What happened to my baby?!

Adah showing off her teeth

Her first steps (it's really hard to take a picture of a newly walking baby)

Yeah Adah!

Using the toilet

Drinking from her cup



What happened to my sweet little infant? She has been replaced by a sippy cup drinking, toilet training (yes, I know it's crazy but I have learned that babies can be toilet trained too.. and no I'm not kidding!), and WALKING little girl. Of course she's still sweet and she is still a ten month old baby.. but this week she has grown tons!
She's been toilet training for several weeks and had an amazing day yesterday...she only wet her diaper once during the day and went on the toilet the rest of the day:) She also had her first pony tail the other day! (Not sure if you call some hair sticking straight up on the top of her head a pony tail , but at least she has some hair to pull up)
And yesterday she also took her first steps unassisted! Not just one or two but at least 6 before she fell. I think she's determined to keep up with her brothers and sister.

It's so exciting and wonderful to watch her learn new things..but also a little sad because she's growing up so fast!

One for the record books!

The day after we got home from vacation my Dad & Matt took Elijah on his first real golf outing! Now Elijah took golf lessons this summer but had never played a "real course" before and he's been itching to get out there and test his skills. So Friday was his first attempt at golf and it will go down in the record books (at least the family ones!)
On his very first hole he shot a birdie! He hit the fairway on the first shot then chipped it right in on the second shot. Yes, my seven year old beat his grandpa and dad on the first hole! I can't believe he shot a birdie on his very first hole on his very first time golfing! I'm so proud! I wish I could've been there for that one.
The rest of the round went well for him too but I don't think we'll ever forget his first hole of golf!

What a week!

Me, Anna, my Dad, & Elijah








Matt, me & the kids








Levi in front of the ship (the background looks fake doesn't it? It's not!)










Elijah working hard in the sand










What a group!












The kids enjoyed the towel animals and treats the room steward left behind each night after dinner








Levi concentrating hard during dinner









Our little mermaid:)







Here I was worrying about Hurricane Ike hitting the carribean & gulf while we were on vacation and it totally missed us there...but here at home in Cincy, Ike hit?! How ironic is that?!
Anyways, we had a great trip and great weather! What fun we had. The kids had a blast and we were exhausted after the trip because there was so much to do-the kids even begged to go to bed everynight because they were beat!
The highlight of my trip was the beach at Grand Cayman, absolutely perfect! I could move there!
Still trying to clean up the mess Ike left behind here at home and get laundry caught back up! We'll start school back tomorrow so our vacation is officially over
:( It was good while it lasted

Our new pets

Our kids have a facination with making pets out of creatures they find in the backyard. We had 4 caterpillars this spring which they made a home for in a planter box with sticks and leaves, unfortunately they all left their new home after about 5 days. We had a couple of crickets the kids caught a few weeks ago that they had to let go after a day. We've had pill bugs and lady bugs. Each "pet" is properly named and the kids usually create some sort of home for it. They find out what their pets eat and try to provide food and water. Of course the pets don't usually stick around too long since the homes are outdoors and open spaces. So sometimes they stick around for a couple days or weeks and sometimes they are gone the next morning. Even though our pets always leave the cozy homes the kids make, whenever they see that species of bug they will say something like, hey look it's Princess(caterpillar) or Joe (pill bug)!
Yesterday they found their newest "pets"...slugs. They all have names (Slimy Joe, Nemo, Missy Anna, and Hammy) and the kids have created a new home for them out of some outdoor put-put golf tracks and small chairs. They even made a playground for their pets:) And the very first thing they all did early this morning is run outside to check how their new pets faired the night. Elijah was even nice enough to "camoflage Slimy Joe so he wouldn't be eaten by birds" by covering him with some dirt.
They have set up a roatation on checking on the pets through out the day since they are outdoor pets.
It's funny and sweet at the same time.
When I question whether or not we should get a more traditonal pet for the kids, I think about how much I enjoy watching them with their outdoor pets! And how it costs nothing but some creativity and love to take care of our outdoor "pets".

Reading Adventures

Anna is learning to read. She is really getting the hang of it and I am of course a proud mom. It's very special for me since I am her teacher and I get to see the fruit of the hard work we've done. There's something special about teaching your child new things, whether it's teaching a toddler to go potty by themself or teaching a preschooler to tie their shoes, ride a bike, or write their name; but for me teaching my children to read has been extra special. They go from dependant observer and listener to a more engaged and independant learner.
Anyways, Anna and I were at the store the other day and she was looking around at all the words and phrases around her and reading them aloud to me. After reading several signs and labels she said to me, "mom, I just CAN"T STOP READING!" It was great! She was like a sponge that could not help but absorb everything around her. She is beginning to realize all the information she didn't see before. And it really struck me that she was content before she knew how to read, but now that she knows more and has started to read on her own, a whole new world has been opened to her, she has a new hunger to learn and grow. I am so proud because she "just can't stop reading!"

happy birthday

This week has been filled with birthdays of some very special people!
Happy Birthday to Daddy on Tuesday, Aunt Kelly on Wednesday, and Grandma Janet on Thursday!
Happy Birthday! We love you!

My Nemesis

Nemesis- noun meaning "something a person cannot conquer; an opponent or rival whom a person cannot beat or overcome"

My nemesis is laundry. We have a laundry chute in our house which sounds great because hampers never overflow (we don't even have hampers anymore) and the floors stay clear of dirty clothes (for the most part) but you kinda forget about all the dirty clothes since they vanish down the chute into the basement. Until you go down to the basement and realize it's been a couple of days since you've been down there and there are mounds and mounds of dirty clothes to be washed, folded, and put away. Part of me wanted to turn around and go back upstairs and pretend I didn't notice the 8 ft pile of dirty clothes. Okay I'm exaggerating about the pile being 8 ft high, but only a little! Looks like I'll be spending the next several days sorting, cleaning, & folding:)

By the way, the picture of the kids in the laundry is clean clothes! They aren't folded neatly and put away yet but at least they're clean:)

From our garden

We started a small vegetable garden this year. Here are a few things we picked today. We are growing tomatoes and peppers. We also have 2 apple trees that have produced some good apples that we've used to snack on, make apple crisps, coffee cakes, and applesauce. Yum!

The kids have been very involved in planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting all our goodies. It has been a great learning experience for all of us and we have really enjoyed eating the fresh veggies and fruits. We are planning a bigger garden for next year and will try growing more veggies and will start most of them from seed. We've been reading lots of gardening books to prepare for next season. We'll start digging the new garden out and planning it this fall to get ready for spring planting.

Are you kidding me?!

3 Hurricanes, are you kidding me?! Currently there are 3 tropical storms brewing and will all likely turn into hurricanes in the next couple of days. 3! No big deal to those of you staying away from the coasts and oceans.
But it's a huge deal to us! We are leaving in a week for Florida and then taking a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. These storms may have a big impact on our trip. We want to have a nice and safe trip. Please pray for us and our trip.