July-Sept Phone Pics

I mean, that sweet meat.

 One day we picked up Mrs Yoder's donuts and headed to the little park behind the library, then inside for books.

 I took this pic while we waited after Peter's follow up neuro appt this summer.

I don't know, it documented the ill feeling I get of just having to go there... and to know that others go there and it is far worse.

He functions normally apart from a little med we give him twice a day. 

Clearly, he is unaffected, thank the Lord. 

But something about going there just drives a little dagger in my heart to feel the Fall.

 What a cute pic of Goo with 3 of her babies.

 Our old neighbors came over for a Friday dinner and the girls were Benny's fan club.

Just look at them. This pic makes my heart full, such sweetness in all 4 of them.

Benny meets his betrothed, Hannah.

Benny telling Daddy all about his day.

 Celebrating Mike's birthday with his parents :)

 One day this month, his guy just had a fascination with his tongue.  He kept it out a lot of the day- super cute to see them discover their bodies.

 Both kids love pushing Ben home from the bus stop after school.

I'm pretty sure he likes it too and missed them while they are at school.

Frozen

A friend of ours sometimes gets free tickets to theatrical events (Go Dog Go this summer).  A few weeks ago, he had tickets to Disney on Ice's Frozen and generously offered them to us!  WOW!  We were pretty pumped.  The show was at 7pm on back to school night (6-7:30).  I bribed the kids to take a nap after school (4:30-6:30!!) and promised them they could stay up late (but didn't tell them what we were doing).  A neighbor girl came over to sit while they napped and Mike and I ran to back to school night to divide and conquer.  We rushed home, nursed the baby, shoved down some dinner, then drove downtown.  The kids were pumped.  We arrived late but I think it actually was better that way because they didn't have as much of the show to persevere through.  And no worries, we arrived just in time for Anna to meet Hans, long before Elsa froze Arendale.

Peter may be yawning in this pic, and we know the circus hadn't been great for him two years ago, but the boy had a blast and didn't try to go to sleep on us. ;)

 Family Foto.  

(Benny was a little angel.  I carried him in the wrap and we never really heard a peep out of him.) 

 He woke up near the end and sat on my lap for a while but then right back into the wrap for the walk to the car, and not a peep.  Sweet baby boy.

I have to say I really enjoyed it as much as the kids.  It was just fun to go out and do something FUN together with the big kids.  The atmosphere and songs were so festive.  And the way they adapted it for the ice was so interesting.  I loved sitting next to Lily and seeing her fascination with it (and equally for Peter too).  I have a mental pic of Elsa and Anna riding around on steps to symbolize the castle near the end and Lily just smiling and waving to them, like she was really seeing them and they were seeing her!  :)  It was a fun night! 

First Lunch

Maw and I had lunch with the kiddos yesterday!  It was fun to see them in their new element!  Their classes eat lunch next to each other, which is a neat little happening and convenient for more lunch dates!

Ben: 4 months

Hold onto your seats!  Here come some pictures of a cute 4 month old!

 He's discovered his hands. He loves looking at them and uses them to grab and explore things.  In the last week, he's been grabbing at pictures in books and reaching for himself in the mirror.  It is so fascinating to watch it unfold and see his brain & senses & body develop. 

 He is such a happy boy.

 King of the Bed!

 I think that Peter and Ben look more a like than I initially thought.  The (former) brown hair makes you automatically think Lily but his face reminds me of Peter, apart from the hair color and nose.

 'Mom. its so exhausting to hold the baby!"

 "OK, I'll take him!" 

 A lap full.  Thank you, Lord!

I had the realization last weekend that I don't need to do as much housework on the weekends.  Now that the older 2 are in school, I have time during the week & don't need to feel that panic to get things done while Mike is here to occupy the kids. We'll see if I can really stick to that.

I like peeking in to see a baby in my house.

Oh, he started sleeping in his crib just before he turned 4 mo.  I always think I am going to be sad to have them leave my room, esp this time.  But it was OK.  Its also fun for him to turn into a "bigger" baby. :)  And don't shoot me, I take no credit, but he has proving to be a good sleeper like his sister.  He sleeps about 10-11 hours at night (7:30pm-6am), nurses, and then usually goes back to sleep for a while, depending on how loud school preparation gets. 

 After Peter's space party, Mike rigged up a mobile with the paper lantern "planets" and the striped paper straws.  We thought this sounded better than a $60 mobile. 

 The big guy has just learned to roll from this belly to his back.

He is also doing such a great job bearing weight on his legs when you hold him up.

 He's also discovered his toes.  And man, are they sweet!

 Benny Bear, its been such a fun journey to have you as part of our family.

4 Month Stats:

Wt: 13 lb 12 3/4 inches (25%)

Ht: 24 inches (10-25%)

Head: 90%

Peter: 13 lb 13 oz, 25 inches

Lily: 14 lb 12 oz, 24 1/2 inches

Finishing Up Summer

As happy as I was for the kids to go back to school, those words of the title are still hard to type!

Here are a few pics from our final days of summer & the pool:

It was crazy to think of how BIG this boy will be next summer at the pool!

Do they come any sweeter and cuter?

 We enjoyed a date night out for our 11th wedding anniversary.  It was nice to have a leisurely, quiet dinner talking to my husband after an overstimulating (but thankful) summer.  Last year this time, Benny was just a dream of ours that he'd come to us as a healthy earthly baby! :)

 Of course, Peter got A LOT of Legos for his birthday.  He spent much of the last long weekend of summer working on those. 

 Peter requested a trip to the science museum for his actual birthday.

They got astronaut ice cream sandwiches for a treat. 

Peter's 7th Birthday- A Space Party

Peter mentioned months ago that he'd like a space party for his birthday.  More recently, he requested a Chuck E Cheese party after going to a few there for friends.  I looked into a Chuck E Cheese party, but being the cheap & crazy person I am, I decided 'that's too expensive, we have this new house, we should just have a party here.  It will be cheaper too.'  Famous last words.  It always sounds like a good idea. But in reality, I am learning to have 3 kids at home.  They are restless and just annoying each other.  We moved to a new house before all of this and I'm still getting settled here.  I'm nursing a baby too.  And a party at home is never cheaper.

My mom was kind and came up to help me the day before.  But she walked into laundry every where, things everywhere, etc, etc.  So we had to get back to baseline before we have even make progress towards a party.  And then it became more guests than I'd initially thought.  Which I want to like and I do, but still just adds more prep.  And Maw, she is a southern woman, the once president of Future Homemakers of America.  She believes in hospitality right after Jesus.  Which is a great thing. I believe in premade foods.  So we married our desires and bought a lot of freezer foods from the wholesale place.  We had quite the beautiful spread!

His party came before we got our camera back.  And I was so exhausted that I just had to let it go. The party turned out really cute (it always does, right?!) but I didn't get any real pics.  There were 16 kids, 12 adults, & 2 babies, including lots of church friends, neighbors, and 2 friends from his K class. :)  We used black, white, and blue.  We had cute silver star balloons, strings of stars, and paper lantern planets.  We enjoyed the feast of food (Maw was the amazing kitchen staff), heard the story of Mousetronaunt from Goo, and played games lead by Mike.  First was an asteroid toss.  We tossed water balloons into hula hoops.  It was cute!  Then we had a relay race to 'carry the rocket fuel'.  Teams carried water from one station to another.  It was cute too!  Maw treated the kids to a space shuttle pinata.  Then we had chocolate cake with chocolate icing courtesy of Ukrops bakery. It was delicious.  Peter has great taste! :)

Here are a few pics from a friend's cell phone: 

It was great!  Let's have a Chuck E Cheese party next year!

(^birthday weekend breakfast outside^)

First Day of School, K & 1st

These two. Love them.  Its nice for them to be "together" again and on the same schedule.  They compliment each other well.  She is so ready.  It's nice for him to have the expertise and the responsibility of being the "big brother".

 This girl has come so far!  She used to cry for a lot of 3 and 4 year old preschool.  That was our one hesitation about sending her on to K with a summer birthday. She's totally got this!

 Go get 'em, Pete!

"Stop taking pictures and let's get to the bus stop."

We are praying for you & your school year, sweet kiddos!