Boston

Nate and I were able to go to Boston Oct. 28 - Nov. 2 with Brad and Cindy Mercer. We had the most wonderful time and went at the most perfect season. The leaves were beautiful and the weather was perfect. (Besides the first afternoon we got there. It was raining and windy and we were all soaking wet. But it made great memories!) The Mercers rented a car while we were there so we drove all around Massachusetts. We stayed in Rockport and drove to Concord, Lexington, Stockbridge, Deerfield, and of course, Boston. We took so many pictures I decided to do let you look through a web album so you could enjoy them also!

Boston 2009

July

Life seemed to slow down a bit in the month of July. And apparently I didn't take many pictures!

Science Museum (and my boot)
The girls have always loved going to the science museum but this was Knox first time to actually enjoy it. It was fun to see him watch the fish and look all around at everything.

These pictures are out of order...but in the one below you can tell Knox was a little skeptical of the fish but in the one above, he was full of excitement!

Here's the boot pic - When I had my wreck in May, I hurt my foot/ankle really bad. I thought it was a sprain so I didn't do anything about it besides keep it wrapped and medicate it. But as time got closer to go to Peru in June, I decided to do x-rays. The x-rays showed no broken bones which was great. I decided to not do anything else til after the missons trip. On our hiking trip in Peru, my foot got much worse and it was difficult to walk on. The week after I got back, I went to see an orthopedic surgeon and found out I had nerve damage to my ankle. I had to wear a boot for a month and take nerve repair medecine, which had bad side affects. But today, I am so thankful to say that it feels much better. I still can't wear high heels or flip flops, my 2 favorite kind of shoes, but that is fine. I'm off the medecine for now. I still feel discomfort in my foot but the doctor says that it could take several months to heal.

Knox had his First Haircut!
I was so sad to see his cute little curls cut but he was actually getting frustrated with his hair touching his ears. He did so good.

Fun at the Braves Game

In June, we went to a MS Braves Baseball game and had a really fun time. It was Katie's first time to go and Rosalyn's second. My dad and step grandpa, Gene, went with us.

The Girls Ceiling

Remember the "bubble" we had in the girls ceiling because of a major leak from the roof? That happened in the middle of May and it was mid June when we got it fixed. It was much worse than we had anticipated and took much longer to fix but we're thankful to say that the girls are happily sleeping under a new ceiling!

This is what we discovered when the first layer of the ceiling was removed....mold. And water was still dripping at this point and it was a month later!

Another picture of the mold

Several days later once those boards dried out, the rest of the ceiling was pulled down only to find more mold. The odor was so bad.

All the ceiling down. New boards are up.

I don't have a final picture of the ceiling and the girls are in bed sleeping right now so I can't go take a picture but it's complete now and looks great!

Katie is 4 years old!!

We celebrated Katie's 4th Birthday on Oct. 4. She was so excited about turning 4 since Rosalyn had just had her birthday. We had a small party at our house where the kids painted pumpkins. Katie loves to paint so she loved the idea. I've really enjoyed my time with Katie since Rosalyn is in kindergarten. I've seen her grow and learn lots of new things. It's also sweet to see her play with Knox. There relationship is fun as she plays rough with him but then also sits and colors with him and plays cars. I'm so thankful for my sweet Katie!

Katie waiting for her friends to come over!

Knox and his friend, Jack, painted pumpkins with water!

Painting the pumpkins...they all did so good!

The party table prior to friends arriving

Katie's birthday cupcakes. This was the only picture I got of them.

Rosalyn and Katie. As you can tell, Rosalyn got a haircut! I went in thinking maybe an inch off but she decided at the last minute to go really short. I think she got about 8 - 9 inches cut!!

Opening the presents that Nana and Pops brought

My plan is to now start updating the blog regularly before the holidays begin and the year is over! It will go back to June til now but I want it to all be on here for the kids to look back on one day.

For you, Aunt Ellen

My sister, Ellen, lives in Canada so she sent Rosalyn her presents early. Ellen called early Thursday morning and Rosalyn was on the phone with her as she opened them. Ellen - she loved the Bendaroos and has played with them alot. Perfect!

Rosalyn's 6th Birthday

We celebrated Rosalyn's 6th birthday on Sept.3. I just can't believe that she is already 6. The moment she was born, she changed my life and I have loved every moment of getting to know her. She is definitely a first born in the way she "likes to lead" aka bossiness, she likes order and structure. But most of all she has a heart for God. I pray God has chosen to save her and will use her in many, many ways for His kingdom.

For her party, we went to Harry the Potter and painted pottery! She invited 8 friends and really had a great time.

Early morning gifts

Birthday Streamers!!

A wonderful present from Nana and Pops...a real vaccuum for
both girls to use! Love it!

The cupcakes are overpowering here but I

didn't get a great picture of them

Very intense little girls painting

Nate had to finish painting Rosalyn's giraffe because she was trying to be

very precise and the other girls had already finished their item.

Opening presents. I loved hearing the girls talk

about the gift they brought. So cute!

Peru Mission Trip

One of the members on our trip to Peru put together a great slideshow of pictures from the trip. It does a good job of capturing the sense of the trip. Please click here to see the slide show.

Knox enjoying bubbles

The other morning while Knox was suppose to be eating breakfast, Katie started blowing bubbles. This was Knox first time to play with them. He was so funny! Hope you enjoy the video....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9YV_roCf1E.

A Month of Craziness...yet again

I've been telling Nate that I'm ready for our life to be normal for a few days. We have had one of the hardest years with the kids being sick, loss of family members and friends, and then other thingsthat seem to happen at the worst of times.
One of those things occurred a week and a half before our beach trip. The kids and I were eating lunch in the kitchen and I knew we were about to have a bad storm in our area. As we were eating, the rains start and the hail and the wind. Nate calls and asks if our roof was leaking (this is a very normal occurrence b/c the roof is old) and I say no I can't believe it, there's no leaks. Not even 5 minutes later, I hear a loud rush of water in our house and I run room to room to figure out where it is and look in the girls room. There is water gushing out of the ceiling onto Rosalyn's bed and the floor. I get buckets, call Nate in a panic, and Rosalyn comes to the rescue with all the towels she can get. This is the "bubble" as the girls call it that is now on the girls ceiling. We've had much drama associated with this bubble but I won't get into all that.

Oh, and besides our roof being old, the other reason we have this leak is because a raccoon had gotten into our roof and ran around our attic one night. We thought the roofer had fixed the hole in the roof...but he did not!

Thankfully we are getting a new roof this week!!! We are excited even though the noise is really loud!

Another thing this month.....

Katie was diagnosed with Salmonella the day before we leave for the beach. I had called the doctor late Thursday night b/c of some things (too gross to mention on here) going on with her. He was immediately worried and said she may have to go into the hospital that night if she started throwing up and crying in pain for long lengths of time. She was having to go to the bathroom every hour that night so she ended up in bed with us. She had an 8:30 doctor appointment Friday morning. He started Katie on antibiotics that day and we monitored her and her fever. He said we could go on the trip as long as her fever stayed down. So on Saturday morning we left. She was sick til Wednesday but praise the Lord she was okay. Evidently she came into contact with raw meat as we were cooking. She didn't eat it or she would have been alot worse. I've always been cautious with raw meat but now even more so.

So we go to the beach and have fun and get back on Saturday night and on Monday night....

I went out grocery shopping b/c we literally had nothing to eat. As I was driving back home, I was going through an intersection and another car hit me. Yep. I had my first big wreck. I am fine, Nate's car isn't. We think it's totaled though the insurance company hasn't told us only the wrecker man did. I'm still sore and there's things I try to do around the house and realize I still can't but I'm praying to feel better soon.

So as we get a new roof this week we'll also be out looking for a new car.

Beach Trip 2009

We had a great time at Rosemary Beach again this year with Nate's family. Here are a few pictures of our fun times!

Katie giving Knox a wagon ride through Rosemary

Rosalyn with Cousin Marty -- eating at the Red Bar!

Knox allowed one wave to come to him and I was able to capture the moment. The water was really cold this day!

Rosalyn loved the ocean and sand this year more than ever.

Katie loved the sand. She prefered the pool over the ocean. But still had a great time!

Knox liked the sand but only made it to the beach one day. The other days we tried to take him but the winds were too strong and sand blew all in his eyes.

Rosalyn working on a sand castle.

A pool for Knox so he wouldn't run away from me. Katie really liked to be in there with him!

Architectural Boat Tour Through Chicago

We had a really good time floating through Chicago, taking in all the amazing architecture. On this particular tour, we cruised out to Lake Michigan and enjoyed panoramic views of the city. This was one of MY favorite things we did!