Merry Christmas

Christmas with Matt's family (the 2 and 3 year old weren't cooperating)

Luke Christmas program at preschool

Magical Nights of Lights
The cast of Willy Wonka (Joshua aka Charlie is in the very middle)

Caleb's 6th birthday

Caleb's baptism
The family at Caleb's baptism

Christmas with my family

Playing around with my new camera

Another new camera shot

We are enjoying a break from all the holiday festivities this afternoon. We have already shared Christmas with Mom and Danny and his family. Yesterday and this morning we spent time with Matt's family. Saturday we head south to visit with Dad. Joshua's play, Willy Wonka, went great, even though Joshua had a cold and sounded nasaly (sp?). I hope you are all enjoying your family time and looking forward to the new year.

Anybody care to share their resolutions?

So much time and so little to do...

"No, reverse that!" In case you don't recognize the quote-it's from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This week Joshua will play Charlie in Willy Wonka Jr. at his school. I am so excited and nervous for him. He has to sing and is in about every scene. He only complained a little and that was to say that he was on stage the "whole time." I think he wants some time back stage to play with his friends. Say a prayer that he doesn't deal with stage fright this week!

I know that it's been a while since I've posted, but I'm going to blame that on having four children! We have been busy going and enjoying fall. The boys are anxious to welcome winter (I think they think it means snow, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for snow not ice). But to recap our late October and month of November and first week of December...

-we carved a pumpkin (Mickey Mouse style at Luke's request)

-the boys enjoyed a few fall festivals and treat gatherings (I can't believe that I don't have a picture of the army man, Batman, Anakin Skywalker, and my little pumpkin).

-Joshua's soccer team won their division.

-Caleb continues to enjoy gymnastics, and I'm amazed at what he's learning.

-Luke started preschool once a week, and he loves it. It gives me a morning to focus on school work for Joshua and Caleb. A win-win! Here is a picture Caleb made with watercolors...it's him giving me a flower. Then he took it back and added the red "hearts".

-Matt finished another semester of his MBA program...woo-hoo!

-Jean and Mimi both got good reports from their latest PET scans. Jean's cancer is gone again, but she's dealing with some negative side effects. David has retired, and they are focusing on her care. She is currently on medical leave as she tries to rebuild her strength. Mimi's cancer is holding steady and not as active as it was, she continues chemo with the prayer that it will continue to hold the cancer at bay for a LONG time.

-Joshua went hunting with his Uncle Chet, and they shot a deer. Although I have hit two deer in the past year, I was not excited to see the one they brought in from the woods. I took the required pictures, but I'll spare you...you can thank me later, although Joshua's smile is priceless and now we have deer meat to last a while.

-We had a great Thanksgiving with all of Matt's family and my Mom. We also got to spend an afternoon with Dad. Matt and I took a night away to do our Christmas shopping so I was able to sleep in instead of battling the Black Friday crowds.

-today we celebrate Caleb's sixth birthday. He was so excited to open his new Bakugan brawlers starter pack. Now, if we only knew what to do with them.
Hopefully, I will be back before year end, but I'm not making any promises! I keep singing a song from the new VeggieTales DVD, and I hope it applies to you - "I can love because God loves me, I can give because God gave." Merry Christmas to all!

Count Your Blessings

Another life lost to cancer too soon...

Joshua's classmate, Katie, earned her angel wings less than a month after her 10th birthday on October 21st. She was diagnosed in the spring with an inoperable brain tumor. There are pictures of her from Halloween last year, healthy and happy, on her website. It terrifies me to think of what a year can hold, or even a day for that matter. Life is so precious and too short. We grieve with her family. Her obituary shared that a new baby is on the way for her family. I pray that this new life will ease the pain and comfort them with joy renewed.


As I picked out pictures for this post, I was counting my blessings of my sweet boys. I also noticed that it will be very difficult to get a good picture for my Christmas cards this year. I can't seem to get them to look in the same direction and smile at the same time. Luke is at that age where he doesn't want to be photographed and will not smile sweetly for me.

We are enjoying this season of the year. We took a much anticipated trip to Panama City. The boys and I counted down by making a paper chain and removing a link each day. Here is the last chain being removed.
We stayed beachfront as I thought that I may have to stay in the room with Thomas. I knew that I at least wanted to be able to watch the waves while we sat in the room; however, it turns out that he is a happy camper just about anywhere. So, we sat under the umbrella on the beach while the boys played.
The first couple of days were really cold and windy, but by the last day, we got to stay out most of the day with warm weather. It was hard to come back home to the cold, rainy weather that we were having here. I tried to do pictures on the beach, but I have decided that next time, we'll just hire a professional.

The weather has finally turned perfect for fall. We were able to make our trip to the pumpkin farm and ride the hay ride. The boys loved it. Luke asked if we could go back everyday. We also went over to one of the state parks and hiked to the waterfall. The leaves were beautiful, and it was just a wonderful day.
Our little guy is growing up too quickly for me. At his two month checkup, he weighed 11 lbs 6 oz, up 4 lbs from birth. I was so excited, since we had a little issue with weight gain the first couple of weeks. I am savoring all his little expressions, like the way he coos and smiles, the way he holds his hands in a fist with his thumb inside, the way he stretches out his chubby little legs when I change his diaper, and the way he responds to his brother's voices. I guess that I'm a little sentimental watching my last baby grow up. I just want to capture it all in my memory!

Homeschooling and a large family

I know exactly "how" it happened, but I am still sometimes surprised to find myself as a mother to four boys and homeschooling. I am not perfect, and I have days where I feel completely inadequate. We are pursuing excellence; however, we have a long way to go. We are enjoying our homeschooling time now, even though we had a few bumpy days in August. I blame a hormone overloaded pregnant mom. I think now that I am more even keeled, we are sailing in smoother waters. I can't imagine life without my little boys. We had a "koolaid" party (we didn't have any tea) at the dining room table last week for lunch. We talked about manners, and we practiced our manners. Then, on Friday, we went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch. We talked about using our manners before we even entered the restaurant. We told the hostess how many we had (Mom was with us, too). They had to "set up the table" (which should have prepared me), but as we rounded the corner, I saw that they had pushed to tables together, and they spanned the entire dining room. My jawed dropped slightly. I thought about large families, but I didn't realize we were to the point of needing two tables. We managed through lunch with only four trips to the bathroom, and no spilled drinks, and no meltdowns, and no baby crying jags. I felt successful. I was proud of the boys.

We are also working on "conflict resolution". As I posted below, the boys have different ways of handling their sibling rivalry. Joshua threatens, Caleb whines and attacks, Luke fights and cries to Mama. There are also the standard tattle tales from each of them. The day after the incident below, I got an email newsletter titled "Teaching Children to be Peacemakers". Aha, I thought, an article for me. I read it, and we will be working through the principles presented in it. Wish me luck!

A fellow homeschooler posted this youtube video on our yahoo group. It makes me laugh, even if it is poking fun at homeschoolers. It was written by a homeschooling dad, so I guess he knows what it's like. He also has several other very funny videos on youtube if you look around. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6uqj0_jQc&feature=player_embedded

funny boys

I'm upstairs while Joshua, Caleb, and Luke are downstairs supposedly cleaning up. Here's the conversation:

Joshua: Luke, if you don't stop, I'm going to step on your face.

quiet for a few seconds

Joshua: Caleb, stop, you might hurt him.

Caleb: Well, you said you were going to step on his face.

Poor Joshua...trying to be tough with words and Caleb takes him literally. I'm not too concerned about Luke, I think he could take them both single handedly.

Rain, Rain, Rain

We are having another rainy Saturday. That makes for two weekends in a row that Joshua's soccer games have been rained out, and he was sick with strep Thursday, so he missed that game too!

Our family life continues to speed forward. Matt got tickets to the Tech/Clemson game, so Matt, Joshua, Thomas and I went to the game. The company that gave him the tickets also gave him a parking pass and the rented stadium seats (which were great!). I carried Thomas in a carrier, and he was so good. Joshua had a blast at the game, he really took it all in. Caleb could have gone also, but at the last minute he decided to stay with Grandma. That was probably a good idea, since he can be difficult if he gets tired and is not being entertained. But, I didn't want him to feel left out, so I was glad he made the decision to stay himself. Luke always enjoys staying with Grandma, so that was a non-issue.

We went to the county fair last weekend. Joshua's chorus sang, and then we ate lunch and walked around. We were going to do the fair rides, but they were really expensive! Like $3.00 per person for the merry-go-round and every other ride. So, we entertained ourselves at the petting zoo (free) with some $1.00 bowls of food. The boys were thrilled. Then, the rain came. The rain poured, the petting zoo tent was sagging in several areas, and some of the animals were standing in water in their pens. The owners were trying to pull in the cages to get the animals out of the water, so everyone and the animals were sort of crowded in the middle of the tent. We finally decided to make our way through the rain to the car.
I bought a carrier for Thomas. It was been wonderful so far. I used it at the Tech game and at the fair and to go to story time at the library. It is so much more convenient than the stroller, and I'm not supposed to be carrying the car seat, yet, so this has made things much easier. I had another carrier that always hurt my neck, so I decided to splurge for this one. It's the ergo carrier, and I ordered it from diapers.com. This got me free shipping, plus I used a referral code to get $10.00 off. If you are interested in ordering from diapers.com and are a new customer, you can use my referral code WARD1882 for $10 off any $49 order. This was the only way that I could find to get a discount on the carrier, since they don't seem to ever be on sale anywhere. I also submitted for a $15 refund from parenting magazine that is offered free with orders on diapers.com. You can submit for that if you don't want the magazine. Anyway, I love my carrier so far!We have several more activities planned for October. We are going to Burt's Pumpkin Farm, a few days at the beach (late I know), a field trip to the theater to see Robin Hood, fall festivals, etc. Not to mention football and a 2 month check up for Thomas! I hope you all are enjoying fall and staying dry!

Almost two weeks old!

We are starting to adjust to life with FOUR! little boys. Joshua and Caleb are taking it in stride. Luke still isn't sure that he wants his mama holding his "baby brother" so much. It does seem that every time he walks into the room I'm in that I am holding (and feeding) Thomas. I am starting to feel better after the surgery. I still have a ways to go, but I guess that's normal. I was reading my "What to Expect" book yesterday, because I wanted to read about breech babies. What I thought was interesting was that under the c-section part of the book, it recommended that moms be educated on c-sections and prepared with any questions in case one were to be needed at the hospital. Boy, I wish that I'd heeded that advice! I really had very little clue what was going to happen, and they stuck all these papers in front of me, and it was really overwhelming when all I wanted to say was "no, I want a delivery like my other three!" I read that that is possible with a breech baby, but since complications can occur quickly, it usually happens in the OR just in case. I wasn't given that option, so I will just have to give the Dr. credit for a safe delivery and move on. We still haven't figured out when Thomas went into the breech position, that is another thing that I can't seem to let go of...why didn't we know ahead of time? Again, I just need to move on...

We go for Thomas' 2 week check up tomorrow. I plan to start driving again, and maybe life will continue back to normal. Caleb has gymnastics once a week, and Joshua will have soccer practice twice a week. Matt is in class twice a week, so I really need to be mobile to get all of our activities accomplished. Matt has been great these past two weeks helping around the house, playing taxi and even getting groceries! I guess the surgery has made me slow down and let others do for me. After my last two deliveries, I was up and about within two days, so this has been quite a test of my "letting go of control". Mom has also been playing her share of taxi and errand runner. Mimi brought us dinner and has been a drop off point for boys too. I feel so blessed to have help around.

Jean returned to Houston last week. She had a good report that the spots in her lungs were gone, and the area in her liver was shrinking. They are going to keep her on the same chemo for two more rounds (three weeks apart) and she will go back to Houston in six weeks. Please pray for her as her immune system is down, and she has a yeast infection in her mouth which makes it difficult for her to swallow anything. She has already had some IV fluids to help with dehydration. She hasn't been able to go back to school since she's returned from Houston. For someone who has been able to work right through her other treatments, this is very discouraging for her.

Have a great weekend!

a couple of pictures

He's here!

Thomas Gabriel was born at 10:58 am. He was 7 lbs 4 oz and 19.5" long. My water broke at 3:00 am, so we headed to the hospital. I was already 5-6 cm but without heavy contractions. We walked and finally the contractions were getting more intense. The midwife decided to check me again, and she got a strange look on her face. She said, I'm sorry, but that's not a head. She did a quick ultrasound to confirm. She then spoke with the doctor who felt it was too late to try to turn the baby. I shed a few quick tears for a lost natural delivery (and a little from fear), but we proceeded to get ready for the c-section. It went quickly, and he was right before our eyes! I'll try to get pictures on soon. Am I missing any important details?

My dislike of wasps...

As I put in an earlier post, Luke got stung by a wasp earlier this summer, and his poor little ear stood out straight for the day. He was much better the next day, and he didn't complain about it at all after that. I was thankful that it was over so quickly.

I have had a couple of run ins with wasps this summer myself, and I am not fairing so well. I've never been allergic to the stings before, so I hope that maybe it's just my pregnant state that has me reacting so severely. I was stung about a month ago on my calf. It turned red all the way down to my ankle, and it was swollen and itchy for about a week. I still have a knot in my calf where it stung me.

Then this past Monday morning, I was stung again on the same leg, but higher up behind my knee. It was quite a morning...Joshua and I were working on school when he mentioned that we had a calf out in our yard. I went out to try to get the calf back into the pasture, and once that was done, Joshua told me that we had evidence of a sick dog on our front porch. I went to get the hose to clean it off, and the wasp stung me. It's bruised and red looking. My leg is swollen and itchy from halfway up my thigh to halfway down my calf. The doctor says they can't do anything for me since I'm pregnant. I have been taking Benadryl, and the allergy dr said today that I can also take Zyrtec, but I don't think that I have any. Anyway, I hope it gets better soon, as I'll have enough to worry about if I go into labor this week!

I have an appointment Friday for a check up and ultrasound. We'll see how the baby is progressing and maybe we'll have baby news this weekend!

Dirt cups

Have you ever eaten at Mimi's cafe? If so, and if it included a kid's meal, then you probably know about their dirt cups. The boys love them, and it's a great way to get them to eat there! I decided to try to replicate the dirt cups at home. Start with chocolate pudding, sprinkle crushed Oreos on top, and put some gummy worms in it. How great is that? Here is Luke enjoying his. Please forgive my Southern drawl, I didn't realize that I have it that bad!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Summer dreams, drifting away...

Summer is almost officially gone. We have started "school" here, in hopes that we can take some time off when baby arrives. It's going "okay" so far, I'm still working out a good schedule between a 3rd grader, a Kindergartener, and a toddler. Let's throw in a newborn and see how that upsets everything that I've tried so far. Stay tuned, it should be interesting.

We've had a good summer. So many things were going on. Joshua has had the most fun, I think. After his trip to stay with Jake and Six Flags with Daddy, he got to go tubing in Helen with Andrew. I got to keep Katelyn for the day. Andrew then stayed with us for a couple of nights, and then Jake stayed with us for a week. Jenna got to stay one night, when Mom was nice enough to share her. Little girls are so different. I didn't quite get the hang of putting a little ponytail on top of her head, and the elastic band just kept slipping out. Can't say that I've had much practice with it.
I had said in an earlier post that baby had dropped, and I wouldn't be hiking. Well, I was wrong. Baby decided to ease up on my back, and so we decided to go search out another geocache when Jake was here. Hiking in the woods following the GPS to a treasure box is right up these little boys' alley. We checked the weather, and it said 5% chance of rain. Well, 5% turned into a downpour when we were out in the woods. I was trying to keep the GPS dry and still figure out when the box was. The boys were slipping and sliding around and having a wonderful time. Luke was scared of the thunder, so Matt carried him for a little way. Anyway, we found the box, and the boys were thrilled to exchange a little trinket for one in the box. Just look at those faces!

Cancer Still Stinks

I've been trying to decide when to update with our latest information. Maybe I was hoping that it would just go away. It's not that easy...Jean's cancer has returned. From the latest scan, it looks like it involves her liver and lymph nodes in her lungs. She had a dose of chemo in TX during her visit, and she will have another here in three weeks before returning to TX in another three weeks for more tests to determine how the cancer is reacting. She is scheduled to have another chemo while she is out there, either the same meds or new, depending on the results, I assume. Her flights are out on Aug 25 and back on Aug 27. My due date is the 27th, and she has already told me not to have this baby while she is gone. My midwife said that in "social circumstances" that she would be up for an induction if my body is favorable at 39 weeks. I'm not crazy about the idea of an induction, so I'm hoping that we have some guidance when that time comes.

Mimi's latest scans showed that her chemo is keeping her cancer in check with some spots maybe getting smaller. I don't know when she will have scans again, but she continues with chemo every week with every 4th week off. She seems to be feeling well, and she is still working. We are so grateful that she is tolerating this treatment well and is able to continue her daily tasks.

Cancer is so life disrupting. I am truly burdened by all the cancer cases that surround us. We had a special prayer service at church last weekend to pray for Jean and Mimi and others with health issues. It was so emotional. It was open prayer, and Joshua even said a prayer and said thank you that Nana and Mimi are here with us. We have not talked details with him, but he is sensitive enough to get the idea of what is going on. I wish that I could protect my boys from the pain of this world, but I know it's not going to happen. They don't seem bothered by the fact that some medicines make you lose your hair, and although it's good for them to understand this, especially when we are in public, it still bothers me.

We are also keeping in our prayers two friends from college, Joshua's 9 yo classmate, and a college friend's father - all with cancer. We're praying for a cure.

Seven Traits

To follow up on my mission from Julie, here are seven traits about me. I don't have seven to tag, but I will tag Tori and Kathleen since Laura and Amanda (who already completed her assignment before going to have a beautiful baby girl, congrats again!) were already on Julie's list. All you have to do is share seven traits about yourself, and if you want, tag seven others to pass along the fun.

1. I love saving money. I get that "runner's high" when I am able to get a great deal. I have a couple of websites that I frequent to learn about the deals, and when shopping online, I always search out a free shipping code as I can't stand to pay shipping fees, if I can avoid it. I don't like exercise, so can this substitute?


2. I do mystery shopping on the side. Mostly fast food stores, but grocery stores too. I get a little bit of money for completing a survey after visiting the store. So, in accordance with #1, I get a free meal or a little bit of break on my groceries.


3. I know the names of all the major construction equipment. Loader, back hoes, excavators, steam rollers, skid steers, cranes, etc. And when we drive by a construction site, I have to patiently repeat the name of every one we see. This has been going on for years now, with every couple of years a different little voice leading me. In a couple more years, I plan to repeat the cycle.


4. I love to travel. Matt says that I just like to "go". I would really love to travel to far away places, but that just isn't possible at this time in life. So, I'll settle for places within driving distances and occasionally a plane ride away. As we add to the family, the long distance traveling will become even more complex, but with planning, I think we can pull off some longer distance trips (in a few years).


5. I love chocolate, surprise, surprise. But, it's not like I empty the candy jar. Easter, Valentine's Day, Christmas...that candy doesn't really phase me. What I love is baked goods: brownies, cakes, cookies.


6. I really, really want to declutter. I have to keep reminding myself that toys all over the house really is temporary, and that some day, maybe I can have the house that I always admire in the magazines. I doubt it, as I don't have a creative bone in my body, but maybe it will at least be a little less cluttered!


7. I love my homeschool curriculum. Since I don't have any creativity for projects (an engineer through and through), I was afraid that I would be a failure at making all the cute little crafts that seem to overwhelm the house when the kids are in preschool. The program that I use has a great schedule with everything planned out (great for a box checker like me). I get to pick and choose the activities that we do. When I order, I get a great big box full of all the books that we'll use that year. Last year, I even got a box full of all the components for the crafts that we did. Plus, we are reading and learning American History together. It's great to be learning this again, I'm sure that I had it once before, but if it wasn't science or math, I sort of didn't get it the first time around.

Catching Up

I had some pictures to share that were on Mom's camera. I finally got a chance to download them and send them to my computer. A little late, but better than never. From May, Caleb at his preschool graduation and from June, Luke with a swollen ear from a wasp sting. His poor ear stood out straight. I almost laughed when I saw it to keep from crying! I kept asking Mom, "do you think it will go down?" It reminded me of Will Smith in Hitch. It was down the next morning, thank goodness!

We had a nice 4th of July weekend. It was Jean's birthday, so we celebrated with all the family at Mom's community pool/pavillion with a cookout and swimming. The kids had a blast swimming, and the adults got to visit in the shade. We ended the evening by seeing the local fireworks. Luke still asks if we are going to see fireworks again when we pass by the location we watched them from.

We took a whirlwind trip to Vidalia to visit Dad and Cathy, as I think it will be the last trip south for a few months anyway. We got a few more of their hand-me-downs (pictures and lamps, this time), and the boys got to play with the dog, ride in the golf cart, and eat steak on the back deck. For me, I enjoyed all this plus a trip to Bill's doughnuts for a chocolate glazed doughnut. It's like the small town version of Krispy Kreme! Yum.

Joshua is spending the week with Danny and Kim. So far, he has gone to the lake and ridden the boat and tube. Tomorrow, they're going to White Water. Friday, they're going to meet Matt for a day at Six Flags using the free tickets that Joshua and I earned from the reading program this year. As much as I'd love to go too, I'm just not up to it this year, bummer.

Baby has dropped, and I don't think we'll be hiking into the gorge again for the next few weeks. I'm anxious for him to get here, as it is hot now, and I'm getting irritable and uncomfortable. Just ask my family, or better yet, just take my word for it.

I'll be spending my time thinking of seven traits that I want to share courtesy of Julie's tagging me from her blog. Keep looking for the next post!

The NOT so lazy days of summer

We have been enjoying our time off this summer...

I made a new friend at the WinterPromise retreat, so we met in Buford to let our kids play. We spent several hours at the playland at McDonald's and then we headed over to the fountain at the Mall of Georgia. The water was too cold, so that activity ended quickly. We decided it was time to head home for naps anyway.

Luke contemplates entering the water after hearing his brothers squeal from the cold.

The boys tried out the new slip and slide at home.

We took another opportunity to have dinner with a friend from MOPS and her family. Afterwards, her boys and ours played outside in the sprinkler...that quickly turned into a mud puddle. We had to hose them down in the driveway again amid squeals of the water being too cold.

We used last Saturday to do a little "staycation". We started off with a hike into Tallulah Gorge. We hiked down about 500 steps to the gorge floor and across the suspension bridge at the bottom. That wasn't too bad, it was the 500 steps back up that was the challenge. Luke and I encouraged each other on while Matt, Joshua, and Caleb took the lead. I kept telling Luke he was a trooper and he'd reply, "no, I'm Wuke." After our hike, we enjoyed lunch in Clayton and stopped on our way home to visit the local roadside talk of the town...the Goats on the Roof store. They really have goats on their roof, and you can feed them by a couple of activities, one is to pedal a stationary bike moving a cup of food up a conveyor belt to the roof. The goats stand at the top waiting for the cup to arrive. The boys found it quite entertaining.

Matt and the boys as we start our our hike in the gorge. Luke was being bashful.

On the steps on the way down, down, down.
Me, 29 weeks pregnant!

Don't they look like hoodlums? Maybe they'll be a famous rock group some day?

At the Goats on the Roof store...you can see a goat on the roof in the background.

We've also taken time to make my favorite cookies, chocolate marshmallow. Here they are just out of the oven, they get chocolate frosting after baking. I remember making these with my aunt Judy in Nebraska when I was little. Yum!

Luke spends some "quiet" time reading. I went back later to find ALL the books off the shelf. Ugh.

We've also tried our hand at recycling crayons. We sorted the colors, broke them, and put them into the jello mold. We baked them at low temp until they melted. It worked pretty well, but the mold that we used had several small parts (like bunny ears) that broke off when we tried to get the new crayons out. I think to do it again, I'd buy some cheap muffin tins that I could throw away afterwards.

Most recently, Matt attended his annual conference that was this year in Texas. Mom and I took the boys on a short trip to the mountains. We stopped in Cherokee to visit the Cherokee Indian Village. We swam at the hotel, and I took Joshua and Caleb to an adventure quest while Mom babysat Luke. On the way home, we stopped again in Cherokee to let the boys play in the stream and had a picnic.

At the Indian village

On the drive over the mountains

At the island park in Cherokee.

We still have swim camps, art camp, doctor's appointments, free movie mornings and such to round out our summer. I'm looking forward to the rest of the June and July, but I'm also counting down to getting back into routine just in time for our newest little guy to arrive.

Matt and I celebrated our 11th anniversary yesterday, wow, how time flies.
Lastly, Happy Father's Day to Matt and my Dad!