Update on Stephen

This little guy is growing by leaps and bounds. Within the past month here is what has happened: we learned that he developed a formula intolerance so we switched him to whole milk and he's doing beautifully, he learned to go from a crawling (still army style) to sitting, he's started clapping, is saying "dada" and "mama", is pulling up almost constantly and when he's not standing or crawling he kneels (my other two didn't do that). It's hard to believe he's 9 months already.

Week of July 12

Philip left early Monday morning to preach the Rock Lake Bible Methodist Camp in MI so I played the part of a single mom that week. We were able to get a lot accomplished and though the boys missed their daddy terribly, it wasn't as rough as I expected. We did various things that week: picked lima beans, planted the second set of green beans, ate our first corn out of our garden, made 6 1/2 dozen chocolate and spice gobs, played in the swimming pool (although most of the week it was too chilly!), took walks, went to the park, played in the sandbox, etc. I spent a good part of the week getting our "spare" bedroom in shape so that we can furnish it as a guest room. That meant moving out all of the boys'clothing boxes, organizing my stockpile of household items, and rearranging the closet. Too long the room has collected all of the "don't know where else to put it" things until it was unacceptable. Last week I ordered this for the spare room and now I'm watching Craigslist for a bed and small dresser. My goal is to have this ready by the middle of August...in case my parents decide to come visit....HINT, HINT! Oh, I also planted broccoli and cauliflower seedlings to plant for the fall garden.

Miles/Weddle Wedding Cake

Last evening was Amy Miles and Kyle Weddle's wedding. Their cake was so fun! It has its story (every cake does!) but I thought it turned out well. The scrollwork design was something I'd never done before but it really fit well with her dress and the overall "feel". Here are a few pictures of the cake and reception site. I'll update some other day on the happenings of the past two weeks.

Shopping Trip this week

I made a trip to CVS this week for the free school supplies. I don't remember what the value of the items were that I purchased but I paid .09 out of pocket and received $13.00 in ECB to roll over for next week. Staples had some sweet deals so I picked up some more school supplies. With sales, coupons, and rebates I paid $2.02 for $17.54 worth of items. Walgreens had some good deals this week (.99/box cereal and $5.50/jumbo huggies diapers) so I made a trip there but can't find my receipt to see what my savings were.

Kroger was running their "buy 10 participating items and get $5.00 off your order" this week and so I did some stocking up. I purchased 6 pkgs of Yoplait Go-Gurt, 2 bags of broccoli, 3 chuck roasts (on sale and then they were reduced for quick sale), 3 pkgs of Tilapia fish that were reduced for quick sale(Philip is coming home Monday so I thought I'd fry fish as a special meal), 1 can of mandrin oranges, 1 Aquafresh toothbrush, 3 pkgs of Kleenex, 1 bottle of Softsoap, 1 package of Irish spring soap(3 bars), 1 pkg of Dixie paper plates, and 6 pkgs of femanine products. The total before store sales, promotions, coupons and reduced for quick sale was $88.76. I used $25.10 worth of coupons and with store sales paid $45.69 out of pocket.

Summers are always interesting since Philip doesn't have a paycheck for 10 weeks. But in the spring when we're eating meals in the cafeteria I use the grocery money to stock our freezer with meat so that I'm usually only putting out money for perishable things through the summer months. Until another year I think we're going to need a bigger freezer!

Camping Trip Part Three

There were many other things that happened which added to the memory list of our trip: catching fireflies, the raccoon that raided our eating area on Wednesday night, Allan's prayer the first evening thanking God for such an awesome creation, the cool nights and moderate days, the encounter with another Christian lady who is a student at Southern in Louisville, Daniel praying periodically along the trail about his various problems, the hole in the air mattress, the red and yellow mushrooms, a snail, bubbles, digging in the dirt....I could go on and on. All summed up: I think it was a great experience that we'll repeat again. It will be nice when the boys get older and can help with the work a bit more but they did what they could and even that was a help.

Camping Trip Part Two

Wednesday morning we had bacon, scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. We decided to leave for our hike to the waterfall after Stephen woke from his morning nap. I packed a picnic lunch and we just had fun exploring and playing until it was time to leave. One of the things we did was roast a whole bag of marshmellows while we were there. There is no nutritional value to be found in them but they are really wonderful when they're nicely browned on the outside and melted on the inside. Daniel thought they were good to the last sticky bit left on the stick.


After Stephen woke up we drove to Red Rive Gorge and made the trek to the waterfall and wading pool. Upon arriving we discovered that someone had built a campfire on the sandbar and left trash everywhere. While the boys finished eating Philip went and cleaned up everything before the boys went in to play. They had a high time! Chasing minnows and throwing rocks. There were no other people there which made it nice. As you can see the wading pool was not very deep and while Allan and Daniel played Stephen sat in the sand and played in and ate the sand.

Camping Trip Part 1

This past Tuesday we left for a three day camping vacation. I've never done this type of camping before. In the past I've either been pregnant or had a new baby when we've been given the opportunity of going so this was the first that all five of us have gone together. The boys have loved camping with their daddy in the past and where just thrilled to be able to go again. This time we went to the Koomer Ridge campground that was equipped with running water and outhouses. The site we chose had both very close. We arrived at Red River Gorge about lunch time and decided to eat our picnic lunch first. We'd been told that there was a waterfall with a wading pool that would be perfect for the boys that was very close so we went to check it out. "Very close" meant a 3/4 mile hike that was almost all downhill. "Very close" is only if you're not accompanied by a 5, 2/12 year old and carrying a 17lb nine month old. But they were troopers (Stephen slept for probably 45 minutes while we carried him) and we were able to find the place. Unfortunately I didn't pack the boys a towel or change of clothes for that hike because I didn't think we'd have far to go. We hiked another 3/4 mile back up and then drove to choose our campsite. I helped Philip set up while Stephen napped in his pack-n-play and the boys went exploring. We had packed the coleman stove but ended up doing all of our cooking over the campfire. Here are some pictures from the first day.