Micah - January 2011

The first haircut....

Micah - Spring 2010

Some random photos from Randy's camera...date unknown...but I'm guessing May of 2010...

look at that wispy hair!

Friday

Friday morning I took the kids to Portrait Innovations to get an official group photo. I had high hopes that they would have more success than I had....well, Micah was really not impressed with the whole proceedings. But we did get one or two that were acceptable. I also got individual photos of my school kids (I do them over the summer because it's cheaper then school photos usually) and Zach (his birthday is shortly). I ended up buying Mark's photo too. This will be his "3-year photo" even though he won't be 3 until September. As Micah did not do well, we did not buy an 18 month photo of him...we'll try again when he's 2.

Our weekend in brief

It is very hot. It feels like the end of July or August. Tomorrow is supposed to be 94' with a real feel of 102'. Yeah, not planning on getting much done.

We've had a busy, long weekend. Friday afternoon/evening we were at the shop with Randy while he washed/serviced his truck. Saturday we spent the day doing yard work. We had gotten a 1/2 truck load of topsoil to fill in some of our flowerbeds and create a new one around the shed. I also did lots of laundry...and most of the bedding.

Sunday we went to the Community Worship Service as it was our Community Days weekend. After a quick lunch, I got ready for our evening company and took a "nap"...."nap" is used loosely considering someone or another woke me up with questions periodically. Then we had a bunch of friends for supper. This is a yearly tradition. Randy barbeques chicken and everyone brings something. Then at 10:00 we watch the town's fireworks. One of Josiah's friends stayed overnight.

Today Randy picked strawberries and I made several batches of jelly. We also set up the wading pool (I had to run to Wal-mart to get a new pump to pump it up). Randy did a bunch of errands. We had Strawberry Shortcake for the first time this season. YUM! More laundry as well....

Because it is so hot and humid the kids are having a harder time settling even though they are quite tired from being up so late....

Summer Days

After months of chilly, rainy weather, we have now rocketed into summer with temps in the 80s and soon (according to Accuweather) 90s. As it is also sunny, the little boys like to play outside...a lot. And they need supervised....a lot. Or they get into things...

Normally by now we have fresh lettuce and enjoy lots of salads. BUT with our so wet spring, the garden is only beginning to come up. Therefore, when possible I like to use my Crock Pot. I can assemble the food during naptime (or if they play nicely earlier) and it's all ready by the time I want to eat. Casseroles also work well....but heat up the kitchen more. Tonight I am trying THIS recipe, but I put it in the crock pot instead. Hopefully it will still be tasty.

The little boys are all in bed. Janae is playing at her cousins house.

Micah - December 2010

December starts with my birthday...

eating my cake...

Playing peek-a-boo with my new towel

(Mommy loves my expression, but regrets not changing my shirt after the cake and before opening presents.)

My 3-wheeler came a few days late....I got it early in the morning when I was up before everyone else. Mommy had assembled it the night before. I really like it!

(We now have 3 of these and they are in constant use...definitely one of the best purchases around here. The older kids had them as well but they got worn out before the little ones came along.)

Christmas @ Grammy's House

Christmas Morning

Christmas w/Daddy's family.

Wednesday

I've been perusing this cool little cookbook that my "secret sister" from church gave me recently. It's all recipes for preparing things to freeze. One of these days I'm going to make a grocery list and try some of them.

Mark spiked a fever of 102.5 today. Not sure what's going on....probably some sort of virus. His poor little feet/toes are also cracked so we're trying to get them healed as well.

Josiah loves having his own room.

Janae has issues with being scared at bed time (fire, tornadoes, anything disastrous mentioned). We're working on it. I very well remember going through the same thing as a child...perhaps a bit older....not sure how I eventually got over it.

Tomorrow is the last day of school...let the summer begin!

Today I was sitting on a lawn chair supervising the kids. And the UPS truck drove by and I thought that he probably thought that I have quite a life, JUST sit around while the kids play. :-) Of course, I was holding a very clingy little boy, getting up frequently to keep another little boy in his boundaries, breaking up disagreements before they turned violent, and all the while thinking of all the things that needed done in the house. Now had I had a glass of iced tea, then it really would've been "the life".

Tomorrow's plans: put away the laundry from today, get groceries. Of course, whether Mark feels better or not will definitely change what I can do. The little boys' room still needs to finish being organized. Josiah's is in good shape except there is a cabinet in it that I want to keep but haven't figured out where to put it yet.

Micah - November 2019

Night #2

went fabulous. Once they fell asleep they slept all night. Micah did get up at 5:50, but the other boys are capable of staying in bed until it's officially time to get up (6:30). I did decide to put a fan in their room since I thought that Micah was not used to the noise of other people sleeping with him. Not sure if that helped or if he was just exhausted from the night before, but I was thrilled to sleep all night! Now he's just snuggled in my lap, eyes closed, babbling....so sweet....

Night #1

Of no crib, and 3 boys in one room - verdict: that was horrible, I hope it improves. Micah seemed to think he didn't need much sleep. Zach kept waking up yelling loudly. Mark woke once, but slept through all the rest thankfully. I'm sure the big kids will complain about it this morning, but they didn't during the night. Lost track of how many times I put Micah back in bed....sometimes I just lay down with him and sometimes I just put him in and shut the door....by midnight I was ready to try anything to get some sleep! Oh well, changes are hard...but good. Today I'm hoping to get the rest of the stuff switched around in the rooms...if I can function with the quite interrupted sleep.

How nice for Josiah, though, to finally have his own space (which makes his sister quite jealous...a whole 'nother issue). He does need to keep the door locked though to keep the little boys out of his stuff....

Well, can't believe it's 6:21 and the little boys are not up yet....and quite thankful...I need to get the house straightened up since today is cleaning day. Perhaps this afternoon I'll take a nap.

Micah - October 2010

picnic time!

Camping again...

another one of mommy's favorites!

Random Ramble

Been rather busy lately...

Sunday afternoon/evening we celebrated Micah's adoption. Around 116 people (including us) were at our home between 3-7. Lots of fun! We are so blessed with such great family, friends, neighbors, and church family. So Friday and Saturday I was preparing for that.

We've been having a ton of rain recently....sometimes I think we must live in the Northwest instead of the Northeast! Anyway, Saturday was gorgeous so Josiah and Randy caught up on all the mowing and yard work.

Saturday night Micah started crawling out of his crib. So I figured if I need to work to keep him in a crib, I might as well work to keep him in a bed. This evening I started switching rooms around. Josiah now has his own room and the 3 little boys are together. Everyone was quite excited and took awhile to settle. I think I'm crazy. Before if the little boys woke early, Josiah would tell them that it's not time to get up yet and they'd stay quietly in their room....now Josiah will not be there so I'm not sure how it will go....and if Micah wakes up during the night, before I'd just tell him to go back to sleep and he could cry....now it will be a bit tougher. Oh well, we'll see. I think for naps I will put him in the pack-n-play in Josiah's room so they can all be in separate rooms for that. Zach normally naps in our bed anyway. I am not looking forward to this adjustment, but I took down the crib and there is no going back....

This week is relatively empty. Next week starts speech therapy and things will get a bit more hectic. Tomorrow Zach has his occupational therapy. Friday I'm taking the kids to get a photo of the 6 of them together....yeah, definitely crazy! :-) I usually do the kids "school" pictures over the summer since it's cheaper for me to take them somewhere then use the school photographer so I'll probably get school kids' photos as well. And Zach has a birthday in June so we should update his picture. And Micah will be 18 months...we'll see about him, I really like his 1 year photo so maybe we'll just keep that one until he's 2.

Anyway, after all the fun yesterday I wasn't to motivated today...just laundry and finishing up the dishes. Now I should go to bed...after all, who knows how the night will go with everyone in different rooms....Micah just started crying again....he's been cranky today...perhaps to much fun at his party yesterday?!?

Micah - September 2010

Swinging at a campground.

Pumpkin painting day.

At the cabin...not sure what he's chewing on...

At the local fair.

Update on Mark

He will be doing speech therapy once a week for the time being.

He is to get an eye exam (did that last night). Everything appears okay...but they want to check again in 5 months. He does seem to have minor astigmatism but at this point it does not need treated.

He is to get checked by an ENT as the evaluators said that "he acts like a child who doesn't hear well." (scheduled for early June)

I was fascinated when they told me that he is so loud. Since Zach is quite loud, it had never occurred to me that Mark was...and if I had thought about it I would've said it's to be heard in our large family. :-)

I am to keep a list of words he says clearly....not very long at this point.

And now it is time to put the little boys to bed...

Micah - August 2010

Hanging out at the beach!

First day of school.

Micah - July

In July 2010 I was 7 months old.

One of my beautiful smiles.

Summer is quite tiring.

This vacationing stuff is hard work!

having fun at my cousin's birthday party.

My brother takes all my toys!

Weekend

The weekend went way to fast once again.

We spent all day Saturday at Randy's grandma's estate sale...wow, she had a lot of stuff! Anyway, I was pleased to get a stack of bakewear which included some 11x17x2 cake pans...perfect for our growing family! We also got a neat desk...planned for Josiah's room but currently in the kitchen where it may find a permanent home. :-) And I got a coat tree. I've long been sick of back packs thrown around the house haphazardly and been wanting a coat tree for them to hang on. Perfect. We got other assorted odds and ends and had a fun time with Randy's family. Randy and Josiah helped as "runners" for the sale and were rather exhausted by the end of the day. So thankful my mom had the other kids as it was rather rainy.

Sunday we recovered...church, relaxing, playing outside. For some reason everyone seemed rather argumentative...hopefully today is a bit more calm.

Speaking of today, Early Intervention is coming to evaluate Mark's speech....I'm interested to see what they think.

Well, the kids are waking up...gotta go!

Micah - June 2010

Camping

Truck Rally

He hated the water...I imagine that will change by this year but we'll see...he's still not overly fond of his bath, but getting better.

Micah - May 2010

Me and my big brother.

I love camping!

My siblings...including my sister who needs her bangs trimmed!

I love my Bumbo!

One of mommy's favorite photos.

Micah - April 2010

Random

• Today is Randy's grandma's estate sale. My mom graciously will keep the kids so I can enjoy it and actually watch what's going on.
• Janae is now finished with school...Kindergarten graduation was last night. So cute! They acted out the story "Click Clack Moo, Cow's that Type". They all said, "I like kindergarten because..." Janae finished with "I get to play Polly Pockets." Um, yeah. We don't have them so I can see it's a treat. They also finished the sentence, "When I grow up I want to be..." Janae said, "a teacher". I can't remember why though. Last night she was all concerned about how "everyone" will say that she's "graduated." I assured her that this is only the first of 2 or 3 or more graduations which will come after studies and hard work. :-)
• She is now missing both front teeth.
• Josiah and Autumn have 2 weeks (8-1/2 days) left of school. I better get thinking of our summer schedule/routine. I like to have a basic plan, even if we don't follow it exactly.
• Micah is working on learning our property boundaries. Yeah. He's a lot like Zach, a wanderer. Mark was more to stay with everyone else. But I'm sure by the end of summer we'll have it down pat! And since this is the 3rd summer in a row with a one-year-old child, I'm getting rather skilled at keeping track. He can't help that under the neighbor's deck is so enticing with all of there outgrown toys. :-)
• The boys all got their summer hair cuts this week...Wednesday to be exact. Josiah had been begging for a buzz but I wanted their hair longer for the adoption. So Wednesday night the boys hair got cut. Mommy needs more practice, Daddy does a better job of getting all the long hairs off.
• The little boys have another biological sibling so I've needed to work through that. We found out on Wednesday night. It's difficult for me that they can't all be together.... Anyway, we're quite thankful that this little boy can be in foster care with the family that adopted the boys' biological sister. And we can't wait to see him. I'm so glad that (so far) we can be in contact with the families that have most of their siblings.
• The garden finally dried out enough to plant. Yesterday Randy & the kids planted potatoes, corn, peas, beans, and beets. I want to buy some tomato plants and pepper plants yet as well. I had planted some radishes, carrots, and lettuce in planters so we'll see how that goes....little boys were digging in them so I'm not sure how much will come up. I did see some little sprouts of something (no, I did not label the planters so I don't know what's in what until they are taller).
• Remember that basil plant I showed you awhile ago. I'm doing a good job of killing it just like all houseplants....maybe it'll come around but it's looking rather spindly/scrawny.

Micah - February/March 2010

Flowers from when Micah was in the hospital w/RSV (Feb. 2010).

Spring time!

With my brothers in the "new" camper.

The kids were so excited with the "new" camper. And we enjoyed it a lot! Interesting to see how it goes this year with 3 very mobile little boys. :-)