Stay-at-home Mom

One day very soon, I will be deeply entrenched in my career again. I'm sure that when I look back on these days at home, I will long for them again. I feel like I always have so much to do, but not much to show for my hours spent here. The schedule is so laid back and flexible, but I always seem to be running late for something. So, here is my day at a glance. A huge thank you goes out to the woman that taught me how to be a mom. She set up many forts and picnics on the deck. She also endured some pretty questionable lunches served by her French waiters, Jill and Jock (he he) If you've ever thought...jill's a good mom...it is because of her influence in my life. (And the grace of God that keeps me sane with four boys in my home)
Love you, Mom!!

*people I helped get ready for the "real" world today...3
*people who are still here following me around begging for Halloween candy...2
*number on the clock when I finally grabbed a shower...11:00
*Loads of laundry washed, but with no hope of getting folded today...3
*number of diapers/pull-ups I've changed so far...5
*Times I've wiped Baby's nose...1,000,000
*Times I've kissed Baby's soft chubby face...1,000,000
*Biggest accomplishment of the day...made a fantastic fort
*places I'd rather be today...nowhere
(unless of course, I could take the whole crew with me. Then, I'd maybe pick Cabo) :)

Hopefully, NO means YES!

Entertainment

This is what we do for fun!

Cops and Robbers

Okay, for Halloween this year we wanted to go with a group theme. After tossing a few ideas out the window, we settled on cops and robbers. The older two were easy to convince. I mean, what little boy wouldn't want to pretend to be a police officer? But when we got the costumes for them and Boo didn't get one, he was a hard sell. Until, I informed Boo that he and baby would be robbers and they would have handcuffs and steal the candy from the police. The mischievous twinkle flashed in his eye and I knew he was in. I must admit that we were putting black electrical tape on sweatpants at the last minute. But we got the costumes finished and had a great time. Our neighborhood was fun to trick or treat in and even mom and dad participated. Pictures not included. Hope you enjoy!

Scooby's Birthday

What a big kid. I can't believe 8 years have passed since we brought this little guy home to our tiny flat in HK to the sounds of jackhammers below us. If the past eight years have gone by at lightning speed, what will the next eight be like? It's too sad to think about. I have to say. I am so proud of Scooby. I am proud of the wonderful guy he is and I can't wait to see what God does with him. He has a very compassionate heart. I love how sensitive he is to others and what a great big brother he is. He is definitely very loved by everyone that knows him. I think he had a nice birthday. We tried to make it special. His cousin and best buddy in the whole world came to spend the weekend with us. Nana and Papa came to celebrate with cake and presents on Sunday. Our family party was on Tuesday. Scooby got some cool presents. One of the presents was a computer game that he is now obsessed with. Now, if only I can figure out how to slow down time so I'm not on here in a flash commenting on his ninth birthday.
Happy Birthday, Z. We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Day with Aunt K

One of the advantages of living closer to family is being able to see them more often. Today was a day with Aunt K. We had a great time together. We managed to fit in a trip to Target, Panera, and Sams. Aunt K had a smile on her face the whole time...even when we were checking out at Sams and Baby made a game of throwing his shoes while Boo was begging (passionately) to get out of the cart. We splurged on ice cream (cause it's still warm here, and we can). :) Scooby and Spike were excited to see that Aunt K had brought a project for them to do. Big thanks go out to Aunt K. for her enthusiasm and wonderful snacks and projects. We all had a wonderful time with you and we're so glad you spent the day with us. And Boo especially thanks you for the very warm and very "Diego" blanket you bought him today. In fact, he's upstairs wrapped up in it right now. Thanks for feeding the obsession!
Hope you like the pictures.

Apple Farm

For the past seven years, it has been our tradition to trek out to the apple orchard and pick our own apples. This is one of our really fun family experiences. I'm guessing God gave us great times like this to offset the dinner hour, bedtime stress and trips with our kids in the car. Because these are the times that I look at my children and see each one individually. I watch Scooby carefully look through the trees for the "perfect" apple, and notice that Spike is more interested in quantity than quality. I see Boo trying to set a record for how many apples you can eat while walking through the apple orchard. And there is Baby in the backpack carrier laughing and grunting for more bites of apple. I am thankful for these moments. It makes me feel especially blessed to be a mom and especially proud of my children. Hope you enjoy these pics. And if it doesn't inspire you to go to the apple orchard, it just might make you hungry for an apple pie!

Baby is now called Bruiser

Well, it was bound to happen. When you've only been walking for a few weeks, you're bound to take some falls. Unfortunately for Baby, the kids' shoe bench was in his path. We quickly got acquainted with our local emergency room. Baby is going to be fine. Nothing is broken. He's just swollen and bruised. And I don't think the kids in the church nursery are going to give HIM any trouble! Rod says that he actually looks like our future football player. :) The day after the fall, Baby developed a high fever. Must have been a gift from his big brother, Boo. Boo was out on Tuesday with a high fever. Ahhh, parenting...does it get any "funner" than this? Only slightly kidding! My nervous breakdown followed on Thursday night. Fortunately for all of you, there are no pictures to show that meltdown.

Our Home

Many of you that we love dearly have never seen our home. Hopefully you will enjoy this little tour. The pictures are showing up randomly. But you'll be able to see our open family room/kitchen, as well as the basement that my wonderful husband and our equally wonderful uncle labored over. We have plenty of room for guests, so come on over and we'll give you the tour personally.