JJ

For those of you that don't know the 6 member of the Kudlas family, let me introduce you to JJ. She is our 13 year old black lab. JJ was our first "baby." Brad saved her from a not-so-pleasant roomate at college in 1998. She has been our dog ever since...And of course dogs get old...they get old pretty quickly. For labs, 10 years is considered old. The reason why you don't see much of JJ is because Aidan is highly allergic to dogs (and cats) ever since the age of 2. So when JJ was 8 she was moved to an outdoor dog. This is something she has adjusted to well. She has never has been a dog to wonder or leave the house. We have never had to put her in a fenced in back yard to get her to stay around the house. Lately (the last year) all she has done is layed around...expect when the UPS or mailman comes up the driveway. JJ does not like when men/women in uniform come close to her brother and sisters. Although now that has turned into any caretakers we have come to the house while we are gone. She is becoming a cranky old women! Needless to say, she is great with the kids. I would say that she would do anything for them!

Not being able to walk very well or hear, Brad and I have been increasingly aware that she is near the end. While getting ready to leave the house for a football game on Saturday (Brad had already left the house), JJ got a burst of energy and chased our neighbor cat through our woods injuring her spine severely. I found her laying on the neighbors porch looking up at the cat with scraps on her legs. After lifting her (she weighs over 3/4 of my weight) into the childrens wagan and pulling her home, I made her as comfortable as I could and left. On our way to the football game I talked to the kids about what may happen next and really didn't expect to see her alive when we got home.

Good news was she was still alive, but needed some serious help. With a call to a vet, we were told to try to hold off until Monday to see if anything changed. Still no eating, drinking or taking bathrooms brakes, we loaded her up in the car to take her to a new vet. Blood test came back all negative and she was just as heathly internally as she was when she was a puppy, but the spinal injury was pretty serious. They gave her some wonderful drugs to help with the pain and inflamation.

As of today, she is walking around well, eating and interacting with the kids.

Thanks go out to the wonderful vet in Cumming and to everyone that were thinking and praying for us that weekend!

We don't know how much longer she has, but at least she is out of pain and the kids can enjoy her for a bit longer!

Hoops

This week has been a bit stressful for me. I feel like I have been jumping through lots of hoops. Hula hoops to be exact. The ever changing, circling hoops.....
This is more of how I felt this week. When Sunday comes...I will have a little relief and be able to take these off.

10 Years

Happy 10 year Anniversary Brad! When I think back to the last 10 years it feels like it has flown by, but when I actually think of the 10 years and what all has gone on in our lives, 10 years is a long time.

10 years has been 3 moves..1 across the country.
10 years has been lots of wonderful trips and vacations. The best 2 were to Europe.
10 years has been 3 beautiful children.
10 years has been countless memories of lots of laughter and some tears.
10 years has been walking by each other sides through deaths of loves ones and difficult jobs changes.10 years has been the best years and I am looking forward to the next 10 years. Looking forward to the next 10 years seems hard to imagine. I will have a senior in high school. We will be preparing our 1st born for college...not to mention preparing for Brenna to get her drivers license. I guess that puts 10 years in perspective.
God has blessed us more than we could imagine and we look forward to seeing what He has in store for us in the next 10 years.

Back into the swing of things

If you know me well, than you know that summer is not my most favorite time of the year. Yes, I love being able to go to the pool anytime, or go on vacation, or sleep in, or watch how my children's skin goes from white to brown sugar, but I don't like how much my husband is gone and I don't like not having a routined day. Now, you might be saying, "Isn't her husband a teacher?" The answer is yes and no. For those of you that are teachers now days...there is no time off if you want to survive financially. I am proud to say that my husband works hard...at all his jobs, but this makes our summers crazy. I don't care that our schedule is busy during the school year with football, cross country, basketball and gymnastics just to name a few things we do all year, but I do look forward to dinners together even if they are at the football field or basketball court.

With school starting yesterday, I am finally feeling relaxed and ready to tackle this year. We are blessed to have the children in one of the best school systems (Brad works there as well) and I am proud to send them there everyday. Aidan and Bren are loving their new teachers and classes. Carsyn is ready to go starting after Labor Day.

As for our crazy summer...I will try to recap it the best I can. I have a bit of an addiction of taking pictures...so there are a lot to pick from.

In June Brad's niece Brynlee came into town from California for a few days while my brother in law Mark and Amanda took a vacation. She kept us busy!
We spend many days and nights in June and July at the baseball fields. Aidan made the All-star team for the 7 year olds and they did so well a Districts they were invited to the State tournament.


Aidan plays 2nd base.

His whole team. We are so grateful for the coaches that volunteer their time for these boys. They have taught Aidan so much! Many of these boys play football with Aidan and the head coach also is his defensive coach in football.

Both Aidan and Brenna did excellent on swim team this year. I really believe this is the best thing for your children to do in the summer. It teaches them so much more than how to be a fast and solid swimmer. If you have the opportunity to have your children swim on a team..even if it is for the summer, you should totally do it!


We were finally able to take a vacation at the end of June to Orlando. Although it was a vacation for the kids and I, Brad had to bring two of his high schoolers to compete in Nationals for FBLA. They were both recent high school grads and did awesome with the kids. I am not a Disney person..so we did Sea World. Love it! Even though it was nearly 100 the days we were in Florida, we had a blast!



One of the highlights from the trip...getting to ride in a helicopter. The girls went together and the boys went together. Here is our little co-pilot.
With a brief stop back in GA, we headed onto to South Carolina for a week of total relaxation. Mom took us to the fabulous Charleston one day. After walking 1 mile to the top of Ravinal Bridge, we stopped to take a picture.


Meeting the horses that took us on our city tour.

Beach time is all I have to say!

My kids love the sand. Can you tell?



A big deal in the Kudlas/Belt house. This is our Carsyn Joy swimming on her own. Horray!

One Sunday afternoon in our front yard.
Brad's older brother, Devin came into town with his kiddos for a few days. We usually only get to see them 1 time a year, so we had a great visit.


I had an opportunity to take the kids to the Atlanta Falcons training facility to watch them practice for about 3 hours. It was awesome and this little boy was in heaven!

My sweet kiddos yesterday on their way back to school.

Now, time to take things a bit slower!