World's Worst Blogger

I know, I know....most of you have probably given up on me!  I am officially the world's worst blogger!  Has it really been almost 4 months since I have posted on here?!  Yikes!!!  Josh kept asking me to update the blog, and some friends and family have been asking as well.  The thought of trying to catch up on posts after such a long time was very overwhelming to me.  Add to that baby #3 will be arriving in about 2 weeks, and I am freaking out! :-)  I thought that once we moved farther away from friends and family, I would be better about blogging, since we don't get to see everyone nearly as often.  Well, I definitely dropped the ball on posting, and I apologize.  One of Josh's friends told him that I must be so happy to have Josh home from deployment, that I stopped blogging.  That is so true!  We have been enjoying, and not taking advantage of, a single minute of our "togetherness," and I think after going through a year-long separation like that, we will never take for granted being together ever again!  So, I am going to TRY my best to catch up and fill you in on our summer.  I am also going to TRY to get better at posting more often...even if it's only once a month, to keep the people that do like to read about us updated.  Now please keep in mind that we will soon be parents of THREE wild boys, so posting might not happen all that often.  All I can do is try! :-)

So on with the updates:

We have been doing fabulous!  The summer absolutely flew by, and we kept ourselves very busy exploring our new city, having visitors come see us, and traveling when we had the opportunity.  Josh is doing great in Captain's Career Course, and has a little over a month until he graduates.  He has handled the stress of this intense course extremely well, and we are so proud of him!  Coming home from a year-long, crazy, combat-filled deployment like he experienced is a difficult adjustment for even the best and most highly-trained soldiers.  Through the grace of God, Josh has not only been able to adjust to being home, but is dealing with and excelling at the new challenges and tasks in his career as a soldier.  I am amazed at how he continues to be such an excellent soldier, family leader, husband, and father!  He balances everything perfectly, and I know it is because he has the good Lord on his side.

The boys are doing great too!  They are growing and learning alarmingly fast, and Josh and I are trying to cherish each moment with them.  Ty has had a few "firsts" lately.  In July, he took swimming lessons for the first time at the local YMCA.  He loved them and did a really good job!  He also started his first day of preschool at the end of August.  The Lord helped us find a fabulous (and affordable) Christian preschool, and he attends three mornings a week.  He absolutely LOVES it!  He comes home and tells us all about what he learned, and all about the friends he played with.  He has learned so much from the month he has been going.  Tyson had a big birthday on September 5.  He turned 4 years old!!!  We cannot believe that our oldest baby is now 4!  Really?!  4 years old already?  How does time go by so fast?!  He had a great, low-key birthday this year.  No big huge parties, just the four of us and a few new friends to help us celebrate his big day.  Another first for Ty...he is playing football now!  He plays on a 4&5 year-old team for the Columbus Youth Football League.  Now anyone who knows Josh even a little bit, knows he is all about some football!  Josh started playing when he was Ty's age, and played all the way through college.  It was his favorite sport, and always his dream to have a son (or two, or three) to share in his passion and watch play.  Well, his dream came true this month when he got to see his oldest son wearing the #10 jersey with the last name Kinsel on it!  He is so proud!  Tyson likes playing, but is pretty clueless so far (I mean he only just turned 4).  He really has no concept of the game yet, but we sure do enjoy and get some good laughs watching him chase the players down and try to grab their flags (it is flag football, not tackle at this age).  Josh has been helping coach the team, and it is fun to watch both daddy and Ty at practices and games.  So, Tyson has been a busy little guy lately!  He is also preparing to take on the role as the biggest brother when his baby brother arrives.  He is really excited to meet the new baby, and we think he will be a fantastic helper!

Caellum has been a busy little thing too!  While he hasn't had as many "firsts" as Tyson, he has had his share of fun this summer.  He isn't quite old enough for some of things Ty is experiencing, and boy does that make him mad!  He really wants to go to preschool like Ty does, and wants to play football too.  But he is learning that he will get his turn for these "firsts" in time, and he is learning to cope well.  The summer has been filled with attempting to potty train him.  We thought it would be easy to train him, being the second child and all, and since he watches his brother go all the time, but we were wrong!!!  The kid is just way too stubborn, and is not having it at all!  And mommy is just too big and pregnant to force him right now.  We were hoping to have him trained before the new baby got here, but it isn't going to happen.  We have decided that he will go when he is ready, and forcing the matter won't help...especially with the big transition of adding a baby to the family and Caellum dealing with the fact that he isn't going to be the "baby" anymore.  We think Caellum is going to have some "jealousy issues" when baby bro gets here.  The poor guy is already experiencing some of the "middle child syndrome" with Tyson getting to do so many new things, and with all the new things we are doing to prepare for baby #3.  But don't feel too sorry for him...he is getting to do plenty of cool new things himself!

I am doing really well, especially considering I am about to pop! :-)  The Lord blessed me with another great pregnancy.  Everything with my pregnancy is looking normal so far, and baby #3 appears to be growing healthy and strong!  If all goes as planned, and baby #3 doesn't decide to try and come early, my C-section is scheduled for Friday, October 12.  Since Ty and Caellum were both C-sections, this one is automatically a scheduled one, and they won't schedule it before 39 weeks.  October 12 is the big day, as long as baby hangs in there until then.  We are getting so excited to meet him, and have almost everything prepared for his arrival.  We are so blessed!!!

That is, in a nutshell, an update on us. Onto the photos and videos! I apologize for how many there are, but I am trying to catch up on 4 months all in one post here. I will attempt to post again before baby #3 arrives, but if not, I promise to post the news of his arrival once we get home from the hospital and settled in. Thanks to all of you who have continued to check the blog faithfully...we love you guys and miss you!!!

Our good friends, and neighbors from Fort Knox, the Hunters (Perk, Olivia, and Jahvon), PCS'd to Germany back in July.  Before they left for Germany, they were stationed at Fort Rucker, AL for about a month while Perk was there for training.  Fort Rucker is only a couple hours from Fort Benning.  So they came to visit us one weekend, and then we went and paid them a visit before they left.  Olivia and I grew as close as sisters during the deployment (our husbands deployed toegther).  She was my "battle buddy."  And Jahvon, became a big brother to Ty and Caellum.  They LOVE him, and he is so good to them!  It was really, really hard to say goodbye to them when we left Fort Knox.  I am so glad we got to spend some more time with them before they left for Germany, and thankfully we are still able to keep in touch with them now that they are in Germany.  We can't wait to see them again...they will always be lifelong friends!!!  Here are some photos of their visit, and the boys having a blast together:

 

 

 

 

One of our "mini-vacations" was to the beautiful Emerald Coast in FL!  Okaloosa Island, FL is only about a 4 hour drive from us, so we went to the beach for a long Labor Day weekend!  Hurricane Issac was finishing blowing through, so the waters were a bit rough, but we still had a blast!  Here are some photos of our visit:

 

Look at that belly! :-) 

 

 

Here are some photos from Ty's 4th birthday.  He wanted a Power Rangers cake, and asked mommy to make one.  Josh had bought me some cake decorating classes, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to practice my new fondant skills!  I had fun making the cake, and Ty loved it!  We took Ty and couple friends we have met here to Monkey Joe's (the local inflatables place) to have some fun.  He had a good birthday, even though we didn't throw him a huge party.

 

We brought Ty's preschool class some treats to help celebrate:

 

I'm 4!!

 

Power Ranger cake made by mommy

 

For the 4th of July, we went to visit Aunt Kathy and family in Orlando, FL!  We went to Universal Studios with them, and had a great time visiting!  The only negative thing about that trip was that Josh, Ty, and Uncle Dennis spent a few hours in the ER on the holiday.  We were swimming in Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dennis's fabulous pool when Ty slipped and fell, cutting open his little chin.  He had to get stitches. :-( Poor Josh spent the last 4th in Afghanistan, and this one in the ER.  He said he'd choose the ER with his son over Afghanistan any day!!! 

 

At the hospital, poor guy! :-( 

 

We went to Universal Studios, and saw the Harry Potter theme park.  It was pretty cool!  Here are Ty and Daddy in front of the Hogwarts train.

 

Merry-go-round fun at Downtown Disney with Aunt Kathy and cousin Parker!

This is where Caellum spent a lot of his summer...mommy forcing him to use the potty.  He still isn't having it...argh! 

Tyson's first football game...his team is called the Northeast Packers. 

 

Tough, little football player :-)

Ty is #10, just like Daddy

 

Seeing Ty in his jersey was Daddy's dream come true! :-)

 

Caellum is Ty's biggest fan!  He is holding a cow bell, and making lots of noise for his big bro!

 

And here I am at 36 weeks...look at that belly! :-)

 

Here are some videos of the boys:

Caellum finally learned how to ride his bike.  Ty singing the prayer he learned at preschool.  We took the boys to "Play Hockey for Free" Day, and they got to try to ice skate for the first time.  A small clip from Ty's swim lessons.  Singing Happy Birthday to Ty.  A couple clips from Tyson's football games...the first one is a clip of their very first play ever!  They weren't really sure what to do, so they all just started going after each other's flags!  In the second clip, look for Ty at the right of the screen, away from the rest of the players.  One of the opposing players throws him down and grabs his flag.  Then Ty just gets up and runs away!  It is too cute watching them play! :-)

 

So there you go!  A huge post to try to catch up for the past 4 months.  Hopefully it won't be so long before we post again!