Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween at our new house! Some people may frown on Halloween, but we love it. We have fun and celebrate the positive aspect of it, not the negative.

Monday night Kirk worked late so the kids and I decided to carve the pumpkins! Brady had been wanting to for weeks! Surprisingly they were very easy to gut this year, so that went fast. My kids don't like to get messy so it was all up to mommy! haha

Brady designed and carved his pumpkin himself, he's a very traditional boy. Nothing wierd going on with his pumpkin.

I carved Bethany's and then she did some artistic drawing's on the back we called it "hair".

I also carved mine and daddy's pumpkin. Immediately after I was done Bethany yelled "Daddy!" I have to say I felt sorry for Kirk. haha

Tonight, Halloween, the kids got all dressed up Brady a Ninja and Bethany a Ballerina. We started out the door and low and behold the township Fire engine pulled in turned on his lights and stopped! At first I was like "Oh man we did something wrong, our first real trick or treat and we screwed up!" But no, they just came into the neighborhood to pass out candy!! I thought that was super nice!


So we started the walk, we were able to meet a few of our new neighbors(who love to talk I might add). Boy, you don't realize how big the subdivision is until you walk it with a ninja and a ballerina! They both did very well though, said their "Thank you's."

By the time we had done the big circle mommy was pooped and we saw Daddy handing out candy, so Mommy took over the candy and Daddy took them down our street to finish up. They got plenty of loot, I think Daddy will end up eating 3/4ths of it!

It is great to finally be in a neighborhood where they can participate in such activities!!

We hope you all have a Spookactular Halloweeeeennnnn!!!!

Birch kids

Eric, Christy and Abigail came over for a visit a couple weeks ago to see the house and we snapped this picture.

Sorry it's a bit dark.

Trip to the patch...

A pumpkin patch!

The kids and I were able to go with some friends from church to a pumpkin patch! The weather was great and everyone had a wonderful time. We found a lot of cool pumpkins!! After we hunted for our favorite pumpkins(we had to get one for every member of our family including dog and cats) we went over to a picnic area and had some lunch although I think the kids just enjoyed rolling down the big hill.

It was fun!!

We'll post some pictures after we carve them too!

Brady Update

Brady is feeling much better. His temp. has stayed down now for a good day and a half now and he did go to school today. I can tell that stuff is breaking up in his chest too. Thanks for your prayers!

Love you all!

Brady

I just got back from taking Brady to Urgent Care, yesterday afternoon he started getting really sick with a fever, headache, and some chest/breathing problems. He spiked a fever last night of 103+. So the Dr said, that he definately has at least an ear infection in the right ear, possibly getting one in the left and he heard some tightness in one side of his chest.
He put him on some antibiotics and also a strong expectorant to try to break up what's in his chest and then I should continue to give him tylenol or ibprofen for the fever and check it continuously to make sure it stays down. If he can keep his fever down to under 101 then he can go to school on Monday but if not then it's a no go. :(

Please keep him in your prayers, he is not a boy that likes to stay put and this is totally wiping him out! He also has a special field trip on Tuesday that he has been talking about all month. He's having trouble talking just with all the junk in his throat/chest too.

Happy Birthday

Happy 31st Birthday Kirk!

You have now fully jumped into your 30's! ;)

Love you!!!!

We're in...

We know we have a lot of family and friends asking and I'm sorry we haven't got back to all of you, but we are moved into our new home. It has gone smoothly, still a lot to do but we are happy. The kids are adjusting well, which is a relief for me. We do have phone and internet now.
I'll write more later when I have a bit more time.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!
Love you all!!

Bethany's 2!!!

Wow, unbelievable! Our Bethany Jean is 2 years old! Didn't she just turn 1 and wasn't she just born???

She is such a joy to have in our lives. She makes us laugh so much!! I have to say for the most part she is really easy going, well behaved and lady-like. She is a clean freak still and doesn't like to have messy hands, if she spills something it's a major tragedy and immediately needs to start cleaning.(Brady was very similar to this). Some of her favorite words to say and she uses quite often are "Mama", "Daisy", "Ummmmm", Ciffiow(Clifford), "pee" and "poop". There are others some I can't always identify but these are used very often!!! She seems to be about ready for potty training, being so clean so absolutely hates having a wet or dirty diaper and will bring you a diaper and her wipes to have you change her. Once we get a little more settled we will definately start in on it. She has used her potty chair a few times already so we will see how it goes.

Her hair is getting longer, and starting to curl a little in the back. She still has beautiful big brown eyes! She loves her baby doll, purse and jewelry. Her favorite show is Clifford the Big Red Dog, I think she would watch it non-stop if we let her. :)

We didn't have a big birthday party for her this year because we were in the moving process so we just had some family time at home. I made her a Clifford birthday cake, it looked pretty good, hey I'm not a professional but she knew it was him so that's all that matters. She blew out her candles all by herself. She opened all her gifts but I think she liked the Elmo balloon Daddy got her the best, we actually had to hide it awhile so she would focus on the rest haha.


I love my necklace


Blowing out my candles


Clifford Cake!


Mmmm Yummy!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! We love you!!!

Final Countdown

We are nearing moving day. Praise the Lord!! We are so ready to move. The house is looking wonderful! The carpet starts getting laid down tomorrow. The whole house won't be totally finished when we move, the kitchen still needs a lot of work and of course the odds and ends that aren't necessities. But we will be together as a family again and I will take that over a finished kitchen any day! :)

We are all getting by day by day. Brady's doing better and better in school. His writing is improving(pretty good for a leftie), he's learning his sight words and starting to read some. He is now crossing the street to get on the bus by himself. He would like me to stay in the driveway. I'm good though he still gives me a hug and says I love you before he goes. It feels good to watch him grow more confident.

Bethany is good, turning two in a couple of days!! She's chugging along. I'll write more about her on her birthday.

I'm fine, babysitting away! Packing, Packing, Packing, Oh and did I say Packing?

Our biggest news is about Kirk. He recently accepted a new position, actually a promotion. He is now Project Manager for the Literacy Grant he was working with. Basically, he oversees the whole Ohio grant and is now "boss" over the Literacy coaches at each institution(he used to be a literacy coach). So his office will move to downtown Columbus to the Dept of Youth Services Central Office and he will not have an office and work at the prison each day. He will travel a bit more(not spending nights out) to each institution(prison) to oversee there programs. The only major travelling will be 1-2 times a year he will have to go to Washington DC to give reports and all that jazz that goes along with the grant. He's excited about the transition and looking forward to the challenge. He'll start in October.

Ok, well a big storm has come in so I probably should get off this computer. If you would keep us in your prayer during the next month with the major changes coming about we would appreciate it!

Love to you all!

Update

The last two weeks have been super busy. Brady's first week of riding the bus was last week. He did great! It was really hard last Monday for me, I think it was harder seeing him leave on the bus then leaving him on the first day of school. The bus driver was very nice, I was able to talk to him for a couple minutes. His friend Christian that he also went to preschool with rides the same bus as Brady so that was very exciting for him. I couldn't believe how hard it was, I cried a lot that morning. Bethany was so concerned! :)
I have had a killer cold/allergies for over a week now. The cold his knocking me out!! We'll see how I am at the end of the week, I may take a trip to the Dr.?
I started babysitting Macie, my neice, last week too. Her mommy Amber, is going to LPN school so I will be watching her until the end of Spring. Macie has done so good! I know it's been an adjustment for Bethany, last week was pretty hard for her to share mommy but this week is better. The girls enjoy their time together, I know this is going to be a good year for them.
We are in full force in home remodeling on our new house. My parents came this past weekend and helped out a lot. There was a lot accomplished. Kirk's tackling the plumbing now so we can have some bathrooms. After he gets that done things will start to move pretty fast.
I have a lot of the house packed, the downstairs is pretty much done, just the kitchen and bathroom but that will be done closer to moving. I've started the upstairs, I'm hoping to finish that this weekend.
Ok, well better get back to work. Time for baths & bed!
Love you all!

Brady's 1st day!

Brady had his first day of kindergarten today! He was so excited! We have kept a calendar so he could count down the days. We had gone to a Kindergarten open house last week. We were able to get to know his teacher better, she went over the class rules, we brought all his supplies and she had a little scavenger hunt that we did so the kids could start to learn the room and the school. So we had already gotten a little taste of things before the first day.
Bethany & I took Brady to school this morning and were able to walk him to his classroom. I was able to get a hug from him before we went inside the door. ;) He went right to his seat and was ready to go! It was hard for me to leave, I just stood there for a few seconds. Then I knew I needed to go, so I said a quick "Bye" to Brady and he DID say "Bye" back, but it was obvious he was ready for me to go. At first it made me sad that he was so eager to leave me, but then I realized I should be happy that he was excited and wanting to go to school. I didn't cry until we got to the car, I put Bethany in her carseat and as I walked to get in myself hit me. Whew! The rest of the day I just kept myself busy, the day went fast. I picked him up and he ran and gave me a hug. It was so good to see him, he was happy so I knew everything went good. We chatted about his day on the way home. I'm so excited to see how much he grows throughout the year!!
Life changes, kids grow up, but the memories we have of each new adventure with them will always remain.

Brady's teacher, Mrs. Rengert gave all the parents this poem:

The First Day

I gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You've been with him for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
To leave him at my side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I'll love him as I would my own
And help him learn to grow.
For as a parent, I too know
How quickly the years do pass
And that one day soon it will be my turn
To take my child to class.
So please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love him and take him in
When you leave him at my door.

(Can I get another "Whew!") :)