New Scooter

Our little man was thrilled last night when his Daddy came home from work with a new scooter! Stephen had been waiting weeks for this! His got stolen the other week from the library, and although he handled it well (and it gave us a great opportunity to talk about the Gospel), he definitely missed it. Daddy was a big hero when Stephen first saw his new one. He rode in the parking lot last night until it was nearly too dark to see. Score for Daddy!

Third...

Jonathan fell asleep in his carseat sucking a dum-dum while we were at the beach...proving again...he's the third!=)

Family Beach Trip!

Last week we took a family trip to the beach. It was wonderful having several days with just the 5 of us. I admit, though, that it wasn't relaxing by any means. Did I expect it to be with 3 little boys? Not really, but it was lots of fun. I keep telling myself that I'll miss these crazy "vacations" in the future when Jeremy and I are left looking at each other in an empty, quiet beach house.=) I'll explain the fun things we filled our week with below (oh, and I forgot my camera, so these pictures are courtesy of Jeremy's phone!):


Our family taking a picture of ourselves


Me and the boys at Southpoint


Stephen took this pic of me and Jeremy


The boys playing putt-putt


The aquarium at Fort Fisher (we went twice using our zoo membership to get in free!)


Candy store at Holden Beach


Riding the ferry over to the aquarium


Caleb "belly surfing"


Jonathan ate lots of sand (Gross)!


Stephen had so much fun (we especially enjoyed our day on the beach with Chad, Dawn, and their boys!)


Jonathan trying on hats (poor thing...we do whatever to him!)


Jeremy and Jonathan the day we stopped at the Battleship

The Antics of Caleb

Our 2 year old is at it again! These are his latest endeavors the past 2 days:


Caleb got into the stamp drawer today and had a great time. All was well until he started stamping his legs, arms, etc. It got even better when he decided to use the red ink pad as a stamp and do even more artwork on his little feet! This picture doesn't do it justice!


Here's the way Caleb went to bed the other night...no shirt on and shorts on his head. After a while, though, I heard the cry for Mommy to come and put his shirt on!

Where does this little boy get these ideas? Who knows; I'm just convinced that everyone needs a Caleb!=)

KidsWeek

What a fun, tiring week for everyone in this house! KidsWeek (VBS-Summit style!) has been going on, and we've had a GREAT time! I'll hit some highlights below (since I'm going to bed...exhausted!).


Tonight's conclusion with lots of blow-up fun!


Caleb's attempt at the dunk tank!


Slides!


Do you see any pennies? Nope, Stephen got them out to help the boys win the penny war!

Welcome Home

We have the best neighbors! Seriously! The Bloomfield family is such a blessing to us. We didn't know when we moved in that our neighbors would be Summit members, with 2 kids, who are also planning to homeschool like ourselves! We love them!

The past month this family has been in Kenya, and we have missed them terribly. So, Wednesday, before they came back, we made signs for them and hung in them in their living room. We're looking forward to playing with them lots again very soon!!!

So Tired!

Yuck on the blurry Iphone picture. Anyhoo, here are Stephen and Caleb after a long, fun Saturday that ended with lunch with some special friends. All 3 boys fell asleep on the way home. We were crammed in Jeremy's car, which made their ability to sleep even more surprising! Fun, busy, summer days!

Now this is tired!

Now that Jonathan is mobile, when I put him down in his crib he immediately sits back up and looks at me. He gets super frustrated if I try to put his pacey in his mouth, so I either hand it to him or lay it beside him for him to handle himself. Today he fell asleep sitting up, and I slipped in and took this picture. Grant it, the nap only lasted about 45 minutes. I can only imagine how his back must have felt!

Dirt Eater

Yes, Jonathan ate dirt the other day. And yes, it was immediately after he ate dog food. And yes again, I took a picture before I cleaned him up! That's all!=)

A Little Too Late...Or Not?

Okay,here's a really honest post, and one I'm attempting not to dramatize. Here goes:

Last week I got a baby magazine in the mail, and it contained the article pictured above. I read it, and as you can see, soon after tore it out, crumpled it up, and threw it away. Here what the article said:

"In a recent policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents to keep toddlers' car seats rear-facing until age 2 or until they reach the car seat's rear-facing heart or weight limit. Previously, the AAP cited 1 year and 20 pounds as the minimum for flipping the seat, at which time many parents would switch from an infant seat to a convertible car seat.

A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age 2 are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are facing the rear. 'A rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck, and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body,' says Dennis Durbin MD, a pediatric emergency physician, co-scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and lead author of the AAP's policy statement."

Ughhh...now do you understand why I threw this article away? In the midst of my faith that God had a purpose in our wreck and even in Stephen's injuries, there's still that lingering thought of "what if" that sneaks back into my mind when I read things like this.

Could it have been prevented? I don't know. That starts the whole debate of God's sovereignty, and it's tough to go there. I do know, though, that whatever questions and what if's I may have, I'm grateful just to have our little man with us. He is such a blessing!

Faith Begins at Home

I just finished Mark Holmen's book Faith Begins at Home. It was super basic and a good review of lots of things I've already read about and learned. Regardless, it was a good refresher and an easy read. The 2 things that stood out most were:

1-Asking someone to pray specifically for one of our children as a prayer warrior in their life. I love this idea! It encouraged parents to select a couple or a person and keep them updated weekly or monthly with specific prayer requests for one of your kids. We're definitely gonna do this!

2-What is third place in your family's life? One is usually home life, and two is usually work. But what takes third place? Is it sports, school, etc? The book challenged readers to make sure the church has that place as it partners with us in raising our children.

So...Faith Begins at Home was a good "starting point" book for those who are new to the "family as your primary ministry" idea and a good review for those who are presently in this season.=)

Now on to Give Them Grace...I'm so excited!!!