Henry Isaac - 3 months

Well, a lot has been happening around here lately, and once again busy busy busy!!! Which is why I haven't posted much. But, first of all... Henry is 3 months old today!

He is full of smiles, giggles, baby babble and spit up. We love him to pieces!

Josiah's ankle is feeling much better, and he'll hopefully have his cast removed this Friday. Yay! Lydia is doing great, just enjoying her sweet little life as usual... she's just the cherry on top of our sundae of boys ;) that didn't really make sense did it? ... hmmm... WELL, did I mention I'm really tired and I have a head cold? yeah. It's not fun! The beauty of homeschooling though is it's flexible! We took off school today so that Mommy could just rest (HA HA HA ha....) as much as possible, that is, so I can feel better. My throat has been hurting for quite awhile, I'm really hoping I'm over this illness asap!

Benjamin is rocking the potty thing... he's doing great. We still have accidents here and there, but mainly he's doing wonderful and we're so proud of him. It's really crazy how fast this year and a half has flown by- I remember his 1st birthday party so well!

Michael is doing wonderful. He has taken a "new position" (sort of) at his work and although I'm sure it's stressful he doesn't really ever seem stressed. The strength and calmness he always exudes is astounding. I love him so much. He really is the rock of our family and we'd all fall apart with him holding us up! Since I am sick, he took care of just about everything around the house yesterday, it was wonderful. On Friday and Saturday we were blessed to be able to go to a Love & Respect Marriage conference.. thank you to GRANDMA for watching the kiddos!!!  It was definitely an eye-opener, and even in a wonderful happy marriage like ours, there is always room for improvement. If you are married- or hoping to get married some day, I highly recommend this conference!! Or at the very least, buy the book and read it TOGETHER. You really won't regret it. It's kind of mind boggling that someone hadn't figured out the concepts of this conference-- which are rooted in scripture-- and shared it before now. It's amazing- I'm telling you! You cannot continue your marriage (successfully) without knowing this stuff- it's fantastic. Look into it!!! (do it!) ;o)
Alright I gotta go... hope you all are well- God bless! Thanks for checking in! :o)

My wonderful Hubby (9-5-12)

Back to School! 2012

Starting this past Monday, yes, on Labor Day, (why you say? Cause I had already planned our first week and did not skip the Monday! haha) we started BACK TO SCHOOL!

Josiah Timothy is beginning 2nd grade this year! He is so excited and doing very well already. He is a bit "behind" in math, so we are finishing up the 1st grade book, but... he's also a year ahead and only 6, so I'm not too worried about that. We are enjoying learning each new thing each step of the way.

(Josiah propped up and ready to go- backpack on the desk in front of him.)

As some of you may know... (ahem, visit my previous post) Josiah broke his ankle on Sunday. I know! I know! I'm a mean ol' Mom for making him start school the next day anyway, right!? No.... trust me, if he wanted to, I would've let him sit in front of movies all day, but he was really excited to get back to school, he'd been waiting for weeks and was excited about his new books, backpack & supplies. So we discussed it and decided to begin as scheduled and we really enjoyed our first day, even with his ankle elevated and iced most of the time. It was a great distraction for him from the pain and frustration of his "bum ankle". It didn't take him long to finish his school work, he was done before lunch, and then the real work began! Keeping him from using his ankle and resting instead of trying to crawl around and play with his siblings was really not that easy ;) He missed playing with them so much, they play pretend SO MUCH together, but his ankle kept getting bumped (which made him cry) so I had to try to keep him still. He played LEGOs, watched movies, and read books most of the day on Monday and Tuesday. Today we finally got him into the orthopedic and he got his cast and should be doing much better now. 

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Lydia Marie is in PRESCHOOL now! So we have formal "school" lessons for each day (mainly because she kept begging me to "do school!" last year with Josiah!) but they don't take her long to complete. We also have lots of breaks for playing with Benjamin, snacks, arts and crafts and just running around. 

Lydia posing with her My Little Pony backpack at her school table :) 

(Lydia's cut & paste worksheet for her religion lesson on the Blessed Trinity)

Benjamin sitting at the school table... pretending to be involved in school. ;)

Josiah finishing up some math work at the kitchen table after lunch. 

Ben... caught in the act! of... something? being silly and playing while we worked on schoolwork :o)

My little teacher's assistant, who took a good morning nap in the swing while we got our work done!

 First Day of School!

Mommy and Teacher's Assistant Henry, Lydia and Josiah :)

Anyway our first day of school was extra wonderful since DADDY was home!!! He was able to help with potty breaks for Ben and take the baby when he cried. It was good to have an "idea", even with help, of how each day would go. Sure it can be hectic... but I'm hopeful it'll go well. The school day all worked out again on Tuesday when Daddy went back to work...so I am crossing my fingers for a pretty great school year, even with all the little kids around!

Birthdays, Big Boys, Broken Bones, OH MY!

Well, it certainly has been an eventful few days.  These are just the highlights...

First of all, today is my baby girl's 4th Birthday!!!!!!!!!! 

Um... how did that happen!? Lydia Marie is 4 yrs old today, and she is just the angel and princess of our home! She is sweet, kind, caring, very funny, playful, silly, curious, imaginative, artistic, loving, compassionate, considerate and just plain perfect. We love her to pieces!! I can't believe she is 4 years old already, but sometimes it seems like she is 14 ;) haha. She's getting the little girl "tude" already, but mainly is just beyond priceless. She is such a joy to be around ALL THE TIME and I love getting to spend each day with her and watch her grow. We love doing GIRL THINGS like baby dolls and tea parties and painting our nails. She also can play ninjas and monsters with the best of them- c'mon, she's got brothers around! and she loves to build LEGOs since that has rubbed off from her big brother.
She is my special gift from God...  He knew I'd keep hounding Him until I got a girl! ;)

Happy 4th Birthday to our sweet Lydia Marie! We love you so very very very very much!!!

Just look at this girl! She is gorgeous! 

Benjamin is a BIG BOY now...and is potty trained! We still have the occasional accident here or there, but he goes days at a time all dry and we are so proud of him! He is proud of himself too, and the extra M&Ms and lollipops help of course. ;) It's basically just adorable to see him running around in his BIG BOY underpants. (Ben, I'm sorry if you're 16 and reading this some day and really embarrassed, but trust me, you're just SO CUTE!!) Sometimes I wish you could stay 2 forever. You are so sweet and you light up my world every day.

Now, on the real adventures of boys!

Josiah, our sweet and adventurous imaginative 6 yr old, was jumping on the neighbor's trampoline this past Sunday, Sept. 2nd, and he landed all his weight wrong on his left ankle. I heard the scream, and went running. Being Mommy, I just knew that scream... and I knew it wasn't good. Once I saw his ankle, I knew for sure! We took him to the ER where they did X-rays of course, and ruled out an acute fracture but said he better see a pediatric orthopedic in a few days, especially once some of the swelling had gone down. They gave him a plaster type brace with an ace wrap temporarily. 

Due to the Labor Day holiday I couldn't even get anyone on the phone until Tuesday, but then got him an apt today with a pediatric orthopedic. 

It was still very swollen, very bruised, and well, you'll just have to trust me, I looked at it when they took the ace brace off and I shuddered! OUCH! 

He was so brave while she checked him out and they took more x-rays. 

Did you know that growth plate fractures don't show up on x-rays for up to 12 to 14 days? Yeah, well, I didn't know that either until today! Anyway, she thinks she may have seen a hairline fracture in the growth plate in his ankle, and rather than bringing us back and forth several times, she said at this young age it's best to just treat it as a fracture. So ... hence- our first cast!  

Josiah got his bright orange (very cool) ;o) cast today and will have to wear it for 3 weeks. Then he will be in a boot for a couple weeks after that.  Getting his cast was unfortunately VERY painful. They had to straighten his foot back up to neutral position and he hadn't had it there for days. All those sore ligaments and pulled muscles and all that was strained, got some use and he was a mess :( It's so hard to watch our kids in pain, isn't it? But anyway... he was so brave, and was finally able to calm down with the promise of medicine and a milkshake!

Looks like soccer this season will have to wait!

Tonight we're planning on cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate our sweet little girl- and probably a little cast decorating party while we're at it! 

Please pray for Josiah that his ankle heals quickly and well so that he'll be up and running again in no time. God bless you all!