Happy 6 Months!

What a blessing and delight we've enjoyed with our littlest big boy these past six months!!

Happy 6 Months, Matthew!

Just a couple of notes:

• His laughter and smiles are just plain ol' addicting!
• He's sitting up really well--not quite stable enough to trust on the floor yet, but he's doing great on the bed, and staying upright for longer and longer periods of time.
• "Blackie" is his favorite buddy. :o)
• He is chewing on anything and everything he can get into his mouth.
• He still loves his jumperoo, but he's also enjoying the activities on his exersaucer now as well.
• At his six-month checkup, he weighed 19 lbs. 12 oz and was 28-7/8 inches long!
• As evidenced by the picture taken this afternoon with Blackie, his eczema on his cheeks has completely cleared up! (We're praying that it will stay that way.) I try to use natural healthcare as much as possible, but nothing was working for his cheeks. Praise the Lord, our doctor was able to prescribe a cream that has taken care of it in just a week's time! (And He allowed us to find a coupon that dropped the price from $50 to $5!)

We love you, Monkey! You're a joy and delight!

Hannah's 1st PBJ

The other day Hannah asked me if she could help make lunches, specifically sandwiches. It was a first, but I'm happy to encourage helpfulness, so I set her to her task ...

She definitely enjoyed herself! It turns out that one of the other students in her class had told about helping make sandwiches and it took them one whole hour! She was mildly disappointed to learn it didn't take her quite that long ... I tried to make the fact that it only took her 25 minutes as a positive thing. Didn't quite work.

Here's her finished creation. :o)

It tasted good ... just a might sticky. :o)

Toby thoroughly enjoyed the excess peanut butter we scraped from the counters and put on his special toy for him.

She hasn't asked about helping make sandwiches again. Should she, I'll be glad to let her help. I think I'll wait a few more years before I ask her though. :o) Counting carrots, matching socks, and folding towels are right at her current skill levels. :o)

Classic Peter

The following pictures are so classicly "Peter," I wanted to share them as a post of their own. Needless to say, he was quite determined to use the apple picker. "All by myself, Mommy."

So enjoy the photostory ...

That's my boy. :o)

A Fun Visit!

We were so glad to get to see Grandma and Grandpa for a couple days at the beginning of October! (Grandpa needed to take his tractor back home for the winter and was squeezing that in along with a trip to California to pick up their church's new pastor.) We took some time off of work so that we could make the most of their visit, and we started with a trip to the apple orchard.

We squeezed all three kids into the back seat of the van so that we could all ride together. Hannah entertained both her and Peter by reading her new Bible story book to him. It is so exciting to see (hear!) how her reading skills have blossomed!

It was a wonderful day at the orchard. We've always gone on the weekend in previous years, so we really enjoyed how much quieter it was on a weekday. Here's part of our crew waiting for the "hay ride."
And the other part of the crew. Matthew was content in his carrier--not a bit fussy, but not particularly smiley either. Just content. We were glad for that.

Yep, we like hay(less) rides! :o)

Here's the ladies ... big smiles, big hair! It was quite breezy, if you can't tell. :o)

Then it was off to pick apples!

Awww, he finally surrendered ...

Ahhh, beautiful apples!

And wonderful fellowship!

Like Grandpa ...

Like grandson ...

After filling our baskets, we migrated to the animals ...

And of course, enjoyed plenty of snuggles and hugs along the way! :o)

Along with our trip to the orchard, Grandpa and Daddy cut down four trees, and Grandma and Mommy painted the hallway and all of the remaining trim upstairs. Yea!! We also played some games, ate plenty of yummy food, and made a very profitable trip to the recycling center. (Praise the Lord!!) We packed a lot into 2-1/2 days!

We love you, Grandma and Grandpa!
Thanks for coming to visit!

Where went September?

Somehow it seems as though September came and went with hardly a glance backwards. Ah well. Suffice it to say, every day was full to the brim, and the following pictures capture but a few snippets ...

We've definitely been enjoying Toby ... Mommy must say that she loves the additional encouragement she's been to playing outside! It's fun watching her play a game of chase with the kids ... :o)

She graced us with volunteer participation in this picture ...

Matthew spending time with his big brother ...

And his big sister ...

Happy as ever! :o) He is so responsive to people. He takes in new situations pretty quietly, but people he blesses with huge smiles. He's so much fun!

(Sorry it's tilted ... please crook your head--I don't have the ten minutes it would take to fix it and get it back into this position!)

We've definitely spent lots of time coloring and drawing and crafting ... it's been neat to see Hannah's imagination blooming in her pictures.

And this is actually from August, but Peter's doing great with scissors ...

He did all of the cutting for his tractor picture. :o) He's also talking now. A lot. In full and complete sentences. He's still a bit difficult to understand sometimes, but we're working on that with him, and he's improving every week.

Here's a cooperative project from just the other day. The whole thing was glued together into a project about 3-feet wide. It's a picture of our house ... with bedrooms and stairs and lots of other things. :o) Awww.

Mmmm ...

Everybody's hungry these days! Although the big ones are *starting* to be able to get their own snacks. Wednesday evenings we do cereal after prayer meeting at church. Hannah was particularly hungry this night ...

With big appetites, I guess it's good that coupons are still happening. All of this (plus 2 lbs of carrots, unpictured) for $15.05. I saved $37.80. And yes, I realize the refrigerated cookies aren't the healthiest option, but at least they are fresher and have fewer preservatives than the packaged ones that taste like a combination of cardboard and chalkdust. And at 44 cents each, it's helpful to have them to pull out for lunch snacks when from-scratch cookies aren't happening. The kisses will go on top of peanut butter cookies I'll make with the jar of peanut butter I got for 24 cents the other week. :o) The Lord is good.

So, that's about it for now.

Look for more posts about our trip to the apple orchard, Peter's tumble to cement from four feet, and other minor events in upcoming days ... :o)

Bed Time

Not as in "time for bed" but "bed time" ...

What's not in this picture is the piles of laundry and socks we had matched and folded just prior to the picture. I folded clothes, Hannah helped me fold socks, wash cloths, and dishtowels, Matthew rolled around, and Peter put folded items away. Afterwards, the kids hopped up to play and Mommy decided they were too cute to resist a picture!

I love the expressions in this one ... they are classic!

Yea! Everybody's looking and smiling! :o)
"Can we make silly faces?"
Aww, sure! :o)

And compliments of Hannah ... notice who Matthew does not resemble??? :o)

I love my munchkins!

:o)