FYI - You can get it twice!

The flu, that is. Poor Jenna has been hit again! I took her to the doctor with a high fever, and they decided to test for strep and the flu - I was stunned when the doctor said she had the flu again. I guess her little body was still worn down from her last battle with it! It seems like she feels a bit better than last time, if that's any comfort. We're ready for flu season to be over. Come on Spring!!

Happy Birthday, Liam!

Liam is 5 today! We had such a nice day celebrating with him. Mimi and Papa came up for a visit, as they do for each of the kids birthdays. We visited his favorite place for dinner - Chuck E. Cheese.
Liam was such a sweet baby! And we still think the best way to describe him is with that one word - sweet. We always hear it from Sunday School teachers, neighbors, doctors, etc. He is also quite snuggly - we usually wake up in the morning and find that he's joined us in bed!
But he's also a boy who loves to play - especially outdoors. He especially enjoys riding his scooter and jumping on the trampoline. He has been fascinated with helicopters since he was old enough to notice them - Daddy's influence, I guess! And his newest interest is in building a plane - he told me he needed to use the engine from our Suburban to finish it up. He really has a plan - maybe I should be worried!
Happy Birthday, sweet Liam!

Cute words

Over the years, I have loved some of the ways my children mistakenly say a word. Jenna said one today, and it made me think of my "favorites" from each child! Jenna was helping me in the kitchen tonight, and said she would get the platemaps. Liam still asks what's for bizzert after dinner. Grady will sometimes still say thinger when he means finger. And Erica, bless her heart, we let this one go on until the end of 2nd grade because we thought it was so cute ... she used to say bathingsoup. Thinking of those things reminds me how quickly they grow, and how this time at home with them is so short. I'm so thankful that I get to be the one to hear their words, to listen to their thoughts, to know their hearts, and to receive their love!

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." Psalm 127:3(NLT)

Happy Birthday, Jenna!

Our "baby" is 3 today ... where does the time go?? Our little girl brings us so much joy, and we've had such a fun time watching her grow. She is so sweet, and yet so feisty at the same time! Of all of our children, she is the one who always seems to know what she wants - and will work quite hard to get it. However, she is quick to respond to correction, which is really a blessing! Her brothers and sister are all pretty smitten by her - it might be because she's the youngest, but we think her smile can win anyone over! One day I'll have to blog about all of the struggles Jenna faced as a baby, but for now I'll just say that it's been an amazing year of watching her get stronger and develop more each day. Happy Birthday, Jenna Grace - you are truly a gift to our family!!

The flu looks like this....

Well, the peaceful times of rest do! Jenna is on the mend, but is still quite tired. Poor Liam is still in the midst of it, and spends much of his time looking like this ... when he's not coughing! These poor guys had a bad cold with me a few weeks ago and were "lucky" enough to get ear infections ... once those cleared up, we moved on to the flu. I feel sad seeing them so sick! I think Grady probably had it last week, as well - but he was able to fight it off much easier. So far, Erica is well - that seems only fair since she had the stomach bug on Christmas Day and Strep Throat by New Year's! And did I mention that she's the only one who had both of those things?? Dave has been blessed to be traveling a lot these days ... not because the traveling is so much fun, but so far he has escaped the cold and the flu! I'm praying he stays healthy - I think it would be pretty miserable to be sick and away from my own bed. Well, Liam is coughing again so I'm off to give him some medicine. Now if only I can get the little guys to nap during school time ... it would be so much easier to teach Erica to diagram adjectives without their help!

Basketball Season

Here are a couple of dark, obstructed photos of our basketball stars (I'll put better ones in when I lighten them up a bit). That's Erica in the blue in the top photo. She's to the right of the pole and the referee, defending the girl in gold. Grady is in the bottom picture. He plays forward and is a head taller than many of his pals (on both teams). The photo above shows Grady left open, a mistake that cost their first two opponents ten points a piece.

This one's for you, Mimi!

In a recent phone conversation with Mimi, it was brought to my attention that recent posts included all children EXCEPT Erica - and it was (kindly) suggested that I remedy that situation.:-) This seems to be an ongoing problem - and I really don't mean to leave her out. It's just that she causes such little trouble and makes such little noise, that I sometimes forget she's around! That's not really true - I don't hear her or have to correct her very often, but she's often by my side, working with me. The fun thing is, she actually ENJOYS helping! I just wasn't like that as a 10 year old (or 18 year old) - sorry Mom!!! She has such a sweet and giving heart, and she spends a lot of time serving her family - even her brothers, who make her pretty crazy. But even if it seems like I forget to mention her, don't forget that she's the only one that has a scrapbook with more than 2 pages done! And have I mentioned all the Olan Mills pictures and video from her earlier days??? It doesn't hurt, either, that we enjoyed her so much that we went on to have 3 more!