Thursday, September 30, 2010

Wow, it's been a while!

First day of high school-can you tell he's nervous? :)
"A" man after getting home form the hospital


Birthday boy-he sure does like his money!


Random Chloe pic-simple and sweet-notice the pigtails?


She LOVES to dance-this is her birthday dress I had made for her. She is in love with Dora!


Happy 3rd Birthday!


Vacation Bible School



I can't believe I haven't posted anything since August 20! I have been a slacker in the blog department lately...our family life has thrown us for a loop the past month, and can't seem to keep up. We had Chloe and "G" man's birthday parties. School began the end of August...all boys are doing well and seems to like school. Chloe is growing by the foot! I look at pics of her from last year at this time, and she still seems like a baby. We then had quite a scare with our "A"man...he was at his first ever sleepover on September 10. We got a call the next morning saying he was driving his friend's UTV, had no helmet on, and he drove it into the back of a forklift! The seatbelt was not on tight enough, so when he hit it, he hit his abdomen on the steering wheel. Fast forward to our local hospital-doing cat scans, bloodwork, and then the doc informs us he needs to be either life flighted or ambulanced to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. He had a lacerated liver. We spent 4 1/2 days in the Children's Hospital. He was on bed rest for 2 days, and also couldn't eat for 2 days. Man, that is so hard when you're child is begging you for something to eat or drink, and he can't have either! I can not speak highly enough of our Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. The care we received was amazing. While there, it was also a very emotional place to be....I witnessed MANY children, young and old, who were VERY sick...many spending so much time there, they know all of the staff and volunteers by their first name. It really makes you appreciate how lucky we truly are...While there, we visited the Hospital's Library, and in this library, they have a special section called the "Adopt Me" section. This is where patients, siblings, and even adults can take home, or "adopt" these books and magazines. While we were there, I had this feeling that God kept talking to me, telling me to give back to this wonderful facility. I got the idea to do a Used Book and Magazine Drive to benefit this "Adopt Me" section. They were getting low on books and magazines, so I though this was the perfect wayt to give back to them. Well, we have had local businesses,daycare, schools, banks, our local hospital, just to name a few collecting books for us. We are also having a specified Book Drive this Saturday at our local Hospital. "A" man was even featured in a an article for our local paper, promoting the drive. Can't wait to post on here the acutal number of books we collected! It's awesome!

"C" man is in school soccer this year, and it has been a good season for them so far, their record is 7-2. This is his first year in high school, and he seems to like it. "G" man is also doing well, he likes his teacher, and does well with school. Which brings us back to "A" man-our discharge instructions were-no bending, lifting, running, (ok, are you laughing yet? This is a 6 year old boy we are talking about here)no physical activity, no gym, no recess for a WHOLE MONTH! Oh my, what a long 2 1/2 weeks it's been already. I feel like all I get done doing is telling him to stop doing this, don't do that..he goes back to the hospital in october, when they will clear him to resume normal activity. Chloe is doing WONDERFUL! She is so grown up and is definetly her mother's child. That girl LOVES shopping, dressing up, and everything girlie.

Now can you see why I haven't blogged lately? :)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

On the road again....

What a sandbox of cuties!



About a week and half after returning from Myrtle Beach, we were on the road again, heading down to NC to visit our extended family, Amy and Marc and family...I think we were all anxious to see how the blending of our two broods would go....if it is anything like Amy and Marc's relationship with Dan and I, they would hit it off instantaneously...and that's exactly what happened! With 10 kids and 4 adults under 1 roof, we had a blast!


Ok Finn...what can we get into next?

Eating our delicious dessert after supper

We visited a State Park and everyone but yours truly( hey, somebody had to capture the sliding on camera, and I didn't want to mess up my back)went down Sliding Rock, a natural waterslide...as you can see from our pics, they had a great time, although the water was said to be at 48 degrees! We then went to lunch and back to the state park. We rented tubes and went "tubing" down the river...we were told it would only take an hour at the most to get to the end, but with a troop of 9 of us, in 3 inches of water at times, it took us over 2 hours! We had so much fun though, although Dan ended up being the one to push us when we got hung up in the 3 inches of water LOL! SO WISH we would have thought of buying waterproof cameras for that journey!

"G" man was the first brave soul to attempt the slide...

"C" man...

"A" man splash lands



Daddy and Chloe.....


Can we do that again Dad?

We then made our way back and stopped in a quaint little town, where we had some of the best pizza we've had in a long time! We also walked through some of the shops...

What a couple of sweethearts! "G" man treated all of the girls as if they were
also his little sisters....

If this was the case with having 4 kids-I'd be a billionaire :)

This sign says it all, ladies!

Chloe was in heaven when she saw this giant inflated Dora outside a shop




The next day, we took the train into the city, and visited a Childrens Museum...the kids of course loved this...

Man vs Wife in a Battle of Building Blocks at the Children's Museum!

So, I decided to get in on the action....

Crash!

These 2 six year old boys thought they were the "bomb" because they beat everyone
at tug of war....

Lying on a bed of nails...

Just checking my email Momma....

A cool station where you could make whatever you could think of out of duct tape-
the kids LOVED this area...I know have duct tape written on my Christmas list ;)

Rock and Roll girls....

Chloe getting her picture taken with a "princess" She saw this girl when we
were walking along the city streets...we think she was shooting pictures for a
prom magazine. I asked the photographer if she could have her picture taken with
her and she said of course....
Our trip went by all too quickly...we swore we would try to get together atleast once a year..
thank you Amy and Marc and family, for opening up your home to us, and treating us like
family...you all are simply the best! We love you!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

What a face!

So this is what happens when Momma leaves the room to fold laundry, only to remember 5 minutes later she forgot to put the facepaint away-this was compliments of "A" man ....all I could do was run for the camera-what a face!!!!