Pocky Dots

The other day the boys were playing in the rain puddles.

I went out to call them in for dinner and Eli says,

"I have pocky dots!"

What you can't see is his back was covered and his eye

lids actually looked like he used the mud as eye shadow.

"Take this child...and nurse it for me." - Today's Devotional

I want to share today's devotional from The Word for You Today.

"Dr. James Dobson writes: 'I attended a wedding in a beautful garden setting in which 150 colorful helium balloons were released in to the California sky. Within seconds they were scattered across the heavens - some rising hundreds of feet, others cruising toward the horizon. They all began from the same launching pad, were filled with the same helium, and ascended in the same conditions. Yet within minutes they were separated by a mile or more. A few balloons struggled to clear the upper branches of trees, while the show-offs became mere pinpoints of color on their journey to the sky. How interesting, I thought - and how symbolic of children.'
Parent, you help determine how high your child will rise. So: (a) Create the right climate in your home. The words you speak, the order you establish, the music and television programs you allow, are molding their character and their future. If you're too busy to notice these things - you're too busy! (b) Give them the right mentors. Ruth followed Naomi. Timothy followed Paul. Your children are going to follow someone. The question is, who? Your best defense against destructive influences is offensive teaching, and a Christ-like example. Read God's Word to them each day. Pray over them - and with them. Do it! Don't be shy. The molester and drug dealer are not shy! Speak up! You can't improve on the words of Pharaoh's daughter,
given to Moses' mother as she saved her son from the waters of the Nile that would have consumed him. "Take this child...and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Parent, you have no greater responsibility! And if you do it right, you'll have no greater reward!"

My Comments on this devotional:

WOW! What a call to stand up and speak God's word over our children! Dr J Dobson is a very wise man! My friend Michele adopted a brilliant young lad and she has been going through the trenches with and for him. She does what this devotional says....she prays over him, speaks God's word over and to him and this summer began to see a big change in him. Praise God! God's word is truth & light that breaks the darkness. As she has been speaking this over her son and into his life, light has been invading that darkness in his life. This little boy has gone through and lived through more things than most, all in the foster care system. My friend stepped up and took him as hers. God has and will continue to honor her patience, persistence and faith in Him and her son. I believe that when this little boy is completely healed which is coming very soon - he is going to stand before his church, his family and the school he attends and will give God all the glory for (1) healing him of his past hurts, (2) give thanks for a mom in the trenches, (3) be able to attest to the love and mercy that God has for him and others out there that have gone through the same things he has.
Our God is a big GOD! A solid foundation to stand on (like the Rock of Ages) is what our children need to succeed in life. We are responsible for helping them have that foundation! My dear friend Michele, you are giving Marcus that foundation! Stay in the trenches, stay on your knees fighting for Marcus and bringing him before our Heavenly Father, and and don't you give up! God has a mighty big plan for Marcus and for you! Remember: Staying Patient, Persistent and Faithful towards God and Marcus will prevail over all those dark moments that he is continuing to fight. We love you!

Quiet!

Oh how the house sits quietly. It is so quiet! No tv, no children, just the water running from the fish filter. It's 12:30 and all 4 children are at school! AHHHHH! It is so nice to have quiet!.......


It's 7pm and now the house is filled with noise, lots of noise, Jaron is whining because his creation isn't working, the tv is blaring and I can hear the twins and Kris arguing over who gets to be Spiderman in the bedroom....

Sara & Eli had a great time at school. Eli came running in saying-look what I got! He had a fruit roll up something I do not buy for my children, fruit snacks but never roll ups they are so messy. He was so excited he told me everything about school. He said he has lots of boys in his class to play with. Then there was Sara, who although loves tacos at home decided that tacos are yucky at school. She said she played with the dollies and played house with "that little girl". They both thought the playground was a the best, naturally.
They did so well when we dropped them off. I wasn't sure which one would attach themselves to my leg...it was Sara. Eli just walked right in and sat down with the boys to color. Sara on the other hand would not sit with "that little girl" and sat next to Eli with the other boys. I had to help her sit down but once she was sitting next to Eli she was just fine.
I am proud of myself, no tears well maybe one or two as we walked home. They are excited to go back tomorrow which makes sending them so much easier!
Until next time....

My Babies....Are going to Pre-K!

Here they were 4 wks old wearing baby doll clothes!

Eli was just under 6 lbs and Sara was just above 5 lbs.

My have they grown! I can't believe how fast time

has gone by. I still can remember the days I spent

in the hospital trying to keep them from coming too

early! Then the days in the NICU, thank God

it was only for 3 weeks but it was a long time

for us as a family - I had two little boys at

home that need me too!

And now.......

Here they are looking so grown up at their

Aunt Nennie's wedding! Naturally Sara is leading!

Tomorrow they start pre-K. Sure it's only for

3 hours a day but I haven't been apart from

them for that long since they were in the NICU!

Reason I am sending them...

Well for one its a free service here in IL if they

meet the criteria. Which they do! But really

its for them. I have seen how pre-K really helped

Kristofer socially. I believe this will help

Eli and Sara break away from always being

with each other. Not that there is anything wrong

with that! I love that they enjoy being with

each other. But I want them to be independent of

each other to. They have a tendency to rely on each

other so much that I am afraid it may hinder

them when they enter Kindergarten.

Plus this will give Sara a chance to play with

other little girls her age. It's hard for her

to always have just the boys to play with.

We (Sara & I) play dollies and house

but sometimes Mommy is not enough.

Sara told me today, "I can have lots of

girl friends and I don't have to play with Eli."

-Yes Sara- "But Mommy I want Eli to have

friends to but I have to be his best friend."

Eli says in response, "Sara you are my bestest

friend and sister!"

So tomorrow I let my babies go...just for a little while.

The master escape artist!

This is Tido!

Tido is a Netherlands Dwarf Rabbit and will not get much bigger than this. Tido in this picture was being housed in a large dog cage. He loved it! Then Judah came and we have moved Tido to a large storage bin. It gives him the same amount of area to hop around and stretch out. The problem is he has figured out it has no lid. Right now he is being kept in our dining room area until we can get him a new cage. The little booger is so smart! He has master jumping over the edge which is 2.5 feet high and loves to hop as fast as his little legs can take him around the house. Each morning we have gone on a bunny hunt! He is such a good little bunny excepted for the constant jail breaks!

It's FRIDAY!

So the week has slipped by rather quickly...is this how the rest of the school year will go...the kids hope so! This morning, I sadly had a gallbladder attack. Thankfully it wasn't like the one that sent me to the hospital but it was still quite painful. Unfortunately on Wed, I had to cancel my appointment with the surgeon..long story. Anyway I was just commenting to a friend that I had not had any problems since I went to the ER a few weeks ago. I guess I should keep my mouth shut! Oh it hurt so bad!
Once all the kids were awake I asked them to pray for me. They are such troopers! The immediately came over and held my hand and Jaron led them in prayer for me. Kris thought he should stay home with me cause I was sick and Daddy was at work. I told him I would be fine - he needed to go to school so I could rest. He thought that was a better idea although Jaron reassure him that today was Friday and that means no school tomorrow.
Thankfully I am fine now. I go to the surgeon on Thurs of next week. Honestly I was going to do my best to protest having surgery but after this morning I will gladly let him take the stupid organ. Question - Why did God create organs that can be removed and we can still live without them?? Maybe that is one question I will have to ask when Jesus returns for His people!
AHHH Friday....tomorrow we get to sleep in! The best day of the week I think!

Following the rules

Today was Kristofer's big day at school with his whole class, 20 is the count so far. From what we were told he did really well. Honestly the behavior is not what concerns me the most. Well maybe a little but it his weak fine motor skills that worry me. He can barely write his name KRIS without his hand becoming sore and tired. This year will be a long one unless God heals his hands!


Kris was so excited to say aloha to me. It's his "A" word that he is learning. He told me everything he learned about Hawaii all in a matter of seconds! Other things were too important like going outside to make a mud ball.

This is how Kris spends his day every day...playing in the mud. Maybe he will become a soil scientist like his Uncle Eugene in Colorado!!

The Classic Mug Shot

YEA! The first day of Kindergarden and 2nd grade has ended! What a mug shot huh! You can't tell they are excited about going today at all can you? The day went really well. As usual mom worries over nothing! That's OK I have the right to do so...I gave birth to these kids!
What I love about our school: The family atmosphere! The school is a small country school that has Pre-K through 8th grades. The boys are able to be together for morning recess as well as lunch time. Also lets say Kris is having problems and needs a brother hug. They will allow Jaron to come and be with him for a few minutes to help him. This applies to Sara and Eli as well when they start Pre-K next week. So today Kris spent a little more than a hour with his big bro. This helps big time at lunch. Jaron is able to encourage Kris to socialize and eat his lunch. Jaron said, " I kept telling Kris to eat so he could get as smart as I am." It worked cause Kris ate everything! YEA! That is a huge improvement over last year when he started Pre-k for the first time!
Kris' teacher is wonderful! We have talked a few times and she said my info has been very helpful in understanding how to help Kris adjust. Today it was just half his class in attendance. Tomorrow he will not go so the other half gets to go. This way the teacher can spend time evaluating their strengths and weaknesses without contending with the whole class. Wed he will start full time with the whole class. We'll see how he adjusts to that!
Jaron said he loves 2nd grade so far. (He hasn't gotten homework yet!) He told me that the only thing he doesn't like is that the classroom is either super cold or super hot. So he has to bring a jacket to school.
All in all the day was good! It was SO QUIET without the two of them. Just the little voices of Sara and Eli playing. Next week will be so strange when they go to pre-K. I am not sure what I will do with myself .... oh maybe a I will! :)
Hope everyone else had a great first day of school too!
until next time....

Meet Judah

This is our Judah. She is the most loving, smart and quickly learning to be obedient, newest family member. She came to us over a week ago and made herself home on our front porch. It became evident that no matter how much we tried she wasn't budging. It's as if she new this was her home before we knew she was ours.
She is slowly getting use to the collar and the leash. She primarily stays where we are which is nice to not have to use a leash in our own yard. She loves the neighbors cats and they have taken to her instantly.
Thankfully she hasn't paid much attention to our ferrets. She has smelt them pushed them with her nose but hasn't tried to hurt them. Although we will not be leaving them alone together unless the ferrets are in their safe cage.
She is adjusting to her new surroundings and is even potty trained!! YEA!
We are so grateful and thankful that God has blessed us with Judah and we give Him all the praise!

Monday is on the way...

It's done! We have officially registered all four kids for school. Jaron will be in 2nd grade...ok, I remember his first day of Kinder-garden...does it get easier to let them go??? Then Kris..oh my, Kinder-garden! Is he ready? Am I ready? Is his teacher ready? I can't believe it in 2 more days he will no longer be the little boy that watches for his brother to come home from school.
Kris comes to me this afternoon and says..."I am scared of kinder-garden." Why? "Cause I want to stay home with you." What are you scared of..."not being with you." I reassure him that he is going to have fun and learn lots of things. He looks at me with tears and says, "but Mommy I can't write my name good, it hurts my hand to hold the pencil. I just can't go to school. I need to stay with you." His fears of failure emerge, I reassure him that his OT will help him and more importantly that God is on his side and He promises with His help that Kris can and will accomplish all things!
Then the twins...oh my...preschool. What am I thinking? I know its only half day and I do look forward to some time with complete quiet in the house and time alone (cleaning, doing laundry, all the mom chores without the kids around...yea! or possibly a part time job...If God opens that door!) But these are my babies! My last little ducklings to leave the nest?!! Not sure if Mom can handle this one. Oh they will have lots of fun! Sara looks forward to playing with the girls ..."Mommy Eli has to play with the boys!" As we walked the long hallway to their room they stopped to tell each teacher or school staff that they were looking for each others teacher. Eli says to Kris' teacher, "Sara's teacher looks like my teacher I think." Really? "Yea, but she likes boys better." Which naturally makes Sara mad and respond with, "Eli boys are stupid!" Oh I hope she keep thinking that way for a long long time!
Monday Kris and Jaron head off for school, summer ends for them...the twins start on the 28th. I am sure when they are all entering their senior year in high school (will be sooner than I want) I will look back on these days and long for them to return.....

God, bless the children! Watch over them as

they leave our homeand enter the

public schools. Let them be a light that

shines Your love! Help them over come the

struggles they have and help them

give You the recognition You

deserve when they excel! ~~AMEN!

What a dog she was!

Today is a sad day in our home. Bridget took a turn for the worse yesterday. She stopped eating and we barely could get her to drink. Her strength was minimal and after consulting a local vet we decided that there was nothing else we could do for her. Even with all the medical services the vet could provide he could not guarantee that she would live through the weekend. So to forgo the high cost of care we have chosen to end her misery.
It's not something we wanted to do but the previous owners whether by accident (she ran away?) or due to not having the resources did not take care of her, therefore making it very difficult to help her. When animal services came to get her the gentlemen were completely amazed at her condition. They too could not believe what they saw and they pick up strays all the time.
Had she been taken care of properly, she would have been a very loving and loyal dog. She showed us that in the time she was with us. The two days she had the strength she followed us every where, laying in our lap or at our feet. She could have been a happy, ball/soft toy fetching pup. She showed us that by carrying around a small beany baby basset hound. She was all of these things and could have lived a long happy dogs life had she had the proper care and love.
When you see a stray wondering your streets remember Bridget and don't close your door or turn a blinds eye. Reach out and do something! Even support your local animal shelter! There are hundreds of dogs, cats, and other animals searching for a home...have your dog or cat spayed or neutered!

Facts about SPD/SID

TEN TRUTHS ABOUT SPD

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a complex disorder

of the brain that affects developing children.

One in twenty children are known to suffer

from Sensory ProcessingDisorder-and

that's a conservative estimate.

Children with SPD experience everyday sensory

information such as touch, sound, sight, taste, smell,

movement, and body awareness differently

than other children their age.

Parent surveys, clinical assessments, and

laboratory protocols exist to identify children with SPD.

Some sensational kids feel so bombarded by sensory

information that they become withdrawn and isolated.

Other sensational children actively seek sensory

experiences, even when these endanger them.

Such "sensory seekers" frequently are

labeled "aggressive," "disruptive," and

"out of control." Preschools may exclude

or expel these kids because of their behavior.

By the time they reach kindergarten, children with

sensory dysfunction are already at high risk for

social isolation, poor self-esteem, and academic failure.

Because their hidden handicap is little-known

and little-understood, sensational kids are often

undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with another childhood

disorder, such as ADHD, and may receive the

wrong treatment as a result.

This is beginning to change. Within ten years,

Sensory Processing Disorder will be as

widely recognized as ADHD and autism are today.

There is hope and help is available

for sensational children now.

Copied from www.sensationalkids.org

We have a name!

What's in a name? A name gives a pet a place of belonging, character and a connection with their caregivers. For us it has created a new family member.
First thank you to all that responded to a private email asking for names!
It was a hard decision to make! We had over 25 names to chose from. It came down to two...Dixie and Bridget. It took us more than 5 times voting as a family. Each time it was tied. Finally we put each name in a bowl and everyone got to pick a folded piece of paper....democracy at its best...no recount due to "chads" here!
Drum roll please........

The winning name is...........BRIDGET!

Jaron picked this name and stuck to it all day! In the end it won by a lead of 2 votes. Remember though it was all done by chosing a paper out of the bowl! Both names were equally loved. Other runner ups were as follows;

Mia, Hope, Lucky, Rosie, Trixie, Chansu, Daisy, Holly

Personally I loved Dixie but since we did not chose this dog, God gave her to us we decided that a family vote is what was needed this time around.

Update:
Bridget is doing better every hour we see a change. She is wagging her tail even though it seems to be broken in one spot. She has gained enough strength to push a fan out of the way to get in the house. Tonight she started barking at the ferrets in a soft voice but its a good sign her hunting insticts are there. Also just a few moments ago we heard her scratching at the door to come in. All good signs.
Tonight in Adventure Kids at church we discussed how God cares for the sparrows...cats...dogs... and how much more He cares for us (Luke 12:6-7).
If God's word says he cares for His creation then He cares for Bridget. Please pray that Bridget's neck and back muscles will begin to loosen up and that she will be able to turn her neck on her own. We belive it is due to the starvation she has endured because after I massage her neck for 15 minutes she is able with my gentle help to turn her head. God can do a miracle for her just as He does even more for us.

Refugees...

Our refugee has brought another refugee to our

home. Monday, Baby (to give her a name)

showed up on our porch. She is a small beagle,

maybe 2/3 yrs old, who has definitely been

mistreated and not fed in a very long time.

She is nothing but skin and bones

and is so weak! It's sad to see her in this

shape or any dog for that matter!
All I could think about was what a great

dog she could be if someone would have

just taken care of her.

Just a moment to rant!!
In my honest opinion people
that treat dogs or any animals this way

should be treated the same! No animal

deserves to starve to death and be mistreated

this way! If you can't even feed your pet the

scraps off your table, that you will probably

throw in the garbage,

then DON'T get another pet!
It may not be the best diet for the animal
but at least it isn't starving to death!


Monday the temp outside was 99 degrees

w/a heat index of 108. The dog was so hot I

immediately tried to scoop her up but
she fell off the porch and just laid there.

It was so sad. I put her in the tub, cooled her

down and cleaned her up. She was covered

in briers, mud and a few ticks.

My good friend Michele, (thank you) has been

such a help with her. She gave us some great advice

on how to help her. She has been wormed, bathed,

tick & flea meds. given and we have been feeding

her every 4 times a day 1/2 cup of dry puppy

food mixed with a tablespoon of cottage cheese.
At first she was barely able to finish the 1/2 cup

but she isnow able to finish it and looks for more.

She is gaining her strength back. Her eyes

are no longer glassy and she has even barked at

our ferrets once or twice. She likes to follow us

around, specially the kids. Last night she started

wagging her tail when she saw me.

Which is a huge improvement!

For now we have a new pet. We are going to nurse

her back to health and see how she does. My intentions

were to nurse her to health and then find a home for her,

but Sean seems to have taken to her and has said

we may keep her. We'll see...

Update on the other refugees!

Oh our other refugees (Judah and Buddy-the brother)

are still camping out on our front lawn. We are not

feeding them hoping they'll go home. Personally

I would love to keep Judah. So far though

they just come and go. Judah pretty much stays

here. They are thieves! We keep finding articles of

clothing in our yard every morning that do

not belong to us. Not sure where these two are

getting them from. We an old baby blanket,

boxer shorts and this am we had

a torn up teddy bear.

Judah...a refugee...

We recently...yesterday...found out that not only is our small community a host to a variety of not so pleasant things but is consider a "dropping grounds." It is home to a variety of homeless cats and dogs. I knew we had a plethera of cats, well we did in our back yard until about a month ago when all but two have disappeared. The word around our neighborhood is that someone has collected them and taken them to a research lab. I'm not sure but our kitty Daisy was part of the missing cats/kittens...frown...
Anyway, yesterday we had two unexpected visitors appear on our front lawn. Two young black lab mix pups, I am guessing to be approx. 6 mo old. One male the other female. The kids naturally took to them like a bear and honey. The poor things were covered in ticks of various sizes. After about 5 hrs of them hanging in our yard we fed them some scraps & gave them some water. We tried shooing them away with no success. So I spent an hour sitting on my porch pulling all the ticks off of both of them over 30 total. I know the female, who we have been calling Judah (Praise), must have been very grateful because she seemed to be so relieved. I cleaned up their ears and at midnight the pair were still on our front porch.
This morning we woke to just Judah waiting for her breakfast I guess. We did feed her and after church we gave her a great sudsy bath. At first she was terrified but I kept talking to her and she finally calmed down. She was much happier and prettier when she was finally dry. I even had some extra BioSpot for fleas & ticks that we put on her. At least she will be safe from those nasty ticks for a month.
We are not sure what we are going to do with her. We have been told that someone rescued the two of them from being killed but they do not want them or need them. They have too many dogs as it is. We will wait and see if she returns home until then we will host this loving refugee outside. She loves the kids and the kids love her naturally. I believe she has been mistreated, she is very timid and lays down in submission when you go to pet her but greets us with a body wag (tail wagging uncontrolably) when we go outside to check on her.
The great thing is the kids know she is God's creation and we must take care of His creation, so if she should leave and return to the home she came from then we know that we have done everything we can for her in the short time she has taken refuge on our porch.
I will try to post a pic of her but I am having problems with posting pics.

Living with SID

SID - Sensory Integration Disorder....That is what Kristofer lives with day in and day out. There is never a day that he doesn't experience something more than his body can handle. To put it plainly, he experiences all of his 7 senses at one time. His brain is still learning how to tune out the hum of the lights and the ceiling fan so that he can concentrate on what I may be saying to him.

Some days he is fine, small things will bother him but not enough to set him off into a "melt down". Other days everything sets him off and its as if the whole world is attacking him. It's on those days that I have to really pray for guidance and ask the Lord to help me figure out how to help him feel safe. Today, actually this afternoon was one of those "the world is attacking me" days. It is never just one thing that sets him into orbit so figuring out what it is rather difficult. Sometimes he can tell me what is hurting him, most of the time its the feeling of the clothes on his skin. He has come a long way with that!

He went most of his life without clothing on unless he had to be dressed for church or public outing. I use to put his shorts on and bring his shirt, socks and shoes with me and dress him before entering church or the store. If I did dress him he would somehow get everything off while strapped in his car seat.

Today he couldn't tell me what was hurting him or bothering him. One minute he was screaming the next he was crying. So I start by turning the TV off, then the fan, pull the blinds down and find him a blanket. The other kids were playing in their rooms so that helped with noise. Kristofer helped me make a tent with the chairs and the blanket and he hid inside for about 20 minutes. By the time he came out I had the home made play dough cooling for him to play with.

When he came out of his "safe place" he asked for his favorite drink "choc. milk" but we had no choc. so he settled for pink (strawberry) milk. He then sat at the table quietly playing with the play dough until I turned the ceiling fan on...then he started screaming again. I turned it off and he said, "Thank you Mommy, the wind hurts me." It's so hot outside and it's not the coolest inside so I thought the cool breeze from the fan would help him but I was wrong.

Some days he spends a lot of time jumping on the furniture or running into me or his brothers. It's on those days that I get his exercise trampoline out and let him jump. Sometimes we set up an obstacle course for him and his sibs or we head to the playground.

We never know what the day will bring for Kristofer. We learn daily with him and for him.

Today was worn me out...they usually do when Kris does alot of crying....

School Supply Rant

OK Can I just rant for a few minutes! What are schools for? To educate our kids right! Now my understanding to the constitution, country and state laws are that all children are entitled to a free education....right?! Which my understanding is that it is funded through our tax dollars.
So why in the world do the schools charge a book rental fee? It costs us $18 a child per year! What are our tax dollars paying for??? Not only are parents suppose to supply all the supplies such as crayons, markers, scissors, pencils, pens, backpacks, but some of the lists I have seen have asked for not one or two packs of crayons but 4 or 6 packs. One list I saw asked for a coloring book, huh? Who am I supplying all these extra crayons for?? Not only do we supply for our kids, but the teacher asks for things for themselves, ok I know they themselves have limited funding for supplies, I get that, so I don't mind supplying maybe one package of black sharpie pens but 3 packs...I don't think so!
On top of that the kids have to have a second pair of shoes for gym. They don't want dirt in the gym...ok, but then why take the kids through the gym to play outside for recess and walk them back through the gym with dirt on their shoes? Make sense yet??? Not to me! (Thank you Mom for helping with the shoes!)
Now thankfully stores like Wal-Mart offer great prices on things such as 12 cent crayons and everything is marked down real cheap. I love it at this time cause you can get a bunch of things really cheap. I like to get as much as I can afford to stock away and use as stocking stuffers for the kids. But this year I have 4 kids to buy for and the lists are completely different for the boys and the twins.
Guess there is really nothing to do but get the supplies, bite the bullet and pay the fees...but I will not buy more than one pack of anything for the teachers right now. It really starts to add up when there are 4 kids. The teachers will just have to wait for their endless supply of things from this family.
I have friends that are teachers and I truely respect what they do, they shape the future of our nation! But you too have to wait and be appreciative of those families that just don't have all the money in the world to buy 3-4 packs of dry erase pens per child!
Thank you for letting me rant...I feel better now!

God bless the teachers with courage to teach the truth and for the Christian teachers out there, remember to pray for your students they all need your prayers! We pray for our kids teachers and school every day.

Mud Pies

Remember when you were little and after the rain or with the help of a "not to be on" hose you create a huge mud puddle...and eventually you make the most wonderful mud pies?! Naturally you have to share them with your mommy and daddy who probably have no idea that you are completely covered in mud.
So it is with our kids. They absolutely love the mud puddles that the rain leaves behind in our yard or they create them with the hose that is "not to be on". Oh they will say but Mom we were watering your tomatoes or the watermelon but Mom is definately aware of the tactics by now!
So it has been the last few days. We have two very large areas in our front lawn that collect the rain water. If it were a true ditch it would drain better but it doesn't. During the winter we had tiny ice rinks for the bugs as Jaron called them. Kris just thought it was amazing to see how the water turned to ice. That was pretty cool coming from Florida where all the water does is evaporate or breed mosquitoes!
Right now we have two big puddles that are trying to form one. Kristofer decided to create a dam and stop them from becoming one. With his lungs full he screams for the whole neighborhood, "Mommy come see my dam!" Now remember Sean is a Pastor and we live in the church parsonage so the whole neighborhood knows who we are. As a couple of kids are riding by I hear, "Wow the Pastor's kids are aloud to cuss!" Naturally I was completely mordified. I mean how do you correct that statement to kids who really don't care what the truth is.
But I digress... mud pies! Our kids have master the mud pie! Despite my pleas for no mud pies in the house, I find them in the oddest places. Such as in my oven, in the microwave or even in the freezer. When I question who did this naturally "Not-Me" gets blamed but eventually Kris will say, "but I wanted to see what would happen." At least its easily cleaned up!
So here's to mud pies! I shall treasure them for soon there will be no mud pies to find....

Introducing the Diaper Heads!

The oldest two of the Diaper Heads!

Jaron was almost 4 and Kristofer was

22 months.

The other happy Diaper Heads...the twins! 21 months old

Could this be the next Christian Band???

Summer growth....

Where does time fly??? It seems as if just yesterday I was finding out and surprising Sean with the news that I was pregnant...later to find out it was a boy and we named him Jaron. This summer has been a great time of growth for Jaron. He is entering 2nd grade this year. I remember when he took his first steps...and now he is running around the baseball diamond!

Just the other day I sat and was watching him ride his bike for the first time without training wheels. He was and is so proud of himself! I am too! You see at the beginning of the summer we removed his training wheels by his request. He tried it a few times, fell, and just gave up. He parked his bike in the shed and He said, "It can stay there, rust away and become home to the spiders!" with tears in his eyes he ran to his room and slammed the door.

It broke my heart to see him so discouraged. We tried all summer to get him to try again. He just kept saying, "No I'm a failure at everything!" So as the summer progressed and baseball was underway, I heard those words again..."I'm a failure at everything!"...when he couldn't catch the ball. He at

one time wanted to quit but we wouldn't let him reassuring him that "through Christ he could do anything!" When he caught the first ball I was so proud of him and even out in the outfield I could see this huge smile on his face as his team and coaches were yelling, "Way to Go Jaron!"

Now as he rides his bike in circles around the other kids with his badges of courage; scraped up knees, elbows and even his toes are pretty torn up toes (refuses to wear his shoes...he'll learn...won't he Uncle Ronnie!) I see in him a changed little boy. He is growing up so fast!

I use to sing this little song when he was a baby, the other night he asked me to sing his song to him before going to sleep....treasured moments that I shall always hang on to...

"You are my baby, my little boy

Mommy loves you and daddy does too.

You are my baby, my little boy

Mommy loves you and daddy does too.

One day you'll gorw up

One day you'll move away

But in my heart

You'll Always stay...my little boy"

I love you Jaron!

Reason for the name!

We have decided to blog! Since we live so far from family & friends, we think this may be the easiest way for you to keep up with all that is going on with the kids. We want you to be a part of how they are growing, changing and learning. This hopefully will be the easiest way for you to stay connected to them and us.



As for the name....we really couldn't pick a name that was fitting except this one, "The Diaper Heads." This name came about when Jaron & Kristofer were much younger. I am hoping that I have a picture of how this name came about. Anyway, all four kiddos, had dragged in all my pots, large bowls and cups into the livingroom. When I came into see what they were doing, they all had pull-ups on their heads and were all jamming out. Sara was singing and playing the keyboard, Eli was banging his drums (the pots), Kris was banging his drums (the bowls) and Jaron was playing his toy guitar! I had to laugh and that is when I dubbed the "band" as the Diaper Heads. Up until this last month they still would put those pull ups on and dance around & sing!

(YEA NO MORE PULL UPS or DIAPERS!)



Stay tuned in for more history in the making!