Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Deuteronomy 11:18-19

New International Version (NIV)

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

And It Is a........

First some back ground :) 

Papa and I dealt with infertility for 3 years before we conceived our 1st born. We were a bit in awe the whole pregnancy and we both STRONGLY felt that our 1st born would be a boy. If I recall correctly we did not even talk about girls names, just boys names :) At our ultrasound the tech confirmed it for us. We were indeed having a little boy. And so we did. When we got pregnant on our own (With J we were on a herbal mixture when he was conceived.) when J was just 6 months old we were absolutely TRILLED.. I thought pink. Papa said blue! When the tech told us.. 'there is something there' we both came away with different ideas as to what that 'something' was. Papa was right and L joined the family. When we got pregnant again when L was 9 months old Papa told me 'this one is a girl' and he was right. When E was 7 months old and I got pregnant again Papa told me that it was another girl. By this time I was starting to believe him.With all the others I went back and forth never really believing him until the ultrasound. Never quite bringing my self to TOTALLY trust his instincts. BUT with Baby J he also told me. It's a boy and was right again!! Seriously!! I started to believe he really knew what he was talking about. So when he told me that this baby was also a boy I started hacking out names..with Papa it really is hacking. I believed him 100%. We had a few weird things happen the 1st few months and both of us were sort of confused by them. For example I had to quit drinking coffee because I could not keep my self hydrated enough so stop being sick. I also passed several kidney stones. These things had happened with both of the girls and I started to have the odd thought that maybe this time he was wrong.  The week before the ultrasound we finally got a bunch of names and Papa all in one place and sifted through them so that the day before the ultrasound we finally had a first name and several potential middle names. It is hard work naming a baby!! 

The day of the ultrasound arrived and I drove the kids the grandma's house and the started the hour long drive to the 'city' to meet Papa for the ultrasound. Papa forgot when he was suppose to meet me but managed to remember JUST in time to drive us downtown to the offices. We got there on time (for once!) and had the same tech as we've had several times before. It was pretty neat to see our baby on the screen and the tech made sure she did all she needed to do before finally checking to see if Papa was right. She checked 4 times.. from different angles, even allowing me to go empty my bladder so the baby would move around so she could get a few more angles.. but Papa and I, having seen quite a few ultrasounds, already knew. We waited for her to tell us.. me secretly smiling and Papa with a bit of shock... She checked and re checked... and sure enough!! 

IT WAS A GIRL!!!! 

We were both surprised!!  We laughed about Papa being wrong but neither of us were disappointed. Boy or girl we are excited to be adding to our family :) 
We have a tradition of going out to lunch after an ultrasound and naming the baby. Papa would not even talk about girls names before the ultrasound so I thought this one was going to be a challenge. It was amazing! We actually had our girls name before our appys came!! Not just the 1st name,which is one of our original names from before we had children, but all 3 of her names. 

Papa is still a bit in shock that he got it wrong. He's not unhappy we are having a girl just confused as to why he read it wrong. He has been trying to figure it out ever since! LoL. It probably doesn't help his concentration when I burst into giggles for no apparent reason several times an hour. The 1st few times I did it he asked me what I was giggling about.. now he just ignores me with a little smile on his face. He really doesn't mind being wrong. He did tell me that next time he's going to reserve the right to tell people before he really knows for sure. I told him either way he still has to tell me! He also told me that for the 1st time he actually did have a few days where he wondered if he was wrong. 

So this November we'll add another sweet little bundle wrapped in pink to our household. The girls really thought it was a girl and are both super excited to be getting a little sister. We surprised them by buying a pink sleeper and hat and bringing them to grandma's house in a bag so they could open it up and figure it out. It took E a bit but then she started screaming.. "IT IS A GIRL. I WAS RIGHT!!!" 

Oh and we do tell the 1st name of the baby before they are born so if your interested write me a comment or email me :) The middle names we keep as a surprise until the birth so you'll have to wait a bit to find them out. 

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

J's Reading Fluency Score :)

I'm SO proud of him I could just BURST!!! :) 

We got an email from J's teacher yesterday with the results of his reading fluency test he did last week. He did amazing. According to his teacher most grade one students at the end of the year average + or - 10 around 53. So between 43 and 63cwpm (correct words per minute). 

So I was very happy to see that J got 73 cwpm!!! And 100% accuracy!!! All that reading on the computer, to the other kids and to himself is REALLY paying off!!! Right now he's reading "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder and just loving it. 


The thing that keeps hitting me over and over is that I TAUGHT HIM TO READ!!! I sight read.. I don't/didn't know my phonics until I taught them to J!! He reads phonetically  better then I do!! Yet with our ACE ABC reading program he learned to read and I learned to read better :) Just goes to show.. we can do things bigger then ourselves.. With HIS help!! 


"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!! Philippians 4:13.

Baby J Is Stepping Out!!!

11 month old Baby J took his first steps yesterday!! He wasn't happy with just one so he took TWO!!! YAY!!! He got VERY excited when we all cheered and could hardly contain himself to take any more after that.. though he did get a few hurried steps in. Later that night he did it several more times gaining confidence with every step. If he keeps this up he'll be our second earlier walker.. L still has him beat as he walked/ran at 9 months!! J, E and R all walked the week or two after their 1st birthdays!!

Monday, June 6, 2011

R doing pushups

Little Miss R (age 3) doing push ups. The kids have been BIG into push ups, sit ups, jumping jacks and stretching lately. J and L do it for the muscles and E and R because J and L are doing it :) They try to do some of each almost every night before bed. I'll have to take some pictures one of these nights. 

Mr. B doing Push Ups.....

with 3 kids on his back : ) J weighs about 60 lbs, L is 40 lbs and E is 30lbs. He did say that next time he wouldn't put J right on his rear... apparently he was a tad heavy... I THINK that Mr. B did 20 push ups with these 3 on his back
DOWN!! 
And UP!!! 
He did about 10?? with these 3 on his back. R is only 23lbs.. so it was much easier. 
Mr. B doing sit ups. J and E are waiting their turn and holding the chair down so that he can brace himself. Baby J is looking on.

I have one of  R doing push ups and of Mr. B doing sit ups covered in kids but it won't let me download them right now. Hey well what do you know.. opened a new window and then it would let me download R doing her push ups.

Cooking Mushrooms..

Last summer our neighbor guy Mike taught the boys how to find a certain kind of eatable mushrooms. He showed them where to look and also how to cook them. Well so far the boys have found 14!! They picked them, cleaned them, cut them up and cooked them before eating them :) YUMM!!!!
Taking turns cutting them up before frying them. 
Ready to eat!!! Great stuff boys!!