another successful VBS

We had fun this week at vacation Bible school. The theme was "Gladiola's Greenhouse: Growing in God's Garden" I taught the 2 and 3 year olds, Andy helped with the 5th and 6th graders, and the boys all went to classes-including Liam, who went to the nursery to be held by Grandma Kathy for 3 hours each day. Marcus, Cale and Ewan each had fun in their classes. They brought home lots of VBS swag. Ewan was actually in my class. He did a pretty good job listening to mom most of the time. I had 13, 17 and 16 kids on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Sometimes, we were glorified babysitters, holding kids who had never been away from their parents before. Sometimes, we actually got a Bible story and songs in, and, maybe, a tiny bit of the lesson stuck with the kids (hopefully). Pictures coming soon. We go back tonight for a slideshow and cookies. Grammy Pammy is coming with us so the boys can show her their rooms.

Liam is 3 months old!

Our little man is 3 months old, has been for almost a week. He's getting big. We don't have measurements, but, Liam is wearing 6-9 month size clothing, especially sleepers-he's just long! He's also discovered his thumb, and we are wondering if he will be our first thumb sucker. He has also managed to roll over back to front a few times. Liam loves "face time" with people and will coo and laugh back when you talk to him. He loves his baths and loves to eat. And, :-), he only wakes up once a night to eat :-). What a joy Liam is to this family!

allow me a rant...

Marcus and Cale recently got done participating in a weekly "work-out" @ the high school track. It was sponsered by the teachers at the elementary school and: 1. it was free, 2. it was a chance to be active, 3. you could sign your kid in and pick them up when practice was over and (good for us) they let Cale participate, too (it was really just for kids in kindergarten and up). I was amazed at how few kids there were there. I understand working families and vacations, but, there were only about 10 kids there weekly taking advantage of this activity. It just really surprised me how few kids came. Makes you wonder about the health of the local kids.

happy baby

From July22009

We just love him!

birthday fun

From July22009

We had a birthday party for Marcus last Saturday. 3 kids came from his kindergarten class and 2 kids came from church. They all had a blast. Andy was in charge of activities and had the kids try a 3-legged race (a little hard for them), red light green light, freeze tag, a balloon popping game, and duck duck goose. We also had fun with edible play-doh, making pizza snacks and decorating cupcakes. Of course, everyone enjoyed watching Marcus open his presents! After the other kids left, I got to watch mine come off a strong sugar high-that was rough. Fortunately, the new toys helped distract the boys. Grammy Linda and Grandpa Jerry were there and were a big help-Grammy with the party and Grandpa held Liam a lot. Click on the photo above to see more birthday fun (Mom-this photo was taken mid-way through the party, there are photos to see before and after this one) :-)

true love

From July22009

someone sure does love his sandbox!

our travels on I-55

From June2009

We went back to Illinois the last week of June to visit our families and go to my cousins' reunion up north of Chicago. We took the kids pretty much the whole length of Interstate 55-down to Alton and up to Chicago. It was a busy week with plenty of time to rest, too. The boys, including Liam were great travelers. We had a great trip! Here are some of the highlights, and the picture of the cousins will take you to all the photos I took.

Liam and Abbie met for the first time

Liam fell in love with Uncle Jim and Aunt Courtney

got a picture of Xander

me and Jim

we wore out our host and hostess (aka Chris and Kim)

took a trip to the Decatur Children's Museum (Marcus and Savannah in this pic)

played some water balloon toss at the cousins' reunion

got to see my grandma (pictured here with most of the ladies)

Happy 6th birthday Marcus!

holding Marcus like we held him when he was born-he's a little bigger now!

birthday cake time!

his new bike

Marcus turned 6 today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. :-( He's a very fortunate 6 year old-so far he has had 3 "parties" with one more coming this weekend. The first was a surprise for him and us thrown by my Aunt Claud and Gram Cece up by Chicago. The next one was at home with Grammy Pammy on the 4th. Marcus got his new bike for a gift and has loved riding it. We had another small celebration today-cake, a few little gifts, and a trip to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. This weekend we are having a birthday party with some of his friends. I invited Marcus's entire kindergarten class along with his church friends. So far, only a handful of kids are coming-fine with me, since the weather might make us bring the party inside.

We measured Marcus against the door today and found out he has grown about 2 inches since last year. He picks up on things quickly. The other day he was asking me about dust mites-I hadn't talked to him about that. I asked him where he learned about them-Johnny Test (a cartoon). Marcus loves to compete, but does not like to lose. He enjoys being active and likes to play sports. He's learning to be an independent reading, which is amazing to watch. He's a helper-most of the time-and is always wanted to help cook in the kitchen. He's an excellent brother-I enjoy watching him interact with Liam. He's an awesome son and we love Marcus and are so thankful for him!

Liam is 2 months old

Liam turned 2 months old while we were in Illinois. He's getting so big! He laughs, coos, and is pretty much a very happy baby. Sleeping and eating are still his favorite things to do. He loves when people talk to him, especially men, and especially his Uncle Jim. Liam is also happy being passed around for other people to hold. I guess as the 4th baby, you have to be a little flexible. Liam was an excellent traveller this past week. He spent a fair amount of time in his car seat and did okay. Liam went to the doctor on Tuesday and got his 2 month old shots-poor kid. He also got weighed and measured:

weight: 15 pounds, 5.5 ounces (99th percentile)

height: 25 1/4 inches long (99th percentile)

Just to compare, here are the other boys stats @ their 2 month visits:

Marcus: 15 pounds, 3 oz and 24 1/4 inches long (at 2 1/2 months)

Cale: 15 pounds, 8 oz and 25 1/4 inches long (at 3 months)

Ewan: 13 pounds, 13 oz and 24 1/2 inches long (at 2 months)