Labor Day weekend six flags

A little over a week after Asher was born, Matt took the kids to Six Flags with the Herreras and Uncle Carlos to have some fun.  They went on both Saturday and Monday.  Grandma Mindy stayed home with me to help with Asher.

New school year with new schools 2013-2014

After moving to Helotes last February the kids finished the school year at their old schools, so this year was new schools for everyone.  It was a little crazy start to the year because Asher was born on Friday, August 23rd and school started on Monday, August 26th.

The Kuentz Elementary Meet the Teacher was scheduled the Friday evening we went into the hospital, so Cynthia and Mamaquel took the kids with Cynthia's kids to meet their teachers.  I had bought and packed up school supplies earlier in the summer so they were able to take them in to their classes that night.

Luckily things went pretty well with the c-section and Asher and I were able to go home two days later on Sunday.  That meant we were there the night before the first day of school.  Matt was able to be there to take them for the first day of school.

They were all nervous to start in new schools.
Blake - Kuentz Elementary, Kindergarten with Mrs. Bruns.
Julia - Kuentz Elementary, 2nd Grade with Mrs. Trenz.
Brayden - Kuentz Elementary, 5th Grade with Mrs. Rodriguez
Kylee - Jefferson Middle School, 7th Grade.

Baby Asher

The c-section was scheduled but we had to call BAMC in the morning at 5:00 to make sure there was a bed available.  They said to come on in and be there at 6:30.  I had to take a shower and so we were there around 7.  We hung out in a room while people came and prepared me.

I had to walk to the operating room.  It took a while for the epidural to numb all the way up.  I think Matt waited about an hour outside of the operating room before being called in.  They said that it would take awhile to get the baby out because it was a 5th c-section.  It seemed like it took a long time.  I could feel the pressure of the cutting across my stomach  and the smell of the cauterizing knife.  There was lots of tugging and pushing.  I wanted Matt to talk to me to distract me so that I could keep my blood pressure down and not stress out about what was happening.  He was born at 10:08 a.m.  When he came out he was screaming and kept screaming and screaming.  They checked him out and cleaned him up and Matt brought him over so that I could see him as they were finishing up with me.  He weighed 8 lbs. and 15 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long.

The kids didn't get to come and see the baby until the next day because they had Meet the Teacher that night, so there wasn't going to be enough time.  They came the next day on Saturday afternoon. Matt went home and picked up my Mom and the kids and brought them to the hospital.  It was cute to see them see the baby for the first time.  They all had a turn holding the baby.

Since my Mom was staying with the kids, Matt was able to stay with me both nights to help with the baby. Things went well, so we only had to stay for 2 nights in the hospital.  We got to go home on Sunday soon after they came home from church.

Before having the baby every time Carlos would come over, he would ask what the name was going to be.  I always told him we didn't know, so he was determined to help us figure it out.  One day he was going through a long list of names and I was telling him if I liked it or not.  After a huge long list of names there were only 2 that I said sounded OK.  Asher and Reed.  The kids said they really liked the name Asher and started referring to him that way.  Brayden would frequently call the baby Asher.  After hearing it, I didn't know if I really liked it.  When it got closer to the scheduled c-section I looked up the meaning of some of the names we had been considering.  Asher, one of the twelve sons of Jacob in the Old Testiment, had the meaning "fortunate, blessed, and happy one", which I really liked.   I let Matt know the meaning and that changed his mind as he previously felt like it sounded too trendy.

When we went into the hospital we hadn't decided on a name yet.  After the baby was born everyone asked what the name was.  Our nurse asked what we were considering and we mentioned Asher.  She got so excited because that was the name of her son and she said she loved the name.  Neither of us had ever met an Asher, so that was a pretty neat coincidence that the name at the top of our list was the name of our nurse's son.  After talking about possible middle names to go with them we decided Asher Jay would be the name.  We didn't come to this conclusion until the day we were going home from the hospital.

The kids were excited when we came home, and they watched him sleep.

Summer goings on

This summer we had the opportunity to appreciate some of Brayden's very impressive bed head mohawks.

Julia is starting to spend money like Brayden and has been adding to her collection of Lego Friends.

June 15th - The kids watched Planet of the Apes on Netflix after hearing about it from Matt.  The movie really impacted them and remained a topic of conversation for weeks.  They are still somewhat concerned about Apes taking over. 

July 28th - Grandma Mindy came for a short visit when she had some training near San Antonio.

Aug 8-We enjoyed having Carlos with us in San Antonio for the past 3 years.  It was sad to say goodbye.

Blake enjoyed some cherries at the pool.

He continues to be self sufficient, and whipped up this fancy peanut butter sandwich with peanut butter inside and on top.

Blake's swimming lessons

To be on the Hurricane swim team kids need to be able to swim across the pool.  Blake was old enough to be on the swim team this past summer, but he didn't know how to swim by himself.  I realized that if I wanted him to be ready to be on the swim team next year we need to start working with him now. Towards the middle of the summer I had Riley Gruwell (a YW from our ward) teach him 8 - 30 minute lessons.  He improved a lot throughout his lessons. He learned freestyle and backstroke.  He also learned how to float on his back. After he started doing his lessons he didn't want to use his speedo vest anymore whenever we went swimming.   He was motivated to practice his swimming, but it meant I had to be by him all the time in the pool and I couldn't hang out on the chairs. Blake told me he was motivated to swim because he wanted to get the same "presents" (trophies and ribbons) that he saw the 6 and under kids get at the end of the swim season.

Hurricane Swimming 2013

I have wanted to get the kids involved in a summer swim team for years, and felt like they were missing out whenever I would hear about their cousins swimming.  When we lived by Sea World there weren't great swim team options.  After we moved I was happy to hear there was an open swim team in a neighborhood fairly close to ours.  We just had to sign up before they hit their 130 max.  Someone from the ward forwarded me the email with the information and I went to the pool on a Saturday to sign them up.  Because they were new to the team, they had to try out and show the coach that they could swim across the pool.  I was worried because I didn't know if Julia could make it all the way across the pool without stopping.  I had Matt take her to the pool a couple of times to have her practice.  They all did great and made the team.

First Swim meet 6-17-13 at Colonies North

Blake keeping himself entertained

Julia

5th - 8&U 25 yd. back - 37.38

3rd - 8&U 100 yd free relay - 2:11.75

Brayden 

5th - 10&U 25 yd. breast - 26.25

6th - 10&U 25 yd. free - 23.22

Kylee

4th - 12&U back - 23.00

2nd Swim meet 6-25-13 at Northwest Crossing

Julia

4th - 8&U 100 yd free relay - 2:13.97

Brayden

4th - 10&U 100 yd medley relay - 2:14.25

3rd - 10&U 25 yd breast - 24.47

Kylee

4th - 12&U 100 yd. medley relay - 1:37.65

3rd - 12&U 100 yd free relay - 1:09.09

3rd Swim meet 7-1-13 at Braun Station

Julia

3rd - 8&U 100 meter medley relay - 2:45.53

6th - 100 meter stairstep relay - 1:45.73

4th - 8&U 25 meter breast - 1:04.62

4th - 8&U 100 meter free relay - 2:36.56

Brayden 

3rd - 10&U 100 meter medley relay - 1:55.63

5th - 10&U 25 meter breast - 28.80

6th - 10&U 25 meter free - 23.50

Kylee

5th - 12&U 25 meter back- 24.12

6th - 100 meter stairstep relay 1:45.73

4th - 12&U 100 meter free relay - 1:27.32

There was a 4th swim meet on July 8, 2013 against Misty Oaks.  There was a storm with lightening that rolled in after the medley relays and some of the butterfly.  They ended up canceling the rest of the meet.

Julia

4th - 10&U 100 yd medley relay - 2:06.03

Brayden 

3rd - 10&U 100 yd medley relay - 1:55.16

Kylee 

2nd - 14&U 100 yd medley relay - 1:10.46

Championship Meet 7-13-13 at Northside Aquatic Center

For the Championship swim meet, they score differently than the the rest of the swim meets. They score them by each age, so all the 7 year olds are competing against each other instead of the combined 7 and 8 year olds.  The kids did great with their swimming.  We are very proud of how much they have improved.  Results:

Julia

7th- 7&U 25 yd. back - 34.73

12th-7&U 25 yd. free - 34.97

Brayden

DQ- 10&U 100 yd. medley relay 

2nd- 10&U 25 yd. breast - 24.21

5th- 10&U 25 yd. free - 20.58

3rd- 10&U 100 yd. free relay - 1:15.77

Kylee

5th- 12&U 25 yd. breast - 23.67

6th- 25 yd. free - 16.60 

Team Results

Hunters Chase II Hurricanes - 1533

Northwest Crossing Dolphins - 1072

Colonies House Dolphins - 968.5

Dominion - 831.5

End of Year Party 7-15-13

Each of the kids got a trophy for being part of the team.  Coach Haidin called them up by each age group and hand them out.

July 4th

This year for July 4th we wanted to keep it low key.  We have been trying to get things done around the house before the baby is born, so we didn't really want to stress about hosting a get together.  We celebrated as a family with Uncle Carlos.  To make it a little more fun we got a Slip-n-Slide and an inflatable baby pool for the kids.  We thought the hill in the back yard would make the slip n slide more fun, though it didn't really work as envisioned.  The slope made the water in the sprayers running the length of the Slilp-n-Slide only spraying at the bottom.  We improvised with some success and the kids took turns pouring water as they went down.  

The next day we went on a day trip to the beach because we weren't going to be able to go in the summer with the baby's due date in August.  We went to Mustang Island which is only a couple of hours away.  The sand isn't great because there is lots of seaweed, but the drive is not bad and the kids like it.