The End!

The end is near...No, I'm not talking about the hype of the "end" like how the Mayan Calendar says that the world will end on December 21, 2012. (Which happens to be one day before Kammie's 8th birthday. C'mon, let the girl have her birthday!) I'm talking about the end of summer.

The heat is slowly leaving us and the air is turning crisp. Mmmmm...I can smell the Autumnness (sp?) (Oh wait, is Autumnness really a word? Probably not, but I'm still using it).

I've been lighting pumpkin and apple cinnamon candles all week. They smell great but somehow I can still smell "kid" in my house. I don't want to smell kid. I want to smell more Fall.

So, what's been going on at Casa de Schanz? Well, you know, the usual stuff. Craziness. Here's the run down:

School started on August 13th. Kenna is in 8th, Koen in 5th, Kammie in 2nd and KJ is doing Pre-K with me. Yep. You read that one right. I'm homeschooling him for Pre-K. It's going great so far. The other three kids are loving their new teachers and classes. Everyone seems to be a good fit.

Kenna has a lot of homework between school and Confirmation class. Plus, she is on the middle school volleyball team. So, practice everyday and games on Thursdays. And her final year of confirmation class started after Labor Day. Basically she's busy.

Koen is playing tackle football with his friends. He plays offense and defense and also kicks the ball for kickoffs. He is in H-E-A-V-E-N!!! Football is his one true love. He likes school okay. But mostly he just wants to hang out with his friends. (He's a clone of me).

Kammie is playing flag football for the third year. She loves it. She loves school. She loves her friends and teacher. There's not much she doesn't love. Well, she doesn't love cleaning her room. But who does?!?!

KJ is hanging out with me everyday. We do "school" 3 days a week using a homeschool program. He seems to be doing great so far. No sports for KJ yet, in the spring he will get to play soccer. It will be his first attempt at team sports.

So that's what's going on right now.

What about the summer?

Let me take a moment to reflect...

I think we actually did everything we wanted to do this summer. Let's see, Jed and I went to Jamaica while the 4Leaf Clovers stayed with grandparents. Grandma took them to the Sedgwick Co. Zoo, Exploration Place, swimming, shopping, on a graveyard scavenger hunt (I know what you're thinking, morbid, right?!?!), swimming again, Grandma's house, our house, softball games, swimming at another pool, and out to eat at nearly every restaurant around.

All the while Jed and I basked in the Jamaican sand and sun. Well, we also climbed Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios, Zip Lined in the Jamaican Jungle, visited Rick's Cafe in Negril (where I jumped off the infamous cliff), and walked the 7 mile white sand beach of Negril. We stayed at The Royal DeCameron in Montego Bay, Jamaica and had an amazing time. But after a week, like every vacation, we were ready to come home. There's nothing like your own bed, in your own home, with your own kids. Love.

What else did we fill our moving-way-to-fast-summer with? Oh yeah, baseball and softball.

Kammie played softball on the Smurfettes with the Mulvane Recreation Commission. She liked it of course, but if you ask Jed and I, it's like watching paint dry. Don't get me wrong, we love watching her play sports, but machine pitch 6, 7 & 8 year old softball is b-o-r-i-n-g!!!! Next year we are getting on a competitive team in Derby. I hope!

Koen played baseball with the Mulvane Wildcats at Southwest Boys Club. Games for his season started way back in March, so I can't really say it is a summer sport, but they play way into July, so, I guess it belongs in the summer category.

Koen had a few tournaments that were nothing but HOT!!! One tournament was in Augusta, KS. His team played two games on Saturday and three games on Sunday. All in 100+ degree temperatures. Yikes! They were able to take 2nd place though! Go wildcats!

The Wildcats played in the state tournament in July. It was our first experience with state baseball and I can say overall (even though, it too was 100+ degrees) we enjoyed it.

Baseball is a great sport, but I have to say, I am always happy when it ends for three reasons. 1) Baseball season is so dang long. 2) It means we have a 2-3 week break before the next sport begins. And 3) Football is that next sport!

More fun the 4Leaf Clovers had this summer:

Tubing on Lake Murray in Ardmore, OK.

Koen experienced Worlds of Fun for a friends birthday.

We went to a pool/beach house party with swimming, tubing, canoeing, surf paddling and other outdoor fun stuff.

Koen went to Wyoming and Montanna with Jed's parents. (Yep, you read that one right too.) I let my 10 year old son take a 17 day trip with his grandparents and 8 year old cousin, Hunter. It ended a few days early because they were ready to come home. (The grandparents were ready, not the boys!)

And that, my friends, was The Schanz Family 6's summer and beginning to Autumn.

Like I always say, I'll try to update more often than I am. But truthfully, I'm just too busy living life!

God Bless,

Melissa