Eli's 5th Birthday

I have picture overload below with pictures from Eli's birthday little over a week ago. His birthday fell on a Friday this year so he wore his school spirit shirt to school and I picked him up we came home to open a gift from us and one from Nic before we went to lunch at Logan's Roadhouse. Our little tradition that we started on Eli's second birthday, the day Logan's opened in Owasso so now we go on all of our birthday's. After lunch we picked up his cake (from the best bakery, D's Sweet Designs) and came home to get ready for his party that evening. He had a few friends from school come and they all had such a ball. After playing in the bounce house or castle as the boys call it, they ate pizza played more, then gifts, pinata, cake and more playing. It was such and enjoyable evening with family and friends. This year's theme was all about Transformers and it was such a hit. After the party we went to the high school football game and the boys had fun there as well. Needless to say they crashed when we got home that night. It is hard to believe our little man is five it doesn't seem like it was that long ago that he was just a baby.

1st Soccer game

This year Eli is playing his first season of soccer and he is loving every minute of it. Doug is his coach and I am helping out with the couple of games that he cannot be there. At this age they play three on three and their quarters are only eight minutes long. During games this is a long time for boys and girls that are all under 6, without a water break or timeout. Unlike most of the teams, who have five or six players we only have four little guys and they get tired and thirsty really fast during the games. We had our second game this morning and the boys won 7-3 and played so great. Watching the games is so much fun, there are a few that has played a season or two but most haven't played at all. These pictures are from their first game when it was still dreary and yucky but this morning it was so beautiful. We have seven games left in the season and it looks like it is going to be a really fun one.

This is one of my favorite pictures, with both teams running to the ball.

Letter to my dear friend Ragweed

Dear old friend Ragweed,

Every year you rear your huge ugly head and make us all miserable. Why oh why? The runny noses and sniffling, sneezing, coughing and that horrible pressure in our heads. Please, just go away for a while. If you wouldn't mind, could you take some time off and come back again next year or better yet hibernate for a time? We would truly appreciate it.

First Day of Pre-K!!

The first day of school was over a week ago and Eli is loving every minute of it! He can't wait to get to school everyday and he likes all of his new friends and his teacher. Pre-K is only for a few hours each day but it is getting him into the routine of school everyday and what to expect while there.

~ ~

Elijah,

Over the last five years (almost), we have watched you grow and learn tremendously and we are overjoyed that you love school so much! It has been so much fun being your parents and it is a little sad to see you grow up so fast, it seemed like yesterday you were born and now you are on an education adventure of a lifetime. We look forward to you sharing your daily adventures with us and what you learn each and every day.


Knowing we have guided you and taught you well, gives us great satisfaction because you are such a wonderful little man!

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

We love you little man, enjoy your school year!!!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Informal Book Club

Okay, ladies I am participating in an informal book club. If you would like to participate, I have the information below with the instructions. If you would like to participate, send me an email confirming you would like to participate and I will send you the name and address of the person you are to send a book to.

*Instructions*

Please send a paperback book or audio book you have already enjoyed to the person whose name and address you will receive. There is no need to box the book you mail. A mailing envelope is fine. It will be interesting to see where the books come from and what books you received. You should receive 36 books.

Next, you copy this letter or post on your blog and send it to 6 different people. Do not send them a book. Put my name and address on the back of the six letters or email it to the participants.

If you can't do this within a week, please let me know so that we can be fair to the participants.

I hope you will be able to participate and it will be fun to see what books to will receive.

Thanks for Their Gifts

Thinking, praying, worrying and wondering why. What is the purpose of it all and how do we navigate through it? I know I have a purpose because without my faith in the Lord, I would literally crumble into a million pieces onto the floor. Knowing the people you love and care about are hurting and not being able to make their pain and worry go away, just makes you feel helpless and hopeless sometimes. Then there are times just being there for them helps and knowing they know you are praying for them and have many others thinking and praying for them helps. The day to day life and functionality gets lost and you sometimes get lost as well, floundering around and questioning what happened. How did everything get so off track and how do you get back on track? I know these things happen to everyone you just never expect to feel yourself being the one to flounder and wonder. But I know I should be thankful for everything in my life and know there is a purpose to this path and I should learn from the journey we are taking in our lives.

"I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:10-13.

Health Happenings..

Update: After I posted this earlier, we found out Doug has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and had to go get a stat X-ray on his colon, more details will come from the doctor once it is read . We now need to change his diet and most likely go ahead and change all of ours, to gluten free. I know our grocery store carries gluten free items and am going to try and set up a tour to find all of the items that they have, so that I do not have to search when I go grocery shopping. We are asking for guidance from the Lord and we are glad we finally know for sure the self diagnosis we made earlier. It is a relief to know something for sure and how we can handle and take care of it now.

For those of you who know and those who do not, here is an update on Doug's back and shoulder. If you remember, back in January he fell at work and hurt his back and shoulder and getting hurt at work, well can be a hassle to say the least. Why? Well you have to deal with worker's compensation insurance and not your own health insurance, which would have solved everything by now. Back to treatment, at first they thought is was a pulled muscle and said it would heal on it's own, wrong. All the while, he has been hurting and nothing really being accomplished, let's just say when it comes to a company's insurance paying for something, they deny, deny and deny more until you take them to court. That's right court. So, finally a judge court ordered treatment for his back, in May, that's right nearly four months later, all the while he is at home hurting. He has a 3/4 inch tear in a ligament in his lower back, which will eventually heal on it's own, we hope. They tried physical therapy to help with the muscles around it but that just made it hurt worse. So now, this Tuesday, I will be taking him to the orthopedic specialist to get a shot in his back, right in the ligament to see if this helps. They have approved three shots, how kind of the insurance company. The lawyers will also be meeting on Tuesday to try and decide what they will do for his shoulder, a torn rotator cuff, that's right they are fighting against treating that as well and here we are six months later, with nothing accomplished. Doug is a trooper, he has been back to work under doctor's order for a month now, although he is hurting, he loves his job and his family and we truly appreciate him and love him very much. So, please keep him in your prayers and we hope that these treatments work and he stops hurting.

Praying for Stellan

Many of you know MckMama and the story of Stellan. I hope that you will lift their family up in prayer, Stellan has been going through a rough few days and his little body is fighting hard to keep up. The last I read is that they will be airlifting him to Boston. Please keep him and his family in your thought and prayers.

Consequences

Do you give your children consequences if they do not listen? My boys are great and they do really well but every now and then we have our moments to where the draw for them is to strong and they forget what they should be doing. Take today for example. We go to FedEx Kinko's to ship a diaper cake and before we even get out of the car I tell them to listen while we are in there and afterwards we will go to Jamba Juice if and only if they mind. When you walk in the draw must be too strong because they immediately see candy and packing peanuts. Eli proceeds to toss up a bag of peanuts after repeated requests to please stop and Nic is drawn to the candy and decides he can't hold back and opens the Mentos. I told them both since they didn't listen we would not be going next door but instead go home. After I paid for the Mentos, I heard the girl at FedEx sort of giggle as we were walking to the door and hearing me telling the boys this. Either she thought they were cute or she was wondering if I was going to follow through with what I told them. The boys did not like that I started putting them in the car and into their car seats, all the while saying, "Mommy we will listen." I tell them both they should have listened while they were in the store and we proceed to head home. Both were very unhappy and wined the whole way home. But once home, calmed down, eating lunch and talking they realized they should have stayed beside me and they would have gotten a juice drink. So what do you do when your kiddos do not follow through, continue on and ignore or follow through with the consequence?

* I found this cartoon and just thought it was too hilarious *

Busy Week

We have had a busy week around here. I received quite a few orders, I need to ship one out, we delivered one and will deliver a few more in the next couple of weeks for baby showers. Doug was off on Thursday, so we made a delivery and then went and ate dinner at El Chico's @ Promenade. Nic and I went to get cookies at Great American Cookie and Doug and Eli went off looking for NASCAR shirts, they didn't have any luck though. We then heading over to Michael's for more ribbon and decided to go out to Utica Square to meet his mom and aunt and listen to the music. If you haven't been you should, it was great and the weather was perfect, the boys had a blast as well. Doug, being the sweet husband he is brings me a mocha frappuccino from Starbucks @ 7 o'clock in the evening and of course me and my will power couldn't hold back, I was up until at least two in the morning. Friday we relaxed in the morning and the boys and I were off on an adventure to Target and then the grocery store. Who knew cherries were so darn expensive? And then this morning, Eli was signed up to play soccer and he is so excited! Poor Nic doesn't understand he isn't old enough yet, he keeps thinking he is going to play as well. After sign-up the boys and I headed down to Tulsa to meet my mother-in-law at An Affair of the Heart. My very first time ever going, we thought about getting a booth and we will most likely next year. We have had a great week. I haven't taken any pictures recently and I need to save all my picture to a CD so that I can erase the ones on my Sandisk, there is nearly 500 on there. In other news, Doug and I came up with an idea the other night and we are trying to figure out ways to implement it. We think it will be a great service to our church and community. I need to get back to work, until next time.