begin? I haven't blogged in so long, I considered not returning to it.

Each day and evening is so busy; it's hard to make this a priority. However, I'm back...with lots of pictures. Many great memories are missing, I'm sure. That's the problem when you don't do this each week. But...here we go...

All of the kids are in school! Holy cow did that go quickly.

First up, they went to sign-in day.

Everleigh's first school picture at Locust Lane--wha-hoo! Kindergarten queen...

 And what it really looks like when I'm trying to make the kids pose for any type of picture....

 Miss Paisley Rian, 3rd grade...

 Madden Michael, First Grader at last...

 Hudson Koehler, 1st grader...

 The Bergie Bunch fighting the sun for a picture of the first time they were all in school together.

 Bros...

 Everleigh has Mrs.Mazurek for Kindergarten. Mrs. Mazurek has had 3/4 of the kids...we LOVE her.

 Madden with Mrs. Gallaher!

 Hudson with Mrs. Laube!

 Paisley with Mrs. Steffel!

 And the real first, full day of school...

Madden, who wants to be an actor

 Paisley, who wants to be a professional dancer (but has since changed her mind to being a teacher)

 Everleigh, who wants to be a police officer

Hudson, who wants to be a catcher for the Brewers

 My loves...

The kids are doing exceptionally well in school. All of them are at or above grade level standards in all areas. They all like school and mornings around our house have gotten much easier. Not easy....but easier. They are role model students and kind to others...just what we hope for. It's fun to see their love for reading and excitement for school. I hope this is always the case. :)

Remember Everleigh? Our shy little girl who doesn't want anyone to look at her and she doesn't want to be involved in anything? Well, she may have found her 'thing'. Ev joined AYSO soccer this fall and was a part of team Strawberries. She has come out of her shell in many ways, this being one. She had a great season...scoring several goals. It was fun watching her! Except of course the weather....ugh...I'm not a fan of sitting in rainy and cold weather. Anything for the kids, right?! :)

Hudson still is obsessed with his Monchichhis. One of them hardly has any fur left on him, he's so loved up.

 And this girl is obsessed with her old man pup. Too bad she' so allergic to dogs, she sure loves them.

 Halloween has come and gone. We carved pumpkins, went to the pumpkin patch and of course did a ton of trick-or-treating.
Once again, Craig out did himself with the costumes. He built Hudson an airplane, complete with a working propeller and on-off switch. He may have missed his calling as an engineer. Or costume designer. ;)
Our Old Man, Pilot, Michael Jackson and Police Officer sure had fun. The weather was beautiful!

 

 

 This fall we've done some pretty cool things. I'm sorry that I don't have the time to download every single picture of every thing we did...but this magician balloon show was awesome. And our own Miss P got to go on stage too!

 Our neighbor and friend, Landon joined us. Look closely, because he and Hudson look very similar. Landon's little sister even messes them up.

 Hockey has started up again! The boys are on Beginner Mites this year. They will begin games in December...yay! It's been fun watching them practice, but I'm ready for some games.
With hockey two nights a week and dance two night a week...plus religion class on Wednesday night...life is hectic. Add in 4 kids who each need to read and do homework each night...not much time for anything else. Like blogging. :) Excuses, excuses, I know.

Last weekend I told the kids that they could each have one friend over to play. Uh...8 kids running and screaming....uh...we might split them up next time. No...it really did go well...but it was crazy around here, which we are used to.

Ciarra, Hailee, Paisley and Evers.

Hudson, Dawson, Madden, Weston.

 So one night Madden asked me where the 'itchy meds' were because he had a mosquito bite. I directed him, but didn't think much of it. The next night, he said he was still itchy. I looked, and sure enough he had a few red dots. Fast forward to the next day...and he looked like this.

 Ugh...guess what we learned. That no vaccination is 100% effective. Sure enough, Madden has chicken pox. I mean, whose child gets chicken pox these days? Apparently mine. Luckily, besides some itching, Madden has felt just fine. The bad part? He's had to miss the whole week of school. Our district has all of next week off, which is good, because I'm not sure if he'll be completely healed by Monday or not.

It's been an interesting fall. We've been blessed with great weather, great kids, medication that is helping Paisley immensely, and wonderful time together as a family.

What hasn't been so great, is that earlier this fall, Craig's mom was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. We found out the day after we had these pictures taken.

We wanted to get pictures taken to celebrate Mike and Bonnie's 45th wedding anniversary. Little did we know, that our lives would be changed just moments after these precious pictures were taken.

 

Since the diagnosis, Bonnie has had a double mastectomy and has started chemo. Her treatments will continue through June. She's in our prayers and know that she's strong enough to get through this.

Family is everything.

Thanks for reading...and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
XOXO,
Mama B