August 21, 2008
The visitor
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Yesterday, I received a tag from Arby, I am truly awful at things like that. So, since his reason for tagging me was so that I would blog more, I thought maybe a new blog entry would satisfy the tag. Does this work, Arby? A few weeks ago, my mom, that's Indiana Mimi for those of you who read my sister's blog, came to visit us. It was quite a feat getting her here, but well worth it. Indiana Mimi doesn't drive on interstates very often and a 10 hour drive to get here alone was out of the question. So Kellie and I devised a plan. Kellie's kids were going to spend a week with their paternal grandparents, who happen to live halfway between Kellie and I. So Kellie split the trip with them. Then I drove halfway and picked Mimi up from them. Not bad. Anyway, my kids think it is hilarious that Mimi is sometimes referred to as Indiana Mimi. And since they have a new fascination with the real Indy, they decided that it was time for Mimi to play dress up. So here you have it, Indiana Mimi in full costume (BTW, she's probably going to kill me for posting this picture on the internet for all the world to see).  While she was here, Mimi wanted some pictures made of her and my boys and one of her and I together. I was happy to oblige, but the boys (mainly Ethan) weren't nearly as cooperative. 15-month olds really do not want to sit still for portrait sessions. But here are our best efforts at getting the pics Mimi wanted.  This was attempt #1. Ethan is thrilled, can't you tell? Attempt #2. Ethan is still excited. Really he is.  Mom and I together And one of all of us. I think Ethan wants to do this every day! I captured a wonderful moment of Mimi reading to the boys from one of our Sonlight science books. I meant to submit it for the photo contest, but it completely slipped my mind.  I have a couple of more pictures to share of when we met Kellie and kids at Cracker Barrel on Mimi's return trip. Here's Mimi, Kellie and I.  And one of all the kids.  Again, Ethan just loves having his picture taken. Jeez, kid, can't we get ONE picture of you smiling? Now, I haven't given lots of details of Mimi's visit, because I'm going to let Benjamin do it. For his preschool "writing" assignment this week, he had to tell about someone coming to visit him. He dictated and I wrote his story, called "The Visitor." One day, me and Bubby and Ethan and Mommy drove to NC to get Mimi. We goed at SC for Mimi to visit me and Momy and Bubby and Ethan. Mimi just cleaned with me and Bubby in mine room and Bubby's room. We ate at IHOP and Olive Garden and Chick-fil-a and Atlanta Bread. Chick-fil-a was my favorite place to eat. And she goed to the Dollar Tree with me and she got me the police stuff. And she taked me to get a Webkinz. And then I got a rhino and I named it Rory because sometimes rhinos ROOOAAARRR! Mimi got me at Wal-Mart a firefighter shirt and it lights up. When it was time for Mimi to go home, we taked her back to Cracker Barrel in NC. We mmet there Kellie and Mimi and Harrison and Annie. I liked Mimi coming to visit because she looked at all my stuff I made in school. And I hoped Mimi comes back to visit. So I must clarify a few things. First, Mimi did in fact spoil my children while she was here, getting them many things from Dollar Tree, shirts, shoes and a Webkinz each (even Ethan who has no idea what a Webkinz is). Second, while we did eat out a lot, that's not all we did. I did cook several meals at home. And I have the photo evidence to prove it. Here I am making black bean and chicken burritoes and homemade salsa and guacamole (in my really cute new apron my boys got me for my birthday).   We really enjoyed Mimi's visit! We only wish it were longer! |
July 11, 2008
July 4th Fun
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We decided to take a mini family vacation over the three-day weekend last week. We live only 1.5 hours from the zoo and a really cool children's museum. So we headed out early Friday morning and grabbed breakfast at McDonald's. (I was craving Atlanta Bread, but can you believe they had the audacity to be closed on July 4th?!?) It was so early, that all three kids napped on the way up.   And while they slept, Brady and I took a few self-portraits.  Our first stop in Columbia was Riverbanks Zoo. When we were there in May, we bought a family membership, so the cost was excellent. We also invited some friends to use some of our guest passes and spend the day. The kids had a lot of fun feeding giraffes...  Acting like penguins...  And checking out the fish...  Because we had been to the zoo just a month and a half before, I spent some more time this trip photographing the zoo creatures (instead of my creatures). A one month old lion cub:  Some corn snakes (and their skins):   A frilled lizard...the kids tried really hard to scare him so he would show off his frill, but he was just one chilled out lizard:  And finally, this clown fish was swimming in and out of his anenome and reminded me so much of Marlin in Finding Nemo, "In, out, in, out."  Here are just a few more random shots of our zoo trip. Braden and his best friend, Sarah:  Benjamin tracing a model snake:  All three of our boys with Sarah:  And a nice family shot:  Benjamin catching a ride:  Riverbanks Zoo also has a botannical garden that we took the tram up to see. I love sunflowers and wanted a picture with them. Braden decided he wanted to play photographer and Ethan was sleeping in the stroller, so we got a partial family shot:  And these flowers looked awfully familiar, so we took a picture of them, too.  We left the zoo and went to our hotel and took advantage of the indoor pool. Then we had dinner at Red Robin, an excellent restaurant, recommended by friends. Then despite the rainy weather, we found some local fireworks and celebrated our country's freedom. Saturday found us heading to the Edventure Children's Museum, a wonderfully, fabulous place for kids to learn and explore. We started off exploring Eddie, a "40-foot, 17.5-ton, hands-on exhibit, made of reinforced, molded plastic, large enough for adults and children to climb in and through." Here's Eddie with our boys:  We climbed all the way up Eddie's spine, stopping off at his stomach, heart, and head. Our boys loved diving through the contents of Eddie's stomach. I think he needs to see a doctor about his digestion issues:   Next we headed to the World of Work, where our kids got to role play lots of different jobs. We had firemen:   Farmers:    Auto mechanics:  Construction workers:   And grocery store clerks (and shoppers.) This was my favorite room!    After lunch, we headed over to Body Works. Here kids learn all about the different parts of their body, health and nutrition. Ethan sampling a "watermelon" in the cafe area:  A giant game of Operation:  Upstairs, they have a music room, a room to experiment with air, a newsroom and a an exhibit about Timbuktu. Benjamin riding a camel:  Braden trying out a motor bike:  Our news anchors:  And the weatherman:  The museum also has two outdoor areas. One is all about water and the temporary bubble exhibit. I completely forgot to take pictures there. The other outdoor area has a huge spider web to climb.  We packed a TON of activity into two very short days, but as always our kids had a blast and so did we! |
July 1, 2008
Update...5 months worth
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Where did the time go? I last updated 5 months ago and so much has happened! My time on the computer has been limited severely. Ethan is crawling more and sleeping less. Add that on top of trying to get first grade done with Braden and preschool with Benjamin and keep my house in a semi-neat condition and my days are full to overflowing. So I'm going to try to catch you up on the last 5 months of our lives using lots of pictures! My last post was about Braden turning 7. We had a party to celebrate and Braden chose a Webkinz theme. (For those that don't know, Webkinz are a wide variety of stuffed animals that come with a code that you enter on the website. You then have a virtual pet, room, food and games as well as the physical stuffed animal.) For the first time ever, every child invited came to the party. They all brought their oen Webkinz and we made "Crowns of Wonder," spun the "Wheel of WOW," played "Where's Wacky" and "Zingoz Pop," had a "Chef's Challenge," and shopped at the "W Shop." Fun was had by all! Braden and Benjamin with 2 Webkinz wearing their Crowns of Wonder  Braden and some of his guest wearing their own Crowns of Wonder:  Braden opening of of 3 Webkinz he received for his birthday:  We were steadily working on school and finished up in May. Braden graduated from 1st grade and Benjamin finished his Letter of the Week program. Benjamin with an art project:  Braden making a Roman Road:  Graduation pictures:   We celebrated graduation with a trip to the zoo:   Ethan celebrated his first birthday in April. We had a very small party with just a few close friends. We put out the slip-n-slide and wading pool, grilled out and had cake and ice cream.     We hit several milestones during this period, too! Benjamin is FINALLY potty-trained (we would read to him while he sat, thus the book he's holding):  Braden lost his first tooth (and the second and few days later):  And Ethan started walking in the last three weeks. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten a good picture of that yet. We've been busy doing lots of other things,too. Here are a few shots from Easter: Ethan's first egg hunt:  Braden hunting:  And Benjamin with his prize for finding the Golden Egg:  Enjoying the spring weather before it gets too hot:   At the Air Force Base Air Show:  Enjoying our Sonlight Box:  Enjoying the beach (Ethan's first trip!):    Benjamin and Braden both completed their first year of AWANA and received awards:   Benjamin continues to entertain us with his quirky personality:  While Ethan keeps us on our toes trying to keep him out of trouble:   And Braden continues to be a big help, even teaching Benjamin's school when I threw my back out:  And finally, I helped direct VBS at church this year! We did Lifeway's Outrigger Island and had a record (for our church) of 73 kids! Brady helped out in drama and Braden and Benjamin were Wave Riders. This was Benny's first VBS! My co-director, Peggy, and I:  Brady as Bobby in the drama (He's supposed to be surfing those waves:  Benjamin at Rec Reef "surfing:"  Braden having a blast in Music Falls:  Benjamin's class performing Friday night for the parents:  Braden's class during Friday's performance:  Whew! If you've stuck with this, thanks! I'm hoping that I'll be able to update more frequently and maybe even participate in kellieann's flashback Friday sometimes. So there you have our last 5 months in a nutshell, and yes, I did leave out LOTS of pictures I wanted to include! |
October 16, 2007
God is the ultimate puzzler
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I had a very interesting conversation with Benjamin (almost 3) today. He was eating a Cottage Double (cottage cheese mixed with fruit) for breakfast when the following conversation took place: Benjamin: Is this pineapple? Me: No, it's peach. Benjamin: Oh! I like peaches. I eat them at home and at church. Me: Did Miss Lisa give you peaches at Cubbies? Benjamin: Uh-huh! And raspberries. I like raspberries, too. Slight pause. Benjamin: I saw a peaches of the tree. Me: You saw a peach tree? Benjamin: Yup! Me: When did you see a peach tree? Benjamin: Sunday. Me (wondering where there is a peach tree): Who showed you a peach tree? Benjamin: God. Me: God showed you a peach tree on Sunday?!? Benjamin: Uh-huh! Me (not knowing where else to take this conversation): Benny, do you know who made the peach tree? Benjamin: God made it. Me: That's right! Who made Benjamin? Benjamin: God did! Me: That's right, Benny! God made you! Benjamin: Yup! He has a big Benjamin puzzle. Me (after a slight pause to process this): Benjamin, are you saying God has a puzzle of you and that's how he made you? Benjamin: Yup! (Big Grin!) Oh, the minds of toddlers (or preschoolers as Braden informs me that Benny will be when he turns three)! He is really into puzzles of late and in his mind, God sat down and put all the pieces together to make a Benjamin puzzle! I had to hug him so tight and smile for this wonderful bit of toddler logic! Oh, and I did Google what people who put together puzzles are called and it is puzzlers. |
August 8, 2007
Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
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Yep! Ethan rolled over from his back onto his tummy today at 3.5 months! I checked back to see when my other two rolled. Braden rolled from his back to tummy just shy of three months. Benjamin first rolled from his tummy to his back at 4.5 months, so he's pretty much in the middle there. I had Ethan on a big blanket in the living room and Braden was sprawled out next to him working on a lapbook. Aren't they cute?   I wandered to the other end of the room to help Benjamin put together a puzzle. I hear Braden yell, "Mom! Ethan just rolled over! I tried to stop him, but I couldn't do it!" (Poor kid. He thought he needed to keep Ethan from getting hurt.) So I come back down to where they are and find this:   He looks pretty proud of himself, doesn't he? |
July 9, 2007
A working vacation
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Last Tuesday, we loaded up the whole family in the car and headed to Nashville to visit family and look for a house and job for our upcoming move. While we were able to relax with family some, we spent A LOT of time going in and out of houses, up and down stairs and driving around behind our realtor trying to find said houses. It was exhausting! But Brady has one possible job lead and we have two houses on our list that we really really like! So, Yeah! The trip was good. Here is a photo journey of our trip and all we packed into 4 very busy days!
Brady had to work a half day on Tuesday, so we left at about 1:30pm for our 11 1/2 hour trip. We spent many long hours in our seats. The boys were well-behaved little travellers, including Ethan! The two older boys finally conked out about 10:00. Here is Braden drawing on a travel dry erase board, one of the many activitied packed to keep him entertained. This picture of Benny was actually taken yesterday on the trip home, but it was just too cute. He's pretending to talk on his toy phone and he's pointing out all the pictures in his book to the "person" he's talking too, And Ethan slept a good bit of the trip. He would wake up and nurse and stare at his brothers in the back seat. Wednesday was July 4th and we spent the day with my mom, sister and sister's family. We went ot a cook out and pool party at the house of my sister's friends. It was so much fun! Benny enjoyed the pool, thanks to Annaleigh (my niece) and his new friend Mr. Buck (the owner of the pool).
Braden wouldn't get off the steps of the pool, even with swim floats on, because he's afraid of the pool, but he seemed to enjoy himself anyway. Here he is with my sister's son, Harrison. They're only 8 months apart and best friends.
While Brady and I brought our suits, we opted to stay in the shade with the other adults, including my sister, brother-in-law and mom. The food was excellent and the cabana was great! Here is my mom holding Ethan out of the sun.
Later that evening, we went to see fireworks. We parked the vans along a road and watched the display over the treetops. Braden has, for the last two years, made up stories about the fireworks being Star Wars characters (green ones are Yoda, red are one of the sith, blue either Anakin or Obi-Wan...) and calls them the Jedi Battle. The tradition continued this year and Harrison and Benjamin joined in the fun. The pictures didn't turn out all that great so I'm not posting them here. Thursday we met our realtor and began our house hunt. I don't think I've ever walked up or doen so many sets of stairs in one day. We saw 10 houses and every one had at least one set of stairs, but most had a second set leading into the basement! It was a great work-out! All three boys were with us today and they were very well-behaved and really liked Jeannie, our realtor! SHe was excellent (she bought the boys presents that she gave them on Saturday for "helping" her unlock the houses!) That night we went to a cool Japanese place in downtown Nashville, Ru San's. It's a sushi and seafood place, but it definitely has something for everyone. I tried seaweed salad, thanks to my sister's friend Jay. I also had bacon-wrapped asparagus on a stick (Oh, yum!), a cucmber and crab salad (a first for me since I don't like seafood. It was very good!), and two kinds of sushi: gingered beef and sweet tofu. Everything was excellent. The biggest event of this evening though was that Ethan laughed for the first time. And amazingly, he laughed at Jay, a person he never met until this evening.
Friday found us back on te road looking at houses. Braden opted to stay at home with his cousins, but the two littles were with us. Benjamin enjoyed having most of the attention for the day and really blossomed in personality! After coming home, we got out the $4 Slip-in-Slide my sister had bought and the kids had a ball! The pictures say it all! Braden: Harrison: Benjamin, who only walked down: And finally, the boys going down, very slowly, together: After it got dark, we all munched on some fresh watermelon. This was a first for Benjamin, who truly loved it. Braden just decided to be silly!
Saturday we asked to go back to our two favorite houses for one more look and to show my mom. After seeing us take many, many pictures of prospective houses, Braden asked if he could take some. Here are a few of his efforts (he took over 30 pictures of the one house!) As you can see, some of his subjects were a bit unique!
The self-portrait: I'm thinking it may be time to get Braden his own camera. While his subjects were a bit strange at times, his skill is actually quite good for six. So four exhausting days later, we are home. I have so much laundry, it's sad. Here are the mountains in my hall this morning: So with all of this waiting for my attention, why, you may ask, am I on here writing? Because, I'm trying to escape reality, but I must get back to washing, drying, folding and putting away!
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June 30, 2007
Mom time and other random thoughts
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It's been a pretty harrowing week around here. We've had rain, eye appointments, rain, doctor appointments and did I mention the rain? So besides rushing around all over the place, we've been cooped up inside because if it wasn't raining, our yard was still a lake and not very kid-friendly! On top of all of that, Brady has been putting in extra hours at work and doing side jobs. So needless to say, I was a little burnt out! But my wonderful husband blessed me with an evening of "Mom Time" last night! He and our friend Ted took Braden, Benjamin and Ted's daughter Sarah out for ice cream and then to Barnes and Noble to play. Ted's wife, Anna, stayed here with me and we scrapbooked for over 2 HOURS!!! WooHoo! Of course, Ethan had to stay here in order to be fed, but he was pretty easy. I got four single-page lay-outs done for our Disney Album from our trip from over a year ago. Anna was also working on a Disney album so it was lots of fun. Here are Anna and I hard at work. (The last pic was taken after the guys returned!)
On another note, Ethan turned two months old on Wednesday! I can't believe he's already that old! He had his well-check yesterday and weighed in at 12 lbs 9 oz! He also got 4 shots! Poor baby. At two months old, though, he already has high aspirations of being a fireman!
And here's a shot that Braden took of Ethan yesterday! He's pretty stinkin' cute, if I must say so!
Speaking of Braden, we got the rest of our curriculum this week from Rainbow Resource and CDB. One of the things I bought for Braden was a kid's devotional Bible. I've been amazed at how excited he is about a Bible. He's been picking different stories every day and asking me where he can find them and then reading them. Here he is reading Jonah before bed the other night.
And I can't leave Benjamin out of this post. He's been a real handful lately because he's been extraordinarily clumsy. He has two scrapes on his knees from parking lot tumbles, a cut on the back of his head from flipping his chair over during lunch and a bruise on his face from a fall while chasing Braden around the house! I guess this is what I get for having a house full of boys! However, I have come up with some creative ways to channel all of Benjamin's energy. Here he is being my "kitchen helper" and using a child-size rolling pin to annhialate (I mean crush) some crackers for a a recipe for dinner.
So there you have it, our lives over the past few days! Enjoy! |
June 14, 2007
And our journey begins...
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These past few weeks have seen some big ups and downs in our lives. It all started almost two weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon. We had just finished our lunch at Moe's and were waiting for the two older boys to finish up. I nursed Ethan and Brady buckled him back in his carseat. All of a sudden, everything Ethan just ate came back up, forcefully. We were alarmed by how much he vomited, but knew that both of our older boys had occasionally done this. So, probably no big deal. Then it happened again on Monday, right at lunch time. And on Wednesday, and Thursday...Are you seeing a pattern? It was once a day just at lunch time. He also had a rash that came and went. So I started asking questions and doing research. I had come up with a few possibilities. One was a dairy allergy, seeing as how he threw up almost 6 hours after I would have milk to drink. The other was pyloric stenosis. This was worst case scenario and would result in surgery. So having done my homework, I called the pediatrician. We went in in Friday, but our regular doctor was out of town and we saw the guy who was covering her practice for her. While nice, he was rather young and hesitant to make any concrete diagnosis, other than to rule out pyloric stenosis (Thank you, Lord!). In fact, this doctor had never heard of infants reacting to dairy gotten through a mother's milk. I assured him I knew of several people who this had happened to and so he called a colleague and confirmed what I had said. We left that day with a preliminary diagnosis of milk allergy. I was told to cut out milk and keep eating other dairy as usual to see what happens. Then bring Ethan back the following Wednesday for a re-check. Yesterday was our re-check and we saw Katie, our regular nurse practitioner. After hearing all of the details again, she confirmed what Brady and I had already suspected: Ethan has a dairy allergy. He hadn't thrown up at all since Friday (after I cut out milk) until that morning. He vomited on the way to the appointment and I suddenly remembered that I had splurged on some ice cream the night before. So here we are on a road we never thought we'd be on. We're learning all we can about dairy allergies and I'm adjusting my diet accordingly. Right now, I'm switching to soy milk (it's really pretty good!), cutting out creamers, yogurt, ice cream (did I really just say that?!?) and cutting back on cheese. After a while, I'll try one of the above foods to see how Ethan reacts. There is a very good chance he will outgrow this and be able to enjoy all of the dairy products our family enjoys. (We are a HUGE cheese-milk-ice cream-dairy-dairy-dairy family.) So, if you would, keep us in your prayers as we embark on this new journey. (We never know what life is going to throw at us next and what things will come when we choose to become parents!) Also, if you have any experience with dairy allergies, I'd love your advice, knowledge, websites, etc. I'm still pretty clueless! Thanks! Oh and here's a picture of Ethan with his big brothers!  |
May 29, 2007
Masterpiece
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For as long as I can remember, Braden has loved to draw. He will color some, but his favorite thing is drawing. He fills pages and pages with pictures. He'll draw just about anything. I've had pictures on the fridge that range from self-portraits to Darth Vader to wild life. Braden asked me the other day what I wanted him to draw. My usual response to this is for him to be creative and draw something from his imagination. But this time, I answered differently. I told him to draw a pre-historic picture, complete with trees, dinosaurs, water. Anything at all from the dinosaur era, but he had to make a whole page. I told him if he did a really good job, I would scan the picture and post it on my blog. So here it is, the finished masterpiece:  I think it's wonderful. And my favorite part: The T-rex with the bones of his latest meal in the background! Yes, I'm the mom of boys!  |
May 21, 2007
The joys of a dollar
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I found out recently just how far my dollar will go! While Brady took the boys shopping for Mother's Day, I took Ethan to the Dollar Tree. We wandered around the store, looking at this and that. I had a few dollars cash with me (a very rare thing, if you know me!) and decided I would surprise the older boys with a treat. I headed off to the toy section and found almost immediately the perfect toy! For those of you who have more than one child, you understand the necessity of each child having the same toy. (Now this doesn't always happen, obviously, but there are times when it makes life easier, like say, McDonald's toys.) What I found was a Pirate set. Each set contained an eyepatch, compass (it doesn't work, btw. Brady tested it.), earring, a spyglass and a dagger. This, I knew would be perfect for my pirate-loving boys. So I tossed two sets into the cart and headed to check out. Needless to say, when they returned to the van and found these in their seats, they were thrilled. I waited until the next morning to open the treasures and helped the boys get dressed up. My two sweet boys were instantly transformed into dangerous pirates.    But here's the best part: For only $2, plus tax, I bought an entire day's play time! Once they were decked out, the boys retreated to Benny's room and proceeded to battle each other, defend our house in united battle and altogether perform great acts of piracy for the rest of the day. I had to practically threaten them to come eat their lunch. And Benjamin didn't want to nap until I let him sleep with his dagger. So for those of you who say a dollar can't get you much of anything, I dare you to check out the toy section of Dollar Tree (or another dollar store near you). You may be surprised what you can buy! |
May 18, 2007
A very special Mother's Day
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I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. I think it was especially poignant because I was able to celebrate with 3 children, one of them being only 2 weeks old. I am still reveling in the miracle of motherhood with Ethan and that made Mother's Day very special indeed. I was awakened that morning by sounds of Brady and Braden in the kitchen. They made me breakfast (raspberry stuffed french toast with custard sauce: yum!) and brought it to me in bed. When they came in, I was surprised to see Braden and Benjamin already dressed for church. Brady was intent on blessing me in every way! Along with my yummy breakfast, I received homemade cards and my presents: a stamp set I've been wanting, a pack of scrapbook paper and chocolate (from Ethan!) At church that morning, we had Ethan dedicated. It was very special having it be on Mother's Day. Our oldest, Braden, was also dedicated on Mother's Day and I love the significance of giving our children back to God on the day meant to honor my role as their mother. Here is a picture from the ceremony.  After church, we went to a Japanese steakhouse for lunch. I was thrilled. I love Japanese food and especially the fact that you get to take home leftovers! Braden enjoyed the experience much more this time than previous trips. I think it's because I introduced him to the art of drowning your food in white sauce. (I love Japanese white sauce and am on a mission to find a recipe for it. I could eat the stuff in gallons and regularly go through quite a bit while at the steakhouse. Probably a good reason to limit how often we eat there!) Here is Braden with his friend Sarah, whose family joined us for lunch.  Benjamin also enjoyed lunch. He actually used chopsticks to eat his meal. While I think more rice ended up on his chair and shorts, he loved it! He loves rice so this was a great meal for him!  Ethan however, slept through lunch. He had his lunch before we left the church. Apparently being dedicated wears him out!  In all honesty, this was a wonderful day. I thank God that I am blessed with three wonderful, beautiful boys to raise and love. I feel so honored to be called their mom. Not every day is easy and there are days that are downright hard! But I wouldn't trade these boys (the good, the bad or the ugly) for anything. I have an online friend who lost her 11-year-old son to a freak accident on Monday, the day after Mother's Day. It has reminded me that we don't know what the future holds or how long these precious children will be in my care. I don't want to take a single day or moment for granted. I've hugged them all a little tighter this week and thank God they are safe here in my arms. |
April 23, 2007
A lot of catching up to do!
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Okay, I know! Brady has harassed me long enough about not updating my blog. SO here is the long awaited update that includes Easter (almost a month ago!), kindergarten graduation, Box day, and a pregnancy update! I'll start with Easter, since it happened the longest ago. Our church had an egg hunt on Saturday and both boys were so excited to go! Benjamin was in the 0-2 year old category and found 18 eggs.  Braden was in the 6 and up age group and found 47 eggs and won the prize for the boy who found the most eggs. (Shhh, we're not telling him he was the only boy in his age group!)  When we got home, we boiled eggs while Benjamin was napping and then let the boys color and decorate their own Easter eggs. Target sold a Star Wars kit this year and so both boys now own a plastic egg dressed as Darth Vader!   Sunday morning, the boys got up and got their Easter baskets. Each got a puzzle and book and their Easter outfits. Benjamin also got a Play-doh set and a new sword all his own (no more stealing Bubby's swords!). Braden also got a Lego Bionicle and a set of Frog jacks. Because our weather suddenly turned very unseasonably cool, we had to alter Easter outfits slightly by adding pants and jackets, but here are the boys all dressed up!  I was really pleased to see that Braden is truly starting to understand the Easter story and it's meaning this year. I owe a lot of it to his age and maturity. But I also think a lot has to do with the Egermeier's Bible we've been using in school this year. This Bible has done wonders for Braden's understanding. It reads like a story book in children's language, but doesn't leave much of the Bible out. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this Bible with him this year. Speaking of school, we finished up Kindergarten and Sonlight Core K on April 13. Braden is very excited to be an official first grader, even though we won't be starting school again until late July or August. In honor of his accomplishments, I printed off a graduation certificate I found on-line and presented it to him on Friday. On Saturday, we took Braden to a miniature golf course called Blackbeard's Cove. It's a really neat place and both boys enjoyed themselves. Oh and Braden got his first hole-in-one, too! Unfortunately, we weren't prepared with the camera to get a shot of this momentous event! Braden got to pick where we ate lunch on Saturday and he chose TGI Friday's. We had a very enjoyable day and Braden has very fond memories of graduating from kindergarten.    On Wednesday of the following week, we had our Box Day! For those of you who don't homeschool (or don't use Sonlight) you may not understand the significance of Box Day, but it is huge! This is the day the much-loved and much-anticipated Sonlight box arrives from Fed Ex. You may think that a box full of school books could never be exciting, but you are very wrong here. Braden waited all day for the bell to ring and when it finally did, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "MY CURRICULUM IS HERE!!" I happened to be right in the middle of making lunch at the time, so I told him he had to eat all of his lunch before we could open the box. I have never seen Braden eat so fast in his life! We opened the box and started pulling out book after book and Braden wanted to read every title and know what subject we would use it for. After going over the entire packing list to make sure nothing was missing, Braden proceeded to read several of his readers and science books. Even Benjamin got excited about Box Day. Towards the end of this school year, Benny started sitting in on a lot of our readings and science experiments were his favorites. He learned to recognize the science book and get it and look at it on his own. When he discovered an identical book (blue, instead of red) in our stack of books, he pulled it out and exclaimed, "Look, Mommy! Blue Science Book! Can I read it?!?" And read it he did. He then proceeded to look through several more of our books and cried and fought me when I told him it was nap time!   Finally, an update on Baby Ethan! We're counting down to the C-section and we're at four more days! Friday morning we're scheduled to be at the hospital at 6:00 am for an 8:00 am surgery. I can't believe we're so close. We've been frantically trying to get everything ready these last few weeks. We have the bassinet set up and all of his clothes washed and put away. The car seat is put together and ready to be installed in the van. Mine and Ethan's bags are packed and ready to go and my mom and sister will be here Thursday to help with Braden and Benjamin. It's down to just waiting and doing some last minute loads of laundry so none of my family runs out of towels or clothes while I'm in the hospital. Here is the latest tummy shot, taken last night at 38 weeks, 1 day.  The next update you get will more than likely be our birth story with lots and lots of pictures our new little boy! |
March 27, 2007
Mini Vacation
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We decided, sort of last minute, to take a mini vacation to Myrtle Beach this past weekend. We packed a lot of things into just 2 days. We left Saturday morning and got back Sunday evening around dinner time. However whirlwind and tiring, we all had a great time. Here are a few (or more) pictures of our adventures and a little more about what we did. As I said, we left home about 10 on Saturday morning, arriving in Myrtle Beach at lunch time. We had decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. This particular Hard Rock is set up with an Egyptian theme, right down to the pyramid-shaped building. This thrilled Braden, who loves Ancient Egypt. Out front was also a Harley motorcycle that customers could sit on and have their picture taken. If Benjamin hadn't just woken up, he probably would have enjoyed this much more than he did.     From lunch, we headed to one of the many miniature golf courses in Myrtle Beach. We had found on-line the Jurassic Golf Course and knew both the boys would LOVE the moving dinosaurs. What we didn't expect, was that Benjamin thought they were real, especially with the dinosaur roars piped in through speakers. He was slightly freaked out any time we were close to one of the dinos. However, both boys loved golfing and really enjoyed our time there.     After golf, we were more than ready to head to our hotel and check in. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and our room had a gorgeous view of the Atlantic from our balcony! Here are a few pics of us getting ready to go to the indoor pool (it was still a little to cool for the outdoor area). In the background you can see the view we had!   When we left the pool, it was nearing 7 and we were all hungry. We headed up to our room to shower and change. Then headed out to find dinner. We ended up at East of Chicago Pizza, which was essentially a cross between Cici's Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese. The boys loved it! Sunday morning, we got up and went downstairs for Embassy's complimentary breakfast buffet. The highlight for me was the Starbucks that was in the lobby and sold me a wonderful decaf Caramel macchiato! After breakfast, we went out to the beach and walked a bit. Both boys loved collecting shells. In fact, we finally had to tell Benjamin he was not allowed to pick up another shell because both his pockets were overflowing! In the pics below, you can not only see how much my tummy is growing, but also our hotel is right behind me. Our room is on this side, 14 floors up!   We went back up to our room, packed up and headed out of the hotel. Before leaving Myrtle Beach, though, we had one more stop: Ripley's Aquarium. Here we saw a Pirate exhibit, much to Braden's delight, and many, many sea creatures. All of us had a lot of fun and agree that our favorite thing was the Dangerous Reef exhibit. Here you stand on a slow-moving conveyor that takes you through (yes, I said THROUGH!) a very large tank full of sharks. The sharks would literally swim just feet over your head. It was so cool! Braden's favorite of all was the Sawfish Ray and we even came home with a stuffed one, named Blade. Benjamin's souvenir was a stuffed sea turtle he calls Crush.   This is Braden as he's getting ready to pet a horseshoe crab. Did you know they are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to a crab?!?  This is us on the conveyor through Dangerous Reef. One of the Sawfish Rays laying on the tank right above our heads.On the ride back home, both boys fell asleep watching Cars and were pretty hyper when we got home. Our dog was so excited to see us that she ran out of the house and jumped into the car to see me! Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we're so glad we had this opportunity before our new baby arrives! |
February 5, 2007
Six years ago today
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Six years ago today, I became a mom. Braden Larry Donovan was born via C-section at 4:30 in the afternoon and my life changed forever. I never knew how much love I could have for one tiny person. He has been one of the greatest joys in my life and I thank God for this amazing little boy. I can't believe six years have gone by and all that has happened and changed in our lives. Braden has molded and shaped me in so many ways. He is so smart and loving and I love being his mom and also having the privilege to be his teacher. Here are a few pictures of Braden when he was only six days old! My how time flies!   To celebrate his birthday this year, we bought Braden a new bike. We took him to Wal-Mart and let him pick out his own bike and helmet. He chose a Spiderman bike and matching helmet. Here he is riding his new bike on Saturday.  Today, he is getting a special dinner that he picked out the menu himself. We're having cheeseburgers off the grill, homemade mac and cheese and salad. (Yes, he picked the salad himself!) For dessert, he picked out a chocolate cake with cream cheese glaze. On Saturday, we're picking up two of his friends and going to the local Aquarium, instead of a big party. Then we'll meet one of his friend's parents for dinner. We're going to a really neat local restaurant called Queen Anne's Revenge. The food is great and the atmosphere is even better. The entire restaurant is decorated with authentic pirate paraphernalia, including swords, guns and a real treasure chest. It's a little boy's dream. I'll close now with one more recent pic of this amazing little boy. I took this last night right before leaving for our church's Super Bowl party. The shirts the boys are wearing are homemade, btw!  |