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!