Let School begin...

First School Picture - Kindergarten 2015-2016

We have now entrained into a new stage of family life, School.   Neal started Kindergarten this year and to say that he likes it would be an understatement, he LOVES it!  

We are in a district with year round school and so Neal started his school year the beginning of July.  He is getting ready to end his first quarter the end of this week and will have his first big break.  He loves being around his friends all day and comes home with lots of stories, mostly about what him and his friends played on the playground and how much fun lunch is with everyone in the cafeteria.

It sure has made the house different during the day having our oldest gone at school.  The house is really quiet but in a way it makes for a nice way to get things done with one of four children not underfoot.

Gwen doesn't seem to mind that Neal is gone all day, however she does squeal with joy when it is time to pick up her big brother from the bus stop.   She runs to find her shoes and backpack, both in the morning and afternoon, to head to the bus stop with me.   The littlest boys in the house are also doing great with big brother gone.  We have managed to get them on a good schedule so that they are happy and sleeping during the bus drop off and pick-up times.  

It is so fun to see how fast Neal is learning things.  He has already leaned quite a few of his sight words and will "read" what he knows when he sees these words appear in a book.  He has even been found "reading" to his brothers and playing school with his toys.

He comes home with so many different drawings and stories at the end of the week.  What I love is trying to decipher what he has written about since his sentences consist of mostly only the fist and last letter of a word.  I have had fun trying to "read" his stories that go along with his drawings.  

"I see a shark.  The shark is fast"

I like to play with my friends"

Manytimes I will hear Neal tell me how much he loves school and how he doesn't want to stay home Saturday and Sunday but go to school every single day.   What a joy to know that he loves this new routine.  Now the trick will be to find ways to entertain all four kiddos while Neal is out of school for the next month or perhaps they will entertain themselves...

The Big Arrival

Late morning of June 15, 2015 Tyler and I climbed into the car and headed down to the hospital to welcome our new boys to our family.  This delivery was much different from my other two in many ways.  We arrived at the hospital for a scheduled C-section around 9:30 am.  It was strange to walk into the hospital for delivery without having any contractions and knowing that in just a few short hours we would be holding our little boys in our arms.  Let me just say that answering all the nurses questions and filling out paperwork is way easier when you are not trying to do it all between contractions.   I was a little nervous about the C-section, something I had never experienced before, but thankfully we had lots of good advice from friends and family, who have had a C-section before (or multiple ones), and lots of friends and family praying for us and the babies.

By 12:30 we were meeting our boys, Donovan and Paul for the first time.  What a joy it was to finally see them and be able to hold and cuddle them.  My favorite part of the whole C-section experience was the fact that I was not one bit tired after delivery and could just enjoy visiting with family and cuddling the babies.

They are healthy and happy new borns and were known in the hospital as the "big twins".  Donovan weighing in at 8.7lbs and Paul at 6.7lbs.  

Already we see how different they are from each other and yet how much they love to be together.  In the hospital we found them holding hands and their favorite place to nap is next to each other in the basinet.

We were all able to come home from the hospital a day early and Neal and Gwen have been such great older siblings.

Neal loves to hold and rock his new brothers and Gwen is always coming over and kissing their heads and eager to help out when they need to be burped.  

Life has been busy here with the addition of two little ones but over all the transition to a family of six has been rather smooth.  Much of that smooth transition is due to the wonderful help we have had for the last month from both of our moms (thank you so much Gigi and Grandma).  Soon we will be back to real life (on our own) and we will find a new routine and a new normal but are loving this crazy busy season of life.

Baseball Season has Begun!!

There is one thing that our family really loves to do together, all of us, and that is Baseball.   In reality there are many things that our whole family loves to do but Baseball has to be one of our favorites.    The great thing about living here in NC is that we are less then an hour away from the Durham Bulls stadium. The Durham Bulls are the Triple-A team for Tampa Bay and they have a great stadium and their games are always so family friendly and fun to go see.  

This year we received some family passes to 9 different games throughout the year as a Christmas gift from some of our family.   It's been fun to go down to the stadium together and enjoy the beautiful sun while watching Baseball and enjoying all the fun activities and food that a baseball game offers.  

We have seen that Gwen has learned how to keep a baseball cap on so now it will be time for us to purchase her an official Durham Bulls hat so she can match the rest of the family.

We can't wait to be able to take both sets of Grandparents to a game later this summer while they are out here visiting.  Neal will love getting to show them all over the stadium, smash peanut shells, and cheer as load as possible for the Bulls.   Gwen will also love to go along as she is always up for any activity and getting to eat peanuts, clap her hands, and walk around are some of the highlights of the game for her.  

Spring Baseball is the best!  Summer is fun too but with the heat of summer I have to say May and early June are the best for Baseball around here.

Auntie Time

We had such a fun treat of having both Aunt Bud and Aunt Jessi come out and visit us for about a week last month.  Tyler was traveling for TWR and so Aunt Bud flew out to help keep me and the kids company as well as help me with anything and everything while here (getting lots of things done these days with my large baby belly is getting more and more difficult).    When Aunt Jessi heard that Natalie was going to be here she decided to make a last minute trip down from Ohio for a fun girls week.  Natalie was great at helping take care of all 3 kids that were here and making sure both Jessi and I were well cared for, since we are both nearing the end of our pregnancies.  

We had a great time, mostly just relaxing around the house and enjoying the company together.  The kids got along great with their little cousin Micah.  Gwen and Micah would play well together but we got many laughs at the looks Gwen would give Micah when they had to share toys.  They were each keeping a good eye on each other and were at moments unsure about each other.

It was fun to see them interact since they are fairly close in age.   It was a good practice for Gwen as she will have two little brothers to share toys with soon.

Our days were filled with good food, sunshine, parks, ice cream and occasional afternoon naps for everyone.   It's always great to be able to catch-up in person with family.  We miss living so close to family so anytime we get to have together is wonderful and well enjoyed.

Cousin Time

What a great start we have had to our spring.  This year we have had the joy of having lots of visitors come to our house over the last month and a half.

I think our most anticipated visitors however were my older sister (Amie) and her family.   Amie and her family have been serving in full-time ministry overseas, in Africa, for the last 3 years and so we were very anxious to get to finally see them all again in person.   We got to enjoy a week together and had a fun time just watching the kids play and catching-up on life over the last three years.   Thanks to modern technology such as the internet, and Skype we have been able to keep up a little while they have been away so catching-up on life over the last three years in a week was somewhat manageable, though we wish we could have had more time.

We had a great time with them here, and with six kids running around the house and three years of playtime to catch-up on I forgot to take many pictures, but sometime memories are best made not behind the lens of a camera.

Here are the few pictures we did get to remember our time together.   They happen to all be mostly of the kids, but they were the most entertaining during the day and our activities seemed to revolve around playtime and kid activities anyway, with a few work projects for the men to accomplish (thanks to my brother-in-law for his willingness to help with tree pruning and some gate building for our fence).

 Superheros took over our trampoline all week 

 Lots of arts and craft time

Leaning to make coffee, South Sudan style 

Enjoying their "kids" coffee (mostly milk with a little South Sudan coffee) 

A train ride at the park  

Ice Cream night at our local Ice Cream shop - Thanks Grandma for the special treat! 

The two youngest in the group playing trains 

Construction work at the kids Museum (Gwen watching and waiting for the day she will be allowed to handle a saw)  

Cousins, 3 months apart, great friends, and sad to say good-bye

We had such a great time together and I wish that we lived closer so all the cousins could have more time together.  It was an encouraging week to hear how the Lord is using my sister and her family so richly in the area God has called them to serve.   We can't wait for our next time to be together, whenever that may be.  

April 10 on 10

We have been quite busy the last month with lots of company and fun visitors so I hope to be able to blog soon about some of out special visitors.  For now I have another post for a "10 on 10" photo day. I took a picture every hour (almost every hour) for ten hours on April 10th.  This is what our day looked like...

7:00 am 

Let the dog out and found our deck covered in yellow pine tree pollen.  This time of year the pollen is really bad.  Though the weather is nice we have to find indoor activities so we don't end up bringing all this yellow pollen inside the house. 

8:30 am 

Playtime after breakfast.  Gwen's favorite dress-up outfit at the time is Neal's policeman costume.  Though she really only like the hat and handcuffs. 

9:30 am

Silly picture taking by Neal...there was lots of laughter over the silly looking photos he could make

10:00 am

A last minute trip to see daddy at work and find an indoor play area for the kids to burn off energy.  (I love how Neal is rocking out to the music in the car)

10:45 am 

Playing at the indoor play area in the mall.  The perfect place for little Gwen who could climb on anything and everything that she wanted (bonus is no yellow pollen all over her hands and clothes to clean up after playing. Indoor play areas are so wonderful at times, though crowded)

11:30 am 

Meeting Daddy and some of the TWR video team for a team lunch after playtime...still one of my favorite places to get a burger 

1:00 pm

Back home, and headed for nap/rest time.  

2:00 pm 

A snack and some quite reading time for me, the reading didn't last long as I ended up falling asleep.  We all had a good afternoon nap.

4:00 pm 

Afternoon tea party

6:30 pm

Ending the evening with our weekly family movie night.  I can't wait to see 4 kids on Daddy's lap soon, I do't know how they will all fit.  Feeling blessed beyond measure by the wonderful family the Lord has given us...