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

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

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

My baby grew up!

Zachary had his seven-year-old well check this morning. I knew he was getting bigger, but I didn't realize he was getting that much bigger!  Zachary is 46 and 1/2 inches tall and weighs 46.2 pounds. The nurses were kidding him about being 46 by 46 square, and Zachary thought that was hilarious! :)

So, my baby is getting bigger by the minute and is thoroughly proud of himself. He enjoyed his check up, and we are thankful that he is healthy and growing well.

Nancy

Zachary's Birthday (Part One)

I know it's been a week since Zac's birthday, but at least I'm finally getting around to putting some pictures on here! =)

Zachary wanted a basketball cake for his birthday. Why? We have NO idea! He has never played basketball that we know of, but it appealed to him all the same!  It was carrot cake with orange cream cheese frosting. And, believe it or not, Drew even had a couple of pieces (but left most of the frosting on the plate!). =)

I wasn't thinking when I nicely spaced seven candles around the outside edge of the cake. It took Zac two tries and then Justin helped finish blowing the candles out on the third try. Next year I will have to remember to put them closer together!

Zachary got a new Lego set from his brothers. It is a set that makes three different race cars. He has had lots of fun building different cars with it.

Due to outgrowing his old helmet, Zac's gift from Mommy and Daddy was a new bike helmet. It is more adjustable than his old helmet and has more air vents so (hopefully) he won't get as sweaty this summer.

Thanks Uncle Scott, Aunt Aimee, Tyler, Riley and Peyton for the Imaginext Batman set. All of the boys have enjoyed playing with it, and Zachary especially has had fun playing. The kids have combined their Imaginext knights and Batman for some very bizarre encounters! =)

 

Zachary absolutely loves getting dressed up for church and was thrilled with a new shirt and tie from Grampy and Grammy. He also got a boxed set of Cul-de-sac Kids mysteries from Grampy and Grammy.  Thank you!!

Overall, Zachary had a great birthday. I think by far, the family favorite gift is a Where's Waldo? book from Mommy and Daddy. We have spent several hours looking for Waldo, Wenda, Woof, Odlaw (Od-waw according to Aaron) and the assortment of items that they have lost. It has been lots of fun!

Although Zachary doesn't realize it yet, Part Two of his birthday is still to come! He will have his birthday with Papa and Nana in a week and a half when we go to visit them. He's going to be so excited!! :)

Nancy

Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Zachary at one week old.

At a year old, you were already the boss! :)

You have always loved everything outdoors, even at two!!

Our happy, helpful, smiling three year old.

The star (and only!) four-year-old on the t-ball team. At times, we wondered if the batting helmet would run away with you!

After almost a year of preschool, you were a very confident, outgoing five year old.

As always, you have a love of sports. You are sporting your Georgia Tech football uniform on your sixth birthday.

Seven years....wow!  It seems so impossible that seven years ago today we first looked at a squirming little bundle of sweetness and fell completely in love with you.  Happy Birthday, Zachary! Daddy and Mommy are so proud of you!!!! We love you bunches and bunches!

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

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

114 Kids!

Yes, you read that right....at lunch today, Zachary calmly informed me that he intended to have 114 kids when he was a Daddy.  Uh....yikes!  :)  The conversation went something like this.

Zac:  I want to be a daddy when I get big.

Me:  You are going to be a great daddy.

Zac:  When I'm twenty, cause I have to be grown up first.

Me:  Well, maybe a little older than twenty.  You need to finish college first and then find a nice girl and get married and then you can be a daddy.

Zac:  Mommy, what if I married you?  Then you can be my Mommy.  Can boys marry their mommies?

Me: (ahem) Zac, I think you will find a really nice, really pretty girl who is your age, and you will really like her.  Then you will get married and she will make a great mommy.

Zac:  Yep, that's probably good.  Cause you can still be my mommy then.

Me:  I'll always be your mommy.

Me:  (very unsuspectingly) So, when you are a daddy, how many kids do you think you'll have?

Aaron:  I want 3 kids.  Just 3.  We can play legos.

Justin:  I want 10 kids cause then there's lots of people to play with.

Zac:  I want 114 kids.

Me: (!!!??)  114?  Are you sure about that?

Zac:  Yep!  My wife and me will have 114 kids.

Me:  How will you put 114 beds in your house?

Zac:  No, Mommy.  We will have 116 beds cause me and my wife will need beds too.  :)  (I'll remind him of this comment in twenty years - hee hee!!)

Me:  Okay, where will you put 116 beds?

Zac:  Well, we will have bunk beds....lots of bunk beds....three beds high and two beds in every room.  Then there will be six kids in every room.

Me:  So that's....umm.....20 rooms, Zachary.  Are you going to have a house with twenty rooms??

Zac:  Nope, I'm going to live in a fire station, cause I'm going to be a fireman.  There's lots of room in a fire station.  I'm going to be a fireman....or a framer.  I might be a framer.  Or a fireman...or maybe both.

Me:  Okay, those are good jobs.  

Zac:  You know, that's why I'm having 114 kids.

Me:  Oh, why?

Zac:  Cause they're all gonna help me frame houses.  I need all those kids to help me at my job.

Me:  Wow!  That's a lot of workers!  How are you going to buy Christmas presents for that many kids?

Zac:  Oh, they aren't getting Christmas presents.

Me:  They're not?

Zac:  Nope.  The first kid will get a something to do when my wife or me tell them to quit wrestling and calm down.  They all need something to do when they have to calm down.

Me:  Oh, so what are you going to get them to do?

Zac:  (a little puzzled)  I'm not buying them toys.  They will get things to do, you know like stuff like books and stuff.  (I never really did get an answer to this one!)

Me: So, how is your wife going to take care of 114 kids?

Zac:  Oh, the first one will help the second one, and the third one will help the fourth one and they will all be buddies.  Then she won't have to do anything.  (Me thinking, "Yeah, right!!")

Me:  That sounds like lots of fun.

Zac:  (losing interest)  Yeah, we'll play a lot and work.....

And he was gone to play with toys in the living room.  I had all I could do to keep from laughing at some of the comments he made, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings.  I love it when the kids want to talk about their dreams for the future.  Zac, when you read this 15 years from now, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed talking about it!!  :)

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!

Teeth

Zachary is thrilled to be able to say that he lost his 8th tooth at lunch today!  Unfortunately, he really did lose the tooth somewhere in the cafeteria.  He was a bit worried that the tooth fairy might not give him a fair exchange, but his teacher and I reassured him that it would still be okay.  Now I have to remember to prompt the tooth fairy........

Caleb, on the other hand, is still working on his teeth.  He has been somewhat crabby off and on the last couple of days, and he is chewing and drooling like a, well, like a baby!  The next ones to come in are his top front teeth, and his poor gums are so swollen.  Maybe by this weekend he will get some relief!

This tired Mama is heading to bed....y'all have a great night!

Nancy

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

Bath Time Fun!

For the last year or so, the only person in our house taking baths has been Caleb.....until this week!  We had to ban baths in favor of showers when there was more floor (and walls!) getting wet than boys.  But, Justin was given a set of Thomas the Tank Engine bath toys for his birthday, and this is the result.....

Three silly monkeys having fun in the bath tub!

One very unhappy monkey in the bath tub with his brothers.  Contrary to what it may appear, this very unhappy face occured only when I pointed the camera in Caleb's direction.  Once the camera disappeared, so did the very unhappy face and out came the laughs, smiles and splashes.  It was very funny!  I wish I could have gotten some video of it.  :)

All in all, the kiddos had a great time in the tub and I was able to clean their bathroom!  :)