Reading Party!

Okay, so what if it's 2 weeks later... we had our Reading Party.  I guess you could say it was our version of Kindergarten graduation.  Scott completed his reading program- we used The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, by Jessie Wise.  I really liked how thorough/complete it is and I appreciated the fact that the whole thing is scripted, even though I didn't always use the script.  It took Scott about 2 years to go through the whole thing, with breaks as needed.  He is definitely a reader now!

So what does a reading party look like?  First people have to show up... in our case we planned it for a day when Grandma and Grandpa would be here from Maryland and then Aunt Jesse and Temperance were also available to come.  Then it's all about food, Scott's a boy you know.  We did pizza and I let them make their own this time.  No pictures of that, because, well there's 4 of them and I kind of had to be helping them the whole time.  Daniel didn't quite get it though, he just wanted to eat the toppings.

While the pizzas were cooking, Scott read us a story.  He chose one of our library books that we had out that week- Pilot Pups.  It's a good one for little kids as there are relatively few words and the story line is cute.  I think he noticed the "few" words and decided it was easy... not exactly, some of those words were on the challenging side, but he did a great job sounding things out and read us the whole book, by himself.

Grandpa and Blaise listening.

Aunt Jesse and Temperance listening, or maybe sleeping?

Well... not everyone was listening, Daniel had other things in mind.

After he read to us, we gave him his new Bible and a certificate of Achievement for his hard work learning to read.  The Bible:  We had decided, actually a long time ago, that when the boys learn to read we would get them their first real Bible (meaning an adult translation of the entire text of the Bible, rather than a story Bible, reader's version, or mini-testament.)  With the changing of the NIV last year, I wondered if that was still the "best" option out there and asked around a little bit.  My main thought being either get the NIV 1984 (which was pre-liberal-revision, sorry if that's too strong for anyone) or the ESV.  I have heard such good things about the ESV, but never read it myself, so I couldn't really compare yet.  I asked a few friends- okay basically a huge percentage of everyone I know, thank you Facebook, now go away and stop sucking up all my time!  If you responded to my inquiries there, thank you for the input :)  In the end we decided on the NIV 1984, because... first of all, most of the Scripture I have memorized is from that version and therefore most of the Scripture Scott already has memorized is also from that version, and then because I decided to get myself an ESV Bible, so next time I'll be able to compare for myself.  So far, I think I still prefer the NIV.  I would really love to learn the original languages and read it in it's true wording someday.  For now, I'll continue to remind the boys- all of them- that the Bible wasn't written in English and so we have lots of different translations to consider.  Thankfully, God speaks through them all.  

Back to our party.  By that time, our pizza was ready.  We enjoyed it and then got to the good stuff.  ICE CREAM.  Ice cream beats out any other dessert in Scott's book.  When asked what he wanted for his special dessert that was it, hands down.  I DO have pictures of that... 

Amazingly neat about it, because they don't want to lose any.

Very confused about the whole cone thing and he wouldn't touch it til we gave him a spoon.  It's definitely a unique technique.

Focused... until he bit the bottom and it started dripping in his lap. 

Certainly happy about it in the end!

 After that it was baths and bedtime... here are a few other recent pictures as bonus.  

Scott reading the bedtime Bible story one night.

Michael built a tower with all the blocks.  It was very neatly stacked.  His brothers decided they wanted to be in his picture too.  

Baby Temperance... she's just too cute not to put a picture of her here.  We are enjoying every moment we get with her.

Since his party, Scott has really become much more comfortable reading.  Instead of reading lessons, he just reads for a little while everyday to me and lots to his brothers, when he doesn't think I notice.  He's been reading "The Dragons of Blueland" a sequel to My Father's Dragon and today he read 3 Chapters by himself, while I got dinner ready.  I think we're on a roll now.  

It's Official...

We're a mini-van family.

Wait, no... we got a mini-van in our first 6 months of marriage, long before we had any children.  We liked our mini-van.  Can you tell, I've been very amused in the past year or so as many of our friends have reluctantly become mini-van families with the arrival of their 3rd baby?  At any rate, we've had ours for awhile and with the amount of long distance travel we do, we'd rather have a vehicle with fewer miles on it.  Plus, it was looking like it would be quite a challenge to fit 3 carseats across the back seat.  So...

It's official we're a full-size passenger van family!  We traded in the Caravan for a 12-passenger on Monday.  The boys love it.  It's a truck!  Definitely more spacious.  Cullen, is just not thrilled with the white, which is apparently pretty much all you can find slightly used.  He's taking ideas for how to enhance the paint job.  A couple of Tiger Paws will be added as soon as possible.

Other news in pictures...

We celebrated Easter, not sure why the camera was blurry. 

Scott- 6 yrs old

Blaise, the camera "shy" goofball- almost 5 yrs old

Michael- 2 1/2 yrs old

Daniel- 17 months

All of us, even a noticeable Baby El.

The hunt is on...

They were so fast it was hard to get pictures at all.

He stopped to eat some beans.

"Michael, go get the last one."  He goes to the wall and looks blankly everywhere except where the egg is, so Scott and Blaise helped by pointing it out.  It took quite a bit of pointing!

Easter dinner with my sister... who was in (early) labor!

My newest niece Temperance and my sister, who heroically delivered med-free after many hours of labor (19 in the hospital, including some pitocin, plus essentially a whole day before that.)  

Interestingly enough, and not so much surprising... I seem to be able to take fewer pictures than I used to.

So even though there are only pictures from Sunday, we did do a lot of Easter celebrating over the weekend, including turning off the lights Friday afternoon to better "experience" the Easter story.  That was in addition to the same Easter basket devotion we do during Holy Week every year- the big boys were very excited about it... Daniel just wanted to grab everything out of everyone else's hands, and we also made the same "Resurrection" Cookies we make every year to put in the oven overnight (we had to lock the oven this year, they've never noticed that part of the directions before... but now we have a reader, hopefully I'll post about that in a couple of days.)

While I did bring the camera with me to meet baby Temperance, I also brought 4 little boys who were through the roof excited to meet their new baby cousin.  They each took 2 turns holding her during our 20 minute visit- somehow I can't help a 2 yr old hold a newborn and take a picture of them at the same time!   Even Daniel wanted to hold her and he somehow intuitively knew to be gentle... leaning his head close to hers to give her hugs (he mostly head bangs us, and is very into smacking and throwing things lately... we spend a lot of time lately reminding him to be "gentle".)  Blaise is totally captivated by her- they came by to visit yesterday and he would just sit and watch her and wait patiently, after being sent off to wash his hands, to hold her.  Scott was more aloof, but would suddenly stop what he was doing to come check on her and hug her.  Fortunately, Jessica had her video camera at the hospital, so somewhere there is video of them meeting her.

It's That Time of Year

Well, really it isn't quite that time of year yet.  A little bit of odd winter weather and the season is happening nearly a month early.  Strawberries are ready!  

Michael was very excited and Scott did a great job picking this year too.

Blaise is still a masterful strawberry picker.

He looks a little big for this, but I figured that was going to be the easiest way to keep track of everyone and actually pick berries.

Wow, a good shot of the boy who hides from cameras, just because he's a tease.

Thankfully, my friend Tina spotted our red shirts in the field on her way home and stopped to help take pictures :)

Another one at home... they were a bit silly.  

The reward for letting me take pictures of them.  Yes, I bribed them.  

He likes.

Strawberry shortcake for dinner.

Why can't we eat this every night?  Who needs meat anyway?

Ocean City

This past weekend we made a quick trip up to Ocean City to visit Cullen's Grandma, and parents.  It was fun as usual... except for that one afternoon, when Daniel was sick.

We did something different this time and took the boys to Assateague Island.  That's the Island with the wild horses... there's both a MD State Park and a National Park there (http://www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm).  It was fun and delightful... and I forgot the camera!  After some wandering we did spot many wild horses grazing in the marsh.  We also enjoyed a walk on a nature trail and a boardwalk on the beach side of the island.  All in all a very fun morning.  We had peaked the boys interest in this particular island with a library book that one of them pulled off the shelf one week, "My Chincoteague Pony."  It was a cute book and boy were they excited to look for the horses.  Before the bridge to cross over onto the island there was a Visitor's Center with a really great mini-museum in it, which we enjoyed as well.

Here are some pictures...  

Grandpa reading to lots of boys.

No idea why Daniel wanted to stand on the vent, nor how he managed to by himself,  but he seems pleased.

Daniel coloring with Great Grandma- she informed me that she doesn't like her picture taken.   That reminded me of Trisha!

A few more words... to go with the pictures.  While Daniel was sick, we sent the rest of the guys off to the Boardwalk to check out Papapa's bench.  Cullen's grandfather, who passed away last winter loved the beach.  Grandma placed a bench in his memory.  I think he would be quite pleased.  If you are ever in Ocean City, MD, it's close to 24th street- in memory of William W Scott- enjoy.  Blaise came home and told me, "We saw the bench for the person who died that used to live here."  The next day, when Daniel was feeling better we all went out to see it again, but it was way too cold for my spoiled by a really warm winter self to last more than 10 minutes on the Boardwalk.

Really, they were happy, I promise.  Scott is in fact, actually smiling.

See, told you he was happy.  Rarely is he any happier than this!

Check out his stride.  Notice, also, that he's almost escaped the camera.  Boy is tall and fast.

Daddy has been having fun with the burst shooting feature on our camera.   I think Blaise likes it too.

"Coming of Age"

The birthday boy a couple of weeks ago, during a family trip to Clemson.

Evidently, there's a hobbit that lives in our house.  Cullen's birthday was this week and since it's the big one- if you're a hobbit, when I asked what kind of cake he wanted, he said he wanted a hobbit cake.  Normally, I only do themed cakes for kids... but I took this as a challenge.  What exactly is a "hobbit cake"?

He was out of town for his actual birthday on Wednesday, so we celebrated yesterday.  I reread the first chapter in Fellowship of the Ring for ideas.  Thinking that hobbits probably didn't have "birthday" cakes, but rather a wide variety of more savory cakes and knowing that lots of food should be involved.  It was a fun day of planning... lots of questions about hobbits from little boys.  Too bad hobbits aren't real and we just spent a whole day learning about the characteristics and culture of a fictional creature.  In the end though, I'm pretty sure at least the 3 that can talk now know how old Daddy is.  I'm also quite certain that they will be very excited whenever we decide to start reading The Hobbit to them.

We started our planning with the boys making cards for daddy, while I searched for more ideas about hobbit food.  Honestly, that first chapter of the book tells a lot about the party, but not the specific food types or kinds of cakes, aside from every available food in the local vicinity and plenty more from neighboring areas.  Potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, cheeses, beer, wine, tea cakes, etc, I can remember well enough from the books.  Here's the catch though... this particular hobbit doesn't care for cheese, mushrooms, or carrots, and as you probably already know if you're reading this, we only drink milk, water, and grape juice in our house.  OK.   Try something English!  We decided on Bangers and Mash (which we have had at the Rose and Crown, in the United Kingdom Pavilion at Epcot.)  This had the added perks of: #1 everything is prepared separately, #2 is basically sausage, which the boys love and #3 Blaise only likes his potatoes smashed.  It was a big hit.  Sides of salad and potato bread fresh from the bread machine.  We also had strawberries in the house (they were on sale earlier this week), so I whipped some cream and we had strawberries and cream for dessert.  Still no brilliant cake idea, so I just made a chocolate birthday cake... to look like a hobbit hole.  LOTS of questions about hobbit holes, for hours after I mentioned it.

Hobbit hole cake... complete with a cabbage garden.  Please disregard the weird colored chimney and patio stones.  We need to buy more food coloring.

I think they liked it.

Naturally, we don't normally have all these things in the house, so I had to run out and pick up a few things... sausage and whipping cream mainly.  (And Zyrtec, see below.)  Cullen had mentioned he needed some new undershirts, so I grabbed those while we were out and the boys wanted to know if that was Daddy's birthday present.  I said, I guess it can be.  We're really not big birthday present people, we just buy each other what we need when we need it.  They, not surprisingly, didn't think that was adequate, so they picked out a few bags of Easter candy as well.  We got home and they wrapped it all.  By themselves.  Without any help at all.  They asked for wrapping paper, and I suggested they just use white paper and decorate it.  They did just that.  

All in all, a great celebration last night, but mostly it was just really nice to have Cullen home.  We don't like it when he travels.  Maybe if they were older we would have had sparklers too... I doubt we could come up with fireworks that look like a dragon.

Zyrtec... allergy season is upon us.  Heavily upon Scott in particular.  Boy is miserable, but of course, he loves to be outside.  We are switching to Zyrtec to see if it helps more than Clariton and we'll probably be heading to the doctor to ask about allergy shots if it doesn't help more.  This week, Scott caught a tree frog while they were out playing in the yard.  Blaise caught about 10 caterpillars, which he pronounces catapulters.  It's not hard, you have to walk through a cloud of them, the tiny green variety, every time you go on the back porch.  Interestingly they decide that each of these creatures they catch is going to be their "pet".  So they built a little home for the tree frog in the red bucket and managed to come up with enough boards and sticks to cover it... well enough it didn't escape or suffocate.  I convinced Scott to let it go this morning, since it's been raining, "so it wouldn't drown."

Scott and Blaise and their "pet" tree frog.

Michael needs to take gymnastics... at least that's how it looked the other day.  This one is wild.

Saving the best for last... the long awaited... FINALLY... at 16 months and a week Daniel walks!  It's also been observed that he has a good arm, so don't  upset him.  He can throw wooden blocks, books, food, and just about anything else as well as he can throw the ball.  

Baby "El"

Our mid-way ultrasound was yesterday... so we brought all 4 big brothers along to see their new baby.  They had a blast- at least Scott and Blaise did.  Michael seemed pretty interested too, though I doubt he knew what he was really looking at and Daniel, well, he was happy and smiley the whole time :)

This baby, due on Michael's 3rd birthday, July 24th, has been nicknamed baby El.  This is short for elephant.  When we first find out we are expecting we take a little trip to our local Hallmark and pick out a TY stuffed animal for the baby.  I prefer to find out the gender when the baby is born, and this way we have something gender neutral to call the baby until he is born.  I think it really helps the boys connect with the baby as a real person sooner too.  Anyway, the stuffed animal we found this time in Hallmark was an elephant, it's very cute, I promise and will probably be featured in the birth announcement in July.  It's also fun to see the boys grow up with their first stuffed animals.  Michael is very attached to his "Michael Moose".  Daniel was a chipmunk, so he has Chip and Dale- you should have seen the boy get all excited when he saw Chip and Dale in Disney World, first on TV in a little cartoon and then again lifesize.  Priceless.  Yes, he recognized them, because they've been his snuggle buddies since the day he was born.

Back to Baby El.  While the gender is still a mystery, this little one is quite healthy and kicking around like crazy.  I feel him often now and it makes me smile.  Here are a few of the pictures from yesterday.  The standard profile shot, a thumbs up from baby, and check out that bicep- the big boys got a kick out of that.

Also, in case you want to join the fun and guess the gender and all that good stuff ahead of time, I did set up another baby pool.



Finally, I have an important prayer request... we also found out yesterday that I have placenta previa.  This means that the placenta is very low and is covering my cervix.  In most cases as the baby grows the placenta will grow with my uterus and move up and out of the way.  If it doesn't this could mean complications, mainly that a natural birth would be completely out of the question.   We will have another ultrasound in a couple of months to check on this... so please pray that it moves up and we can move forward with our plans for another natural birth.   You might also pray for me to be at peace about the whole thing and not spend the next few months worrying about something I have no control over.  :)  You may or may not know that one of my favorite parts of pregnancy is the actual birth (yes, I'm weird, but that's another post), so this is kind of very important to me.

Random Silly Outburst

I thought this was amusing... after I said it.  Yesterday, as Scott was doing some schoolwork and all 3 of his brothers were napping, I was picking up puzzles that Michael and Daniel had spread all over the dining room.  As I stacked them all back in the puzzle shelf, I looked at them and said, "We really can't have a girl."  Scott was completely bewildered by my comment.  He really wants a sister.  I explained to him my train of thought... we have this nice, very full, collection of baby puzzles and if we had a girl, I know many people would think we need to have at least one or two girl puzzles.  Where on earth would we put them?  If we have a girl, she'll just have to do the farm, shapes, jungle, fish, etc... puzzles.

There you have it, if we have a girl, no puzzles.  No pink Duplos.  No pink blocks.  We already have kitchen/cooking toys and plenty of Little People.  All we'll need is clothing and a doll.  I'd appreciate it if we could at least mostly avoid pink in the clothing area too... keep in mind, it's me who will be doing the dressing most of the time, so stick to purple and girly greens, yellows, and blues.  For the record, my current feeling is boy anyway, though I've been known to change back and forth until about a week before the baby actually arrives.

Go ahead... laugh at how ridiculous these thoughts are.  The important thing right now- I can feel this sweet little one swimming around and having hiccups already.  Not often, and not hard, but I can feel the little bumps :)

My Dad

Dad visiting in 2005 to help renovate our bathroom.

When I think about my dad I remember this huge man, standing in the kitchen, beside the microwave after a day at work, waiting for dinner.  I remember myself coming into the kitchen to hug him and wrapping my arms almost all the way around him from the side, then pausing to pat his belly.  In some ways, things were simple then, to me anyway, I was probably in middle school.

Mom and Dad on Vroman's Nose in NY fall 2007

It's easy to see now that things were never really simple for him... oh maybe when he was lettering in football, basketball and baseball in high school or in football and baseball at the Coast Guard Academy... but after that life has certainly had its share of challenges.  Honorably discharged from the Coast Guard because of epilepsy and sent home from his life's dream to find a somewhat mundane job repairing photocopy machines, he found his pleasures elsewhere.  He married my mom and I came along quickly and was quickly followed by my brother and then my sister.  Our family has had our share of difficulties too, cancer not being the least of them as we lost Dad's dad to cancer when I was only 6  years old and struggled through my mom's eventual victory over cancer when I was in high school. 

My wedding June 2004

I have always admired my dad because through all those challenges- he was always there for us.  We didn't necessarily talk all that much.  Mom was decidedly the bigger talker.  Even with few words it was evident through his actions that he loved us and he would always be there.  Yes, if you knew him much at all, you knew he had a love for the computer and especially role playing games and was quite practiced at shutting out the world around him to tune in to the machine- a skill I think I've acquired from him myself, I'm not into role playing games though, for better or worse.  His ability to tune us out didn't change the fact that he was home, everyday at 5:30pm, after spending the day working to support us.   When we got in trouble, when my parents fought, when money was tight, he never left, he just kept right on working.  He was always there for us.

Dad goofing around with Scott- Christmas 2010.

Of course, he loved to have fun too, so he found a way to play and work at the same time- umpiring baseball and later officiating football.  Sports were always a priority for him.  I loved going with him to watch him  umpire baseball games.  I mostly went to the Little League games, where I could raid his car for cash to buy candy at the concession stands.  I know he enjoyed his fan section.  He continued to enjoy his fan section in 2010 when it had grown to include my then pregnant self and 3 of his little grandsons and even Stage 4 cancer couldn't keep him from officiating football.  I realized how important the fan section was to him back when I was in high school.  I played field hockey, was on the indoor track team, and played softball.  At almost every game, towards the end, right around 5:00pm, I could look over to the stands and there he was standing behind everyone else having come straight from work to watch me play. 

Dad officiating at Indian Land, August 2010.

Cheering for Scott at one of his first soccer games, fall 2010.

He also loved to have fun with us, by taking us places.  His umpiring money took us to Disney World when I was 9.  I know it was hot, though that's not what I remember about the trip, where we tent camped, in July, in Orlando.  I remember his excitement about everything.  Space Mountain, which despite the love of roller coasters he had instilled in me by age 3, turned me off to roller coasters for 3 years.  I hope I didn't let him down too badly- I love it now.  We had a blast on the Pirates of the Caribbean, Spaceship Earth, seeing the "Laser Light" show at Epcot, and spending a day at one of the water parks- where I braved the vertical slide and didn't let him down.  My most distinct memory though is of walking around World Showcase and trying all kinds of new foods at the different "countries" with him- he did always enjoy food too.  This past week my family took our annual vacation to Disney World and tried something new, in memory of Dad we got Churros from the Mexico Pavillion in World Showcase in Epcot.

 

Teasing each other over whip cream and pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving  2011.

There was so much more to Dad than just fun and food, of course.  I can trace my Christian testimony to my early childhood as I remember him reading to us from The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes- I can still remember the pictures, without looking at the book- which is still on the bookshelf at my parents house.  I also remember him reading the scene from the Hobbit where Bilbo and Gollum have a riddle war (I was around 6 years old at the time), but I suppose that's a separate story.  Church was always a priority for Dad.  He loved to sing.  He was always in the choir and usually had solos to sing during the summer months when the choir didn't practice regularly.  I liked riding to church early with him, just the 2 of us, when he had to be there for choir practice- come to think of it, I enjoyed riding with him all kinds of places, we spent a lot of time together in the car.  He would talk about his Bethel Series study, the memory verses he was working on when the Billy Graham Crusade came to Albany, or we would listen to the Bible on tape- and I could never understand why anyone would want to listen to the instructions for how to build the ark - it's all in cubits - or really any of Leviticus, but he seemed to like to, and now I understand there are important lessons for us even in those parts of Scripture.

At Riverbanks Zoo, having fun, September 2009.

The biggest impact he had on my personal commitment to Christ, he probably never even knew about.  His love for singing and his love for Christ came together when he performed in a musical drama (depicting the life of Christ) called "The Witness."  It was when I was watching one of the performances that the weight and magnitude of Christ's sacrifice, for me personally, became something real.  Sure I knew all the answers, long before that, but that was when it became real, when I realized it was all my fault, but Jesus loves me anyway.

 

Clemson vs NC State, November 6, 2010.

That's why this past week, when I sang (or croaked, I can't sing anything like Dad can)When We All Get To Heaven, with my boys, who are all less than 6 years old, and talked about how Papa will "see Jesus and sing and shout the Victory!" I was astounded that they insisted that Papa doesn't sing.  They've known a different man than I did, but I was determined to convince them otherwise.  Thankfully, I have a video of my wedding, where he sang and sang well, though maybe not quite so well as he is singing today. 

Passing on his love of football to Blaise, November 2010.

  

Yes, Dad will be missed, terribly, by many.   I have no idea who I'll go to when I have a question about the rules of football now, and my boys won't get to hear him sing or play and wrestle with him, but it is a great comfort to know that he is in heaven and we will see him again someday and we'll be able to sing with him.  And so I want to celebrate his life and his arrival in that blessed place more like a wedding party than a funeral, though the tears have come and will continue.  

Christmas 2010.

Sorry for the randomness with the pictures... I wish I had some older ones, but haven't ever bothered to scan anything.

   

Meeting Daniel, November 2010.

Hanging out with baby Michael, September 2009.

  

Meeting baby Michael, July 2009.

 

Playing with Blaise at Christmas time, 2007.

Meeting Blaise, May 2007.

Being silly with Scott, Christmas 2006.

The family August 2006.

Meeting Scott, March 2006.