A Saturday filled with friends

Want to know how to have a great Saturday? Teach your kids about supporting those with disabilities, and visit with lots of friends while you're at it!

Our friend from church, Jeff, was diagnosed with ALS two years ago . When I heard they were doing a 1 mile walk with the ALS association, I signed us up and we raised some money to support them. They say it costs $200,000 a year to care for a patient with ALS, and most of the money raised at the walk was going to be used to help care for the patients. That sounds like an awesome cause.

It was a chilly morning, and Chris had gone hunting, so I had all 3 kids by myself. We bundled up, loaded up the stroller, and headed to the walk.

Claire was excited to see Rocky Redbird, and she wanted her picture with him!



Aaron really wanted to meet Jeff, and I took their picture together. We were so proud to be on Team TIGERS (Trust In God Equals Refuge and Strength). Jeff has been an awesome testimony to the faithfulness and love of God. Through all of this he has had such a great spirit and has used his situation to share about Christ with others.



One of the best parts of the day was that our old friends Tom and Crissie drove up to participate in the walk. They were our neighbors over 5 years ago, and we really miss them! We had not seen them in over 3 years. Saturday evening we had a dinner party with them and their 2 precious boys, plus 2 other couples. We had 11 kids among the 4 couples! What a great time!

50's Day

Last week was Aaron's 50th day of school (ACK! 50 days already?). His class celebrated by wearing 50's style clothing and having a little sock hop. Aaron said they went to the PE building and he did the twist! I would have loved to see that!

We slicked his hair back with some mousse and hair gel and hair spray, but by the time I picked him up his hair was dry and sticking up everywhere. It was so funny. He lost his pocket comb on the playground. Oh well!



Aaron loves to do sideways pictures these days.


Claire wanted her picture made too!

Claire and her friends

One of Claire's favorite things to do now that Aaron is in school is have a get-together with one of her little girlfriends. She just loves her friends!



A couple of weeks ago I thought I would go crazy if I had to stay home again with just Claire, with her asking, "Mommy, will you play with me?" all day long. So I called my friend Angie and asked if Allie Rae could come over the next day. You would think having one more kid in the house would make it crazier, but it's really easier! They go play and have so much fun and I can actually get things done. I had a conference call scheduled that morning during Hannah's nap time, so I made sure Allie Rae was here by that time so I knew Claire would not interrupt. Strategic, eh?

On this particular play date, I caught Claire and Allie Rae sitting on the couch reading a book together! They were so cute so I got out my camera. They started squirming around so I put Hannah up there with them and they stayed still for a picture! It was very sweet.

Last week Claire got to go to her friend Emma Kate's house for a few hours while I ran some errands. She had so much fun! She and Emma Kate played all kinds of things and even got to eat lunch together. Amy Lauren told me she was able to do some sewing while the girls played. This is a nice arrangement!

One night a few weeks ago Claire was playing in her play kitchen and was pretending to talk on the phone to Allie Rae. I got an idea and called Angie to ask her to have Allie Rae call Claire on the real phone. A couple of minutes later when my phone rang, I told Claire it was for her and let her answer. She and Allie Rae talked for several minutes, and Claire kept giggling so hard! She was so excited to talk to one of her friends on the phone. Angie told me that Allie Rae paced circles in the living room the whole time she was talking. So funny! Chris jokingly got onto me for encouraging our daughter to start talking on the phone so young. He he he!

Waiting...

Chris had me make this for his digital photo frame at work. I really like this verse combined with the wheat field. The idea is that a farmer can plant the seed, water it, nourish it...but the only thing that can make it grow is GOD. We have to wait for the God of the harvest to provide, and just keep walking in His ways.

Our Griswald Fall Break Vacation

This weekend we set off on a short family-vacation-ala-Griswald. We planned to visit Chris's aunt and uncle for one night, then go to a nearby state park for a night or two of camping. And I'm talking tent camping...we don't have the luxury of a camper! (The idea is for the camping to be CHEAP.)

We set off Saturday afternoon, with our van loaded to the brim. We got to Uncle Benny's with no problem--only one stop for a bathroom/nursing break.

Ironically, Chris's cousins, who live about 12 minutes from our house, were also there to visit their parents. We hadn't seen them in a while so it was good to visit before they left for the evening.

Aunt Judy pulled out some Lincoln Logs and they had a blast!

Here's Claire and Beth building a house for Claire's rubber ducky (one of her newest lovies).




Aaron of course builds a vehicle of some kind...


Hannah with Jen Jen...


And the most fun is knocking it down!


Sunday morning we went to church with Benny and Judy, and Benny delivered a wonderful sermon. The kids were so good in church, even Hannah who was awake the whole time and only babbled a bit right at the end of the service. After a good lunch and naps, we headed to the lake. (Somehow I managed to get away with no pictures of Benny and Judy!! Ugh!)

We picked a good campsite--nice flat spot for the tent, somewhat close to the bathrooms and play ground, and not too close to other campers. As soon as the tent was up, Hannah was ready for a nap. Poor thing didn't sleep well the whole weekend so she was tired. Probably because we kept making her sleep on the floor. Look how cute the back of her head is! Ha!



The kids got their new flashlights and played king and queen of the tree stump while Dad built a fire.










We roasted hot dogs for dinner, then of course had Smores for dessert!


Hannah was such a trooper.


The Bumbo seat is very useful!




I love just sitting around the fire.






Ketchup face.




And that's where I stopped taking pictures. The kids started begging to go to bed before 7:00, but we told them to stay up a little while later. They love going to sleep in the tent! After Hannah was down we sat around the fire telling stories, each with a fire theme. We started with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the firey furnace. Then we started making up stories about cats, ducks, turkeys, squirrels, garbage trucks, street sweepers, etc. It was really a fun time!

The kids went to bed at 8:00, and we turned in at 9:00. It always takes me a while to fall asleep in the tent (because I keep imagining the boogie man outside the tent!), and of course Hannah woke me up a couple of times. I finally got her snuggled in with me around midnight, and around 2 am it started pouring down rain. It was a beautiful sound, the rain pelting the tent, but I was nice and dry inside.

Fast forward to 5:00 am, and after very little sleep, it's STILL raining, and the water is starting to seep through the tent. We got little sprays of water in our face every few minutes, making it impossible to get any more sleep. The kids finally woke up at 6:30 (how on earth they slept that hard through everything going on is a mystery to me!), and we let them walk just outside the tent door to go potty. It was still drizzling, but I checked the radar on my phone and saw we were about to get a clearing before more rain set in. So we folded up sleeping bags and blankets, and packed our bags. We hauled everything to the van as quickly as possible, then took down the tent and stuffed the wet mess into two garbage bags. I was still wearing the clothes I had slept in and we all looked disheveled. We went to the inn at the park to eat breakfast...I was quite sad I didn't get to do pancakes and bacon over the campfire! Then we just headed home. I was so exhausted and ready to get the van unloaded, get cleaned up, and start washing the mountains of laundry we had! A bit sad we didn't get to explore around the campsite or lake that day, but we had still had fun.

We had hoped to make it all the way home without stopping (a 2 hour drive), but 30 minutes from home Hannah was fussing and we realized she had a dirty diaper. We stopped to change her, and I realized it was a BLOWOUT! Poop everywhere! That was fun to change in a gas station parking lot. Or not. Washing her car seat cover just added to my mountain of laundry!

We finally made it home safe, and the kids played and played. Hannah seemed happy to see her bed and took a good nap. Chris got the tent clean and dry, and even cleaned my van out spic-and-span! I was so happy. What a great ending to a crazy vacation!

Doctor Claire and Nurse Aaron

Last Friday I took all 3 kids to the doctor--Hannah for her checkup and shots, and A & C for their flu shots. Luckily Mammaw came with me so I could pass kids off to her. A & C were both so brave and didn't cry at all when they got their shots!

I love to watch the kids "play" things they experience in real life. Friday afternoon, the kids donned their hospital gowns and got the doctor play stuff out, and held clinic. I was the first patient, but my appointment got cut short when Hannah woke up from her nap. I got Hannah and they decided she needed to be their next patient.

Claire loves to do the "blood crusher".


Aaron listened for her heart, and said it was going "boing boing" so he fixed it and made it go "thump thump" again.


They also take temperature (under the arm or in the crook of the elbow) and they love using their little play shot.

Hannah is 4 months old!

So this post is a little late...Hannah Rose turned 4 months old on Sept 26th! I can't believe 4 months have gone by. She has changed so much and I get sad when I think about how I'll never get back those little tiny baby days...so when I look at her now I'm thinking, "I'll never get back these smiley gurgly baby days...so I'm going to enjoy every second!"

Hannah had her checkup last Friday and weighed in at 12 lbs 7 oz, 24.5 inches long. She had grown 2 full inches in just 2 months! My friend Debra had her baby last week and I took Hannah with me to the hospital to visit baby Lilli. We laid Hannah and Lilli next to each other and Hannah looked huge. Lilli was a 6.5 pound baby, so even though she's tiny, she weighs more than Hannah did at birth!!

The pediatrician told me it's time for the exersaucer, so Friday afternoon we dragged it out, cleaned it up, and let Hannah try it out. She seems to like it!








She's starting to hold toys and bring them to her mouth to explore them. She also has rediscovered her thumb. In her early days I thought she might be a thumb sucker, but she preferred her paci so we stuck with that. She still wants her paci to go to sleep, but when she's playing she's learned to cock her thumb into sucking position and she chews and sucks on it.

Hannah sleeps pretty well these days. She goes to bed around 7:30, wakes at 4:00 to nurse, then sleeps until 7:00 or 8:00. I remember that my other two stayed on that schedule for several months. Hopefully she'll drop the 4 am feeding sooner than later! But I am certainly thankful for a decent stretch of sleep every night. She takes about 3 naps a day--usually a long one in the afternoon. Poor baby has third child syndrome...she gets woken up from her nap to go pick up her brother or sister most days! So she loves her sleep when she gets it.



She's more squirmy these days...she's always kicking her legs or waving her arms around. When I put her on her tummy, she tries to scoot, and she has rolled over a few times. I don't want her to grow up so fast!

She's graduated to a big bike!

Several months ago we went to a friend's house for a crawfish boil. Claire rode a big girl bike with training wheels around and around and around. I told my friend that when her girls outgrew those bikes, let me know and I would buy one of them!

A few weeks ago I got the call...Tammy had them in her garage sale and wanted to know if we still wanted one! I said yes, and $10 later we had Claire's new bike!







She's a pro and we've only have one bruised/scraped knee incident. (Which is good because Claire is a bit accident prone lately...more on that later...)

Saturday when we rode around on the street, it was Hannah's nap time, so I put her in the stroller to roll around while she slept. This is her "I can't believe you're making me take a nap in this thing" look.

Bubbly Baby

When I went back to work (my part-time gig) after 3 months of maternity leave, several of the ladies in my office caught me in the hall asking to see pictures of the baby. A few of them gave me a hard time for not sending any yet...saying that I had sent lots of pictures of my first two children so I must be really busy now! (No kidding!) Lest Hannah be labeled as "poor neglected 3rd child", I snapped this pic on my Blackberry and sent it to my friends at work.

Lyin' and Texture

A few nights ago I had a girls night out, so Chris was in charge of reading stories and putting the kids in bed. When I got home he told me these funny stories.

Aaron found a thumbtack in his floor. He picked it up and said, "Claire, if you step on a thumbtack, you'll have to get a texture shot." Chris asked, "Who told you that?" and he answered, "Ms. Dodi" (his assistant teacher at school). I guess tetanus is hard for a 5 year old to say!

That evening they were reading their devotional about rattlesnakes. One of the questions is "What things does God warn us about?" Chris prompted them by saying, "What about lying?" Aaron agreed, and said, "Nooooo...". Then Claire said, "Unless you're at school and the whole class has to go somewhere, and then you have to get in line. But one time when I was line leader Walker cut in my line!" I guess we really are Southern if "lying" sounds like "line". Ha!