My oh my how the time does fly

I feel like school is starting really late for us this year! It doesn't start until August 29th. When I was a child it seemed like summer was very quick. Now that I am an adult it does seem rather quick, but in a completely different way. Being a mom gives me a new perspective on time and allows me to see things changing and moving in different ways than before when I was the kid. I have gotten to witness reading and writing for the first time and learning to tie shoes! I got to see the boys ride bikes and scooters and learn Bible verses for the first time. I get to hear their adventures from school in their own words and I get to witness the looks on their faces when new things happen for and to them. 

This summer they left to go camping for their first times. When did they get old enough to leave without mom and dad? I am still not sure that they are, but in time maybe they will be! They went camping with our good friends and besides the fact that they are boys and the fact that they don't always behave (I have been trying for 7 and 11 years to get them to mind me and it only works half of the time) they survived the trip without their parents! I survived without them too!

Moving on... the point is how time goes. When did I grow up? When did the boys start? We all grow at our own paces and at different times, and if we don't pay close attention to it then it will go so quickly before our eyes that we may not notice at first! This year I have the boys in 2 different schools! This is the first year since Levi started school that they won't be at the same school. Levi is starting 2nd grade in just over 1 week. I am not worried about him at all. He is at an age that I am not worried about his schedule or school work. He has proven himself to be pretty reliable at getting work done. The biggest worry I have with him is that he won't want to talk to anyone... Seriously! We could call him shy or picky. We could call him stubborn or specific. I am not sure how I would describe him exactly, but he frequently tells us that he doesn't like people mostly. That other kids whine and complain and don't do their work and that annoys him. I don't know what to say really because other people that don't do what they are supposed to do annoy me too. I do tell him to be nice and to try to be nice to those kids. Last year, according to his teacher he was a popular kid. I laughed when I heard that because of how he would talk. So, I am off track, but basically the biggest worry with Levi is that he is nice to others. 

Now, the worry that I usually have is Bruce. He is 11.5. I only added the half because at this age it feels like every step towards teenage hood, no matter how small, really seems to matter. He is going through changes already that I had no idea to be prepared for this early! He is starting middle school this year... I know, I can't believe it either. No way, Matthew and I do not have a child in middle school already right? In 3 years he will be in High School??? See, remember the time flashing by so quickly thing? There it is! Middle school is here! Well, almost. We still have 1 week. When I was in school we didn't have middle school, we had jr. high. That was 7th and 8th grade and that was a hot mess. Everyone is moody and going through changes and the teachers of these ages deserve awards! I mean, I only have 1 child that is this age and I am barley hanging on sometimes, haha. Bruce isn't a fan of school. Actually, he loves school, but just so he is around people (opposite of Levi who doesn't want to be around any people). He doesn't like the homework, the teaching, the listening or the paying attention. That isn't just my mom talk, he literally says that! He hasn't figured out the concept of school yet obviously! He is a talking machine and never meets a stranger. He takes HOURS to do homework. Easy homework. I can't imagine how long it might take to do middle school homework! I am sure that this will be the year that things will click for Bruce and he will do his work and enjoy school. I mean, he hasn't stopped saying he can't wait for school for the past few weeks! Bruce is growing and changing and I have confidence that he will do great, or pretty well or something like that!

I have been praying for both of the boys and their school years already and I will continue to pray for them and with them everyday this school year. I need to remember to keep cherishing these moments and times and remembering that the boys are definitely 2 different people and they won't act the same or grow the same, but I should love them and pray for them no matter what! This summer has been the biggest changing summer that I have witnessed from the boys since they were really little and I will remember that as the time keeps going and things keep changing for them!

Long time no type

I was in 5th grade when I first started to love writing. We had to do a young authors book and I decided to make my book different by making a poetry book. It was very cheesy, but it wasn't too bad. I think I got honorable mention on it or something like that. It was a creative idea at the time and I made it work. My poems were about candy and other random things, but for a 10 or 11 year old it wasn't half bad. That was 20 years ago... Wow! I loved ELA (English Language Arts) and I especially loved writing assignments. I loved essay writing, poetry, speech writing and just about any other random writing I could do. In high school I really started writing poetry more and more. I wrote over 200 poems my freshmen and sophomore years of HS. I wrote some short stories and toyed with the idea of writing a book... I have actually thought about writing a book a few times, but I just don't have the dedication or patience for it. I really enjoy free time, family time, church responsibilities, wifely duties and so on and so on. I know I could do it all if I really tried, but I feel like every celebrity or joe blow is now a "writer" and that takes something away from it for me. It seems too easy to get published these days.

Wow, that got off topic really quickly. Well, not really because the topic is the fact that I haven't written on the blog in a long time and I did explain that I have no patience for dedicating a lot of time to writing.

We have had a crazy few months to put it in words. In March I turned 30! I loved turning 30, really I did! 30 finally felt like an adult age to me. When people hear you are in your 30's they no longer think (mostly at least), wow you are a child, but now they think you are suddenly an adult who knows things. At least that has been my experience with it! The week after I turned 30 Matt accidentally clicked something to get orders for Alaska. Yes, accidentally! Well, they canceled those orders because of blah, blah, blah (if you aren't in or associated with the military then you probably wouldn't get what I could say to explain it, I barely get it myself) but either way they were cancelled. However, then he basically flagged himself to get noticed that he had been at Bragg for 6.5 years already and it was time for him to move on. He had 2 options. ROTC instructor or instructor at Fort Polk. We knew that the hours he would have to work at Fort Polk would likely be crazy busy and we decided to have him pick ROTC instructor. He got the options and 1 was basically the neighbor to Fort Bragg. Now, we (especially me) have been praying about what to do next for awhile. We wanted to buy a house, but after being some place for so long already our chances of not moving were slim so we didn't want to risk it. When NC came up on the list we both instantly liked it. We thought about our other options, FL, WA, MS, KY, etc... but nothing came close to how we felt about basically staying where our kids have grown up. 

Okay, so long story so far, but I will cut to the chase. We picked NC and we decided to buy a house! Matt has 5 years left in the Army until retirement and Bruce starts middle school this month, so staying here had a lot of plus sides for us! His orders were for August and we started the house buying process in May! We actually got to start the paperwork right around our 8th wedding anniversary and our offer was accepted and we moved in in July! 

We moved out of Fayetteville, but not too far out of it. Matt works in Fayetteville and started last week! The boys start their new schools in less than 2 weeks and I am recovering from my broken toe/foot bone and should be healed soon too so I can finish unpacking completely!

The next update I will actually talk about our summer and other things like that! I might actually stick with blogging this time, maybe just maybe it can motivate me to move on to bigger things!