Gabe's birthday party!!!

On Saturday, we did Gabe's 4th birthday in a big way!!! We had the BIG party at Chuck E. Cheese's, and it was awesome. Mom, Jeanie, Glenn, Tyler, Melissa, Steve, Kearstin, Landon, Erica, Amanda, and Mattalyn all came out to make Gabe's day very special!!!

We had lots of playing, and eating, and presents, and pirate ship cake!! Chuck E. Cheese himself came out and did a show for us!! And, Gabe even got to talk to his Daddy before his party, which was awesome.

the birthday boy!

Our cakes!

mom and k, playing!

power rangers!

melissa and kearstin playing!

little pirate girl...she was very content to clap with the show and dance to the music.

getting ready to blow out the candles!

this is as close as gabe would get to chuck!

opening presents!

the absolutely awesome art desk from grandma, grandmother, and grandfather, being put to use only an hour after we got home from the party!

VBS

VBS ended today with all of the kids putting on a great program for us today! They did a terrific job, and had lots of fun. All of the teachers and helpers put everything they had into making this an awesome week for all involved, and they deserve a huge thank you! Yay for VBS!!!

the 9 month appointment!

**once again, blogger will not put my spaces in between paragraphs. forgive the funkiness of this post, please!!**

Yesterday was Shiloh's 9 month appointment, and this very happy face pretty adequately depicts how we feel about how it went! Erica went with us, the boys were at VBS, there are no shots at the 9 month appt., and we had the same dr. as last time....all of this equaled a very pleasant check up for little missy!!

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Shiloh weighs 24 lbs and 8 oz and is 29 1/2 inches long.....and those are each squarely in the 95th percentile. YAY us!! Everyone that holds Shiloh on a regular basis had said that they didn't think she had gained much weight in the last 3 months, and we were all right....more solids, less formula, and LOTS more moving around, in combination with her growing 2 1/2 inches in height, have really slimmed her down....her baby rolls are all but gone! :(

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Anyhow, the doctor was happy with her progress, thrilled that I am making my own baby food, and pronounced Shiloh "absolutely delicious!"

it's so quiet...

Right now, it is so quiet in my house. If you know much about my house, you know that quiet is NOT the normal state of things. Well, this week is V.B.S. at our church! Gabe and Kaleb are both there....for 3 1/2 hours every morning this week. It's very strange. I never sent the kids to daycare, I have always been home with them. I got used to sending Kaleb to school over the course of this year, and that in itself was a hard transition. But Gabe! He was my baby for a long time, and I'm not used to his little self being gone!

I told his teacher (a wonderful lady from my SS class) that he was not used to that kind of setting, and that I could be there in 10 min. if needed, but Gabe seemed pretty happy to be there! And, I did get things done. Shiloh and I went to the Post Office and mailed a package to Tyrone, we went to Toys-R-Us and got Gabe a birthday present, and now I am home with her. She is napping and I am catching up on e-mails and researching how I want to decorate Gabe's birthday cake (pics to come....Gabe's party is on Sat.)

AND...it's just a glimpse of things to come. Gabe, after all, is of pre-k age now. That means, come fall, this is going to be what my days look like....scary.....but for now, I think I'm about ready for my little guys to come home! One step at a time!

at melissa's

We went to Melissa's Tues. night for some long over due best friend time! The kids were all dying to see each other, and it had been waaaay to long since melissa and I spent much time together. The next morning, we filled up their little pool, hooked up the slip-n-slide, and let them have at it in the backyard!

waiting to go out....

we swung!

we played t-ball!

we played basketball

swimming!

kearsin and landon, doing the slip-n-slide together!!


gabe, in full slide!


kaleb, doing it like the cool older brother!

wore out!

this is what shiloh did most of the time....poor baby, couldn't hang with the big kids!

i'm just throwing this one in here b/c i like it :)

happy father's day to our favorite daddy

Oh, how these holidays make us wish even a little harder that Tyrone was home. But the very reason he is not here right now is because he is providing for us. He is teaching our children at this very moment about loyalty, commitment, bravery, and love. What more could I ask for out of my husband? I am so glad that he is the Daddy of my children!!

The boys made these this morning in Sunday School for their Daddy

And this is Shiloh's Father's Day gift for Daddy

pray

I would like to ask for everyone's prayers right now. A friend of mine, a fellow army wife, got word today that her husband was injured in Iraq. I can only imagine what she must be feeling. They were able to speak on the phone, but he is in need of surgery very shortly, or paralysis is a possibility. Please please pray for Lyndsey and Kolbe.....they are very young, and just starting out, and this is absolutely terrifying. Thank you everybody.

happy birthday, miranda

Last Friday was Miranda's birthday, and so I grilled out and made a cake for her and we had a little mini party on Sunday afternoon. It was lots of fun! I grilled chicken breasts, corn on the cob, and asparagus. Yum! :) Her birthday cake was the family lemon cake recipe, but we did cream cheese frosting instead of double drizzle, and we thought of Grandpa when we ate it!!

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, and it was great that Miranda let us celebrate her!! Thanks for spending it with us, Miranda! Happy 24th!

9 months

**Sorry that there's no space between lines, blogger doesn't seem to want to do that right now. Ugh. I did colors, though. Maybe that will aid readability. We'll see. :)

This very silly little girl is now 9 months old. Can you believe it?! It's funny, because time does strange things...sometimes it goes soooo slow (as it waiting for a deployment to end!) and sometimes so fast (your baby is rapidly leaving babyhood behind!)

Here are some current things about little missy Shiloh Isabelle

**Shiloh NEEDS her pacifier in a way I didn't know was possible when I only had two little boys who were uninterested in such things

**She now as both of her front bottom teeth!!

**Not only can she crawl, but she JUST figured out that it's not just some novel thing to do when you're bored...you can GO ANYWHERE. She crawled herself into the kitchen today and started playing with the letter magnets on the fridge. She looked kinda proud.

**She has a ready smile for anyone and everyone. She plays a game that we call "catching people" She flirts shamelessly in public and the game isn't over until she has attracted as many people as possible to actually come over to us and speak to her.

**She ate chicken for the first time last night and LOVED IT!!

**Shiloh calls the cats by doing a "come here" motion with her hand and clucking her tounge.

**She signs "mommy" and "milk"....but not when I want her to. Only when she wants to. BUT, she has done it in front of other people, so I am not just making this up!!!

Happy 3/4 year birthday, missy!!!

a girl and her pink, stuffed....well, there's no real concensus on what it actually is...

Shiloh got this for Christmas from Santa, and has become increasingly fond of it. We are actually to the point where it is hard for her to get to sleep at naptime or bedtime if The Lovey is not to be found. I think that we will be seeing The Lovey for years to come....I also think I am going to go buy a few more and put them up in my closet, just in case....

i will call this post "mother, don't look at me that way"

Ok, sorry. Inside joke. Anyway, I would like to intoduce everyone to our newest pets.

Yes, new pets. But this is it for awhile. Really.

Ok, this is Naomi. She is a pretty kitty and she is 11 years old. She belonged to the same lady her whole life, and now circumstances have changed and her owner couldn't keep her anymore. Our shelter here is a kill shelter, and an 11 year old cat has about zero chance of finding a new home in time there....especially with litters and litters of adorable kittens being dumped off by irresponsible pet owners daily.

So, we are Naomi's new family. Slowly but surely, she is coming out of her shell and is visiting more with us. She pretty much stays upstairs and only comes out when I am the only one left awake at night, but she is friendly to the kids at the rare moments when they find her out and about. Clover had to learn a lesson or two about manners from her elder, but they are doing well together now. :)





AND....ok, I realize that these are odd pets to acquire at about the same time, but this is in fact a hamster. Remember that we already have Oswald the rat. So, this is Tiny Tim and she is a girl. Hey, I didn't name her, blame Dawn. Anyway, Dawn's hamster and her sister-in-law's had babies, so I got one of the offspring while she was in town....a PA hamster, transplanted to GA!

my wonderful husband

Tyrone sent me these flowers...how awesome is he? He is in the middle of some stressful stuff right now, but he took the time to do this for me anyway...just because! Have I mentioned that I am crazy in love with him?!

Dawn's visit in review

Dawn left to go back home to PA this morning, and I truly am sorry that I have not kept up the blog, but as you will see, we have been busy!! Anyway, I thought about the best way to do this, and I am going to post a series (already written!) about the cool stuff we did...this post will have some random highlights, and then following will be some major highlights!

However, we must first all agree to understand that I have a horrible time choosing just a couple of pics to make it to the blog....these posts are going to be a bit pic heavy!!

Dawn and me on River Street

Shiloh's first taste of Watermelon....the face pretty accurately portrays what she thought about it

Dawn brought me a sno-cone maker....we had LOTS of fun with it!!!

Kaleb, totally into the music when we ate at The Crystal Beer Parlor

Cookout

We got a big, cool kiddie pool and a grill!! So, naturally, we had to make an evening of it and try everything out! I am the grill master!!! HAHA! I had never grilled anything in my life...but I have watched my father and my husband closely, I decided I could do it! And I did! However, I must add that this is a title that I will GLADLY relinquish to Tyrone when he is home!!

Ghost and Gravestones tour!

We went on an absolutely awesome tour downtown!! What better place to do a ghost tour than in "America's Most Haunted City"?! Mom watched the kids and we had a blast. We got to see lots of cool stuff, and hear some history that you don't read about ;) It was awesome, and, yes, a little creepy!! Good stuff!

Dawn, in the "haunted" Sorrell-Weed house

Me, in front of the Graveyard!

Doors to the voo-doo room!

Creepy creepy!

Phinneaus, our "dead" pirate guide. He was cool.