Apollos gets a haircut

Last night, the kids and I met Luke downtown at his work in order to have dinner and look at the christmas lights. The kids were shown off to his co-workers. I knew it was time for Apollos to get a haircut when one of the men said," So, you've got two girls and a boy?"

I wait until the kids are close to a year old before I cut hair, because that seems like a good idea. Apollos didn't cry or wiggle too much as I clipped around the side of his head. I left the top of his head long.

Happy 5th Birthday Titus!

Titus had quite the birthday celebration. This summer we began celebrating the kids birthday in June, to alleviate some of the overwhelming birthday parties that I'm responsible for coordinating. It worked very well for Joy's birthday. I didn't feel stressed at the end of the day or leading up to her birthday. However, after Titus' birthday I was tired, and I was stressed leading up to it. I think this could be due to the trip to Denver I took the week before, or it could be from trying to fulfill all his expectations. Not only does he remember what happened in the years past, but he also has Joy's birthday as a template of what to expect.
We took him to McDonald's for Breakfast as a treat from Grandma, Pa, Grandfather, Aunt Hannah, and Uncle Justin. It was then off to three hours of school, in which he was celebrated. Then to met his best friend, Justin, at Double Dave's Pizza for lunch. Then I took everyone home to get the house cleaned up and make birthday dinner and cake. The house was still trashed from hosting small group on Monday. Then the same group that came to wish Titus happy birthday for breakfast came over to wish him happy birthday dinner, expect Dad was home.
He wanted to open gifts first. He got some great legos, pj's, sweater, CARS computer, ball, and bubbles.
I'm gearing myself up for Christmas and Apollos' birthday in a wekk. Then I'll have two week break before we celebrate Luke's birthday. He too wants a dinner birthday party!

Happy 5th Birthday Titus, we love you!

Trip to Denver

I recently made a trip to Denver to see my newest nephew - James Watt. I didn't bring Titus and Joy along because it would have been too much.....work, money, you can fill in the blank!

In this picture are my sisters and our kids: (Back Row) Biz, Amber, Kate. (Front Row) Taylor, Bradeon, Renee, Apollos, Will, James. Between May 2010 and June 2010 the ages of the kids (including Titus and Joy) will be, 7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0!
James trying to go to sleep.
Apollos checking out his newest cousin.

Snow Pictures

It snowed today! Real, white, flakey snow fell from the sky. We had fun making tracks in the snow, throwing snowballs, and building a real snow man.

Happy 3rd Birthday Joy!

Breakfast at Chick-fil-a.
Dad lighting the strawberry, chocolate, princess cake Mom made.

Family singing "Happy Birthday".
Opening gifts.

Happy 3rd Birthday Joy! We love you.

Tree decorating

Just add christmas music.

Turkey Dash

I really enjoy running races. Today I ran my first race in two years! The last race I ran was the YMCA turkey trot in 2007, and that wasn't a good race because I had some sort of chest cold. Running is hard enough, but it is even harder when you can't breathe. This race reminded me of many things.

It reminded me when I started running in college due to ROTC. I would run, the walk, the run some more. The first time I ran two miles without stopping to walk my time was slower than when I would run/walk. Over time I was able to run further and faster. My motivation was I didn't want to be left behind by the guys.

Running in a large group is fun to observe. Fat people, old people, young people, skinny people pass you, and you also pass them. Running has few barriers, almost anyone can do it. Which is one of the reasons I like it so much. You don't need special equipment, you don't need to get to know a lot of special rules, you just run.

Finally, the enjoyment God gives us in running and using our bodies is wonderful. I'm glad he made us to enjoy work. Now I get to share this enjoyment with my family. Titus ran the family 1 mile and "beat dad". We are so proud of him.

Free Ice Cream

Yesterday I took the kids to get some FREE ICE CREAM. The family has suffered from one cold to another cold. It started after Halloween with Apollos and a runny nose, which turned into some sort of infection and him taking antibiotics for 10 days.Joy also had a runny nose and cough, but I took only Apollos to see the Doctor because he was having temepatures between 101- 103F and Joy had no fever. A week later I was back in the Doctor office with both Titus and Joy. Titus had temperature of 100-103F all weekend, and Joy still had her runny nose. They didn't have anything apparently wrong, so they were tested for the flu. Titus came back positive and Joy negative. However, Doctor gave them both a prescription for TamiFlu. I'm pretty sure that during all this sickness I was sick with the flu too, because my head hurt often, I was tired and achy - all symptoms of the flu according to the TamiFlu website.

Yesterday was the first day that Everyone was healthy. Our church secretary sent get well cards to the kids with a coupon for free ice cream inside. We had a great time eating ice cream cones. Joy picked out pink bubble gum, Titus picked out orange pumpkin pie, and I had a peanut butter cone. Apollos just had licks of everyones. The only not fun part was when I threw away Joy's cone. I was done, Titus was done, Apollos was done, and Joy was complaining about the drips of ice cream. We still had to go to the store, so I threw away Joy's melting ice cream. She cried, and I realized I could have been more patient, or got a lid to go.