The Boy, The Job, The Reward!

We are finally on the road to potty training with Luke!!! We started working on it on Thursday and all day Friday (Saturday and Sunday were a little harder.) He was cooperative and excited which was HUGE! I had grown weary in the battle, I must admit. His goal was to get his new Diego trike that had been sitting in a box on daddy's workbench for about two months!! As you can see from the pictures he was very pleased!!! He has only pooped on the potty once....sooo....if he doesn't keep up his end of the deal the trike goes back on the workbench!!! We shall see what today brings???!!!!!!

Benjamin Franklin Speaks

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As promised earlier this week, here is Andrew's speech as Ben Franklin. We had to return the costume so he doesn't look quite the same but that doesn't matter. He had actually already gone to bed last night when I remembered we hadn't videoed him yet. So he came back out and said it, but obviously wasn't as fresh as the day he had said it 30-40 times already!!! Once again, I had trouble with the download so the words don't match his lips!! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Happy birthday to the best daddy and husband in the world! Our family is truly blessed by you!!! We love you!!!!!!!

He is getting OLD! He is now on the other half of the 30's-I have to rub it in since I have a few months left to be on the younger side of the 30's!!! No big plans today since it is a school day. I am going to surprise him and take him out for dinner just the two of us and then do cake and ice cream with the kiddos after that!

Wax Museum

For the past two months or so Andrew's class has been working on their famous American projects. They had to come up with an outline, write a 2-3 page report, write a 1-2 minute speech and then dress as the character and give that speech. Well, today was the big day. It was so much fun! The kids looked absolutely adorable. As you can see from the pictures they had really great costumes with a wide range of people chosen-sport figures, presidents, evangelists, etc. They stood in a pose and then we pretended to "press a button" and the character came to life. Andrew did a really nice job! I think he had a lot of fun doing it too. He was very tired of saying his speech when it was done. He had to have said it at least 30 times or more! We videoed it, but the volume was really bad. We plan to have him redo it tomorrow and I will post it then so that you can hear it. What a great way to make learning fun. It was a lot of hard work, but I think very well worth it. He learned a lot about Benjamin Franklin.

Mom and Muffin Day

Today was Mom and Muffin Day for kindergarten. Matthew and I had so much fun! I got to spend the entire morning with him. We of course had a muffin together, but we got to do lots of different activities. I also got to be a part of his music and spanish classes. He made two special treats. One was a snowman that he made in art class and then the other was one of his old shoes that they painted and used as a flower pot! Very cute! It was a fun day for just the two of us!

Surprise, Mom!

Mom turns 60 the end of this month and so my sister and I decided to surprise her differently than we did for dad. My folks were already planning a trip to KC for grandparent's day this past weekend. What mom didn't know was that I was flying in for a girls only weekend. A big thank you to my dear husband who kept all four kids all weekend! Danielle picked me up at the airport Friday morning at 7:45. We got back to the house before mom and dad returned from the activities up at school. I hid in the kitchen and Mackenzie greeted Nana at the door and said she had a surprise upstairs in the kitchen (that was me!) Needless to say it was a big surprise! At naptime, the three of us girls left for the hotel. We checked in and went for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory-yum!!! Danielle tried to run mom and me over with the Explorer when she picked us up at the door! Not really, but that is a funny story. We spent the days talking and shopping and getting a pedicure and stamping cards and laughing and having a wonderful time together. It is a time we will treasure forever! We love you, mom! Happy Birthday!!

P.S. Check out the video on my sister's blog!

"I Can Do It Myself!"

Why is it so much better to feed yourself??? I took these pictures this morning at breakfast. Emilee used to LOVE yogurt. Then one day she started to turn her head away as soon as I took it out of the fridge. It has been a while since I have offered it to her. I put it on the tray today with a spoon and she ate almost the entire thing. Well...as you can obviously see about half of it ended up places other than in her mouth!!! She abandoned the spoon toward the end and just started digging in with her hand. She had a great time and then went right to the tub!!!

Easter Weekend

The weekend was so cold that it sure didn't feel like Easter, but it was very nice despite the weather. Fortunately, we had done an egg hunt when my sister was here so we skipped that. Saturday we dyed eggs during nap time. My sister is teasing me for leaving Luke out!! He woke up just in time to stick the sticker faces on!! The boys played "ding dong ditch" with the neighbors and left some eggs at their doorstep, then came home and ate most of the ones we had left!! Saturday night for devotions we used our resurrection eggs and read the coordinating book "Benjamin's Box." The boys always love doing that each year. Sunday morning we got all spruced up in our new duds from Nana and Papa. The kids looked so cute...I must say! I know my days are numbered that they all want to match. Yesterday's services were wonderful. The choir did several numbers in the morning and then we had the handbell choir from BJ in the service last night. The music was truly a blessing. Hope you all had a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

The Sturgills' Visit

Danielle and Mike and the kids arrived LATE Wednesday night (actually Thursday morning!) About 2:30 am!! Their kids all woke up and got a second wind so we talked and played for about 45 minutes. Thursday began quite normally and as the day progressed the craziness began and didn't end until they headed back home. We had a wonderful time and have lots of funny stories to tell....Around lunch time Danielle came to me and told me in a panic that Mackenzie had a tick in her hair. She was calm in front of Kenz but not calm with me. We called my pediatrician and when we described things to the nurse they really wanted to see her. Long story short, they removed it and gave it to Mackenzie in a jar to bring home!! That same afternoon Scott and Mike were in Indy doing some work and our Blazer died on the highway. It had to be towed and Scott's dad came to the rescue and brought them back home. Damage:fuel pump $1,300!!! Thursday night Scott and Mike played basketball up in the gym with some guys from church, Scott rolled his ankle again-this time even worse. So he comes hobbling into the house on crutches and in major pain and sick to his stomach from the pain. THAT WAS ALL THURSDAY!!!! Friday was pretty uneventful. We played most of the day and had the egg hunt and that evening the four of us went out for dinner. It was wonderful. When we got back and got the kids to bed I was doing the dishes and set the dishwasher. I walked out of the room and back in and heard water trickling. I at first thought I'd left the faucet running, but nnoooooooooooooo!! There was water gushing out from underneath the dishwasher. I hollered and Mike came running and Scott was hopping close behind. We were filling bowls and cups and towels as quickly as we could....it wouldn't stop! Scott turned the water off and it stopped immediately. We thought it was draining out but the hose had loosed itself from the fitting and the water wasn't even making it into the dishwasher!!! Yikes!! I was most worried about my laminate flooring buckling, but it is fine. I am so glad we were home or else we would have had quite a mess! All of that said, we had a wonderful time together! The kids got along great!! You would never have known there were 12 people in my house and 8 of them children!!! Love you, Danielle and Mike and gang. Come see us again soon! Hopefully not as full of crazy events! Ha!Ha!

Week full of Fun

This past week was a crazy one in our home!! Besides the fact that it was full of nine week exams for Andrew and Scott we had other activities as well. Andrew got to participate in the intramural basketball for 3-6th graders for the past two weeks. This week was the tournament Tues. and Thursday after school. He really enjoyed that. Being a 3rd grader he didn't get as much playing time as he would have liked, but that is part of being the youngest one!! Also, Wednesday night was the Grand Prix at church. Back when we did AWANA there was a grand prix and everyone loved it so they continue the tradition even though we now do Truth Trackers on Wednesday nights. The kids get chunks of pine and some wheels and then they (and their dads) sand it, paint it, put wheels on it, weight it, etc. I say dads because in many cases it becomes more about the dads than the child!! Not here, of course! :) They race four cars at a time and the first and second cars down win the heat. After losing two heats you are eliminated. Andrew ended up 3rd place for 1-3rd graders. He was very excited. He got a trophy as you can see from the pictures. He painted his car silver and put football stickers on it. It looked pretty cool. Other kids shaped theirs to be a shark, a tank, etc. Next year we will get more creative!!! Boy Scouts do this as well and have ideas on the internet of what you can create. Seems just yesterday we weren't even to the school mode yet and now we are in full swing knowing it only gets busier!!

Name That Tune!

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Luke is the household singer and this was my serenade the other morning at breakfast. Can you recognize the tune? Here is a clue...it is NOT a church song!:) Second clue...the two words in the title rhyme. Third clue...surely you have figured it out by now...if not...it names parts of the body?????

P.S. For some reason the sound is delayed a bit! His lips don't match the words. Notice the sneeze-it's quite delayed! Ha!Ha!

Party Day

Andrew invited two of his buddies from school over on Saturday afternoon to celebrate his birthday. We went out to Pizza King for supper and then on to Clancy's to bowl. Ask any teacher at school and they will say they are the three amigos! All of them are good boys, but they sure get crazy together!! Earlier in the afternoon, Andrew took his new kite out for a fly and you'll never believe what happened...it got stuck in a tree (imagine that!!) So I was a good mom and stood on a wobbly ladder for a LONG time untangling it from the tree branches. It not only got stuck, but then he threw the handle up into the tree SEVERAL times to "unwind" it~only to compound the problem! Scott was gone all day roofing so I braved the ladder to extend the kite flying fun! All in all, I think it was a good two day celebration for him!

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

It is so hard for me to believe that I now have a nine year old! Technically I am posting this on the eve of his birthday, but nobody will notice except his father! As all moms I remember that day nine years ago as if it was yesterday. I woke up feeling kinda different, but didn't think much of it. As the morning went on I still felt really weird. After calling my doctor, I went in for a checkup. After doing some routine checking, Dr.Myers said Andrew's heartrate kept dropping and I was going to have a baby TODAY! This came as quite a surprise because I wasn't due until the 30th. I was immediately sent across the road to the hospital and admitted. I was given an epidural that was dosed in the event that a C-section was necessary. Praise the Lord it was not! I felt absolutely nothing!!! That is good and bad...I won't go into detail! Anyway, 20 minutes after they broke my water he arrived. There is nothing like seeing your baby for the first time, especially your first baby. Mom and dad arrived the next day and mom stayed and helped take care of me for the next week or so. I (we) really needed her help that week not just because we were rookies but because (1) I ended up with an infection and (2) Andrew had lots of trouble nursing. Oh the memories that flood me as I type all of this out. Well, nine years later we thank the Lord for the blessing he has been to us and our family. What a privilege it is to be given a child to raise for Him. Enjoy the pictures!

When the Ride Stops...

You need a little background on this picture....Her big brothers push her in this basket and she LOVES it!! Well, when the "ride" stopped because the "pushers" got tired and distracted she started looking at the contents of the basket. Upon looking through the dirty duds she discovered one of her blankets. Now, if you know her at all you know that as soon as she gets her blanket, her thumb immediately goes into her mouth. I was busy working on Andrew's project for school and realized it had gotten REALLY quiet. I turned around and this is what I saw!! The funniest thing was that she was watching a Baby Einstein DVD through the slats in the basket! Think it was close to nap time???

Urgent prayer request

I would greatly appreciate your prayers for a dear friend of our family, Ruth Sobcinski. She is a close friend of my mom's and her daughter, Andrea, is one of my close friends who I went to school with K-12. She has a cancer called multimyloma. She is in the process of having a bone marrow transplant. Thursday she was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 104.1. They have now figured out that she has an infection in her blood and is in very critical condition. She is on a ventilator and is sedated for the next 2 days or so. The next 24-48 hours are critical. PLEASE pray God will touch her body and heal her infection. I talked to Andrea last night and she is incredibly strong and God's grace is very evident. They are resting in Him and are being carried by the prayers of others. Some of you know them and may be interested in further updates. Andrea set up a website through Caring Bridge. If you would like to access the site go to www.caringbridge.com. Then on the right side click "visit a caring bridge site" and it will prompt you for a name. Just type in ruthsobcinski and it will take you right there. Andrea keeps the journal updated there. Thanks so much for your prayers.

Red, White and Blue

Last night was the re-enrollment program for K-6 at school. Obviously, the theme was patriotic as you can see from the pictures!!! I didn't get to go because Emilee had absolutely HAD it by 6:30 last night and there is no nursery. So I got to see the video Scott took, but I thought you might enjoy some of the pictures. When the program is done, parents are invited to visit the classrooms so some of the pics are from Matthew's classroom. They have a rabbit for a class pet and her name is Miss Speckles. Luke decided to put his finger in to touch her. (I can't believe he did it!) He claimed she bit his finger, but daddy says differently!! I thank the Lord for our Christian school and the opportunity the boys have to be there. I'm thankful for the Godly influences of their teachers and friends and for the best administrator ever! :)

Daddy's Girl

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Sorry this is so dark, but I just had to post it! The lighting was terrible in the room. This took place the other night about 45 minutes after Emilee went to bed. She kept fussing and didn't seem to be settling in because she is teething. I went in to give her some Tylenol and when I opened the door she said, "Da!" I admit she is spoiled......I brought her out to see him and this video shows what transpired. As you can hear he was watching ESPN. She melted into him and cuddled there like she was big stuff. She loves daddy!!! And he LOVES that she LOVES him! The other thing I wanted you all to hear is her new phrase- "Whus Thaa???" (what's that?) She says it all the time. On the video she says it at the beginning and again towards the end. It is pretty cute I must say! She proceeded to get even more wound up until she tripped and hit her mouth on a toy and that was all it took. She got her blanket and stuck her thumb in her mouth and was quickly transported to bed!

Fun with Friends

This past weekend we went to Michigan to visit our good friends, Brad and Mari Stille and their three kids. What a refreshment it always is to spend time with kindred spirits!! All the kids get along great. It went way too quickly, but it was well worth the trip. Here are a few pictures of them snowmobiling in the soccer field behind their house and then devotions on Saturday night. Despite some sickness a great time was had by all!!!!