Silas turns 1!

I realize that I haven't blogged in almost 2 months! I blame the craziness of tax-season on that. Stuart's hours have been much longer, and it has been a busy season for me as well with homeschooling and keeping up with little Silas, who just celebrated his first birthday!

We did a little celebration for him at home, and he SO enjoyed his first taste of cake! We will celebrate with extended family this weekend. He is such a sweet, cuddly little guy. I can't believe one year has already passed. It seems like with each child, time goes even more swiftly. We have enjoyed your first year of life, Silas. We can't wait to see what great things you will do for God as you grow! We love you!

Anne is 3!

Anne Elizabeth is now 3 years old! However, I have always felt that she was always so beyond her years. On her 2nd birthday, when someone would ask her how old she was turning, she would exclaim, "Eleven!" She never fails to surprise and astound me with her hillarious antics. She has a wonderful sense of humor, and a fiesty, courageous spirit. She is everything that I am not. It is neat to parent a child that is nothing like yourself. Just today, at her three year check-up, she taught me about courage. As her siblings, the pediatrician, and I watched in astonishment, she excitedly hopped up on the table, eagerly awaiting her immunization. She was determined not to get upset(probably due to her brother Sam's reminders that she would surely NOT like the shot-part). She laid back and let out a little whimper of surprise, but, that was it. She then put on her clothes and was ready to retrieve her prized lollipop and sticker.

I can't wait to see what the future holds for this little firecracker, whose personality matches her hair color. It is going to be interesting to see where God takes her. Surprises loom around every corner with her around. I never know what to expect! She is so much fun! We all love you Anne! :)

Sunrise

In our home, the sunrise is a big deal. We all watch in eager anticipation, as colors burst forth from the horizon. We have a perfect view from our sliding glass door, as breakfast is being prepared. Sam usually is the first one to notice its' arrival. "Mom, look at the beautiful colors; Let's look at it from my room!", Sam exclaims. We all hurry to take in God's beautiful masterpiece from Sam and Anne's shared room. It is a sweet way to begin the day. Each sunrise is different, it seems. No two are the same. There is nothing manmade that can compare with the beauty of God's creation. My children help remind me to stand still in awe of God's majesty and splendor.

Silas Henry

Silas is now just over 9 months old! Where did the time go? My sweet baby boy is now a crawling, pulling-up, and cruising machine. He has to keep up with his siblings. He has not had his 9 month check up yet, because both of the boys are going to go together next week for a combined well-check appt. I can tell you that he must be pushing 20lbs at least. Now that he has experienced table food, eating is hands down his favorite activity. He was able to sit happily in a restaurant recently for at least an hour, and was continuously eating :) He is definitely my best eater. I think it must be a male thing, because Sam has always been a good eater too. My girls are picky picky.

I can't wait to see how Silas continues to develop. Although I have to watch him carefully every moment he is not sleeping, it is a fun time developmentally. He is starting to babble more, and it is exciting to guess what he may be trying to say. He adores his older brother and sisters. It is so sweet to watch him play with Sam especially. I hope they will continue to have a good relationship as they grow older together. My sweet baby boy is growing up so, so quickly!

EASIN' back in

Happy New Year! We are slowly, but surely returning to some form of a routine around here. It was nice to have the time off to reevaluate, and change some things in our schedule. I think we are all enjoying the familiarity of routine once more. Kyla is adding on more to her workload each day this week, and the preschoolers are enjoying all things O this week. We are learning about the ocean, otters, octopii, oxen, orangutans, and ovals. We are creating O's with playdough, and eating cheerios, oatmeal, and oranges. This morning, to get out some of their pent up energy, I was brave, and obviously desperate enough to set up an obstacle course for them to go through. Sam particularly enjoyed this, kept creating new courses, and asked me to time him.(he's a real competitor ;) We're having lots of fun this week, and all of the kids are hoping for some snow tomorrow night!

Sam's 5th Birthday

We celebrated Sam's 5th birthday yesterday. I can't believe it has been 5 years already. Kyla and I went to Walmart(which is a seldom occurence because of the distance) to pick up a few things since we had a couple of giftcards. We passed right by the hospital (North Fulton)where I delivered Sam. It brought back a flood of memories of that wonderful night(of course you always forget the pain :))

Yesterday, one of my sweet mothers-in-law took care of the two youngest of our children, and we took Sam and Kyla bowling. It was Sam's first time, and he actually did quite well! He had so much fun, and we are thankful we had the opportunity to do that. It is rare that we are able to take the oldest two out by themselves. We took pictures (lots of them) with the new digital camera Kyla received. However, for some reason, we are having a hard time uploading them onto the computer. So, sorry we can't share any pics from the birthday. Sam had a wonderful birthday, beginning with the traditional Waffle House breakfast. We then took him bowling and had dinner at Stuart's dad's house.

Stuart has this enire week off. He had some leftover vacation days that would've vanished, so he decided to use them this week. It will be nice having some family time this week. This morning I was looking for a breakfast recipe using oats, since I needed to use them up. I found a healthy recipe for breakfast oatmeal cookies, that I tweaked a bit and ended up with this recipe. The kids gobbled them up, which is saying a lot since I have a couple of picky eaters.

Breakfast Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

2cups oats

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

dash cinnamon

dash salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

4Tbsp butter

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 -1/2 cup raisins (depending on your preference)

* Preheat oven to 350. Mix oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix butter, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla together. Pour wet mixture into dry. Add raisins and stir. Drop by tbsp onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 16-18min. Yield: 12 cookies Enjoy!

We are now officially bloggers!

This has been a long time coming! I have always wanted to blog, but wondered if I would have enough time to keep it up. I didn't realize it was so easy to set one up. So, here I go! I am taking the plunge! Hopefully, it will be a good way for family to keep better track of our day to day, or week to week happenings. Also, I am hoping it will motivate me to be better about taking pictures. :)