First Day of School

August 25th has been circled on our calendar all summer. The First Day of School!!! We had a great first day followed by a great week. We headed to the library later that afternoon and as a super special treat Daddy joined us.
Blake is officially a second grader. Woo hoo!!!
Liah enjoyed her first day as a 4 year old preschooler.

Last Summer Outing

So one of our last summer outings was a trip back to Blueberry Ranch for some more picking with friends. We had a great time and then headed to a park for lunch and some more fun.

Liah absolutely loves picking blueberries and is determined to fill that bucket.
Owen absolutely loved eating the blueberries and was absolutely determined to fill that belly.
Here is the end of our day. Time for another school year. I want to dig out a picture from a couple of years ago and compare how much everyone has grown. It truly is amazing!

Please Lord give us good health.

This has been the prayer in the Ostrom house for the last couple of weeks. Blake and myself have been fighting off a nasty little stomach bug for a couple of weeks now. I think Blake is finally 100% and I'm on my way there. I'm hoping by Wednesday I will be completely back to normal. I thought we were on the mend and then Josh came home Friday from work not feeling well. The same thing, only it was the "man" version so maybe a little worst. So now we're praying hard that we are done with the stomach bugs. I also had to take Hannah in for a couple of abscesses on her gums. Now don't ask me how a baby with no teeth gets abscesses but she did. She is now on antibiotics as a precaution and she goes to see a dentist on Wednesday to find out exactly what they are and hopefully what is causing them. Also this weekend my grandpa had a heart attack and now we wait for a couple of days before he has bypass surgery.

We started school today. Things went well and I'll post more along with pics. soon.

So needless to say that all of our prayers include, "LORD GIVE US GOOD HEALTH!".

For You are the Rock in which I stand

In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness deliver me.
Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength,
A stronghold to save me.
For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name's sake You will lead me
and guide me.
You will pull me out of the net which
they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have ransomed me, O Lord, God of Truth
Psalm 31:1-5

EVIDENCE

So here is the evidence that my children are addicted to the Olympics. This picture was taken at 12:15am on Monday night. Well I guess it's actually Tuesday morning. Now the kids had been asleep and around 11:30pm Blake had to go to the bathroom and then heard me downstairs watching and begged to join me and about thirty minutes later Liah also awoke needing to go potty and then joined us. Praise the Lord we aren't starting school until the Olympics are over!

We Are Addicted!!!

We are the Ostrom Family and we are addicted to the Olympics. The excitement leading up to 08-08-08 in our house was great. I think we are all sleep deprived due to our addiction. It used to just be me who was so into the Olympics but Josh caught the bug and our kids as well. Maybe it's because when I was younger and a competitive swimmer of course the Olympics was the ultimate. Maybe it's because I can relate when I see someone miss a medal because of less than a hundredth of a second. I can remember being 9 years old and missing qualifying for State by .02. I remember I swam that event 8 times in the final week of qualifying and also remember having to miss two days of school following because of sheer exhaustion. It was devastating and was my first time of great disappointment in the sport. I wish I could say that was the last but there were many along with great accomplishments in the following years. Those years taught me great discipline and perseverance. I also attribute my high pain tolerance to swimming with bad shoulders for so many years. Something that comes in handy during childbirth.:)

Liah can't watch the gymnastics without trying to mimic everything she sees on the TV. I can already see that drive in her eyes. Whether it's a sport, music, art, or whatever they choose I hope all of my children can find that one thing that they can enjoy as much as I enjoyed my time in swimming. Earlier today I overheard Liah talking to Daddy and she was telling him that all the athletes' mommies had signed them up for the Olympics and when she gets older she wants to sign up too. If only it were that easy my love. I

What is everybody laughing at?

Do I have something on my face?

Who is Excited....

Who is so excited it is another Beach Day?

ME,ME,ME!!!!!!!

And who wishes mommy would put down the camera and feed me already?
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Blue

Blue is one of my favorite colors and is so calming to me. Blue and Brown is my new combination that I just love. Blake's room is done in blue and I'm planning on the exercise room being a pale, crisp blue as well when I get a chance to redo it. Josh and I just read that an exercise room in blue makes you workout harder than normal. We'll see!

Blake's dresser that I just refinished for him and his rocking chair that is getting a tad too small for him.
Bags of fresh picked blueberries ready for pies, pancakes, muffins, and the freezer. That is what we don't eat first. Our family has a serious blueberry addiction.
A "Dory" fish swimming on the kids bathroom wall

Our brand new powder blue sheets that have a home on our new mattress.
Some organizing containers on my desk.
And my favorite boy on a walk on the trails behind our house.