Toppling Cabinets

So I haven't written for a week!! Anyway, last Friday (a week ago) we got to take Emma to the emergency room for the first time since she was two. We told her to go get her pajamas on and she decided otherwise. She went into her room and opened her big cabinet, which is kind of like a bookshelf with doors on it, and instead of taking the pajamas on the shelf right in front of her something else caught her eye. She spied the movies that we keep on the top shelf of that cabinet and thought maybe, just maybe, we would let her watch another movie. She can't reach them so she decided to climb. Bad idea. The cabinet, which contained her completely full ceramic piggy bank and had her TV on top of it, all tumbled down on top of her. She instantly got this bruise (in this picture it was about five days old) and would not walk. So, we took her to the ER and sure enough the drama queen had struck again. She must have gotten a pretty big Charlie horse and it hurt to walk on it so for the next couples hours she refused. Then Jack and I started noticing her using her leg when she wasn't thinking about it. After some convincing, "no bike riding, no swimming, no four wheeler......" she decided to try to walk on it. She's completely fine now. It was scary but we are definitely praising God that she is OK. It could have been a lot worse!!

PS - the bruises on her other leg are from learning to ride her bike and playing outside. That was fun to explain to the doctor!

Three year check ups and preschool graduation

Even as I write the title to this I can not even believe it. Has it been three years since this beautiful little boy made his debut into this world? Has this wonderful, unbelievable little girl walked her last day up to the door of preschool and will soon be going to kindergarten and starting her many of years of Christian school? People tell you all along when they are just born to cherish them because time goes by fast but I don't believe anyone really understands what they mean until you get to a day and go, where did it all go? Jackson has this habit of every time I take him out of the bath and wrap him in his towel that he looks up at me and says, "would you hold me like a baby?" Just in the past few months have I discovered how precious that is to me. Some days I'm in a hurry or just not in the mood but then I have this voice in the back of my head that tells me to "do it!!" because it won't be much longer before he'll not even want a hug and all I'll want to do is hold him like a baby again.

Enough sappiness!! Bring on the pictures!!!!


Jackson had his three year check up with Dr. Tim on Wednesday and he's just amazed at how healthy he is. He is now 35 pounds and 3 foot 3 inches tall. I love when the doctors ask me how my kids do sleeping. Their eyes grow wide when I say "well he naps 2-4 hours every afternoon and sleep 12 hours at night." I've been shocking them ever since Emma was a baby. Thank you Babywise and the notion that the baby is a totally wonderful thing but not the center of our family. Jackson is coming along well with learning. I've found boys are different than girls but if I give him lots of patience he does well. He knows about half of his alphabet and a few numbers. I'm so proud of him!

On to Emma!! She finished out her second year of preschool yesterday. At her graduation they sang several songs and then one by one went up for their diplomas. She has developed a bit of anxiety this year. She used to be ready to go out and show the world what she can do but lately she's been a little nervous. She was nervous to sing at the Mother Daughter Banquet and was very nervous about graduation last night. I actually think a bit of hesitation is good and as long as we encourage her and pray with her she is still do these things. We have started to see her personality and individuality come out. It's neat and terrifying all at the same time!

Emma went to a developmental preschool all this year the integrates children with disabilities with children without disabilities. She has had such a great experience meeting new friends and learning that all children are the same, we just learn in different ways. I'm so thankful that she got to be a part of this. We have some special little ones in our lives now that Emma can cherish for the rest of her life.

She loved her teachers too. They are so great!!!

Well, I've blabbed enough for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend. We're actually staying home for the first holiday weekend I can remember in............ well EVER! We just want to spend some time relaxing in our own house enjoying life and our kids. (Plus, with gas prices who can afford to do anything!!!!)

First lake weekend of 2008

Dad and Jack were getting ready for their first fishing trip of the year. My dad is hilarious; peeking around the tree just in time to get in the picture.

The first one he caught wasn't the best but........

He ended up with a few good ones.

Jackson decided maybe he should join the guys and learn how to clean fish. He said that he was NOT going to eat THOSE fish, just the other kind. We tried explaining that the ones he ate the night before were just the same but he wanted to have nothing to do with it :)

After all the fish cleaning he decided maybe he should try his hand at this fishing thing. I guess ADD set in and he gave up after like two minutes. Onto other exciting things I guess. And yes, he's using a pink Barbie pole. We forgot the Spiderman one at home.


Emma also decided to try fishing. She tried for a while but still didn't get any bites.



She did however get brave and Papa talked her into holding the worm. Brave girl!! Mommy won't even do that!!


We ended out the weekend with our first (and surely not the last!!) boat ride of the season. Too cold to swim but definitely nice for a ride. Jack wore his wet suit just in case he might want to wake board a bit but I told him he'd have to explain to the kids why it was OK for Daddy to swim but we had been telling them no all weekend. He decided not to take that battle.

To the Dentist

Today we had our first trip to the dentist since we moved to Indiana. I found a pediatric dentist in LaPorte that takes the kids' insurance so we packed up this morning and left the house at 6:45 am to be there by 8:00 (my kids didn't even know that time of day existed!!!) .

Emma had been to the dentist a few times before we moved but she would NEVER let them take an X-ray. She was too scared. Today was totally different!! She hopped right in the chair and let the lady do it like nothing! This was Jackson's first trip to the dentist and I was a little worried. Someone had suggested when Emma was little that we bring her with us for cleanings so that when it was her turn she would feel comfortable going. That worked pretty good for her except for the X-rays before. I hadn't had the chance to do this with Jackson because he was still too little to come along before we moved. Still to "curious" and wouldn't sit still. So anyway, I was nervous that he would be scared with having never been there before. Also, Daddy decided it would be a good idea this morning to tell him "the dentist won't hurt you." Jackson wasn't even thinking that but the comment made him think it and he started asking if the dentist was going to cut him and why it would hurt. Daddies don't know how to talk to kids like Mommies do :)

Well all the worrying was in vain. He hopped right up in the chair and let them do whatever they wanted to him. They scraped and cleaned and flossed and did a fluoride treatment and he could not have cared less.

If you'll notice in the pictures, he insisted on wearing his fish slippers and I figured that wasn't a battle that really mattered so there he was fishy slippers, sunglasses and loving life on his first visit to the dentist. Hopefully they'll all be that good.

Side note: If any of you have kids and are able to, I highly recommend a pediatric dentist for kids. I think that is what made the difference for Emma with the X-rays. Everything was done in a big open room, they had prizes for the kids before and after their cleaning, balloons, pictures and most of all, a staff that is used to being patient with kids.

Roller Skating!!!

Our church has a family night once a month and this month we all went roller skating. The kids had never been roller skating. Of course being from Michigan they had definitely been ice skating and love that but roller skating was completely different. Jackson took right off with no fear of course.




















Emma was a bit of a different story. She took right off but get really frustrated really quick because she kept falling and bashing her elbows on the ground. She did the Emma thing and got mad and said "I can't do it!!!!" Well, we don't say can't in our family so she had to say "I can if I try." She doesn't like that so much in the moment but she finally did it and she was really learning well by the end of the night. Then she was coming up to me yelling "I can if I try!!!"




















She has a great Daddy that was willing to coax her from the pole and get her going with some help.


She even went off on her own!






To end out the night we all got milkshakes in the little cafe area. This is now the kid's new favorite spot!

Ties & Teeth

So today we had a day of firsts. We've been working on teaching Emma to tie her shoes. We ordered this great book from Scholastic that comes with a tie and everything and she's been practicing a lot and she finally got it!! We were late to school today because she had to tie her shoes herself but I didn't care because she was so proud of herself.

The other first is that she had been complaining of a tooth hurting when she eats but because she's such a drama queen most of the time I didn't think anything of it. Well, she said it again today so I checked it out and she has her first loose tooth! She's very excited about it because a lot of the kids in her class have had loose teeth and she has wanted a visit from the tooth fairy SOOOO bad. Stay tuned for pictures of a toothless smile soon!

Dogs vs. Cats

Look at what we found in our woods! I'm not a big cat person but I do love kittens!! The kids asked if we could keep one and I told them we already have a dog and dogs and cats don't get along too well. A little while later came up to me and said "Jackson and I have been talking and we think we can get rid of Maggie." Can't you just imagine that conversation they had!! They crack me up! So anyway, we're not getting rid of Maggie or getting a cat. I do really want a bunny though..........