Aaron loses his first tooth!!!

Aaron has had a loose tooth for months - his very first loose tooth!

He has asked me several times if I would try pulling it. He exhibited no fear whatsoever. Each time I tried, it didn't seem quite ready, so we'd wait a little longer. As we were sitting in the VBS closing program, Aaron starts loudly whispering to me while holding his tooth out for me to see. Oh, how exciting it was to lose that first tooth. There was all of the anticipation of the Tooth Treasure Hunt and the dollar that he would receive.

On a side note, I was amazed at how easily my 5 year old read each of the clues. He only needed help with a couple of the words.

VBS - Vacation Bible School

Last week, Martin, Aaron, and Jonathan went to VBS at our church. They had an incredible time - loved every minute of it! They look forward to it all year long and are always sad when it's over.

This was Jonathan's first year at VBS and he loved it just as much as the others!

I am so thankful to everyone at our church who worked so hard to make it all happen for the children!

Rich and I had to make multiple trips each night. Rich would take the three boys each night and stay there from the starting time at 7PM until 8PM when Jonathan was done. I stayed home with Rosalie and got her to bed each night at her normal time. Rich would bring Jonathan home, and I would put Jonathan to bed and then I'd leave to go pick up Martin and Aaron, who were done at 9 PM. It was late nights for the boys all week. The good part about all of that for me was that I made everyone take a rest/nap time everyday last week. So, for 1-2 hours every afternoon there was complete silence in my home. Heaven! This might need to become an everyday thing!

Just one more tooth ...

... to cut through and we are done for a while!!! This girl has had it harder than any of my babies with the teething. She has become the happiest little gal since all but one of her teeth are through. She hardly fusses and is happy all the time. LOVE THIS!

She still wakes me up at 5 AM - but - most of her day is spent smiling, so 5 AM doesn't seem as bad when she isn't fussing the rest of the day!

Slow week on the blog . . . means busy week at home

I've not really had time to get anything up on the blog this week. I have alot going on!!

1 - Going through all of the school stuff from our school year, filing what is to be saved, tossing what is to be tossed, saving what will be used again for the next child, making room for all of our new stuff that is about to be ordered.
2 - All the normal baking, cooking, and cleaning.
3 - VBS - Vacation Bibile School - and requiring all of the children (even the older ones) to lay down each afternoon for naps, since they are out so late each night.
4 - And in all my spare time ... house hunting!!! We are on the hunt for a house to purchase. We have been visiting properties and looking for a place where our family will "fit". It's a very exciting process - but very time consuming.

A Conversation

Aaron says to me, "Mommy, can you change my name to Bruce? I am going to be Batman"

Martin follows Aaron and says, "God knows everything and he has a plan for you, Aaron. You are not going to be Batman."

Martin says to me, "Mommy, can you please tell Aaron that he is not going to be Batman? Mommy, please, he needs to know the truth."

Martin says to Aaron, "Aaron, you know that Batman is not real. God may have different plans for you and you need to do what God wants you to do."

Aaron, "I am going to invent all sorts of things to help me be Batman."

Martin says to Aaron, "Joseph thought he was going to stay in his father's land, but he ended up in Egypt. I'm done talking to you now."

Growth

Every once in a while I track the growth of my children. I was really good about it with Martin and Aaron. . . but got less good at it with Jonathan, and just did it for the first time with Rosalie.

***Martin - 8 years 1 month is 55 pounds and 47 1/4 inches
44th percentile for weight and 6th percentile for height

***Aaron - 5 1/2 years old is 44 pounds and 43 1/2 inches
61st percentile for weight and 29th percentile for height

***Jonathan - 3 years and 7 months old is 35 pounds and 39 3/4 inches tall
59th percentile for weight and 63rd percentile for height

***Rosalie - 16 months - 25 pounds - 29 1/2 inches
Rosalie is at 72nd percentile for weight and 3rd percentile for height

I don't put much stock into growth charts - after all - they are just averages of normal growing children. But it's fun to chart it all out and see where exactly they show up on the chart. Apparently two of mine barely make it on the chart for height!
Jonathan has been my one child who has grown so differently from my other children from the very beginning. He was my biggest baby at birth and has kept up with that ever since.

***I think that Jonathan may end up being our tallest when full grown.

Fun at Home

Slippin' ...

... and slidin'

Having fun with the water table

Rosalie is learning how this thing works

Always fun to get soaked at the water table and then get in the sand box and get covered with sticky sand!

Roasting Marshmallows

One of the exciting things that we had planned for this trip was roasting marshmallows. This might seem pretty ordinary to some folks, but our children have never had marshmallows, let alone roasted them! So, it was something they were super excited about!

Well, the fire didn't quite work out like we planned. Everything was a bit wet, and Rich couldn't get a good fire going, but we made the best out of it. As soon as the flame came up, we stuck the marshmallow in before the flame died again.

The verdict - Martin loves marshmallows. Aaron and Jonathan thought they were disgusting. Rosalie was in bed sleeping through it all.

Our hike was rained out

We had plans to go on a hike that would lead us up to a waterfall. So, we headed to town to eat lunch and as we were eating, the downpour began. Martin and Aaron were very disappointed. We went back to the cabin and put the youngers down for a nap. When the rain cleared a bit, I took Martin and Aaron out to hike up the moutain that our cabin was on. We hiked all the way to the top. When we got back down to where our cabin was - we had a rock throwing contest. So, the disappointed little boys were happy that they still got to hike, even though we didn't get to see a waterfall. When we were done with our hike, they spent the rest of the afternoon in the hottub!

The Great Smoky Mountain Train Ride

Sitting outside - waiting anxiously to purchase our train tickets!

Taking the time to pose with the friendly train engineer!

The three youngers were waiting for Daddy and Martin to buy our tickets!

Rosalie dancing . . . the girl is always dancing!

We stopped to enjoy some live bluegrass music while waiting to board the train. Jonathan was too cute bouncing to the music in this position!

This is a picture of the train engineer. The boys were super excited to see him and wave to him! We showed up super early the morning of the train ride because we did not pre-purchase our train tickets. I couldn't make up my mind as to which seats to buy, and finally decided to just wait and purchase them when we got there. We were a little nervous that we wouldn't get tickets. We got to town about 50 minutes before everything opened, so we spent some time walking around the train and checking everything out. About 10 minutes before the train depot opened, the train engineer pictured above walked around the corner, and handed us two free adult tickets for the train ride! We were stunned! This was one time that we were VERY happy that we didn't come prepared with train tickets already bought! It ended up saving us about $100. This was a wonderful blessing!

They were mesmerized at the beautiful sights!

The boys took turns getting the best view at the window

The beautiful Nantahala River is in the background. Rich and I look forward to the day that we can take the 4 children rafting down that river!

The reason that we chose Bryson City, NC as our vacation destination is because it is the home of the Great Smoky Mountain Train Ride!!! We actually planned to take this trip last fall, but cancelled because of our crazy schedule. I am so glad that we did cancel because I was able to find a cabin to rent instead of a hotel room, and we stayed 3 nights instead of the 1 we had planned to stay last fall.
We went on the Nantahala Gorge excursion and it was fabulous! The scenery was amazing and what better way is there to see the beautiful countryside?
The children thanked us over and over a thousand times that day - so I guess I'd call that success!

Vacation - Day One

We left for our vacation on a Monday morning headed out toward the Western Carolina mountains. We stayed near a town at the base of the Great Smokey Mountains called Bryson City, NC.

This is the cabin we rented during our stay. It was a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom cabin that slept 5. There was a loft area that was only accessible by ladder that 1 or 2 of the boys could have slept in - but we weren't comfortable with them going up and down the ladder, so we kept the three boys together in the 2nd bedroom. Rosalie slept in her pack and play in the kitchen. The cabin provided everything that we could possibly need and was immaculate.

This very old building was directly in front of the cabin and had a hot tub in it - the boys had a ton of fun in the hot tub!

The view from downtown Bryson City

Rich and the boys enjoying a view from the bridge

This is what they were viewing!

This is what Rosalie was doing as they were looking at the beautiful scenery.

More about our vacation coming tomorrow!

Not saying a whole lot - but here are a couple of words

Mmmmm. . .Yummmmm

This girl likes to eat . . . and does a pretty good job most of the time.

I can't recall if she was really hungry this particular day - or if she really just liked what we were having.

The best bib ever - specially made by a good friend!

My friend, Janet, made Rosalie this very special bib! Not only is it special because Janet made it . . . it's special because it is the best bib ever!

First of all - the closure is neither velcro nor snaps - it ties!!!! AWESOME - when you have a baby that rips everything off! I have to put her arms through very short sleeves and tie it around the neck. It's long and wide enough to cover up pretty much anything that she wears.

She's only my 4th baby - and it took me this long to find a bib that works!!

Thank you, Janet for this bib! We love it!