Field Trip

Today I got to go on my first field trip with Connor. We went to a local farm first. It was set up really nice with many different stations that explained many different elements of the farm. They had a station about turning trees into paper, growing plants, sheering sheep, modern dairy farms, and many others. They even got ice cream sandwiches at the end :) There was one scary moment at the beginning when one of the little girls went over to the teacher, said she didn't feel good and proceeded to collapse on the ground. I don't think she actually fainted but she was awfully close. She was really pale and clammy. We put cool rags on her neck and got her some water while the teacher called her parents. Thankfully, sitting in a truck with the a/c and a nice cold popsicle, she perked up. Looks like she may have been dealing with ow blood sugar. Her mom arrived a little while later and though she was pretty much back to normal, decided to take her home. After the farm, we headed to Appalachian caverns. After a picnic lunch we headed down into the cave. It was really neat and interesting. The difference in temperature was crazy. You could feel it getting colder with every step you took. The tour guide showed us something called moon milk on the cave wall. While it is usually on the soft side, the patch we saw had basically died and had turned into stone.He said it is made of mostly the same thing as TUMS and that if you have heartburn, you could just lick it and it would instantly cure it (when it's still soft). He said he had tried it and it really does work. Apparently the indians used to use it. It made me wonder though, who the first person was who thought, "let me lick this substance on the cave wall and see what happens". We also got to see a couple of bats, which thrilled the kids. Connor took some pictures so I'll get them uploaded soon. He was thrilled to have a camera to take pics all byt himeself. I think he inherited my love of photography! It was a really nice trip and I'm so glad I was able to go!

Sitting By the Fire

Spring was definitely in the air yesterday. The weather was PERFECT. Mid 70's with a nice breeze, not a cloud in the sky. It was one of those days that just makes you smile. I had a planning meeting at work in the morning and we ordered pizza. Great start! Not long after I got home, the landscaper next door delivered the sod we had ordered. We spent the afternoon laying that and enjoying the beautiful day. The sod looks so good! It's so nice to have grass. I just wish we had ordered more so we could have done all the bare spots. Connor and Landon got home just as we finished. They helped us straighten up the back patio and then we headed in. The boys had had a walk a thon at school and they were worn out. Connor walked 13 laps (3 1/2 miles) in an hour and Landon walked 6 laps(1 1/4miles) in 30 minutes. They're trying to raise money for new smart boards in the classrooms. They did really good. Anyone who raises $100 gets entered into a drawing for a 52" plasma tv. That would be nice! While I was making dinner, Jenn called and asked if she could bring the kids over for an hour while she ran an errand. So, while the kids played, I got dinner finished and then we ate out on the deck. When we finished, Mike made a fire in the fire pit (that we had yet to use) and we roasted marshmallow and made smores. The kids had a blast. Tristen and Trinity had never had them before so they really enjoyed it. Noah especially enjoyed sharing everyone's smores :) Truly a wondeful day and night!

A few pics :)

Just wanted to post a few new pics of the boys. I finally got one of Noah plugging himself in :)

A little late

I've been meaning to post this for weeks now. A while back, I was able to go hear Candace Cameron speak at a local church. She played DJ on "Full House". It was really neat. She gave her testimony and spoke about her relationship with Christ over the last 10 years. At one point she talked about how she witnessed to Tom Arnold while they were filming a movie together last year. Not only was she a good speaker, but she was beautiful! She looks so much prettier in person than she did on tv. Here are a few pics :)

Busy but fun day!

We had a jam packed day today. This morning, we took the boys (minus Noah who stayed with Jenn) to see "Monsters vs Aliens". It was really cute and the boys really liked it. After that, we went home and planted our garden. We're doing lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, potatoes, and corn. It's out first go at it so hopefully something will grow! When we were done, we headed out to my friend Jenn's daughter's birthday party at a gymnastics center. The boys had a blast! On our way home, we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. My mom gave each o the boys gift cards so they got to have a kid's meal ( a rare treat since we usually just do the $ menu). We headed home and finished putting up some wire around the garden to keep the many rabbits out. Now we are getting ready for family movie night. We rented "Prince Caspian", the sequel to Narnia. It has been a wonderful day and I'm looking forward to a great night :)

Fevers, real and not so real.

This has been a long week for poor Noah. He started running a fever Easter Sunday. He still had it on Tuesday so he stayed home with Mike. He was a little cranky and had diarrhea a few times. We took him into the doctor on Wednesday and they couldn't find anything. His ears were clear and he tested negative for strep. The doc said, just fluids, tylenol and rest. Thursday, his fever was gone but he woke up with really puffy eyes. Several people said maybe it was allergies. Then Thursday night, he broke out in a rash all over his belly and back. My mom took one look and said it was Roseola. Sure enough, when I looked it up, he had all the symptoms. From the high fever and puffy eyes, to the rash that appeared as soon as the fever broke. Poor little guy was just feeling crummy. Thankfully, he is much better today. Liam had watched us take Noah's temp many times over the week. this morning, he got the thermometer and put it under his armpit. When it beeped, he pulled it out and announced that his "armpit was 20 pounds". Mike said "you've got a problem if your armpit is 20 pounds". It was so cute!

Egg Hunts and Peeps Necklaces

I took the boys to an egg hunt at a local church this morning. They started out with letting them make a necklace out of a marshmallow peep and fruit loops. I made one for Noah, which he promptly ate right off the string. They told them the Easter story and then let them each dye an egg. After that, they had the egg hunt. It was over pretty quickly. They had all the kids come back in and had a lunch of hot dogs and chips. It was nice but Noah was a little cranky. It was past his bedtime and he's got teeth number 10 and 11 coming in so he was ready to go. Connor and Landon wanted to go to the farm with mom and dad while Liam and Noah stayed with me. I told Liam to go lay on my bed and rest while Noah took his nap. Two hours later Liam came out. I asked him if he took a nap. He said "Yes, I took a nap with my eyes open." :) It's been a little chilly and windy today but the sun has come out so I think we're going to head outside. It's days like today that I wish we had a hammock!

Oh be careful little ears what you hear!

Liam loves music and loves singing. He is always walking around the house singing to himself. When we are in the van he always asks us to "Please uppin the radio!". We were on our way to Lowes this morning and as usual, Liam was in the back singing. We have a contemporary christian radio station on 99% of the time and he was singing along to one of the songs. It was the sweetest sound! It hit me just what a huge influence we have on our children. I realized that Liam would be singing along with whatever music we had playing. He is totally dependent on what we expose him to. The old saying"children learn whast they live" is so true. It made me think about what a huge responsibilty we have to our kids. I know the time is coming when Liam will be exposed to things I would rather he wouldn't. I just pray that we raise our kids to be strong enough and wise enought to make the right decsions. For now I will just enjoy listening to my 3 year old sing "There Will Be a Day" in the backseat :)

Nasty Wasps!

Poor Landon got stung by a wasp today. Mike and I were in the basement when he came screaming down the stairs. He was holding the back of his neck and said he hit a bee off his neck. I knew it must have been a wasp since we have seen quite a few outside the back door. The sting was right at the base of his hairline. It was really red and swollen. I mixed up a baking soda paste and put it on the sting. I told him to keep his head down for a minute to let it start to dry.
He started crying and said "But I don't have anything to look at!". I asked him what he meant and he said "All I have to look at is the floor!". I had to laugh. So I helped him lay sideways on the floor so he could watch something other than the floor :) At least we know he's not allergic to wasps now!

Relaxing Day

After we picked the boys up from Jenn's this morning, we came home and packed a picnic lunch. My work was having a family picnic day at the park. We couldn't have asked for a better day! The weather was beautiful and the boys had a blast! It was so nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. We came home and put the younger 2 down for a nap and Mike steam cleaned the floors while I sat out on the deck and finished my book. I'm going to sneak a little laundry in and then we are headed back outside to play :) I'm trying my friend Kristen's recipe for dinner and it sounds so yummy! Tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer weather. My Aunt Jean is stopping by on her way to Ashville to have lunch with us and my parents. I'm looking forward to eating on the deck. What a perfect weekend!!!

A First

Yesterday was Mike's 36th birthday. My friend Jenn offered to watch all the boys so we could go out and even volunteered to let them spend the night. I questioned her sanity for a minute. She insisted that she REALLY wanted them to and knew her kids would be so excited. I didn't know if Liam and Landon would stay the night but when I asked them, they said they wanted to. Noah has never been away over night before. I was a tad anxious (I only cried a little!) but he did great. Jenn promised to call immediately if any of them got homesick and we only live 5 minutes away so that helped. I called twice to check on them and all was great. I called first thing this am and Jenn said they had been great. No fighting and very well behaved. I was very relieved. When we went to pick them up they said they had a great time and couldn't wait to do it again. I was really glad they had a good time but I have to admit I was glad to have them home. I missed them SO much! Mike and I used the free time to go to dinner at Applebees and see the movie "He's Just Not That In To You". It had some funny parts but wasn't quite what I expected. It was rated PG13 and I don't know how it got that. Quite a bit of cursing. In the end, I wished we had gone to see "Bride Wars" instead. Oh well. It was still nice to get out.

You're in trouble!

The boys were downstairs playing today while I was cleaning the kitchen. Liam came running up the stairs crying and said that Landon hot him. I told him to tell Landon not to hit again or he would not get the play the wii for 2 days. Liam ran to the door, opened it and yelled "LANDON, MOMMY SAID YOU LOST THE WII FOR A MONTH!!!". I just had to laugh tomyself. Nothing like a little exaggeration!