Swimming in ditches?

It has been SOOOO VERY HOT here in AZ the past few weeks. Nobody wants to go outside and I can't blame them. We're irrigating out here and dad had a GREAT idea! Let's take the kids swimming in the ditches. I haven't done it since I was in elementary school. We had a BLAST! Spent a few hours out there and the kids came home T-I-R-E-D!!

Don't let that face trick you. She was ALL over swimming.
Towards the end she started jumping off the side.
Not very safe at all!!

Summer is almost over and am sad to say I'm ready for school to start. The plan is for me to home school our kids but just having so many in and out during the summer can be quite chaotic. My nieces will be starting 3rd grade and kindergarten this fall. Less than a month away. I'll only have the two boys and then Markel will be joining his sisters' next fall. Am I counting? I've been watching them for almost four years. It's been great for my kids and I'm so thankful for the relationships they have established with one another.

We're in the process of researching our next adoption. Hoping to start the process after the first of the year. We're still deciding where we want to go. We've talked about applying domestically but we really like the idea of our child/ren being international and visiting another country. A child is a child no matter where they were born but it's choice we get to make. :) We really would like to adopt siblings this time around. There are too many choices out there!!

I (Nicole) get to attend a women's retreat this weekend through our church. I'm excited and at the same time nervous. I haven't left the kids since we arrived back from Colombia. Before we had Avi, Asher never had stayed with anyone else but me. Wait, I take that back. He did stay with his dad one night during a scouting excursion for antelope. But, that was only one time! It's nap time and Malachi is extremely whiny....