DATE: 12/15/2005 01:50:02 PM
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Today is Noah's 4th birthday! I can't believe how fast it's gone. Noah was born at 9:56am on Dec. 15, 2001.....6 weeks before his due date. Talk about a Christmas surprise! He is such a precious little boy and we are so blessed to have him.

He's been a tad confused because we had his birthday party Tuesday night at Kyle's mom's house. So, today after preschool, we went to a friend's house (very close friends of ours live a few houses down from us and have 3 boys as well.) We had a little celebration there, but he doesn't understand why he's not having a "real birthday party" today! Oh well.

Here are some pictures from the past few days....


No, he's not really cross-eyed. I guess he was staring too closely at the candles!

Noah at preschool.....I don't know what kind of face he's making!?!?

Making a gingerbread house at school.

The boys with their best friends......what a crew!!!

DATE: 12/07/2005 03:46:38 PM
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Because of Alison's inspirational blog about ramen noodles, I bought a couple packs last night at the grocery store. It's been a while since I tried them out with the boys. Lucas and Jacob have become very fond of chicken noodle soup, so I thought I could pass ramen off as the same thing.

So, for lunch today I made a pack of creamy chicken Ramen and told the boys they were having worm soup for lunch. It was a hit! Lucas and Jacob loved them!

I've never been so excited about Ramen in my life. I'm not a big fan myself, but if my kids will eat it (and it's sooo very cheap), then it'll become a staple in our household!

Long live Ramen! (and thanks Alison!)

DATE: 11/27/2005 05:38:36 PM
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Thanksgiving has never been a huge family gathering for our families. In fact, in almost 7 years of marriage, I can only remember 2 Thanksgivings that we spent with extended family. Kyle's parents go to their beach house in Myrtle Beach, SC, his brother and sister-in-law spend time with her family, my dad stays home and goes hunting and my mom goes to Knoxville to be with her mom.

That leaves us alone, most of the time. And, especially since Kyle did not get any day off except Thanksgiving, this year was no exception. My mom and grandmother came Monday but were gone by Wed. morning.

This is when it's nice to have such wonderful friends. Our church does not have Sun. night services and instead divides into groups to meet in homes throughout the week (home groups). Our home group consists of our pastor and his wife and 2 other young couples. Last week, after discussing our T'giving plans (or lack thereof), the 2 couples invited us to have T'giving dinner with them. (they live next door to each other and the husband of one couple and the wife of another are brother/sister.) So, we took them up on the offer and had a great time! I forgot the camera and regret it now, but with 3 couples and 9 kids under the age of 5, we were sure to not be bored!

Yesterday we ventured to a local tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Of course, it took us forever to find the right tree. It's almost impossible to find a tree with two indecisive, perfectionist people! We finally found one, though, and the kids had a blast walking around and watching Kyle cut the tree down.

Here are some pictures from the past few days.


BooBoo meets Ellie

Goin' on a tree hunt......

We found one!

Kyle cuts it down.

DATE: 11/27/2005 05:21:55 PM
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Last Monday, Ellie went to the doctor so we could get lab results from all her blood work and a weight check again. She finally gained a pound since coming home almost 2 months ago. Her labwork was all normal, except that she was a little anemic. Nothing a few iron drops can't fix. The doctor did, however, still hear a heart murmur. She thinks it's innocent, but because we have no medical history on Ellie, we're off to the cardiologist Dec. 6. She also recieved her 2nd round of vaccines. I was a little nervous because a month ago she had one of the vaccines and her eye swole up the next day. It cleared up quickly, but I wondered if it were an allergic reaction.

Monday night, I began to notice that the same eye was beginning to look a little puffy. Kyle told me I was seeing things, but Tuesday morning confirmed what I thought. When she woke Tues. morning, she looked as if she'd been in a brawl the night before. It just got worse and worse, began to drain gunky stuff, and by Tuesday afternoon it was in both eyes. I took lots of pictures in case it was gone by the time we got to the doctor, but I didn't even have to pull out the camera. Here eyes were evidence enough. Turned out to be Pink Eye which none of the rest of us caught, thank God! She looked sooo miserable, though. After a few doses of eye drops, she was back to her old self.


Here's Ellie on Tuesday morning before it was too bad.

DATE: 11/19/2005 03:29:23 PM
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On today's agenda was taking a picture for our Christmas card this year. We had orginally intended to have a photographer friend do this for us, but that never seemed to work out. So, we did it ourselves. Usually, we do this, and though some effort is involved, it turns out ok. This time, there was crying, kicking, screaming..........and that was just by me! LOL Seriously, though, it was chaos to get a 5 yr. old, (almost) 4 yr. old, 2 yr old., and 4 month old still, looking the same way and smiling all at the same time. Here is what much of our photo session turned out to be!





So, when you get our Christmas card this year, please know the story behind those angelic faces wishing you a Merry Christmas!
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DATE: 11/16/2005 10:56:00 PM
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I've never pretended to live a glamorous life. But, I do think it's a pretty blessed one. Our days are usually not anything special, just ordinary and routine. But, in those times of routine, if I look hard enough, there is always something so amazing. Today was one of those days. Nothing special. In fact, it was so ordinary, that I was tempted to wallow in self-pity. Feeding kids, changing diapers, teaching Lucas, refereeing fights, feeding kids again, changing more diapers, breaking up more fights...........and so it goes. After having a little whiny session to God, He made me realized how wonderful life actually is. We have a house that's more than one room (which is more than many people around the world can say), we have food and are not hungry, we have clothing and shoes, and although there's not a lot, we have money to keep our lights and water running and a few extra luxuries.

My kids drive me absolutely insane on rare occasions. Then I stop and think about those (even close friends) who would give anything for a baby, and I quit griping about my crew of children. I even wonder sometimes if anything we teach them is sticking in their little minds. But then we get a compliment as we did when we were eating out Sunday, and someone says "My husband and I were just talking about what well-mannered, well-behaved children you have." And it blows me away that they're speaking of My boys.

My husband was "hand-picked" for me. There was a song that was popular a few months ago, I guess. A line in the song says "I wonder what God was thinking, when He created you. I wonder if He knew everything I would need..........." I just keep thinking, of course He did. Kyle is such my opposite in many ways, but ways that I need someone to fill in those gaps in my life. He keeps me grounded and sane (and surprises me with Steven Curits Chapman Christmas concert tickets). In the words of Michael W. Smith (who my dear husband listens to with all tolerance because of me) he truly is "the other side of me."

God has given me so much.

Here are some pictures of our day today (which probably have nothing to do with my previous emotional spill)


Noah cheesin' it up for the camera.

Lucas.....he's getting so big!

Lucas and Ellie playing.

Jacob and Noah playing piano.

This isn't from today, but I thought he needed equal "airtime."

Last, but certainly not least, here's Ellie.

Kyle didn't like the 1st picture of Noah, so here's a little better one.










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DATE: 11/15/2005 01:50:37 PM
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BODY:
Our camera has been broken since we came home from Guatemala. However, the FedEx man just delivered it back to us today, so I can start posting more pictures!

Here is a picture that was taken a couple weeks ago with a disposable camera, so the quality isn't all that great.........but you get the idea.

Ellie is doing great. She had tons of blood/lab work done.....just routine stuff for an internationally adopted baby. We'll find out the results on Monday. The doctor also says she hears a soft heart murmur, but doesn't think it's anything major. we have to go back on Monday, and she said she'll listen for it again. So, we're praying that is just as she called it a "functional murmur."

Here's a picture of Ellie and I promise to have some more on here of all the kids later today or tomorrow!


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