The Kerstiens' Crazy Corner: August "K" Updates

Hello Friends and Family,

We hope everyone is doing well and staying cool. The "K" family has had a lot of changes in the month August and most of them have to do with SCHOOL. Yes, we are in full out back to school mode, including clothing shopping, supply shopping, open house, orientations and popsicle parties. WOW!!!

So....here goes....

Mommy has a new job. She is the 5th grade assistant at her boy's school. IT IS AWESOME!!! She can see the boys and afford their tuition :-) Some highlights include mastering copying, laminating, and installing printers...bring it on! Not to mention running the lights and sound for chapel (talk about learning curve) She is keeping her job in the neighborhood and is thankful for both opportunities. They are both great and allow her to work almost full-time with minimal impact on the boys.

Caden's month has been packed with getting ready for TK. Including new shoes, uniforms, backpack and lunch box. He had a popcicle party, open house and wonderful first week of school. Tonight he was exhausted and almost fell asleep during movie night. One of our greatest joys is that he get's up every morning with a smile on his face, makes his bed, and gets dressed in 15 minutes. Our lasting impression of the week happened on the first day of school, Caden convinced a classmate to bring him money the next day. What is up with that?

Logan has two close friends in his 1st grade class. His class has a fish tank and he gets to eat lunch at school. He is looking forward to hot lunch and ice cream on Fridays. His first week's comments: "We feed the fish allergies (algae)." "We played Lego space police on the playground" "I pulled up a root from a tree on the playground, it was HUGE". He too went shopping for new shoes (story for another day) and school supplies, which he hated...the shopping that is. His challenges are still getting up in the morning and homework. He has grown so much from the little boy we sent to kindergarten last year.

Mason met his teachers from school. Mommy is very blessed to work a flex schedule so that she can take him and pick him up. In addition, we struggled with taking him out of therapy in June. As providence would have it, one of his teachers used to work at a special needs school and is familiar with SPD and oral aversion. All we can say is that in every detail of our life, we see God's hand. What an amazing feeling.

David has been working night and day for weeks. He is still at Wells Fargo and takes it day to day. He has been uber supportive in our new journey. He is on call this week and covets your prayers.

The one person we could not do without is Grammy. She keeps the house running like a well oiled machine. She is working with Mason on his shapes and colors (he doesn't start school until after Labor Day) as well as cooking, cleaning and laundry. We don't know what we would do without her and she is reaping some benefits as well. She physically feels better, walks easier, has lower blood pressure and she has lost over 10 lbs. There is something to be said for feeling needed!

Finally, there are some changes with Grandma and Grandpa Kerstiens. They are looking to live at least 1/2 of the time at the beach. They move into their 2 bedroom apt in a retirement community sometime next month.

Here are some pictures from the week.