Closing ceremonies

NO more classes....today was Philip's final class of his entire Divinity career. It's always been a day to celebrate in our home. This time it feels a little surreal. Can graduate school really be coming to an end. It truly feels like yesterday when I wrote this post about the beginning of the end. Well the end is here. We celebrated this time as a family by joining Philip at his final Chapel service. Every year for this service, they give the seniors a cross and a blessing.
Today's ceremony was a bit more sophisticated so we opted not to attend. All the professors were at this one all decked out. It was held in Duke Chapel which means baby noises are majorly amplified!

Blue and Gold

Peter's Cub scout troop had their awards ceremony this week. We've been very excited about this evening as Peter had worked incredibly hard this year. He earned a ton of awards and has been waiting patiently for them.We decided that we should all dress up for the dinner and ceremony.

Ryan and our friend Aubrey were passing some time by smiling for the camera!
This was Ryan's first time with a tie!

Here's Peter and some of his troop! We've really enjoyed this opportunity for him.

Worm Farm

After sitting in a box for quite some time, I decided that Monday was the perfect time to dust off the worm farm factory. We headed to the garden to gather the troops. We have had fun this week observing the worms. They haven't been quite as active as I would have expected and perhaps we've been too nosy and have made them nervous...

New neighbors

This is Soukie; Emma's favorite.
The baby; Candy.
Soukie, again! She was hungry. Jackie's beside her.
We were thrilled and delighted to meet our new neighbors. Lucky for us, they own 5 horses and gave us permission to feed them anytime! The kids are beyond excited and I have a feeling the horses will get to know us very well (and their owners, Shelly and Keith)!

her thumb

It was Wednesday afternoon when Emma came knocking on the back door. She wasn't quite crying but I could tell she was upset about something. I refrained from asking her use the garage door because of a hunch. Sure enough she came in and said, "I feel off my bike into the fence and hurt my thumb.". It was obvious that her thumb was dislocated. Our good (and properly credentialed) friend came over right away. He got her thumb going in the right direction but wasn't convinced that that was the end of the story. We then made a visit to urgent care. Long story short, on top of dislocating her thumb she has a chipped bone. We will continue on next week with a trip to the Orthopedist. She's a trooper and hardly mentions any pain. It's her right thumb so she's enjoyed the extra attention and help she gets!
Oh, yes, I did agree to the kids running through the sprinkler! I'm trying to say Yes more often... lucky them.

He's arrived

FINALLY after being toted around (that's a Roxboro term for carried) for 4 years watching his older brother and sister, it's Ryan's turn at soccer practice.His 4 years of watching has really paid off. Ryan ran onto the field, no turning back, and enjoyed every minute of it.He has definitely arrived and is ready to show his stuff.
Now it's Nathan's turn to be toted around.

The kittens...

I would be remiss, if I didn't add a post about the kittens. There were 4 five week old kittens in the house as well. Needless to say, they got a lot of attention from all 7 kids. Reece, the momma, generously shared her kittens for the first two days and then took them into hiding to recover! I have to admit, I was definitely tempted to bring one home.



Even Nathan enjoyed the kitties. Whenever he would see one, he had this "kitty voice" he used. I've never heard this voice before and I have yet to hear it again. It was like he was talking just to them.

The Tea Room

Surprisingly, Hurricane, WV has a Tea Room. Saturday morning my mom took both girls to the Tea Room. My sister had bought Emma and Charlotte matching tops. They had a great time together.


It's great to see their friendship developing. I hope that they can become as close as sisters as they grow up.

The gang

We had beautiful weather in WV. So we spent as much time as possible outside.


Peter and John played basketball as much as possible. They had a great time together!

the good, the bad and the long drive...

Our trip to West Virginia began last Wednesday with the first stop at the Allergist. Ryan was long overdue for his check-up and the allergist graciously allowed Nathan to be squeezed in for a check. According to the preliminary (skin test) results, Ryan has out grown his allergy to dairy products. That's the Good! Nathan results showed a strong possibility of an allergy to dairy products. That's the Bad! However, both results will be confirmed in a few weeks when the results of their blood work is finalized.
And now the Long drive....it was a mere 5 1/2 hr. drive to West Virginia. The kids did great after I decided that a movie marathon couldn't be all that bad. Nathan over indulged on Baby MumMums. I think Peter fed him about 14. Somethings you just have to do in order to survive! We had a great 4 days with my sister and her kids.
The long drive was definitely worth it. The kids started off camping in the back yard! Only 3 made it the whole night.

She's off

For some reason, on Saturday, I told Emma we were going to give her bike a few runs. She's been very close to having two wheels down pat last fall. She told me she was scared to try but I was able to get her through two runs. Then Philip came outside; gave her a big pep talk. The rest was history. With a great cheer leading squad on her side, Emma quickly took off and left us in the dust.
It made a mother proud to watch Emma master the skill of riding her bike. It made me smile to see Peter helping her get started, running beside her and returning her bike to the starting place.
The best part was the life lesson that Emma learned when she repeatedly told me, "I couldn't have done it if Daddy wasn't encouraging me.". I knew that Emma responded well to encouraging words but I didn't realize how well. She has been on her bike for 3 days straight!
Not too far behind her is Ryan. I'll have to get some pictures of him. If he could stay focused on where he was going, he would be buzzing around the house on two wheels too.

Happy Easter!

May the truth of this Easter bring you to the
center of the cross

and in a place to examine what that means for your life.