Dairy Farm

It's Tuesday, and time for another field trip with our preschool group. This time we're off to......It turns out we have a real working dairy farm just a short drive from our house. It's a sixth generation family farm. They have 330 cows. They breed, raise, milk, process, and package their milk products right here at the farm. When we arrived, the kids were able to visit the chickens, sheep, turkeys, and cats. They also jumped right in milking the pretend cow- hands on all the way!
They were fascinated to see a try something they had only ever heard about.
Then we all hopped on the hayride to tour the farm. The cows are divided up into age groups- kind of like school- the pregnant cows, 1yr olds, 2yr olds, and the milking herd.
We also saw a llama and donkeys.
When the ride was over the kids were able to feed one of the babies- a 2 wk old calf. She was very hungry and eager to see her bottle. They all took turns holding it for her.
Then we were treated to some fresh ice cream made right here. Yum!! After a picnic lunch the kids got a chance to run around, play, and visit the animals. They were covered in dirt, but smiling from ear to ear!

Julia's favorite spot......

Not How I Thought It Would Go

Today has been an interesting day. As I sit here and type it, it seems like a blur. We started the morning off great. The sun was shining it was warm again and the kids were happy.
Carter had his follow-up appointment with the Kids Eat program at Brenner's Children's Hospital. He was referred there last spring for failure to thrive and eating difficulties- the difficulty being he doesn't like to eat. Julia was thrilled she'd be spending the morning at Annmarie's.

The team at the pediatric therapy/Kids Eat are great. I was amazed at his first appointment back in May when we walked in the room to a developmental ped., occupational therapist, speech/lang pathologist, pediatric nutritionist, and two med students. This team met with us for almost two hours. They covered all their bases at one time- so efficient- and it was neat to hear them all think out loud and talk through their concerns.

Carter has never been a big eater and has spent most of his life in the 10th percentile. He dropped off once around two when a weird virus wreaked havoc on his gut and again at his 4 year well-check. it's disheartening as a parent to hear your child diagnosed with "failure to thrive". We try our best to get him to eat as much as possible. His favorite foods are all healthy but not high calorie and he would rather drink than eat any day. They ruled out any medical concerns and gave us some ideas to try. Their main intervention was to add Carnation Instant Breakfast powder to his milk. What a fabulous invention! This has completely turned the corner for us. (Though we should probably by stock in Nestle since we go through 2 boxes a week!) Almost immediately we saw his energy levels stabilize. He was able to last between meals and scheduled snacks and he started eating a greater variety of foods.

We were anxious to see what they would say today. They were very happy with his progress and even more with his growth- 2 inches and 2 1/2 lbs!!! He's back on the charts and no longer "failure to thrive"! YAY! He is officially off their list. We celebrated with lunch and went to get Julia and play with friends. We had a fun afternoon and he and I did his schoolwork together while Julia napped. He's really making progress with his reading and making some great connections. He was able to read all the directions to his math work today. Then we read some books and played a computer game. He laid down on the couch before dinner and spiked a sudden fever. I gave him tylenol and a drink and let him rest while I made dinner. He came to get me soon after because his side hurt. He cried when I pushed his stomach in and wouldn't stand up straight. I called the doctor and they wanted him seen.

So here we go- back to Brenner's- it's like dejavu- weren't we just here?! Don't get me wrong I am SO thankful to have it, but it is a 30 min drive. They were great and we were in and out in two hours. Turns out he just has the random sudden fever thing going around- it just coincidently made his side hurt- not appendix, not kidneys, not strep. So we're back to normal again.
I must say though, I learned several things while I was there. At the top of my list- my child will not play football. Billy has been planting the seed that Carter will play when he's old enough....we'll see. First of all, he plays enough sports already and it is not his favorite. Second, he's a peanut- thus all the specialists. Third, I'm not sitting back while some huge kid clobbers him. I like Brenner's but I don't want to join the "frequent flier club". There were 4 kids in there with football injuries. The one next to us was a high schooler with a concussion. He couldn't even make complete sentences, did not remember any of today, and couldn't retain facts for 2 min. He wasn't even brought in by ambulance, just his concerned mom. And this is his second concussion! Two of the other players were in wheelchairs with injuries. Not my idea of a good time. Now I'm not that naive, I know you can get injured doing almost anything (I've been there done that myself), but full-contact sports- I don't think so. Sweet dreams my sweet little boy!! :)
And on a totally unrelated note. Here is a great post from a friend of a friend who has been through a lot. Sometimes you read something that just hits you and this does. She is speaking the truth here and doing it with such grace and eloquence..... Really Living

Amazing!

Look what Cookie did! In a matter of a few hours, the caterpillar finished munching on milkweed leaves, climbed up the side, hung upside down in the shape of a J, attached itself to the lid by spinning silk, and formed a perfect little chrysalis around it's long chubby body. The crazy part is it's entire body turns into LIQUID to fit inside! and in 2 weeks a neatly folded, perfectly formed butterfly will emerge.
It is fascinating to witness such a miracle. I still find myself staring at it in awe. It's so perfectly designed. It has precise lines of dots all around it that sparkle like little diamonds- just a hint of what's happening inside.

Busted on a Technicality

Carter has several preferences when it comes to his clothes. If it were up to him he'd wear pajamas all day every day. He prefers soft t-shirts, sweat pants, boxer briefs, and ankle socks. This kid is comfort all the way. I'm still shocked and elated every time I get him in a tie and khakis.

Our church is very casual and pretty much anything goes. With Julia it's easy- she always wears a dress or a skirt. Carter and Daddy wear golf shirts with collars, should be simple. He recently started protesting about certain shirts and wanting to choose his own. We told him any shirt was fine as long as it had buttons. So what does he pick? His Marine Corps utilities... He got me.

Fall Soccer

It's soccer season again. Carter is so happy to be playing a sport again. This kid lives to compete and to play- consider it his profession. He goes to bed every night pleading that he hasn't played enough. he crams more physical activity into a day than most people get in a week. This is a big year in soccer because he's moved up to the next level- the 4-6 yr olds. He's now a little fish in a big pond. The first few practices he was rather hesitant- taking it all in, but this week something clicked.

It's been a beautiful fall weekend. The cool weather is finally hear after stifling heat last week. the skies are blue, the air is clear, and there's a slight chill. It was the perfect day to be outside and a great day for soccer.

Carter started out playing defender. He loves that the goals are protected this year (they're all forwards in his previous division). he takes his job very seriously.He's such a thinker on the field and off. He always know where the ball is and where the other players are. He's at a definite advantage because he stays with the ball and follows through on all his shots. His team won 6-0 and Carter scored 4 of them. I look at these pictures and can't believe how old he looks. It boggles my mind that he will be 5 in 3 months!!!!

Fire Station

This week we took some of the kids from our homeschool co-op preschool on a field trip to the fire station. It was a great day for everyone!Giselle, Ginny, Leah, Rachel, Carter, and Lily
The firefighters did a great job showing the kids around and teaching them about fire trucks, gear, and fire safety. They took every tool off the trucks and explained it to the kids, let them touch it, and in some cases even try it out! The kids thought it was very cool to shoot the extinguishers into the rain...
After the tour, the kids were allowed to play and pretend on the trucks for almost an hour. They had so much fun pretending to be firemen off to an emergency. Here's Carter in the jump seat slipping on his air tank...
Ginny wearing her headset...
Carter at the wheel, you can just see those little wheels spinning in his head. He was so cute in his gear. The firemen were impressed by his coat. He loved having the chance to use his knowledge from the fire documentaries he watches over and over. He actually corrected me a few times when I got my terminology wrong.
They all piled into the back of the rescue truck to check out all the special equipment...
Here's the snacks we had at preschool this week- really easy to make.....
And, on a side note, "Cookie" the caterpillar is back and my has she grown! It was fun to watch her munch away on the leaves and climb all over the bug house today. We're all excited to see what happens.....

How can you say no to that?

Daddy announced he was going to put some furniture together.
Julia appeared in the doorway and said,

"Can I help you with that? I'm called Ju-Ju. I'm two. I like tools. :)"
How can you say no to that resume?

Singin' in the Rain!

It was a classic rainy day around here. The kind where you have to break out the rain boots and umbrella- like it or not. We are happy to see the rain, though. It's definitely something we need around here. We've been in a drought for quite a while. I just think it's awesome to see how God provides. We can go months without a drop and in just a few weeks time get enough to almost wipe out the deficit. It just shows you how pointless it is too worry. Now I'm not saying we should be careless or irresponsible, but we needn't doubt God's bigger plan for the world.

No, not twins, or even sisters- their mothers just have the same great taste :)
I love to watch the kids splash in puddles. I hope they (and I) never lose the simple pleasure of playing in the rain. I love Julia's face in this picture :) she looks like a frog!

Road Trips!

We all took to the road this weekend.
The boys headed west and the girls headed east.Carter and Daddy went with the Father/Son trip to see the Panthers/Bears game in Charlotte. It was Carter's first NFL game and he was very excited. Cousin Kyle and Uncle Anthony went along, too.
Carter did point out that if that sat closer to the field they could see better. Daddy told him he needs to get a job first :)
He loved watching the game and would randomly burst in to cheers chanting, "Let's Go Panthers!"
They had a great day. It was a blistering 92*, so they left half way into the 4th quarter and Carolina was down. Fortunately, by the time they made it to the truck they had scored a winning touchdown. Go Panthers!
Julia and I went to Jacksonville for Anderson's postponed 1st birthday celebration. On Friday we visited one of our local favs- Mike's Tree farm. It's such an awesome place. A real working family farm with a petting zoo, animals, hay rides, tree farm, candy store, gift shop, pumpkin patch, old farm equipment, and a yummy restaurant.
The decor is so adorable. Here's one of the restaurant booths.....
They have the best food- all you can eat, homemade, family style fried chicken, ham biscuits, sweet tea, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, cobblers and pies, and the best macaroni and cheese you've ever tasted! It's the kind you find yourself dreaming about. They charge a few dollars a person for all of it!! And Anderson and Julia were free- they definitely took a loss on those two.
It was a bright sunny summer Saturday for the party. Grandpa and Anderson had fun tossing around the football....
Aunt Beth did a great job on her creative cake masterpiece!
Anderson didn't need much coaxing to dig right in- yum!
The diva liked hers, too.....
All that cake and celebrating sure wears a kid out!
And life on the road makes JuJu very sleepy......

Something

Riding in the car with Julia typically goes something like this....

Julia: I want "sumpin" (something) Mommy. You say, 'What me want' to me.
Me: What would you like Julia?
J: I don't know. 'Sumpin'!
And repeat every 2 minutes............

This makes me think our Beth Moore study last week. We are doing 'Living Beyond Yourself' about the fruit of the Spirit. The video lesson this week was about "pouring out, pouring in, and pouring forth". Essentially this means.... 1)confessing our sins and concerns to God daily to empty out all the junk and be instantly purified, 2)allowing Him alone to fill us up, and 3)being a minister of the Holy Spirit blessing others.

We looked at Eph 5:18 about being filled with the Holy Spirit and not enjoying anything to excess. Any cravings we have for overabundance indicate holes we have and are red flags for where we need God. Emptiness places our hearts and minds at the greatest risk. Our desire was designed for God alone, so anytime we fill it with something else we will cause damage. Think of what would happen if you poured sand in your car's gas tank- designed for gas alone. We should learn to binge on God's spirit alone.

Then we looked at Prov 13:12, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." We all crave filling and have a deep need to be full. Nature abhors a vacuum and will always find a way to fill it. As Christians, we must let God fill up our empty's- loneliness, insecurity, inadequacy, self-esteem.....

I pray I learn to take my requests for 'sumpin' to my Heavenly Father. I want it to be my first thought, not my last resort. I hope Julia can keep her childlike simplicity and remember to stop and ask God for something- knowing He'll always hear her and fill her heart with exactly what she needs.

Dear Milton Bradley.......

We LOVE your games! For over 100 years you have brought joy, family fun, and learning to millions of families. Some of my fondest moments as a child are playing your games with my family and that tradition now extends to my own children. One of the very first games Carter learned to play was Hi Ho! Cherry-O! And now Julia has learned, too. I still love picking those little plastic cherries off the tree, BUT...

I don't know what you guys are thinking! The game comes with exactly 40 cherries- just enough for 4 trees. You guys have been in the game-making business for over 100 years. Have you met preschoolers? Could there be a smaller piece to have to keep track of?! These things are miniscule! I feel like the mean ogre mommy frantically counting and checking to be sure they're all there. Now I know you are great user-friendly company and all we have to do is call the 800 number for more, but seriously who has time for that? It's hard enough to make the time to play games!

So, next time could you give us just one extra?
Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Julia: "I love chicken lay. My go chicken lay, Mommy?"


Translation: I love Chick-fil-A. Can we go to Chick-fil-A, Mommy?

What would you do?

Okay, it happened......

Cookie the caterpillar croaked.

It was moving around the first day and then progressively less. By day two, it wasn't moving at all. Then it turned completely black and is now totally flat- not good. It's definitely dead. So...what would you do? Carter eagerly checked on it every day to see what it was doing. Would you tell your kids OR do the age-old pet swap and sneak in the new Cookie under the cover of night?

We're going with plan B. Cookie is conveniently "visiting" Ms. Kim's house. When we pick him up he will be so rested and rejuvenated! (She's doing the swap for us.) Is this wrong? We struggled with it..........briefly. When we come face to face with death in our lives we did not intend to hide it from our kids. If it were a friend, family member, or our own cat we would tell them the truth, but for this time we want to spare them the heartache. This was a tough one for us because we don't shield our kids from consequences regularly. We feel strongly against it actually, but they didn't do anything wrong in this case- unless loving and befriending a little caterpillar is wrong?

I guess that's how life is. With all love there is risk. When we choose to give a piece of out heart away, anything can happen to it. For now I just want them to continue to love without abandon. I want to save their hearts from a few of life's scars to keep them tender and ready to share freely.

Farewell Cookie. Welcome Cookie II, I hope we watch you fly away one day!

In Her Own Words

Here's Julia's exuberant account of her first trip playing putt-putt with Carter and Daddy.....

"Me home!! Me ride in Daddy twuck. Me missed you Mommy! I did it golf. Me had a purple ball."

She was so proud of her self and felt so big because she got to hang out on a boy's outing. Though these days when we say she's so big, she reminds us, "My still little. My little and do that." Yes Julia, you're still little. (It's a good thing your brother hit a growth spurt because you're gaining on him fast.)

I love seeing that joy of accomplishment in her face and the big hug around the neck made my day. She spent so much of her life always with me that she seems to always take notice when she goes somewhere without me. I love you punkin and I missed you, too!

Drive Time, Bible Time

Here's a conversation/argument that happens daily in our car....

Julia: I want the Bible please.
Carter: No! I want to read it!!
Julia: My turn!
Me: Let's take turns. We can share the Bible. We have lots of other books.
Carter: I don't want books, just the Bible!
Me: Here Julia you can read it first.
(after 3 min)
Me: Time's up now. Let's share Julia.
Julia: NOO! MY BIBLE BOOK!
Me: Carter, thank you for sharing so well with your sister.
(give to Carter)
Carter: It's not my book anyway, it's God's.
Julia: No God's!! Not in just a minute!! I'm whining in my crocs!! I'm not big, I'm still little!!
(after 3 min of silent reading and whining)
Me: Okay Carter, now it's Julia's turn.
Carter: I'm only at Daniel and I'm reading to the end.
Julia: My turn again!!!!!!
Carter: Here you go.
Julia: Thanks! :)
Carter: You're welcome! :)
Julia: It's God's! :)

It makes me want to scream and rejoice all in one breath. I'm so excited they love their Bibles and see them as a valued possession (but the arguing and picking is starting to wear me down).
It's encouraging to see they are truly listening and starting to really get it!

The intensity of these moments is a mom's biggest challenge. I pray that God gives me the peace to ride the waves of it all and really speak to their hearts and also the wisdom to know when to step into their conflicts and when I can just let them work it out and grow. It seems to turn out better without my meddling- I have to say that's a good thing. I love these two!

Butterfly Farm

Today was our first field trip with our new preschool homeschool coop. It turns out we have a butterfly farm 5 minutes from our house! We've drive by it on our way to the park all the time and never knew it was there. They did a great presentation for the kids teaching them all about monarchs. Thanks Nora- great job! They were hanging on every word and jumped in with quite a few answers.
Then they got a chance to get in on the action and demonstrate the lifecycle of the butterfly. Carter was so proud of his caterpillar...
They all made great assistants....
Ginny was the brave volunteer to dress-up as a butterfly. We learned that they taste with their feet, hear with their knees, smell with their antenna, drink through a straw, and can see in front and behind at the same time.
Then it was off to the butterfly house- WOW! They were everywhere. They had a table up front with eggs, chrysalis, and newly hatched monarchs. Here are two waiting for their wings to dry and the one on the far right is about to emerge- you can see it all scrunched up in there!
Here's a butterfly laying eggs on the milkweed plant. You can see all the eggs on the leaves- little white dots.
Here's the caterpillars munching. They grow 90,000 times their egg size!!!!!
Each of the kids was given a sugar water pad to catch and feed their own butterflies. Carter was in absolute awe! He's so gentle and interested. It warms my heart to see his sweet spirit.....
It was a treat to see them up close....
Here's Carter and his friends- all 3 with a butterfly. They were cute comparing their "catches". Did you know the males have 2 black dots on their wings and the females don't?
Then we went outside for a picnic lunch and playtime. Some people wash their kids' hands before lunch.....we just put ours through the kid wash!
After lunch they each drew a picture of their favorite part of the day.......
The little ones loved the freedom to roam. Allison, Claire, and Julia were off exploring....
The farm is in the flight path and at least a dozen planes flew overhead. Here's JuJu and Claire waving hello to Daddy (He's on his way to Florida.).
And we brought home a new friend. We're now the proud owners of our very own caterpillar. Carter named it "Cookie", after the caterpillar the bug family adopts on Miss Spider. So wish us luck that Cookie grows up to be a beautiful healthy butterfly :) We now have a refrigerator full of milkweed. Apparently growing 90,000x your birthweight requires a lot of eating :) We look forward to watching God's miracle unfold right before our eyes. Carter wants to plant milkweed and a butterfly bush in our front bed so they have lots to eat.

He said he wants to be sure and tell Cookie her name when she 's bigger and make sure she knows our names and where we are so she can always come back. My sweet boy! I hope this doesn't involve too many tears.