Little Blog Break

We are fighting some sickness right now so I will be taking a small break. I hope to come back sometime early next month. God bless you all.

Update On Us

How have we been doing with the kids and a new baby, you ask. Well here is a quick run down for all of you who have been wondering.

Paul: He LOVES his little sister and would often come in to see her while we were upstairs recovering from the birth. Paul is a big help as he loves to bring things to me and often volunteers to bring things. He does miss his mommy alot, but enjoys being able to have daddy home more. Paul is growing so fast and is constantly wanting to do school and read.

Peter: He also loves his sister although not as much as Paul does. Peter would also like to come and see me while we were upstairs. He loves to look at his sister and touch her. Peter does not seem to miss me as much as Paul does, but I think he does notice that I am not around as much as I use to be. Peter loves to go outside and play and often we have a hard time bringing him back in for lunch or naps. He also is developing a love for learning and will often sit with Paul to do school.

Stella: Stella noticed that there was a new one in the house and she does not like it. She will often cry at auntie when auntie holds baby Fay. Stella also noticed that mommy does not have time for her as much. I have been spending time with her by rocking her to sleep or holding her in my lap while I am down stairs. She is almost to the point of walking around the house and she loves to climb on things. Stella is definitely determined to do things and she loves to play with her brothers.

Mommy and Daddy: Besides not getting enough sleep at night, we are doing pretty good. Fay keeps me up alot at night, so I end up having to sleep during the day. I am not use to sleeping during the day and this is a huge adjustment as I miss seeing my other kids. Joshua has been a great help in taking care of the other 3 kids so that I can get my rest and focus on Fay. Joshua has been working half days at the shop and my sister helps me the other half. I still have to be careful to not over do it.

Fay: She is growing everyday and now she looks like a baby instead of a new born. At first she was not getting enough to eat, so we had to switch to me pumping and giving her a bottle. Fay has really taken off and gained quite a bit of weight and filled out. She still sleeps alot, but the time is coming when she will be awake and needing more attention. After Fay was born, she lost alot of weight- she weighted 6 lbs. 9 ozs. at birth and then she went down to 5 lbs. 13 ozs. Otherwise she is doing great. Please pray that she will continue to gain weight and that we will get the nursing thing down.

Auntie Mar: She has really been a great help to me and I don't know what I would do without her. Auntie Mar has taken on the task of 3 kids- which is not an easy task to take on, even for me. She has made sure that I get the rest that I need, cleans the house, makes meals, and even serves me by bringing things up stairs when I need them so that I don't have to travel them that much. I am VERY thankful for my sister, she has been a life saver. She does not have the kids all day as Joshua comes home in the afternoons so she does get some time off.

Grandpa and Grandma: My parents have also been very supportive since I had Fay. My mom has been a great help in the mornings and nights after work. If I have trouble with Fay at night, I know that I can wake my mom and she will help me get Fay to sleep. My mom also has been very good at keeping the boys occupied. She and my dad will often work outside in the yard over the weekend and they will take the boys outside to work with them. They are also planning a trip to go to Iowa and Wisconsin over the 4th of July to visit with family. Otherwise they have been busy at the shop.

We would appreciate your prayers for all of us and as we make adjustments to having a new little one in our home.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. May God bless you all day and always. Have a blessed day with your families.

37 Weeks

I am now 38 weeks, but things have been so crazy as we are getting ready for the birth of the baby and Stella somehow got in contact with the measles. We are doing okay, just staying home and have to see if the boys are going to get it. Please pray for us (it won't affect my pregnancy).

Stella's Birthday Party

We had Stella's birthday party this last Saturday. I chose to do a princess tea party, so that meant alot of work for me in food preparation. Since I am 8 months pregnant and not wanting to over do it, my mom stayed home and helped me one of the days. We were able to get alot done. I just had small things to do after that. On Saturday, Joshua helped me decorate for the party and do odd and ends of things. Our friends from church came over and helped us celebrate. They were the only ones that came, but we had a great time with just their family and we were so grateful that they did come. The kids played in the backyard and then we played a couple of games before heading back out and hitting the pinata that my parents found at a garage sale. My boy's have never done that before and they had so much fun and thought it was great. I am sure that we will be doing those again soon. Then everyone enjoyed all the tea party foods outside as it was a beautiful day. We let the kids play outside again before bringing them inside to do the craft that I had prepared. They were able to color and decorate frames that were shaped as crowns. Soon we did the cake and then they left since we will be going to church tomorrow. Stella did great, but did get overwhelmed alittle. We had a great time celebrating Stella's birthday and fellowshiping.

Memorial Day Fun

We had a great Memorial Day and the weather was just prefect in the morning. It was warm and the kids (even Stella) was able to play outside. Stella is really starting to enjoy being able to go outside even with the wind blowing. The boys love to play with all their toys and in the dirt. Stella is wanting to walk more and more and she loves being able to hold onto things and walk. It is so cute and she is getting so big!!! My parents stayed home in the morning and were able to play with the kids, which they love because they don't get to see them much. We were going to have some friends over for dinner, so Joshua decided to run some errands for me with the boys so that I could take a nap while Stella slept. Joshua is so good to me, I don't know what I would do without him. We had such a great time with our friends. The only draw back was that the wind kicked up and made it too cold for any of us to go outside and enjoy the backyard and the weather. The kids did make several attempts to go outside and play. We had a great time of fellowship and it was a great relaxing day.

Daddy's Birthday

We celebrated Daddy's birthday alittle on the actual day, but we waited until the 21st of May to really celebrate as we headed down to Pueblo (about an hour and a half drive) to go to an airshow. The boys love birthdays and they love being able to help open the presents as well. Over the weekend Paul and Peter were playing and Peter hit his mouth on his bed. He came to me crying and when I looked his mouth was covered with blood and he had cut his top gum open. He is doing okay, but we still wanted to have him checked out by a doctor. Never a dull moment around here!!!! After taking him to the doctor's and finding out that he did not have to have stitches (Thank God), we were able to recover from that accident. Peter was very swollen and it hurt to eat and when he bumped it. Its pretty much back to normal. We did not end up going to Pueblo after all. Joshua decided that he wanted to go fly as he wants to renew his license so that he can fly more. The Lord blessed us with money for him to do that, so he is very excited! He spent time with us in the morning and then went flying during the boys nap time. Joshua sure did have alot of fun. I think he had a great birthday despite the fact that he is so close to turning 30!

Mother's Day

Our mother's day was very calm and quiet. First of all, Paul, Joshua, and my mom ended up getting sick the week before, so none of us really felt like celebrating. We had celebrated early because we were suppose to have a couple of families over on the day, but so many things went wrong on Saturday. First, I decided to clean out our attic before the baby came and it was such a big project that we were all very tired (and its only half done!). Then our kitchen drain backed up and my dad and Joshua spent many hours trying to get it unclogged. By the end of the night we decided to cancel. My sister was the only one that made it to church that day. It felt good just to have a day of rest. We cooked hamburgers and were able to enjoy the nice weather outside. Then many of us took a nap. We did not do much more the whole day. Sorry I don't have any pictures. Hope you all had a wonderful day.

Happy Mother's Day!

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."
-Proverbs 31: 28-29

We hope that you all have a blessed Mother's Day. The Lord has given a special job to mother's everywhere and we hope that you all know how special you are. May God bless you today and always.

Easter Sunday

When we woke up on Easter, we were met with this:This is not that uncommon in Colorado.

Then before we left, I took some pictures of the kids:

After church, we spent that rest of the time getting ready for our company. When they arrived we ate a yummy meal and enjoyed a time of fellowship. We also sang some praise songs and their daughter and Joshua played their violins. We also enjoyed being able to talk together and learn more about their family. What a blessed Easter we had with friends and family. Thank you God for sending Your Son to die on the cross and rise again.

The Days Before Easter

Our Easter started with us doing Easter baskets on Friday. Yes, we all still get Easter baskets, even the adults. The boys were so excited that I thought for sure that they were going to get sick. Stella even enjoyed seeing all the new things and crawling around looking and pulling things out of the other baskets. It was very hard to calm them down after that! It was a great beginning to a wonderful weekend.

The next day, Saturday, we all did different things part of the morning. My mom hid eggs around our front living room, filled with money, for the boy's to find after their naps. We also spent that time getting ready for tomorrow as we were going to have one of the families over to our home after church. Some of us also took advantage of the time and took naps as well. The boys loved finding the eggs. This year Paul understood about finding the eggs, but Peter needed alittle help. Even Stella got in on the action, with Daddy's help. After they were done, they put the money in their piggy banks (something that they love to do). Then, of course, they had to shake them. It sure was cute seeing them hunt eggs.

Later that day after the egg hunt and baths, we dyed eggs. This is always a challenge as the boys move around so much that its hard not to make a BIG mess. We love getting different kits and trying new things. The boys did a great job doing the eggs, but they were alittle rough as they would drop the eggs in the dye. We did not try dying with Stella, mabey next year. We sure did enjoy doing our normal traditions to celebrate Easter.

We can't wait to be able to go to church and worship with other believers on this special day that God has given to us.

Happy Easter!!!

We hope that you all have a blessed Easter. We hope that you all have a wonderful time with your families. May God bless you today and always.

Family Project- Part 3

Joshua came home from California last Sunday, we were so glad to see him home. We missed him alot. The weather started out nice and then during the boys' nap time it clouded over. The plan was for the boys to go outside with Grandpa and Daddy and work more on the jungle gym. It ended up being too cold and the boys had to watch from the inside. Sorry I don't have any picture of them working, I could not go outside and watch all the kids. Lately the weather has been somewhat nice and the boys were able to go outside and play on the jungle gym for the first time (after Joshua came home from work). These are pictures from them playing.