Monday, November 28, 2005

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families in Indiana. We are so thankful for them! We all ate a lot, talked a lot, played a lot, slept a lot, and hugged a lot. We have such fantastic families! Thank God for all of them!

We have recently learned of many new babies coming next year, and we congratulate all of our friends and relatives who are expecting little ones! Praise the Lord for filling homes with little ones to love!

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Fall Festival 2005

 Last night our church had its annual Fall Festival. It really is a great event, and brings in a lot of people from the community. We had lots of fun!

This year, Annah is trick-or-treating as a mermaid, Sylvia as a fairy princess, and Caeden as Tigger.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Three Wishes

 Do you watch the show Three Wishes?  If so, you may have seen Episode 8, which featured a woman I went to school with at the Conservatory of Music at Capital University.  Her name is Liz Bausch, and she is a musician and music teacher.  A couple years ago, she suddenly lost 70% of her hearing.  Three Wishes granted some of her wishes.  Check out their website for recaps of Liz's amazing story. 

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Yesterday, Jeremy and I had a nice chance to go on a date--for the first time in 6 months.  (We are too pathetic, aren't we!?!)  Our friends, Tom and Lorrie gave us tickets to see a local production of Sweeney Todd, and they watched the kids for us!  It was so nice to have an afternoon away together!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Caeden's Coat

Caeden in his coat and new hat...  He doesn't like the hat on very well, so we have to put his coat on before his hat so he can't reach up and take it off.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Kid Updates


Kid update:

Annah:
 Is working very, very hard to stop sucking her thumb. She visited the dentist this week who suggested some things. We are taping a sock over her hand at night. It was hard the first night (Thursday); she cried for about an hour and asked us to take it off. It was so hard not to give in! But, it has been much easier since she fell asleep that night. She has only caught herself sucking her thumb 2 times since, and stopped right away. We told her if she goes 22 days without sucking her thumb, we will take her to Chuck E. Cheese's. She is doing so well!

Sylvia:
Has been making great progress in her potty training the past few days!! She has gone in the potty chair or toilet every time (except during sleep) for four days in a row now! It seems she now knows the feeling of needing to go, and she will come to us and say, "I need to go potty," and then will go in and go. She can turn the water on and off to wash her hands now too. She is very proud of herself, and we are too, of course!

Both girls seem to be growing up every day and surprising us with things they say and do all the time.

Caeden:
Can get himself to a standing position from a squatting position without holding on to anything! I have never seen a pre-walker do it quite the way he does--it's very interesting. We just say, "Caeden, stand up!" and he squats , then stands on up! Once he gets up, he seems like he wants to just take off walking but can't figure out why it's not that simple! We're guessing it won't be too much longer, and we ordered his first-walkers (shoes) this week!
Last Saturday he learned how to clap without someone helping him anymore!
Caeden is also starting to try more words. New things he is saying:
Ah, ah, teeth! (What he needs to do to brush them.)
cheese
no, no, no
carrot
shhh! (with his finger to his mouth)
wow/whoa
I'm not sure if I've written about it here before, but Caeden is a rocker and a head-banger! He likes to get up on all fours and rock. But, more than that he bangs his head back over and over again when sitting in his high chair. He also gets on all fours in his crib, puts his hands up in front of him, and bangs his forehead (not hard) on his hands to get to sleep. It seems disturbing, but for him it is really a comfort mechanism. It's kind of wild, but I think it is a lot like thumb-sucking for him. I asked his pediatrician about it, and he said it is normal and doesn't indicate OCD yet. I am afraid he is going to rock the screws in his crib loose though!

Monday, November 7, 2005

School pictures

(October) -
Annah's school portraits were taken last month, but we just got them back today.


Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Preschool projects

Annah and her October school projects...

Annah' enjoyed this month's theme of Creepy Crawlers and Reptiles! (See her wearing her spider hat and holding her spider mask!) A dog safety speaker visited one day with her dog Checkers. Annah was very excited to win one of the coloring contests (the picture of the worm in the apple) one day--not so much because she was the winner, but more because she got candy for her prize!

Color of the month: Orange

Shape: Triangle

Letters: DEFG

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Tanner's Orchard


We had a great time with some very dear friends, the Keller family, this weekend, including a sleepover and a trip to Tanner's Orchard! 

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Caeden is One

We celebrated Caeden's 1st birthday with family over the weekend. Caeden's party was as fun and chaotic as a typical child's birthday party with lots of children there should be! He LOVED his cake, and even though he was very tired during the present opening part of his party he is enjoying his gifts now! One kid should probably not receive as much stuff as he did, but we are very thankful to all our family who loves him so much!