Madelynn's First Birthday

Here she is, the Birthday Girl! She turned ONE:

Eating pizza for supper.

Oh Madelynn! Over here, yoo-hoo!

Happy Birthday Madelynn!!

Yummy apple pie! (Gluten Free of course!)

One of her birthday cards, this one from Great Grampa and Gramma E.

The pictures below are just for fun:

She's just sitting there looking cute. No actual riding yet. :)

Peek a boo!

Sprouts and Sprout

The First thing is I've been growing alfalfa sprouts in the kitchen. I was a little hesitant it would work at first but it's quite easy to do. Now we have fresh sprouts in the fridge for the family! So tasty!

The Second thing is that we are expecting Baby #5 at the end of January. That makes me about 7 weeks along. So come along Bean Sprout, go easy on your momma, and we look forward to meeting you around January 22!

Two Years Old Today

This is a blog post announcing the birth of Emily Grace, our third child, on June 2, 2008 written by Joel:


She Cried!

Thank-you Jesus for that little voice!
Emily arrived at 1:27 today, June 2. She was taken immediately to a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) next door to the delivery room. We could hear her screaming through the thick door. After a few minutes I (Joel) was allowed to see her. They placed a breathing tube down her throat. She doesn't always remember to breathe they told me. Into her bellybutton went a tube that goes right into her heart for medications and taking blood. Just before she got trollyed over to the Children's Hospital Renee got to see her for a moment. I went with her through the tunnel. Eventually she was placed in the Pediatric ICU. The x-rays and fetal ECHO (ultrasound) showed that her heart is still abnormal. She will stay on the breathing machine and medication to keep the bypass that still allows blood to get to the lungs open, for a few days. Then they will take her off the medication and see what happens. If she can't push blood through the proper avenues they will surgically place a shunt in her heart. Renee was eventually wheeled over to Children's (a ten-minute trip). She was pretty weak so we came back to Abbott and placed in a recovery room. I think Renee will heal very well. But she is feeling kinda lost and lonely being separated from this girl she's spent the last nine months with. Emily is so wired up we can't even hold her yet. But hopefully we'll have a lifetime to connect with our daughter. Thank you for praying us through labor and delivery. We'll keep you all posted. Grace, Joel
P.S. Renee reminded me of some important things to share! Emily Grace was 19 1/2 inches long (just like Joshua and Rachel). She weighs 5 lbs 15 oz. She's got dark fuzzy hair - a little more than the other two did. And despite all the tubes and wires and stickers, she's adorable - looks very much like Rachel did as a newborn. Even the rest of her body and the way she lies is just like the other two. Back to Renee - bye.



If you would like to see pictures of Emily, there is a slide show on the right hand side of this blog, scroll down some until you see it.

Forget-me-nots and Phlox

Forget-me-nots

Creeping Phlox at Maple Hill Cemetery:

I told my co-worker that the Creeping Phlox were out at Maple Hill.
"What are they?" he asked nervously.
"Flowers" I said.
"Oh" he said, obviously relieved.

A Little Catch Up

Our little boy has been taking an interest in baseball, and soccer. It's fun to play with him now, because mostly when he does something and it happens, he did it on purpose. Do you know what I mean? Like kicking the soccer ball: he can actually kick it in the right direction. Not all the time, of course, not even Mommy can always kick it in the right direction!!

Yes, those are rubber boots.

I told you I would try to put up photos of the kids' haircuts. Here is attempt 16 (about) for Madelynn:

Do you see the curls?

Mommy had the great idea of putting Madelynn in the doll stroller one day. It actually worked:

It was SO CUTE!!

Update on housing: Still looking for a place to rent. There is one rental option right now, but we will not be able to see the interior until mid-June (The owner is out of town).

Update on Madelynn: She is squirmy, loud, clingy, and crawling like mad. She is also pulling herself up on just about everything. She has three teeth on top and still pushing that fourth one through. Everyone enjoys her. Maybe not all the time- but Madelynn is definitely the popular one around here. (and...she turns one year on June 5th! Less than two weeks away!)

Update on Rachel: There are times of cuddling and times of running madly in circles, there are times of tears and times of silliness, there are times of quietly reading to herself and there are times of screaming (happy or sad). Pink is her absolute favorite color. She loves to hold something small in her hand, preferably of the round nature. She is learning to ride a tricycle, to be a good big sister, and how to count to 10. She loves to sing and play "pretend". A love for dollies is growing within her, but she doesn't mind splashing in mud puddles.


We are enjoying the warmer weather and thanking God for an early spring. Joshua has a bike with training wheels. They each have two potted plants that they are taking care of: Joshua has yellow pansies and Rachel has bright pink Asters.
We will be planting sunflowers and Nasturtiums in the ground soon but that will be all. No veggies this year. (because of housing and moving)

Work for Joel is steady and jobs just keep popping up. Right now they are doing mostly seamless rain gutter jobs. It's a good break from the roofing and siding they were doing earlier.

Homeschooling is going well. Flexibility is huge. And that's fine. All of life is a school room and when I have that attitude, we still learn lots even if it's not planned. This morning we took a field trip (3 minute drive) to the Forest Service Station. There we visited a friend and looked at the wild animals they had there. Don't worry they were the real but stuffed kind. The kids heard about Smokey Bear and wildfires. They also each received a bag of goodies, complete with pencils, bracelets and tattoos. So now Joshua and Rachel have their first tattoos.

We've been spending alot of time outside, enjoying the sunshine and flowers. Joshua is now usually the one to spot a new flower and ask what it is. Rachel likes to blow dandelion seeds and they both like to eat bluebells and chives.

Let's see what else can I tell you?? I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading. I think Joel is going to do a post of some pictures he took the other day. They are beautiful!