PP

MORE big news from Stephanie's Place! This morning Micah peed in the potty. :)

I could tell he was working on a big stinky, so I sat him on and he promptly peed. Couldn't get the stinky out then, tho, and I was working on getting everyone else out the door for school, so I didn't have long to sit and wait.

Guess maybe he's ready-- I've been dreading the potty training thing again, so I haven't pushed it in the least.

BIG DAY!!

On the third day of first grade, out pops Claire's tooth! And, wow, was she Excited! This tooth had been loose for a little while, but I had no idea it was that close to coming out. She was at school, had just eaten her whole lunch, and she felt something on her tongue. She reached into her mouth and felt a hole where the tooth used to be-- said something like, "My tooth just came out!" and I guess the whole class went crazy telling Mrs. Clark the big news. You know how a first grade class is-- everything's exciting and everyone's excited to announce news...

I didn't know about this happening at school. Tangene dropped the kids off Wed afternoon when she came with Devon for his lesson. Claire stood at the front door with her hand over a sticker on her shirt. I was looking at the hand, trying to figure out what she was covering up-- didn't look at her mouth right away. Totally shocked me when I realized what the big deal was. :)

This is the little tooth case Mrs. Clark gave her with her tooth in it.

Oh! And the tooth fairy did come... actually, there were a few of them because the other girls wanted to get in on the fun. Claire got a super ball, a cool stone, a few coins, 2 silly bands, and a tattoo. (Fake :)

School!

Yesterday was the first day of school-- the girls were SO excited. And they all had a great day. Katie's excited about a few changes that were made in the middle school and she's enjoying having several new people (inc foreign exchange students). Jenna said she loves her new teacher (who is new to the school this year)-- is very happy to be in 3rd grade. Claire also loved her teacher and class. Funny, her only negative comment was that they didn't write enough-- the only thing they wrote all day was their names! I assured her that the first day is always goofy; she likes to write and wants more of it! Micah went along with me to drop them off at school. Usually, the girls just ride with Chad, but this way he could go in a little earlier and I like to be there on the first day. So, when we got to school, Micah helped Daddy with traffic while I went to the kids' classrooms. And then Micah and I went home to an empty house-- weird! He really did well, tho. We get more time to read together, and he's getting more practice at playing by himself for longer periods of time: this morning he spent about 15 min playing with the drip of water that comes out of the outdoor spigot while I watered flowers and did a little weeding.

Claire's backpack has Tinkerbell on it, I think. She's pretty proud of it. :)

I love Jenna's smile in this pic-- she looked very pretty with her hair pulled back.

Here's Katie with her sparkley shoes and purse! I guess you probably can't see the sparkles real well on here, but she sure loves them. She looks so grown up. I love it and I want to cry--both at the same time. :)

Doctor Girlz

Took Jenna and Claire to the dr today for a check-up. Actually, I took all 4 kids, but Katie (thankfully!) watched Micah out in the waiting room for me. Those examination rooms are dinky enough.

Jenna and Claire both passed with flying colors. :) It was nice for them to do it together, I think. They both were very cold (AC was cold and they had to wait without clothes on), so they cuddled with me. That was nice! Jenna was very quiet and agreeable, even for her one shot. Claire was silly and kept thinking the dr was tickling her-- esp once she found out she didn't need any shots!

The dr's very happy with their height and weight. Kinda interesting that Jenna's at the 25th percentile for height and 40th for weight, while Claire's at the 80th for height and 90th for weight. Both of which are great ratios. The nurse had checked their height/weight, wrote them down, and then went out to record them on the actual chart-- she came back in to double-check Claire's height-- she thought because it had been such a big jump maybe she had written it down wrong. She's just had a growth spurt!

The other point of interest: I knew that some years ago Jenna reacted to amoxicillin with all-over hives on the 8th day of taking it. So, I've always just reminded people of that when she's needed a med (which hasn't really been that often). I know our pharmacist made a note of that on their computer, so they'd catch it if she'd be prescribed something like that. However, it was never explained to me, til today, that she's allergic to penicillin-- all drugs with a "cillin" at that end. Because she reacted like that to an oral antibiotic, it could be much more serious if someone gave it to her in an IV, for example. The dr even thinks we should consider getting her a medical bracelet for when we travel. Hmmm. Hey, Lea Anne, didn't Boden react like that to amoxicillin, too?

The Sleepover

We had told Katie she could have a party with friends for her bday this year-- we had it Tues pm, and it was a sleepover, so it went into Wed. Her first sleepover party! Actually, the girls were pretty good-- they got quiet by midnight.:) Cici's Pizza and tortilla chips for supper, decorated flipflops to take home, did silly string outside, ran thru the woods in the dark-- thought they saw a snake-- screamed so the whole neighborhood heard them, dressed up in my old formal dresses and did a few plays, played Wii, watched the old R&H Cinderella movie, slept in the family room.
All school friends, except one doesn't go to Grace anymore-- it was too far of a drive for them, I think. Back row-- Breanna and Cecil; Front-- Savannah, Katie, and Gabbie. Gabbie couldn't go to Grace this past year because of finances, but she's coming back! We are so excited-- such a sweet girl.

It was a purple party-- girls wore purple clothes, we had purple decor and paper products, and the cake was purple, sort of. I think it looked a little purpler than it does on our computer right now, but not much.

Chad took the younger 3 kids out to a park for a picnic for an hour and a half so Katie could have party time with just her friends, but Chad made sure they were back for Cake Time. And, Micah sure was excited about this! He has a very strong sweet tooth. Hey, Katie blew out all her candles in one breath!

I think our month of birthday celebrations is finally over. :) Happy 12th bday, Katie!!

Prince Charming

Hey its KT......this is something Micah was saying 2day. He was soooooo cute!! Quite a young man......
My friends Savannah and Gabbie were here, the leftovers from my birthday party. They were pretending Jenna and Claire's room was a hospital or something. I had been playing Cooking Mama on the Wii but went 2 see what they were doing. Micah came RUNNING over to me in complete PANIC, with his little blue eyes huge. :) "Katie!! Katie!!!! Something's wrong!!!"
He grabs my hand and pulls me down the hall to the family room and the Wii. "Come on! Something's wrong with Cooking Mama!!" He is running as fast as his short chubby legs will carry him. Then when we arrive, a scowl forms on his face, and he takes charge. "Katie, sit down in this chair." he pats the brown leather chair. So I sit down. He thrusts the Wii remote into my hands and says, "Play Wii! PLAY WII!!"
so, yeah. I guess that was funny. :C :))
But he's soooooooooooooooo aDORable!!!!!!! Right at this moment, he is asking Claire VERY politely for the butterfly balloon. When Claire answers, he said, "Thank you, Claire," and smiles his way to the kitchen.
This entry was word for word, action for action. No syllables, contractions, or exclamations given or taken. Goodbye. I'm hungry. Bye :)) :P :)

~Katie

Quizzical Katie

Katie has joined our church's Bible quiz team. Even tho we watched Jer do it years ago, and we've seen it in our church a few times, this is our first real personal experience with it. It's a great way to memorize Scripture and have fun with a group people all doing it together. It's also a LOT of work. It's a bit daunting to her, but she's starting out great. In essence, she has to memorize about a verse a day. She will have Heb. 1-11 (249 verses) memorized by June. AND hopefully be able to understand and answer questions about them!

Because they constantly review as they learn new verses, the leaders tell me that she'll be able to recite all 11 chapters in about 25 minutes by June. She's got the first 3 verses down so far! :)

Besides weekly practices on Sunday afternoons, they have 3 trips to quiz against other teams in tournaments-- she's really looking forward to these. Dec 3-5 she (and I, hopefully!) will be going to Chicago, on a bus. April 15-17 she (and I, hopefully!) will be going to Grand Rapids, MI-- I imagine to Jenison Bible (my sister's church) again. And June 19-24 there's BIG trip to Oregon-- they fly for that. Because of the cost of that one, I highly doubt I'll be going along. The quiz team works for months to earn their own money for the trip-- people in the church will ask for team members to come and babysit or do yard work, etc, and then they make a contribution toward the trip.

Chad's Velocipede Venture

Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Chad went on a bike trip with a group of 13 other people from church. Sounds like they had a terrific time! Because he's busy with getting Grace Academy ready for another school year, I'll sum up the trip for you.



It was a beautiful ride on the Allegheny Passage, which runs from the Pittsburgh area to Cumberland, MD. Most of the way, they rode on trails similar to the one above-- nicer surface than the C&O Towpath, but pretty much just as level. This trail used to be a railroad bed, so it was very even; and they crossed many bridges that were formerly railroad bridges.

The statue above was formed completely from railroad spikes.

This is the group that went-- they really had a lot of fun. Chad enjoyed getting to know a few new people. George Michael was the one who organized the trip-- he and Chad roomed together. You may notice Pastor Mark in the front corner-- he was on his study vacation. His wife, Gerri, did the bike ride while he studied and just met up with the riders in the evenings. He also hauled small bags for people so they didn't have to carry their overnight stuff on their bikes.

Above is one of the neat bridges they crossed; below you can see the view from one of the bridges. Yes, there are kayaks on the river.

This waterfall is a lot bigger than it looks. I first thought, from the pic, that it was just a couple feet drop; but, there are people in the top left of the pic-- it's more like a 30 foot drop.

The trip actually started in McKeesport, PA. The first night they stayed in a cheap motor inn in Connellsville, PA. The 2nd night they stayed in the bed and breakfast above- -in Rockwood, PA. Very nice little place with a great breakfast of blueberry french toast.

A fun sculpture outside the bed and breakfast. Bike wheels are the train's smoke - they all rotate with one long belt.

View from another bridge-- Chad had fun with the railroad stuff-- he's always wanted to be a train engineer. Maybe he can do that when he retires. :)

An old train station.

This is an elevation map of their trip. Even tho the trip was without a lot of ups and downs like some of Chad's other trips over mountains, this one really was not level. They started way on the right of the map and moved to the left. Boy, how satisfying when they got to the Eastern Continental Divide! Right before that, they had a long 25-mile stretch of gradual uphill. Once they hit the continental divide, it was a 15-mile continuous downhill. This map is a bit deceptive, tho, the downhill wasn't really that drastic-- they didn't have to keep their brakes on and they could even keep pedaling.

Another great view (which really was better in person). We sure live in a pretty part of the country!

The final mileage of the trip once they hit Cumberland, MD-- 143 miles over 3 days. Really a pretty tame trip for Chad compared to some he's done. A few of the riders went on to ride to Hancock or farther on the towpath, but we were ready for Chad to get home. :)

A cool fountain at the end of the ride.

Whiskers

Yesterday Chad's face was scratchy-- then he shaved-- Claire said, "Now your face is like Micah's! It's as smooth as....... a bathtub!"

video from 8-9

This is a video Chad took when he and Katie were on the X-Scream Tower at Del Grosso's-- you ride fairly slowly up the tower and then it just drops you almost to the ground. The video starts when they were almost to the top.

Del Grosso's

On Friday (Katie's bday!) we went to Del Grosso's-- a small amusement park near Altoona, PA. We'd never been there before but wanted to try something different than the big ones. We really enjoyed it-- hardly any lines on most rides, much shade, nice price ($15 each for the day, plus coupons are available online). To celebrate Katie's bday, at the hotel we gave her a few little presents from us and a couple she got in the mail. Then on the way home, we got out chocolate muffins and I put a candle in one so we could sing to her. :) She tried hard to stay up til 10:39 (birth minute), but we got home at 10:15ish and she was exhausted.


Claire spent most of her time on the kiddie rides with Micah, which suited her just fine. She also went on the carousel and the YoYo (a swing ride which was her favorite). The worst part of the day was when she tried the Free Fall ride-- it doesn't go very high, but it goes straight up and then kinda jerks you down and up a few times. She went on it with K and J-- started screaming almost right away, and cried hard for the whole thing. It seemed like forever to us standing on the ground, watching her be terrified. That was right when we were about to leave, so we decided we had to go back and do a few more fun rides-- can't end on that!

Katie and Jenna did most of the bigger rides together; Chad and I switched off and on between big kids and little kids.

This was Micah's first time trying rides like this, and he loved them! Waved at us a lot. :)

Above is the Crazy Mouse-- probably one of the girls' favorite rides. I went on it once. It gave me a sore throat.

There was also a very nice water area-- had this part in the pic, but also 5 large water slides. We enjoyed that in the afternoon. Micah isn't all that excited about water yet, so he did a bit and then wanted to get out and cuddle. I changed him back into dry clothes and he took a nice long nap in the stroller while the kids finished in the water area.

History

Last week we went to an amusement park (post to come). Had to tell you about the funniest thing that happened there...

There are all these warning signs posted by the rides, like the one above. "Free Fall is not recommended for guests with a history of..." We were waiting for a ride and Katie said to me, "You can't get on this ride-- you have a history of pregnancy!"

STEVE

Micah likes to point to the letters on his wall over the changing table-- "M-I-C-A-H spellllllllls...Micah!"

Last night, after I put his pj's on, he pointed to the letters and said-- "S-T-E-V-E."

By the time it registered with me that that spelled "Steve", he said, "Spelllllllllls...Steve!" I laughed so hard-- it was so unexpected. Out of the blue. The kid can't spell anything other than his own name by rote, and he knows STEVE! Realized it's from a Blue's Clues video we have.

Micah Show-Off

Look at this! 2-year-old genius already reads the newspaper! :)

Katie put a tattoo on each of the kids last week-- even Micah wanted one this time! I was surprised he'd stand still for the 30 sec or so it takes to hold it there. And he was so proud of his puppy for the few days it lasted.

On Thurs, we had an office staff picnic at the Appleby's house-- kids swam in the pool. This is Micah showing us how nice his ribs are...

And here he is showing off his muscles...

Contractions

In the car today, Claire said,

"I'm the first silliest. Amn't I?"

Click & you'll see what its about

Hey its Katie! Im blogging about my week at Camp Joy El. This first pic is of my family and Lauralyn Brown's family. A random counselor is taking us to our cabin. This one is Lauralyn and I. We were lucky enough to get two top bunks beside each other. You know how I am- I couldn't wait to get it organized:) It was so cool because at rest time we could pass notes. I got about ten notes from other people within ten seconds--it got a little out of control--but I dont want to go into all those funky junky details.:)

This is one of my cabin mates, Greta. I made good friends with her.

Kylie was my junior counselor. We have a lot in common. I was one of the few people she had who also lives in West Virginia. We both are also purple freaks. :P

Hannah was my senior counselor. She has a disability but she's really fun.:)


Some other things we did were swimming (in a pool NOT lake), go-carts, Flying Squirrel (you go up a strong rope like 100 feet high or somethin like that in a harness thingamajig and you can see most of camp), really non-boring but sweaty whole-camp activities and stuff like so. There was sort of an accident involving me and a go-cart... but anyway... We had evening chapel and devotions with each of our counselors. Most of the food was purty good. Especially the grilled cheese and french toast. (Note: the french toast was immmersed in blobs of powdered sugar)

We had canteen twice every day. They had totally awesome snacks- Klondikes, slushies, candy, Drumsticks (not chicken, the ice cream), Icee's, and all that sweet junk:)


Unlike my father, I DID change my clothes every day of summer camp. If you have an urge to look more into that tale, you can check in with him. :) :) :) :)


All in all, I had fun. But I missed everyone I couldn't see. =) Luv u guys!
~Katie