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| First soccer games of the season and it rained |
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| Mommy/daughter date- and she chose Russ' restaurant |
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| This creepy pigeon kept trying to fly into our house |
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| New plantation shutters! |
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| Showing school spirit at the preschool tailgate party |
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| Deb and Stephen |
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| Friends since high school |
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| Enedina's baby shower |
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| Showing her sense of humor |
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| E's baby, Nolbi |
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| Future drummer |
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| Apple orchard |
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| Someone found the apples and helped himself |
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| Grandparent's Day |
Good grief the blog is suffering! The thought of sitting down and
remembering things makes me a little stressed so I procrastinate and
then have to remember even more things. Oh well. As I write this the
soccer season is done! Isaac's team had a couple of good players so
they pretty much dominated every game. Isaac had some goals this year
and has a good grasp of the game. Nate enjoyed coaching Isaac's team.
Caleb's coach had really nice things to say about Caleb. That he
listens well and is a team leader. Caleb had a couple goals this season
and was often playing midfield-lots of running. I did not get good
soccer pictures this year, too busy watching Julia and Stephen. Next
year Julia will play soccer. I can't imagine the busyness of 3 kids in
soccer next fall, I'm just not going to think about it. Poor Stephen.
We
had parent teacher conferences for the boys last week. I am so proud
of them! They are doing well academically, but what makes me most proud
is hearing about their character. Both teachers said the boys are
respectful, get along well with others and desire to learn about the
Bible. Puts a smile on my face. Grandparent's Day was earlier this
month and thankfully both schools were on the same day! Made it easier
on my Mom this year. Unfortunately, Caleb got sick with the stomach flu
and couldn't go to school that day, he was very disappointed to miss
Grandparent's Day. But, Mom braved the germs and came and visited him
at home. Isaac and Julia enjoyed showing Grandma around their rooms and
singing songs for the grandparents.
The stomach
flu took down the whole family, except for Nate. Thankfully it was the
24 hr bug, but man it was slow moving. Took about 2 weeks for everyone
to get it here.
My high school friend, Deb visited in
September. We hadn't seen each other in a couple years, it was so nice
of her to come out here! Deb lives in Baltimore and is an ER Physician
Assistant. God has led us down very different paths since high school,
but because of our shared faith we've been able to maintain our
friendship. We laughed alot and had many good conversations.
My
sister just visited last week. My Dad turned 60 earlier in October and
all he wanted was a family get together- no party. Steph surprised him
and flew out too. We had a really nice evening as a family. Steph
watched the kids for a night so Nate and I could go away. We hadn't
done that in probably 1 1/2 years! It was so nice of her. The kids had
a great time and she was exhausted at the end. Nate and I enjoyed
being able to sleep thru the night without any kids waking us up. We
thought about going places and seeing things, but ended up just reading
books and relaxing- it was a great 24 hours! We all enjoy Steph's visits and wish the time didn't go so fast.
In
September we had a baby shower for Enedina, the refugee girl who lived
with us over the summer. She is with a long term foster family in GR.
It was amazing to see the number of women who had been involved in her
life in just the 60 days she lived with us. Enedina was very
appreciative of the shower and everyone had fun that night. Enedina had
her baby earlier this month, a little boy named Nolbi. He is tiny and
adorable.
Earlier this month we had a new refugee boy
move in with us. His name is Ronal and he is 12 years old from El
Salvador. He is such a sweet, fun kid. He has gotten along with the
kids well and it is fun to hear them practicing their Spanish and
English together.
Stephen is 11 months old and
changing so much. I see less of the baby and more of the toddler in
him. He cruises around furniture and can stand alone. He is ticklish
under his arms and gives big belly laughs. He charms everyone in
nursery. He can do the sign language for all done and more. He also
says mama and all da (all done). He likes to yell ALL DA when he wants
out of his playpen. He gets into every cupboard in the kitchen. He has
transitioned to formula and this morning was his last breastfeeding.
That makes me sad and happy. Bring on the dairy for me! We tried giving him lactose free milk, but
he had intestinal issues again. So he may have a milk intolerance.
I'm trying to figure out what kind of milk to transition him to from the
formula. Stephen is stuck in the rut of waking at 5 am and we are
trying to end that, without much success. It has been a week of
listening to him cry until 6 am when we get him up. My usually happy
baby is a little more crabby during the day. I'm hoping that not
getting him up til 6 am the next couple of weeks will break the early
riser habit.
