Good news

It's been a very long time and I have a lot to say about the last few months....but who knows when that will happen. So, for now I thought I would share the good news - John has a job! He starts in 2 weeks. The bad part of it is that the job is in another state. I've tried not to say anything on here about our name or where we live, and I still won't - so if you want to know more details, leave a comment and I'll email you where we're going! It sounds like a good company to work for, and moving to a smaller town will be a new adventure for us! Now we have to do a lot of work to get our house ready to sell - and hope it sells quickly! Our ideal plan would be to be moved before school starts, so that Ian can start first grade in his new school and not have to transfer. But, we'll see how things go. For now we feel very blessed to have found a job so soon when there are so many people out of work right now.

The rest of March, 2009

The biggest and best news of the month is that John finished his schoolwork! He finished writing his project paper and had to present the project he did for his Masters Degree and he did it (very well, I might add) and they signed it off! So now the minor details of getting it all turned in and he's done - hooray! Caleb and Levi still tell him he needs to go sit down and do his homework :) They're not sure what else he's supposed to do besides homework!

Ian lost tooth #4 - so now he has no top front teeth. He's finding it a little harder to bite things these days :)

He has had spring break this last week and with sick brothers (and thus a tired mom) he has had a lot of time to do what he wants. He's written recipes and is writing some stories - here's a recipe he made for a banana split (he's never had one, but there's one in a book we like to read):

"Pell Pelen off 2 Banana’s put it side by side in a blow Add rasbere’s Choclitalte chip’s melted Choclitalte Add Vnelua Ice Cram Then wipped Cram Then Add a cerry on the top.
IANS
BANANA SPLIT Resupe"

And here's part of a story he wrote about a Valentine's Party Piglet and Winnie the Pooh and their friends have:

"Piglet looked at the resupe it said add 4 eggs then he mix it up he added 3 cup sugar,flaor vunela 1 cup cram 1 cup hauf cram hauf milk 2 cup milk then pink and red hreats he walked cerfle to the table with a cake on a flat dish in his hands."

I can't believe how much he likes to write!

Caleb and Levi have both turned into reading machines! That's all they want to do. Last week they were all sick, Caleb with pneumonia, and reading (or watching a movie) was the only thing that kept Caleb happy. They'll sit and listen to books, often the same one over and over, for a really long time. I get tired of reading the same book several times in a row before they get tired of listening! I'm glad there are libraries where we can go and get something new to read! They like to look at the books themselves, too, and can quote parts of their favorite books.

Here's Levi just relaxing.

I love the way they sleep sometimes! This is Caleb, sound asleep.

March 2009

March is only half over, but it seems like a long month already....we've seen a lot of John lately, not really for the reason we want, but he's working hard at looking for a new job - while preparing for his Master's Project Presentation. He works so hard! Ian got pink eye for the first time; he kept talking about having a pink eye or a black eye - I guess a boy in his class had a black eye. Ian's school had a read-a-thon, he didn't come close to winning by far (him reading means me reading), but we read for about 7 hours in 7 days - not too bad, I don't think. He got interested in Frog and Toad books and can read them by himself. Levi and Caleb got more interested in books, too, and will sit and listen to stories for a long time. Their current favorite is Mouse and Mole and the All-Weather Train Ride. They'll listen over and over. Three times in a row is about my limit, however! They both mostly have it memorized. It was Dr. Seuss week during the read-a-thon so we've read several of his books, too.

Making a collage is so fun! Thanks, Kellie, for telling me about it! Caleb and Levi both love to use screwdrivers. Caleb said one day, "I need to fix my man. He needs new batteries" (a little train driver man). Ian likes to play with race cars, and draws parking spaces for them. One day Levi said to Caleb, "come sit on my lap and I'll read Thomas to you." And he did! We went to the public library on Dr. Seuss's birthday and they dressed up, Ian in his "Cat in the Hat" hat, Caleb and Levi as Things 1 and 2. We met Thing 1 and Thing 2 there, and the Cat in the Hat. They had some fun projects to do also.

A few more pictures.....

Ian was being a tow truck, towing Levi. He towed him all the way across the room! Most of the time Levi was crawling/being dragged on his stomach.

Three little train engineers!

We tried making our own tortillas. They turned out okay. I should maybe have gone to the demonstration on it, to see how they really should turn out, but they were pretty good. Ian wanted to roll them out - he rolled out almost all of them, which was great - he could roll while I cooked. It worked out well - I'm so glad he's old enough to really be a good help! And still wants to be :)

A new song in the Children's Songbook?

Time for some lessons, it sounds like - they're ready for duets :)

Happy Birthday, Ian!

Ian turned 6 today! Happy birthday! He was really excited, and says just about every day that he's almost in first grade :) We had a family party on Sunday, also celebrating his cousin and his uncle's birthdays. Then on his actual birthday he took treats to school (he wanted fruit snacks - easy!) and we had some "6"-shaped pancakes, brownies, and presents. Somehow the picture turned, and I can't turn or delete it - sorry!

Since this is his first birthday since I started this blog, I should write some about his life.....

Ian was born at 41 weeks, weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

Soon after birth it was apparent there was something wrong; after the cardiologist visited him he found out Ian needed heart surgery - the veins going to his heart weren't actually connected to his heart. So he was flown to a hospital in another state (John going with him), and had open heart surgery performed before he was even 24 hours old. He recovered well, and came home 3 weeks later, only on oxygen.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him, he was 3 or 4 weeks old (we had no digital camera then, and I threw away all my negatives after making his scrapbook, so this is scanned and "cut out"; not very well, but better than nothing!).

After Ian came home from the hospital, he's done great ever since! His doctor has always worried about how small he is, but he doesn't lack energy! He learned about the alphabet when he was 2.5, on an extended visit to his cousin's house, and after that was obsessed with letters for a really long time. By the time he started kindergarten, he knew how to read many words.
When he was about 4 he started liking trains - I'm not even sure how that started! He was really interested in everything about trains, and can draw them in detail.
Now it's race cars - he likes the movie "Cars" and talks about race cars all the time. He loves kindergarten, loves his brothers, and loves to make them laugh most especially. His life hasn't been the easiest because of his younger brothers, he has spent many nights at Grandma's and many hours at people's houses when I've had to do something with a brother (or two), but he's done well with it all and likes his role as big brother. He's mostly patient with his brothers and really good about playing with them. We're sure glad Ian is part of our family!!

It's hard to choose pictures from the past 6 years! So now that I've sort of figured out this collage idea, I'll try to make a few collages of his life.

And, photos of his 6 birthdays (not in order, of course :) )!

Long time, no post

Okay, so it's been a really long time! But really, not all that much has happened since Christmas-time that's very interesting. Just everyday life. But I thought I'd better write something before the next exciting event occurs (hint: Ian's counting down the days, there's only 12 left!). So here's a little recap of our lives....

John: this is what he spends his time doing - writing!

When he's not at work or at scouts, of course. But, he's almost done! His project paper presentation will be done by Spring Break, and that's it! He just has to finish writing the paper before then :) He works in the living room, with only a baby gate to keep others out. So he wears those huge headphones to try and ignore Levi coming to the gate 10 times a day asking, "Daddy, are you doing homework?"

Cathy: I'm still the chief cook and bottle washer, although I don't wash bottles anymore....I finally put them away around Christmas :( I guess at 2.5 Levi should be done with them.
They may not be playing with my pans in the mud, but I often have to search the house for pans and pitchers these days - Caleb's new favorite is the hand mixer he's played with ever since going to a friend's house (thanks Laurie :) ).

After it snowed a few times weeks ago, and the front entry way was covered with wet coats, mittens, boots, and snow pants, I had to take a picture - it made me so happy to have the floor covered with little boy clothes! Even though there's a lot of work, it's wonderful to have such sweet little boys with me every day. Every time I take them somewhere (which really isn't too often) I hear several times, "boy, you have your hands full!" and I do, but it's great! It's kind of funny taking them to the store, first people notice their hair, "look at all that red hair!" and then usually say, "are they twins?" I've seriously had at least 2 (possibly 3) people ask if they're triplets, and many more saying they could be triplets if Ian were younger.

Ian:

Lost tooth #3! His bottom two are already in, and he lost his first top tooth. He still loves school and is a great help to me!

Ian got all his blankets out for his brothers and tucked them in and then read them a few stories :)

Caleb: He's very resourceful, using whatever he can to reach the light switches - he loves them! His molars, two months later, are STILL coming in! He's not eating too much and is joining Levi in a feeding group to try and help with trying new foods. He likes to use a screwdriver to "fix" things and "change the batteries". One day he spent a full hour with a screwdriver and various toys. He can't really open the screws (thankfully!) but it still holds his interest.

I have no idea how his hair got like this, but it must have been one good nap!

Levi: Levi is so talkative and friendly, he likes to talk on the phone and sing. He looks like he's making some undercover secret phone call here, with the electric skillet cord :)

Caleb and Levi: I realized that together they are almost 50 pounds - at birth they were almost 5 pounds. They're just about 10 times their birth weights right now. Levi was 2.5, he's now almost 25. Caleb was 2.3, and is about 23. Interesting! I finally let them sit at the table, they still use the high chairs sometimes, but sit in chairs most of the time. I'm not sure it's improved their eating, but they like it.

Levi and Caleb reading on the couch, mirror images.

Levi and Caleb reading in the closet, of all places.