Elizabeth is turning 5 already! I can hardly believe it! Her birthday is actually tomorrow, but we had a little party for her tonight. She did such a great job being thankful and polite. Last year at her party she had a meltdown over sharing her new presents with her friends. We had lots of talks about it this year and she did so well. Caleb is wanting to play with her toys a lot though and she's not dealing with that as well. Tomorrow her present from us is a trip to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. She's looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to a little breather from busy-ness, but it won't last long. We have 2 field trips this week and then Luke's boss from L.A. will be here for a few days and then a visit from my Nana and 2 of my aunts and I know there's something after that too! Most is fun stuff, but still busy!!Luke just spoke with a friend who was on staff with us in Chester and found out that a young man who Luke and I used to meet with (we met with him and his girlfriend) just got life in prison for shooting and killing another man. Yikes. It's discouraging to hear stuff like that. There are encouraging stories too though. There have to be to keep us going!!!
I guess it's fall anyway. I put out my few fall decorations, but now it's hot here again. Oh, well, soon anyway! We had a good but busy weekend. Friday was our first park day with Tower Christian School - the homeschool group. They have one each month and they do P.E. for awhile, then have a meeting and eat lunch and sometimes have a guest speaker or something. It was fun, Elizabeth enjoys anytime she gets to play with other kids, and Caleb enjoyed it too! Saturday she had another soccer game and then Saturday night we had our date night courtesy of our babysitting co-op. We had a yummy dinner out and then got free coffee at a new coffee place called Dutch Bros. They were having a grand opening and giving away any drink for free all day Saturday so I had a yummy iced mocha (decaf of course, for Emma's sake!). I, too, love Starbucks. This coffee was very good too, but it's not close to the places I usually go. We were excited this weekend because both the Penn State and the Steelers games were on here, which almost never happens. Sadly, they both LOST! What is up with that?Today, back to the week. Elizabeth did great with school. I was running around cleaning up to have our staff here at lunchtime and she did all of her phonics lesson herself! Without complaining! I am thankful for small blessings like that!
Elizabeth had her first soccer game on Saturday. It's at the same church where she played tee ball. It's great because it's so non-competitive and there are no practices during the week - just a little bit before each game. Anyway, it was fun to watch and it was a great, cool day (that means 70's for us). She's also taking ballet class again. They're doing Snow White this semester, so for the last 15 minutes or so of each class they dress up and dance like some characters from Snow White. Last week they were diamonds because the dwarves work in the diamond mines. They had very fun sparkly silver sequined outfits and then Miss Marcia turned out the light and shined a spotlight on them so they were super-sparkly. It was fun and of course the girls loved it!
Caleb loves the Steelers. Hmmm, I wonder why? And he loves trucks and dinosaurs. He has a bit of a cold and is runny nosed right now, but other than that he's fine. He loves to play outside and dig in the dirt when we let him.
Emma's fine. She's so amazingly cute. When she's eating we've started this routine that part way through she "sits" on my lap and looks at me and she just smiles and smiles and coos at me. It's so fun! When I look at her I think, "Oh, I could have another one". Help! I need someone to talk some sense into me.
I'm doing okay. Enjoying some cool weather - at least the nights and mornings anyway. It's crazy how these hot, dry months get to me. I'm so thankful and relieved for the coolness. And next month maybe it will even rain! Last week we had a disconcerting day when I looked outside in the afternoon and our street was blocked off at the corner where our house is - by police cars. Noticing the large group of people standing and staring, I went outside and looked and 2 houses down there were 6 or more police cars and many cops with guns drawn and pointed at the house. I went back inside with my kids! By the time Luke got home from work the cops had started leaving and he went out and talked to the guy who lives in that house. Turns out there was a shooting nearby and they had implicated him, so he let the cops search his house, and they didn't find anything. Still a little crazy. But good to live in the neighborhood where we are and LUke could go out and talk to him and be a neighbor.
Enjoy your almost-fall days wherever you are!
Here's a picture of Emma today with her eyes wide open! They are still very blue. She's a cutie....Last night some friends here had a shower for us and Emma. It was a couples shower, the first I'd been to, and it was definitely different having men there! But fun - they added some laughter for sure! And yummy food too....
Well here's a picture of Elizabeth and Emma, our two little girls, on my bed. I went to try and take a better picture of Emma to post, but realized that Caleb got ahold of our camera yesterday and must have turned it on, so.... dead batteries. That's Caleb. He is very possessive of Emma and whenever anyone outside our immediate family is holding her, he says, "That's not your Emma. That's MY Emma."Emma's doing well I think. She started skipping her 1 am feeding about a week ago so now we get to sleep from about 1o:30 till about 4:00 am. What a great improvement! I think she'd sleep past 4, but we're not letting her try that yet. Maybe another week or so. She still has very light blue eyes and is awake and alert more and more. She loves the ceiling fan and our huge living room window. She smiles at them often!Elizabeth started school last week. Homeschool, that is. So far so good. She loves it and asks to do school first thing every morning. She'll be an easy one to homeschool. Caleb, who knows? But for now it's going well. She's doing better and better at writing her name, and she very much enjoys her math. It's hard squeezing it in between feedings sometimes, but we have an okay routine for now.Today we met our new neighbors across the street. They're white, which is weird for this neighborhood. They have a granddaughter who is 5 living with them temporarily, so she came over and played with Elizabeth for awhile. Elizabeth is beside herself to have a playmate across the street. She could hardly finish her dinner! Girls!!!
Things are still going well here. Elizabeth LOVES to hold Emma. Actually, she loves to talk to, read to, and sing to Emma and does that for quite awhile everyday. What a good big sister she's been so far! And Emma seems to be calmed by Elizabeth too. Caleb is into being Superman. The kids went with Daddy to Burger King while I was in the hospital, and Caleb got these Superman glasses there. He came to the hospital wearing them and Luke and I were laughing so hard, it was hurting my incision. When the kids went to walk the halls with me in the hospital, Caleb still wore them the whole time. Very funny. Anyway, here he is with a "cape" and he likes to "fly" when he's Superman. He has learned that there are times when I can't get to him (when I'm feeding Emma) and then he is very mischievous and disobedient. I have to remind myself that he IS two....We are having a super-long, hot heatwave here. We have had two days of 113 temperatures and many near or at 110. At night the lows are around 90! I am so thankful for air conditioning, but dread our next electric bill. Actually, I guess the whole state of California is in danger of power outages due to such a prolonged heat wave. I hope that doesn't happen. So all is well. Mommy and Daddy are TIRED. Emma is still learning about night time sleeping. But she is such a cutie and generally a very good baby. She only really cries when she's hungry and sometimes when she wants to be held. I enjoy your comments!!!
Hee hee! It's hot outside and I'm getting heavy!!! I personally think my stomach is huge, but at the store today I saw a girl whose baby belly must have been twice as big! Something like 17 days to go now. I'm definitely more and more uncomfortable as this baby gets bigger and "delivery" time gets nearer. Hey, if he/she wants to come early, that's great with me. Anytime now .... I'm past the 36 week mark, so we're good to go. Maybe I should pack a hospital suitcase just in case....Elizabeth had her last swimming lesson today. She has improved SOOO much in 2 weeks. I've thought of signing her up for the next session too, but the thought of sitting out in that heat again everyday is yucky to me. One of her teachers, Leon, told me today that if I bring her back at the same time next week, he'll give her some lessons for free. She's so close to swimming - she can float on her own and put her head all the way underwater and kick around on the kickboard using her arms at the same time. We'll see....Tuesday is the Fourth. No big plans here. Maybe we'll barbecue. maybe not. 103 degrees is not so fun for a picnic. We'll probably go again to a little town near us called Hanford where they have a very fun celebration/fireworks in the evening. Elizabeth asked if we could buy 2 snow cones this year instead of one for both kids to share! We'll see...Happy summer weekend to all of you!!
Last Sunday our church plant, Home Fellowship Celebration Church, had their monthly celebration time at a park. I opted to stay home since it was 101 that day. But Luke and the kids went. The kids were anxious to try out their new bright greenish fold-up chairs, as you can see. Their friends Toby and Abby liked them too!
Elizabeth has had 2 swimming lessons now. I signed her up at a park in our neighborhood for a couple reasons - because the pool is only a learner pool so it's only 2-4 feet deep - I thought she wouldn't be intimidated by it - and also because I knew there wouldn't be many students in her class! I was right, there's only her and one other girl. So they get lots of individual attention. And I knew it would be an urban experience. I mean, I was okay with the large group of guys smoking pot at the entrance to the park and even with the kids coming up and asking the lifeguards every 2 minutes why they couldn't swim yet. The mom with at least 8 youngsters coming by and cussing like crazy at the lifeguards and our kids because it wasn't time for her kids to swim yet was kinda crrazy. I guess I haven't been out in the neighborhood as much as usual lately!!
And this week Elizabeth is going to VBS every night at a large church in Fresno. Luke has to speak at the VBS every night because they are focusing on World IMpact for their missions emphasis, which means all their donations will go to the W.I. Fresno budget, which is awesome. So she is having a super-fun week. Poor Caleb gets lots of one-on-one time with Daddy and Mommy, but he misses Elizabeth.
Okay, I better rest for a couple minutes before the kids' naptime is over!
Elizabeth got 2 new chicks last week. It's been almost a year since our last chick adventures, so we decided to try it again. They've lived a whole week so far! Actually Caleb isn't as obsessed with them as he was before, so they MIGHT live. She named them shadow and Sunflower. Good names, I thought. And for those of you who have wondered, there is a picture of me with my big baby belly. I don't love those pictures, so there aren't many of them!!Today was a busy, fun summer day. Luke took the kids to the zoo for a little bit this morning - before it got too hot - and they had fun seeing lots of animals and seeing the bird show. Then this afternoon we decided to check out a local pool at a high school that is very nice. It has waterslides (which we didnt' go on) and the main pool has a beach-like entry so it's great for little ones like Caleb. It also has fun water attractions like a waterfall mushroom, etc. The kids loved it. Caleb loved jumping into the pool from the side over and over and over..... Elizabeth loved the mushroom. We stayed until almost 6 pm. then we had a yummy and cool dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. So, a busy fun day and now I'm ready for bed!!! BUt it's our watering day and this house does not have automatic sprinklers so I'll be up for awhile turning sprinklers on and off so our yard doesn't die. It won't rain again till October, so we have to be pretty vigilant with the water.
This weekend I got to attend (kinda) a home school conference here in Fresno. I went off and on and attended a couple sessions but mostly looked at curriculum for Elizabeth for next year. And bought some. It was fun. Friday night Luke and I both went and looked and talked a lot about what we saw and liked/didn't like. Then today I went back and bought some stuff. I'm thankful that I didn't spend too much money. Just bought basic stuff like phonics, writing, math. And a couple of 1st grade level books in science and American history because Elizabeth reads so well already. And she's been asking lots of questions about freedom. Anyhow, it was good and I'm excited about what I bought. I also need to get on the ball registering her with Tower Christian School, which is a private homeschool group here in Fresno. (They have a website: towerchristian.com) That is exciting too. Elizabeth is very excited that she will be having school at home in the fall. She is a great learner. Caleb is talking SOOO much these days. He also still needs lots of "big hug"s. A very favorite library book of his (which we've probably taken out 4 or 5 times lately) is called HUG. It's about a little monkey going around the jungle seeing all the baby animals hugging their mommies. Then he gets sad until his mommy finds him. And hugs him of course. Caleb loves it. We're getting busier and busier these days. Then the baby..... Not long now!
Here's Elizabeth with some of our beautiful spring flowers. The jasmine smells so pretty, and we can smell it in our living room when the windows are open. Geraniums do wonderfully here, you can see my Martha Washington geranium. And then there's both kids climbing the cherry tree!!
I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of May! Time is flying by these days. Before we know it the baby will be here - yikes! - and I am not ready! I guess I'd better get moving .... sorting through the kids' old newborn clothes, cleaning the car seat and baby bath tub....those things should be done soon I guess! Things here will continue to be busy until a few days before the baby's birth. Summer is just really busy here. Thankfully Luke has cleared his schedule for a couple weeks after the birth so he can help out at home a little more. Last week Luke and I enjoyed a night away alone together in Monterey. Our 10th anniversary is June 22, and by that stage I will not be able to go anywhere, and also things are so busy we wouldn't be able to anyway. So this was just a little getaway for us. It was great, it's so beautiful in the Monterey area and it was SUNNY while we were there, so we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over the state beach nearby. And dinner in our favorite seafood restaurant. Very nice. Well it's off to do laundry and maybe if the kids cooperate I can start to sort through some baby clothes. We'll see....
Yesterday Elizabeth had her last ballet class of the semester, and the students did a special pirate dance for us parents. You can see her at left yelling " Yo ho ho!" And on the right she is taking her turn showing off the different steps they have learned this year. It was pretty cute. I think we're going to take the summer off from ballet and hopefully pick up with it again in August. She will miss it, but life will be very busy.
I had a great Mother's Day. The kids and Luke brought me pancakes in bed in the morning with some roses cut from my garden. They made lots of great Mother's Day cards for me too. Luke's was so nice. Caleb kept saying it was my birthday! And for dinner we went to my favorite Thai restaurant, which is one of Elizabeth's favorite restaurants too. And I got to have my favorite chicken with green curry. YUMMMM....... She had sticky rice and ate the whole bowl! Caleb ate several helpings of Luke's chicken. That's always an amazing feat - Caleb eating, that is.
The kids have been swimming in their pool every day. It was 99 degrees here today. We're supposed to have a cool-down into the 80's soon, so that will be welcome.
I did schedule the c-section for July 17. So our new baby will be born that day - or sooner if he/she decides to, but given my past history, that is unlikely.
We are starting to have WARM weather in Fresno. That means 90's. To me it's hot, but compared to 105, it's nothing! So the kids swam in their new pool for the first time today. Even Caleb splashed around quite a bit in it. He's not as fond of the water as Elizabeth is. She is going to take swimming lessons this summer. I went to a women's retreat last weekend in the foothills at a place called St. Anthony Retreat. It's a Catholic retreat center that I've been to a few times before, but I really like it. It's so pretty and peaceful there and they make yummy food too! There were only 7 of us in our group from W.I. and our church plant, but it was still a really good time to be quiet and spend some time with Jesus. And we played Mexican Train Dominoes until very late on Friday night! We were all a little giddy.... to say the least!! Anyway, it was good to get away for a day and a night. Luke's had some tough director-stuff to do lately. He's done it though, and I'm proud of him. Not that there aren't residual effects that he has to deal with still, but it's all good. In the end anyway. He's tired. Allergies are driving both of us nuts right now. Well, time for us to gear up for summer. And the baby too. Not sure the exact date he/she will be born yet, but I'm thinking probably around July 17. I see my doctor on Friday and I'm going to ask her if we shouldn't be scheduling that soon??That's it for now. Ta ta!!
I hope you all had wonderful weekends celebrating the resurrection of the Lord! Ours is different here, of course, and I do admit that Easter is the one time when I do long to go to a church with more of a liturgy and solemnity about the whole occasion. Easter Sunday, of course, is a time of celebration. And our church plant held celebration that day, although we couldn't have it outside due to rain. (It's been raining almost every other day here for the past 2 months....) We had a potluck brunch. The teen band played worship songs accompanied by some adults, and we heard the easter story, and then there was an egg hunt (in the W.I. gym!!) for the kids. Then our family came home and enjoyed some rest and a yummy roast beef dinner.
The day before, on Saturday, Elizabeth and I colored some eggs. Caleb didn't quite grasp the concept and had to go outside with Daddy to prevent the whole kitchen from being dyed. And the kids did get easter baskets with a little candy and a couple fun toys. So we had a good weekend. We're looking forward to a whole week (at least till Saturday) with no rain in the forecast. Maybe we can get some yard work done. Hmmm.... The picture of Caleb has him holding a chicken we call Big Mama. Some of the chickens have names ( Big Mama, Chirpy, Speedo and one Elizabeth calls Fly of Death) but some don't because we can't tell them apart!
We returned on Saturday from our week at the World Impact beach house in Oxnard, CA. It's always such a blessing to visit there, a whole big beautiful house to ourselves for a week with the beach just a couple blocks away! What a blessing it is. Although it was cold on the beach, as usual, the kids actually did get wet a couple of times and just enjoyed running and exploring on the beach daily. One day Luke took both of them out in the sea kayak for a very long ride. I was a little nervous about Caleb staying in the boat, but he did fine. I love to just sit on the beach and enjoy the waves and the smell of the ocean and the sunshine. We also got to go to Disneyland - I'll post another entry about that!
