Happy New Year

It has been awhile since we have had time to post. We all have had a different holiday this year. We were all sick and more home bound this holiday season. We like to get out and see lots of family during the holidays, but that just didn't work well this year.

The boys are busy growing and staying busy. Zac and Justin are doing well and enjoying school. Aaron is turning 4 soon and is very excited to have his birthday coming up. He has been counting the days since thanksgiving. Caleb is busy, busy, busy. He is talking more and doing many bigger boy things. He loves to run and play with his brothers. He and Aaron are very devoted to watching over Rebekah and making sure she is cared for. That brings me to Rebekah. She is doing well over all. We are looking to go back to Charleston (MUSC) this month for a heart cath. We are moving closer to surgery in a few months to hopefully repair her heart and lungs. Besides her heart problems Rebekah is changing and doing normal baby things every day. She is almost rolling over, babbling more and more, and playing with toys. She loves to touch faces, pull her brothers hair, and cuddle on the couch with Daddy. She sits up with a little help and enjoys watching all the things going on around her.

Mom and Dad are doing well too. We enjoy the time spent with all the kids. We love to watch them grow, ask questions, and try to figure new things out. Mommy tries hard to keep up with everyones busy schedules and keep things running at home. Daddy is enjoying his new job and working hard to provide for all this gang.

We are very thankful for all the blessings and many ways the Lord has provided and cared for us thru 2009. We look forward to what he has in store for us in 2010. We trust and know he will take care of us. There are a lot of uncertain things up coming for us with Rebekah's care , but we are confident that the Lord has already made provision for all of it. We look forward to his leading and guiding of our family.

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

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

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

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

This 'N That

So this post is a little all over the place, but I had some cute pictures to post.......

Two Saturdays ago we went to the park for a picnic lunch.  This was Caleb's first park visit that he was really old enough to do anything more than sleep in the stroller! :)  He is addicted to slides, and we found that he really loves the swings, too.  Big surprise there.....all of his brothers love to swing, too! :)

Don't you just love that cheeky little grin??? (Caleb's, not Daddy's! :)

Justin completed his first school report about two weeks ago.  His teacher assigned each of them a different animal to research.  Justin had to answer questions about the cheetah - what it eats, where it lives, how it moves, what it looks like, and what sound(s) it makes.  He then colored some of the cheetah pictures and cut all of them out and glued them on the paper.  He was SO proud of his project!!

As you can imagine, we have no lack of bicycles around this house, and there is a bike for every size!  Aaron was getting a little big to be riding the Big Wheel plastic "bike," so Drew recommended that he try the little "big boy" bike.  He loved it!!!! He can pedal all over the cul-de-sac all on his own power. He is so proud to be riding a "real" bike like his brothers!! Of course, Zachary and Justin had to show off their bike skills, too....complete with gunbelts and six-shooters!  :)

Two very fast-pedalin' little hot shots!!

And our happy boy....little Caleb.  He loves to play (especially when his brothers leave him alone long enough to play with his toys!).  He is officially walking now - meaning he walks more than he crawls! Talk about proud of himself....his grin stretches from ear to ear.  Drew even found him "running" from one end of his crib to the other tonight after we put him in bed!! No lack of energy and activity at this house! :)

Miss Rebekah has some activity of her own this week.  Tomorrow morning at 9:15 we will meet with her cardiologist for a level 2 ultrasound (mainly of her heart) so the cardiologist can view it for himself and give us his opinion of what is going on.  We will be sure to update you all with any news he gives us.  For now, she is content to continue gymnastics practice with her flips and wiggles.  :)

Nancy

It's SNOW!!!!!

You know that it doesn't snow here much (if at all!) when the Sunday evening entertainment was lining up by the door and watching the snow fall....and fall....and fall!  In all, we got between 3 and 4 inches, which by the boys' standards, was enough for a blizzard!! :-)  They especially enjoyed the ride home from church in the snow.

We were all dressed up to go outside!  We had to get hats, scarves, gloves, mittens and the whole nine yards.  We so rarely get to use all of this stuff that the kids wanted it ALL!!

I just LOVE the little footprints in the snow........

Aaron had so much fun "shoveling" snow and pushing it around in his wheelbarrow. 

Justin's biggest thrill was throwing snowballs at us....very sneakily, I might add!!

Aaron was just so excited to be out in the snow.  I think this is really the first time he remembers snow, and definitely snow of any measurable significance.

Zachary's biggest dream was to have enough snow to make a snow angel.  It was really kind of crusty, so the angel didn't come out great, but he was thrilled to be able to do it!!

Daddy showed the boys how to make a snowman.  They have never had enough snow to make a snowman before, so they had a lot of fun.  Justin named ours "Mr. Snow Manny."  I know - how original! :-)  He was about two feet tall, he had black jelly bean eyes, a baby carrot nose, some icicle hair spikes and a blue scarf.  The kids considered him the coolest snowman ever!

And after fun was had by all, Mommy made a warm bubble bath in the big bathtub for us all to play in.  Caleb was napping through all of the outdoor activities, but he did join the boys for a bath.  Unfortunately, Drew didn't get a really good picture of all four boys in the tub, but this one of the older three was pretty cute!

Lest we leave Caleb out completely, I'll put in this picture I took last week.  The older boys were outside playing, but Caleb was just about to lay down for a nap, so I didn't take him out.  He stood at the window for ten minutes or more just watching his brothers play.  :)

Justin doesn't know yet, but school is cancelled again for tomorrow.  He will be thrilled, but it's back to the books for Zachary!  One snow day is enough for any homeschooler!!! :-)

Nancy

Happy 10 months!

While I knew that Caleb's 10 month birthday was coming up soon, it didn't occur to me until around dinner time tonight that it was today! I just hadn't stopped to look at a calendar...

Anyway, our big boy is getting bigger and bigger! He is over 19 pounds and is 28 and 3/4 inches long.  He is almost walking on his own, and if he doesn't think about it, he will take a step or two without holding on to something.  It seems that when we are trying to get him to take steps then he realizes what he's doing and plops down to crawl! :)

Caleb waves bye-bye almost everytime you say the word now.  He also starts waving bye-bye when we walk up the stairs for naps and bedtime.  Caleb loves to shake his head "no" and even if someone mentions the word no in a sentence, Caleb is likely to start shaking away! It is really funny!!

This is how Caleb is playing peek-a-boo now.  He sometimes will cover his eyes with his hands, but a lot of times will scrunch up his face and close his eyes waiting for you to ask, Where's Caleb?

Then he pops his eyes open and starts laughing while waiting for you to respond  There he is!!

In other news,  all of the boys are thoroughly enjoying a Western/cowboy phase right now.  Papa and Nana gave them Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy DVD's for Christmas, and they choose those for every movie time. Uncle David gave the older three cowboy pistols and holsters for Christmas, and I probably buckle and unbuckle gunbelts more times in a day than I can count! Aaron races through the house shouting "Woy Wod-gders, where are you?"  And then, "I just put the bye-guys (bad guys) in jail then locked the door so the bye-guys won't skape (escape) away! (To bad guys: The rule is - you can't come out!)  Justin can't be outdone, so he rounds up his bad guys and tells them "You're going to prison and they have guard-er people to make sure you don' get out!"  Yep, the Wild West is alive and kickin' here at the Ellis Dude Ranch! :)

Some other common sayings from Aaron these days: "Come here! I wanna have a cummersation (conversation) with you!" and "It's not meeeeee! I didn't do anything!"  And we know that he was probably up to something when the first answer to our question is "It's not my fault! It's just not my fault!!" I wish I could follow Aaron (well, all the boys, really) around with a recorder because there are so many other cute things they say that I know I'm not remembering.

And, not to be outdone by her older brothers, Miss Rebekah has started getting in on the action with a few definite flips and wiggles of her own! The boys haven't been able to feel her move yet, but I sure can!!  Maybe I see gymnastics in our future! :)  Our next check-up is this Thursday.

I think that's about all the news from this ranch. Hope you all have a good weekend!!

Nancy

Random Picture Challenge

This week's random picture comes from November 2007.  If you want to play along, visit Brittany at Four Little Men and Girly Twins.  Aaron was a couple months shy of his second birthday, and this was the first time he had ever had butter cookies - you know, the kind with the holes in the middle so you can stick your fingers through them. :)  They were obviously a big hit!  :)

I had been working on this post for a little while, compiling a list of some of the funny things Aaron says. Since the Random Picture ended up being Aaron, I thought I would add a list of his funnies, too!

Aaron-isms

A bone arrow (bow and arrow)

wike (like) Pretty much any "l" sound comes out as "w."  Makes for some interesting interpretations!

The Brothers (Aaron's collective name for Zachary and Justin.)  No kidding, he uses this phrase just like a name!  "Mommy I going to play with the brothers.  Mommy, where are the brothers? Daddy, the brothers are sleeping." 

Aaron's favorite part of homeschooling is "scissoring."  The first thing he does when I say it is time for school is run and get his scissors out of his pencil box.  A piece of junk mail from the trash can occupies him for almost an hour!

Recently, we were going to a friend's house, and Aaron knew we were going somewhere, but he kept (literally, every 5 minutes or less) asking Drew where we were going.  Finally, after about 20 times of Drew saying you'll find out when we get there, Drew answered Aaron and said, "We are going crazy."  Aaron promptly ran from the kitchen to find me and said, "Mommy!  We are going to crazy!  That's gonna be fun, huh, Mommy!"

At breakfast one morning, Aaron saw a morning double on the fence near our bird feeders.  Any guesses?  Well, he correctly identified a mourning dove!!!

We have an animal sounds toy that makes various animal noises as well as plays a couple of songs.  One of those is "The Farmer in the Jail (Dell)".  Either my son has a really Southern accent, or he and his brothers have played police a few times too many!!

Sparry-goat - This one threw me the first few times I heard it until I realized that he was talking about his safari boat.  :)

Nancy

The Long-Awaited Birthday Pictures!

Here they are....after a couple of weeks of waiting...Aaron's third birthday pictures!

This little three year old was waiting for one thing and one thing only - CAKE!!!!

Aaron's birthday cake (that he helped with, I might add).  :)

Aaron blew out the first candle.....

Looks like he tried to eat the second one (rest assured, it only looks that way!).....

Aimed a little low on the third attempt, so.....

We got a little help from Daddy, and......

Nailed his final attempt!!

A new tool set from Grampy and Grammy.

Another part to our Thomas the Tank Engine railway from Daddy and Mommy and "the brothers."

A new "picture-looker" (translate: ViewMaster) from Papa and Nana!

Aaron really did have a terrific third birthday.  Thanks to all of you who helped make it special!

Nancy

Catching Up!

I know it's been a few days since my last post, so this post will probably be all over the place catching up on what has happened. 

Sunday, we all made it to church in the morning, but Caleb refused to willingly stay with the nursery workers (without screaming loudly enough to be heard through half of the building!), so I ended up spending Sunday school and church time in the nursery with him.  He never did take a morning nap, which only compounded his grumpiness!  When he finally did fall asleep at 2:30 in the afternoon, I also took a nap.  Drew realized how tired Caleb and I were and decided to let us sleep through evening church.  Justin also wasn't acting like himself, so Drew stayed home to watch the bigger boys and let me sleep.  Good thing, because by late afternoon on Monday, Justin was complaining of a bad headache, a bad sore throat, and had a 101.5 temp.  When we got into the doctor on Tuesday morning, my suspicion of strep throat was confirmed.  :(  Since being on antibiotics, he is doing much better, although I can tell he is dragging a bit by the end of the day.

Yesterday was Drew's birthday (Happy Birthday!!), and Zachary decided that Drew wanted a carrot cake.  So, the boys helped make a yummy carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  Mmmm!  We also (finally!) finished packing away the remaining Christmas things yesterday and are ready this weekend to set up the office for home schooling.

This morning, Justin was well enough to go back to school, which he was very excited about.  He said that he had a great time and that at playtime he and Sara Kate and Austin and RJ played football.

After dropping Justin off at school, we headed back to the pediatrician for the second time this week.  Today was Aaron's 3 year check-up.  He was a very big boy and only cried for just a second when his finger was pricked to draw blood.  Everything else checked out just great.  Aaron was born with two heart murmurs, and today the pediatrician said he faintly heard one, but the other is gone altogether!  He is recommending that we don't even need to return to the cardiologist for a follow-up visit!!!  :) Good news when you don't have insurance!  Both murmurs are described as benign, which means that they do not indicate any abnormalities in the heart.  So, the are "normal" murmurs, if there is such a thing.  :)  Aaron is 24.2 pounds and 34.75 inches tall.  We are slowly but steadily climbing up the growth chart!  Zachary on the other hand, is a back-breaking 46.6 pounds!!!!  No wonder I am struggling to fit him into my lap!! :)  Caleb topped the scales at a healthy 18.10 pounds.  He's going to surpass Aaron by his first birthday if he keeps growing at this rate! :)  No kidding, Caleb is wearing clothes that Aaron did not wear until close to his second birthday.

From the doctor's office, we headed to BJES (Zac's school) to pick up his books from first semester.  I was kind of bummed because they did not let us keep all of his reading books, and I argued that we paid for all the books at the beginning of the school year, so we should get them all.  But, the didn't budge, so now I have to buy the complete set of six to get the last 3 books that we need.  Grrrr.  They also did not have a math book or phonics workbook to give us because the teacher tears the pages out of each of them at the beginning of the year, and they said they did not have any others we could have.  SO, on to the resource center to purchase the books we did not have.....I was able to get almost everything we need (I think!) except for the set of reading books.  That will just have to wait as it is almost half of the cost of all the other books combined!  The bright side is that if I do homeschool Justin in first grade, I will have about half of the books that I can re-use from Zac.  If I am able to do quite a bit of planning over the next few evenings and this weekend, I would like to start school this coming week.  Hopefully it will work out that way.

While we were driving around town this morning, I was playing "what if" with Zachary and Aaron.  It's something we do once in a while and something we have fun with.  Sometimes it's "What if you were a bird, what would you do, where would you live, what would you eat, etc.?" But this morning, I decided to check with Aaron to see if he remembered what he should do if he were to get lost.  Nope!  I first asked him what Mommy and Daddy's names were so he could tell an adult if he was lost.  He remembered that Daddy was Drew, but I am just Mommy!  :)  Then I asked him what he would tell an adult if he was lost and couldn't find Mommy and Daddy (thinking he would say, "I'm lost" or "I can't find my Mommy" or something like that).  Nope, again!  Any guesses?  Well, you wouldn't have guessed it anyway.  The most important thing to tell an adult if you can't find your mommy or daddy is "I need to tell them I am scared of monsters!"  :)

What can I say?  He must be his daddy's child!  :)

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Three years ago, we were sitting in the waiting room for the NICU at the hospital where Aaron was transfered just hours after his birth.  After 6 weeks of bedrest, Aaron finally made an appearance three weeks early weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs. and 2 ounces.  The doctors discovered a small birth defect that needed surgical correction, so less than 24 hours after his birth, Aaron had surgery to correct it.  We've come a long way in the last three years!!!  Aaron is the most energetic, imaginative and creative little guy I know!

Happy Birthday to a fantastic three-year-old!!!!!  Aaron wanted to celebrate his birthday with his friend Megan, so he will be having cake and presents on Friday evening.  Pictures to come this weekend!!!

Nancy

Happy 2009!!

Well, I must say, 2008 held surprises that none of us expected in 2007!  Some were good, some were not so good, but we trust that our Lord is in control and we are exactly where He wants us at the beginning of 2009.

Aaron celebrated his second birthday on January 6 (2008), and he took off socially and developmentally!  We enjoyed seeing his speech and imagination grow in leaps and bounds.  Quite possibly, Aaron is the most imaginative child that we have had thus far!!  He is constantly imagining or creating, and he loves to tell all about his stories.  Aaron is very much looking forward to his third birthday next week and has already requested a chocolate cake with yellow, green and purple (??) frosting.

Justin began 2008 as a four-and-a-half-year old and entering his second half of 3-year kindergarten.  Because Justin's birthday falls in mid-September, we made the decision to start him a year later in school.  So, he actually had his fourth birthday about 2 weeks after he began K-3.  We have not regretted our decision a bit!  This year, he is flourishing in K-4 and has already begun to read simple words, write his name (and his letters), and do some simple addition and subtraction.  Justin is a very logical thinker and will spend time studying and analyzing a situation before he jumps in.  Justin accepted Christ as his Saviour at Thanksgiving this year, and it has been such a blessing to watch him learn and grow in the last couple of months.  Justin is excited to be going back to school next week to see his friends.

Zachary......where to start with Zachary.  He is our headstrong, always right, loving, gentle bull-in-a-china-shop son.  :)  It amazes me how one six-year-old can be opposite extremes within minutes!  Zachary celebrated his sixth birthday in March and graduated from Kindergarten in May.  We have now entered the world of first grade - yikes!  Zachary accepted Christ in July, and he has been so eager to learn and please his Saviour.   In September Zachary started first grade, and we have been so pleased with his progress this year.  He began the year a bit behind in reading (compared to the rest of the class - I thought he was just fine!), but by Christmas break, he has quickly moved up and is a very fluent reader.  Some of his favorite Christmas presents were chapter books, which he is enjoying reading.  Just before Christmas break, Zachary was tested for an auditory processing weakness, which was confirmed.  His ears work fine, but his brain is not correctly processing all of the sounds that he hears.  So, we are going to be working on some skills to strengthen his processing when school resumes.

In April, Caleb arrived and has been growing and growing!  He is crawling, cruising, waving, clapping and playing peek-a-boo.  Fruits and veggies are a big hit, as are turkey and chicken.  In the last few weeks, we have been transitioning from nursing to bottle-feeding, and Caleb has taken to it like a pro!  Before we know it, April will be here and our little guy will be a year old already.

Mommy has had a good year.  In March, I finished the required classes to renew my teaching certification for another five years (whew!).  In the summer, I spent many hours at the pool with the boys (even Caleb!) swimming and playing.  In August, the entire family enjoyed a long weekend at the beach for the wedding of one of Drew's cousins.  In November, we were all very surprised to find out that our family is growing again!  This little one is due July 18, and hopefully in February we will find out if this is Kyle or Rebekah!  :)

Daddy had a not-so-great April Fool's Day this year when he was laid off due to the company closing.  Since then, Drew has been self-employed, doing whatever work he can find.  He does have a potential job possibility sometime after the first of the year, but we are waiting to hear back from them.   All in God's timing!  

As we begin 2009, we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us.  Happy New Year!

Catch-Up

Okay, so it's been a while since I last posted.  A thousand pardons......but there has been a lot going on lately!

To start with, Zachary had a red letter day at school today!  His day started off with a smiley face this morning for doing his papers correctly last Tuesday.  Yeah for Zac!!  But the very exciting thing is that he was moved up to the red reading group (the middle group)!!!!  We are so proud of Zachary working hard on his reading and showing so much improvement since the beginning of the year.  Here's Zachary's quote for the day (said while he, Justin and Aaron were cleaning up their balls in the living room), "Justin, don't pick up the balls you can see; pick up the balls that you can't see!!"

Justin also had quite a start to his day.  We were the second car in car line this morning, and as the car in front of us exited the line, I started to move slowly forward.  Well, Justin caught sight of Sara Kate and opened the car door to jump out while the car was moving!!!!!  I snagged the back of his jacket as I hit the brakes and we managed to avert any potential disaster.  Needless to say, I think he missed Sara Kate over Thanksgiving break!  He said they had a fun day at school and played together at play time.

Aaron has been his cute little self today.  In fact, I told him this evening that if he got any cuter I'd have to send him back.  He told me "You don't send me back.  I Aaron; I stay here."  :)  According to Aaron, our dinner was "some getti" (anyone want to guess?), and he ate lots of it!  Aaron also spread his pants out on the floor to put them on and told me "It's [the pants] like a swimming pool!"  When I asked him why, he replied "You just dive in!"  Too much!

Caleb has been crawling and exploring all over the house.  Unlike the other boys, he seems to like having something in his mouth constantly.  He spent the better part of the evening crawling around the kitchen with a washcloth hanging from his mouth.  He was perfectly happy - snorting and giggling.  Other objects that he enjoys carrying in his mouth are his small stuffed squeaky frog and pieces of plastic food from the play kitchen.  It is really cute to watch; I guess when we took the pacifier away, he came up with his own versions!

And for the last piece of news, for those of you who may not know, we are excited to announce that we are expecting Baby #5 in July!  It will be a while before we find out this baby's gender (or in other words, confirm that he is a boy! :), but we are eagerly anticipating this little one's arrival.  It will add a very new dimension to our household since Caleb and Baby will be only 15 months apart.  We were VERY surprised since we were not even thinking about thinking about trying to get pregnant, and in fact were trying NOT to get pregnant, so this one truly is God's timing!  We'll keep you posted on how things are going for Mommy and Baby!  :)

Nancy

Dressed Up!

Even though we don't go Trick or Treating, the kids enjoy dressing up and passing out candy to those who come to our house.  We had several groups come, and the kids all had a great time.  They were so excited about passing candy that they didn't even let the kids get to the door.  They opened the door and ran down the sidewalk to meet them.  :)

Zachary loves Georgia Tech football!  Way to go, Jackets!!!!!!  

(Can't imagine where he gets that from!)

Ever the outdoorsman, Justin decided to be a cowboy.

All he needed was a horse!  :)

And Aaron.....

Aaron wanted to be a servant.  Yes, you read that correctly...a servant.

Apparently, he has been listening very well in Sunday School and church

and knows that Jesus was a servant, so that's what he wanted.  

Wow, what a kid!

And here's the whole gang.  Aren't they cute?!!!!

Nancy