60 toes

Happy Birthday Emma

2011-02-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

Fourteen years ago, I had no idea how my life was about to change. When Emma was born Adam and I were young and clueless and had no idea what we were doing. Thankfully we haven't screwed her up too much. :)

Emma is such a wonderful young lady. She is extremely successful at about anything that she puts her mind to, school work, athletics, you name it. Not only successful, she is also a very kind and compassionate person. In all of our moves, she has never had a hard time making new friends and almost welcomes the challenge. I could go on and on, I just love this girl so much.

I will tell you this, she once was the hardest child to deal with. She is extremely strong willed and when she was in her toddler years I was not sure we would make it this far. Thankfully, she has matured, I have gained wisdom in parenting and we made it through some of those harder days.

Emma is such a joy to our whole family and we are blessed to have her.

Happy Birthday Emma.

The Admiral

2011-01-09T00:28:00.002-05:00

It has been so long, I almost forgot how to post on here.

Tonight we had the chance to go the Naval Academy and meet David Robinson. He was the most gracious celebrity I have ever met, like I have really met that many. He was so kind to the kids and took his time signing their various items, a poster, a "blue rim", Andrew's shoe, yes his shoe. :)

We had a great time as a family and it was refreshing to meet an amazing athlete and role model.

Happy Birthday Laura

2010-03-22T06:53:00.002-04:00

Yes, it is Birthday Season at our house. Starting in February we have ALL six of our birthdays in four short months.

Today is the day for Laura Elizabeth Scott's 8th Birthday. We celebrated this weekend with a glamour party. We had twelve girls over for a day of beauty and fun.

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Laura. You were the baby for so many years. Now you are a big sister to Sarah and a GREAT one. :)

Thank you for being such a sweet girl. We love you so much.

Happy Birthday Adam

2010-03-11T14:03:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband.

Thank you for always providing for us.

You work hard all day and then come home and pitch in and work hard around the house.

I could not ask for a more loving and kind man. You are a wonderful father and our kids are blessed to have you as a role model.

We love you so much.

Happy Birthday

Let it STOP snowing

2010-02-06T23:55:00.004-05:00

We have had a record breaking amount of snow this winter and this past weekend was the mother of all snow storms. We had almost two feet of snow dumped on us over the past 36 hours. Now on to the fun part, digging ourselves out.

Happy 13th Birthday Emma

2010-02-04T07:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my first born.

You are an amazing daughter and I couldn't be more proud of you.

You bring joy to all of those in your path.

You are beautiful, smart, caring, funny, athletic.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

Happy 13th Birthday Emma

Etsy love

2010-01-30T23:15:00.004-05:00

Living in Southern Maryland makes shopping for unique gifts almost impossible. Thankfully for me there are limitless options in the cyber mall of the internet.

I found a really cute gift for Emma and wanted to share it with you all. These are recycled scrabble tiles. There are tons of different patterns and pictures, you are sure to find one for someone on your list. I picked a pendant with a map to show you, you know how I feel about maps. Go check out their etsy shop, there is a design for everyone.

I can hardly believe that Emma will be 13 next week. Crazy, where did time go?

Where to begin?

2009-07-27T22:10:00.005-04:00

It has been so long, where do I even begin?

Last I posted Laura was turning 7. Well, that she did. I turned thirty seven, Sarah turned one, Andrew turned ten and Adam and I celebrated fifteen years of marriage since. That is just to name a few. Andrew played flag football and Laura and Emma played lacrosse. I pretty much was a taxi driver, cheerleader, chef, maid, tutor, party planner, etc. Needless to say, I just ran out of time in pretty much each and every day.

Well, the past two months we have been doing one thing... swimming. We have been loving every minute of it too. I was so proud of each and every one of the kids. Laura conquered her fears and tried out for the team and has become a much more confident swimmer. Laura has never had formal lessons and has improved her strokes more than we could have imagined.

Andrew has excitement that is contagious. The boy is a natural when it comes to breaststroke. Ever single time he swam he came in first or second in his age group, even in the BIG meet against all of the summer swimmers in our area. Many of the kids he was competing against swim year and Andrew still places above them with minimal coaching.

Emma, well leave it to Emma to outdo herself. As in most things Emma tries, she does extremely well. Emma is one of the most gifted people I have ever met, I can't think of many things that she does not excel far above average. She is humble and a good sport too, I guess that is why I want to brag on her. She did amazing all summer. She is a natural in the pool. As she swims it is almost an art, as she glides through the water. Emma is also a natural breaststroker. At most every meet, Emma placed at the top of her age group in every stroke, she was usually just behind the year round swimmers.

So I think we have found a great fit for our family, competitive swimming. It was fun, the kids liked it and Sarah was such a trooper getting drug to and from the pool multiples times a day.

Now the big question is to swim year round or not? If we do, will they burn out? Do they have natural talent and passion and we should harness this energy and talent?

We will see what the fall holds and if we decided to take the plunge, literally. For now we will just enjoy the rest of the summer swimming at the community pool, for fun.

Painting Party

2009-03-21T22:07:00.007-04:00

When we were brainstorming ideas for Laura's seventh birthday party we knew art was something to keep in mind. Well... I started thinking. I want to take the wallpaper off the wall... we will need to prime it before we paint it...why not let the kids just paint right on the wall?

This was the result.

It was a great time and I am not sure how soon we will paint over it. Eventually.

Sarah 11 months

2009-03-20T21:52:00.001-04:00

These are way overdue, but here they are.

Our little Sarah Jane is already eleven months old.

Sarah 10 months

2009-02-15T20:14:00.003-05:00

On Valentine's Day our littlest Valentine turned ten months.

Can you believe this this little girl was ever "failure to thrive"? It is hard to believe looking at her now.

Sarah 8 months

2008-12-14T16:27:00.003-05:00

It is hard to believe that our sweet Sarah Jane is eight months old today. In the past few weeks two of her teeth have popped through and she has been sticking EVERYTHING in her mouth. She likes to do some funny things with her tongue as well. She bring so much joy to our family and we all love to watch her grow and develop. I love my sweet little Sarah Jane.

Vote

2008-11-04T07:05:00.004-05:00

What more is there to say?

Trick or Treat

2008-11-03T21:17:00.007-05:00

We had a great time on Halloween. This was the first year in our new neighborhood and it did not disappoint. The kids were a hit in their costumes.

Andrew's costume had a few wearability problems and I even ended up wearing the Wii for a short time. One kid even told me that I was "sick". I am pretty sure this is a compliment, that is what my kids told me. ;)

Sarah was a trooper as we toted her along in the stroller.

All in all we had a great time. The best part of the night was spending it with some great friends that will be heading to California in a few months The kids and parents had a blast together.

The Art of Carving

2008-10-27T22:33:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we carved our pumpkins.

Here is what we ended up with.

The happy gourd

The spooky ghost

Boomer Sooner

The Wink

Half Birthday

2008-10-14T22:09:00.004-04:00

Our sweet little Sarah was born six months ago today...that is hard for all of us to believe. It has been a crazy and busy six months but we are so thankful that Sarah is here to add so much joy to all of our lives.

Here are a few pictures of the adoring big kids and their little sweet girl.

If the next six months are anything like the first it should be a fun adventure.

Little Lego Laura

2008-10-02T21:54:00.004-04:00

In the spirit of the "year of the box" Laura decided to be a Lego. It is simple but adorable and she LOVES it.

We are all very excited about Halloween and can't wait to show off our new costumes in the neighborhood. I have a hunch people will know us by our boxes. For years we may be known as the family with the box costumes.

Game on

2008-09-30T08:22:00.003-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, our Halloween costumes are taking on a theme this year...BOXES.

As we were brainstorming what we could make with a box, we got a wild hair and thought it would be fun to make this:

He loves it and is convinced he will have the coolest costume this year. What do you think?

Stand by for Laura's sometime in the near future.

Recycling

2008-09-25T06:45:00.001-04:00

Emma has a passion for recycling and has caught the "green fever". She thought it would be fun if we used some of our moving boxes for Halloween costumes this year. I thought that was a great idea. So all of the big kids are going to use a box for their costumes. I haven't decided but if we have time I might even get into the fun.

Today Emma had her good friend Regan over and they worked on their costume.

Here they are. They were so proud of their work.

I will post Laura and Andrew's when we get their costumes done. Wait until you see Andrew's, it is hilarious.

Home Sweet Home

2008-09-23T22:39:00.004-04:00

We are really enjoying life in Maryland. I am so proud of the kids, they have made such a smooth transition. They have been so brave and courageous and have jumped right in and made new friends and tried new things.

Here is a picture from the "cracker barrel house". I was at Lowe's the other day and they had just marked the white rockers down fifty percent. Like any other bargain hunting woman, I snatched up two of them for the porch. We are loving them!

Anchors Aweigh

2008-09-21T22:14:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we drove up to Annapolis for the afternoon to watch Navy play Rutgers. It was fun to go up to visit Adam's alma matter and spend a fun afternoon as a family.

When we got there we parked and made our way over to the stadium. As we approached the stadium we heard tons of sirens and quickly figured out that there was a HUGE motorcade of about fifteen vehicles. All of a sudden we saw John and Cindy McCain step out of the car and the kids were so excited. Apparently he was there for his 50th reunion from the Naval Academy. We also saw him one other time walking through the stadium, he walked right by us on the way to the VIP section.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we had fun watching the Navy take a much needed win. The bummer was that we realized as the day went on that Laura was feeling worse by the minute. One the way home from the game we took her to an urgent care clinic and it turns out that the poor girl had strep throat. For being so sick she was a great sport and as cute as can be in her cheer leading outfit. Here is a picture of both of the girls in the waiting room at the clinic.

We are missing our friends and life back in Oklahoma but being close to the Naval Academy is one of the things we love about being back in Maryland.

In a word...

2008-09-17T23:42:00.007-04:00

Andrew wrote this poem recently at school. I loved it and wanted to share it with you.

That little guy melts my heart, I tell you. This is his autobiographical poem.

Andrew
Funny, nice, giving, honest
Brother of Emma, Laura, and Sarah
Lover of family, dog, world
Who feels happy, tired, hungry
Who needs a brother, a nice sister, a car
Who gives jokes, happiness, and love
Who fears fires, bridges, earthquakes
Who would like to travel, win a game show, have $1,000
Resident of Maryland
Scott

And there you have it, Andrew in a word.

Sarah 5 months

2008-09-14T19:46:00.005-04:00

Today our little Sarah is five months old. It is hard to believe that weight was ever a concern. She was in the 95th percentile last month for weight and 90th percentile for height at her four month appointment. She is almost off the charts, in a good way.

I am so thankful for this little girl, she brings so much joy to our family. It is fun to see her little personality emerging. She is a little extrovert. She is very vocal, especially at dinner time when everyone else is talking she has to get a word in. She talks almost constantly in her waking hours, I have a feeling she will have an extensive vocabulary at a young age like her oldest sister did.

Now that all of the big kids are in school all day, Sarah is my little buddy. The only bad thing is I have a hard time getting anything done because I would much rather just play with her, can you blame me?

Finally

2008-09-12T12:34:00.003-04:00

Well, it has been way too long since we have posted anything.

We closed on our house a month ago and they kids are now in school, most of the boxes are unpacked and we are feeling more settled all the time.

The one big detail that is left is where to go to church? We were spoiled in Oklahoma by one of the best churches we have ever attended. It was the biggest blessing in our lives for the past two years. Well, now we are feeling very unsatisfied and know that there is nothing like it here in Southern Maryland. We know we will find something but we are not sure where yet.

The kids have done an amazing job adjusting, I am so proud of them. Adam is enjoying is job and getting back in the cockpit. As for Sarah and I were are having a fun time hanging out and trying to figure out what our day to day routine will look like. Cooper seems to be loving his new domain chasing squirrels, deer etc.

We are missing our Oklahoma friends a lot but at the same time we are coming back to some wonderful friends in this area.

Little Sarah is growing like a weed, a big weed. She will be five months on Sunday, that is hard to believe.

So Excited

2008-07-20T15:19:00.006-04:00

In a nutshell things have been CRAZY for the last week or so.

We had a contract fall through on the house we were buying in Maryland which left us wondering where in the world we were going to move in a few short weeks. The even more stressful part of that was not knowing where the kids would be going to school and not having an address to be able to enroll them.

Well, yesterday we worked out a new contract on a different house and we are thrilled. This house is bigger than the other one but has some issues on the interior. The house is great and the issues are merely cosmetic (wallpaper, carpet, fixtures, etc.). These are all things we can change eventually. The best part is there are 5 bedrooms one for each kid, two full baths for the kids to share and lots of room to hang out as a family. Yea! We are so excited!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the exterior. I can't show you the inside yet, it needs too much help. If you have a knack for home repairs and renovations let me know. :)

Here is a picture of the front as you drive in. I think it has great curb appeal.

Here is a closer view of the porch. I have always wanted a porch swing and it is hard to see but there is one on the far end. I also love the stone porch.

Here is a view of the back of the house, there is a nice deck and it is a wooded lot. The steps on the right lead up to a hot tub.

This is side view of the house. We feel really spoiled, we have never had a three car garage. Over the years, we were lucky many times just to have a car port in base housing. :)

I am not as excited about the inside of the house, it is quite dated. I know that in time we will be able to change things and make it more suited to our tastes for now we will just deal with the "country" decorating motif. The kids have not been to the house yet and when Emma saw it she said the porch reminded her of Cracker Barrel. I told her that the inside would remind her of Cracker Barrel as well.

If you ever make it to Southern Maryland let us know we will have plenty of room.

We might even hand you a paint brush.

Three Months

2008-07-14T19:31:00.003-04:00

Look who is three months old today.
Isn't she a cutie?

Craziness

2008-07-10T17:05:00.004-04:00

It has been way too long since I have updated this blog. Let's just say that life took a little turn and I was hanging on by a thread.

I have lost track of how many weeks Sarah is (poor fourth child), I do know that she will be three months this coming Monday, the 14th.

Let me try to recap the last month and a half or so.

-Adam got deployed
-kids finished school
-Charlotte had a near mental breakdown, really.
-Adam came home, thankfully.
-had VBS at church
-showed house any opportunity we had, it was never convenient but we wanted it sold.
-packed for a mega road trip.
-needed to buy a car topper to fit everything in car for trip.
-drove from OK to VA with four kids, two crazy parents and one big furry Golden Retriever.
-fed countless DVDs into the rear entertainment system of our road worthy vehicle, so thankful we splurged for the GPS and the DVD player.
-participated in wedding festivities for Amy, Adam's sister. Laura was the flower girl and Adam was a groomsman.
-drove Emma and Andrew to camp in Pennsylvannia.
-drove back to Virginia.
-while we were in the car we got a call our house in Oklahoma had an offer on it, yipee!
-celebrated my brother, Matthew's 21st birthday with him.
-drove to Maryland to house hunt.
-drove around for three days looking for houses.
-spent some time with some great friends in our new neighborhood.
-finally decided on one to make on offer on.
-drove back to Virginia.
-spent a few days relaxing and negotiating for the new house.
-left Cooper with the Stringer Zoo until we return in August..
-drove back to pick the big kids up from camp in Pennsylvannia.
-headed back west to the great State of Oklahoma driving for three days.
Whew! I am tired just writing about it.

It is good to be home and sad. We have really grown to enjoy it here and hate to think we have to say good-bye yet again.

I will try to post some pictures but can't promise much. I am trying to enjoy my last few weeks as an Okie. :(

Sarah-week 5

2008-05-19T22:25:00.003-04:00

Our little girl is 5 weeks old today and she is finally back to her birth weight. That seemed like a minor miracle two weeks ago.

Here she is:

9s

2008-05-19T09:14:00.006-04:00

I think I have rubbed off on Andrew in a number sort of way.

I told you how I have a thing for even numbers, weird I know. My bloggy friend, Jennifer had a good point, even numbers are just so divisble, which makes them neat and tidy, and I like neat and tidy.

Well Andrew loves numbers in a different way, he loves all of them. He can remember any random fact that involves a number, he has been known to sit for hours and read the Guinness Book of Records.

Yesterday when we were talking we made a few observations, they all seemed to involve a 9

-He was turning 9
-At birth he weighed 9.9
-His bday is the 18, a multiple of 9
-He was born in 1999
-At 9:07 pm

He loves that kind of thing.

The best news is Sarah is just shy of 9 pounds, weighing in at 8lb 15 oz this morning. That's right folks that is one ounce more than her birth weight. I will post pictures of the little fatty later. I know you don't believe me, I really will try. This mama is one busy woman and I really do run out of time or just plain forget.

Happy 9th Birthday Andrew

2008-05-18T05:09:00.000-04:00

Today our little man is nine years old.

It is hard to believe. I remember when he came into the world tipping the scales at 9lb 9oz, he was one big boy.

He has grown to be a caring and sensitive young man. We are so proud of him. I love to see him caring for his sisters. At this point in time he has a soft spot for his youngest little sister. He loves any chance he gets to hold her in his arms.

Andrew has a great sense of humor and has been known to play a joke or two on us. In short, he is just one great kid.

We love you to pieces and our so glad to have you as our one and only son.

Happy Birthday Andrew.

Sarah 4 weeks

2008-05-12T23:02:00.004-04:00

Our little girl is tipping the scales today at 8lb 2oz. She should be up at her birth weight in no time.

Here is her 3 week picture from last week. It was hard to find the time to upload this last week. You can already see the difference in her weight from this picture last Monday.

I hope all of you mothers out there had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I have found the transition to the mother of four to be a fun but challenging one.

I can't promise much on the blog this week but will try. If you haven't checked in on the Stringer Zoo in awhile, they are on the move again. Go pay them a visit, tell them 60 toes sent you.

Life School Musical

2008-05-10T15:02:00.003-04:00

I knew once we got home it would be harder to find time to blog...and it has been. I haven't even had a chance to upload the three week pictures of Sarah. One of the reasons we have been so busy is because the kids were all in a big musical at church. The put on a great show called Life School Musical which was a take of on the ever so popular High School Musical. All three of the big kids had special parts and they did a great job.

Emma was one of the main characters and performed the sign language to one song that was so graceful and beautiful.Laura was the cutest "bug" you have ever seen.
Andrew was the friend of the healed man and had another part where he was part of the basketball team.

All the kids did a great job. If you would like to browse more pictures of the show you can view them here.

Packing on the ounces

2008-05-06T14:16:00.001-04:00

We took Sarah in this morning for a follow up with our pediatrician.

She was up to 7lb 12 oz. Although she is not yet up to her birth weight, she is getting closer with every ounce.

I never had a chance to post the three week pictures, but I will try to get to that today. I knew things would get crazy once we got home, but it is great to be home. Crazy but good. It doesn't help that we are getting our house on the market later this week. If you know anyone moving our way, send them over. We are motivated sellers. :)

Have a great day and look forward to some more pictures of our little one.

Homeward Bound

2008-05-05T09:32:00.002-04:00

We are going home today, yahoo!

Our little Sarah has gained two more ounces since yesterday. We are so thrilled.

There is paperwork to do and orders to follow, but we are on the way home.

I expect the blogging to slow down a little bit when I get home. After all, I have three other kids to take care of and I am thrilled to do it. I am so excited to spend time with them and find out what has been going on in their lives.

I will try to post a three week picture at some point today. This little girl has had a busy three weeks, that is for sure.

4 ounces

2008-05-04T11:41:00.003-04:00

The doctor came in this morning with a big smile on her face. Our little Sarah has gained four ounces since yesterday. We are all thrilled. We thought she looked fatter but then again it is really hard to tell.

If she continues her trend to gain weight we will be going home tomorrow. That is great news!

As much as I am excited to get home, it is a little nerve wracking. We will be taking her to the doctor often when we get home to ensure the weight gain continues.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, I know they have been heard. I feel much more encouraged today and feel confident our little girl is going to be alright.

Time to go fatten up our little angel.

Blessings

2008-05-03T22:42:00.002-04:00

Wow, we are so blessed to have so many people helping us. As hard has this time has been we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love shown to our family. From the practical needs that are being met, to the encouraging emails and blog comments, to the prayers being lifted up.

We are truly humbled by your generosity. We can not say thank you enough.

I have an amazing nurse for the night who is ready and willing to help me with the feeds, yea!!!

I am going to pump one more time and then hit the hay. I am praying about heavy things and "super sizing" as one friend put it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you. We feel so loved and it has been a better day thanks to so many of you.

Good night, I am hoping to bring you some great news in the morning.

Sweet Sounds

2008-05-03T12:37:00.002-04:00

The sweet grunts and groans of a baby feeding are music to my ears.

Sarah has given me the oppotunity to enjoy an aspect of being a parent none of our other three children gave me. She has given me the opportunity to feed her. Charlotte always talks about how much she enjoys the time she gets to spend with our infants when she feeds them. It's an opportunity for her to slow down, sit, relax and just plain love on them. Our other children never took a bottle. Which was fine but this meant Charlotte was the only one who could hold them close and watch and hear them eat as infants. Well, Sarah has given me a treat. She takes a bottle and I have regular opportunities to feed my little princess.

The sounds she makes when she's taking a bottle make me smile. They are very rythmic and soothing. The sound of her suck, suck, suck, exhale, inhale, suck, suck, suck, take a rest....

Now the question becomes, where are the calories going in running off to? Our prayer is that they run off to be stored and to make her a healthy fat little infant.

In the Hospital

2008-05-03T10:24:00.004-04:00

Our little sweetie

Laura after her spill.

Teamwork, I tell you. Adam feeding Sarah and Emma feeding Dad. :)

Laura enjoying some ice cream.

Sarah 2 weeks

2008-05-03T10:21:00.001-04:00

I know these are late, but better late than never.

Baby steps

2008-05-03T09:58:00.002-04:00

Well, the good news is...she did not lose weight from yesterday.

The bad news is...she only gained about a half an ounce, not as much as the doctor would have liked to see.

Today we will add some calories to the breast milk she is getting in the bottle and go from there. What we are looking for is a more substantial gain tomorrow. Like I said before, it is good she did not lose. Just maintaining weight takes calories so we are hoping that is a good sign that her body is processing the calories. The real concern is that she has a rare metabolic disorder in which her body can not process the calories and absorb them. That fact that she did not lose is good and makes us feel better about the metabolic disorder, it is not entirely ruled out yet. There was blood work sent to Baylor Medical Center that takes a couple of weeks and they are analyzing her blood for that. If she gains in the hospital it will rule that possibility out as well.

So today we feed and wait. The scales don't lie, now that they are using the same one.

If we have adequate weight gain tomorrow, there is a chance we could go home Monday if the trend continues.

If we are at the same place tomorrow she will be put on feeding tube where the food will go directly into her stomach. We are hoping this will not be necessary if she beefs up today.

I must admit, I am discouraged. I miss the big kids. I miss home. I miss my normal life.

Please continue to pray for her to gain weight and strength.

Some good news is my milk supply is slowly increasing, keep praying that I can supernaturally produce milk. She loves the breast milk and gobbles it down much faster than the formula.

Well, I am off to pump.

There should not be much else to report today, I may even try to post some pictures if I can.

Adam is threatening to take away my MacBook if I don't get enough rest. You know how I feel about that.

No real change

2008-05-02T13:04:00.004-04:00

The doctor came by this morning and there has been no real change, good or bad.

There is some debate about her admit weight and the scale that was used. At her stage it is very important to get an accurate weight and the only way to do that is to use the same scale each and every time. There has not been considerable weight gain either way.

The new plan is no more feeding at the breast. It may be more taking more energy for her to nurse than she needs to expend. So today I will pump and she will take all of her calories from a bottle. This way we will know exactly how many calories she is taking in.

Not much else to report. I am not sure if we will see the doctor again today.

Rest for mom is at the top of the doctor's orders, so we might not answer too many calls.

Andrew joked this morning that he would try not to fall down and need to go to the ER. It is nice to see we all still have our sense of humor.

When it rains it pours

2008-05-01T22:55:00.003-04:00

and sometimes there is even a tornado.

Really!

I said I would not update the blog unless there was something noteworthy to report, well there is.

Adam called me on his way to the hospital with the big kids in tow for some "quality" family time. He said " I need to tell you something" in a tone where I knew there was something really good or really bad going on... I feared the latter.

He said Laura fell down at her friend's this afternoon and she might need stitches in her chin. To make a long story short, the nurses on the floor checked it out and we took her down to the ER, yes, the same ER that admitted us yesterday. They put some dermabond on and some steri strips and she should be as good as new.

So I was upstairs doing the feed, pump, repeat with Andrew as my helper, Adam was down in the ER with Laura and Emma. As if all of this was not enough the tornado sirens started going off, and I wondered what they would do with us on the 8th floor. Thankfully there was not a tornado by the hospital but it was nearby.

The good thing is, I am laughing about all of this.
What else can I do?

It is time to try to get some shut eye between the three hour feeds.

I will have some updates in the AM.

Nothing new

2008-05-01T17:25:00.004-04:00

I know many of you are checking the blog regularly for updates. I wish I had one for you. There is a lot of waiting in this process.

They have removed her IV and now she is just on a few monitors. She is on a feeding schedule and it is breastfeed, pump, supplement with pumped milk and formula, repeat...

The doctors and nurses feel confident that I can get my milk supply up to meet her needs, it is not there now. She is not the most efficient eater and in turn not really stimulating milk production, that is the reason for the pumping. We are feeding her a higher calorie formula that is easier for her little body to absorb. We should see some progress by the morning. We are looking for some weight gain and for it to continue.

I was wondering if any of your lactating mothers out there have any experience with reglan? Did it help with your milk supply? I have nursed the other three for their entire first year so they know "the mechanics" as they put it, are there. I just need to get her latched on and nursing efficiently. I also need to realize when it is time to jump ship and give it up and switch to formula. As many of you know I am one determined, some would even say stubborn, lady. I am going to keep up the breastfeeding as long as the doctors encourage it and they are very positive about my tenacity.

Like I said at the beginning I have nothing new to report. There is nothing obviously wrong with her other than her lack of weight gain. At this point she should be back up to her birth weight of up to 9lbs, that seems like an impossibility right now, but I remain optimistic.

I will most likely not post again tonight unless there is anything noteworthy to report, which I do not foresee at this point.

Keep praying for our little princess.

Did you know that is what Sarah means? princess

Failure to thrive

2008-05-01T10:40:00.002-04:00

The doctor came by this morning to check on Sarah. She has been on IV fluids all night and seems to be a little better. Today we will take her off the fluids and try to put some calories in her and see some weight gain. This is not a quick process.

We have a bunch of consultations today with nutrition, lactation and a few others. Her blood work all appeared to be normal...so we will wait and see.

I will update the blog as I have information to report.

Thanks so much for your prayers, please continue to pray for her weight to increase and my milk to be established.

Perspective today

2008-05-01T00:15:00.003-04:00

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits
and in His word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:5

I can't encourage memorizing scripture enough. This verse has been rattling around in my head all day today. I have repeated it incessantly thinking through it and wrestling with it.

What do I wait on the Lord for?
Do I wait for the Lord to solve all my problems, certainly no. (Paul would say, "may it never be"). I wait for the Lord to fulfill His word and be glorified. Is He glorified in our day today, without question yes. Has today, or the past few days been fun, certainly no and I don't wish to repeat them but God has been glorified.

I have a wife and children who love their little sister deeply. Sarah's nurse said that most times she sees children come in losing weight like this it is due to neglect. Their parents simply aren't feeding them. This is not our case and I'm thankful for a wife who protects her children ferociously.

There was another lady on our floor who stopped in to see Sarah. She told me her baby was Sarah's size awhile ago. I asked if her baby was getting better to which she replied, no, my baby will never get better, he's terminally ill. At this point my heart sank. What do you say to that?

Philipians 4:19 promises that God will supply all our needs. Our family needed so many things today, and God was faithful to fulfill His word by meeting our needs. The nurse and the lady with the terminally ill child gave me perspective and that was something I needed today. Our problems aren't solved, and I wouldn't say this is enjoyable but I will say that...

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits
and in His word I put my hope.

ER

2008-04-30T20:31:00.003-04:00

Today has been a long day. I spoke to my pediatrician around noon and she felt like we should take Sarah to the ER, so we ar here and being admitted as I write this.

I am scared and pray that she will start to gain, but I find comfort in the fact that we are in the hospital and everyone here wants to see her improve.

They have drawn a bunch of blood and run some other tests and we will know more in the morning.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

I will try to update the blog to keep everyone updated.

I am extremely exhausted and am going to try to get some rest.

UPDATE: We are now in a room and getting settled. We won't know more until morning.

Little Sarah

2008-04-29T21:37:00.003-04:00

I know I missed the weekly picture of Sarah, I promise to get it up soon.

Today we had a doctor's appointment and it did not go well. She has lost more weight. She is now down to 6 lbs 9oz. We are going to supplement with formula and hope that she makes some progress in the next few days. I am scared and this is not fun. If she does not gain on the formula we will need to dome some tests and figure out why she is not gaining weight.

Our main focus over the next couple of days is going to be fattening our little lady up.

I hope to bring better news next time. Please pray for her and that she will be able to put on some weight over the next week or so.

I will get her two week pictures posted soon, I am consumed with feeding right now.

Breastfeed, supplement, pump, repeat...

Pax River or Bust

2008-04-24T09:21:00.007-04:00

Well, the news is in.

We are moving back to Southern Maryland. We are all super excited. It will be so fun to be back on the East Coast and close to family and friends, many who are fellow bloggers. Of course it will be hard to leave all of the wonderful friends that we have made here in Oklahoma, but that is the nature of our lifestyle.

We are planning to stay here through most of the summer and get out to Maryland just in time for the school year to start in August. It should be a great time to have some quality time with our dear friends here and hopefully we will see a LOT more of Adam.

Now, on to the not so fun part, selling our house. We are hoping that will happen quickly and we will able to negotiate the time table we are looking for.

Nothing to report on Sarah unless you want to hear how adorable she is...because she is a cutie.

One week old

2008-04-22T10:06:00.003-04:00

My dear friend, Katie commented yesterday that she wanted a "one week" update.

That gave me a great idea.

I am going to try to post a picture of Sarah every Monday so you can see her growing.

I can't think of of catchy name for this weekly post, any ideas?

Here is her one week picture, taken yesterday.

Back to the grind

2008-04-22T09:38:00.003-04:00

Well, I meant to post something yesterday...that never happened.

Yesterday was the first day that was somewhat back to normal. Adam went back to work, the kids went back to school and I was home with sweet little Sarah. It is hard to believe that she is already one week old.

She appears to be growing and getting stronger every day. As any new parent knows, there is much rejoicing with each poopy diaper. Those yucky diapers and signs that her bodily systems are doing their jobs. The diapers are also proof that the jaundice is leaving her body, she looks a little less yellow each day.

The other kids are adjusting to her well and love getting home and holding her and seeing what she is up to. It has really been fun to have a baby and older kids at home, it has been a whole new experience. Adam and I are still tired but are finding tremendous joy in this sweet little life.

Here are a few pictures of the kids loving on their baby sister.

Update

2008-04-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

I have neglected the blog since we have been home. As you can imagine life with four kids is busy most of the time.

Yesterday we took Sarah to the doctor and her bilirubin had risen to15 and she lost three more ounces, none of that was good news. The day was spent trying to get keep her awake and get her to eat. It was a long day for all of us, with not much sleep for the adults. Adam and I both commented how much easier this was eleven years ago when we were both twenty five.

Today we took her back to the doctor and she gained an ounce from yesterday and the doctor did not feel that we needed to retest the bilibrubin. Sarah is still pretty yellow, but she is producing wet diapers and is gaining weight, that was all good news. We were hoping for progress like that as we headed into the weekend. As long as she continues in this direction we will not see the doctor until she is two weeks old and the goal is to have her back up to her birth weight.

I am so thankful to have Adam home, he has been such a huge help. I love to see him with our little newborns, there is nothing sweeter than seeing a big man hold a helpless little baby and talk to her so tenderly. My heart swells with pride... I love that man.

I am going to try to get some rest before the big kids get home from school.

Home Sweet Home

2008-04-16T23:24:00.002-04:00

We just wanted you to know that we are all under one roof again. It is good to be back together as a BIG happy family. There will be some adjusting to do in the days ahead, but we will manage.

Tomorrow we are off to the pediatrician to get Sarah's bilirubin levels checked.

I am off to bed.

Sleepy

2008-04-16T09:00:00.002-04:00

Whoa!!! I am zonked out, is that word? zonked?

Yesterday I must have been running on adrenaline, today it is all catching up with me.

I do know one thing, "pain killers are my friend".

Yesterday when I was feeding Sarah, I thought her nose looked yellow up against my skin. Well, my pediatrician came in and told me that she is a little jaundiced and that we need to keep on eye on her. This is not a new road for us to walk down, but never one I enjoy. We will be going in for daily blood draws now. The problem with jaundice is that they don't want to nurse because they are so tired and when they are so tired they are not sucking strong enough to really stimulate a good milk supply. It is a vicious cycle..... Today we will start some finger feeding with formula to get some nutrition in her and fatten her up a little and hopefully give her a little extra edge. She has lost more than 10% of her birth weight so we need to keep an eye on that, just think a few days ago we were worried about her getting too big and now we are worried about her gaining weight. And one day when she is the postpartum mother she will be worried about losing it....

I better go, I feel like I have been hit by a MACK truck or something like that.

We'll let you know how our little girl is doing again soon. She is still as perfect as can be, just a little on the yellow side.

In a Fog

2008-04-15T10:33:00.002-04:00

I can't believe our little one is really here, it has all been rather surreal. Until the percocet starts wearing off....it feels pretty real then. :)

I am getting as much rest as possible and the kids are back at school this morning...life goes on as normal when baby #4 arrives.

She is still looking really pink and healthy and is nursing like a champ, which is great. The six year gap between Laura and Sarah is making me feel rather rusty in the newborn department, but the nurses have been super sweet when I remind them I might need a little refresher.

Her name seems perfect for her. It always feel weird to me the first couple of days after naming a child, it seems like a lot of pressure to give them a name they will use the rest of their life. She looks like a Sarah to us.

In all of our kid's middle names we have tried to incorporate some sort of family name. Jane was the name of Adam's paternal grandmother, so we wanted to honor her in that way. My maternal grandmother, that many of you knew, who I just lost a few years ago was Janet. She once told me I better not use Janet one day. :) So we just dropped the "t" and we can still honor her.

That is one of the hard things about having Sarah. It is hard to think about some of the family members that have passed away since my last birth. How I wish they could be here to call and give the news and share pictures and "war stories" with. Most especially my grandmother Janet who I affectionately called "Nana". She was my hero, the mother of six and we had so much in common it was unreal. I have also lost two dear aunts both who would have celebrated with me in this time of new life. I guess that is the hard part of growing up and time passing by, there are times to celebrate and times to mourn and they are both unavoidable.

I will just smile every time I look at this sweet little girl and think about the bright future she has ahead of her.

I am going to try to get some rest between all of the different people that come in and out of the room. It has been so fun sharing this experience with so many of you.

Have a wonderful day. I hope you are not rushing to get your taxes done.

Finally

2008-04-14T23:27:00.007-04:00

The biggest sister.

The sweetest big brother.

Still my baby girl.

The kids came and got to meet Sarah and I wanted to upload some pics before the sleeping pill takes affect.

It was fun to see them all interacting with her...too cute.

Needless to say, it has been a long day for ALL of us.

I wanted to upload a few pictures of our newest addition.

I hope you are enjoying the pictures. The Ambien has kicked in and I will be in dreamland soon.

Thanks for making this a special day for us with all our your encouragement and prayers. We are thrilled you could join us on this special day.

Data

2008-04-14T17:32:00.002-04:00

The numbers are in....
Sarah weighed in at 8 lbs 14 ozs. She's 21 inches long.
She's pink as could be and is currently receiving her first bath.

Both she and Charlotte are doing well.

Again, I'm so proud of both of them.
Thanks for your prayers. They have been answered.
You have all been so sweet with our live blogging.

The big kids are about to come visit Charlotte and meet Sarah.

She's Here

2008-04-14T15:01:00.004-04:00

Sarah Jane has arrived. She drew her first breath at 1:37. We don't have her weight yet.

She and Mom are bonding right now. Her little cry is so sweet.
Let's just say she's not a small newborn. There were several comments about her size and strength from the cast in the delivery room.

Charlotte did a great job in the delivery. I am so proud of her.

Thanks for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for both Charlotte and Sarah.

Pictures to follow.

Page the Doctor!

2008-04-14T13:50:00.002-04:00

"Ok, you're ready. I'm going to go to page and talk to the Doctor." said the nurse.

There's lots of action in the room right now.

Pray for a continued smooth labor and delivery.

Thanks for your prayer.

Getting closer

2008-04-14T13:07:00.002-04:00

The nurse just came in and checked me and I am at 8cm. I sent Adam to get a snack in case things get going here soon. He is back and we are ready.

I am feeling good. It is fun to know so many of you can keep track of me this way. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouraging comments and emails, keep them coming.

It shouldn't be long. We will keep you up to date.

Drugs

2008-04-14T10:04:00.003-04:00

Charlotte is doing very well. The anesthesiologist just finished giving Charlotte her epidural. For me the epidural is the part that makes me the most nervous. I'm nervous about other parts but it makes me the most nervous. Science is amazing, Charlotte has a smile on her face and looks great. I asked her if she's alright and she smiled and said, "yes, I wish I'd have gotten an epidural this early the other three times."

The pitocin has begun, slowly at first...

The baby "looks good" on the monitor the nurse says. Apparently she's been bragging about how good "her" baby looks to the other nurses at the nurse's station.

We're Here

2008-04-14T08:38:00.002-04:00

We've arrived and she's getting checked in. Walking back on the maternity ward brought back memories of Laura's birth. She was born here.
Charlotte is doing well. She's nervous.

Hangin' in there

2008-04-12T10:15:00.003-04:00

Thank you so much for all of your birthday wishes. I had a great day.

As many of you know, I did not want to have a baby on my birthday. I am not a big fan of sharing birthdays within a family, I think it is nice for each person to have their own special day.

Although I have been induced all three times, my water always breaks but I do not go into full blown labor without pitocin. I have never been scheduled for an induction. It is weird to think "this is my last weekend". We have a few errands to run today, Emma has a volleyball game, it will be my last pregnant Saturday. Tomorrow will be church, some kids' activities in the afternoon and then early to bed for the next morning.

We have heard that there is WiFi at the hospital, so we are hoping to do a little live blogging on Monday to keep you up to date. Don't worry, we won't share anything too gory, just the facts. This will also be a great way to inform so many without being on the phone all day.

I must say that I am a little nervous and excited all at the same time. I am not sure how I will get any sleep on Sunday night, but I will try.

Keep us in your prayers on Monday morning and check back in to see what is happening.

Her day

2008-04-10T06:14:00.004-04:00

Today is Charlotte's day.
It's all about her.
The focus of our attention.
Let's celebrate her.

I love the excitement she brings to our family.
I love her adventurous spirit.
I love her magnetic personality.
I love her laugh.
I love that she is our family historian.
I love that she is a communicator.
I love that she is independent and strong, yet weak when I'm around.
I love to talk with her at night after the kids have gone to bed.
I love to take her on dates. (She is intelligent and hot!)
I love to be a part of her life and to see her grow. She is great.

I am thankful she is willing to listen to my counsel.
I am thankful she surrenders herself to be a good mother.
I am thankful she is our children's advocate.
I am thankful she said yes to my proposal.
I am thankful she lets me be her protector.
I am thankful she loves our children.
I am thankful she is a thinker, that she's analytical.
I am thankful she's emotional. I'm thankful for this most of the time.
I am thankful she understands me.
I am thankful we are one.

I want her to know she is loved.
I want her to know she is a blessing.
I want her to know I see Christ in her.
I want her to know I am here.
I want her to know she's a good mother.
I want her to know the kids love her.
I want her to know she's a good cook.
I want her to know she gives good advice.
I want her to know that I trust her.
I want her to know I am praying for her.

You make our lives better.
You are special.
You are one of a kind.
You look more beautiful then ever.
I am thankful for you.
I love you.
Happy Birthday.

Take me out the the ball game

2008-04-07T00:00:00.006-04:00

This afternoon we went down to the local minor league ball park for our first ballgame of the season. Andrew and Laura love to go and hang out and watch the game. Emma is not so sure about the game but is a good sport and comes along and tries to have a good attitude about being there.

Tonight was a special night, after the game there was a Jeremy Camp concert right on the field. It was a lot fun and we all had a great time.

My feet are hating me right now for it. Good thing I can blog on the couch with my feet up.

This week will be a busy week of trying to get many things done before our little one joins us next week. I am getting so excited to meet her and pray that she will enter the world without complications.

Like Brother...

2008-04-03T19:57:00.003-04:00

like sister.

It looks as if this little baby is following in her brother's footsteps. She has consistently been measuring on the larger size for the past month or so. Today was my ultrasound and sure enough she seems to be on the larger size. At the ultrasound she was an estimated 8lb 8oz already, YIKES!!!

The doctor feels confident that I can go ahead with a normal delivery since I brought Andrew into the world at a whopping 9lb 9oz. He is going to induce me early to prevent her from getting TOO big.

So... April 14th it is.

Unless she decides to come on her own, earlier. Which would be fine with all of us.

Many of you know I have a weird preference for even numbers, you know 2,4,6,8,10, ...you get the picture. I even get my even day!!!! Yea!! Does anyone else share this odd preference? Just curious.

It is fun to think in two weeks she will be here, either way. I am hoping the estimated weight was off a little and she is not any bigger than her brother was.

We will keep you posted.

It was fun to update my ticker. I will be in the single digits soon.

Bloggy Makeover

2008-03-28T00:01:00.002-04:00

We are trying on a new bloggy outfit. Consider it part of nesting...on the blog.

We are doing many things around the house to prepare for our little one's arrival. We are also getting the blog ready to include her. I am liking the new design especially the feet. I can't decide on the colors, does it seem too pastel or do you find it soothing? Do tell and don't be bashful.

I can't believe this little girl will be here soon. I went to the doctor this week and he thinks the baby is already in the seven pound range, yikes. I will have an ultrasound this next week and the doctor will decide if an induction is in order. I am getting excited and nervous all at the same time.

So...no, we have not had the baby yet, I hope I didn't confuse any of you with our new title.
We are just getting ready, it won't be long.

In the meanwhile I will be here with my ten toes elevated and waiting on the arrival of our newest little one.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T17:19:00.006-04:00

We have had a wonderful day. All three kids sang in an children's choir at church this morning at all three services, they did a great job and enjoyed participating. We came home and had a Easter Egg Hunt in our yard and have been relaxing as a family. Adam was not here last Easter so it has been nice to just spend time together and wonder where we might be spending next Easter?

It is time to go and prepare a real meal, man cannot live on chocolate and jelly beans alone.

Speaking of jelly beans, Andrew got some really crazy jelly beans in his Easter basket. They are made by Jelly Belly. They are called "BeanBoozled". They are crazy unique flavors mixed among some real ones that look the same, like ear wax or cafe latte, baby wipes or coconut, vomit or peach, pencil shavings or top banana...you get the picture. What little boy wouldn't love such a treat! :)

I hope you and your family have had a wonderful Easter also minus the nasty tasting jelly beans.

Happy Birthday Laura

2008-03-22T10:24:00.005-04:00

It is hard to believe that little Laura is six years old today. She is such a sweet little girl and we all love her so much. She is so full of life and is always a blast to be around. Her curls are her signature and everyone we meet comments on how adorable she is, I am not kidding.

We are off to spend a fun day together. First stop is her birthday party at the local gymnastics center where she takes weekly classes. She is so excited.

Here she is this morning dressed and ready to go. She is holding the new computer that Ceci gave her. I will have to post more about these computers later. All three kids got one and they are pretty fun.

I am off to celebrate with my little birthday girl.

Whose feet are these?

2008-03-16T15:36:00.001-04:00

They can not possibly be mine... but I am afraid they are.

I looked down yesterday and almost screamed. I could not believe my feet had blown up like balloons for no apparent reason other than the fact that I am carrying over twenty pounds of baby, fluid, etc. All I can say is my feet are protesting and I do not have ankles anymore.

The worst part is...they hurt. Not too mention they do not fit in most of my shoes. Is this why there a correlation with being barefoot and pregnant? I am thinking it is real possibility.

The good news is my doctor is going to do another ultrasound on April 3rd to check for size of the baby, not my feet :). I am measuring about two weeks ahead of my due date and he doesn't want this little bundle to get too big. Andrew was 9lbs and 9oz and I do not recommend it. The girls were a more manageable 7lbs and a few ounces. I was hoping their little sister would follow suit.

Well I am off to put my feet up and hope for the best....RELIEF!

Any tips out there for living with these freaky feet for the next month or so?

Compose Yourself

2008-03-13T20:47:00.007-05:00

Tonight was a big night for our family. Andrew had a part in his school program, he played the music composer Johannes Brahms. He had quite a few lines to memorize and did an amazing job and his delivery was flawless. I would even go a step furthur and say he even showed some natural talent. All of the kids in the third grade had a part in the chorus but he wanted more, so he tried out for a special part with lines to memorize. I have to tell you I was a little nervous as this did not seem like an area for him to excel, boy was I wrong. I am glad I kept my mouth shut and just let him do his thing. He was great!!! I was so proud of him.

I wish you could've been there.

Happy Birthday Adam

2008-03-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday!

We hate that you are not here with us and we can't celebrate with you until you get home. We hope you are having a great birthday.

I love so many things about you.

You are the best dad in the world to our kids. Thanks for being such a great protector, provider, playmate, preacher, patriarch, papa, pal etc. All three kids adore you like crazy and think you are the best thing in the world... so do I.

I love how you make us pancakes every Saturday morning.

I love how you are the "dish" man. My poor hands wish you were home too. :)

I love how you know bringing a cold diet coke home with you is never a bad idea.

I love how I am the only one who can truly tell the fine line between your moods.

I love when you come home after being on a trip and staying up late talking and reconnecting.

I love that we have spent 13 of our birthdays as a married couple.

I love that you are my best friend.

I love your soothing words...most of the time.

I love to travel with you.

I love how Laura idolizes you and I am convinced she will never find anyone who measures up, it will be hard. Emma is onto you a little more, but I am sure she will look for a man very much like you one day. :)

I love your ears, I don't know why I just think they are cute.

I love how you have figured out you are not that handy and that it is better just to hire someone to fix most things, ah the wisdom of age.

I love how you never hold a grudge against anyone...especially me.

I love how you never complain about what I cook and you make me feel like the best cook in the world.

I love how even the dog misses you when you are out of town. He will sleep on your side of the bed for months if that's what it takes, but he is there waiting just for you.

I could go on and on.... I just love you and feel honored to be be your wife.

Have a wonderful birthday and hurry home, we miss you.

Still waiting....

2008-03-10T08:54:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to keep everyone posted on our upcoming orders. Many of you know that we are waiting on orders for where we will be moving later this summer. I just wanted to fill everyone in on what we now know....NOTHING.

Don't worry we are not keeping any sercrets, believe me we are just as curious as you are.

One thing we are keeping a secret though is the name of our upcoming little princess. It is not that we are keeping it a secret, it is just that we don't like to really decide until right before or during the delivery. It weirds us out a little when people start referring to her as name when we are not even sure what the name will be. So we just keep it to ourselves until she arrives. Plus, people tend to give a little too much input when it is not their decision to make.

If you have an opinion on where we should be moving we are fine with that, it is totally out of our control. Where do you think the Navy should send us?

We will fill you in as soon as they let us know.

toothless

2008-03-08T09:44:00.002-05:00

and loving it!

Laura lost her first tooth a week or so ago. She was so excited. This tooth was literally hanging on by a thread but she would not let any of us pull it out. It finally fell out at school. She got to bring it home in a cool little tooth necklace.

She is such a big girl.

Dream Birthday

2008-03-07T18:44:00.007-05:00

I am going to try to catch you up to date on all that was going on pre-sickness.

Emma had a great birthday, we had some of her friends over and went ice skating and came back to the house for cake.

She was so cute when she was opening her presents from the family on her birthday. She was so excited about her "cool" new things she even blurted out that this was like a "dream birthday". Who knew Uggs and clothes from abercrombie could make am 11 year old's dreams come true?

Andrew was funny as he was taking in all of her excitement. He asked her in bewilderment "what's so great about getting clothes for your birthday?" That my friends is the difference between boys and girls.

After she opened these dream presents she couldn't wait to go try the whole ensemble on, she was beaming with excitement. It was so cute.

When I last posted I was feeling better but for some reason I have taken a turn for the worst and am not feeling too great. I just want to feel like myself again, ugh!

Under the Weather

2008-03-06T00:20:00.002-05:00

Our family has been hit hard by illness over the past week. Let me just say that I am extremely thankful for the miracle drugs of today, like Tamiflu and Zithromax. I am not sure where we would be right now without both of those, probably still laid up in bed.

Sickness and pregnancy do not go well together. I do feel like I am getting back to normal but not yet at 100%.

I hope the rest of you have avoided this flu epidemic that seems to be sweeping the nation.

Happy Birthday Emma

2008-02-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe that our first born is turning eleven years old today. I can clearly remember the snowy day that she was born. She has been such a blessing in our lives.

Not only is she turning a year older, but she is growing in many ways. For one thing, she is literally growing like a weed. She is almost as tall as I am and soon we will be sharing shoes. She has grown intellectually and is consistently getting straight As in school, we are so proud of her. She has matured and has become such a dependable friend and very responsible. She has grown in her faith and has shown spiritual maturity, we are so proud to see her put others before herself and demonstrate so many virtues that we are trying to instill in her.

I could go on and on, but I will just tell you that we have one great kid. I know she will be such a great helper as we bring this new baby into the family.

It breaks my heart that in seven years she will be going off to college. Where does the time go?

Happy Birthday sweet Emma! We love you.
This is a picture of her when she was five years old.

Drumroll please

2008-02-03T15:03:00.000-05:00

After using the random number generator and the help of my husband as the truly unbiased third party, I am happy to announce the winner is:

Bree at the trott family blog.

I will email Stacey to let her know you are the lucky winner, all you have to do is go to her site and make your selection....that could be the hardest part, they are all so cute.

If you are bummed that you are not the winner and were hoping to get your hands on some of Stacey's adorable stationery, I have a deal for you. To thank all of you for your encouraging comments about her products she is offering a discount to all 5o toes readers.

She is offering 15 for the price of 10. Buy 10 cards, get 5 free......what a deal!!!!! All you have to do is go to her website and place your order and mention that you are a reader of 50 toes.

Stacey, thanks so much for your generosity, we all love your stuff. Congrats to Bree.

That whole bloggy giveaway was a lot of fun, I can't wait to do it again sometime. For now I have found a lot more blogs to keep up with. See you in the blogosphere.

UPDATE

2008-02-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

I have closed the comments and will post the winner after church.

Free Stuff

2008-01-29T14:52:00.000-05:00

I can't help but join in on the bloggy carnival taking place over at Bloggy Giveaways.

I am giving away a set of 10 personalized cards made by my talented friend Stacey.

Here is what you need to do to enter. Go on over to her site, check out all of the great cards that she has designed. Leave me a comment telling me your favorite style. She will personalize the cards with your name, initials, etc.

You do not need to have a blog to enter. If you do not have a blog just make sure to leave me your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. You must have a US mailing address or APO or FPO to win.

I will randomly choose a winner on Saturday February 2nd at midnight CST. I will post the name of the winner on Sunday.

Go on over to The Bloggy Giveaway Carnival and check out all of the other great FREE stuff.

4 things

2008-01-26T20:21:00.000-05:00

Musings of Housewife posted a meme and I decided to follow suit. I needed something easy to get the blog ball rolling again. I thought this would be the perfect thing...here it goes.

Four jobs I have had
1. lifeguard
2. bank teller
3. camp counselor
4. GAP sales associate

Four places I have lived
1. Northern Virginia
2. New York City
3. Dallas
4. Southern Maryland

Four movies I have watched over and over
1. Coming to America
2. Fletch
3. Parent Trap (new one)
4. Master of Disguise

Four shows I watch
1. Amazing Race (my favorite)
2. Biggest Loser
3. American Idol
4. 1 to 100

Four places I have been
1. Dominican Republic
2. Mexico
3. San Diego
4. Seattle

Four favorite things to eat
1. Filet Mignon
2. Cheese Fondue
3. anything chocolate
4. fajitas

Four places I would rather be
1. Hawaii
2. on a Carribean cruise
3. any Disney Theme park
4. any beach really

Four things I look forward to this new year
1. meeting the newest member of our family
2. finding out where the Navy will be sending us
3. hopefully more time together as a family
4. celebrating 13 years of marriage

If you want to join the fun consider yourself tagged. Leave a comment if you are playing along so we can come read your four things.

Little Baker

2008-01-13T15:18:00.001-05:00

I have never been much of a baker. I would much rather cook than bake.

I think one of the reasons is the whole measurement thing. I tend to eyeball when I cook. That looks like about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or a cup of chopped celery. The recipe will not be ruined if there are a few extras, it may even be better than the recipe. Recipe, shmecipe...I see recipes as rough guidelines with room for creative expression, plus you can always add a little something as you go if need be. For this reason it is never great to ask to share a recipe I will not be able to give you exacts.

Well as you can image this does not work in baking. I have made some very unique things over the years( some edible, some not) and I am sure it was due to the fact that if you do not have the exact ratio of baking soda, salt, etc things just do not work out. The other reason I do not love to bake is that I know most of the delicacy will end up passing through my lips directly to my hips. Sure I bake when I need to, birthdays, class parties, etc but it has never brought me too much pleasure...until recently.

Emma and Andrew share my lack of enthusiasm for baking. They may seem excited initially but become quickly bored by the monotony and tedium of the whole process and while I am up to my elbows in batter they have moved on to better things.

Well, not little Laura, she has a passion for baking. It has been so much fun. She has always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen but over the Christmas break her passion for baking has been shining through. It started with cut out sugar cookies, we must have made hundreds and I am not even exaggerating. We sent a whole box in with Adam to work. We made special airplane cookies for him to share with those in the Maintenance department. Laura wanted to call him during the day and see what the consensus was on the cookies. Were they moving quickly? Did people seem to enjoy them? Did they appreciate the mountain of frosting and multitude of sprinkles on top. It was so cute. Of course they loved them. A building full of hungry men, many of them single, is a great place to pass off baked goods for rave reviews.

For Christmas Laura got an apron, I realized this is helpful with all of the flour and an overeager five year old. Yesterday we both donned our aprons and make a batch of snicker doodles. These are Laura's favorite cookies, as well as Adam's. She thought they were the best ones ever and we had such fun together. She couldn't wait to serve them to the rest of the family and she was beaming with pride.

I have even changed my position on baking. When Laura is with me and we are doing it together, it is a lot of fun.

Here she is after licking the batter bowl after we made a Chocolate cake recently.

I won!

2008-01-11T16:20:00.000-05:00

I just got an email from tobyMac.com and I have won an autographed CD library. Can you believe it?

I ordered something from tobyMac.com and apparently that put me in a drawing I was not aware of and I am the winner. I think the kids will be so excited. I will update you when it arrives. Some more good news....I will be able to take a picture and upload it to the blog because my camera came in the mail yesterday and it seems to be as good as new.

There is so much to update you on from Christmas but there is not time today. I will tell you that my mom got me one of the best presents I have ever received....a housekeeper once of week for the next six months or so. Is she awesome or what? I feel like a princess, thanks Mom. That is more than a pregnant mother of advanced maternal age could ask for. :)

Have a great weekend.

A year in review

2007-12-31T16:26:00.000-05:00

I got this idea from Musings of a Housewife. I thought it would be a great way to recap the year.

The idea is to post the first sentence from the first blog of each month and also post a memorable picture from the month. We did not start the blog until February so my sentences will start from there.

January
Our first snow of 2007.

February
We're going to give this a try.

Dad is finally back from the Middle East. Yea!

March
We just returned from a Spring Break trip to Crown Paradise Club in Cancun.

Geocaching in Mexico, look out for iguanas. Really!

April
This a poem that Emma wrote last summer and I just love it and want to share it with you.

Laura with her friends at school.

May
Ten years ago we lived in Enid, Oklahoma with our first adorable little baby girl.

Andrew's 8th birthday party.

June
If it is between 2:30 and 4:30 PM any weekday afternoon, you can most likely run into me at our local Sonic.
Emma's donation to Locks of Love.

July
Well, it is my turn to pick the music for the week.

Emma going off the high dive.

August
It is hard to believe we have been in Oklahoma for a year already.

Frogs in the pool?

September
"That's not fair!"
Laura with one of her many Webkinz.

October
Last year one of our kids was required to keep a journal in class at school.

We were dining on Mexican food in San Antonio during Fall Break.

November
This past weekend was the much anticipated tobyMac concert.

At the tobyMac concert holding up cell phones.

December
It has been so long, I almost forgot how to post.

This was the night Laura's class sang at church in the Wednesday night service, her coot!

Enjoy and we will see you next year!

E18

2007-12-26T18:22:00.001-05:00

I would love to post some pictures and tell you about our wonderful Christmas. Unfortunately that will not be possible.

We got home from church on Christmas Eve and I told the kids that I would love to take some pictures of them before they got their PJs on. They went over to the tree and posed and were even happily cooperating. The bad news was that my camera was not cooperating ...AT ALL. All it said was E18 on a black screen. I was so bummed. I proceeded to get our SLR out, the good news was it had film in it and next came more bad news. The lithium batteries were dead as a a doornail and it was after 9PM on Christmas Eve, ugh!!! The little kids were cute and said that maybe Santa would bring me a new camera, "highly doubtful" I thought.

Adam being the sweet husband that he is went out to hunt for some batteries after we got the kids to bed so that we would have a camera for Christmas morning and day, thankfully he had luck at a local drug store. I told the kids it would be like the old days and we would eventually see the pictures, once we finish the roll and I get around to getting them developed.

We had a wonderful Christmas and just enjoyed being together as a family, last year Adam was in the Middle East so this was not something we took for granted. Laura got the guitar that she was wishing for and the whole family is enjoying a new Wii. I am predicting a trip to the ER sometime in the near future due to this new crazy device.

There is good news about the camera. It was a gift from my mom about a year and a half ago and she had purchased the 2 year service plan, so it should be back in service in the near future. Until then my blog posts will be mostly text.

Imagine

2007-12-23T14:08:00.001-05:00

This year the kids all had to opportunity to be in our church's Christmas production called "Imagine Christmas". When we were taking the kids to one of the many practices during the month of November Adam was recruited to play the part of one of the shepherds. Andrew thought this was great because he was going to be a shepherd also. Emma was a part of the kid's choir and also was in two different choreography pieces. Laura however stole our hearts as she often does. She was a Holiday Barbie in the toy parade and then danced with one of the Dads in a Christmas waltz. It was too adorable and she grew quite fond of her partner. They all had a great time and I loved supporting them behind the scenes. This was Adam's first theatrical experience and he had a great time. The best part was that we met a lot of great people from church. In the end the true meaning of Christmas was communicated in way that people could relate too. We wish you could have all seen it.

Christmas cards?

2007-12-20T23:26:00.000-05:00

If you are anything like me you are getting a mailbox full of Christmas cards every day. It is fun to get in touch with old friends and catch up through the holiday greetings.

When we first got married Adam and I discussed whether or not we would send out the annual Christmas letter. I personally am not a big fan of the braggy, my life is so perfect, blah, blah, blah letter. Sometimes those letters seem so fake to me, do you really buy it? It almost seems phony and embellished. Are people really going to write about what a horrible year they have had or how they have been fighting with their spouse nonstop and they feel like they can hardly get out of bed some days, I don't think those people send out annual letters. On the other hand, a letter peppered with humor and candor, that is something I can appreciate. With that as our goal, our standard was set back in 1995, I would take care of the picture/card, addressing, etc and Adam would write the letter and try to keep it real. It has worked beautifully ever since.

There are some of you who I only know through the blog. Well, it only seemed right to send you the virtual version of our Christmas. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Merry Christmas. It has been a busy year for our family. It seems each year gets busier. This year more than any other we’ve found it necessary to place clear boundaries around our family time. In an effort to do this we’ve taken trips together and we’re more likely to let the answering machine pick-up than answer the telephone.
The most exciting news from our family is that Charlotte is pregnant. She is carrying another little princess and is due in late April. Charlotte and I laughed when the doctor told her some of the differences she’d find having a baby at an “advanced maternal age.” She doesn’t look to be advanced to me. In fact, she looks better than ever. This experience will be much different than when Emma was born nearly eleven years ago. We’re excited for the changes a baby will bring to our family. Each family member’s excited for a different reason but we’re all excited for the new relationships this child will bring into our family.
How are we busy? We’re busy with all that comes with having a ten, eight and five year old. Emma has now played two seasons of volleyball and loves it. Andrew played basketball, soccer and flag football this year. Laura enjoys gymnastics and all three kids enjoyed having parts in the two musicals at our church this year. We’ve found there’s always more we could be involved in but are trying to teach the kids you can’t do everything. We hope they learn that there are times when though something is a good opportunity you still should say no. Learning to say no is part of keeping things simple.
We’ve found there’s no better way to spend time together as a family than away from our daily lives and on vacation. Over spring break we took a trip to Cancun, Mexico. We had so much fun laughing and enjoying time together. We swam, we went geocaching, we saw iguanas, we swam with dolphins and much more. After Emma kissed a dolphin we learned that Emma is allergic to dolphins or the fish they eat. We still laugh and joke about different occurrences from this trip.
Over the summer we went to Colorado and spent a week in the Rockies at Spring Canyon in Buena Vista. We know we’ll have fun on a beach vacation, but weren’t so sure what to expect in the mountains. The beauty of the Rockies did not disappoint and we were quickly won over to all of the fun outdoor activities. We also stopped through Colorado Springs and after a frightful drive up Pike’s Peak Charlotte and Emma won’t make the drive again.
Our year wasn’t about trips, though it may sound like it. The year was about relationships. Though we can strengthen our family during our daily life, it’s often tough between all the distractions. We’ve found trips to be the best way to enjoy our family and bring us closer. I’m thankful Charlotte and I agree on the priority these trips take in our family.
If there aren’t enough details about the Scott family here check out our family blog, 50 Toes, soon to be 60 Toes, found at www.charadam.blogspot.com. We started it this year and have found it’s another way to keep everyone up to date on our daily happenings. It has been another way to strengthen relationships. Those of you who know Charlotte know she makes friends quickly; the cyber world has proven to be no different. It took no time at all for her to make “blog friends” from across the globe, literally.
We’re not sure where we’re headed in the next year. The possibilities range from Hopefully Hawaii to Oh-no Omaha. Wherever the Navy sends us we’re thankful we’ll be together as a family and we’ll continue to make great friends. Although we are together this Christmas we think often of those serving all over the world to protect our freedoms and the families they leave behind. Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones.

What about your family, do you send Christmas cards? Do you do the annual letter and pictures or something different? I would love to hear about your traditions for the holiday greeting.

Christmas Tour of Homes

2007-12-19T23:42:00.000-05:00

BooMama sponsored a holiday tour of homes earlier this week and I thought it would be fun to join in.

The idea is to take people through your house and tour some of your holiday decorations and what they mean to you. I have even updated my play list and you can listen to some Christmas music while you come check things out.

Let's start in our family room. Here is our tree.

It is a little crowded with ornaments but they all have stories and significance so how do you eliminate any? We contemplated starting a second tree but then thought we could squeeze them all on...and that is exactly what we did. It is so fun to get all the ornaments out each year and relive some of the fond memories that many of them bring. Here are just a few:

We try to get an ornament in each place we live. This Santa is made from a Maryland Blue Crab shell, it is totally unique and reminds us of our time in Southern Maryland.

Here is an ornament from our first of many tours in Oklahoma. It is also where Emma was born.

This is from a fun trip we took to Disney World one year right before Christmas.

Each year a certain family member gets me a special ornament to commemorate that particular year, they are so special. The kids love hanging each and every one.

We have our stockings hung and ready to be filled. It seems I have accumulated a few angels over the years, I don't collect them but it is fun to display them together.

Years ago my grandmother started a collection of White House Christmas ornaments for our family. She has sadly passed away and this will be the third Christmas spent without her, but I love getting these ornaments out and thinking of her. I have continued my collection in her memory.

In the last few years my nativity scenes have come to mean the most to me. I love this one that I got about five years ago. One of the Wise Men was decapitated during early December but thankfully Adam fixed him all up. Good as new...for now anyway.

We also have this nativity that is very child friendly and all the kids love to rearrange it on a daily basis. Andrew hid the wise men the other day when he learned they were not actually at Christ's birth but instead came later when he was a young boy. Baby Jesus will often be placed where the angel is now, you never know where these figures will end up. I plan on always keeping this so that little hands can explore the nativity, plus I just love Little People in general.

This year a dear friend of mine that lives in Hawaii sent me this and I love it. It is made from a coconut, how cool.
Maybe I should start a collection of nativities? There seems to be a theme of collections here, hmm.

I hope you enjoyed the brief tour.

The Silence is Broken

2007-12-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

It has been so long, I almost forgot how to post.

Any of you who know me, know that I am an all or nothing kind of girl. When I am on I am on, when I am off, I am off. As you can see I have been OFF on the blog.

It seemed that the longer I went the harder it was for me to post. I am the typical first born over-achiever that puts tons of pressure on myself to do all things perfectly...this has been a hindrance to my blogging at times.

It has been busy the past couple of weeks. All three kids and Adam all had parts in our church Christmas program, which was a fun but busy time of rehearsals and performances. Just as that was finishing up, we got hit with a huge ice storm that crippled our state. Since then I have been doing all of the things moms do during the Christmas season; shop, wrap, cook, shop some more, bake, wrap some more, cook nonstop, you get the picture.

I have said all of this to say, " I am back". In order to keep realistic expectations for myself and not neglect Adam and the kids in the process, I am going to try to blog at least once a week. Surely, I can do that. I am thinking this will keep the pressure off. If I get the chance to blog more than once a week, GREAT.

I have missed all of you and am glad to be back. This is like therapy.

It's a ......

2007-11-26T16:19:00.001-05:00

Girl.

We had our ultrasound this morning. We have seen the ten little toes that will soon be joining our family and it appears they will be dressed in pink.

Of course we were thrilled to see a healthy little baby doing flips in there. Due to my advanced maternal age we even got a state of the art ultrasound complete with 3D. It was a relief to see all of the proper organs, limbs and the little feet and hands.

Life gets so busy at times I forget that we will have a little baby in our midst in five short months, today it seemed real.

It is time to start playing the name game.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T22:02:00.000-05:00

We have been pretty busy here and have not had time to keep up with the blog recently.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. It is my first time to ever host Thanksgiving at our house. I feel like such a grown up now. I have done many things ahead of time so I will have plenty of time to hang out with the kids in the morning before our guests arrive. One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving morning is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a child I lived in New York City for a few years and have wonderful memories of watching the parade, curbside. While we were living back on the East Coast we had to opportunity to visit my family in NYC and take our kids to the parade on two separate occasions, it was a blast.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year I am especially thankful for the members of our armed services that are serving all over the world and praying that they know how much we appreciate them and their families and the sacrifices they make for our freedom.

I leave you with some photos of our toes from Thanksgivings past. Have a great day.

NYC 2003

NYC 2005

On the Road Again

2007-11-11T18:49:00.000-05:00

Have minivan...will travel.

I do not know what we did before we had our entertainment center on wheels. I am telling you, the DVD player with cordless headphones, the Navigation system, etc. I am not sure if I will ever go back. We decided to take to the open road, and there are a LOT of those out here, and drive to Big "D". The male members of the family were off to cheer the Midshipmen on to victory against the University of North Texas and the girls were to embark upon the shopping Mecca better known as the Galleria with one particular store in mind...the brand spanking new American Girl Boutique and Bistro.

We had our normal Saturday breakfast of pancakes cooked by Dad and then we were all fueled up and ready to face the day. I have to share something so sweet about Laura. Every time she eats pancakes and they are not cooked by Adam she repeatedly tells Adam how they were good, but NOT as good as his. I think it is his TLC and no one could ever make pancakes that even compare... which is why I don't even try.

We headed down I-35 to make our way to drop the boys at the game and as we were driving a large group of motorcycles passed. As they were passing we noticed that many of them were wearing Navy jackets, Adam then realized it was a large groups of Chiefs(senior enlisted) from his squadron. We beeped a waved and figured they were heading to the game as well. A little while later we stopped for a potty and snack break. As we pulled up to the gas station we noticed the group of bikers were there as well. We went it did our business, bought a few things and chatted with the Chiefs. When we got back in the car they had parked their bikes, mostly Harleys next to our minivan. As Adam started the car he started to chuckle, I asked him what was so funny. He said "Here I am in my minivan and look at them all leather clad and bad on their bikes". I shared a chuckle too. I really should have taken a picture of the scene, it was funny.

We made it down to Denton to drop the boys at the game. It was fun to see so many Navy fans WAY out this way. We even saw a few middies that were donning their new Stetson hats with their SDBs, although they were clearly breaking uniform regulations, they were in the spirit of the West. The boys had a great time at the game and Adam ran into many people he had not seen in recent years including some of our favorite readers of the blog that hail from the great state of Texas.

After we dropped the boys we were off to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro to make our lunch reservations. It was an easy drive and Lola led the way, she is the voice of our on board navigation system. It was fun to see the excitement in Laura when we arrived. Although we have been to the NYC American Girl store numerous times, Laura was too young to remember or appreciate the visits. She enjoyed walking around seeing all the dolls, babies, books and various other accessories for sale. They each brought some of their own money to be able to buy a few small things. We made our purchases and headed up to the Bistro for lunch. One of the fun things about eating there are the doll chairs that are provided so that your doll can sit up at the table with you. We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed some girl talk and just being together. As we were heading out we went to the restroom where we noticed something new that we had not seen at the AG store in NY. Each bathroom stall had a doll holder so that you would not have to set your doll down on the dirty floor....clever, I tell you.

We had a little more time before it was time to go back to get the boys so we spent a little bit of time walking around the Galleria. It was fun to walk around and pick up a few things we had been needing. It was also fun for me to be back in the Galleria where I had vivid childhood memories of ice skating in the rink inside the mall. They had big signs that were celebrating the mall's 25 year anniversary, that sure made me feel old, but I clearly remember when it opened. Yikes!

We drove back up to get the boys and heard all about Navy's victory, the flyover of Hornets, the post game fireworks, and all of the fun that they had. We told them all about our trip to the AG store, the fact that Emma almost lost her purse(with her military ID) in Old Navy, and the fact that we found some "bargains" at the mall.

It was a fun day for all. I only wish I had some pictures of the boys to post. Sorry, they did not have a camera with them.

Freak Show

2007-11-05T17:06:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was the much anticipated toby Mac concert. As you know from previous posts safety usually comes first around here...because of that we came armed with earplugs. Better to look dorky for a few hours than to have long term hearing loss. :) I think we all ended up taking them out by the time Toby took the stage. The opening bands were good but we were all ready for the headliner. Laura was such a trooper she was awake and singing along for much of the concert but at one point fell asleep on Adam's shoulder. He laid her down on one of our seats and she slept for the rest of the show, but she still had a great time.

The rest of us sang and danced along to some of our favorite songs and had a blast. The kids were commenting on how the music shook their chest...ahhh nothing like your first rock concert.

In the end we had a great time and with the looks of the audience should be preparing for many more of these evenings.

Happy Halloween Y'all

2007-10-31T20:32:00.001-05:00

We are totally pooped and our tummies are full of sugar. We had a night of fun that started at church and then ended with some trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Here is a picture of our princess, hillbilly and Elvis(this is an encore, it was just as popular this year).

It is time to go raid the kids' bags in search of chocolate...

Road Trip

2007-10-25T22:01:00.001-04:00

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2007-10-25T20:37:00.000-04:00

Last week the kids had a couple of days off due to Fall Break so we decided to hit the road. Sea World was on our list of "must see" places and thanks to Anheuser-Busch we could all get in for next to nothing.

I want to publicly thank Anheuser-Busch for their continued support of active duty military families. Each year every active duty member is eligible for up to 4 free tickets at the Anheuser-Busch park of their choice, what a treat. They even had a short segment at the beginning of the Shamu show to honor military members and their families, it was very meaningful and made the kids beam with pride. We tell them all the time that they are sacrificing for their country too by having to spend so much time without their dad. The support from large companies in such a tangible way is so appreciated, it means a lot.

So we loaded up the minivan, which by the way we have no idea how we lived without it, and headed south. After a couple of outlet malls, snacks, and numerous potty breaks we arrived in San Antonio. Our hotel was within walking distance of El Mercado, the Mexican part of downtown, so off we went to feast on Adam's favorite food, MEXICAN. Yumm!!! We had a great meal then let the kids run around at a local park before we went back to the hotel for a quick dip. Is it possible for kids to stay in a hotel with a pool and not swim? Not ours. It seemed awfully hot on our drive down there but when we were watching the news that night we realized San Antonio had a record high temp that had stood since, 1895. It was 93 degrees that day, whew it wasn't my pregnancy hormones after all.

The next morning we were off to Sea World. We got there right when the gates were opening and didn't stop until the park closed. The big kids rode the roller coasters time and time again with Adam. Laura rode all of the rides she was tall enough for. I rode a couple of the kiddie rides and took pictures of all of fun. I knew that my delicate condition would prevent me from riding many rides but I still had a great time. The shows were right up my alley and all of the sea animals were impressive, especially Shamu. When the park closed we headed back to our hotel and crashed.

The next morning we got up and had a leisurely start to our day. On the way out of town we stopped by the Alamo, the kids had been there before but we realized that the last time we went Emma was Laura's age...weird, it didn't seem that long ago. I may try to post an old picture of that.

When all was said and done we had a great trip...but as always, there is no place like home.

Here it is I found the photo, this was in January 2003.

Blast from the Past

2007-10-22T11:19:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we took a little road trip down to San Antonio. I will blog more about this later. However, as we were driving along I got an inspiration for the perfect Musical Monday selection.

We were driving along feeding DVDs into the dashboard as often as necessary. The kids take turns choosing the next movie but at times there is arguing that one of the girls is not interested in some boyish film or that Andrew would rather not watch another Princess flick. Well, I decided to make it easier on everyone... I would choose. I merely mentioned watching "School House Rock" and there was a lot of moaning, "Mom, that is booooring". Adam was so excited he insisted that I put it on so we could all sing along. He then told the kids all about what Saturday mornings were like when we were kids and how much we LOVED these short episodes. For the next half hour or so we sang, "Conjunction Junction", "I'm Just a Bill", "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get your adverbs here", "Interplanet Janet"etc.... I could go on and on but I won't. I suppose if you weren't born in the early 70s you might be bored too. The funny this is the kids were singing the songs for the next day or so.

What does this have to do with my musical choice today? If you remember "School House Rock", you might remember this.

Pictures as promised

2007-10-17T22:06:00.001-04:00

Big Night

2007-10-17T16:15:00.000-04:00

Tonight is a big night for Emma and Andrew. They will be getting baptized at our church. The part that makes it extra special is that Adam gets to baptize them. They are both excited and it should be a special night for our family. Our church allows dads, grandfathers or other spiritual mentors to baptize during the Wednesday night service. This just makes it a little more personal, especially in a church the size of ours with thousands of members.

I know there are many schools of thought on baptism and when and how it should be done. Our church being "Baptist" believes in the good old fashioned dunking. The Greek word used for baptize in the original New Testament text is the same word that would be used to submerge, like dunking your donut into your coffee. So tonight Adam will have the opportunity to "dunk" Emma and Andrew and share a few things about them and then pray for them. We believe their baptism is not what saves them, instead this a public profession of the faith they have in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

I hope to post some pictures later tonight or tomorrow.

Music Monday

2007-10-15T09:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Rocks in my Dryer for this link.

I can really never get enough of this song. This kid is amazing!

Shirley?

2007-10-12T06:56:00.000-04:00

Surely, if this little girl can do this... how much more are we capable of?

Let this encourage and convict.