Happy 1st Birthday Baby Kevin!!!!!!!!!!!

Alisha's Hairdo

So I can't part straight, but she still looks really cute.

First Day of Preschool Pics

Alisha's pics show her dirty face. I almost forgot to take pictures of her on her first day because she does not go to school until after lunch. So I didn't even think about it until we were headed out the door. Michael was very excited about his school backpack. It is almost as big as him, but it sure made him happy.

Video of Kevin Walking

Sorry about all the conversations, but keep watching and he really does walk.

Preschool

Alisha & Michael have really enjoyed their first week of preschool. I didn't get to take them, but I think my sister and mother-in-law got some pictures of them. We got a few of them each when they got ready to go in the morning. So I will try to post some pictures this weekend. And I'm going to try to post some of Kevin walking also.

He's Walking!!!!!!!!!

Kevin finally took a about three or four steps at a time last night. I was home with the kids and the other three had already gone to bed. So I tried bribing him with food, toys, me (of course he should want to walk to mommy, right?), but it didn't work. Then he was sitting there looking at some books and I got an idea. I bribed him with a book and it worked. He would walk to the book and get excited that he had the book. So tonight we showed my in-laws. Tonight he was taking about 9 steps at a time to get to his book. And once again we tried a food, but he would not walk to get the cookie unless it was by the book. So look out world, here comes Kevin...

A busy week

Wow, this week was very busy. I'm not sure where the time went. It was my first full week of school and Matthew's also. Tuesday night we went out to eat for a school fundraiser. The kids enjoyed it alot. Aaron was at a contract ratification meeting, so he didn't get to join us. We are still waiting to hear if the contract passed. Please pray that it did. Wednesday, Aaron and I both had terrible headaches when we got home. So we decided to go grab some food and run to walmart to buy socks (don't you hate how socks just disappear!). So we were going to this chicken place that was having a super special for one night only from 5-7pm. We love their chicken and a chicken dinner was only going to be 2.99. So we would only need two or at most three of these meals to feed the whole family and it would be a great deal. SO we headed over there only to find a line all the way around the whole building waiting to get in. No way! We were not waiting in line with 4 kids. SO we stopped at a Taco Bell on our way to walmart. The lady rang up our order and the whole time, I was thinking about how this was going to cost more than the chicken I had wanted to get. So she went to run my credit card through (because I don't carry cash on me) and it wouldn't go through. ANother lady told her that the machines weren't working and she said they had started working a few minutes ago. SO she tried the other machine, but had no luck. So I asked Aaron if he had any cash and of course he doesn't carry cash either so I told the lady we would just have to go someplace else. At that point, I wondered why the Lord was making it so difficult to just get some food. And as that thought ran through my mind, the manager walked up and said that our meal would be on her for that night and not to worry about it. Thank You Lord! So we ate and went to get socks and got home and to bed early that night.
Thursday was my nieces birthday, so we went to my parents house and pizza and brownies. Then the kids played in the backyard for a while.
Now I saved Monday for last for a reason. Monday was an awful, horrible, no good, very bad evening. I needed to take Alisha and Michael for their physicals for preschool. Only Aaron wasn't off work in time to go with me. So I took FOUR children to the doctors. They were well behaved under the circumstances, BUT... Alisha did quite well for her physical and four shots (I didn't even know she was going to need any shots.) Michael did okay for his physical, BUT then came the needles.... They needed to draw blood again, because his iron was so low when he first came home. It took myself and three nurses to get the blood drawn. And everybody in the state heard Michael screaming that evening. Yes, that WAS Michael you heard on Monday evening. Then he needed 5 shots. We had been told he was missing a few of his shots, but then found out he had only had one shot. Fun, fun. Now he has to have all his baby shots at three years old. By the time they were done, Michael was exhausted and very very very very upset. Alisha was in tears asking if Michael was okay. Kevin was screaming and sobbing because Mommy wasn't picking him up and because his brother was screaming. Matthew was standing there with this look of terror on his face like someone had just died in front of him. Needless to say, I was emotionally exhausted by the time we left the doctor's office. It took almost two hours at the doctor's office with four kids ages 6 and under. What a terrible time. So we went to a playplace for dinner because it was too yucky to go play outside.
Alisha starts preschool tomorrow. And Michael starts on Tuesday. Please pray that things go smoothly. Michael is having issues with adults lately. Today, he got upset at his churchtime teacher and took his shoes off and threw them at her and then proceeded to kick and scream. Needless, to say they had to come get Aaron out of church to go deal with him. The fits seem to be so random that it is hard to predict when he is going to have one and what is triggering them. Please pray that he would adjust completely to his new life and not have these fits anymore.

Pictures!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got pictures uploaded today. There are several new posts of pictures from the last few weeks. I hope you enjoy them. We have been keeping very busy. Matthew has started 1st grade and is really enjoying it so far. His "girlfriend" (i.e. his best friend who happens to be a girl) is in his class this year and he is thrilled about that. Michael & Alisha's preschool teacher came to the house on Thursday. Well both teachers came actually. There are two teachers in the class with them. Michael will be going in the morning three days a week and Alisha will go in the afternoon four days a week. They start the 15th and 16th of this month. The one teacher did a project with the two kids while the lead teacher went over some things with Aaron and I. They had construction paper shirts and circles that the kids glued together to make a self portrait. Then they glued on hair and foam shapes for the face. Then the teacher gave Alisha another foam shape and told her to "glue it on your shirt" (of course she meant the paper shirt) and Alisha promptly glued the circle to the shirt she was wearing. So now the teacher has a little bit of an idea of what she will be working with. Alisha is very excited about going to school. I'm not sure Michael totally understands what school is, so we'll have to wait and see. The kids enjoyed taking a bike ride last night. We rode up to a church in our neighborhood and let the kids ride around in the parking lot. Matthew loves going fast. Alisha enjoyed having an open space. And I took the two little boys for a fast ride around the parking lot in the bike trailor. I'm not sure what Kevin thought of it, but Michael giggled out loud and cheered. Well, I am tired and I have another long week ahead, so enjoy the pictures and feel free to leave me a comment so I know that people are checking out the pics and notes.

Reading Fun

Alisha's New Hairdo

I finally gave in and relaxed Alisha's hair. It was taking me over an hour to comb through it because of the texture and she was starting to hate her hair. I couldn't even braid it much anymore, because she couldn't sit still any longer once I got through combing it. She hasn't stopped smiling since we finished this last night. I'll have to get better pics of it when it is dry, I didn't think to take any today.

Brothers

Matthew put Kevin in the laundry basket with a boppy pillow and a blanket. Then they sat and giggled at each other for quite a while. It was very cute.

Labor Day Weekend

Up north fun with cousins

Michael's Birthday August 21st

These are pictures from Michael's 3rd birthday. It was his first birthday home with his family.