August was...

Ginny went on this obstacle course with a sibling or Adam so many times I lost count. She also was the one to make it the highest up the climbing wall before losing her nerve--if she hadn't looked down I think she would have made it to the top!
Adam took Aviendha for a ride down the BIG slide. She held on tight and was looking pretty scared, but when they stopped at the bottom she smiled and said, Wheeee!
Sammy coming down head first on the BIG slide. I lost track of how many times he actually went down this thing--a definite fave!.
Sharra and Clarissa on the bounce house slide. It was great to have a buddy to play with at the Hyrum Library Summer Reading party!
Happy Birthday, Papa!
Ginny didn't want to throw her balloons, not even at Daddy.


So, this was August. B'day weekend for Adam's dad, the end of the summer reading program party, and a trip to the park with just us to celebrate the coming of school. More relaxed, yet still flew by and now we're into school and "fall" and canning.

Playing Catch Up

Fancy ladies taking their babies for a walk--we sure love playing with friends!
Check out those soapy legs! Our car wash turned into a people wash.
Sammy was showing me his "bubble feet". They were covered but the process of running up to the porch for a picture "erased" most of them.
The kids used almost a whole bottle of dish soap while washing their bikes, dolls, the sidewalk, and themselves. Good clean fun with good friends!
As the sun started to go down, it got a bit too cool to be wet anymore. Aviendha came up to the porch for "a wrap"!
It's hard to see in this picture, but all four girls are wearing heels. Heels an swimsuits, the perfect ensemble for walking babies. :)
Looking great for the first day of school--Sam=K and Sharra=2nd
Ne-ne helping Daddy mow. She wouldn't push it on the grass, she was too nervous around the real mower, but our sidewalks are neatly trimmed now! And I apologize for putting the pictures first, I goofed up before realizing it, but don't have time to change it!

I feel like that's all I do these days, but with school started and a more regular routine getting established, I'm hoping to be a bit more on top of it when junior arrives! Speaking of, we've decided on a name (a boring name according to Sam)--Stephen Thomas Mackelprang. Yeah, I know we're breaking tradition of naming our kids after literary characters, but since this is our last, we thought we'd shed some honor on forefathers this time. Junior will be named after both grandpas. Less than two months to go!!

Sam and Sharra both started school last week. Both are loving it, even if I'm not loving them being gone! I freely admit I have a very hard time letting my little ones go. I hate the change, but know it's part of life. Since it can't be stopped I cry a little and then get used to it! My job in between the send-offs and turning points is to prepare them for those steps. When they handle them successfully, then it's job well done for me, bittersweet though it may be!

Ok, enough! Here are some pics of what we've been up to for the past little while. I probably won't have time to put them all up today, but I'll try to get back to it sometime this week!

Seriously now!

Not a great pic, but you can't have rainbows with out the rain. It's crazy how life kind of floats along so easy and carefree at times and then in a second or two changes to stress and struggle, where it's hard to reconcile the two. News of heart surgery, layoffs, cancer, and financial issues from family and friends all in the past few days really bring things crashing down! I wish luck to all those struggling right now and want all to know that we're here to help. And for those who won't ask, and you know who you are, know that we'll be there anyway! And for the times we can't be, a loving Heavenly Father is always there!!