Hives And Puke

That is what sent us to the doctors office today. Jonah had been doing so well lately, but Tuesday he resorted back to his "normal" episodes of puking all over everyone and his eczema seemed to actually glow. Turns out that this is probably happening in response to the antibiotic that I am taking trying to clear up my ear infection. So the doctor's advice is: no more antibiotics for me (he checked my ears and everything looked fine), two more types of lotion for Jonah's skin, a referral to a dermatologist, and a referral to an allergist. Our pediatrician now seems to think that the puking and skin condition are related to some type of food allergy. I have been pushing for an allergist to look at Jonah since this whole thing started back before he was a month old, but I was told that it was useless to perform allergy tests on a child so young because allergies change so often at this age. What I am hoping is that the allergist will be able to tell me exactly what to avoid. That will have to be easier than our current method of "try it and see what happens."
Once again, since the pediatrician is nearly two hours away, we decided to make a day of it and go to Chuck E. Cheese on the way home. Noah was able to take his friend (cousin) Sol with him. He seemed so grown up this time. He found a game that he was really good at and would not leave his post. He kept feeding his coins into that same game and had a blast. His excitement was infectious. He drew a crowd of other children all watching him and cheering him on. It was so cute to watch my four year old be the coolest guy at Chuck E. Cheese!

Mud Puddles

It has been so dry here lately that Noah has been longing for a mud puddle for splashing. He thinks that life without mud is just not worth anything. Thanks to some rain this weekend and a heavy shower this afternoon, we finally had some mud. My boy literally was in hog heaven. He stomped, slid, squatted, sat, splashed, and rolled in the mud for nearly an hour. I just let him have fun because who knows when we will have enough rain for mud again. Needless to say, we had to drain the bath water several times before he finally came clean!

Happy Birthday

TO ME!!! The dreaded day has finally arrived. The big '30' is here. For as long as I can remember I have dreaded turning thirty. I guess it just felt so old. For me life has always been divided into two categories: before thirty and after thirty. I don't know if other people do this or not, but I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish before I turned thirty. I called it my youth list, it covered things such as college, traveling, and other "life experiences". I felt like thirty was the time that I would make a new list...an adult list. Well, most of the items on my before thirty list have been crossed off, and I have begun to revise my opinion of my adult list. I realize now that I have just begun the most important things in my life here on earth. I don't regret in any way the things I did before thirty, those things have made me who I am and prepared me for the work ahead, but at the end of this life, it is not going to matter how many degrees I had or how traveled I was, but rather the way I raised my family and impacted the world around me. Well, enough of my ramblings...I need to go work on a before forty list!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Aunt Holly! We hope you have a great day celebrating with your family here in SC. Too bad Uncle Tj has to be in NC, but hopefully being with your Mom and Dad will make up for that! Here is a special message from Noah...
You are the bestest. I wanna cook you a birthday cake but my cooker isn't real. Me and Jonah like bugs. I got so many toys. You can come and play with all my toys. I have a lot of snakes. They are just pretend snakes. Me and Jonah love ladybugs, like 'em I mean, well like 'em and love 'em.
I'm sure Jonah feels the same way, he just can't articulate it yet! Anyway, we all agree with Noah on one thing; you are the "bestest" and we love you. Happy Birthday!

Sick Days

I have been struggling with my ears for the past two weeks and this weekend they finally got the best of me. I could hardly wait for the doctor's office to open up on Monday morning, enough was enough and I needed relief! Turns out I have an inner and outer ear infection in both ears and my left eardrum is perforated. The doctor gave me antibiotics for the inner ear infections and ear drops for the outer ear infections. As of right now, I have been on the medicine for 24 hours and I really don't feel much better. Hopefully some of the pain will be gone by the end of today. I'm sure my family is hoping and praying for my relief soon as well. I sure do get crabby when I don't feel good!
**UPDATE** Ears are no better. I went back to the doctor today (Friday) and he gave me a new antibiotic. I should be much better soon!
**LAST UPDATE** Sunday Evening...Ears much better. My family is much happier!

For All The Daddies

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

VBS: Round 1

Our first Vacation Bible School of the Summer finished up tonight. Carter's Ford Baptist Church was using the same theme that our church will be using in July, so I let Noah attend there to get a head start on the lessons. This was the first time that Noah has really been old enough to enjoy bible school. I tried to make a short movie of the closing program, but can't get the videos to link together. Enjoy anyway!

The theme was "God's Great Big Backyard" and was focused on serving. This is the children's procession into the church. Yes the teens are dressed funny, they were in costume for a skit.

Noah's favorite job was to collect the offering. I think I have mentioned before that he really likes to earn money. The first night we had to have a long talk about where this money was going and why he wasn't allowed to take it home with him just because he had been the one to take up the collection.

Every child earned a hand print to place on the puppet stage when they served someone else. This video is Noah receiving the hand prints he had earned throughout the week. Yes, he is licking them... he said he wanted to see if the writing would come off.

They made several really neat crafts, but Noah's favorite was the birdhouse that he painted. Of course it had orange on it, but he also used brown and blue. Maybe he is growing out of the orange stage! One can always hope:)

Carter's Ford did a great job with their bible school. They really incorporated the serving theme into every activity. Guest speakers came each night to share how they serve the community. Noah got to meet a lady who makes quilts out of her home for her family and friends, a fireman who put on all his gear and showed the kids his fire truck (thanks Scott and Marsha), a paramedic who brought an ambulance to tour, and a therapy dog that visits nursing homes and safety fairs. So not only did Noah have a great time, he also learned a lot of great safety information and how to serve Jesus by serving others.

Crickets, Crickets, And More Crickets

As I posted earlier, we had a short fishing trip on Sunday. Joe had purchased a container of fifty crickets for us to use fishing. Since we did not fish long, we had many left over. Noah decided that he was going to keep the container of crickets and let them sleep in his room. This worked well until yesterday. Hunter was over for a visit and he and Noah were playing in the living room. Jonah was sitting in his walker watching the two older boys play. I got an important phone call and walked out of the room so that I could hear a little better. I couldn't have been gone more than three minutes at the most. When I walked back into the room, there were crickets EVERYWHERE! They were even jumping across my ceiling. For some insane reason, the boys had tried to get one cricket out (to play with) and accidentally let the whole bunch loose. As everyone scrambled to catch the crickets, Jonah just sat there watching in amazement. Surprisingly, they caught most of them. I can't remember how many we used fishing, I can't be positive that Jonah didn't eat one, and I don't know for sure if there were exactly fifty in the container so I will never really know how many are still lose in my house. I know that at least one went down the air vent in the front room and I still hear one chirping occasionally in the kitchen. Once again, I guess this is all a part of raising boys. At least it is never dull!

First Taste Of Watermelon

Yesterday at Mom's house, Uncle T.J. handed Jonah a piece of watermelon. Mom grabbed the camera and captured Jonah's first experience of one of the greatest foods of Summer. There was no question as to whether Jonah liked it or not. He snatched up the watermelon and popped it in his mouth like it was the greatest thing on earth. He had watermelon juice all over himself. It was running all the way from his chin down to his diaper. He also had it all over his legs and feet. Even with the big mess, he still enjoyed every bite. Of course Noah had to get a piece of watermelon as well. I do realize that the living room was probably not the best place for them to eat watermelon so we soon moved them to the kitchen. Aside from Jonah trying to eat too much watermelon at one time, he really did well. The expression on his face in the last picture is priceless.

Fishing

It was a busy day today, but in between Sunday lunch at Granny's and Bible School tonight we were able to fit in a little fishing. Noah caught one catfish, but it was too small to keep. As you can see from the picture, he was proud anyway. It was much too hot to fish for long and Jonah kept staring at the water like he really wanted to jump in the pond! After about half an hour of no bites, Noah decided that he was going to find a seat in the shade and let Daddy do the fishing for him. It was fun while it lasted but the next time we will plan it for early in the morning or late in the evening when it is not so hot.

Night Off

I got a rare treat tonight. Joe stayed home with both boys and gave me the night off. I did not know what to do with myself so I went to the auction. It is evident from the things I bought, that while I was there I kept thinking about my family at home. I don't think I did too bad at the auction tonight. I spent $8.50 and brought home a Lightning McQueen tent for Noah, three board games and one puzzle for Noah, a stroller and nice walker for Jonah, a push along toy for Jonah, a sno-cone machine for Joe, and a candle holder and afghan for myself. Of course some of these things were in box lots and so I had to take the other stuff that came with them. My 'other stuff' consists of two VCR's (I don't know if they work or not), a water hose reel, corn dishes, VCR tape holder, two shoe racks, and a bowling ball and size 10 1/2 bowling shoes in a leather case. I guess now I have something to put on free-cycle! Anyway, I had fun bidding. When I got home, Jonah was asleep. Joe is putting Noah down now and said when he gets done he will watch 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' with me. I can't believe my luck, first a night off, and now I get to watch my favorite movie with my hubby! I really am excited about all of this, but I just read back over what I wrote and am wondering when I got so old and corny.

ORANGE

We have had quite the busy day. This morning started out at 6:00 a.m. with the yard sale. We left there at noon to attend my company picnic at Lake Warren. They really did a great job this year. There were games for everyone, a giant water slide, bouncy castle, plinko, and of course face painting. Noah's favorite color is orange. Every since he was able to recognize colors, he has had to wear something orange every day, even if it is just his underwear. We have several pairs of those for the days when I just can't bear to see him in orange again! Anyway, when we got to the face painting booth, Noah went overboard. We left with an orange basketball on his face, an orange spider on his arm, and orange spikes in his hair. The temperatures today were outrageous, so we left the picnic a little early and returned to the yard sale. Tomorrow morning we are off to the yard sale again until we close at 1:00. Whatever is left will be given or thrown away. I always forget how much I despise yard sales until I have one!

Missing Little Joe's Trucking

Joe is settling into his new job well but I can tell that he misses Little Joe's Trucking. This evening I asked him to bring me a small trailer to the house so that I could load all of my yard sale items. I wanted to get them all packed up since we are starting bright and early in the morning. When he brought the trailer to the house, I could not believe what I was seeing. He had hooked up a forty-eight foot flatbed trailer behind his Peterbilt and was ready to load my items and deliver them! I don't know what he was thinking...I could fit everything in my house onto a forty-eight foot trailer. We loaded the ten or so boxes I had packed (taking up less than five of the forty-eight feet) and he pulled out of the drive, with me shaking my head and following him in my car. He really just wanted a chance to drive his truck. This just proves to me again that Joe is all trucker to the core and I don't think that will ever change. It does keep life interesting!

Little Noah Priester

I got this e-mail this morning. Please pray for this family. You can read about Noah's journey by clicking on Little Noah Priester under Favorite Blogs on the right hand side of this screen.

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Just to let you know that little Noah Priester passed away tonight. He has gone to be with the Lord and he has fought a long hard battle for 16 months. He would have been 20 months old on June 10. He and our Bailee were born on the same day, just about 7 hours apart. Please pray for Kelvin, Tasha, and the rest of their family. Pray that the Lord will sustain them during this time. For those of us who have lost a loved one, we need to remember that prayer alone and God's grace is the only thing that brought us through, and they need to know they are in our prayers. - Love, Terry

Yard Sale Prep

We are planning a multi-family yard sale this weekend so it is time to clean house and get rid of excess! Today Noah and I started on his toys. We went though everything one by one classifying it as either sell, toss, keep, or give to Jonah. I have no idea how we have accumulated so many toys. Before Noah was even born I said we were going to have a rule in the house that if you get one new toy, then you would have to get rid of one old one. In theory that sounds great, but it obviously is not the easiest rule to enforce. However, Noah is really into earning money and was very willing to part with toys to sell. As I would hold up toys one at a time, Noah would direct into which bin the toys were to be placed. We did come across one problem, many of the toys in the house are toys either from Joe's childhood or toys that Joe purchased in adulthood. About every third toy I would hold up Noah would say "I can't sell that one, that is Daddy's toy." I soon realized that I needed a bin labeled Daddy's toys! In the end we tossed a lot of junk, filled Jonah's toy bin with plenty of "new" toys, gathered a big box of toys to sell, left Noah with plenty of toys of his own, and kept all of Daddy's toys safe until the next time I get the urge to clean out!

Pictures From Joe's 32nd Birthday

Many thanks to my Mom for all the great pictures.
Big Joe and Little Joe loading up on food.

Jonah preferred to eat the birthday cards!

The "big" cousins...Noah, Savannah, and Susannah.

The "little" cousins... Jonah and Christina.

Hard to believe she is only 30 hours older than him!

Jonah loved playing on the floor with Pappy.

Noah just had to help Daddy blow out his candles.

What is it with men and this golf ball?

Christina looking pretty in her pink outfit.

After a hard day of partying, Joe and Jonah take a nap on the sofa.

Snakes, Snakes, And More Snakes!

Two weeks ago Joe killed a big rattlesnake by the pond out back. Last week he killed another one on the path that leads from our house back to his shop. They creep me out, but at least I know that those two won't be bothering me anymore. My concern now is the snake that is living in my Shopper box.
The Shopper (a weekly sales paper) is delivered to a plastic mailbox without a door that is mounted a few feet from the real mailbox. For weeks now I have refused to get the Shopper out of the box because I saw what I thought was the beginning of a bird nest inside the box at the back. For those of you who aren't aware, I sort of have a small bird phobia. I just knew that if I pulled up to that box and rolled down my car window to grab the Shopper, a bird would come flying out of the box and into my car causing me to first pee my pants and then suffer cardiac arrest while the bird flew around trying to peck out my eyes and the eyes of my children.
Joe finally got tired of me asking him to go get the Shopper for me and decided to remove the nest. What he discovered was a nest of some sort along with a very large newly shed snake skin. My skin wants to crawl off just typing those words. So for now, though the threat of a bird is gone, I still will not be getting the Shopper out of the box. Right now I don't even want a Shopper box!
For as long as we have lived here, we have never had a problem with snakes. Now it seems as if they are everywhere. I think it has to do with the fact that the goats in the field next to us have been replaced with cattle. I have heard that snakes will not come near goats for fear of getting stomped. Maybe I should get a goat...that's an idea I have been playing with for a while now anyway, but I'll leave that for another blog.