Long Overdue Explanation

For anyone who may possibly be checking my blog, I felt like I should give you a brief explanation to my lack of posts lately. It's not that I've run short on time (though that happens often), but I've really been considering the purpose of my blog. I don't want it to just be something that highlights all the fun things our family is doing. Sometimes that can be discouraging as I personally often measure myself (yes, fear of man...live in the Gospel more, Tiff) by others and the amazing things they are doing with their kids. So for now, I've put the blog "away" until I figure out it's real purpose. Thanks for understanding!!!

All Tucked In!

Apparently Caleb didn't think the "tucking in" job I did was good enough! He was sound asleep!

Twice is a Charm!

How can a child less than 3 years old have already gotten stitches twice? That, my friends, is Caleb. Last Saturday night, our fun Chick-fil-a meal with friends was interrupted by the screams and blood-covered face of our middle son. Being our second time doing the "stitches thing," we immediately knew we were headed to the ER. Jeremy took Caleb took the bathroom (and yes, I busted in the men's after them!), stopped the bleeding, and we left. Thankfully our friends, David and Hannah, were with us. They watched Stephen and Jonathan as we checked Caleb in at Wake Med Children's Emergency Room (our first trip to this hospital).

Soon after, Jeremy took them home and Caleb and I waited to be called back. Our awesome neighbor Celeste stayed with Stephen and Jonathan while Jeremy drove back to the hospital.

As terrible as Caleb looked, he was a champ. Seriously, he bounced all over that waiting room like nothing was wrong. Of course, when they put him in the "hug thing," "taco wrap," "straight jacket,"--whatever you choose to call it, he became hysterical. I could only see his little face as he screamed, "Mommy, get me down. It hurts." And at that moment, I think it was hurting me more than him.

After 4 stitches and Tylenol with codeine, life was good! He ate a popsicle, watched TV, and declared to me and the nurses that he didn't want to leave. We did have a good experience there, I must admit.

One of the "God things" about all this was that the girl working Saturday night to "calm and distract the kids" was an Institute girl from last summer who served with Jeremy and Summit Kids. She knew who we were as soon as she saw our name on the check-in list. Lauren took great care of us, brought Caleb blocks, toys, and books, and even gave him a special teddy bear with a bandaid over his eye when we left (appropriately named Boo-Boo). I was so thankful to have Lauren there with me!

So, there you have it...2 sets of stitches later, and the boys are still going strong. The phrase I keep asking myself since then and every day..."Is this normal???????".

9 Years

This past weekend Jeremy and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. Stephen and Caleb stayed with some friends of ours in Winston, and Jonathan stayed with my parents. We stayed at a nice place in Blowing Rock Thursday-Saturday. It was so fun having some time with just the 2 of us. I sure do love that guy!

PS-Sorry about the random picture sizes. We used Jeremy's phone and apparently I didn't download them right.=)


"People watching" on Main Street in Blowing Rock


Me and Mildred (the bear) at Grandfather Mountain


Jeremy being silly (The boys thought it was a real bear when we sent this pic to them!)


Fireworks at a local resort Friday night...we watched them from our sunroom


Grandfather Mountain


We hiked up to the bridge on a route that took us under it.


What was he thinking?


Almost at the top!


Lunch at Daniel Boone Inn

Chalk-Time!

It was so cool this morning (seriously?) that the boys and I decided to put our new sidewalk chalk to good use. Notice all the body outlines I did! They loved this (til they realized how hot it was!).

Oh Caleb...

What a funny blessing Caleb is to our family! He keeps us laughing and on our toes. Here are a couple quick stories from the past few days worth noting:

-He lost his blankie today. Yep, we looked for nearly 3 hours and never found it. The boys even skipped their naps, because Caleb can't sleep without it. Finally, Jeremy found it in the washing machine. I guess Caleb thought it was dirty!

-Tonight Caleb pulled a stuffed dinosaur out of a "Goodwill bag" I had in the van. We were on our way to church to pick up Jeremy. Caleb asked me why we were taking the dinosaur to church (uhm...we were taking him to Goodwill). I didn't respond. He then said, "Is it because he needs to be saved?" Again, I didn't respond!

-This morning Caleb told me Happy Anniversary (it's our 9 year today!) and that he had a special gift for me. I asked him what it was, and he proudly said "a stick." He immediately followed that up with, "Mommy, do you know what a stick is?" Of course I do, we've got 3 little boys in this house!

-Stephen and Caleb watched our wedding video today. I snuck outside to call Jeremy. Caleb busted through the front door nearly in tears saying, "They threw rocks at Daddy and killed him." What? After some explaining, I understood that he saw our friends throwing flower petals at us as we left for our Honeymoon and assumed they were rocks. Poor Daddy!

Okay, I lied...all those actually happened TODAY! One from yesterday would be Caleb's sweet prayer:

"Dear Jesus, Thank you for dying on the cross and buying me dinosaurs. Thank you for my fingers and my fingernails and help me not to bite them anymore. Amen."

And the picture above, yep, that was him today, riding his scooter to the library, complete with a water gun and swim goggles!

Thank You, Lord, for our funny little guy!=)

Caleb Goes to the Movies

Today Caleb went to his first movie, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." The theatre does $1 movies for kids during the summer, but of course the money we spent on popcorn and drinks costs a little more than that! Stephen sat with some of his buddies and acted like an old pro at that kind of thing! Caleb drank drinks, ate, watched the movie some, and played on my phone a little also. Jonathan bounced around everywhere and finally got in the carrier to take a power nap. It was a great experience, and I'm excited that Caleb can possibly start going on Daddy dates to the movies now!=)