Just a week until school starts. The kids are having to go to bed a little earlier now then they could before. They are so picked on.

This week should be fairly easy for us as we have the clothes bought and the shoes ready. New socks (theirs had holes in them and while we bought them white they now belong in the darks pile) and a new experience. Patrick starts the middle school. I think I will push to home school him.

Ireland starts the 5th grade with a good teacher. I think I will try to home school her.

Liam starts 3rd grade with Sister Anderson. She will probably ask me to home school him.

Ben starts kindergarten this year and he is so excited and I think I want to home school him.

Shea is still only 2 but I think I will send her to school-She wants to be busy somewhere else. Just kidding. But she is learning her ABC's and her vowels. She also can count to 3 and count from 3 to 1 by herself.

We are slowly coming to terms with the new school year starting. I am not so excited to have the kids gone this year and I am having my own issues with them leaving every year. One day it will be for good and that does not sound so desirable.

On a lighter side it has been a fun summer with Ireland and Liam just starting swimming lessons with a small group in the next town. They will learn alot and I am glad they like it. The teacher is as willing to teach as they are willing to learn. That is good for us. I send Shea to play in their super yard (full of toys and real boats that have been dug into the ground for kids to play in) while I read a book. It is a great set up.

Patrick has just discovered the Tennis Shoe Nephites book series and will have no problems reading the 10 book series before the 27th. Yea Wonder how many pages he can read this month?? I guess we will see. Shea has slowly started using words. Seems like her favorite words are "moph" aka move, "say" aka stay(not to be confused with say aka Shea), and "mine". Patrick seems to be sure she will learn the ABC's before she is 3. She is well on her way. She also makes all of the movements to the songs "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "The Foolish Man", "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree". So that is how we spend our nights at dinner time. Singing church songs.

Our little world is pretty perfect right now. Hopefully, we can stay that way for a long time!!

This week we are finally kinda ready for the 24th of July celebrations. Our town has a huge celebration that starts 2 weeks before the 24th even gets here. So, Sean and I and a couple of friends are on our way to get the parade under control. We love doing the parade and love seeing all of the entrants and their floats. Ireland and her cousins also ride in the parade and throw candy at a pace fitting any race car-you know fast and furious. We love having all of the family here and finally this year we have enough room to accommodate everyone. So we will have all of Sean's family come and hang out for the weekend. The part we could do with out is the sirens going off at 6 am in the morning along with the cannons!

But we are looking forward to a fun filled day with lots of food, entertainment, and family. Hopefully, Baby Shea will cooperate with us and be good-no naughtiness! But I think we have too high of expectations on that one for this year! More pictures when we have them.

I must say that one thing that I find incredible humorous is who the Lord puts together as a "family". That is where you can put that saying "You cant pick your family" comes into play. (rolling my eyes and sighing loudly)

But, I will also say I am grateful for my children and my wonderful husband-who I did pick! Getting through this summer has proven to be a task in many more ways then one. But I think those "tasks" are done.

Well after almost 3 days of seclusion I can honestly say that I would be one boring person with out my family. I would have to provide all of my own entertainment and then go alone to that place to be entertained.


WHAT???? Why in the world would I ever want that? They provide all of the entertainment I need and I am never alone. I like the family thing more.

Busy bee summer

Its been a while but we have been busier then bees. We started baseball and have decided that while the older two kids are really good they might not want to do baseball next year. I think that is a great idea. Last week Patrick caught an awesome pop-fly and Ireland is pitching an inning or two per game. They are going to stick to golf once a week and tennis. They love those. Liam loves baseball and just goes out to have fun. i am glad he dosent take losses personal and is there to just play the game. Sean likes to be the coach.

Between the time of signing them up and starting I was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. Eww. What does that mean? Lots of dr. visits, body scans and blood work. Thank goodness we have insurance to cover most of it. They took the thyroid, 1 parathyroid and a few lymphnodes on May 14, and I did have cancer in most of what they took out. Right now, I am sitting at my moms in her basement on the computer radiating. Not merely because of my beauty but of the radioactive iodine that has a 12 foot span all around me. So, yesterday I could truly say I was "hot" and had a little blue pill. The hardest part is the diet you have to be on. . .no eggs, soy or soy by-product , iodized salt, yellow or red food coloring, no dairy or prepackaged food. No fish product, no butter or margarine and no prepackaged foods. That should pretty much cover everything you can buy that has any taste. I eat fruits and veggies, 4 ounces of meat per day and 4 ounces of grain or pasta a day. Thats it. Grrr. I have been almost a month on this diet and inspite of the awesomeness of the diet you dont lose weight because with no thyroid you dont burn any calories. That is the control center. It also controls body temperature and hormones. Nice huh. Monday, hopefully, I can start the medication and with in a day or so I will have a surge of energy as well as some insomnia. Its a night and day turn around. I guess with all of the sleep you have had you cant not start going the other direction. I am happy for this because it explains alot of my tiredness in the last few months. Sean is happy too for the change as he has watched me go down hill and we both had no explaination for it. He wins the brownie points of the lifetime because he would come home for lunch and I would have to say "I haven't done one thing all day" he would reply with "good hope you relaxed"-now looking back he was somewhat concerned too. I love having answers to questions.

A Snowy Spring April...

So here is the latest on the Sean & Shauna Rawlinson family:

Shea's birthday was yesterday. Grandma and Grandpa Rawlinson came over on friday morning. Dad and I played 9 holes of golf in the morning, which was lots of fun! It's been a while since I've been golfing... We got back in time for Grandma and Grandpa to watch the kids while Shauna and I ran up to Provo to a doctors appointment. The most amazing thing about that is that when we got back, Grandma and Grandpa were still alive! We then had a birthday celebration for Shea, where the kids had a lot of fun bonking her on the head with her gifts and watching/helping her open them. We always love it when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit! =)
We're finally starting to get some grass poking through in the front yard. We spread a bunch of seed a couple of weeks ago, and have been keeping it wet between snowfalls. Shauna spread more seed and a bunch of topsoil this past week, and we are now seeing the rewards of our hard work. We have also been working on the rest of the yard by cleaning up the extra wood from the construction, and cutting it up and stacking it for winter. We have a couple of mounds of dirt to take care of still, but have a good friend who is willing to let us borrow his small tractor to clean stuff up. We hope to get a lot done this summer, but I'm sure we will be improving the yard for as long as we are in the house. :)
Today, we were very lazy. I almost fell asleep twice before the kids woke me up... Shauna got a much needed nap. She has been SOOOO positive. It's almost hard to keep up with her!

We were running to the post office and Ben said to me . . "Do you remember when I won the game the other day-not today"

SWEET! My kids are sooo cool!

Kids are so funny. And to watch them figure things out is even funnier because you can almost see that light bulb light up-

Last night the guys were playing Settlers Of Catan and Patrick kinda bailed out of the game because he wasn't having fun-really I think he wasn't on the winning end of the game. BUT Benjamin came up and it turns out his game was completely different then Patricks game. He kicked trash and boy was dad surprised when he counted up the points and realized he had lost too-but Ben was high as a kite. That was cool-like a little light bulb.

Last week some reality set in and kinda hit us harder then we were ready for. Liam got his Bobcat award and we were so excited. He is almost done with his Wolf badge and if we just plug away a little more then he will have it long before his birthday. I think we will be able to wrap it up at Day camp. We are also going camping in May and will be able to do much more with him to get a few arrow points. Maybe some belt loops. Who knows! I do know he looks much better in his blue scout shirt then I do in my manly brown shirt.

Patrick is the other one that is pushing us to the brink of growing up-He is almost 12. The really cool thing is that everyone has worked with us enough to get him to be able to go to the temple on his birthday to do baptisms. Whew. I think he is happy to be able to go with his buddies. I do hope that he can be calm enough on his first excursion with the youth that he can feel the coolness of being there.

It is frustrating that Ireland is so helpful that we dont want her to go to grandmas for the weekend or anywhere for the night. But we make sure if she is invited and she has been on the right track then she can go. She is so great with the younger kids and I really like it. Strike that I love it. Now if we can get her to clean her bedroom!!!

Shea on the other hand is just frustrating. She can find more ways to be so busy that it seems that she is on a mission to break me. She is winning. But man when she wants to sit with you and brings all three (yes three now) blankets onto the chair and sits and sucks her thumb. Its such an awesome feeling to know she wants to be with you and she is such an angel. *sigh* this is the part that makes you want tomorrow to get here.

Benjamin is just Benjamin aka Double D Towel. Where did he get this nickname?? we dont know but it has stuck for more then a year. He is so alieve and FULL OF ENERGY. I feel better when he is around because he is such a happy spirit!!

The sun is shining and the birds are singing-It really feels like spring here in this little valley. This weekend will be rainy and snowy but by Tuesday we should be back to a wonderful spring day and a light evening with the kids playing in the yard. Of course the dirt isn't much fun for Sean and I but by the time the kids all get a bath and everything is restored to clean we have had a good day and the kids are tired.

Little Shea is still into more faster then I can clean up. But our cupboards are clean again and marker free. So are the stools, the doors and the floor. All marker free. Whew.

We are getting geared up for the baseball season. Its our favorite sport. Its fun to watch the kids figure out the rules. Its fun to sit and watch too on a summer night. Its hard too because we keep so busy and dinners and quietness becomes harder to come by.

Sean and I are enjoying the house more and more. We are anxious for the things to be pulled together around the yard. -you know like grass, shrubs, flowers if we are feeling great. It is quite a feat ahead of us but we are planning on slow and thoughtful and the less we have to maintain the better. So Internet research here we come. Just short of getting fake grass we are going to put things in that just want to grow slowly. Kinda like Sean and I.

Sandra E. Hood. Isnt she sweet. SANDY . . .YOU ROCK!