[] lego party []

We had a little party on Saturday to celebrate both boys’ birthdays (which are next week). They love legos right now, so it seemed an appropriate theme for the party.

We had a building challenge for the most creative car and they also raced their creations! They had a ball!

I made their cake. It was a fun challenge, but butter cream icing is quite challenging to get smooth. I will try fondant next time. But I think it still turned out pretty cute. The boys loved it, so that is all that matters!

Here are some pics of the fun day!

**7 months**

I haven’t updated in a while…just so many other things needing my attention! 

Let me start by saying that our sweet girl turned 7 months old yesterday!  It is amazing how these months are just flying by.  I am trying to enjoy each stage with her.  I know this season will be gone before I blink.

She is doing quite well.  Her two teeth are prominent in her mouth now and she seems to be adjusting to them.  She wants to eat ANYTHING that we have!  She especially likes bread (rolls, etc) with dinner.  She likes her baby food okay, but seems to like the veggies more than the fruit.  She really likes mashed potatoes! 

She still isn’t sitting up great, but she will do it fine at times.  I think some of it is the wood floor in our living room.  But she gets around – rolling, scooting, not always sure how she gets from one place to the next!  We have also stood her next to the couch and she will do that!  She has tried to even pull up, but hasn’t figured it out.  That is FINE with me!  It’s a whole new ball game once they start really moving!  I want her to be a “baby” as long as possible!

Her hair is still growing at a snail’s pace!    Hopefully she will have more soon!  We have also talked about getting her ears pierced soon!  I just need to get it all worked out.

So here are a few photos from yesterday…we met Chad, Cindy and Andrew at the park – it was beautiful!  I think this was her first time on a swing and she LOVED it! 

So sweet!

 

 

She liked to watch her shadow as she was swinging!

 

  

Andrew!

 

   

                        New shoes!

Oh, I promised I would update on the post-election conversation!  Last Wednesday morning, the boys were all interested in finding out who won.  When I told Caleb that Obama won but that he wouldn’t actually be president until January, he misunderstood and thought the president wouldn’t be chosen until then.  Once he realized that McCain didn’t win, he got pretty upset!    poor kid!  But I assured him that it was fine, even though Mr. Obama wasn’t our choice!  We talked about how God is the One who allows things to happen and it is in Him that we put our trust!  It was a good conversation!

Okay…gotta get going!    Bye for now!

The Last Couple of Weeks

I have had a hard time keeping up with the blog over the last couple of weeks.  But everyone seems to be better and we are getting back to a “more normal” life (for now!)  Here are some photos…

 

Alec was helping Daddy mow! 

  And here he is being silly.  He has Ella’s “bumbo” seat on his head!

  

The last day of soccer…

The boys and their medals!

Happy Birthday, Dodo!

Ella’s Pink Converse! 

We took the boys to Pioneer Days in Pine Castle.  It was a lot of fun, since we are studying the Early American Settlers/Pioneers in school right now.  They had some demonstrations on Pioneer life.  It was a fun family day!  Andy and Emily joined us and we met up with the Davis’ later in the day.

A Penny Saved…

Over the last several months, the boys have been saving their money.  They have been wanting a new game for the Wii – Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga.  These games are not cheap and we let the boys know that if they wanted to get this game that they would have to work and earn money to buy it – we were not going to buy it for them.  This is the first big purchase they have saved for. 

So for months now, the boys have been doing extra jobs around the house (not chores), and helping Gremmie & Dodo do things.  The boys don’t get an allowance,  but we have certain work days that they have the opportunity to earn a few dollars.  Caleb has also lost a couple of teeth – so he contributed his “tooth fairy money”.  (At one point I was afraid he was going to try to pull all his teeth in order to get enough money!  ha!)

Thay have had to make decisions and not spend the money on other smaller items.  This past Saturday, they were able to finish earning the money needed to buy the game.  They were SO excited!    Hopefully this little exercise will help them understand that we have to work hard to earn money and that we don’t just automatically get everything that we want!

Here is a photo of the boys and their new game!

*first day of school*

It’s that time of year again…time to sharpen the pencils, pull out the new school supplies and try to regain some kind of schedule after the busyness of the summer!

We have officially begun our 3rd year of home school!  Wow…so hard to believe.  Caleb is now in 2nd grade!  I will also be doing some Pre-K stuff with Alec and including him in some of Caleb’s lessons.  We are looking forward to a good school year.  Hopefully it won’t be quite as challenging as last year (I was newly pregnant and we were all sick off and on through the school year.  Yuck!)  The new challenge before us is doing school with an infant!  But today she did great! 

Here are some photos of our day…

Our school books…

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance

Wow!  2nd grade!  What a big boy!

Ready for Pre-K!

baby look-a-likes

So…everyone keeps asking WHO Ella looks like.  Everyone has a different opinion!  She seems to be a pretty good mix of us all!  So…see for yourself…

(Not sure of exact ages, but they should be fairly close – I don’t have any pics of Chris here at the house.)

Ella

Caleb                                                        Alec

Stephanie

Still sick… :(

Well, I was hoping that everyone would be well here by now, but not so!  Alec spiked almost 102 this morning – was fine most of the day – then spiked another fever tonight.  Caleb hasn’t had a fever today, but has had a bad headache all day.  I am praying that it goes away – since the docs get concerned about him when he has bad headaches (due to his shunt). 

We tried to go out for dinner tonight…got to Cracker Barrel and before we even got seated, Caleb’s head started hurting really badly.  So, we left.  They asked for MORE mac-n-cheese.  (We have practically lived on macaroni and chicken soup for several days!)  So, that is what they had for dinner and Chris got take-out for us!  It was nice to have a real meal! 

Thank you to those that have called or emailed to check on us!  Please keep praying!  This was day 4 of fever for Alec, so it is getting a little old!  We will obviously be staying home from service tomorrow! Don’t want to share our cooties!

On an up note, Chris and I worked in Ella’s room today!  He took down the daybed and we moved everything out of the room and then he pulled up the carpet!  That is really exciting!  We will be laying new carpet in there, after we paint!  (I also got my paint colors picked out – now we just need to make it up to home depot to buy the paint!)

Well, the bed is calling my name!   

We have sick boys…

Well, our little guys are sick…they started feeling bad on Tuesday afternoon – just not quite themselves.  Alec got the fever first around 2:30am on Wed. morning.  Yesterday was okay, but around 4pm they both spiked high fevers.  We were up most of last night – Caleb started up with a “barking cough” – poor guy.

So off to the doctor first thing this morning.  Caleb had 104.1 temp when we left the house.  He has croup!  So they gave him a steroid to help the inflammation in his throat.  He is very hoarse and has a sore throat.  Alec is still spiking high fevers when the meds wear off, and has a sore throat, but nothing other than that. 

The doctor said tonight or tomorrow night could be worse for Caleb, so please keep us in your prayers!  I am spraying tons of Lysol and washing my hands constantly.  I really don’t want to get this!

I hope you and your family are staying well with all the junk that is going around!

Birthday Celebrations with our Family

We celebrated the boys’ bdays while we were in G’ville.  So they got their gifts from Grammy & Grandpa!  The next night, Gremmie & Dodo, Uncle Chad, Aunt Cindy, Andrew and Uncle David came over for spaghetti night and we gave them their new Basketball Goal!  Chris has already put it up for them and they love to shoot hoops every day!   So much fun! 

The Boys’ Birthday Trip to Disney!

On Saturday, Jan 26, we took the boys to Disney to celebrate their birthdays!  It was a fun day (but cool & a little wet!)  This is my first attempt at a slide show on my blog.  I have a few more to put up.  So check back soon!