Late, but not forgotten

Partly due to my laziness and partly due to some uncontrollable circumstances, we had not celebrated Cole's birthday. So, we did last week. He was hoping for a hobbit cake because of his love for Lord of the Rings. Here it is.

Our first last tooth

Avery's new do

I had been asking if Avery wanted shorter hair, and one evening last week she gave in. It is so much easier to style.

First, Third, Sixth begin

The kids began school this week. Here are a few pics. They have already enjoyed the school routine again... so have I. Quentin- first. Cole- third. Avery- sixth (WOW).

It's easy to see that I haven't posted anything on this thing lately. Honestly, I forget about it, and am not sure who even sees it, so really I don't bother. But life continues on, whether I add pics on this blog or not. So, here's the updates. I'll try to post some new pictures as the kids get ready for school, at least so Grammy Honey can see how they've grown. =) School continues, then ended for the summer. All 3 had wonderful years and teachers. Our garden is flourishing, despite the lack of Bs we had (see previous sentence). Avery earned As all four quarters this past year, as well as Cole and Quentin earning the highest they could in their classes. Summer crept up slowly, and left almost in a blink. Kids are gearing up and I am ready to send them. Avery will be in 6th, Cole in 3rd, and Q in 1st. During the summer, we relaxed and spent quite a lot of time at home. We participated in VBS, played in the slip n slide, played with friends and just hung out together. Bryan had a few out of town conferences. We went backpacking for a night with some friends in mid July. We hiked in 4 miles to a lake only accessible by hiking. Cole and Q caught their first few fish. It was glorious. We also travelled to Pismo for the day. Our big fun news involves Bryan's new job to Caruthers High. It's a smaller school and about the same distance. He starts teaching tomorrow. He is excited and nervous about this new adventure. It is wonderful to see the way God can use little things in our lives to encourage us. Bryan was called by a teacher in Caruthers (someone he knew from his conferences) who asked if he's be interested in applying. The job hadn't even been posted yet, but it was known that one teacher was leaving- he got the job Bryan had been applying for earlier in the summer. Bryan got off the phone with him and told me about the call. I had just that week been praying that God would encourage him in some way after not getting the first job he'd interviewed for. When I told Bryan what I'd been praying, he said maybe he needed to apply. He did, got an interview with the principal, then was recommended to meet with the superintendent. When he went the next morning to that interview, they already had a contract and offered him a job. He waited until it was all official then resigned at Central. One other small blessing... his classroom was bring remodeled this summer, so we'd already taken all the stuff off his walls and brought a lot of it home. That's what's been going on in the lives of the Sheldon5 family. I'll try to post new pics soon.

Avery's Baptism

In October Avery chose to be baptized at Church. She wrote a short testimony and was dunked by Pastor Ken. Funny side story. Pastor Ken took off his wedding ring before the service. Avery saw it next to the tub and dropped it in. Ken looked down and noticed a ring next to the drain. Avery said she knew and it was his. Needless to say she went fishing between services. We are so proud of her decision to follow Jesus and trust God with her life.

Karate

When I get busy, my blog takes a back seat to everything else. Here are a few things going on in our little Sheldon World. We began Kenpo Karate in June. By now we have all earned our yellow belts (with various stripe levels). Our family continues to enjoy this activity together and practices a few times a week.