June

Wow, time flies when you are summering! We have had a great summer so far, the children are all a golden brown and all smiles! Of course they all have farmer's tans! JC was sad to have school end, but has been grateful to have a summer school program to be able to attend, it is a really fun prep program for 3rd grade, he has loved being called a 3rd grader already! His best friend attends with him and that has been perfect for him too. JC has continued to enjoy art lessons and has created some beautiful work, I will get some pictures of those up asap for everyone to see. The highlight of his summer so far however has been the arrival of Sadie the dog! JC has spent more time with her than anyone else including Nathan who is her owner. She is a black lab/heeler mix about 1 year old. He takes her on walks and she plays fetch really well. JC loves to just be outside and enjoy being around the animals. We had a nest of killdeer birds that we all were watching very intently, however their nest was 5 feet away from the construction and one of the large delivery trucks disturbed the nest and two eggs were lost, our contractor is trying to incubate the other two eggs, but JC loved watching the parents and how protective they were of their nest and how they acted hurt to lure you away from the eggs. It was a great opportunity for the children to see them up close. I am hopeful that they will try to nest again next year and hopefully it will be much safer for them. JC's asthma has completely gone away, he is breathing just fine and doing great. It must be allergy related and I am so grateful for it not being year round, I am keeping an eye on him and his breathing for now. JC also had a lot of fun working on and painting his first pinewood derby car! He loves Cub Scouts. He was able to shape and sand it with Grandpa and paint it with his Dad, that was a real treat that he could work on it with Jamey. The derby is scheduled for latter this summer.
Progress on the house is going well. The roof is almost done and it is beautiful. The house looks huge with a 18 foot tall roof on it. We have had some set backs because of rain, it rains almost daily and that makes it very slippery on the roof not to mention having the wood be wet. We are praying for a move in date of the end of August. Any prayers offered on our behalf are greatly appreciated, I have to be out of my apartment at the end of August.
Julia is doing fantastic! She is in the process of potty training for real now and is managing to have fewer accidents daily. She struggles with pooping, but it is getting better. She is loving the horses. We now have 10 horses on the farm with 4 mares pregnant. Cindy and Roger have decided to have a mini horse ranch and have named it McIntyre Miniatures. They are having a ton of fun doing that and Julia just soaks up all the horse work. She is outside with them constantly and is able to walk and work with them with Grandma and Grandpa's help. She is small enough to be able to ride the horses as well and that is a treat. I have been called as her sunbeam teacher at church and she has loved having me be her teacher. She loves the library and asks to have stories read to her all the time. She knows her right hand from her left and she is interested in learning her letters. Her favorite letter right now is B, she knew the sound it made from her therapy we did to help her speak more clearly. It was so cute to watch her make that connection from the written letter to the sound it makes.
Ethan is definitely 2! He is looking forward to his birthday as he knows that Grandma and Grandpa are getting him his own "bike", he loves to ride around on Julia's pink Barbie trike so when he gets his own they will run races around each other. Ethan has done so well with the addition of the dog. He has always been terrified of dogs and so we were really cautious with Sadie, but now he will pet her and talk to her, if she makes a sudden movement he is scared, but calms down right away. I found out that he doesn't like olives last week. It was so funny, he wanted what I was eating and so I gave him an olive, I am sure he had never had one before, he loves to try new foods, but this time he started eating it, turned to me, took it out and said "no, thank you" turned around and walked away with a sour looking face, I laughed out loud, it was so funny and cute. He loves peanut butter and will eat spoonfuls of it straight out of the jar. He will eat up to a 1/4 cup at a time, he just downs it. He loves pbj sandwiches and every morning he has to have pancakes, he will eat up to 4 regular size pancakes, this kid eats like there is no tomorrow! He is totally into throwing things, especially balls, tonight he threw one of Julia's necklaces up high enough it hit the ceiling fan and became a projectile necklace! Needless to say that was the end of throwing necklaces! He has also decided to try and climb everything. He gets into everything. He doesn't make the messes like Julia did at his age, thank goodness, but he certainly tries to find ways to put himself in danger of falling like climbing and standing on the toilet tank.
The children's highlight for this month has been the opportunity for them to see their dad for Father's Day weekend. They all had a great time and loved swimming and playing with him. I am grateful that they were able to see him. They are getting excited for July and spending even more time with him and seeing the rest of the Cecil family!