Welcome Megan Grace!

My God is awesome!  The last two weeks, Allan has had business trips a few hours away.  Both weeks he got home on Wednesday night late.  Since Megan was due the middle of October, these were his last trips for awhile.

On Wednesday night, Allan got home late. On Thursday morning, Megan Grace decided she wanted to meet her family.  Since we had an appointment at the midwife’s, we went in. We were sent to the hospital and then waited.  And waited.  And waited.  The midwife had a few tricks that we tried and we waited some more.  Finally around 6:00, Megan decided that maybe she would come. After a few more midwife tricks (including a game of tug of war) and more waiting, Megan arrived!

Even though she is considered a little early, all tests show that she is a fully developed smart little girl. She was born at 9:21p.m. and is 18.5 inches long and weighs 7 pounds.

For more pictures of Megan Grace please look here.

Naps

Adrian is outgrowing naps. He rarely naps anymore, but he is ready for bed at bedtime, usually falling asleep within minutes. The last few days; however, he read during quiet time, and then crashed at funny times.

The first day he fell asleep on the bean bag while Mark was reading out loud.  Yesterday, he fell asleep when he sat down to read by me for a few minutes!

Getting Big

Adrian’s Half Birthday is today! We are going to enjoy some ice cream and potato chips that he picked out.  We are also going to watch a movie that Adrian choses.

The other day Allan was helping the kids get all of their bikes tuned up.  Adrian mentioned that he did not like his tricycle anymore.  He made it sound like it leaned a lot to one side. Allan told him to bring it to him and he would try to fix it.  When we went to look at it, we discovered that the handle bars had come off!  Of course it leaned to one side!  We took the tricycle to Opa to see if he can weld it together for Adrian.

Mark found the training wheels and put them on Audrey’s old bike.  The bike is a little big for Adrian and he has trouble peddling, but he likes to try and he does a good job.

The Wheel

This is one of the kids favorite toys at the playground.  It is sort of like a merry-go-round.  The kids start on the green bar, and see how many times they can walk around it at a normal speed without falling.  It is a lot harder than it looks! As you move on the wheel, the wheel is turning also, so if you want to experience being a hamster on a wheel, this is a great toy to try.

I can usually get around it once or twice.  With help, Adrian can do it a few times.  Mark is the champion and we have to set a limit on how many times he can go around. His challenge is to start going faster without falling.  Andrea and Audrey both do very well, but their coordination is not as good as Mark’s yet.

When the children are finished showing off, they love to lay down on it, and have someone push them around in circles. Care to join us one day and see how much fun this toy is?

More Field Trip Pictures

Unfortunately, only a few of the pictures we took yesterday turned out the way I wanted them too.

But, considering that Adrian was exhausted–he took over a three hour nap when he got home and had to be woken up–his smile is great!

Audrey’s picture is beautiful, but makes me wonder where my little girl went. I love her toothless grin, and her self given nickname “the Toothless Wonder”.

God has given me some wonderful children!

Field trip to Park

We needed a break today!  So we went to the park. I was hoping to get a good walk, enjoy the weather and get some good pictures of the kids together.

The kids took their school books. We played some, did some work and then got some pictures.

Our day did not go quite like I hoped, but we were able to get a few good group shots.

Brotherly Love

I have trouble carrying Adrian for his “midnight bathroom break”, so Allan has been taking him.  But Allan is away for a few days.

On Sunday night, Mark was having trouble sleeping because Daddy was gone.  He crawled out of bed and took Adrian for me.  Mark could not figure out how to get Adrian back into bed, so just plopped over and Adrian crawled over him to a comfortable place.

Last night, I had given Mark permission to read in bed for a little bit.  He is reading Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. It is a collection of Tolkein’s work that his son put together after Tolkien died.  Mark is enjoying the book, but wishes it had more details in it. (I have not read the book, but it was recommended to Mark. I think his response about details is funny because it is a thick book!  He says the battle scenes are only a sentence or two long.)

When I went to get Adrian, Mark was waiting for me and jumped out of bed and helped his little brother for me!

A Boy and His Toad

The kids were helping me clean out the garden for winter.  We did not have a very good garden, except for all the mystery squash that grew out of the compost pile, on our fence and around the yard.

While they were helping, the girls found this huge toad that Adrian really liked.  He played with it for a long time!