Finally Some Pictures

 

 

 

 

So far everyone is doing great.  Lucy has been such a sweet addition to our family.  The kids love to hold her.  Kayla, especially.   She is sure that Lucy only likes to hold her finger.  Heard around the house the past week:

Sam:  "I a big brother now Mommy."

Kayla:  "I hope Lucy always has God's spirit in her heart."

Jack:  "Mommy, I thought when you came home from the hospital it wouldn't look like you still have a baby in your tummy."

Sam:  "I like Lucy, Mommy, I do!"

Lucy

"It is not a slight thing when they who are so fresh from God, love us."

Charles Dickens

Lucy Josephine was born December 10 at 10:13 a.m.

7 pounds 5 ounces, 21 inches

Lots of dark hair!

Pictures to follow soon!

Snow!

I heard one set of little feet hit the floor this morning.  Quiet.  Then, I hear them running to the next room.  Now two sets of little feet running down the stairs.  "Mom!  It's snowing!  Look!  Have you seen it???"  It did not take long before they finished their breakfast and were outside enjoying the beautifull snowfall.  Seems like a great day for curling up with a good book near the Christmas tree!

Still Waiting

The Christmas Parade in downtown Blacksburg was tonight.  Lots of fun, lots of firetrucks, and lots of candy!  Not as cold as last year. Waiting for snow tomorrow- the kids are so excited.  Me too!  Still waiting for baby...I think it would be good to make it through this weekend.  The church Christmas program is Sunday night.  Kayla is an angel and Jack is a wise man.  I would hate to miss it!  Will definitely post pictures of that!

"When the moon is in the seventh house

And Jupiter aligns with Mars..."

I've heard that song twice in the past few days.  I don't know what the seventh house is and I surely don't go along with all that astrology stuff.  But I was smiling when I woke up in the middle of the night with this beautiful bright almost full moon shining in on me through the window.  All I could think (after that song played a bit in my head) was "Come on little baby, come."  My mom, my mother-in-law, and my favorite OB nurse all put at least some stock in full moons and babies being born.  The full moon this month is Wednesday.  We'll see...

What I know for sure is this:

"My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them."  Psalm 139:15.16

The God who made and controls the moon and Jupiter and Mars has made this little baby girl and He himself has determined when she will be born and the number of her days.  Glory to God.

Friday morning we saw our first snow of the season.  Flurries...just flurries...but snow nonetheless. How else would one dress on such an occasion?

Thanksgiving Evening

Our good friends the Vaughans stayed home this year too.  They graciously invited us to enjoy Thanksgiving with them so we headed to their home after the Turkey Bowl.  We really had a wonderful dinner and evening with them. 

 

 

The kids table

The kids all made gingerbread houses after dinner.  So much yummy candy...How much made it into their mouths verses onto their houses?

Here, it's dessert time.  These two can be a challenge to get pictures of, seeing as they both like to be silly for photos.

 

 

Thanksgiving Morning

Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year as we stayed home instead of traveling.  First time.  It began with the churchwide Turkey Bowl- a game of touch football.  Brian and Jack headed over early.  Kayla helped Samuel get ready, notice a hood but no coat...

She really is the mommy type.  Most of the time, he loves it.

She loves to help him.

This is the only picture of the football game I got but everyone seemed to have a great time.  Some kids played.  Jack had a great run-so close to a touchdown!

We've had some great weather lately!  Maybe not all the rain (although we have to be thankful for that, too), but all the warm days in mid-November.  Last year, Jack's last soccer game landed on a windy, cloudy, frigid day.  This year, beautifully warm and pleasant.

A Sweet Moment

As I was typing that last post, I could hear Kayla sweetly reading to Samuel.  (I ran in and snapped the picture).  He just couldn't seem to get to sleep this afternoon so I gave him some books to look at.  At some point I guess Kayla ended up in there with him.  I can tell when she is reading words she knows- she slows down a bit and is more deliberate.  She speeds up when she's ad-libbing.

This quiet afternoon has been a blessing after a somewhat wild morning.  It's raining and windy out- perfect day for some hot coffee for me and rest time for everyone else.  I wondered what would happen with Sammy not falling asleep but he has pulled off his own "quiet time" pretty well, a great gift to me.

Samuel's New Bed

Part of getting things ready for baby girl is getting her big brother out of the crib and into a big boy bed.  Bittersweet for me.  It has been a lot of fun putting Kayla's old crib set on the crib and getting things rearranged in the "girls" room.  Kayla has really enjoyed it.  For now her baby dolls have taken up residence in the crib.  And Samuel has done pretty well transitioning into his bed.  I have to say I shed a few tears, though.  I guess it feels like somewhat of an end to his babyhood, even if he is 2 1/2.  At first he wasn't too sure about this move- he was perfectly content in his crib.  But we let him choose his comforter and it didn't take long for him to warm up to Woody and Buzz and his new bed.  I guess he's just growing up!  Imagine that!

His last night in the crib.  He always snuggled up as close to the edge as he could get.

Exploring the new bed.

Yes!  Asleep in his new bed for the first time!

My Organizer

We have roughly six weeks until this baby girl's due date.  I will freely admit to feeling a little panicked at the state of our house- closets, laundry room, kitchen cabinets, etc...  One friend sweetly said, "Ohhhh..you're nesting."  To me it's a little more like a near freak-out moment again. We are bringing another person into this home, I will have less time than I do now, there will be people here, who wants to trip over walmart bags and various items on the floor when trying to do the laundry, where will we put her diapers, her clothes, etc...
So, I have engaged the help of my six year old.  If you want Kayla's help around the house, never ask her if she wants to help clean. You won't get a very enthusiastic response. Instead, ask her if she would like to organize.  Then you will get smiles and eager nods of the head.  She pulled everything out of our food cabinet, told me what needed to be thrown away, cleaned it out, and reorganized what was left.  Then, she opened the refrigerator (which I had just cleaned minutes before), told me it was dirty, and wiped it down again.  She has also helped to organize the linen closet and the bathroom cabinet.
We are not done, by a long shot.  But we are getting closer and it really is fun to work on it with her.
(By the way, no pictures of our organziation.  Some of you would cringe at my standards of what qualifies as order.  Even Kayla is often not satisfied...)

The Saga

So once again, it has been a while.  On Tuesday, I sighed ( a happy sigh) and thought to myself, "Our first fever free day in 13 days!"  Aahhh.  We were hit with what we assume to have been the flu, the new one.  The one causing so much uproar in the media and in families all over Blacksburg, at least.  It surely is not easy to be generally housebound for that long, especially as some kids feel better while others are just beginning to get sick.  But as usual if we are willing to look, evidence of God's mercy is everywhere.  Here are a few examples:
          *friends organized meals for us for several days when all of us but Brian were sick
          *family brought more popcicles, drinks, and tissues than one could imagine
          *Samuel and I both were able to get Tamiflu which helped us a lot
          *now baby girl has a better chance at immunity once she's born
          *although it's never fun to be sick, it really could have been much worse
          *I have a husband who carried both home and work with love and care

The beginning of our flu saga.  Sam wasn't sick yet but they were all taking it easy.  Kayla loves to mother this boy.

Brian managed to carve everyone's pumpkin and bring a bright spot to the evening.  Clearly, they aren't looking so hot at this point.  It had been a few days before I got this picture.  I love the one with glasses.

The Birthday Girl

Six years ago, October 19, 2003 at 12:51 Kayla was born.

Here's a look at her over the past six years.

 

 

Happy Birthday Kayla!  We love you!

I love my Samuel.  He's a funny guy.  A lot of people think he is like this- shy, quiet.  Mmm...no, not really.  At least not at home.  He's really more like this:

 

 

 

It's Out!

Kayla finally lost her first tooth last week at my parents house during dinner!  She was eating a piece of bread and all of the sudden, there was the tooth!  It was especially fun because not only does the Tooth Fairy come around when a tooth comes out, so does the "Papa Fairy" as Kayla calls him.  Dad always sends money when Jack loses a tooth and now it's Kayla's turn.  He didn't make her wait until morning.  I'd say she did pretty well for one tooth! 
By the way, since Kayla lost her tooth, Samuel has been pretty sure that he has a loose tooth, too.

Kayla caught a near freak-out moment on camera.  Can you tell?  I didn't see this picture until a few days after it was taken and it actually made me laugh, even as I remembered what seemed like a circus at the time.  Overall, homeschooling is going well.  I count it a privelage to educate my children and see them learn, to have them at home with me, to enjoy childhoods that pass all too quickly.  That is not to say, however, that there are not days when I think I will soon lose my mind.  For example, when I am attempting a language arts lesson for one child while another one is taking pictures and another one is scribbling all over the dry erase board I am trying to use.  The urge to scream can be pretty strong- instead, in this instance, I covered my mouth and looked away -for just a moment- wondering what my next words should be.  I don't remember what they were.  I think we called it a day.

I know I've mentioned how much Jack loves to read.  Clearly, at least this evening, he enjoyed reading more than eating.  Keeping good books in his hands is a challenge.  He gets a stack everytime we go to the library and finishes them all within a few days.  I would LOVE book suggestions. 

Sam, too

Not to be outdone, Samuel learned to pedal on his little bike this week, too.  He got to the end of the sidewalk and yelled, "Me did it Daddy!" and threw his arms up in the air.  Even better, Kayla took a break from practicing biking herself and came running over to him and told him what a good job he was doing.  Jack was excited for him too and made sure that I got to see.  It was a really sweet afternoon.

Still Waiting

Kayla is still waiting to lose that very, very loose tooth.  But as she waits, she has learned to ride a bike without training wheels!  She has wanted to do this for a long time but her fear has gotten the best of her. Until yesterday.  I guess she decided that was the day and she went for it.  Now she is waiting for a new bike, without training wheels of course!

Catch Up

Has it really been since August that I last posted? It's not for lack of material. I guess maybe a lack of motivation? Well, I am seeking to remedy that starting today.
The windows are cracked and we can hear the sound of the rain. All is quiet. Jack is reading, Kayla is listening to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" on cd in her room, Samuel is napping. Jack will finally get the corn chowder for dinner that he's been asking for all summer. Soup and summer don't mix for me. But soup and a rainy, fall day? Absolutely.
School started back in August. We are smoothing out the kinks. Kayla is reading more and enjoying kindergarten- waiting for that first very loose tooth to fall out. Jack continues to be a veracious reader and is enjoying our astronomy study this year. Samuel is learning to actually play on his own, contentedly. Wonder of wonders. His favorites include playing with Little People and a big bowl of dried beans and spoons.
There is plenty to do around here. Laundry, general tidying up. (We had a wonderful babysitter last night who emptied the dishwasher and the sink of dishes.) Getting rooms switched around and ready for a little baby girl in 12 weeks (or less?). I think a trip to the library after Samuel gets up sounds better though so that's what we'll do.
Go VA Tech Hokies!

To Wrap It Up

The Three Muskateers. You know, it is not easy to get a good picture of three kids when the sun is going down...we tried!

Samuel really liked getting in daddy's boat. I love him all bundled up in the lifejacket. Kayla was swimming alongside the canoe.

These pig-tails made me so happy! She doesn't usually let me put her hair up. I love this picture.

One of the highlights for Jack was riding the waves. He loved it!

More Pictures

Samuel and Cousin Grace enjoying fruit snacks on the beach. Too cute!

Kayla loves to be out on the pier fishing. She doesn't care if she has a fishing rod or a net. She almost always catches something. She's quite the fishergirl!

Samuel really wanted to ride in "daddy's boat." He went by himself then Kayla and Jack jumped in. Monday there were porpoises out in the sound so Brian and Jack raced down to the canoe and followed them. I think Brian said at one point they were just 10 feet or so away. The porpoises circled them for awhile. Very exciting.