Christmas Morning

We're Still Here!

It's just that it's hard to keep up with two blogs! And with 3 boys and a dog. Here's some highlights from our life lately...

On Monday, we were singing "Amazing Grace" during Bible time. I sometimes forget how much Aidan understands that Gresham doesn't. I was realizing that Gresham probably doesn't have much of a clue about what the hymns we sing are about, so I asked him, "When it says 'I once was lost, but now I'm found,' do you know what that means?" "Yes. I do," said Gresham. "It means he was lost in the desert, and then he came out of the woods, and THERE was his house! Right there! And so he was found!"

On Tuesday, we went to the doctor for Gresham's foot. He has a plantar wart on the bottom of it. The doctor said we caught it early, and we can treat it with over the counter stuff. Unfortunately, Gresham won't leave a band-aid on it. Or throw the band-aids away. (Remember that little tidbit.)

On Wednesday, we took Owen to the doctor for a well visit. He got two shots. We also had his blood drawn to test iron levels and lead levels because of his obsession with chewing on anything that isn't food (Toys, paper, the dog leash, sticks, cork that he scrapes off my coaster stones with his teeth...). Apparently, eating non-food items can be a sign of anemia.

Today, Owen ran a fever from the shots. This is our first shot reaction for any child. I had to teach today, and hated to leave him, but I couldn't really justify staying home. We went to pick up the babysitter. We came back home and I was giving her some instructions for the day, and had to stop to fish something out of Owen's mouth... it was Gresham's discarded band-aid from earlier that morning. So now my son is having a shot reaction, and is ingesting salicylic acid. Lovely.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I'm pretty sure we are going to take the day off from school...

Moths...

Gresham: Watch out, Mom! There's a moth that lives in here!!
Mom: It's okay, it won't hurt us.
Gresham: Oh...
Mom: Did you think that moths sting?
Gresham: Yes
Mom: Aidan, did you know that moths don't sting?
Aidan: No, I thought they sting you 'till your dead!
Mom: (laughing) No, who told you that?
Aidan: Next-door neighbor boy...

More Puppy Pics!

Happiness is a new puppy!

We did change his name... He is now Tucker! He has an ID tag and collar, so it's official.

Aidan has been doing a lot of the feeding and taking Tucker outside, and Gresham wanted a turn to feed the puppy. He was very "hands on..."

Are you drinking your water, Puppy?

So far things are going well! Busy, but well. Housetraining is a slow process. Our carpets needed cleaning before Tucker came, but now they REALLY need cleaning! We were planning for that, though, so it's okay. We had a few rough nights at first, but now Tucker is settling into a routine and not whining/howling so much. The weather has been beautiful and much cooler than it had been, so I am very thankful for that!

Puppy!

Our puppy is here! We have had him since Friday night, and he is doing well so far! We took him to the vet on Monday, and they declared him to be healthy. That was a huge relief...

He definitely has more energy than our sick pet store dog, and so he is a lot more work - but also a very fun puppy, and once we train him, I think he'll be great. He is already very attached to the family and wants to be wherever we are. The boys are having a lot of fun playing with him. He is a very frisky dog, but doesn't bark much and settles down easily.

We decided to name him Scout, but I'm not sure that name is going to stick...

Monday was our hardest day. Well, and yesterday was pretty rough too. It really wasn't my plan to have this dog arrive just as school (homeschooling as well as my teaching job) were starting up! But this is what we have, so we'll make the most of it! Owen has been very sick this week, so we had an appointment for him Monday morning and then an appointment for the puppy in the afternoon. In between appointments, I was cleaning up a potty mess on the floor and heard the phone ringing. I decided to let the machine get it. I could hear the automated voice of the public library announcing that we have 22 overdue book...

This is a temporary stage. One day, we'll look back on this and laugh... it's just a stage...

Bedtime Shenanigans...

So, Aidan was always easy to put to bed. He has two speeds: on and off. He is so active during the day that falling asleep is never any problem. I was hoping that we would escape the bedtime stalling that seems to plague most houses with small children...

And then we got Gresham.

Gresham was recently potty-trained just shy of age 3 1/2. I thought the day would never come! Now that he is wearing underwear, even at night!, he likes to get up to go potty about 47 times before falling asleep. Seriously, he can get up 5 times in 30-45 minutes and sometimes he is still awake at 10:00 p.m. He's very quiet and goes right back to bed, but we are worried about how much sleep he is getting.

This week, he is also giving up his afternoon nap, so we decided to get serious about putting a stop to the bedtime potty trips.

Monday night: Gresham got up. Gresham got up again. Daddy told him that this would be his very last potty trip. Didn't hear from him again.

Tuesday morning: Gresham informed me that his bed was wet because the night before, Dad had told him to only go potty once, and after that to potty in his pants, so he did. I was fairly certain that that was not Dad's intended message. Turns out I was right, and Dad set the record straight after he got home from work.

Tuesday night: Gresham got up. Dad told him that this would be his one and only potty trip.
A few minutes later, I was working on the computer and suddenly sensed the presence of a child standing right behind me. (Gresham does this in the middle of the night, too. I'll be sleeping and then suddenly have this sense that he is standing right next to me. I wake up, and there he is...) Gresham was naked from the waist down. He informed me that he needed clean pants because Dad told him not to get up anymore, and so he had no choice but to potty in his pants. Since it had been about 7 minutes since he last went, I found this hard to believe. Sure enough, he had squeezed out about 3 drops into his pants, and we had to find clean underwear...

Wednesday night: No nap today, and a long day at my school... No potty trips, and Gresham is asleep!!!!

We have a 2nd Grader!

We have successfully finished two days of second grade!

I don't know about him, but I'm totally worn out! Maybe we can call it a year... just kidding.

We are doing some new things this year, and I really like them so far. We're doing Sonlight Core 1+2, which is world history in one year. Our favorite so far, though, is the Apologia science book that we got. It's zoology - birds and insects. It's good stuff with lots of experiments and activities.

Now we just need a nanny to keep Owen out of trouble while we do school, and a maid to do all the cooking and cleaning!

A Shocking Turn of Behavior!

So, I have posted in the past about all our grocery store woes...

The other day, we were at Target, and the boys were acting wild, as usual. I gave them the usual corrective speech. A few minutes later, Gresham started up the silliness again, and Aidan said, "Gresham, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do what Mom says."

Who is this boy, and what has he done with Aidan??? But, I'll take it!!

My new blog has moved!

My new blog has moved to frugalfun4boys.com!

No blogspot in the URL, otherwise it is the same.

I haven't quite worked out the layout yet, but we're getting there. The learning curve is pretty steep for setting up a new website!

Check it out here, and please pass on the link to anyone who might be interested in this type of blog!

Owen reads... instead of eating the book!

It seems like all kinds of development starts to take place once kids are walking. I was SO hoping this would be the case for Owen (who is into everything) and it seems to be true! He has been walking well for a few weeks now, and he is starting to play with toys more instead of just taking things off shelves and putting everything in his mouth.

The other day, I was reading to the boys before nap time, and after we were done with Owen's books, he took one of them over to the chair and started looking at it! Usually he just tries to eat the pages. Hallelujah!! Progress!! Now if he would just eat his food...

New Blog!

We started a new blog today! I say "we" because the boys are going to help me a lot with this one. We will be blogging about fun activities for boys. Aidan is very excited. He is always bugging me to do crafts or science experiments, so I figured that we will blog about things we have done in the past and new ideas that we'll be trying out!

Click here to see it!

I just bought me a domain name, but I haven't figured out how to get it working... for now it is a blogger address: www.frugalfun4boys.blogspot.com, but hopefully in the next couple days it will move to www.frugalfun4boys.com

Dog Story, Part 4

So we were supposed to get our puppy last Thursday, but...

The breeder let us know a couple weeks ago that our puppy was turning out to be on the smaller side and was a really timid guy, probably because he was the smallest in the litter. Cavachons are outgoing dogs in general, so we decided with the breeder that it would be best if they kept him an extra week and put him with younger puppies to see if he would come out of his shell a little. Well, we called Tuesday night to check on him, and they said that some boys had been in to play with the puppy that they are taking home in three weeks. Our puppy was with that litter. While the boys were there, they tried to pick up our puppy, and he yelped and was very bothered. They said that they have never seen a puppy be so afraid of heights, and that he's also bothered by loud noises. Definitely not the dog for us...

The picture at the top is the dog that we are getting instead! He is going to be bigger (probably 15-16 lb. as an adult) and he is already more outgoing even though he is three weeks younger.

We are supposed to get him around August 26th. We're all disappointed about the wait, but that will give this heat wave time to go away.

Any name suggestions? We had named the other puppy Crockett, and now we're not sure if we should call this one Crockett? Or choose a new name?

Toy Story 4, or also titled "An Afternoon with the Boys"

It was a lazy summer afternoon. The toys were in Andy's room, minding their own business and playing a round of the Memory Game. They were playing for Mr. Potato Head's hat.

Little did they know... some evil bad guys were scheming to capture Sheriff Woody! One of them looked like a police officer, but he was definitely no good guy!

And they knew to never trust a monkey with an ax!

The bad guys quickly overpowered them, and it looked like Woody was a goner! This was a job for Evil Dr. Porkchop!!! Unfortunately, Aidan had talked himself out of buying Evil Dr. Porkchop with his birthday money!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue! (insert laser noises here) Take that, bad guy!!

Buzz, are you okay?
Whew, the coast is clear.

Until Big Baby came along!!! Help! He's slobbering on the toys!

Big Baby is rearranging Mr. Potato Head!! Help!! Buzz, we need you again!

Aidan is 7!

7 Years Old!

Opening a Playmobil set from Gresham

We got him a watch. He was super excited because he had one that he ruined by getting in the pool with it. He is so time-oriented and loves to constantly know what time it is...

Because of it being VBS week, we didn't do a big celebration on Aidan's actual birthday. We did have taco salad for dinner (his choice!) and then played outside in the sprinkler. I'm happy to see that life is still pretty simple when you're 7!


On Saturday night, we celebrated Aidan's birthday with Grandpa Packard since their birthdays are only two days apart.

Opening a new Woody toy from Grandma and Grandpa. He's so cool - just like the movie one with the pull-string and everything.

Happy Birthday!

Cute Pictures

This is Gresham's superhero stance. He and Aidan are always ready to defend against bad guys at a moment's notice. This may come in handy someday.

Aidan's birthday is this week, and so I took him yesterday to get this bear at Build-a-Bear. We got a coupon in the mail for a completely free animal (up to $12, which was about 4 choices). Pretty good deal! Aidan picked to get the Buzz Lightyear outfit for it as a birthday gift.

I am having lots of fun taking better portraits with my new camera! Jordan was behind me getting them to laugh. Now I just need to get good shots with something other than the TV in the background...

Here's a Good One

This is what I mostly get when I try to take a picture of all three boys. Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can really appreciate their little faces...

Another Doctor for Owen

On Monday, we took Owen to a new GI specialist. There are several reasons why we switched doctors, and it's kind of a boring story, so I won't post it on here. I was very impressed with his new doctor! He really listened to us, and seemed to get what it's like to live with a kid like Owen. We are trying to figure out what reflux medicine he should be on right now, since he didn't do well without any medicine, and that has been kind of complicated. We are doing Nexium again, but he just won't swallow the stuff. I can't say I'm surprised. A kid who turns down cake and other treats is certainly not going to be willing to drink a gritty suspension! I'm waiting to hear back from the doctor as to what they want us to do since we are having trouble with the Nexium.

I wish that we were just out of this stage. I wish that he would just eat food like other kids, and drink milk (or formula even!) out of a sippy cup. He won't hold his own bottle. Eating is just so passive for him. He still drinks bottles every few hours like a newborn. He eats three bites of something and then stops. I know that he is not going to be like this forever, but some days, eating real food seems like a milestone that is going to elude us. Especially when I'm checking out at Target with two $27 cans of formula (which will last us just under a week).

But then, God is always faithful to remind us of His provision. We have a great dietician and feeding specialist that we are working with, and they are both so patient with my many phone calls. They are also some of the very best in their field, so we know that we are getting good help.

Last year, when Jordan lost his job, it looked from our perspective like the worst thing that could happen. But now he is making more money at his new job, and we have had enough to pay for all of our medical bills and formula expenses.

I am ashamed to say that I have so much trouble trusting God's provision when He has proven Himself faithful time and time again! I tend to expect the worst, when God is using every situation to accomplish the very best.

On Monday night, I went to go fill Owen's Nexium prescription (which I knew would not be cheap). Instead of being filled with anxiety over the bill, I was praying that God would show us how He was going to provide for this additional expense. When I got home, Jordan went to the website for the manufacturer of Nexium and found a savings card that we could print right from the site! If we stay on Nexium (we may not), we can use this card next time and save a percentage of the cost!

So all this to say... I would love for Owen to start turning around. I am thankful that he drinks his bottles well, because that has definitely not always been the case. But most importantly, I am finding myself appreciative of the humility that comes out of trials over which one has no control. I can't arrange my life at the moment, because the variables are not up to me, but I can find rest in the One who works all things according to His purposes. I know that His purposes are good. He does not provide all that I want, but I wouldn't want Him to. I don't know enough to know what I should want!

"The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD we have an everlasting rock."
Isaiah 26:3-4

Cars

Aidan: I think I'll drive a mustang when I grow up.
Gresham: I'm going to drive a tractor.
Aidan: You can't drive a tractor all the time. You have to have a regular car, like a Honda.
Gresham: Ok, I'll drive a limousine.

July 4th

Look who's walking!!!

This was the best we could do on a group shot after a million attempts. All of the failed attempts would make a good post, but I don't have time at the moment to edit all of those shots... This is a very Gresham face and a very Owen face...

A phone conversation with Aidan

Mom: Hi, is Dad there?

Aidan: He's feeding Owen.

Mom: Oh, okay. I need you to go in the kitchen and tell me how much beef I need for a recipe.

Aidan: Ok.

Mom: Find the cookbook that's out on the counter.

Aidan: Ok, I got it. It says, "Beef Lumdy... Lurdy... "

Mom: Beef Lombardi

Aidan: Yeah

Mom: Ok, look the the list of ingredients and tell me how much beef I need.

Aidan: Umm, I don't see it on here.

Mom: It should say "ground beef"

Aidan: Here's ground chuck...

Mom: That's it. How much does it say to use?

Aidan: One l-b

Mom: L-b means pound. So one pound. Thanks!

Aidan: Bye Mom!