Let's play a little catch-up!

So it has been awhile since my last blog post. Seems to be getting a more frequent opening line of my posts. I suppose that means we have been busy. I should say it is because we have been busy and not "I suppose", because I know the business to be a fact.

When I last left off it was October, and now we are close to the end of the year. What's been going on?

• Halloween came and went. Kaylee was Alice in Wonderland. Although at some point she renamed herself the Queen of Hearts daughter. I'm not sure why, as Alice is not related to the Queen of Hearts, but who am I to question one's costume. Ainsley went as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. This was by my mistake:). She originally wanted to be Dorothy, however while looking online to order the costumes she found a Minion costume and changed her mind. It wasn't available at the time so I waited until the website estimated it would be available, went back to check and there it was. The only problem was I remembered to go back and check, but I went back and checked the wrong costume. When the costumes came in Ainsley was excited, as she had forgotten she had changed her mind too, however she soon remembered that wasn't her final choice. But she was good about it and decided she could be a Minion next year. We shall see if that stands:)....

• November seem to fly. We had the Jingle Bell walk/run (Brad ran while the girls and I walked with their school and our Daisy troop that I co-lead) winter dance recital, Thanksgiving, Grandpa Bentley's birthday, Kaylee's fall music concert at school, Christmas decorating and other various activities. I guess it is a way to get us ready for an even busier December.

• With December here I thought things might seem a little more calm...I know I'm nuts, but remember how quickly I forgot the costume change for Halloween.  We were going to dance 2 nights a week prior to the winter dance recital. December would bring a break in dance, but a start to basketball. Ainsley started basketball which meant practice once a week. Still less then 2 nights at dance, however with all of the Christmas activities incorporated into December they seem to replace our nights at dance and we had an added activity of practice. Kaylee's Brownie troop rang bells for Salvation Army, we had our annual Deck the Halls event at school that I co-chair. We also had our December holiday Daisy meeting and Kaylee's Brownie Troop had their meeting. We had Ainsley's school music concert, spirit week at school, Brad was in Texas for a week, girls room parties at school and even a couple of bouts with sickness. We had the extended Duffy Christmas, cookie baking and gingerbread house making and still lots of fun activities to come!

• With all of our business we still find time for fun, holiday movies, intrigue into our Elf's antics and other fun traditions. Winter break is here, presents are wrapped and under the tree, Santa's videos have been viewed and we found out the Kaylee and Ainsley both made the nice list this year...whew! Life is busy but life is good!

Family Photos 2013

Normally I like to do photos of our family in May. That's the month the girls celebrate turning another year older. It's always fun to compare the new pics to all the years before and know that the majority of them were taken in May, exactly one year before. This year, though, I decided to do some fall photos. Something a little different.

In the spring when the photographer I love to use announced she was booking fall sessions I hurried to schedule ours. It was a good thing I did because my photographer is now doing weddings, so her first 2 weekends in October were already booked. We opted for a week night and planned to meet our at Soldiers and Sailors Home. We did that spot a couple years ago in the spring. It was a windy spring:). Thankfully it was less windy this time. I opted for colors of purple, grey, black and white, as there are a lot of browns and red brick on the buildings out there, as well as a lot of trees. I was happy to see the trees were in full bright, fall, colors.

Here are some of our photos:

Little Miss Sassy! Ainsley at 6 years old.

 

Brad and his girls

 

Our family

 

Sisters

 

My first baby, who is not so baby anymore and is growing up too fast, Kaylee at age 8.

These were only a few. I have so many more I loved. Even some silly face ones, which are up there with my top favorites! One of them is making the Christmas card this year:). I love our photographer, Laura Elliott. She does such a great job and is so easy to work with. She is quick in getting our CD completed, usually within the week. You can't ask for more than that. If you are looking for a great photographer I suggest you check out www.lauraelliottphotography.com.

Simpler Times

School is back in session. Third grade and First grade seem to be moving along.

Kaylee who is always one to tow the line when it comes to behavior and school expectations, continues to keep with those traits. As she gets older friendships can be harder. Friends can say or do more "hurtful" things, or at least you feel as though they are. Kaylee wanting to participate in all the things her friends are, but often is scared in doing something new. Never 100% sure and struggles to make her choice. Does she try something new and face her fear? Does she avoid a new experience and the feeling of uncertainty but risk a feeling of regret? 

Some days she is on top of the world and everything has gone her way. Other days it's as if the world is out to get her and no one wants to be her friend or so it seems to someone with a mind that seems to exaggerate an experience, i.e. one person said something unkind to her and her mind says "No one likes you and everyone was making fun of you." All feelings I too well understand. 

Draws me back to simpler times. Times when she was excited because we were on the beach in January.

Playing play-dough

Painting with water colors.

Happy to be dry and fed.

Then I think of my First grader. The one does not lack confidence and has a little defiance streak added in. Just as well intentioned as her older sister, but doesn't always feel rules, such as work quietly at your desk and not talk with your neighbor, pertain to her. In Ainsley's class their behavior plan is color based. Green is good, everyone starts on green each day. Throughout the day you may move up or down and back up or down again. We've seen our share of yellows, and even an orange, coming home on her paper. All for talking. 

She tries for those greens, and even for the higher colors, each day. So determined she is, but she is also a talker. Apparently a lot of the class enjoys talking. So the teacher has had to be stern to set the tone and get these talkers in check. I know it's just talking, but after someone asks you repeatedly to not do something and you continue to do so it becomes a little disrespectful. Being able to sit quietly and listen when you are bored or uninterested is a life skill. I know at 6 it's not that crucial of a life skill, but if we don't start working on these now when will they come?

Last week it was only yellow one day. Such a proud accomplishment and it should be because I know how hard she has to work on not talking (after all I was a talker too!).

I think about the simpler times:

Getting piggy back rides from Grandpa.

Playing with your older sister and getting a kiss.

Helping to decorate the house. 

Playing with duckies in the water table.

As I think of those times I realize that as parents there really are no simpler times. Now those times seem like simpler times but in those moments I was worried about schedules, staying healthy, sharing, napping, and other developmental milestones. In those moments what seems simple now did not seem so simple then. As my children grow and get older there will be new worries and struggles. Things like Kaylee being weary about trying new things or Ainsley tying to get green will seem like issues from simpler times.

Although our struggles as parents will change as our children do. The one thing that will remain consistent is our love for our children. Our commitment to them and our hope and belief for and in them. Those things are great in feeling but simple in idea.

Blog Overhaul

Perhaps "overhaul" is not the most accurate word to use, it may be extreme, but I couldn't think of a better one to use. I've been complacent in my blogging. I do the occasional "catch-up" post to do some random updating on the on-goings of our lives. Which is good. I like documenting things on here. Life gets busy and it's a nice way to look back on memories.

I also love to write and lately I don't feel I've done well at that. I read other blogs and am inspired by their thoughtful and seemingly more meaningful topics. I did debate on starting a different blog to capture what I hope will be my more thoughtful posts. I thought about doing it and keeping myself anonymous. I'm always one to worry about possibly offending someone by what I write, however I would never intentionally do that and just decided that if someone were to be offended by my posts they could simply stop reading.

Don't get me wrong I'm not planning to get all crazy and turn into a post extremist for sake of being controversial. I just want to utilize my blog to not only keep everyone updated on what we have going on, but I also want to do more "writing", more so then just "captioning".

I hope to be more frequent in my posts but we will see how that goes:)

Sadie Girl

When we got Belle our hope was that she and our other lab at the time, Abby, would have a couple of years together. We thought it would be good company for Abby during the day and Abby could also be a help in us training Belle.  Unfortunately about 9 months after getting Belle, we lost Abby due to a tumor. She was 10.

Belle, although a lab, was a much different dog then Abby.  Both sweet dogs, but Belle was just a little more destructive. I thought after Belle we wouldn't get another dog, let alone another dog while we had Belle. Now Belle is almost 3 years old. She still has her moments but overall she has grown up quite a bit. She loves playing with other dogs! So began the discussion on getting another dog. I had always liked Labradoodles and Goldendoodles, but quite frankly they are very expensive. I couldn't justify spending that much money for a dog. So I started looking for different types of dogs. I found a website that has all different types of dogs. You can search by dog type or location. Just out of curiosity I looked to see if there were any labradoodles listed and I found some. One of the people who had listed labradoodles had them listed for 1/2 the price that I had found them anywhere else.

After some emails back and forth, Brad called the lady and talked with her. We found out that they have both the mom and dad as family pets and just like the dogs. They aren't into the show dogs or hardcore breeding. They live on a farm in southern Illinois. We decided this would be a good time to add a new member to our family, and a dog from southern Illinois would be the perfect member!

Yesterday Brad and I got up and left our house around 5:30 a.m. to go pick up our newest addition.

When we got there we met the puppies that hadn't been picked up yet and the parents. They were all so cute!

We made the drive back and introduced Sadie to our circus:) She was a little standoffish at first but she has started to become acclimated and fit right in.

Playing with her new toy from her Mee-Maw.

Rest time!

Exploring the yard.

Meeting her new "sisters".

Welcome Sadie!

Back to School

We are back school! Two weeks under our belts. It's been a nice transition into starting school and our school routine. Dance doesn't start for another week and Daisies/Brownies in a couple more weeks. It's nice to have some space in between the starting times of all of our school year activities.

The girls were excited to go back. Kaylee into 3rd grade this year and Ainsley into 1st. Not sure how that happened, but here we are:) Our school has a Back to School Night the day before so we were able to take all the school supplies in then, which is nice so they don't have to drag them all the first day. I asked the girls if they wanted me to drive them to school the first day but they said they wanted to ride the bus.

Can't say I blame them for wanting to ride with their friends.

Here are some first day photos:

Our 3rd Grader!

Our 1st Grader

Sisters

Here's to a great school year!!!

Let's Play Catch-Up

Today Brad and I are were at the store and what did we see??? School supplies! Yep, that's when you know the 4th of July has come and gone. Time flies. I've been thinking of random blog posts I wanted to do and decided to roll it all into one. So what have we been up to? What's going on with the Busing Family? Let me fill you in:

• Kaylee and Ainsley have been taking a cooking class this summer. Kaylee has done that before but this was Ainsley's first class. They have really enjoyed it. This week they will also start a baking class.
• Ainsley has been playing baseball. Brad has been coaching her again this year. It's so fun to watch them together. Many of Ainsley's games have started at 8 this summer, which has been a little late for her, but she has handled it like a trooper!
• We have tried to camp several times this summer but every time it has rained on us, so hopefully soon before summer is over. The girls like to camp at Mom's, down by the pond. 
• The girls have been able to spend a lot of time swimming at the pool this summer. One night after work last week we took the girls to State Farm Park. I couldn't believe how well they were doing jumping off the diving board and going down the big slides. They are definitely little fishes.
• Brad and I got a chance to head up North with Brian and Sarah to go watch Dave Matthews Band. We saw them in Alpine Valley. It was a fun time. He really does a great show. 
• I recently "Googled"-"fear of garage sales" because I think I have a fear of them. I'm not so much scared of them but whenever I see ads for garage sales, Facebook posts about garage sales, or even drive by and see them I get annoyed. I don't know why. I'm not a garage sale person, for many a reason and honestly I guess I just don't get it. Is it a fear? Maybe not, but I was looking at some sort of diagnosis....other than annoyance.
• Things I've been working on lately:
• Not holding grudges
• Focusing more on those in our lives who take an active interest in our girls and include us in things, not out of obligation, but just because, asking to see us just to see us, kind of thing. Rather than focusing on why someone(s) isn't. Although that is easier said then done. But at the end of the day you can't control everyone, it is what it is.
• Trying to defuse my defense mechanism of sarcasm. I tend to hide behind my sarcasm and put up a hard exterior, because I like to think I'm less likely to have my feelings hurt by someone not liking me because I put off the vibe that I don't care if they like me. In reality I use those mechanisms because I worry that they don't like me and it causes me anxiety to not feel like I'm in control.
• Using the coping tools I've learned to aide in controlling my anxiety so that I don't miss out on something because I've caved to my anxiety and ended up not going, or getting myself worked up before going somewhere because of the amount of people that I think might be there. 
• I've been thinking about our annual January trips to Florida. I love these trips with my Mom and Tim, for many reasons. I will do them as long as I can. Some day when my kids are grown I will carry this tradition on. Every year we will do a family vacation together. Hopefully if they are married and have children it will be a tradition that brings us together each year and one that they will enjoy as much as I do. 
• The girls have caught Monster's University and we all went to see Despicable Me 2 this past weekend. The girls loved both movies. Seems like the summer for kids movies this year.
• We enjoyed the 4th. We had the annual 4th of July parade. Both girls rode in it, Kaylee on the Brownie float and Ainsley on the Daisy float. Tim let us use his tractor and trailer for the Daisy float and Brad drove it. Turned out to be quite the family affair. 

I think for now that's about it. There have been lots of sidewalk chalk, bubbles, bike riding, fishing, playing outside, staying up late, going to parks, eating popsicles and ice cream and all of the other fun summer activities. We still have a good chunk of summer left, but I know sooner then it seems the school year will be upon us again. So until then we will continue to stay busy and make the most of all our time.

Thank Goodness!!!

School is out for the summer!!! Unfortunately for me...work is not:(. We are fortunate that we have been able to find summer companions for our girls. It works out great because they are able to take them to and from activities during the day. Since we live outside of Bloomington we can't register for summer activities until a week after Bloomington residents. When you have the flexibility to sign your children up for day classes you still have a good chance at getting into the classes you want, even if you have to wait a week to register.

They are able to spend their days going to parks, pools, the library or even just hanging out at home if the choose.

The last two summers we were fortunate to have a friend's daughter, but alas after her first year of college she is busy, busy this summer with classes, her other job, etc and it wasn't going to work out. Enter stress mode:). We were lucky because my cousin Danielle stepped up and was ready for action:). Alas she too will go to college at the end of summer. Hopefully it will work out for her to come home and hang out with us next summer, but there is a chance it may not, and yes I already stress at the thought of what we will do next year (it's a lifelong flaw I've had, I can never just be happy in the now, always worrying about what's around the corner.).

We are so fortunate during the school year to have our parents here. They are always willing to fill in on school breaks and split up the time with Brad and I. While I would love to have a job that followed the same schedule as the girls school, I don't. Knowing that our parents are there to help is a huge relief. One I don't have to stress over.

I hope to one day be able to do the same for my grandchildren. I tell Brad, often, that I will need to retire earlier then he because I will need to be able to watch my grandkids:). I know one day my girls will realize how truly lucky they are to have such awesome grandparents! They will know how blessed they have been to form relationships with them and truly know them for who they are.

I know how blessed we are to have that in our life. There are so many who don't for various reasons. I thank goodness, each day, that we are blessed with this.

Busy, Busy May.....whew!

May is always, and will always be a busy month. We have a lot of family birthdays, there's Mother's Day, end of the school year activities, and other randomness. It's busy, tiring, exhausting, expensive, but always fun!

Kicking off the May madness is Ainsley's bday.

Be prepared to be dazzled by her new magic tricks.

With May here it means summer is right around the corner, which means we need to get the boat ready.

The girls had a joint friend birthday party. They were able to have it at the clubhouse where Brian and Sarah live. 

Ainsley and her friend Addison.

Kaylee's birthday.

The day after Kaylee's birthday was the Brownie and Daisy, Mother/Daughter, camp out. It was at Camp Peairs.

Some of the Daisy Troop.

Most of the Brownie Troop.

Kaylee and Ainsley's Family Birthday was an Owl theme this year.

Birthday girls.

May will wrap up this week. One last day of school, one last family birthday to celebrate and a dance recital!