Life

Wow...sorry I've been so absent on my blog lately.  I guess I've just been busy living life.  I'll try to get caught up on all of the happenings of our household the past few weeks.  And I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to post today.  Maybe next time....

We had a very nice, busy 4th of July weekend.  The weekend started off with great news....my cousin arrived home safely from Afghanistan on Friday, July 2nd!  It is so great to have him back on US soil!  I've loved seeing pictures of him with his baby girl!  On Saturday we took the kids to Six Flags for the day.  It was hot, but we all had a great time and loved the rides.  Marina and Alexander were big enough to go on a few of the big rollercoasters, but only braved one or two of them!  Xavier loved all the kiddy rides and especially loved the log boat water ride!  His face coming down the hill at the end was priceless and the laughter was awesome!  That kid loves water in any form!!!  On Sunday after church we drove up to a small town in Northern Georgia which is up in the mountains.  They had a very family friendly 4th celebration including a fun parade and a great fireworks display!  It was a late night by the time we got home, but he kids quickly fell asleep in the car on the way home and didn't mind it at all!  We enjoyed a relaxing day at home together on Monday. 

Last weekend Marina had another horse show.  She did well, although it was definitely not her best performance.  Actually, she rode very well but was in the arena with some much older girls (probably 12-14 years old.)  She took 3rd place in her normal 3 classes and then she also rode in 2 other classes with the older, more experienced riders.  She placed 5th and 6th with those girls, but did well and got the experience of being in the arena without her trainer.  This week in her lessons she decided that she wanted to start learning how to jump, so on Wednesday she did just that!  They are taking it slow with her (thankfully!) so it will be a few weeks before she's likely doing in on her own, but she was all smiles on that horse on Wednesday! 

On Monday of this week we encountered a huge storm and our house was struck by lightning.  The power surge flipped 5 of the breakers in the electrical panel and damaged quite a bit in the house.  The TV and CD player are being repaired, the Dish Network system has been repaired, the computer has been repaired, the phone lines and DSL have been repaired, the new power cord for the Wii arrived today and the circuit board on the air conditioning unit for the basement will be replaced on Monday.  That was an expensive storm for us!  Since everything was able to be repaired instead of replaced we will not quite get to the amount of our insurance deductible. 

On Thursday I will have an out-patient surgery done to close the greater saphenous vein in my left leg.  I had the procedure done in Michigan before we moved on my right leg, but they were unsuccessful in closing the vein in my left leg, so we're going to try it again.  I'm hoping for great results and a quick recovery!  I will be under anesthesia, so Mike gets to take the day off to be my chauffeur.  I'll do just about anything to get him a day off!  :O) 

The kids are less than 3 weeks away from the start of the new school year!  I can't believe it!  We will most likely make a trip to Target soon to pick up their new school supplies.  Alexander got his new backpack and lunchbox in the mail this week and we are expecting Marina's any day!  I'm surely not ready to have two of my kiddos in school, but I'm excited for both of them!  They are both very excited and anxious to find out who their teachers will be!  I am looking forward to the one-on-one time I will have with Xavier.  It will be hard to get used to just having him home with me all day everyday! 

I guess that's it from around here!  We are looking forward to lots of time in the pool this weekend.  It's still very hot and very humid down here, and the air conditioning and the pool seem to be our only reliefs!  Have a great weekend!

Love,
Kristen