fall day

We have had the most beautiful weather here! The girls had fun playing in a pile of leaves. Newman had fun barking at them! I cannot believe Thanksgiving is next week. Our friend Max will be here from Italy this weekend...yeah!!

Evan and Haley are out of school today for Veteran's Day. E is still sleeping as I write this. Anything after 8:00 am for Evan is like the rest of us sleeping in until noon. He went to a birthday party on Sat. night where they stayed up all night. He got home at 9:30 on Sun. morning and went straight to bed and slept until 3:30pm. Then went to bed at 10 last night. He was a pooped little guy!

Have a great week!!

Stay away from staying out too late....and run to warm fall days and piles of leaves!

parks are fun

It is so beautiful here today that Sophie and I headed to the park before picking up Evan and Haley from school. I think she enjoyed digging in the sand more than all the "equipment". We also saw ducks, geese and a turtle that was trying to escape from the fenced in duck pond.

E&H loved the KSU/Colorado game...so did Jon and I. We had great seats and just a fun game to watch. We were walking around visiting lots of people we know who tailgate before the game when we saw a line of people with the marching band at the end. We decided to go and watch the band march by. We stood there for a few minutes when some very tall, big guys started walking by...it was the entire football team and the coaches! Evan got to high five all of them. So that was an unexpected treat!

Stay away from picking up turtles (they carry salmonella!)....and run to beautiful days at the park!!

she's brilliant!!

This is Sophie's newest accomplishment. She can also moo when you ask her what a cow says. We're so proud!!

We're off to see KSU vs. Colorado tomorrow...well after we attend an even bigger game...Team #3 (Evan's team) vs. Team #1 in flag football. Evan's team was undefeated until last week's game...we blamed the coach (Jon). Just kidding. So E's team is looking to redeem their dignity tomorrow! THEN we'll head out for Manhattan.

Have a great weekend!

Stay away from losing....and run to college football!

Sophia Is One

hey hollywood!

Sophie wore these crazy glasses forever the other night. Cracked us all up. You can also see her two big old chicklet front teeth. Too cute!!

All went well with picture taking, according to Evan and Haley. They demonstrated their smiles for us. That was pure entertainment in itself. I'm sure the pics will be fabulous!

Took E to the Dr. today. Dr. scrubbed it all down and poked around on it with a stick to make sure there wasn't any nerve damage. 2nd degree burn, but should heal fine. Then the Dr. proceeded to tell Evan his story about dirt biking. Dr. broke his collarbone the first time he rode one......when he was in his 4th year of residency. Then he and E proceeded to talk about how fun dirt bikes are. Boys....I do not understand them. Anything that causes me to break a bone or burn myself I stay away from. Not boys...they think they're fun. Seriously, I'm going to stop trying to figure them out!

Stay away from breaking a bone....and run to cool sunglasses.

dirty face

Sophie learned that dirt, although fun to play with, does not taste very good. A lesson I'm sure we all must have learned at sometime or another.

Hope this finds all of you well and enjoying life. Evan got better. Haley is now sick. Praying constantly that Sophie avoids it all.

Cool and rainy here today. Not sure what I think about that. You all know my dislike for cold weather. Somehow I'm going to learn to love all the seasons!

The kids have school pics tomorrow. Remember what a big deal that was as a kid? And I think even boys fretted a little over them. Both the kids are trying to decide what they'll wear, etc... Now a days you can choose what color background you want. Which means the statistical equation of shirts and backgrounds is beyond what I learned in stats class in college. Who thought it was a good idea to have more than one cruddy gray background color? That's just how it's supposed to be. Oh well.

Have an awesome week!

Stay away from eating dirt....and run to school pictures.

sophie's swimming pool

sophia's 10 months old

Sophia is 9 months old part 2

Hi all!! Sorry it's been so long since I've put up a new post. We've just been having too much fun around here for me to get on the computer!

Sophia turned 9 months old on Saturday. She is almost walking. She walks as long as she has one thing steady to hold onto. She's started making lots of funny faces and can even have an attitude when she doesn't get her way....wonder where that comes from? She loves to get in the toilet paper. She can unroll a tp roll faster than anything and will eat some too. She still just has her two bottom teeth, which you can see really well in the pic.

I'll try to get a pic of Evan and Haley up soon. They've both grown so much this summer. Evan is driving his dad crazy with his hair (that fight had to have gone on in the dark ages?). I actually like it. It's long and wavy. Beautiful hair! Miss Haley and her friend Catera from across the street basically live together in the summer. They have quite the imaginary lives going on in our basement.

Evan leaves for church camp next Monday for a week! Mom is way more nervous about this than he is. Jon and I leave to help with a high school youth retreat next week too. The girls will be keeping their grandmas busy while we're gone.

Have an awesome 4th of July!

Stay away from being homesick...and run to turning 9 months old!

Sophia is 9 months old

sisters

Haley and Sophie are so cute when they're together. Haley is more than a little mommy to Sophie. It's a special bond that only sisters must have. I'm a sister, but I have brothers. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my brothers. I used to dress them up in girl clothes, but they didn't appreciate it like Sophie seems to when Haley does it. Now that I think about it, I'm really thankful they didn't appreciate it...that could have been really bad! haha

It's just been really fun to watch Haley and Sophie create this special thing.

Sophie woke up with a little cold yesterday. Took her to the Dr. today to make sure it wasn't anything....and it's not anything. You know that deal. If I wouldn't have taken her it would end up being pneumonia. I don't need to relive Evan over again with Sophie!

Stay away from colds...and run to sisters!

2 teeth

Big news!! Sophie got in 2 teeth yesterday. On the bottom in the middle. I tried to get a picture of them, but for some reason she wasn't agreeable to that!? You can barely see the tops of them, but you can sure feel them!

Stay away from getting bit...and run to new teeth!

yeah...it's that good

Have you ever ate anything and looked like you enjoyed it as much as Sophie does here? Who knew pureed squash was so good? Sophie loves all veggies that are orange-squash, carrots, sweet potatos & corn. She likes a few fruits. But she will not eat anything green or any meats. If you give her beans, peas or meats she will hold it in her mouth and refuse to swallow it. I really don't blame her. Have you ever tasted that stuff? Yuck! The smell alone of chicken with chicken gravy makes me gag!

I don't know about you, but I can sleep so much better now that I know the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby!! Have we, as a society, completely lost our minds? Atleast the paternity issue hasn't gotten as much coverage as the past junk.

Have a great day! Stay away from stupid news stories....and run to good food!

a half a year old

Sophia Paige is 6 months old today!! I cannot believe it. Time has gone way too fast. As you can see she is sitting up all by herself. Although she occasionally falls backwards and gives us "the lip" as if to say, "I can't believe you let that happen to me!" She is a truly happy baby. I'm afraid we're really going to have to pay for it when she hits the 2's....actually I kind of hope it's during the 2's and not the 15's! You all know she's horribley spoiled. What with a sister, a brother and all her grandparents, aunts and uncles fussing over her she just knows she is the center of the universe. We'll let her believe it a while longer! Of all God's blessings a baby is the best.

Evan survived the big concert last night. We were beginning to wonder though when he bent over and grabbed his knees at one point. He was rubbing his eyes and forehead. This is all before his solo. The entire 3rd grade had to sing 5 songs before Evan's solo. I don't think there were 500 people there, but maybe 300. The music instructor introduced Evan. Evan then had to walk from onstage in the middle of all the 3rd and 4th graders (they put them all up on risers on the stage) to the lone piano. I know I'm his mother, but he played his solo perfectly. Not one flaw, he kept perfect time, and even used dynamics. So proud of him. I could not have done it at his age. So sweet. And no, I didn't take any pictures, because I wanted to live in the moment and not be stuck behind a lense. We won't soon forget the image of him at that piano.

Only one more week until Easter. I LOVE Easter. It is my favorite holiday. Last Easter we told the kids and all our family that a baby was on the way. No big surprise like that from us this year. I can't wait to hunt Easter eggs and have our big Easter lunch. Most of all I can't wait to celebrate the Risen Christ.

Have an awesome day!

Stay away from nearly fainting at concerts.....and run to turning 6 months old and EASTER!!

circus tricks

This is the infamous circus pose in our house. Jon has done this with each of our kids. The first time my dad saw him do this with Evan I thought he was going to stroke out. Sophie loves it.

Shhhhhh.....I don't want "anyone or anything" to hear this, but I think we are all well in our house. Thank heavens!! Sophie still has a little cough, but other than that everyone appears to be on the up and up.

Sophie's new favorite toy is her exersaucer. It is the little gadget they sit in the middle of and they can stand up and turn around in circles. She loves to sit in it and spin around and throw all her toys on the ground. How do babies know to do this? Every baby for all time has had to take their toys and pitch them to be picked up by sucker parents who want them to be happy. Anyway she loves it and that's why I love it too.

Evan and Haley have been loving this awesome weather. Evan has been making me play basketball with him after school. He loves to play 21. And you know I can't let him win! I'm out their shooting like Michael Jordan, never mind that the goal height is 7'6". I love adjustable goals. Wish they would have had those when I was a kid. Evan was pretending to be Mario Chalmers shooting the three from the top of the key. Too funny. Speaking of NCAA basketball.....KSU got totally ripped off! Booo to the NCAA selection committee!

Haley is into tennis right now. She hits the ball off the garage door and side of the house (I try not to grumble). She says she wants to take tennis lessons this summer during summer recreation. I hope she still wants to when summer rec gets here!

Evan and Haley start spring break this Friday. I don't know who's more excited them or me. I love the thought of a week of no schedules and maybe sleeping in a little if Sophie lets me. Although there's always chaos that ensues. By Tuesday we'll have had 50 kids at our house. Whenever there's no school our house becomes party central. We are going to go spend some time with my parents. Evan is hoping his Uncle will be there to take him golfing. Me too...I don't think they let strollers on the golf course.

Have a great week!

Stay away from gossip....and run to spring break!

Croup

I put Sophia to bed Wednesday night at 9:00 pm. She was just fine...no fever, no snotty nose...fine. 5:00 am Thursday she has croup (rhymes with soup). Croup is fairly obvious because your baby sounds like a seal pup barking. We made a trip to the pediatrician's office...which I dread, because there's always 100 sick, coughing kids in the waiting room. Whatever you came in with you're leaving with something 100 times worse. They look at her, "yep, she's got croup". Two shots and a couple of other tests later we're off to Walgreens to get a warm mist vaporizer...has to be warm mist...and Robitussin..we like to call it "tussin"..which Jon and I always laugh at....if you've ever watched Chris Rock you know what I mean. Poor Sophie. She was a good sport though. She didn't really cry for the shots. Basically gave the nurses the look you see up above...the "you just hurt my feelings" look. [note: the picture above was actually taken while she was listening to Miles Davis...apparently she's not a big fan of Mr. Davis, as she teared up every time his horn blew] Sophie slept well last night and is much better today...Hallelujah!

Our big event last night was a game of Clue with the kids. Playing board games with our crew always include someone laughing, someone crying and someone yelling. Not always in that order either...and one person may do all of them within one game. We decided to play in Sophie's room since she needed to be by the warm mist vaporizer...aka...sauna. Halfway through the first round of Clue we've all got curly hair and wet shirts. Haley was the main one who wanted to play Clue, unfortunately she has no clue how to play Clue. Which actually is quite entertaining for Jon and I to watch Evan have a melt down trying to explain the game to his sister....you know what happens right?...Evan is taking notes like somebody's secretary and Haley is just goofing around...she mainly wanted to play so she could be Miss Scarlett...and guess who wins? Haley: "I think it was colonial mustard with the leed pipe in the conservation room". Evan, Mr. Competitive, is out of his mind. "She doesn't even know how to play this game!" Haley did enjoy her victory even though she didn't know how she did it!

I know, I know...our life is just too exciting!

Have a great day!

Stay away from croup and Dr.'s offices.....and run to board games and Miles Davis.

Sophia's Dedication

Sunday, February 25th was Sophia's dedication at church. We had a beautiful day. Sophia had her 2 sets of grandparents, a great-grandfather, 2 great-grandmothers, an aunt and uncle, and 2 dear friends join her for the service. She was a very good girl (showing off for her grandparents I'm sure!) This was a time to dedicate Sophia to the Lord. As her parents, we dedicated ourselves to raising Sophia in a Christian home. The Pastor, Ryan, also asked the church to dedicate themselves to encouraging Sophia in her walk with Christ. Jon read the passage from Ephesians that I mentioned in the first blog and then he prayed an amazing prayer of blessing over Sophie. I'm really missing the words to describe the emotion of the service. I think because I was a little overwhelmed that we were actually standing there with a baby we've wanted for so long....that our dreams had finally become a reality. The passage from 1 Samuel 1:27 is running through my head, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."

The day continued with lunch at our house with all our family. It was lots of fun and laughter. I think Sophie only stayed awake for about 30 minutes of her party though!

I've got to mention Evan's basketball game. E had a rec basketball game on Saturday...I think it should be called bafooball because it's a combination of basketball and football. There's always a roughing the passer and several clean blocks. I thought they would get killed because they were playing the best team and we were down a man which meant everyone would have to play the whole game. Needless to say, not much depth on the bench. Evan has been playing point guard and that is perfect for him because he is actually encouraged to boss people around! They lost their game, but it wasn't a blood bath. E had the most points for his team 8 out of the 14. Atleast they got in double digits. That doesn't always happen!

Better go for today! Hope all of you stay warm and have sunshine where you are.

Stay away from mean dogs and sour milk and run to March Madness and kid's rec sports.