happy birthday Solomon!

It's Solomon's first birthday. What fun!
Sollie giving mommy his birthday lovin!
This would be Sollie on his first birthday with Mr. Rogers. Just so you all know, I try hard. I even got him a new tie since he was wearing the one he stole from his Dad and another hand me down. But, nope, he had to grab his Dad's cardigan. What do I say?

uuuh, ok, Titus!

I believe the phrase was something like, "mom, what happens if I ate one of these?"

A little more shopping.

So, we had a few wedding gifts to look for at Bed Bath and Beyond. I think we were sidetracked, but this kept everyone happy! (Kottke's: doesn't Darius look like Isaiah in this pic?) Also, Zayin has a little bit of misunderstanding in the foot massage...but we were all happy. Since you are wondering, Lucy took this picture.

Hair cuts.

So, we do hair cuts like all of you . . .except ours takes the entire afternoon . . . cut, bathe, treat, cut, bathe, treat, cut, bathe, treat, cut, bathe, treat.

More daily events.

Titus loves hanging out in the bath when Darius and Zayin do some schoolwork.
He is into his "army guys" and animals. He is so content even though he does not get to be the center of my attention somedays in the mornings.
We are doing lots of reading, math, language, writing . . .bla bla bla why am I telling you everything?
Doug gets a rare moment of chillin' with Sollie.
This would be Sollie avoiding eye contact -is he upset I made him shop for a few minutes with me? Just if anyone cares, I totally shop with all these boys--not so more people can stare at us, but really, I don't think shopping for an hour here or there should be a big deal for them. That's life. Buck it up boys, I am also hoping someday my daughter-in-laws will appreciate this.

Daily Grind . . .oh, how sweet it is

So, it seems after the last blogging, well, you all thought we do lots of partying here. We do, but I thought I would put a few pics of our daily grind too. I read a quote this week that was a new adrenaline for being faithful in the small things. "the truth is that your life (both now and later) will requrie you to invest a lot of time and energy in the things that aren't big and that don't seem to make much of an impact. Some days they don't even make sense. Sometimes, the smallest things can be the hardest of all. . . this is our lives, the "stuff" that makes up everyday living. But guaranteed you will get results over time. There are huge gifts hiding in these packages. We are excercising our bodies, minds, and faith." Wow, for a mom I am so thrilled to say that my joy and delight here in this world truly can come from wiping snotty noses, putting Titus's pants on after every potty trip, practicing writing a lower case "g" for the thousandth time, smiling at each morning as if I am truly happy to see everyone awake, folding laundry . . .etc. We are doing all to the glory of God!!! What a gift for being able to have this family and be able to be home with them. Thank you, Doug, for letting me be at home with these boys.

This would be Sollie begging for food from Grandpa. It is now the norm if you have food in his vicinity.
Yep, lots and lots of eating.
We love reading books.
And looking at pictures.
And "reading" . . .yes, he drools like a crazy man.

Garden Picture!

A nearly daily event from our garden . . . praise God from whom all blessings flow!

RED ROBIN!!!

Where do I begin? Well, after the birthday the boys started a countdown to go out for dinner with Connie and Eddie. Seeing as the boys have eaten out like 2 times I have been a little nervous. But of course, Connie had balloons, crayons, coloring books, . . .Hors D'Oeuvres ordered. I guess I was overwhelmed from the beginning . . .seeing as well that someone actually invited us out for dinner with 4 boys! Wow, it was such a treat!!! We even got dessert!!! Sollie got to have french fries . . .he got to have whatever he wanted as long as he stayed sweet and happy. You can see he even got a little icecream. As you can also see Doug is the greatest Dad in the world. I would like to thank you, Connie and Eddie, for treating us so kind. You have never asked for anything or expect anything, but just continue to flood us with kindness. We are so amazed how God placed you in our lives. Thank you, once again!

Finally, the official birthday day.

Zayin has been counting the days for weeks for this birthday. As you can see we have celebrated and partied for weeks. He has been so worked up that on the official day, he was exhausted by 3 and couldn't stop crying about a splinter in his foot. We had a wonderful day swimming, pizza, and of course his official birthday dinner of corn on the cob, teriyaki chicken, broccoli . . .and a chocolate cake. I hadn't made the cake and after the 3 pm cry, my dear friend gave me the greatest advice of, "just buy a cake." A lady watching us at costco started laughing at us when Darius said . . .(trust me you have no idea how many people just stare . . . I want to wear a shirt that says, "yes, I have my hands full, and, nope, it is a boy on the way" . . . anyway, Darius was saying, but Mom, how can you make this cake for just $2???" It killed me to spend $ on a cake, but in the end it saved a little bit of my sanity. Thank you, Lori, for great advice. And thank you Zayin, for the birthday. What a wonderful day to celebrate what God has given us. A wonderful 5 years with a sweet and precious boy I am dearly in love with.

RIDES!!! RIDES!!! RIDES!!!

RIDES, RIDES, RIDES!!!!! The boys got to go for lots of rides for Zayin's birthday. (It was dollar day). But, it was sure fun. I waved at least a million times at them over a two hour period. Titus only hated the roller coaster . .. "it was scary." I am such a succer and it was so fun to see them so happy. I will start saving my quarters for next year. And, without a doubt, these boys were the sweetest, cutest, and most grateful boys at the fair!!!!!

Another birthday event! The Fair!!

We had a great day at the fair. The boys did push-ups for the Army guys and got free footballs. We got to see lots of animals, do the jiggle foot, and did lots and lots of hand washing.

Zayin's second birthday event!

What a fun day. We finally got to go to the rodeo this year. Titus says I have to say "howdy part-en-er". Yes, I dress them all in bright yellow, write my cell phone on their number on their bellies, and have to have them all in arms length . . .but I think we all still enjoyed it. I actually got to sit for a couple of hours--talk about a fun time!!!!

Zayin's first birthday party!

This would be the first party for Zayin. What a party! Video games, air hockey, chocolate cake, and much more.

Apples!!!

While Sollie is busy climbing into anything he can find, Darius, Zayin, Titus, and I are making apple sauce, dried apples, apple butter, fruit leather, apples pies. . .chicken pot pies (with garden food), blackberry pies, blackberry duff, blackberry cereal, canning green beans, canning anything that gets in our way as we are on a MISSION, canning, canning, eating garden food, corn on the cob, can you tell that is all I have done for days . . .I think that there is more than this garden over here. Cabbage salad, lettuce salad, beets, onions, bla bla I will let you stop reading this now before I start the zucchini and squash stories. I stopped canning last year when I puked from the smell of tomatoes . . . the boys believe me now when I say I am going to PUKE. It is amazing though how they really can help this year.

VBS the little kids singing for you