Apple Picking

Because Justin's birthday is in September, one of his favorite birthday activities is apple picking. This year, we invited two other families to go with us for Justin's birthday. These are a few of the pictures from our apple picking trip.

Rebekah was completely cozy during the whole experience. She was comfortable and I was even able to pick some apples while holding her.

Caleb loved the first apple picking trip that he can remember! He ate an entire apple - seriously, I had to stop him before he ate the stem and core! Because the ground was wet from rain, we didn't let him out of the stroller, but he enjoyed watching the bigger boys pick apples.

Aaron proudly displayed one of the Granny Smith's he had picked - right before he ate it! I was beginning to wonder if he would eat his weight in apples!

Zachary bravely jumped into apple picking and even climbed a tree or two. He ate his fair share of apples as well.

We are trying hard to pair all of our children up with future mates by the time they are ten! Not really, but Justin's and Aaron's best friends happen to be sisters. They are never far apart from each other when our two families get together.

New to the apple-picking scene this year is Uncle David. He came up to spend Justin's birthday weekend with us and we enjoyed having him join the celebrations.

Dear Sara Kate! She and Justin are inseparable! We enjoyed spending the day with her family, and I know it made Justin's birthday extra special to have her there.

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Today is Justin's sixth birthday! If you read the post on Rebekah's blog, you already realized that we are having technical issues with our hard drive and I cannot access my pictures. So for now this is a picture-less birthday post, but I will add the pictures as soon as the drive is back up.

Justin is 42" tall and weighs 36 pounds. His favorite activities are riding his bike, reading, learning his doctrines and Bible verses for Kids4Truth club, and playing with his brothers. I am homeschooling Justin for kindergarten this year, and we are very much enjoying it. Recently, there were two activities in which Justin dictated sentences to me, and I thought they would be appropriate to share on his birthday.

I like to play...

....baseball on the Game Cube.

....Runescape and Ice Age (computer games).

....on the swingset.

....riding my bike.

....with my guns and bullets (caps for the cap guns) and all my cowboy stuff.

When I am big...

....I am going to play paintball. (???!!)

....I will have a bigger mouth.

....I am going to drive a jeep.

....I am going to take Sara Kate on a date.

"There might be other things I can do when I am big, but I can't think of them now." - Justin

Oh, to be a six-year old! We love you, Justin!! Happy Birthday!!!

Huge Praise!!!!

Praise the Lord I have a JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I start my new job today with a local builder. I will be supervising the construction of custom homes for them. This is a huge weight off us and a great opportunity to learn and grow in my field. Thanks to all those who have faithfully prayed with us.

Most of all Thank you Lord for providing for our every need.

D

Aaron funnies

When Aaron asked me to push him higher on the swing, I naturally obliged him. And when he went higher than he's ever gone before (that I know of anyway), he tried to tell me about it so quickly that his words came out all jumbled. I love this age!! :)

"Mommy! I never bee'd this higher so much! I never go'ed so higher!"

"Aaronnette" modeling one of Rebekah's bonnets.

It's not raining buckets, but this bucket might be useful in the rain! :)

I love my little Aaron-bear! :)

Nancy

A Little of this and a little of that!

Warning: This post might be a little all over the place as I attempt to catch you up on the last few weeks of happenings around here!

First, all of our boys are growing!! We are amazed at the amount of food they are beginning to pack away...literally, more than I eat most meals! These are some pictures of a recent Sunday afternoon when we opened our kitchen ice cream shoppe! :)

Zachary

Justin

Aaron

Caleb

We get comments all the time when we are out and about regarding the size of our family and the ages of the kids. One of the most frequent comments is how much the boys are like little stair steps. Well, we measured them yesterday, and there is a reason they look like little stair steps - because they are! Would you believe, each of the boys is exactly six inches shorter than his next oldest brother??!! In descending order, our children are 48" (Zachary), 42" (Justin), 36" (Aaron) and 30" (Caleb). How fun is that??!

Sweetly sleeping!

Rebekah did not have the greatest news at her weight check today. We will be meeting with a gastroenterologist (GI doctor) sometime in the next two weeks to decide on a new feeding plan. You can read all the details on Rebekah's blog here.

Yes, Caleb is in my pantry sorting and eating my potatoes!

Do any of your kids like to eat potatoes...raw? Apparently Caleb does! If we forget to latch the pantry door, this is what we inevitably find....a small pile of neatly sorted potatoes with a nibble or two taken from most of them. Last week, Drew even woke up to find a potato in our bed! We are still trying to figure out when and how Caleb got it there.

Yes, that is Caleb, and yes, he is in Rebekah's swing....

Along with potato-loving, Caleb loves his sister. And more than he loves his sister, he loves his sister's toys! We frequently find Caleb in the swing, in the bouncy chair, lying on her floor mat and in Rebekah's car seat. You know, when we don't find him in the pantry!

Eating breakfast on Zachary's first day of second grade.

The saying goes all good things must come to an end and that is exactly what this summer did! Today was Zachary's first day at Brushy Creek Elementary, and we were all up early to take him to school. Zachary's teacher is Mrs. Lewis, and we have been really impressed with her classroom management and organization. Zachary thrives on a schedule and routine, so we were very pleased about his placement in Mrs. Lewis' room. He had a good day overall and is looking forward to getting more books and learning something tomorrow.

Zachary is ready to learn!

At some point during the school day each of the students in Zachary's class had to give a brief "About Me" speech to the class. Zachary (who is never at a loss for words!) told me this afternoon that he told his class all about Rebekah and his brothers. He is such a sweet big brother! :)

I'm off to finish up a few chores and get ready for tomorrow. The alarm rings too early for our new school schedule!

Nancy

Patience......

The Lord is teaching me patience. I had contact from the company I have been interveiwing with, and they have had some delays in job starts. So they have also delayed bringing anyone on just yet. I have been promised a final answer on whether they will fill the position or not in two weeks. Until then I am continuing to send out resumes and look for work all I can.

D

Job Update

I talked to the prospective company today. It will be another week to get a final answer. The owner has been out of town and they have not had there staff meeting yet to make a final decision. We will be patient and wait a little bit longer. All in the Lord's timing.

D

Aaron at Walmart

Since we have come home, I have been trying to restock my kitchen and pantry items gradually. I didn't really intend for it to start out that way, but I have been finding that I have a list, go shopping and come home to realize that I'm out of something else that didn't make it onto the list. As it turns out, my repeated stops at the store gave me a chance to take each of the boys with me on different trips (yes, I have been shopping 4 times this week, and no, they have not all been trips to Walmart!).

Aaron has been very patiently waiting for his turn with Mommy, and today the schedule worked out for me to take him to get a short list of items. As with the other boys, we started our "date" with a frozen beverage. Aaron's choice was a blue raspberry Icee. We had just gotten into Walmart to begin our shopping when I heard a small "uh-oh." I glanced down at Aaron, who was sitting in the front of the shopping cart, and saw that he had small mounds of blue raspberry Icee on his shirt and pants. Thinking that the lid had come off his cup, I immediately checked the cup and found it intact. So I asked Aaron what had happened. "I just blowed in the straw, Mommy, and it all shooked up." Hmmm.....lesson in what happens when we blow air into a straw that is stuck in a cup full of Icee.

After cleaning Aaron up, we proceeded to the office supply section of Walmart. I needed a new calendar that fits in a diaper bag since my old one was on a school schedule and ended at the end of June. As I was looking at the (pitiful) selection of pocket calendars, Aaron said, "Mommy!!" I looked up to see what had caught his attention.

Aaron: "Mommy, do you see that lady there?"

Me: (Holding breath wondering what will come out of his mouth.) "Where?"

Aaron: "There, right there the one with the orange shirt on."

Me: (Oh, yes, that one standing less than twelve inches from me!) "Yes?"

Aaron: "She looks like Hayley."

Note: She did not look anything like Drew's twelve-year-old cousin Hayley, but I was not about to dispute that fact in front of the orange-shirted lady standing at my elbow!

Me: (Whew! Crisis averted....that could have been bad!)

We then proceeded through the store to the baby department where I was searching for a different kind of bottle for Rebekah than what the boys had all used. I love the Avent bottles, but the nipples are bigger and seem to choke Rebekah. She had done well with the Gerber disposable nipples at the hospital, so I bought a package of the Gerber ones today. While I was comparing bottles and prices, Aaron continued to chatter, pointing out everything from Lightning McQueen cups to dresses we should buy for Rebekah.

Aaron: "Mommy! Look at that lady!"

Me: "Hmmm?" (As I glance over my shoulder to see a lady that is.....let's just say, not a petite size six.)

Me: Frantically, "Aaron, shhh. Not so loud. Lower your voice."

Aaron: (Totally not hearing or paying attention to me) "Mommy! She has a big bottom!"

Me: Slinking away as quickly as possible.

Ahhh....such is life with a three year old! If nothing else, it keeps me humble! :)

All's well that ends well! We came home and Aaron had a bath with Monkey Soap - his favorite! Actually, it is Curious George bubble bath, but Monkey Soap sounds much more fun! :)

Nancy

Job

My interview went well today. We have reached the end of the process, and now we await the final decision. Either they move forward or kill it altogether. We are trusting the Lord for all of this and patiently waiting until he sees fit to finalize our employment whether with this company or another we may not even know about yet. All in the Lord's timing.

Thanks for praying.

D

Interview #3

Hey I got a nice phone call yesterday. I have been called back for a 3rd interview on Wednesday next week. We are trusting and hoping that this is it. I would love to be able to post next week that I finally have a job. We will see how the Lord provides.

D

Interview!!!

Praise the Lord. I got a call today about work. I have a second interview scheduled for next Wednesday morning with a company I have been talking with for serveral months. Excited to see what will happen.

D

Charleston, meet the boys!

Over the weekend, the boys came down for a few hours to see us and meet Rebekah. While they were very excited about meeting Rebekah, the highlight of the trip was spending a couple of hours swimming in the hotel pool with Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy, Mommy and the boys

Fun in the pool

Zachary loved jumping in - the more splash, the better!

Justin is doing a great job swimming!

Aaron is getting braver - not holding on to someone is a big deal!

Caleb relaxes so much he almost falls asleep in the water. :)

Rebekah and her brothers

Naturally, the time went way too fast for all of us, but we enjoyed getting to see the boys. They are struggling a bit with being away from us, but will be back home in familiar surroundings on Tuesday. In another week, Drew's cousin, Hayley, will be down from New York to stay for a week and play with the boys. They are really looking forward to seeing her and playing with her. :)

Nancy

Waterfront Park, Charleston

We had a fun couple of hours this afternoon walking around Waterfront Park in Charleston. Although it was VERY hot and humid, there was a nice breeze off the ocean. We were enjoying watching some of the sailboats and other boats in the harbor when we realized there was an airshow over the ocean. For an hour we watched these planes dip, dive, twist, loop and drop. It was so much fun!

This was an aircraft carrier farther out in the bay. If you look closely, you can see the planes parked on the deck.

We watched several small fishing boats like this one come in and out of the bay.

Lots of sailboats like this one were all over the place. We just found out that Drew's cousin Stephanie sailed in on a boat like this today. We may get a chance to see her in the next couple of days before she sails out again on Wednesday.

The Sheriff's Office has a patrol boat that was out following the planes. It even had flashing blue lights on top! :)

There were several small red Tow Boats. We thought the boys would enjoy seeing a picture of them.

This was by far the most exciting boat to see. It is an old US Coast Guard ship. Zachary and Justin, this is kind of like your Lego Coast Guard boat!

We are in the hospital, and I am having quite frequent contractions (2-5 minutes apart). We'll see if this little girl decides to arrive in the middle of the night or holds off till morning. Either way, we will post an update and pictures as soon as we are able to! Check Rebekah's blog for the latest delivery updates. :)

Nancy

We are checking in to

We are checking in to musc.
Drew

Rebekah

Rebekah is coming soon! Check her blog for the latest details: Bound by Grace

Nancy

Happy Birthday....

.....to my Dad!! I love you!!!!

Nancy

Something's missing around here.....

Wow! I leave for an hour or two, and came back to find a very significant part of Justin was missing - his tooth!!! Justin lost his first tooth today, and was so very proud of it! I barely had time to get adjusted to him having a loose tooth, and now he has a lost tooth! We had corn on the cob for supper last night, and Justin kept complaining that his teeth hurt when he ate his corn. We checked and found that his tooth was VERY loose, and he hadn't even realized it! I wish that I had my camera in hand when it dawned on him that he was going to lose his first tooth. I don't think I've ever seen his eyes get so big! :) Anyway, he had a loose tooth for less than 24 hours before it came out (with a lot of wiggling on his part!). He was very excited about what the Tooth Fairy might be leaving under his pillow tonight!

Showing off our new smile!

In other news, our little turkey has taken to sand like he was born for it! For all of his issues with textures, Caleb loved playing in the sandbox this morning with his friends, Trevor and Peyton. When all was said and done, he had sand from his toes to his hair and loved every minute of it!

And if you are looking for an update on Rebekah, check out her blog here for the latest scoop. Just a month left until we get to meet our little girl! :)

Nancy

Just a little busy

It has been another  busy week here.  We had a great Memorial Day weekend with Grammy and Grampy at their house.  The boys got to get in their first swim of the summer season in Grampy's pool.  We enjoyed the time to relax for a bit.  

After the weekend, Mommy, Daddy, and Caleb headed home.  Aaron, Justin, and Zac stayed the rest of the week.  They had a great time swimming and playing with Grampy.  They wrote letters and did projects with Grammy.   I think all five of them were tired by the end of the week.  

The boys had one evening at home and then more excitement.  The cousins arrived to play for the day on Saturday.  Also, the ladies attended the surprise baby shower for Mommy and Rebekah.  Everyone played until they were worn out.  

Caleb had a great week spending lots of time with Daddy while the brothers were away.  He went to his first occupational therapy appointment on Wednesday.  He did very well.  They are going to be working with him for several months on eating a variety of different textured foods.  He has already shown some improvement in what he is eating thanks to Mommy's patience in helping him.  

The therapist also suggested that some of his problem could be physical. They want to send him for a swallow test to see if the valve that closes off his airways is working properly.  He can tell that this doesn't feel right, so he may be refusing to eat some things. So there is more testing ahead for Caleb.  But he is doing better, and we are trying to get him all the help we can.  

Nancy and Rebekah had a doctor's appointment this week that went okay. Nancy is measuring about 2 weeks small still.  One week from Tuesday we are off to have another ultrasound and growth check.  This will also be our last check up with the cardiologist here in Greenville before delivery.  Daddy also had time to get Rebekah's crib set up this week.  

We are off to see Nana and Papa this week.  We are making our last trips to grandparents for some much needed time together before we are unable to travel because of Rebekah's needs.  We are hoping to be able to travel again for the end of the year holidays to see everyone.  

I guess that is about all we have been up to this week.  I am sure if I forgot something Nancy will add to this post.  I hope everyone has great week.  

D

Update/Prayer Request

Once again I have been laid off. The company I was working for has had there work slow down. I may get a few more days in here and there. This was not altogether a bad thing. I have been pushing myself to keep going, but I really am not suppose to be doing the heavy lifting anymore. So I am excited to see what will be next and how the Lord will provide the next job for us. He always provides our every need. So for now we are headed to NC to visit Grammy and Grampy for the holiday weekend. Some much over due time to spend with them. Then we will pick up the job search when we return and wait to see how the Lord opens doors. We hope everyone has a great Memorial day and we will check back with you all when we return.

D

A Belated Birthday Post

I know, it has been forever, but here are the pictures and updates from Caleb's first birthday (finally!).  At Caleb's first birthday, he weighed 20.2 pounds and was 29 and 3/4 inches tall.  You can't really see it in these pictures, but he has the most adorable curls on the back of his head! I hope he keeps his curly hair! :)

I love my new sandals from Uncle Scott and Aunt Aimee!

What is in this bag??!! Can it be what I think it is?

It is! It is! It is a twin of Aaron's favorite bear, Slumbers.

Caleb now has his own favorite bear - Cuddles!

Look! I can tear paper and no one tells me "no!"

Because of Caleb's food allergies, his cake was kind of boring,

but he had fun "blowing" out the candle with Daddy.

Caleb promptly flipped his plate of cake onto the table and had

as much fun playing with the plate as he did eating cake. :)

By far the favorite present was a toy

lawnmower from Papa and Nana. 

Our living room grass carpet has never been so manicured!

The other favorite was Caleb's very own 

camp chair from Grampy and Grammy.

Caleb is so very proud when he sits in it like his big brothers.

Look at the big boy!

At a year old, Caleb can say mama, dada, gac (Zac), something resembling Justin (ju-di?), ah-duh (all done), bye-bye, nigh-nigh (night-night) and a ferocious grunt while simultaneously standing on his tiptoes which means pick me up!

We still have some eating issues that we are working on with the help of our occupational therapist, Becci. We are hoping to see some good progress in the coming weeks! Because of Caleb's allergies, his menu is quite limited, but he still loves to eat! Some of his favorite foods include cantaloupe, strawberries, apples, bananas, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, cheerios, graham crackers and Club crackers. Caleb is still eating all of his vegetables and meats (when he will eat meat!) in a pureed form, but we are working to transition him to more solid textures. He has made great progress with his fruits! Our other big goal is for Caleb to start drinking his milk (He can only have hemp milk due to allergies.) from a sippy cup rather than a bottle. We have struggled with the transition from bottle to cup with the formula and milk.

Caleb's favorite playthings are still his brothers! :) He loves to follow them around and try to copy what he sees them do. Caleb also loves to "read" books, play with cars and trucks, swing and slide, play peek-a-boo and recently has become fascinated with the Leap Frog Learning Town Farm which Aaron got for Christmas last year. We have had so much fun dropping the blocks in and watching them slide down to the bottom! :)

We are so thankful for Caleb and his happy personality in our house. He is truly our little ray of sunshine! :)

A Long Week

Well where to begin.  We have had a very long week.  I guess first of all since everyone has been asking. 

 

My interview of a couple of weeks ago.  I did here back from the company.  They are unable to do anything right now.  They are still interested and told me they are waiting on securing a couple more contracts before they would be able to bring me on.  They also mentioned some staff changes maybe will be coming up in about a month.  They have an intern leaving soon that i know about.  So we are going to wait and see what might or might not happen.  We did get some good news that we have a new house to start on Monday at the company I am currently working at.  So I should have rough framing work for another 3 or 4 months.  

It has been  a long time since I have done any rough framing, but it comes back to you like riding a bike.  At least I am not stuck in an office or store some where.  I have always enjoyed working outside in the fresh air.  I also have the privilege of working with some very good friends. 

Now for the rest of the family.  Justin and Zac are working hard at finishing up school soon.  They also are enjoying memorizing there verses and key truths for kids 4 truth on Wednesday nights at church.  Especially Justin.  Mom and I are very proud of them.  Justin had a good report from school and is more then ready for K5 next year.  He is also very excited about going into K5.  

Aaron got to keep Mommy company on all the many doctor visits this week.  He is doing well and growing like a weed.  He is enjoying riding his big boy bike and we tried playing catch last night for the first time with his new ball glove.  

Mr. Caleb has had a very busy week.  He is getting taller and into everything.  He is a very busy boy who loves the outdoors, now that it has gotten warmer.  He is talking more and more.  He loves to play and chase his brothers.  Caleb had a good one year check up this week.  He also saw the Allergist this week and had allergy testing done.  Not so good news there.  He tested positive reaction to most of the tests.  He is allergic to soy, wheat, milk, and a whole bunch more.  They are doing some more testing to confirm that the 1st test was accurate.  He had to have blood tests done to do this.  I guess this in its self was an adventure.  He had to have blood drawn from his arm.  Nancy had the joy of wrestling him to be still while they did this.   Hopefully we will not have to do this to often.  

Nancy was very busy as a taxi service this week to get to all these doctor appts.  She also saw her regular baby doctor this week.  She had a good check up but is still measuring small.  So far Rebekah is still growing at a normal rate so they are not to concerned.  We are now down to every two weeks check ups.  It won't be long now and Rebekah will be here.  Time flies.  

Mom is also enjoying sleeping in today and badly needs the rest.  She is getting excited about Rebekah coming soon and trying to think of all the things she needs to get done by then.  

I think the boys will have a little slower week this week.  Nancy, I and Miss Rebekah will be taking a trip to Charleston on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  We will be meeting several new doctors and the staff at MUSC.  We are hoping to learn where we will be for delivery and surgery and make any final arrangements we need to to prepare for Rebekah's coming.  

I am sure if i missed anything Nancy will correct me with her version.  I hope you all have a great week.  

D

A Teeny, Tiny Tsunami bit of Turbulence

If you have been wondering where we have been, suffice it to say that we have been busy on top of busy! How's that?? Well, that is when you have a schedule so crammed with appointments and obligations and THEN on top of it all, the stomach virus decides to visit.  Yep, that's right! And not just one person....we ALL have been making various and hurried trips to the bathroom to unwillingly give up the contents of our stomachs.  Ugh. 

The silver lining in all of this is that on Tuesday, when only Caleb was suffering from the ill effects of the virus, his dietician and I thought that he may be showing signs of a wheat allergy (along with his allergies to dairy, soy and rice products). Given the fact that the entire rest of the family (who suffer from NO wheat allergies, I can assure you!) also came down with this same virus on Wednesday, it looks to be an unlikely set of coincidences for Caleb rather than a wheat allergy! Yeah!! Now we can try the new bread I just found at Publix which contains no dairy, soy or rice products! Well, when his stomach has returned to a more normal state, that is.

Zachary wanted me to inform everyone that he just lost his ninth tooth tonight! He has been working on losing this tooth for -no kidding- 3 weeks or more, so this was a major accomplishment! The Tooth Fairy just might see a way to be a bit more benevolent given the pain and anguish that has accompanied losing this tooth. :)  I will be sure to post pictures when I have some. 

I also have pictures of Caleb's birthday to post as soon as I have my head above water laundry. I do believe that every piece of bedding that we own has been washed, is being washed, or is waiting to be washed within the last 24 hours. Yikes!!

Nancy

Rebekah

I just updated Rebekah's blog with information from our doctor's visit today, and some new pictures!! :) You can click here or click on the button on the right sidebar to visit her blog. 

Nancy

Interview

We have a busy week ahead.  The boys are back to school and hoping to finish up for the summer soon.  We get a chance to go see Miss Rebekah on the ultrasound tomorrow.  I have an interview with a local custom builder on Thursday morning at 9:30.  We are praying and trusting the Lord will lead us to the right place of permanent employment.  This will be a exciting week to see the Lord's leading and direction both in our work situation and with the continuing situation with Rebekah.  

- Drew

Weekend Fun!

The weather this weekend was beautiful, and we took advantage of it! Caleb ventured outside for the first time as a walking baby (not just being held or in the stroller or crawling), and he did very well keeping his balance in the grass. He loved walking to the fence and looking through to the neighbor kids down the hill from us.

This was also the weekend that Justin decided the training wheels were coming off his bike! Once Drew took them off, that was it....Justin was gone, never to look back. He is loving having the training wheels gone just like his big brother! :)

Aaron was being his cute little self and posing for a picture. He is also doing well riding his bike (with training wheels). He is also very good about remembering to wear his helmet without me having to tell him. Most times, he's better at remembering than Zachary is!

Aaron, Caleb and I have all been struggling with allergies this weekend, so I stayed home with the two little boys today. They had enough of a runny nose (and Caleb has a low-grade temp) that I did not feel comfortable putting them in the church nurseries. Aaron did a lot of cuddling, and we read a lot of books.  We spent almost an hour looking at his favorite - Where's Waldo. (Remember this post?) Aaron has been studying that book and can find most things faster than I can! He usually can find Waldo, Wenda, the Wizard, Od-waw, Woof (which is just a tail, by the way, not the whole dog!), the camera, winnokwers (binoculars), the key, the bone and the stroll (scroll). He also likes to spot the Waldo watchers on each page. I enjoy looking at the book with him just to hear his comments and watch him study the pictures. It's fun to see it from a three-year-old perspective!

Zachary and Justin decided to get in on the posing, as well, and wanted to show off their new haircuts. Zac said short, so I cut it short, and then he told me it wasn't short enough! He said if Caleb could pull his hair still that I didn't cut it short enough. So, we went for Round 2 with the clippers and cut it as short as Mommy will go. It is kind of fun to rub his fuzzy head now. :)

We are headed for a busy week and a trip to see Papa and Nana by the end of the week. Drew told the kids today, and they are beyond excited!! I'm fully anticipating Aaron waking up in the morning ready to pack his suitcase! :)

Nancy