Days flying by...

This past Monday the 11th, Emily turned 8 months! WOW...it is so hard to believe that she has grown so much and is getting into all kinds of things. She is rolling every chance she gets (no forward crawling yet), her first tooth starting to come in a few weeks ago and now 2 more are following, she is eating Cheerios, fruits and veggies, and still on Mamma's milk. The biggest thing with Emily now is her voice...wow she has a shriek that is pretty incredible and can be migraine inducing. If you have been on the phone with me you can attest to this sound she makes. All in all she is doing wonderfully and we are trying to redirect this scream because no matter how cute she is it WILL drive you crazy!! Pictured here showing off her teeth, love of cheerios and scream!!

Ryan is busy with preschool and does enjoy his time there! The crying has stopped for dropoff and so that is a big relief. Ryan is pictured here with his teacher, Mrs. Holley! He is still telling lots of Star Wars stories and is constantly finding someway to have his guys hanging from something in the house. His favorite place is off the spiral bindings on many of the teacher books I have for school. He is not very patient with Adam finishing school and often needs "help" with something only Adam can do. We are still finding the groove of having all the kids around during school. A Ryan statement of the week...after Todd gets a spoon for Ryan to eat some applesauce with Ryan says "Dad you are the best dad ever...(as he turns to go down the stairs) but when you spank me you are not the best dad." He was heading down the stairs almost as if he was saying that part to himself.

Adam is slowing getting used to his new schedule but I think does miss some of the structure and rules of school. We are working through that and hopefully will get into a good groove sometime before May of 2011!! Today was a different day since it was raining outside Todd was off work and so he took over for school today. We had Bible all together and then he worked on math & science with Adam, however Adam thought he should have guitar and gym since Daddy was teaching. We also got our catapillars in the mail yesterday and was perfect timing since the next lesson in our science book is catapillars and butterflys. Very Cool!! Adam question of the week..."Mom, how many grandchildren do you want us to have?" "I want you to have as many children as God's has planned for you." He says, "I think I will have 2 boys and 2 girls." I love Adam's many, many thoughts about his future! The above picture of Adam is reading his letter he got back from his friend Haley in MD!! He was very excited to hear back from her! We hope the letters will continue, it is always fun to get snail mail!!!

Lock Haven Lake

Sunday afternoon we met Adam's cub scout group at Lock Haven Lake! It was a day of fishing, hiking, and learning all about Native Americans. It was a beautiful day with weather we could not have ordered to be more perfect!! We are not a big fishing family however we got what we needed for the day, borrowed fishing rods (batman fishing rods), worms for bait, a cooler with snacks & drinks and we were off! Todd spent the entire time fishing with our boys, other cub scouts and some time all by himself but it paid off, he caught 5 fish (only 1 fatality, the others were released successfully), Adam caught 1 and Zabien (Adam's friend) caught 2. The boys also were able to make a tee pee and a Native American drum! It was just all around a fun afternoon! Ryan had a blast hanging out with Todd while he fished and the boys did their crafts and also watching some of the older scouts catch salamanders. It was only about 15 minutes before we were leaving that he just could not resist or just forgot he had his long pants and shoes on and walked right into the lake. He did it on "accident" and only got in about ankle deep so what can we say, it could have been a lot worse!

Emily did well and spent the entire afternoon short of a few minutes before we left in her stroller taking it all in!! Here are some pictures from the day...

Friends come to visit...

We had some good friends come to visit this weekend! We enjoyed a great time of scrapbooking, crafting, shopping and of course eating! We went to a quilt shop that is Troutville on Friday night and then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. The kids had a great time playing checkers as well as checking out all the fun toys inside the store. Pam is good friends with Bob & Carolyn (Todd's parents) and her daughter Amanda is good friends with me and Todd. So Pam stayed with Bob & Carolyn along with her 4 year old (almost 5) granddaughter Savanna, and Adam and Ryan on Friday and Saturday night, and we kept the little ones here at our house, 11 month old Katelyn (spelled wrong I fear) and Emily. We did our scrapbooking on Saturday while all the kids were with the grandmothers and Grandbob!! Grandbob gets the big award because he took the 3 older kids to Chuck E Cheese, alone! They kids were totally surprised as we were too that he was up to the task! He did a great job and we added "wonderful" items to our toy collection.

Saturday night we went over to Bob & Carolyn's for dinner Nanny (Carolyn's mother), Brannon & Valerie joined us for the cookout! It was a delicious dinner and great fellowship! Adam made sure to bring his popcorn form for the cub scouts and made 3 additional sales at dinner. He has been very diligent with his selling and we are exciting for him! We try and get together once or twice a year to visit, scrapbook, and just let the kids play. Pam lives in Charleston, WV and Amanda lives in Charlotte, NC so it takes a little organizing to get all of our schedules to match up, but we manage to make it work!

Emily and I pose for a picture at the cookout! She was looking very pretty in her pink and since mommy is usually behind the camera it was nice to have one of just the two of us!!

Monday minutes...

The day started early...Todd was up and out by 7:00 trying to work as much as he could before the rain started (which has yet to start as I sit down to write)! He is keeping very busy with all kinds of projects from family and friends. It is great to see how the Lord continues to provide during this interim in our lives! We enjoyed some donuts Daddy brought home last night and then we started our day of school in our p.j.s!! AWESOME!!

Today's Bible lesson was about our birthdays...and how we should have 2! Our actual birthday and when we were born again, aftering asking Christ to live in our hearts! It was a great story and perfect way to explain being born again to the boys. Our memory verse is 1 John 3:7 "We must be born again", a great simple verse for Ryan to memorize too. He was very excited and repeated it a number of times all on his own, but not before he showed his enthusiasm for his upcoming birthday in November. As I was "coaching" him, leaving out words and then he would fill in the blanks...the time I took out "again" at the end he would complete it like this..."we must be born....in November"! We all laughed and enjoyed his revision to the scripture. After a few more times he was able to remember "again" and not November!

Science today was continuing our study of living things, which was perfect since we spent our Saturday on a working farm. Friday night the boys went with Gram and Grandbob's to a Hidden Valley Titans football game to watch Aunt Valerie's brother Kyle play and then went home with them to spend the night. Todd worked late with Sean mowing & Emily and I went to Walgreen's to coupon shop! It was a productive night but we were all doing our own things. Saturday Todd was up and out early to work with Sean all day mowing, Emily & I went to Nanny Farmer's house to meet up with Gram, Grandbob and the boys. We had Hardee's breakfast there and then were off to Farm Day at Homestead Creamery Farm. We got to do tons of fun things there, make our own butter, milk a cow, pet animals, and even hold little kittens. We enjoyed a hay ride, a trackless train ride for Ryan, and some other fun games.

We packed everyone up around 1:00 to head back to Salem to let Adam sell popcorn in front of WalMart for the cub scouts. He did that from 2 until 4...while he was there Carolyn (Gram), Ryan, Emily & I made it to the end of a Trunk Show, for all kinds of bows, headbands, hats and much more for Emily. We had a great time looking through and picking out some great new bows for Emily. She will be styling!! Her Wahoo bow is featured here in her picture!! She has to be watched...unattended the bows come out and go straight for her mouth.

Back to WalMart to pick up Adam and then head home! Todd got home about 7:30 and we fixed steaks on the grill then just had a late dinner, enjoyed a music concert on TV and then everyone crashed, what a great day!

Sunday was a great day too...starting with leaving our house at 8:05 for church, need I say more!!! What a wonderful thing to leave so early and have time to spare when I sit down in worship! A new trend I hope! We enjoyed breakfast at Shoney's then back home until Bible Studay at 4.

Thursday already?

Well this has been a quick week! The highlight of school this week was...science!! Granbob and Gram got the kids 2 cool kits, one to grow vegetables and the other is a butterfly kit. So right along with Chapter 2 in our Science book, studying living things, we planted our vegetables and sent off for our caterpillars. Adam was thrilled with both of those activities. I think we will do a lot of hands on projects this year, this seems to be where Adam shows the most excitement.

Today we took Ryan to preschool and unfortunately had to leave him crying...same as he did on Tuesday. Last year he cried when he missed seeing Adam get on the bus and really missed him during the day so I guess this year it has been hard since Adam is at home and now he is leaving us to go to preschool. I am thankful for his wonderful teacher Mrs. Holley as well as knowing the tears are short lived and he recovers quickly! When we picked him up today he was happy to share that he ate his entire green apple at snack, well except for the skin. While Ryan is at preschool on Thursdays we are back at the house hosting Bible study. Our wonderful babysitter, Madeline, was out today since her daughter Lillian was still getting over being sick. We missed them but I was able to hold down the fort with the children in the basement while the rest of the group met upstairs. It was a good morning!

Todd worked a half day with Sean landscaping and then on his way home he passed us driving through town. We did a u-turn (which I am famous for) and headed back to catch up with him. He knows me well and went ahead and pulled over knowing I couldn't resist turning around to see him. The kids loved it and we got to touch base! Later that afternoon we were home and decided to go out to dinner. Before we went to dinner of we stopped by Replay to exchange a Wii game we got a few weeks ago, Star Wars Clone Wars for....Kung Fu Panda Wii game. To some of you this may be an insignificant point to our day but we have been WAITING to do this for WEEKS and the kids have lost much sleep over this transaction, when it would happen, what they would get, how much it would cost and the fact that we said everyday we are not doing that today. So the fact we got to do this tonight well lets just say...the boys were over the moon about this new game and now just want to head home to play and not go to dinner. Since they are not in charge we did manage to go to dinner and then we came home to play. The boys seem to love the new game; there has yet to be any buyers remorse, unlike our first purchase of Clone Wars. I think it is a good lesson to learn young, think hard about your choices and don't rush into anything, hopefully it will translate to much more important decisions later in life!!

After playing the game for a bit the boys get ready for bed, get teeth brushed and are settling into bed when they begin to tag team Todd with tons of Star Wars scenarios...Adam will start then Ryan will pipe in, then back to Adam and so on. If you spend any time with our boys you will have an opportunity to hear the great Star Wars stories with many characters and many situations. It is quite interesting since they really have had limited viewings of Star Wars and neither Todd or myself are into Star Wars. It is funny what your kids latch onto! We are thankful this is something they enjoy together! They are good brothers and becoming good friends which we hope and pray will last a lifetime!

Who says Mondays are boring?

We had a great start to our week! We did school this morning and then headed out for an afternoon adventure...we headed to the lake! We started a new unit today in Science, "Living Things", what better place to learn about living things but at the lake! Grandbob called us last night and invited us out on the boat, the best part about that invitation is that Todd was going to get to come too! Dad doesn't get to come with us too often so when he does we leap at the chance to have him with us.

After picking up lunch at Wendy's we were on our way and arrived at the lake around 1:30. Grandbob picked us up at the dock and then off went! Since we had dad with us today we were able to get out a 3 man raft that is pulled behind the boat. Adam was a little nervous about it and Ryan was fearless about it...Todd was excited and in the middle of the boys! He of course briefed them on what to do if they were to fall off the raft and then assured them it would not happen! So they are settled and Grandbob starts up the boat...slow at first, then we were off to the races, going in circles, cutting back into the waves. It was a perfect day to have such fun since there were hardly any boats out today, I kept forgetting it was Monday. After a while I decided this should be the day for me to try it too. So Ryan got in Todd's lap and I got in the raft. It was the most fun I have had in a LONG time as well as the hardest I have laughed and screamed in a long time. I was very lucky I did not get thrown off. Grandbob was doing a great job as the the driver almost too good!

Grandbob ended up towing us to our "usual" spot to anchor down and do some swimming. Todd was pretty comfortable in the raft and hung out there the entire time as well as the entire ride back to the dock. However he was under attack most of the time with 2 boys trying to flip the raft, tackle him and anything else they could think of. It was a great time! Emily was happy and content between her stroller and the saucer. She ate, took naps, and watched her brothers intently! She enjoys the boat but will have to wait until next summer to get her toes in the water!!

We came home to have dinner, take baths, and hit the hay! Adam was very thankful that he didn't stay on the boat and that he tried the raft! He said it was the greatest time of his life!!

Weekend Fun

We had a fun weekend that started on Friday afternoon! After school we headed out to do a little shopping, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then off to Lynchburg for Thomas, my nephew's 7th birthday party! We got there early to enjoy some extra time with the cousins (missing only Haley who was going to a concert that night in Charlottesville)! The party was lots of fun, a Star Wars theme, Darth Vader cake, and a search for asteroids (aluminum foil with candy bars inside) in the backyard we could not have asked for a better night! We left around 7:45 and arrived home a little after 9:00 p.m. with 3 sleeping kids and one exhausted mom!! Off to bed they went and then "off" to work I went!

On Saturday I hosted my annual CD Desk Calendar Stamp Camp...I was up late Friday and then up early Saturday morning to finish getting ready! It was a slow start to the event with a few last minute cancellations but we ending up with 4 and had a great day of stamping and snacking!Todd was in charge of the kids and was a huge help to me getting the last minute details around the house done before anyone arrived. Adam's friend Zabien came over in the early afternoon and hung out with the boys for the rest of the day. Then after the ladies finished stamping we decided to head out for dinner at Denny's! With an additional child it is always great to work the free kids meals which Denny's has on Saturdays and Tuesdays, all of us eating for $22 isn't bad!! Zabien got picked up shortly after returning home from dinner and then we all headed to bed! It had been a long day.

Today was a good day, we were slow to rise and ended up making the 10:00 a.m. service instead of the 8:30 a.m. service. Then we made our usual stops at the Dollar Store to pick up Sunday papers, Walmart to pick up misc items, and then off to Dynasty to meet Todd's family for lunch. We enjoyed lunch and got to hear all about Grandbob & Gram's trip to GA and SC to visit family. It sounds like the Warren reunion next year will be in Myrtle Beach, get excited we can't argue with a reason to head to the beach!! After lunch we went home for only an hour or so and then it was time to leave for Bible Study. When we got home from Bible study I took Emily to feed her and ended up taking a cat nap with her until about 7:30. During my much needed nap the boys ate dinner and then it was time to get ready for a night of Bingo fun!! We bought a bingo game on Friday during our shopping time! Mommy picked the lucky card tonight, I managed to hit bingo 2 or 3 times before anyone else as well as filling my card first! It is always fun to beat Todd, even if it is just totally random luck!! I'll take it!! Adam said he was going to pick my card for the next game!