Pictures of Summer

Father's Day in Taylor's Falls, MN. Trying out my new camera while the boys climbed on rocks and drove their rock crawlers.

What a beautiful day for appreciating Paul and all he does for our family.

Spending lots of time in the car traveling to MI to visit family.



Having my grandparents in MI meet Caleb for the first time
and celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary with them.

Spending a short afternoon with Paul's dad in MI (He's 89 and runs a greenhouse still.) We're looking forward to having him visit in August.

Celebrating Ethan's 9th birthday and attempting to get a nice picture of our boys together. And this was before all the sugar consumption.



A quote on the wall of the MN Children's Museum that sums up perfectly how I feel about my life.

Self-face painting with some help from Mom.

More fun at the Children's Museum.

It's hard to believe that summer is already winding down (for those of us who start school in August anyway.)

What We've Been Up To

Admiring the new bee "barn" Paul and my Dad built for our bees (which have not arrived yet....hopefully today!)

Swinging in a new swing from Gramma and Papa

Tending to the new chickens and hoping they start laying soon

Playing outside and catching minnows in the ditch

Getting dirty in the sandbox

Napping on the couch

Dressing up as a doctor

Taking swimming lessons

Hanging out at swimming lessons

Learning to trust his swim teacher

Things That Make Me Smile

Copying from my friend's Julie's blog, I thought I'd share a list of things that have made me smile lately.

~Watching "Mary Poppins" with the boys this afternoon and watching Elijah's reactions since this was his first time.


~Caleb's toothy grin and wobbly walk and especially the happy noises he makes when I sit down in our "nursing spot."
~The transformation of our bedroom - this has been an ongoing process. It's one of only two rooms I didn't paint last fall because I wanted to get a new duvet cover first. Well the new duvet cover's been on for awhile, I think I have a paint color picked out (2 actually, as one wall will be an accent color), and we have NEW bedroom furniture arriving in a couple of weeks. This was a long process. What originally was going to be a head board and maybe a dresser is going to be a complete bed, dresser, mirror and nightstand! Can't wait for it to be delivered and set up. Then once the weather is warm enough to have windows open, painting can begin. When the project is done, I will share more before and after photos.

~Fresh haircuts for all the boys - which means I don't have to cut them for another 6 weeks or so.

~Caleb's repetitive "uh-oh" whenever he drops something

~Ethan's sign in the downstairs bathroom - he set up a pet store in our downstairs bar area. He's had Elijah assisting him. Last night I went into the bathroom and when I turned on the light I saw the sign Ethan made. It reads, "All employees must wash their hands before returning to work. Thank you. Manager." It made me laugh out loud. Especially since reminding Elijah to wash his hands IS a good idea, except Elijah can't read.

~Caleb holding his hand up to his ear and saying "hi" every time he hears the phone ring. Also he says "ow" whenever he sees an animal - real, stuffed, or a photo.

~Elijah's burgeoning sense of humor.

~Paul's acceptance of my desire to redecorate our bedroom as long as there are no decorative pillows added to the bed (oh, the horror!). He switched the office's overhead light fixture with our bedroom one - a job that looked a lot easier (from my vantage point) than it actually was. My contribution to the task: getting the ladder out and setting it up in the office.

~Spring is in the air - it's still below freezing outside with lots of snow yet to melt, but our dirt road and driveway are mud pits which gives me hope....and annoys me all to no end.

~new washcloth colors!

~new blog discoveries: Reagan's Blob, Young House Love, Tales of Me and the Husband, City Wife, Country Life

~The thought of being able to hang cloth diapers on the clothes line again.

~The thought of Sara holding new baby Levi in just a few short days!

~Ethan winning 1st place for speed at the AWANA grand prix a couple weeks ago. He won every heat and got the track record as well.

~Finally owning Caleb free and clear!

~Working out and the result: my arms are starting to look like Jillian's - wish the rest of my body was showing more change. But I do feel different, have more energy, and am definitely noticing my muscles growing.

~Sunshine!

Today

Today I will.....

• continue to try to explain to Elijah why we can't do something "weawy, weawy, weawy, weawy, weawy, weawy (x5) fun" every day.
• welcome Ethan home after being gone at his dad's for 9 days! We missed you, blonde boy!
• Show Ethan how to clean out the caterpillar container and rejoice that I won't have to do it myself anymore!
• wash a load of cloth diapers and hang them out to dry, since it's appearing today will be the perfect summer day (Perfect in my mind = 70s and sunny).
• attempt to fold and put away 2-6 loads of laundry
• attempt to finish up Caleb's scrapbook through 4 months
• add a couple of pages to Ethan and Elijah's scrapbooks
• tell Elijah to stop whining approximately 5,237 times
• nurse Caleb too many times to count (therefore forgetting each time, which side he nursed on last)
• Enjoy every nursing and snuggle session with Caleb.
• Go outside with the boys
• Make sandwiches and such for our field trip/park day tomorrow - we're going to be touring Rainbow Foods and learn about "healthy" eating.
• Pull Caleb's thumb out of his mouth every 10 minutes.
• And finish vacuuming

What are you doing today?

Busyness in Photos

Here's some photos of what's been going on lately. First off, this baby just keeps getting cuter and sweeter as the days go by. Can't believe he'll be 4 months old on Saturday!

Ethan (second kid from left) "graduated" from AWANA sparks. It was his third year and he completed all three books. AWANA stands for 'Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed' and is our Wednesday night children's program. It's great and the kids learn lots of scripture while having fun. It's most common at Evangelical Free Churches. Check it out near you!

Elijah (second from right and looking very stoic) finished his first year of AWANA Cubbies. Despite his stoicism in the photo, he loves it!

This is my "nursery moms group" decked out for the annual AWANA carnival. Each year we choose a theme and base our games around it. This year's western theme included "pin the badge on the sheriff" and lassoing the rocking horse.

And finally, our baby/child dedication at church. As I stood on stage, I looked down upon the stand below me where Felicity's casket was during her memorial just 18 months prior. I held back the tears because of missing her and at the same time thanked God for her and for Caleb.

Illustory

Some of you may remember this funny post.

Well, Ethan took that event and wrote a mostly true story for school. Then using a product called Illustory he had it published.

All 6 copies arrived in the mail today and we are thrilled with the results.

I will treasure our copy; it's even signed by the author.

And as a bonus, feast your eyes on the cute baby:

My Three Sons

Ethan (7.5): Inventive, creative, imaginative, lover of books and building things. Generous, helper, loves holding and snuggling Caleb, good at memorizing, stubborn, good student, has the skinniest legs, affectionately called "Blonde Boy," loves macaroni and cheese, and enjoys playing with friends and spending time with family.

Elijah (3.5): feisty, distracted, whiny, quite the snuggler, entertaining, bouncy, wild, quiet until he feels comfortable with you and then will talk your ear off, covers his nose whenever he's sitting on the toilet, lover of toast with peanut butter and honey, and very blunt.

(This face is not a naughty face but a face that we have coined Elijah's "Klingon Face" despite him having no idea what a klingon is!)

Caleb (10.5 weeks): easygoing, mellow, falls asleep anywhere, loves to nurse and sleep with Mommy and Daddy, smiley and happy as long as his tummy is full and his diaper is clean, and loved by all.

These are my three (earthly) sons and I am very blessed!

Waiting

Yep, that's our baby boy! Taken at our appointment last Wednesday (34 wks., 5 days). He's doing great and when we go for our appointment in two days, we get to schedule my induction!!!!

I'm thrilled to soon know when he will be in my arms. We're hoping that will happen in less than two weeks.

We had a really good Christmas - busy as always, but so much fun (and very tiring for me!) Since Paul's been off all last week, we had plenty of preparation time and my parents joined us on Christmas eve and stayed for a few days. They only live about 40 minutes away, but it's nice to have them here for days versus hours. It started snowing heavily on Christmas eve and in about two days we had approximately 12-15 inches on the ground. The boys had fun sledding with Papa and Daddy and building a partial snowman which quickly became something to jump off of rather than a snowman. Here they are in their matching vests from my dad (Papa) on Christmas morning.

My brother Richard joined us for Christmas Day and Elijah had fun dominating "Rish-urd's" attention. Paul got me a few special gifts, even though the landscaping was supposed to cover all gifts for the year. His theme for my gifts was "ministering to my heart." I received a new PINK vacuum (something I've been wanting for a long time and the pink part made it all the more special!) and a gift certificate to a local "spa." It's enough for three-1 hour massages or whatever I want to use it for. I was floored and excited! I've never had a professional massage before and this place even does a prenatal massage! I'm hoping to have one done before Caleb arrives.

We were going to light an ice candle on Felicity's grave on Christmas eve, but due to the already fallen and falling snow, it was too hard for all of us to get into the cemetery and I knew the candle wouldn't stay lit for long. But being the great daddy that he is, Paul got through the snow and placed it on her grave and cleaned her headstone off. Hopefully we'll get a chance to light it soon. I'm stunned to think that this is our second Christmas without her. I look forward to kissing Caleb's chubby cheeks as they look so much like hers. While I haven't been so worried this past week, I'm feeling a lot more emotional than I have for quite awhile because of missing Felicity.

I'm exhausted already, from just typing this out and I want to try out my new vacuum a little more, so this is it. I'll be sure to let you all know when the induction is scheduled for.

Blessings,

Caleb Update and Life on the Range

I'm a bad blogger.

I'm getting so caught up in all that needs to be done this time of year, that writing blog posts has been put on the back burner.

Last weekend my parents took the boys so that Paul and I could have a little alone time and time to get some projects done around the house. On Saturday we drove into WI to pick up the 1/2 beef, 1/2 pig, and chickens we ordered from a small farm that does 100% grass-fed beef and pastured hogs and chickens. That took up the majority of the day, but it was fun to talk with Paul and not be interrupted by little ones. Sometimes it feels like all we ever talk about when we're alone is the boys, but it certainly didn't feel that way last weekend. Plus, we now have two (yes, two) standing freezers full of meat for the coming year. If you've never purchased meat this way, we highly recommend it. Especially if you can get it grass-fed. It's a hit on the bank account, but then we don't have to buy much other meat so your monthly grocery budget decreases greatly.

I'd also like to say that my cooking skills have improved as I have tons of different cuts of meat that I wouldn't normally buy at the grocery store. This is our second year doing it, and last year, I had to learn how to cook certain cuts that I had never done before.

We also got the top bunk put together for Ethan. Both boys were sleeping together on the bottom, which is a double, but that stopped working this past fall and we had to have Ethan sleep in the spare room. Ethan is thrilled to be sleeping on the top and it has become his favorite place to read as well. And I'm thrilled to have them back in the same room and have our spare room back. I'm all for keeping them together as long as possible.

I did a bunch of cleaning in preparation for Caleb while the boys were gone too. Got out the changing table to some of the clothes. I ordered wipes. Next month I'll buy some disposables. I do cloth diapers at home mainly, but in the beginning, it's nice to have disposables on hand too. I buy wipes and disposables on Amazon.com, because it's much cheaper. Especially if you do the 'subscribe and save' option. Not to mention the free shipping and delivery to your door.

Once the boys' came home it was craziness again as usual, with school and AWANA and getting Ethan ready to spend a week with his dad for Thanksgiving. They left very early this morning to fly to Alabama where the majority of Ethan's paternal family lives. (His dad and new stepmom live in OH.) I miss him like crazy already. We've had some issues with him lately, but things have been improving greatly and I really felt the changes we had made are drawing us closer to him. It's hard not to have him with us and he wasn't too keen on going, knowing what he'd be missing out on at home. He's still adjusting to being with his dad once or twice a year and reconciling that wiht the rest of his life here. Definitely hits home to me that God hates divorce. I can see now how much better our lives are, but there's still many ramifications, the majority of them being for Ethan who is the innocent one in it all.

It will be weird parenting Elijah as a single child this week. But it will give us an opportunity to focus on him, especially before Caleb arrives. Plus Paul is on vacation the entire week - WOOHOO!

Yesterday was Caleb's 30 week MCA scan. He did well again. I read into everything the doctor says, of course, while Paul's able to remain completely objective. I got the feeling that Caleb's numbers were "okay" as opposed to "great" like in past scans. We don't have to go back for two weeks and by then, we'll be nearing the home stretch. We still have a birth plan to write and decisions to make about delivery. Our closest hospital does not have a NICU, so we're debating about delivering in the cities, so if something does happen after birth, he won't be separated from us. Please pray for wisdom in making these decisions.

Have a great weekend and a blessed Thanksgiving!

Boring Blogger

I know I've been a boring blogger lately -sorry! Life is busy and I just haven't had any inspiring blog post ideas nor the time and energy to write one if I did. But I wanted to write something before tomorrow so that my posts don't all become Caleb's MCA scan updates.

We had a fairly successful garage sale on Saturday. Ethan had fun camping with his dad, though he was bummed not to be here for the sale. He opened his own "business" this past spring called "Ethan's Eats" with the intention to sell water and various snacks whenever we hosted paintball events on our property. (If you didn't know, my husband loves paintball!) Ethan used some of his birthday money to purchase bottles of water and snack foods. Unfortunately all of the paintball events have been cancelled due to not enough people signing up, so Ethan's business has been surviving solely on purchases made by family members. He was hoping to sell stuff to people at the sale. Since we didn't get rid of as much as we wanted, we're going to have the sale again this Saturday, so hopefully he'll sell some stuff this weekend.

Elijah had a blast at the garage sale. He spent pretty much all day cutting, glueing, and drawing on construction paper and handing them out to customers, who weren't quite sure what to do with them. Sometimes he'd hold the paper out and just say, "Here" in a deep voice and then walk away. (He frequently likes to talk in a deeper voice than normal.) Other times he'd launch into a detailed exchange in his deep voice, which unless you know him, can be difficult to understand. I found myself often interpreting for him, but it was cute nonetheless.

My homemade dishcloths did not sell liked I'd hope they would, so I'm hoping this Saturday will be different. Otherwise, I'll have to come up with some sort of contest to give some of them away.

Tomorrow we have another MCA scan since it's Friday. Keep praying for Caleb to stay healthy! It would be great not to have him have any blood transfusions, but I'd at least like to wait until he's a little bigger. I'll be sure to post a report tomorrow evening on how things went.


Blessings,

My Firstborn

I finally found those pictures I scannned for Ethan's 7th bday and thought I'd post them.

6 days old

Almost 5 weeks old

4 months old


6 months old

1 year old

2 years old

2.5 years old, I think.

3 years old

5 years old (yes, I have pictures of his 4th year of life but somehow forgot to scan any.)

6 years old

7 years old