A couple of pictures

I finally was able to get some pictures downloaded. It's been about 3 months so i wanted to share a couple of pictures of what we have been up to. We met Curious George (Landon's animal twin) at the children's museum in Indy, and got to ride a dino at the Creation Museum in KY. I have to brag on my hubby for a minute...if you look at the boys' hair in the curious george pic, know that Dan cut it! It was his first time cutting hair and I think he did a pretty good job. Now I just have to convince him it's time to have another hair cutting party :)
um...yes, all you can see is the back part of the dino's body...let me try and fix it later.

A birthday

Today is Thea's birthday! I can hardly believe a year has gone by. She is such a joy to this family. I have not taken any pictures of her today because she is sick and not very happy. Yesterday and night before last she was burning with fever, but seems to feel a little better today. Dan and I have a date night tonight and we will be taking her with us for a little birthday celebration. We decided we should go somewhere Thea would like. So where does a one year old like to go??? I have no idea, but I think that as long as mama and daddy are there she'll like it!

This is sort of a strange feeling as it is the first time I've had a 1st birthday party and not been pregnant at the same time! It's also the first time I'm at peace with NOT being pregnant. I think the recent stresses in our lives have kind of worn me out to the point where I just want to rest for awhile...catch my breath.

Happy Birthday, baby Thea. I can still call you that! You are such a precious blessing to us. Thank you, Lord for my baby girl. Bless her with a love for You, health, a hard working and obedient heart, a desire to do good and a hatred for sin, and a kind husband who serves You. Amen

Happy Valentine's Day, a little late

We had a fun V-day. Ashton had sports class in the morning and we baked a cake. Earlier in the week we did our valentine's...I mailed them out on Saturday...oops.

My little Landon

I don't remember it ever happening with the others, but Landon seems to have grown up so much just recently. I looked at his bib earlier this week and realized that there was nothing on it!!! Amazing considering we had been eating chicken that he was dipping in ketchup. I watched him eat, and realized that he was being careful not to make a mess. Now Ashton has always been worried about messes, but my Landon was never seemed to be bothered by them. It also came to me that Landon has been much less "into stuff" than ever before. He's not climbing everything in sight and pulling shelves off of the wall. Nor is he decorating the walls with whatever writing utensil he happens to spot. And the biggest thing?? He's almost potty trained. After a day and a half with some good luck (and 1 case of poppy undies) I switched to pull ups and we have only had 1 little pee accident!!! I am so excited to see how well he is remembering to go. He will even stop playing on his own to go use the potty. I'm praying that this is really it and he doesn't regress. I don't' think he will, however. He's just been so good lately...doesn't say "no" to everything, holds my hand without a fight, and hasn't been throwing food during meals. Last night Daddy said it was almost bedtime and he went immediately upstairs. I found him reading a book in his bed. His attention span and eye hand coordination are also improving immensely. We put together a 24 piece puzzle. I did help, but Landon did a lot of it. He is such a blessing and I love seeing what a sweet boy he is becoming.
A few days ago he was throwing a train track into the basket and accidentally hit my hand. I said "ouch" and he laughed. I told him that when you hurt someone you ask if they are OK, not laugh! Now every time he hears me (or anyone else) say ouch, he asks them (with a very concerned face) if they are OK. I love it when they listen :) Thank you, God for such a sweet little blessing!

Stroller

Well, I suppose the search is finally over. I had been looking for a single stroller for Thea since before we left Hawaii. We've been to babies r us so many times that the boys start crying whenever they see it from the car. I almost bought a peg perego P3 pliko (had it up at the cash register), but took it back because it was just so darn expensive. I found a great deal on one online for only $200, but still hesitated to order it, because that is a lot of money. Everyday I would have the order form up on my computer, but could never bring myself to buy it.

I know it sounds silly, but with 4 kids (3 of them still quite small), choosing the right stroller is important!

Today while we were driving we passed a resale shop and I saw a stroller that I liked a lot for sale out front. I went and checked it out. It was super clean and looked practically new. The wheels weren't dirty and the tray wasn't scratched. Price...$35. So we got it! I am glad to be done looking. Dan was getting really tired of me telling him the name/brand/model/price of every stroller that passed us at the mall/zoo/museum.

I just hope the basket is big enough for all the coats and the lack of a small fold doesn't take up the whole trunk...

Thea Eats!

Thea is starting to eat! She'll be one at the end of the month and I wanted to wait until she was about a year old to start. Waking up at night 3-4 times is starting to get hard so I'm bringin' on the food! She wasn't too excited about it at first, but every meal she gets a little more into it. Right now she eats...
sweet potatoes
bananas
a Tbsp. or 2 of organic apple sauce
a few cheerios
cooked carrots
organic oatmeal (she'll only eat 1 or 2 bites of this for some reason)

I make it all myself and cut it into small pieces for her. At this age she's more than capable of feeding herself! I've given her cups with water or rice milk in it a couple of times, but she either isn't interested or dosen't know how to get it out. That's OK...I'd much rather her nurse than drink anything else.

In the house!!!

We are in! I am soooo happy I can hardly describe it in words. We recieved our household goods (most of them broken unfortunately) last monday and we have spent the week unpacking. We lost internet during the week for several days due to the house getting hit by lightnight. We are praising God that it did not start a fire. It killed our laptop, however. I can't wait to get a CD made of the pictures I have been taking since Christmas. I also hope to get the house completely settled and post some pictures of it.

Today we had Thea's 1 year photos done at Sears. They turned out pretty cute. It's so hard to believe that she will be 1 at the end of the month!!

Quintin tested for yellow belt last week and finds out tonight if he got it. He's pretty excited. He did a good job. I know that he was nervous standing in front of all those parents and judges.

Ashton is becoming a master jizzle puzzle piecer. He put together a 60 piece puzzle by himself this week. His attention span is amazing!

Landon is super cute. Tomorrow we're going to start story-time at the library while quintin and ashton go to a homeschool enrichment program at the community arts center. You should hear him count in Korean...it's adorable.

Dan is liking his teaching job. His name is currently up for an IA to Iraq. Please pray that he would not be sent!!

I am busy getting the house together. I have a "sewing corner" in our finished basement that is calling to me and I can't wait to get to work on some long put off projects.

That's all for now!!