SFD Academy- Week 7

 During the Family Orientation for the Fire Academy, one of the Drill Instructors warned us that all the recruits will eventually hit a wall and to expect it somewhere between Week 6 and Week 8.  Well, Sean seems to be going on strong, but I am pretty sure that I hit my wall this week.
The kids have been more difficult than usual (and I am sure that it has nothing to do with the 50,000 end of school year/birthday/graduation parties we have gone to!) and we all miss Sean. We don't see too much of him, but when he is home, his mind is somewhere else (as it should be), his body hurts, he is low on patience and he spends most of his time studying or sleeping.  This week brought his first round of testing (kinda like final exams) and even though he has done well and is very prepared, there is always the very real chance that if he didn't do well or made a mistake that he would actually be let go.  Just a little bit of pressure! It is hard to cover for him and be there for him and take care of everything else and manage my 3 HIGH energy kids. Oh, and I am pretty sure that I gave myself a concussion when I sat down and whacked my head on a table that had been pushed too close to the couch last week and having a headache for 3 straight days was pretty much the last thing that I needed.  Things have been going well and I am sure that I will get back to a good balance, but let's just say that this week started off with a lot of tears.  I was doing the dishes early one day and I prayed and asked God to do something.  Complaining doesn't help me accomplish all the things that I needed to get done and I just couldn't see how I was going to make it through another hectic day and so I asked for help and then waited with expectation to see how God was going to do it.

And, I am not lying- within the hour, Kalani called and said that she was on her way up.

She was going back to Arkansas early the next morning but she had no plans for the afternoon and wanted to know if we would like a visit.

Would I???
I have never wanted or needed or enjoyed a visit so much and I cried one more time that day- but this time out of relief and gratefulness.

She gave my kids some much needed personal attention while I did housework and then we went shopping and actually found a dress for me to wear to my brother's wedding that was going to happen in a few days.

 Then we came home, 

tried on our wedding attire 

and best of all... 

Auntie showed Summer how to rock those cowgirl boots!! 

Thank you for your cheerful, encouraging and helpful spirit today Kalani- you are the prettiest answer to prayer I have ever seen :)

The rest of the week was better.

For his birthday this year, we gave Oliver a week of Aggie Basketball Camp and he has been counting down the days ever since.  Finally (it was only two weeks, but you know how it is when you are only 6), it was 

JUNE 15th,

And it did not disappoint!! 

The coaches and student athletes put on an amazing program that was organized, action packed and fun.  I wasn't sure how "into it" the athletes would really be, but it was clear that they were just as excited to be there as the kids! We will definitely be signing up next year and now we are super pumped for the upcoming season of Aggie Basketball.  Wooohoooooooo!!

Oliver may have been livin' it up on the basketball court, but these two had no problem finding fun while brother was in camp :)

(Baby with a hammer...watch out!!)

In fact, the only challenge of Oliver spending his mornings at camp was that the Flying Naked High Fives had to wait until the afternoon...but we all got through it :)

 In other Week 7 News, with a lot of coaxing from his friend, Oliver finally yanked out tooth number 2.  It had literally been hanging on by a thread for the last week and we were all grateful that she was able to convince him to do it.  I am glad he listens to someone around here!

 

And we celebrated the discovery that Baby Sorbello is girl number FOUR!! 

Of course, we love our Sorbello Girls and we were overjoyed to find out there will be another :)

Well, most of us were...

It's true, we do have a lot of girlfriends!

And they are darn cute!!

Grandma Gloria taught the boys how to play chess this week...and now they actually play it!! I thought she was crazy for thinking that they would be ready for a game like that, but I was glad to be wrong. 

The best part is that since I really have no idea how to play, I cannot answer their questions and they have to work together to solve their own problems.  It's quite fabulous, really :) 

Thank you, Grandma!!

And speaking of thanking Grandma, this one really came to my rescue this week.  

With my brother's wedding coming up on Saturday, Vacation Bible School starting the following Monday and Sean's first round of testing going on, the tension was sky high and the time to think or accomplish anything was slim to none.   

Grandma Gloria came up early and just took over for me.  

She just took over. 

And for maybe only the second time ever, I actually let her.  

Because she was here, I was able to get the house in order, get everything lined up that I needed for VBS the next week, catch up on all the laundry and then pack for all the kids and myself for our family wedding weekend. Gloria, I don't know what I would have done without you!!

On Friday morning, Sean headed off for a full day of "Make It or Break It" testing and I loaded up the car and the kids and set off for what would hopefully be one of the best weekends of our life.  

But I think that needs a blog post of it's own....

We're doing it, Babe- 7 weeks down and 13 more to go!!