Swensen Sentral

This boy stole my heart years ago with his baby blue eyes. He may be getting older and wiser too, but when he looked up at me yesterday with those eyes I saw that baby I fell in love with. I couldn't have asked God for a better son. 

Took the kids to the zoo yesterday just for fun. Rick has been out of town on business so it was just us. I just love that our zoo here is free so we can go whenever we feel like it. 

Missouri is so much more beautiful than I ever thought. I just can't get over how beautiful all the Fall colors are. We took a 1 1/2 mile hike in Rockwoods Reservation today and it was just incredible. And 15 min from our house!

Just wanted to quickly jot down some of the things I remembered before I forget. On Monday for FHE Rick gave the kids Fathers Blessings. He's been meaning to do it since school started but just hadn't found the time yet. Our home was quiet and peaceful for a brief time and I felt happy.  For Soleil, he blessed her to be a window of happiness and sunshine to her mother. He blessed Sawyer to learn well in school, to make good friends, and to be a helper to his mom. For Amelie, he blessed her to be a good big sister to Soleil, to continue learning well in school and to be a good friend to others, and to prepare to make her baptismal covenants. And Chase was blessed to enjoy his athletic talents and be a good example to his treammates, and always remember who he is when he faces tough decisions and temptations.  It was a very peaceful experience and so sweet to see such tiny little kids being reverent in the hands of their father. (written 9/15/14 but never ...

Haven't posted pics yet of Amelie's horseback riding lesson. She loved it so much. And I admit I did a little bit too, ok maybe a lot bit  . Wish they weren't so darn expensive! Her trainer said she picked up posting faster than anyone she's taught. Baskin Farms  with Finny the Pony

The creativity of children amazes me. Sawyer came upstairs to find me and said "mom you GOTTA come see the snake family I made". So I came to see his playdough creation. He explained it's a family of 10 kids, but the white one is adopted. And they have no parents because the dad died in the snake war and the mom died from surgery. Intense story for a little playdough snake family. Live on little snakes!

He was very happy this morning. He reminded me before I got out of bed that today was his first day of preschool, he got dressed all by himself without me asking, and wore his new Batman backpack around all morning. He told me last night that he was a little nervous because he wouldn't know what to do there. I gave him one rule to follow for the day to ensure a happy first day of school, smile. Simple as that!  I said "If you smile your teacher will love you and the other kids will want to be your friend." So that was his goal for today, just smile! He was so cute. Central Baptist Church Preschool Teachers: Mrs Greenhagen and Mrs Lichius