Adorable Children

Children are adorable.  It doesn't matter who they belong to, they are just adorable.  I and LOVE watching kids play and just be kids.  Well, tonight I wanted to share some of the adorable things that OUR children have done lately.

I have to start with Nolan, because this incident is what spurred me to blog about this topic anyway.  Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa Frye's.  Grandma made brownies for dessert.  Nolan ate dinner and then got down to play.  Later he came into the kitchen and wanted to know what happened to his chair, which had been put back in its place away from the table.  He was so upset and said "I want Charlie Brown, I want Charlie Brown."  Well, we assumed he wanted to watch something on television.  Well, eventually he would not be misunderstood any longer.  He pulled up another chair and pointed at the brownies and said once again "I want Charlie Brown."  So here is a picture of Nolan enjoying his Charlie Brownie:

Ok, I'll talk about Avery next.  Avery is a very sweet boy.  On Valentine's Day, Avery found it very important to make sure that the entire family had Valentines. He drew each of us our own Valentines with our names on them and then gave us suckers that he had left from his party at school.  It was so very sweet and thoughtful, and his heart is truly as big as he is!  So very sweet.  And to add to the fact that this was special to Steve and I, Nolan slept hugging his for several days afterwards.  He was so proud of "HIS" Valentine from Avery!  This picture wasn't from Valentines, but here is Avery at the table coloring today:

Silas has many adorable traits lately, but the one that really sticks out to me most is his LOVE of girls.  Recently he has become obsessed with wearing his watch.  I couldn't figure out why a boy who could care less about the time would WANT to wear a watch so much (although he can somewhat tell you what time it is, listing each number for you.)  Anyway, I told him that he could take his watch off if he wants to.  He insisted that, no, he needed to wear it because the girls would see it and that would make them notice him!  Oh, we are going to have our hands full with this little man.  He has got it bad already.  Here is Silas today making his fake smile at me (so that he could hurry up and see it on the screen):

And you know we can't let our adorable princess go unnoticed.  She's a baby, so of course EVERYTHING she does is adorable! :O)  Here are a couple of cute pictures of her from yesterday and today:

And, I'll end with some other pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's today.  I think the one of Grandma reading to Nolan is priceless:

A new camera!!! More pictures!!!

I finally was able to purchase a new camera!!! I'm so excited to have a camera that works without draining the battery in just minutes!  I splurged a little for a nice Canon PowerShot that is 12.1 megapixel.  I wanted something that will last and not a disposable digital camera.  I am so... excited!  So of course I took lots of pictures when I got home from the store.

This morning I took Chaille for her 9 month well baby visit.  There were no shots involved, so this visit was a very happy one.  She weighed 20 pounds exactly and was 29 1/2 inches long.  The funny thing is that apparently at 6 months she was measured wrong, because according to her height she had not grown at all :O)  Of course, we know better.  She tracks right along the 90th percentile for her height if you throw out her 6 month visit!  And her weight was in the 69th percentile.  She is a very healthy little girl, and we had zero concerns for her today.  I LOVE those kinds of doctor's visits!!!

While we went to the doctor, my mom kept the boys.  Nolan was so very excited to go to Mamaw's.  He kept telling my mom, "I stay at your house ALL day!!!"  Imagine his disappointment when I brought him home for naps!  But while we were at mom's I tried out my new camera.  Check out the pictures:

Snow, snow, and more snow...

Well, this February so far can be summed up in one word SNOWY!  We have had 3 big snows in the last 14 days, and forecasters are saying there is a chance for more snow in the next 7 days.  Wow!  I took some pictures of our snow off of our back deck today (I wasn't going to go out in it to get pictures!)  Anyway, check out the snow on the railing:

And, the crazy thing is that we used the grill right before the first snow.  We accidentally left the cover off, whoops.  Now look at it:

The kids and I have had several "pajama" days lately, choosing not to go out because we don't have to!  Avery only had school last Monday, and then a 2 hour delay on Friday.  So far he has yet to go this week, and tomorrow doesn't look promising since we are having so much blowing and drifting snow.  :O(  Poor kids are going to have to be in school until July, making up all of these days!

Since we have been home, we have done a lot of just playing.  I laughed at myself as I was playing with Chaille today.  She has a doll that is soft and rattles.  The rattle is in the baby's head.  So here I am playing and singing to her "shake the baby, shake the baby."  She is laughing so much and then it dawned on me... I'm telling her to SHAKE a baby!  NO!!!! Chaille DON'T shake the baby... Ha ha...

The boys are enjoying the time at home.  Their favorite form of entertainment has been the Wii.  They have played Lego Batman quite a bit.  I snapped some pictures of them playing this afternoon:

After the first picture of Silas he told me to take another one.  He said "I have another smile too."  He cracks me up!

While the other two were playing Wii, Nolan was enjoying a snack at the table (followed by some playdoh fun)  Here he is cheesing for me:

Maybe one of these days soon the big "melt-down" will begin.  I'm so ready for spring.  For taking walks, playing outside, and trips to the park.  It will be here before we know it, and I CAN'T wait!


More soon!

9 Months Old!

Chaille is officially 9 months old today!  She's growing and changing so much with each and every day.  She's finally sleeping all night (between 9 and 10 hour stretches) and she is eating more and more table food.  She likes to say "uh oh" and she also says "hi da da."  She has learned to clap this week and her favorite time to work on it is at meals.  She has knocked the spoon out of my hands several times while clapping during a meal.  She loves to look at you and scrunch up her nose.  She has done this for so long, but is is so adorable.  That's what she is doing in the last picture above. She is becoming more and more smitten with her brothers.  She smiles and giggles just watching them play, and when she is down where she can crawl, she follows them around.  She and Nolan are starting to really take note of one another.  And it is the most adorable thing when Nolan softly rubs her back and says "Love you Shay!"  and often he tells her "sorry, Shay!"  He's still a little to rough for her sometimes...

As life changes and I reflect on the way Chaille has impacted our family, I realize more just how much God knew what He was doing when He gave us Shay.  Even though she and Nolan are only 15 months apart in age, this was His Divine Plan!  And they are going to have a lot of fun together.  Life has been hard with them both being so little, but day by day, it is getting easier.  We see a future full of fun times and even more happiness.  And, of course, we cannot imagine life without a single one of our precious children.

My Esther Bible Study ended last Monday, and I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it.  One of the biggest themes that we studied was Providence and how God's hand is in EVERYTHING whether we care to recognize it or not. I do not doubt that God always knows what He is doing.  He knew when he gave us Chaille the wonderful ways she would bless this family, just as her brothers have each blessed us.  And I still can't believe that He has entrusted us with FOUR of His blessings to love and adore!  And we do!!!

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!  Before I go, I wanted to share a couple of other pictures from my phone (same ol camera story!)  Anyway, enjoy a couple more:

We were leaving the house just to run and go get some lunch to bring home and Nolan INSISTED on wearing this hat.  It is Chaille's hat that our friend Carmella made for her and it has a flower on it!!  The funny thing is that Steve went to take Nolan out for dinner on a one-on-one night, and Nolan wanted to wear it again :O)  Steve talked him out of it! Whew!

Speaking of these one-on-ones, Steve and I have been talking about doing them for a long time.  This winter has been the perfect time to get it going, since we haven't been busy.  This month Steve has been the one taking the boys out individually.  Avery went first, then this week it was Nolan's turn, next week will be Silas' turn.  This is something that we feel is SO important for the kids, and they love the special attention of having one of us all to themselves.  They come back home feeling so BIG and special and smiling, going on and on about their trip!  I hope that as they grow, they will come to really value their one-on-one time and see it as an outlet to talk about anything that is on their minds.  It's always good to start early!!!

This last picture is from the Mexican restaurant.  The night Steve took Avery out, the rest of the kids and I met my mom and dad for dinner.  Silas wanted ice cream, and I asked the waiter for a "kids sized ice cream" please.  He came back with this:

When I told the waiter "I said KIDS sized," he simply responded "That IS kid sized!  Kids LOVE ice cream!"  He had a point...

Sorry, still no camera :O(

Ok, moving on... Still no new camera.  Still no pictures. If you are tired of reading me rambling, sorry :o)

The kids and I have enjoyed a lot of time at home playing this week.  Avery had school on Monday, but since then we have all been home.  The kids have played outside some and built a great snowman with dad last night.  But we have mostly been inside playing.  And they really don't seem to mind, which is a blessing!

Today we have had sort of a Valentine celebration.  The boys were both supposed to have parties at school today for Valentine's day, but since we were snowed in, I went ahead and had our own little celebration at home.  We had heart shaped donuts for breakfast, had some candy and a new wii game to play, and for snacks we will be having heart shaped snack cakes.  I'm considering heart shaped pancakes for dinner, but that hasn't for sure been confirmed.  Either way, it has been fun to have an out of the ordinary day today!

Soon I'll get that camera.  Or get my other one working well enough for more pictures.  Sorry that I've had so much reading and so few pictures lately!!! :O(

A few pictures

We celebrated Nolan's Birthday twice.  The first celebration was on January 30th at Randy and Deb's house.  Deb e-mailed me those pictures today and I thought I'd share.  Nolan had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed being celebrated.  Check back soon for pictures from his other party and of Chaille's first snow adventure (and the boys' fun in the snow too!) Enjoy:

Nolan's 2nd Birthday and more...

I've been a while catching up (or at least it seems because I've got several things to share...)

We celebrated Nolan's 2nd Birthday on Friday.  Wow, our little bear is TWO!  He had a great party despite the snow storm that moved through that evening.  He really enjoyed his day thoroughly.  He woke up early and knew right away that "I two! Cake, cake!" Which was him telling me that he KNEW that it was his birthday.  So adorable.  He had a basketball theme for his party, which he picked out.  And mom took pictures for me on her camera, so I'll share those soon, when I get her memory card to upload them.

There were several funny things in relation to Nolan's party.  First, on Thursday I had to shop for his gifts.  And he was with me.  I thought I was pretty slick, entertaining him with toys that we weren't buying so that I could "sneak" the real gifts into the cart.  We got him some bath toys and a big coloring book with large crayons.  Well, I thought that I had done a good job, until.... I set out his presents before his party.  He ran over and started to rip one of them open.  I yelled for him to stop because it wasn't his party yet.  He looked straight at me and said "but I want to color!!!"  So, apparently he knew EXACTLY what I had been up to.  He was trying to open the box of crayons!  Little Stinker..

Another funny from our very smart 2 year old:  When he was picking out stuff for his birthday party, we tried to get him to pick football stuff so we could have a "super bowl" theme for his party.  But he INSISTED on basketball in the store.  I kept saying "are you SURE you don't want football?  We can have a football cake!"  He wasn't having anything to do with that.  Well, last night when the super bowl came on, he pointed to the screen and said "I want that now."  Of course, I was baffled.  "You want what now?," I asked.  He responded, "I want that, football, now.  Cake."  Oh my goodness, he doesn't forget anything.  He thought that maybe he could change his mind after the fact.  He is so much like his big brother Avery that it is almost scary!  We've had many of these moments with Avery.

So, on to the snowstorm that came in on Friday...  We picked up about 6 or more inches of snow.  And we are in for some more overnight tonight into tomorrow.  We had fun out playing in the snow over the weekend.  There were drifts that came up to the boys' chests.  They couldn't hardly walk out in some of it.  If the wind hadn't been so brutal, we probably would have played out a lot more!

Chaille experienced the snow for the first time this weekend too.  I bundled her in her snowsuit and took her out briefly.  She seemed to enjoy it, although her snowsuit didn't exactly allow her to touch the snow with her hands.  I have pictures of her on mom's camera that I will add when I can!  It is so much fun experiencing new things with my children, like the wonder of snow for the first time :0)

Yesterday we spent the day at home, enjoying our family and some fun time together.  We watched the super bowl (the kids until half time,) and I got a real glimpse of how much Avery is growing up.  He is starting to understand football.  And he asked first thing this morning who won.  He is so much maturing into a wonderful young man!  I saw glimpses of my future with my boys and their dad watching sports together. It makes me excited to get to experience it all with them!!!

The kids have all had the cough that Silas and Chaille started with.  Nolan's has been very minor with a runny nose too.  Avery has had to have cough medicine at bedtime, but has handled it very well.  Silas and Chaille still have residual coughs, but seem to be overall better.  And Steve and I are (knock on wood) healthy!

Well, I've got plenty to do this Monday morning.  I didn't touch a single load of laundry over the weekend, so I'm in for a busy day of doing laundry, straigtening messes, and a dentist visit and Bible Study.  I'm not exactly stoked about the dentist visit, but it is necessary.  And this is our final session in the Esther study.  I can't believe how fast it has gone, especially since we have only met every other Monday!  We are going to do another one sometime after spring break.  I'm looking forward to the next one.  Esther has been AWESOME!

Spirit Week

Because of the Colts playing in the superbowl, the school is having spirit week this week. Avery has enjoyed it thoroughly, participating each day! His favorite was pajama day, by far. But he also liked Crazy Hair Day! He needed a haircut BADLY, so we half cut his hair the night before into a Mohawk! Then after crazy hair day, we shaved the rest off. I wanted to share a picture of Avery the morning of Crazy Hair Day:

As it worked out, Silas was on P week at preschool, so he had pajama day today as well.  Great timing!

I still don't have a new camera :-(  With Nolan's birthday being tomorrow, we've spent money on a party and gifts for him.  Soon, though, we will splurge for that purchase.

More soon.  I've got to get to cleaning for a birthday party tomorrow.  Hope our predicted snow storm doesn't keep us from having it!

What do you do?

When something is bugging you, but you can't do anything about it? When you know that you can't change the way things are, and you just have to live with it?

There are things in our life that we aren't happy with, and we are convinced that they will never change. And it is both frustrating and overwhelming... Steve and I feel the same way, and we agree here, so please know that this situation is not our marriage. It is outside of our home. Anyway, Steve and I go round and round about how to change things. And the only conclusion that we can come to is that WE CAN'T. There is nothing worse than wanting things to be different and knowing that they probably never will.

It makes me sad really. I want so much for certain things and relationships to be different. But you can't make people be who you want them to be or who you expect them to be. And Steve hates when I use the phrase "it is what it is..." but that's all I can say right now. It is what it is and people are who they are. And I guess some damage will never be repaired. And that makes me sad beyond words.

What hurts the most is knowing how my husband is upset and hurting and realizing that he and I are the only ones who seem to care. I only want him to find true happiness. But there are scars too deep for me to nurture. And I love him regardless of the hurt he carries around. But I'm still sad for him.

I know that there are people reading this who relate. And some who know me well enough to understand my cryptic message here. To those who relate, I'm sorry you live with hurt and pain, and I'm sorry that you feel that things will likely never change. To those who are there to listen and are willing to let me share, thank you. For everyone else, sorry for the lack of details. Please pray for the situation to improve. Prayer is the only control we really have!

Doctor's Visit

Silas and Chaille went to the pediatrician today. Silas has had an awful cough, particularly at bedtime, and last night developed a fever in the night. He slept horribly last night. Chaille is super congested, with a runny nose, cough, and is drooling all over herself.

The diagnosis is that Silas just has a good old fashioned cough. He is being treated with prescription strength cough medicine. Chaille just has a cold as well, but he found mucus behind her right ear. So, he is preventing infection by prescribing Amoxicillin for her to take.

So, hopefully with the medicine, they will both sleep better tonight. Last night was rough, with lots of getting up and down. Silas ended up sleeping on the couch, and Chaille was up a total of 4 times because of her cough. This mommy is praying we sleep more tonight!!!

On a positive note, Steve was able to stay home today to help me with getting Avery from school and keeping Nolan at home while I took the other two to the doctor. It was such a blessing having him home today! Boy will we miss him tomorrow when he returns to work :o)