We met the kids cousins from Philip's side of the family for the day. It was hard to tell what the kids enjoyed more being together or being at the zoo.
Nathan had about this same expression all day long. He held out until we left at 3:30 and then slept all the way home!
Nathan had his tonsils removed this week. He handled the surgery like a champ and was treated like a prince by all the hospital staff. He was the only patient in the surgical center that morning. Needless to say, he won the admiration of all the staff. He has handled the pain and discomfort unbelievably well.
He has already stopped snoring and mouth breathing!
Emma was invited to participate in a gymnastics "Fun Meet" with her gymnastics center. Emma did a great job!
She was awarded 1st on Beam, 6th on Vault, 3rd on Bars, Floor and All-around! Dynamite.....
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| At the time of this entry, this if Philip's favorite! |
The kids have been great about this whole thing. This is their second trip with us to look at houses. Every house we look at, they love and want us to buy!
We shared a week of fun times and unfortunately a few germs. My sisters kids seemed to pick up a mild case of our stomach flu and my kids picked up a mild case of their germs. So after a week away, we spent another week at home recovering from various illnesses!
We enjoyed a fun afternoon at Raleigh's, Marbles Children's museum courtesy of Ryan and Emma's hard work. Last year, they submitted a story for the PBS Writer's Contest. After the award's ceremony, we enjoyed our time at the museum.
Ryan somehow turned 7 last week. Even though, I was definitely in denial that my little fellow is getting bigger, we some how pulled together a small party in his honor. His desires were simple. He wanted his friends to come to the church playground and eat cake and ice cream. 
Ryan has really done a lot of growing up this year. It's been a blessing to see him grow in maturity and responsibility. He is still a carefree and happy boy to be around. He enjoys his free time, playing with his siblings and is always up for ice cream. He still dreams of living in the wild west with a farm and lots of animals. He will most certainly have lots of dogs when he grows up. Ryan has a quick mind and can easily remember details about events gone by that I scarcely remembered happened. He's willing to lend a helping hand and enjoys making people smile.
It is happening right under my feet but it's still hard to believe. I would think after having 3 others, I would know that there's this window of time when your babies transform into little people. They shed their babyness and strive with all their might to be big. That season has come and invaded my home. There's a baby in the house who's looking up to his older siblings and striving to figure out what will make him a "cool dude".
The bath tub toys have slowly disappeared. They have been disposed of because of yuckiness and I've known that plastic containers, toothbrushes and bubbles are enough to satisfy my little one. But last night, he threw me for a loop. It's bath time for my baby and he declares, "Everybody else takes a shower; I want to take one too."
We tried out a booster seat for my sweet boy for a few days last week and he just looked too old and too big for that. He's still sleeping in his toddler bed being over run by stuffed animals but he just seems too little to move into anything different. He chooses chapter books at the library for me to read to him. He answers questions correctly during class. He sings our Latin "Second Declension" song under his breath as he moving about the house. He helps me mop,vacuum, dust and clean the windows. He buys his own gum at Walmart and practically gives most of it away to friends and family without hesitation. He knows that he has to be a whole hand older before he's allowed to watch Star Wars. Thankfully, he hasn't figured out that he's too big to snuggle in bed with me in the morning. Thankfully, his favorite place to hear a story is in my lap. He's growing up but I suppose he'll always be my sweet baby boy to me.
