Finally Home!!!

Hooray, hooray - David finally made it back home this afternoon! The boys were so excited to finally head to the airport and pick him up. We were ALL so glad to see him again and be all together! David had to sing in Newport News tonight, so although he's home, I'm still by myself tonight! What's up with that? Looking forward to some good family time tomorrow after church!

SOOOO Excited!!!

We just got back from my workout at the Y this morning, and the boys are SOOO excited (we ALL are, actually). It's not even 10 AM, and I think Josiah has already asked me 100 times if it's time to leave for the airport yet!! I love it! The boys painted some welcome home signs yesterday, so we're all set!!!

The Diving Board!

I know everyone is probably sick of blogs about the pool, but when you're there every day....Anyways, today we got together with the Wiedmaiers to swim. We swam over at the Doyle's house, and they have a diving board at the pool!!! The boys had a blast - Josiah marched right up there, jumped off and swam over to the side like he'd been doing it all his life. (David's going to be SO mad that he missed this "first"!) Jacob followed his brother, but then got a little more nervous once he got the edge and would only jump holding on to my hand. We had a fabulous time with our friends. Samuel and Josiah were born 2 weeks apart, so they have been great buddies all their lives. Meredith just turned 3 last month, and has been teaching me about "girl" things since we've had all boys for so long. We had a great day!!!

Banana Cake!!

This morning was one of those mornings where Jacob and Josiah just wanted to eat non-stop!!! They were constantly hungry!! Finally, I offered them a banana and decided to cut it up and put toothpicks in it for something different (everything, after all, is more fun to eat with toothpicks!). The next thing you know, they were sitting at the table singing Happy Birthday to themselves!! They thought they were so hilarious - they sang the whole song to themselves and then blew out their "candles". They are a riot!

THIS is why they put a buckle on the bouncy seat!

Enough said. (My mom is going to have a heart attack when she sees this!!!)

Sin Nature Exposed!

Well, it happens at some point in every child! Today was the day for Callie. She finally expressed some displeasure with me and showed that she does have a sin nature after all! I was buckling her in her car seat and she arched her little back right up to let me know she did NOT want in there!! I remember being so surprised when Josiah did it for the first time. I wasn't so surprised today!!

The picture today is what I found when I turned around in the kitchen after doing the dishes tonight. I had put her on the center of that blanket on her tummy looking at that mirror toy. She flipped herself over and rolled enough to be almost completely under the coffee table. Hilarious. Probably she was trying to get a better view of something the boys were doing!

Indulge me a little bit...

Okay, so you'll have to forgive my pride on this one, but I had to take a picture of Callie today - she is so cute!!! She just started wearing 3-6 month clothes when David left for his trip last week, and he hates when he misses seeing a new outfit!! So this outfit comes from Gramps (my dad) and it is ADORABLE on my little Callie! I mean really - jean capris, so cute! So here you go Daddy - see how cute your little girl is?

There Goes Yard of the Month!!

So I now know one good thing about David not coming home until Saturday afternoon - it will give the yard a chance to grow out! I had to break down and mow the lawn today. It's not a good thing. David wasn't able to do it before he left, and it was getting a bit out of control. I don't consider myself a "wimpy" girl - leaving all the "manly" chores to David, but he does always take care of the yard stuff. (Sue, I know you are more woman than me - I remember you mowing your yard while you were 8 months pregnant!) Anyways, I contemplated putting a sign in the yard to say "Excuse the long grass - husband gone for 2 weeks and wife too busy with 3 kids to mow", but decided that probably was not a very "safe" idea! So after we got home from my workout at the gym and Josiah's swimming lessons, I put Callie down for her nap and got out the lawn mower. I won't even tell you how many yanks it took me to get it started (I do use weights at the gym - what's my problem?), but we got going and the lawn got cut. I know I did it all wrong and the lines look terrible, but it's done with. And at least David won't be home until Saturday, so by then it should grow out enough to not be so noticeable!!! Enjoy the picture - Josiah took it!

PS - Both boys sat on the driveway eating their juice popsicles that I had made for them while I mowed. They looked at me like I had 3 heads or something. They love to help David when he does it - but they thought I looked ridiculous apparently. Pretty funny.

First Day Back

We had a great first day back today. We were able to lay low and recover and get laundry done, mail sorted, etc. We enjoyed a playground this afternoon and returned some library books (I even had a old fine to pay - that should officially negate any supermom rumors), and then headed to Cici's Pizza for dinner! Jacob eats free, and I had a coupon for Josiah to be free, so we all ate for $6!! I love it!!! Cici's is my guilty pleasure as of late - the kids eat like crazy people, and they love the idea of a pizza, pasta, and dessert bar! (I can't say that I blame them). I'm posting a picture of Beth & Anthony's guilty pleasure - Golden Corral!! They had dinner there tonight (to recover from having to cook for my family all weekend!) They love that place for the same reason - easy, kids eat great, etc. David & I have never been there and tease them about it all the time. Apparently, the headquarters are in Raleigh and when I passed the building on the way to their church on Sunday morning, I had to get a picture!!!

It was a relief to not have to think about heading to the store today and just recover from the weekend and slowly get back into our week's routine. Tomorrow we get back into the swing of things with the gym, then swimming lessons, etc. 5 more sleeps!!!

Friends

As we made Anthony take this picture of us (because we only ever get pictures of our kids and never one of the two of us), he said "And what am I supposed to do with the 5 kids running around while I'm taking this?" We managed!

The boys thought it would be hilarious to put Woody's cowboy hat on Callie so she could play "Toy Story" with them!

Harrison and Josiah were so excited to discover on the first night that they both had Batman jammies!
Jackson is completely in love with Baby Callie!

Harrison holding hands with Jacob on our way back from the pool.

Harrison was singing to Callie in this picture and she was just beaming at him!!

I am so thankful for Beth & her family opening up their home to us this weekend. It was a great break for me to get away while David is gone, and it was a wonderful distraction for the kids. I am so thankful for my dear friend Beth and for the friendship that we have. We joke that sometimes we forget that we live 3 hours apart now, because our friendship is still so close. I love it!! I had such a great time this weekend watching our kids play - they have such a fabulous friendship and have such fun playing together. We got a kick out of them, but they really do love each other and we are so thankful for them!! Here's to many more fun weekends to remember!!

3 Cheers for DQ!

Actually 4 cheers for DQ, because the 4 boys loved our trip to the local Dairy Queen!!! Anthony grilled out for us for dinner, and afterwards the Schrodt family took the Williams family to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Everyone loved their ice cream, and Harrison enjoyed his first dipped cone!!! So glad we all ate a good dinner!!

A Perfect Day at the Pool

Saturday ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day!! We spent most of it at Beth & Anthony's neighborhood pool and had a fabulous time!!! Since Anthony got to go with us, the boys LOVED getting thrown up in the air over and over again!! When they weren't being thrown in or swimming under water or diving in like Buzz Lightyear, they were just having a ball being all wet and getting every one else wet!!! It was great!!!

Introducing a little science....

Beth & I started our weekend with a bang!!! We decided to incorporate some education to our fun weekend and took the kids to the Science Museum on Friday. (What we're not telling you is that we REALLY wanted to play at the pool but it was being repaired so this was actually the 2nd choice). Anyways, we had a GREAT time - the kids loved seeing all the animals (the stuffed, dead ones is what Josiah kept telling me), and all of the bones were of course a hit!

Introducing Matthew!

So today I got a happy call from my oldest sister, Kimberly, saying pictures of Baby Matthew were on their way!! Here he is in all his handsome glory!!! Such a cutie pie! They are all doing well except that they miss Aunt Katy so much!!! He and Callie are going to have so much fun growing up together!! This is the first time for David and I to have a child close in age with one of our sisters' kids, so we are thrilled!!!

Back at Home

We had a FABULOUS time in Raleigh this weekend with our dear friends and just got home tonight about an hour ago. The ride home was nice and quiet and uneventful!! Everyone is snug as a bug in the rug in their own beds, and I'm heading there myself. I think after swim lessons tomorrow, we'll ALL be taking early naps tomorrow! I'll try to catch up my blog tomorrow - until then, you can look at Beth's blog! She's on the ball! :)

Another Successful Day!

We've now made it down to 10 more sleeps until David comes home! Hooray! I took these pictures of the boys talking to David tonight before bed. Don't they look sad and pitiful!!! We roughhoused for a little bit tonight after dinner, and both boys said I didn't do as good as Daddy does!!

We had a great day today - another good workout for me followed by another successful swimming lesson for Josiah. After lessons, we met Jayne and Grayson to swim and had a blast! I must say that Josiah was happy to have a captive audience see all his new tricks! The boys quite enjoyed themselves and I had a great time having someone else to talk to at the pool!! Jayne took some adorable pictures of the kids all playing, but my hands were full swimming with Callie so you'll have to check her blog out for the pics.

The kids all had great naps and we were even able to hit the grocery story this afternoon for some fresh fruit and a few car "treats" for our trip tomorrow. We'll leave tomorrow afternoon to head to Raleigh to visit Beth and her family. We're ALL very excited!

Rained Out!

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you get rained out!!! That's what happened to us today! The morning was nice and uneventful after my workout and swimming lessons. The younger two had naps and Josiah and I had some time together to build and do school and read. After Jacob and Callie woke up, we were off to the pool! Literally as soon as they got out of the van, the thunder rolled and heavens opened up in a downpour!!! The boys were quite bummed, but we survived the trauma. I told them that perhaps tomorrow we would try and swim after lessons rather than wait until the afternoon. After having an early dinner, we headed to pick up our pictures we had taken yesterday. We walked into the mall and were quite a sight - both boys were carrying an umbrella and I had Callie in her seat and an umbrella. I'd have taken a picture of all of us marching through the storm, but I had no extra hands!!! It was quite an event. Other than that, the evening was nice and uneventful. Jacob got to talk with Daddy tonight, and I was able to talk with my sister Kim (new baby Matthew is doing great and eating like a horse!) and my sister Kristen (the one in Bolivia on a missions trip - she was calling to check on Kim). All is well!!! :)

Matthew Jonathan Oates is Here!

Wow - what a day!!! Okay, so my oldest sister, Kimberly's baby arrived this afternoon at around 4 pm. They named him Matthew (to complete the family; they already have Mary, Luke, and John) and he was 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Everyone is doing great - the biggest bummer from her labor story was that they had to try 6 times to get her epidural in!!!! At least it worked though, and Matthew and Kim are both doing great!!!

I, on the other hand, am worn out!! I feel like David's been gone a week and it's only been 1 day!! Everyone's comments are hilarious to me - sounding like I've got it all together!!! You all are WRONG!! :) Workout was great this morning, swimming lessons were a big hit (except Jacob was NOT happy that he didn't get to swim too), and then things sort of went down hill. Callie didn't get her nice long nap because of swimming lessons, so she wasn't really happy to be woken up to get her picture taken later that afternoon. (I know, it was crazy to schedule a picture appointment for the kids the first day that David's gone). Anyways, we just fell behind our schedule and never quite got caught up. We did make it to the pool to swim this afternoon and then got caught up with all the "The Baby is Here" phone calls, so dinner and bedtime was a little later than it should be. Oh well - tomorrow should be slightly calmer. The only thing broken tonight was a wooden spoon (not from spanking but from the boys' sword fight). Again, I'll count that as a victory!!!

4 sisters, 3 countries, 2 travellers, and 1 baby!

Wow - what a week it will be!!! There are 4 of us girls from the Maxfield family, and it's quite an exciting week for all of us!! I'll start with the oldest - Kimberly - she's in labor RIGHT NOW to deliver her 4th baby!! Kelli is next; she's in London on her vacation that she is calling "the Literary Tour" - going to see famous places from famous authors (including being there when the last Harry Potter book comes out!) Me - nothing much happening here except that me and my 3 kids are husbandless for the next 2 weeks. Then there's our youngest sister Kristen. She is in Bolivia until the end of next week on a missions trip!! So keep all of us in your prayers when you think about it. I'll keep you posted on the baby news with Kim!!!

3 Sleeping Babies & 1 Smashed Thumb

I'll go ahead and say it was a successful first day without David, even though we did have a slight injury to report. The afternoon went well (all things considered with the lack of a real nap for the 2 little ones). Callie did take a good nap later, and after she woke up and we had dinner, we headed to the pool for a swim. We had a fabulous time, although the boys kept telling me that I wasn't doing all the "tricks" like Daddy does. When we got home, Josiah got his thumb smashed while closing the van door, but I think he'll be okay. He's very excited about his swim lessons tomorrow, so hopefully tomorrow's post will be more successful. Anyways, I'm happy to report that at 7:30 PM, all three kids are in bed and asleep for the night!! One day down, 13 more to go!

And so it begins....

So here it is 1:30 pm on Sunday - David's plane has just taken off - and it's already begun!!! Jacob & Callie fell asleep in the car while we were taking him to the airport (about 12:15 pm), and the transfer went okay when we first got home. But a few minutes ago Jacob got up telling me he had to go to the bathroom (a good thing, right! I don't WANT him to poop in his bed!), and now I hear Callie wailing too. Sigh. At least they'll be in bed early tonight.

We Miss You Already, Daddy!

Well, we are hoping that time really does fly by!! David left today for a two week trip to Indiana. He was called up there at the last minute to do some work for an old boss that he used to work for every summer. It will be some good summer income for us, and we'll try hard to keep it together here at home until he comes back home. Josiah starts his swimming lessons tomorrow (Monday), and we're going to visit Harrison & Jackson (& Beth and Anthony) next weekend, so that will help keep us occupied. Until then, we're praying for everyone to stay healthy and to keep our happy hearts!!! We love you Daddy! Come home soon!

We LOVE our pool!!!

So we are so very thankful for the pools at the Y!!! We spent the afternoon on Saturday at the pool with Daddy and had a blast!!! Josiah is becoming quite the swimmer and can now swim all the way across the pool on his own!! He's working on building his endurance to be able to do the whole length of the pool - then he'll be allowed to take the swim test and go down the huge, yellow slide! It won't be long I'm sure!! Both boys enjoyed diving for Spiderman and having Daddy throw them up in the air. He also did this trick where he propelled them under water and said he was shooting them like a bullet. I wish he had called it something else because the rest of the afternoon, Jacob was asking David to shoot his gun!! Oh well - it was a blast! Josiah's newest trick of the day was learning how to do a backwards flip under the water, and Jacob decided he liked wearing the goggles because it made things "closer". (Hmmm.) Anyways, they got to end the day with an ice cream cone to celebrate their new skills!!