tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90524830125852794762024-02-18T23:09:19.556-05:00The Joys of Raising BoysJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-75881841012815837062016-02-29T22:14:00.000-05:002016-02-29T22:14:17.146-05:00Birthday Parties - Elijah's 7th Birthday - Bowling Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Elijah's 7th birthday was a bowling/Spider man party. This was the first party where he invited someone outside the usual birthday party group. We had the party at Parkville Lanes (duck pin bowling).</div>
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These were the hardest, easiest cupcakes I've ever made. It took forever to make them red.</div>
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They just kept being a deeper and deeper shade of pink... until I poured in the gel food coloring which made them a very deep red.</div>
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At first everyone was just hanging around.<br />
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Then once they had the go-ahead the bowling started.</div>
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We bowled for a while, then it was time for Pizza, Pretzels and French Fries</div>
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And cupcakes/singing</div>
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Then presents</div>
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Apparently something was very amusing</div>
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Oliver and Elijah needed to examine the Infinity figure</div>
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Then it was back for more bowling</div>
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Yes, all of them bowled at the same time. It was crazy.</div>
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These two are roller skating partners, so they were trying to sync up their bowling moves.</div>
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Caleb even got in on the action</div>
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Oliver did too</div>
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And Kendall and Lillian</div>
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One of my favorite pictures from the party</div>
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Then at the end of the party we had to say bye to everyone. I think they all had a good time.</div>
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I know that we did. In addition to it being super easy for setup and clean up and everything in between. I would highly recommend it.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-67499630916523064032016-02-19T13:57:00.002-05:002016-02-19T13:57:56.636-05:00Birthday Parties - Caleb's 3rd Birthday - Caleb's Favorite Things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Caleb's 3rd birthday party was themed "Caleb's Favorite Things". My in-laws let us host the party at their house again.<br />
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Balloons are one of his favorites, so we had lots of them.</div>
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We took about 15 minutes to position these balloons correctly, then it </div>
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only took a few minutes for them to come loose. Oh well.</div>
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Favors</div>
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Potatoes for the baked potato bar</div>
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(Favorite - french fries, because they are made of potatoes)</div>
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With some yummy toppings</div>
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Actual french fries... and veggies in honor of the Veggie Tales</div>
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Pigs in a Blanket (Favorite - Peppa Pig)</div>
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All the kids (and adults) enjoyed the food.</div>
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Then they had fun with bubbles.</div>
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The big kids had fun playing with the bubbles too.</div>
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It was a fun party. </div>
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My mother-in-law also posted some pictures <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2014/08/party-time.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-23359660024406242522016-02-02T14:07:00.002-05:002016-02-02T14:08:03.777-05:00Birthday Parties - Elijah's 6th Birthday - Super Hero Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For Elijah 6th birthday, he wanted a super hero party where everyone can dress up like Super Heroes. The invitations went out, which told everyone to dress as his or her favorite hero.<br />
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We had balloons in honor of Batman</div>
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And an avengers themed banner</div>
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Cupcakes</div>
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And favors.</div>
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We were ready for all the super heroes to arrive</div>
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Thor</div>
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Black Widow</div>
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Super Why</div>
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Boba Fett</div>
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Super Girl</div>
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Outrageous Lu</div>
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Of Course there was food too.</div>
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Super Power food.</div>
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make your own SUPER hero sandwich</div>
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After eating, they created Super Hero badges for themselves</div>
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Then all the super heroes went outside to fight the evil Dinoator from taking over the world<br />
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Turns out he was full of candy.</div>
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Then it was time to sing</div>
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And open presents</div>
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It looked like everyone had a great time. Despite how this photo looks, Caleb did too.</div>
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I think he was just on the look-out for some bad guys to fight.</div>
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<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-21800762407749144532016-02-01T21:20:00.001-05:002016-02-01T21:21:30.856-05:00Birthday Parties - Caleb's 2nd Birthday - Pool Party<br />
I was going through all of the old posts to see what I missed and what I touched upon One of the things that I haven't really updated about were the birthday parties for the past couple years.<br />
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We usually do a party, no matter how small, for each birthday. The boys really enjoy getting together with everyone in the usual group of invitees and every year it seems more and more other people are invited, especially to Elijah's parties.<br />
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In the past few years, I or my mother-in-law have posted about a lot of them:<br />
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<a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-angry-birds-party.html" target="_blank">Elijah's 4th birthday - 2012 - Angry Birds</a><br />
<a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/09/bubble-guppies-party.html" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/09/bubble-guppies-party.html" target="_blank">Caleb's 1st birthday - 2012 - Bubble Guppies</a><br />
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and<br />
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<a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-birthday-elijah.html" target="_blank">Elijah's 5th birthday - 2013 - Angry Birds</a><br />
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Caleb's Birthday in 2013 was a pool party. As with all of my birthday party posts there are a bunch of pictures.<br />
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Birthday banner</div>
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Prepping the pool for swimming</div>
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Chicken shish kabobs medley for lunch</div>
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Along with a bunch of other goodies</div>
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While the food was cooking there was plenty of swimming</div>
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Then we went inside to do a craft. They decorated foam sun visors. </div>
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Even Lulu decorated one. So creative for being a few months old.</div>
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Caleb was ready to dive into the awesome looking cake and cupcakes.</div>
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So excited to sing!</div>
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All the party guests enjoyed the cupcakes. Caleb enjoyed the Llama Drama video he loved.</div>
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Then it was time for presents. </div>
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It was such a fun party and we were grateful that my in-laws let us use their house to host it.</div>
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Next up is Elijah's Super Hero Party.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-74284806581751600592016-01-26T14:35:00.001-05:002016-01-26T14:38:19.029-05:00Shaking Off The DustI've decided that this year I'm going to make this blog a priority. I so enjoy looking through old posts. I have been chronicling my life online for almost 14 years. First it was Livejournal, then it was Blogger and now I have switched over to Instagram. While Instagram is so quick, easy and accessible, there's not much meat to it, for some posts.<br />
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During the time I was taking a hiatus from blogging, Caleb was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech. It is a disorder where basically your brain tells your mouth what to say, but your muscles don't know how to move to form the words. It is most common after strokes, for adults, but some children are born with it. It requires lots of speech therapy and work for the individual to teach the muscles how to move to form even the simplest of sounds.<br />
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I have tried to keep updating regarding Caleb's progress through Instagram in drips and drabs, but I feel like a blog will give me more freedom and room to explain things more thoroughly.<br />
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That, in a nutshell is why I'm back, but, truth be told, also, we are looking to move this year... and chronicling that crazy journey (and where we end up) is one that I surely do not want to miss.<br />
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Caleb - 4 Elijah - 7</div>
<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-70374181221473717062014-07-25T09:00:00.000-04:002014-09-05T08:52:44.701-04:00Caleb is Three!<div style="text-align: center;">
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Happy Birthday to my Big Boy Caleb!</h2>
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He is such a joy.</div>
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Growing up so fast. </div>
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This was his last day of homeschooling for Pre-Pre-K (haha)</div>
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He's a water baby.</div>
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The only thing he loves more than being in the pool is watching people in the pool.</div>
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He also loves trips to the library.</div>
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This week we went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. Everyone had a really good time.</div>
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The water was Caleb's favorite, but he also loved just hanging out and taking in the sights.</div>
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Baby boo, I hope you have another great year. You are becoming such a big boy (just like you wanted). Have a great year in school and in your speech classes. We love you lots.</div>
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Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-64295962639695013552014-06-21T09:00:00.000-04:002014-06-22T23:22:11.720-04:00Summer BreakWhat is this?<br />
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The light at the end of the tunnel?<br />
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Nope. Just a break.<br />
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It's been a while... And there is so much to update about. The past few months have been composed of<br />
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<b>Homeschooling</b></div>
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<b>Roller skating practices and shows</b></div>
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<b>speech therapy sessions, occupational therapy sessions, </b></div>
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<b>special education sessions, small group classes, </b></div>
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<b>Working</b></div>
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<b>Dance practices and shows</b></div>
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(Photo courtesy of my mother-in-law's Instagram)</div>
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<b>Haircuts </b></div>
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<b>And lounging by Grandma and Grandpa's pool</b></div>
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When I would tell people all that we do every week they would say, "I don't know how you do it." I always respond, "You gotta do what you gotta do". But looking back, I actually really don't know. It can only be God that has worked out so many things to make life go smoothly, even when it's busy.<br />
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But now that skating shows, dance shows and school is done for the summer, we can semi-relax for the next few months. Caleb still has his sessions until his birthday, but we decided to take August off for an actually honest to goodness break. A whole month!<br />
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When September rolls around we will be back at it again with soccer, roller skating and school for Elijah. Caleb is starting school too... Pre-K3, five days a week. This is because big C is turning three this year, so he is no longer in infants and toddlers. He's going to be a big kid now. Not entirely sure how I feel about that...<br />
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But in the meanwhile I'm going to enjoy my break. Research homeschool curriculum, work out the details of our upcoming vacation (the first one with just the four of us), get the boys' new room prepped and of course update my blog with all the things I didn't have time to the rest of the year. :-)<br />
<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-89465807776121467142014-01-07T08:00:00.000-05:002014-01-07T08:32:41.044-05:00Elijah is Six!Elijah turns 6-years-old today!<br />
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He has been counting down since the day after Christmas and the day finally here. We will be celebrating with balloons and presents, as usual, and Elijah has requested that we eat inside McDonalds for his birthday dinner. I guess that's doable, even with the single digit temperatures that are suppose to be going on tonight. You only get a birthday dinner once a year.<br />
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Elijah has been keeping himself busy this Christmas season.</div>
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Him and his art clothes line. That stocking has been there since last year. He couldn't bear to take it down. He made the Christmas tree out of paper strips for art, when we were studying symmetry. The Santa is an advent calendar. He glued a cotton ball on his beard every night, faithfully (for the most part). The Jesus picture is from Easter (another one he didn't want to take down). Next is a family tree picture from daddy's side and the last thing, you can hardly see, is his Build-A-Bear puppy Brown's birth certificate.</div>
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We also built a gingerbread house out of Styrofoam (since the real kind never get eaten and go to waste.)</div>
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He also (helped) decorated the tree. He could reach up even farther this year. </div>
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together in various spots, but I'm sure he will have it down next Christmas.</div>
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I hope this is a wonderful year for him. He is such a great kid. I wish him many more happy years just being a kid, having fun.</div>
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-73390256044028543122014-01-01T08:00:00.000-05:002014-01-01T08:00:07.424-05:00One Little Word - ContemplateHappy New Year!<br />
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I don't know if people even do the One Little Word anymore, but it has kind of become a tradition for me around New Years. I started a few weeks ago trying to figure out what I wanted this new year to bring and the big thing that kept coming up for me is "change". I'm not opposed to change, but I thought it was a little too harsh to put into action for a whole year. I really like some things in my life and I don't want them to change, but there are also things that I would love to change.<br />
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This is why this year my One Little Word is "contemplate". There will be a lot of this going on, hopefully. We are paying off things this year and with that, we need to think about a new budget and see where the "extra" money will be going. We are really close to getting rid of cable, but are still contemplating what we are going to do. And since we are staying where we are for a couple more years I am starting to contemplate the boys sleeping situation and whether to move them into the same room or not (scary thought).<br />
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But lastly, once all of our debt is paid off (we are almost there!!) we are contemplating moving. The big question that is looming is "where?". Pretty much anywhere in the US is up for grabs. But then there's all the smaller, yet still important questions. Where will be the best place to settle down? The best place to homeschool (if we decide to keep doing it)? The best place for Caleb to get the speech therapy (and other things) he needs? Where is inexpensive, so I can stay home at least-part time? Where are there jobs that pay a decent amount of money? But above all, where does God want us to go? It's a big decision and hopefully a big (direct) answer will be given.<br />
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So with lots of things to contemplate over the next year or two, we will continue to follow where the Lord leads us and maybe we will be surprised at the outcomes.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-72283123509501347312013-10-29T08:00:00.000-04:002013-10-29T08:00:03.839-04:00ElijahNext up is my big boy Elijah.<br />
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He had a great summer. As you have seen by the previous posts, he was very busy this summer with swimming, summer camp and family activities. Then August rolled around and we decided we were going to homeschool him for this school year. We fixed up the second bedroom (which was suppose to be a craft room) into a school room. It turned out well, if I do say so myself.<br />
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<b>Elijah's desk and Caleb's "desk". Shelves with Caleb's busy toys.</b></div>
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<b>Reading nook, blackboard and school books. (Also more Caleb busy toys)</b></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><b>After we got the room ready, it was time to start school a few days later.</b></span></div>
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At first it was rough, but now that we are in the groove of things it's getting easier. We are doing a mix of things this year. Horizons for Math, Reading, Spelling and Health, Abeka for Social Studies and Science, God made music 1 for music, Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting and How to Teach Art for art. We are chugging along with our good days and our bad days, but in the end he will have learned everything that he needs to.<br />
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Although the school year just started we have taken quite a few field trips. We went to the Science Center, Downtown Baltimore, Port Discovery and Washington DC. They were all a lot of fun. We hope to go to more in the coming months. We are tentatively planning a trip to New Jersey and New York City in March. Elijah has been asking to go to New York City for a couple months now. If we go up to the aquarium in New Jersey during homeschool week, we will be an hour and a half away from Manhattan (without traffic). We plan on making it a long weekend, but will have to see how our money situation pans out.<br />
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Along with regular subjects to study, we also needed to include a Physical Education of some sort for him. So he is doing skating again and we wanted him to do something else, also, since everyone was concerned about his social interaction with other children. We asked him what he wanted to do and he decided he wanted to play soccer.<br />
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Joe found this great organization, Christian Youth Athletics, so we signed him up. It's Biblically based, so they pray before and after games. The other things like giving it your all and being a team are also presented based on the Bible. His coach is really nice and encourages him all the time. We really like the organization and hope that Elijah will be able to continue playing with them in coming years.<br />
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That's it, in a nutshell. God has a wonderful way of sorting things out to make things possible that you never thought would be. It's kind of awesome when you think about it.<br />
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<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-91636059942038469292013-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:002013-10-28T08:00:13.314-04:00Caleb UpdateFirst up is my Caleb-baby.<br />
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He has been doing speech therapy and special ed sessions for 5 months, now. He has started doing the sounds for "m" and "d" and he even said daddy when we were grocery shopping a month or so ago. We are currently working on animal sounds and sounds like choo choo and vroom when playing with different things.<br />
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He is doing well with his special ed sessions also. I had been working on "pointing" with him for weeks and I heard today he finally pointed to something when his teacher was there. Also, last month, I gave him a piece of chalk and a slate blackboard.<br />
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<span style="text-align: start;"><b>He "drew a picture"!</b></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;"><b>Then, a couple days ago he drew his first picture on paper, with a pencil. </b></span></div>
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He was delayed with holding writing objects and drawing with them, so it was good to see these accomplishments.</div>
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Other than that, he has been a healthy and happy little boy. He loves the Ipod and the Nook to play his toddler apps (just like Elijah used to). He also loves playing with balls, tossing them back and forth. He likes to play with the hula hoop too, but it's a little advanced for him. So he just likes sitting in the center of it and making it go around in a circle... very slowly.<br />
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<b>One of his other favorite activities - watching the microwave count down</b></div>
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The other day he started doing a little bob, up and down dance, to music. He was so cute. I'm going to have to get it on video. He usually doesn't express himself in movement of his own invention. When he does "dance" it is imitating whatever we are doing. I loved every minute of it.<br />
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That is about it. He is growing up so fast. I feel like I don't want to blink because I'm going to miss it.</div>
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-27913048463573246832013-10-24T13:00:00.000-04:002013-10-24T13:00:04.536-04:00Life Never Slows DownI simply can not believe it's almost November. I kept wanting to update the blog when I had a lull in life, but it simply didn't happen. I don't see it happening any time soon, so here I am to update in the middle of "life".<br />
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Tons of things have been happening in the Raymond household since the last time that I updated. In general life has been pretty good to us. We have finally gotten into a routine during the weekdays and on the weekends pretty much anything goes. I was going to update in one big post, but instead I am going to update with a series of small posts about each of us and see if that gets me back into my blogging groove again.<br />
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<b>On the Metro going to DC for the day.</b></div>
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For now, I will say everyone is doing well. We are prepping for Halloween right now and bought the boys' costumes the other day. We are also planning on picking up some pumpkins this weekend... Not sure from where though. There are a lot of festivals and events going on this Saturday, around our area. We just have to decide which one we are hitting up.<br />
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But for now, there's lots of updating to do, so I guess I better get cracking.<br />
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<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-10297053711086630422013-07-25T08:00:00.000-04:002013-10-21T15:59:54.093-04:00Caleb Turns Two<h3 style="text-align: center;">
My precious little Caleb-baby turned two today.</h3>
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Growing like a weed, the sweetest little thing </div>
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and wild and crazy as every little boy should be.</div>
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Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-12266662065973340912013-07-05T08:00:00.000-04:002013-07-05T08:00:01.844-04:00Pink PresentsOne of things I love about having nieces is that I can buy them girly pink presents and it's perfectly normal.<br />
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When I found out my sister-in-law was having a baby I began to think about the coming home present I could get for the baby/her and her husband. I'm a thirty-one consulant, so when I looked in the <a href="http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/catalog/?utm_source=Web&utm_medium=usMyTOG&utm_campaign=main_navigation" target="_blank">catalog</a> I decided to get a little basket with the baby's name on it and fill it with some girly baby things.<br />
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They were going to call her Louisa, Lulu for short. Putting Lulu's Trinkets on the front would be perfect. No wait, not perfect. Trinkets won't fit. I need something that is seven characters. Over the next few days I had my whole department trying to figure out what was seven characters and sounded cute with Lulu. Lots of words were thrown around, none being exactly perfect. I needed something... something awesome. Then one day a team leader (this is how serious it became, even management was involved, haha) came up with...<br />
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It was perfect.<br />
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Now of course, since she has a big sister, Charlotte, I needed to get her something as well. Something fun. I looked in the catalog again and found a makeup bag.<br />
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But transformed it into an activity bag<br />
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I bought everything from the dollar store. I also put a connect the dots activity book on top and shut it up tight, so it wouldn't fall out.<br />
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When my other niece, Penelope, saw that Charlotte got a "big sister" present, she wasn't upset that she didn't get one. She was assured that when she became a big sister she would get a present too. Somehow she knew that I would get her something. Her only concerned was that I wouldn't know her favorite color...<br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">It's pink.</span></h4>
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-65574588075360071872013-07-03T20:00:00.000-04:002013-07-03T20:00:08.442-04:00Summer FunSo far summer has been pretty good to us. As you can tell by our calendar it has been (and will be) jammed packed, per usual.<br />
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There was a lot of dancing going on in June. Charlotte has <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2013/06/charlottethe-ballerina.html" target="_blank">her recital</a> at the beginning of the month. She was a wonderful little flower and a great lil dancer. I had my dance show in the middle of the month, which went off without a hitch. Because Joe was laid off when lessons started, back in September, my instructor made a deal with me that I could do work for her in exchange for lesson fees. It was such a blessing to me.<br />
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Also in the middle of month <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-g-mas-visit.html" target="_blank">The G-Ma</a> came for a visit. It's always fun when she comes into town. There's always lots of scrabble being played and lots of food being eaten. We were told to block out the whole weekend for her arrival and we certainly did spend all weekend down my in-laws visiting.<br />
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The past few weeks we been full of swimming, trips to the library and the park. Elijah is finishing up swimming lessons, for the summer, just in time for camp to start. He has learned a lot from Mr. Joe, his swimming instructor. He even enjoys baths more now that he isn't scared of getting water on his face.<br />
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Caleb is still too little to do a lot of things that his brother does, but he has made great strides in his own little world. He is starting to communicate with us using a few signs and shaking his head no. He understands a lot, but still hasn't grasped talking yet. The speech therapist said to try to get him to start with animal sounds and the word/sign "more", so that is what we will do.<br />
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We have lots of fun stuff come up too. This weekend we are going to Bengies, a drive-in movie theatre near our house, to see Monster's University, The Lone Ranger and Iron Man 3 with Elijah (and a few other family members). This is Elijah's first movie at a movie theatre, so he is super excited. So excited, in fact, that we had to start a countdown on the wall to avoid the "Are we going to the drive-in tonight?" question every day.<br />
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Later on in the month there is a possible baseball game, our Anniversary and Caleb's birthday. We are pretty sure this year we are going to have a pool party for him, since the in-laws have a pool they said we could use. Nice, simple and easy... just how I wanted birthdays to go this year. At the beginning of next month, my sister and I will be headed up to the Pittsburgh area for a bridal shower for one of our best friends. Should be an awesome time. I can hardly wait. August is looking pretty empty, but I am positive by the time the shower rolls around it will be filled to the brim also.<br />
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I love summer. There's always so much to see and do. I hope yours has been just as enjoyable as ours.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-72777416759989555592013-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:002013-05-29T08:00:04.134-04:00January, February... um May? Where Did You Go?I swear, you blink and 5 months are gone. Life has been going reasonably well in the Raymond household. Lots of fun and a lot of organizing and cleaning. I decided my One Little Word for this year would be purge, so, I am going through every room trying to decide what to keep, what to sell and what to trash. It has been very freeing and super rewarding to see extra space open up. I started with the plan in January and happy to say that we are making steady progress.<br />
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Also in January we celebrated Elijah's birthday.<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">With Balloons</span></div>
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And Presents</div>
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We had a small birthday party with his cousins and some friends at his Grandma's house. I forgot my camera, so she took pictures and posted them <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-birthday-elijah.html" target="_blank">on her blog.</a> Even though it was small and simple it was still fun.</div>
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In early February Joe's parents treated all of us to a trip to Disney World! We were there for 8 days and had a good time. If you click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151255175191650.453857.513566649&type=3" target="_blank">here</a> you can see the hundred some pictures we took. It's on facebook, but I made the album public, so non-facebook friends could view it also.</div>
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March was busy also. We went to Penelope's pink puppy birthday party(pictures <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2013/03/penelopes-pink-puppy-party.html" target="_blank">here</a>). The boys had a great time playing with some friends they don't get to see much. At the end of the month Easter was super fun. We went down the in-laws and had an Easter egg hunt inside, because it decided to rain. They also made resurrection rolls... a lesson and a yummy dessert rolled into one. The recipe is<a href="http://wisdomformom.com/2012/03/10/resurrection-rolls-a-sweet-easter-lesson/" target="_blank"> here</a>.</div>
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April brought the skating show and Elijah did wonderful!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbdZ-diqgsMhnMhrf_xFerG3QFn0J6bhk6IAXpUtQg4bWkuI_sed9u7kEKrpBroROi7wzK8MFk4LYPzstWTA0w74Tu4tC_nwRLCRS9-rh6Pa0YWXg5mLdnvnbI__VGLGGZG3rGvDUic1w7/s1600/Elijahelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbdZ-diqgsMhnMhrf_xFerG3QFn0J6bhk6IAXpUtQg4bWkuI_sed9u7kEKrpBroROi7wzK8MFk4LYPzstWTA0w74Tu4tC_nwRLCRS9-rh6Pa0YWXg5mLdnvnbI__VGLGGZG3rGvDUic1w7/s640/Elijahelf.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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He was an Elf</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtjRosOZCmQSvy7ZAaBOTG1Wtqmz70w6LpCl7q8ekgUkD73ONJumx6l_dkV2OUaMJ0zr-Q_pn3bG5umdm3JzNKKXxHcH7F-P0P6QGWXHDIVdIcgYSevzOlHytODX1eR7MSS4JAwUnaqxT/s1600/Elijahstrollin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGtjRosOZCmQSvy7ZAaBOTG1Wtqmz70w6LpCl7q8ekgUkD73ONJumx6l_dkV2OUaMJ0zr-Q_pn3bG5umdm3JzNKKXxHcH7F-P0P6QGWXHDIVdIcgYSevzOlHytODX1eR7MSS4JAwUnaqxT/s640/Elijahstrollin.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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And a Gentleman</div>
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[that blurry thing you see is his hat being swung around]</div>
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April was actually a very challenging month for me. I was sick to my stomach a lot, but it wasn't from being pregnant. For weeks I couldn't figure out what was going on. Originally I thought it was stress and being mad at someone, but once those feelings "went away" my stomach issues were still going strong. I tried eliminating things from my diet one by one and found out that dairy was the culprit. So now I am on a no dairy diet. It is super hard, but it's worth it, since I don't feel horrible all the time.</div>
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And with that it brings us to May, which has been.... well, it's just been. At the beginning of the month Caleb was evaluated for speech delays. We found out he has a 25% delay, so he will be doing speech therapy in the coming months. Prayers regarding this would be really appreciated as I'm sure it will be tough on all of us.</div>
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The first weekend of the month Charlotte had a Tangled themed <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2013/05/two-special-birthdays_14.html" target="_blank">birthday party</a>. The boys had lots of fun. Caleb really liked walking around the yard and Elijah thought it was great he got to play t-ball with the other kids (and some adults too). Now he always requests that Joe go out back and play catch with him.</div>
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A few days after that, the newest cousin, Louisa... "Lulu", made her hurried entrance into the world. Four weeks early, but perfectly perfect in every way. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o8pU0G08b8uK_j5usQzVh0TrpK8SFzpul972VYe5cNkn1I_JdRfoX34dl_Ro3MjoZNZcYCyWu9AEM_cEuhvSC-kRbtej8tkCjyrnOSx-cDdJhhnibhgcok1HRbXd8KpmxW3-YvyJl0tl/s1600/Lulupeeking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8o8pU0G08b8uK_j5usQzVh0TrpK8SFzpul972VYe5cNkn1I_JdRfoX34dl_Ro3MjoZNZcYCyWu9AEM_cEuhvSC-kRbtej8tkCjyrnOSx-cDdJhhnibhgcok1HRbXd8KpmxW3-YvyJl0tl/s640/Lulupeeking.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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[borrowed this picture from Katie's instagram]</div>
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Mother's Day was very relaxing... That was a gift in and of itself. I also love the other presents I received. They included two 6-packs of Lipton ice tea, a Starbucks gift card and three Mother's Day cards. </div>
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The next weekend we took a trip to DC. We were long overdue for the trip, since the weather around DC took forever to warm up (and is still trying). It wasn't the best trip, but we managed to hit up the Air and Space museum, for Elijah to play with the experiments in the kids area. Then we walked a very long walk over to the Library of Congress, so I could see Civil War artifacts exhibit before they took it down on June 1st. We plan on going down a few more times this summer/fall, weather permitting.</div>
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That has been life... or at least some high and low points of the year so far. Until next time...</div>
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-78741514420346061912013-02-22T08:30:00.000-05:002013-02-22T08:30:02.951-05:00Trunk or Treat 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today I decided to look back in October.<br />
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At the end of the month we attended Trunk or Treat at our church. It was a great time. Elijah wore the same costume as last year (yellow angry bird), which saved us money that was already tight. I made Caleb's costume (mountain climber) by using a bike helmet a friend gave us, a light jacket and then braided brightly colored strands of yarn to make the "ropes". I also made Joe's (mountain) out of some fabric that was on sale.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9wVX1vWgB7c/UJdEcN2qClI/AAAAAAAAJew/cqN9Bl4uObA/s1600/IMG_4329.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9wVX1vWgB7c/UJdEcN2qClI/AAAAAAAAJew/cqN9Bl4uObA/s640/IMG_4329.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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There were probably between 3,000 and 5,000 people that attended.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mxVP22PJDI/UJdEjPLwf1I/AAAAAAAAJfk/vvZXHAz-6iM/s1600/IMG_4335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--mxVP22PJDI/UJdEjPLwf1I/AAAAAAAAJfk/vvZXHAz-6iM/s640/IMG_4335.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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There was:<br />
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Camping<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3CYbkmsQVrc/UJdElscfjSI/AAAAAAAAJf8/lUKqGmc_lZc/s1600/IMG_4338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3CYbkmsQVrc/UJdElscfjSI/AAAAAAAAJf8/lUKqGmc_lZc/s640/IMG_4338.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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A luau/Hawaii<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeBfiYbUhI3iNs6L0Q8KYxqLqb07yED0-6K6fjGztylJjsxV1X56IEbIGKRGP1PBITRLbSVWZUxIP809a3i_KkxmBlCNDiO_AfKlxMRK5uPu9pUKS1KROcmANHsn_gj5HmDbyfDkruZ0u/s1600/IMG_4339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDeBfiYbUhI3iNs6L0Q8KYxqLqb07yED0-6K6fjGztylJjsxV1X56IEbIGKRGP1PBITRLbSVWZUxIP809a3i_KkxmBlCNDiO_AfKlxMRK5uPu9pUKS1KROcmANHsn_gj5HmDbyfDkruZ0u/s640/IMG_4339.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Pirates (sorry for the blurry picture)<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9AWg_TUlbt8/UJdEqlZ_RiI/AAAAAAAAJgo/ou2P6sQ8fLU/s1600/IMG_4344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9AWg_TUlbt8/UJdEqlZ_RiI/AAAAAAAAJgo/ou2P6sQ8fLU/s640/IMG_4344.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Concession stand (Sorry for the blurry picture again)<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycbkHwtZRd0/UJdEskFq7TI/AAAAAAAAJg4/7NO3mNowROU/s1600/IMG_4346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycbkHwtZRd0/UJdEskFq7TI/AAAAAAAAJg4/7NO3mNowROU/s640/IMG_4346.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Under the sea<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Tk8qEZjs4c/UJdEuubqhCI/AAAAAAAAJhM/IKG-cVg5Jvo/s1600/IMG_4348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Tk8qEZjs4c/UJdEuubqhCI/AAAAAAAAJhM/IKG-cVg5Jvo/s640/IMG_4348.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The Price is Right<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZqeXXhyNhv8/UJdEu23cv0I/AAAAAAAAJhQ/rJb6XT_PFlc/s1600/IMG_4349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZqeXXhyNhv8/UJdEu23cv0I/AAAAAAAAJhQ/rJb6XT_PFlc/s640/IMG_4349.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Hunting/Camping<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoojPm8MDtL-GxOF9yKEHqBlMSEizUKLhutBY6X2iCNLQbADthK67XA1Fyw7vRDjkJx0Jn8sppXRPnoHU_3V4WXYVjYWK0x0zxa0SW-Rw_rIdbkK1V0A6nLVQAWcbPb-_psNzYNMkQvR6/s1600/IMG_4350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoojPm8MDtL-GxOF9yKEHqBlMSEizUKLhutBY6X2iCNLQbADthK67XA1Fyw7vRDjkJx0Jn8sppXRPnoHU_3V4WXYVjYWK0x0zxa0SW-Rw_rIdbkK1V0A6nLVQAWcbPb-_psNzYNMkQvR6/s640/IMG_4350.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Little Red Riding Hood<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HGWWqQBw0PI/UJdEyx7nr3I/AAAAAAAAJh4/u7ettqCPT38/s1600/IMG_4354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HGWWqQBw0PI/UJdEyx7nr3I/AAAAAAAAJh4/u7ettqCPT38/s640/IMG_4354.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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A bathroom (the kids got to play with the bubbles in the tub)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4XxzVM0DBsA/UJdEyJmZc9I/AAAAAAAAJhw/kLK_hcO_Lcg/s1600/IMG_4353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4XxzVM0DBsA/UJdEyJmZc9I/AAAAAAAAJhw/kLK_hcO_Lcg/s640/IMG_4353.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Toaster with Toast, Poptart, Butter and Jam<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3oz1LJC4xWhMssfgqOhDCsdsflkS5a9_ElHz_dlo7yKu9olCzJ-YVl2bMwqUncFt_gSMjtCKjvUObD-lgUkGf5OIDSI33loYpf1Fm0zFMCwR8ZcpOpNEzOSzlgmNGsF_EdkuPd_uHoHXD/s1600/IMG_4352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3oz1LJC4xWhMssfgqOhDCsdsflkS5a9_ElHz_dlo7yKu9olCzJ-YVl2bMwqUncFt_gSMjtCKjvUObD-lgUkGf5OIDSI33loYpf1Fm0zFMCwR8ZcpOpNEzOSzlgmNGsF_EdkuPd_uHoHXD/s640/IMG_4352.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Safari/Caged Animal<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-apZuOmio5H8/UJdE06D3qlI/AAAAAAAAJiE/j6E5bXo91Ro/s1600/IMG_4356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-apZuOmio5H8/UJdE06D3qlI/AAAAAAAAJiE/j6E5bXo91Ro/s640/IMG_4356.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was really a person dressed up, but it looked real from afar<br />
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Library<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0BqVVXK3qnI/UJdE6vI9GjI/AAAAAAAAJi8/OSC-bKHBKeE/s1600/IMG_4362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0BqVVXK3qnI/UJdE6vI9GjI/AAAAAAAAJi8/OSC-bKHBKeE/s640/IMG_4362.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Angry Birds!!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r0lhP6x0YVo/UJdE5aG2QYI/AAAAAAAAJis/huO2WmkGojw/s1600/IMG_4361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r0lhP6x0YVo/UJdE5aG2QYI/AAAAAAAAJis/huO2WmkGojw/s640/IMG_4361.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Wizard of Oz<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e_GAltehhmw/UJdE4ZFMz1I/AAAAAAAAJik/R0FHpzN9j7E/s1600/IMG_4359.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e_GAltehhmw/UJdE4ZFMz1I/AAAAAAAAJik/R0FHpzN9j7E/s640/IMG_4359.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Storm Trooper<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zbimZy6ujCk/UJdE7f6KclI/AAAAAAAAJjA/nW-Ez1H34lU/s1600/IMG_4363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zbimZy6ujCk/UJdE7f6KclI/AAAAAAAAJjA/nW-Ez1H34lU/s640/IMG_4363.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Another Luau<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7XM_U6AMBBY/UJdE99lMh1I/AAAAAAAAJjY/bbHbaxIAPvg/s1600/IMG_4366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7XM_U6AMBBY/UJdE99lMh1I/AAAAAAAAJjY/bbHbaxIAPvg/s640/IMG_4366.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Back to the Future (Complete with Marty and Doc) This was my, hands down, favorite.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TUAqSgO_rYA/UJdFBAi7cgI/AAAAAAAAJj0/v7e-GEThHak/s1600/IMG_4370.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TUAqSgO_rYA/UJdFBAi7cgI/AAAAAAAAJj0/v7e-GEThHak/s640/IMG_4370.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Pink Castle<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IGZnhtPi30M/UJdFBJnIOTI/AAAAAAAAJj4/FvCu5SfbcPY/s1600/IMG_4369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IGZnhtPi30M/UJdFBJnIOTI/AAAAAAAAJj4/FvCu5SfbcPY/s640/IMG_4369.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Disney Princesses<br />
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Armed Forces<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lsv1Ar-tbOs/UJdFCaU9jAI/AAAAAAAAJkE/MP0-Hz4y-C0/s1600/IMG_4371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lsv1Ar-tbOs/UJdFCaU9jAI/AAAAAAAAJkE/MP0-Hz4y-C0/s640/IMG_4371.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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R2D2<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhwqibV7fWUdmcLFzr4Nw8uaCpkT75Rtq5sP8J8iPPet4wTwButapm3yHvZYjbntDBbx83eFhR106hPL-gm2o74WTM1MHK70bU71H16kGyPG1StWN-tU-M1Vsc1lKrpyGOH4kOjsuMWTS/s1600/IMG_4372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhwqibV7fWUdmcLFzr4Nw8uaCpkT75Rtq5sP8J8iPPet4wTwButapm3yHvZYjbntDBbx83eFhR106hPL-gm2o74WTM1MHK70bU71H16kGyPG1StWN-tU-M1Vsc1lKrpyGOH4kOjsuMWTS/s640/IMG_4372.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Star Wars<br />
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Lego People<br />
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Hunger Games<br />
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Our pastor<br />
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Storm Trooper and Darth Vader<br />
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Peanuts<br />
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Lion<br />
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Ravens!<br />
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Lorax<br />
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Another under the sea<br />
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Monsters Inc<br />
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Elmo<br />
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Dr Suess<br />
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Shark<br />
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Mario and Luigi<br />
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Another Ravens<br />
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Boy Scouts<br />
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Willy Wonka<br />
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Always important to remember<br />
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And last, but not least, The Flintstones<br />
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I'm sure the kids go for the candy, but I love going to trunk or treat to see the things people think up for their trunks (and costumes). It's so fun to see all the hard work that goes in to each and every one and to see everyone enjoy them. Hopefully next year we will be able to do a trunk of our own. I'm thinking "Let's Make a Deal" would be a fun one. What do you think?Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-91605848489468422882013-02-21T13:30:00.000-05:002013-02-21T13:30:04.027-05:00New Year - "New" BlogFor the last 3 years my life seems like a revolving door... always something going on... always some life changes happening. I haven't been able to update the blog how I like to and noticed that in the past several months I have just been updating with fun things that we have done, so that prompted me to change up my blog.<br />
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The Joys of Raising Boys is something near and dear to my heart. I love my boys so much. I love to watch them grow up and learn new things. To tell you the truth, ever since I was 11 or 12, when I grew up I wanted a house full of boys. I would say I am surely on my way to accomplishing my dream. So when I was reevaluating my blog I thought it would be fun to chronicle about life and the fun adventures we go on, even write about real life struggles and hardships. I've never felt comfortable posting about the "crappy" things that happen in my life, but since this blog is going to be about life I should include them.<br />
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I hope to be able to post at least once a month, maybe more, depending on how life goes. We may have a few big changes coming up soon, but for now I don't want to jinx anything. I will just plug on with life and update as I'm able to.<br />
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<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-35986923327848940072013-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:002013-01-18T09:00:06.014-05:00Elijah's First Baseball Game<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I don't know how people blog on a regular basis... I guess it's just not one of my gifts in life to be able to sit down and compose a blog post in one sitting... or post regularly. I would make that one of my New Years resolutions, but I know, even before I make it, that I will fail miserably. Anyway, since I couldn't post timely about some of the fun things we did last year (after all my OLW was enjoy) I thought I would look back and share a few pictures.</div>
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In September we took a trip to an Orioles game. Elijah was super excited to go since it was his first one.</div>
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He said he needed to sit in the #4 seat since he was 4.<br />
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We were in the nosebleeds, but it didn't matter. It was still fun.<br />
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Joe enjoyed watching the game with him.<br />
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It was a really long game, so around the 6th inning he needed a bit of a distraction. Iphone to the rescue.<br />
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But whenever the crowd started cheering loudly he knew something was going on. He didn't want to miss anything exciting.<br />
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This is what happens when you try to let your four-year-old take a "facebook" photo. Photo fail.<br />
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Then it was time for the fireworks. What he'd been waiting for all evening.<br />
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He loved them. They were set to music (my favorite kind of fireworks), so they were actually very entertaining.<br />
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Apparently Elijah enjoyed himself thoroughly, because last night (5 months later) Joe asked if he wanted to go to another baseball game. He exclaimed, "YES" then asked, "Can we see fireworks too?" I'm sure Joe is very happy that Elijah likes baseball games. A boy after his own heart.<br />
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<br />Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-60891551300376892492013-01-08T09:00:00.000-05:002013-02-21T17:18:11.147-05:00Year in Review...I know a lot of people skim over this type of blog entry, but I think it's fun to look back over the year and see the good and... if we must... bad things that made this year different from any other.<br />
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I pretty much summed up <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/01/olw-check-in-for-january.html" target="_blank">January</a>, <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/02/olw-check-in-for-february.html" target="_blank">February</a> and <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/04/olw-check-in-for-march.html" target="_blank">March</a>, then my life became hectic. So I guess instead of a year in review it will be 3/4 of a year review.<br />
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In April everyone started feeling better after our bouts with the flu and infections. It was starting to get warm in our neck of the woods, so that meant lots of trips to our local park. The boys always have a blast on the swings, the slide and the see-saw.<br />
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By the way, that gash on Elijah's nose was (I think) from a collision with his trundle bed.<br />
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In the middle of April was <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/06/whats-going-on.html" target="_blank">Easter</a> and later in the month we hit up Sandy Point State Park for a little trip to the "beach". It's in quotations, cause to Marylanders, actually going to the beach means trekking to Ocean City. Caleb wasn't sure how he felt about the whole thing.<br />
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Elijah loved it.<br />
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There was also a lot of hopscotch being played.<br />
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May brought even warmer weather, <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/06/whats-going-on.html" target="_blank">Mother's Day</a>, and <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/08/airport-fun.html" target="_blank">a trip to the airport</a>.<br />
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The boys enjoyed the warm weather in the backyard before the mosquitoes overtook it.<br />
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In June we visited a firehouse where we saw a medivac up close and personal.<br />
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We did some creating...<br />
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(Elijah made this whale out of coins)<br />
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Played with lots of angry birds...<br />
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Made lemonade...<br />
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And had a picnic in Grandma's basement. It was a pretty fun month.<br />
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July was hot and humid, but we made the most of it. We <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/10/washing-car.html" target="_blank">washed a lot of cars</a>, had a <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/09/bubble-guppies-party.html" target="_blank">1st birthday party for a certain little person</a>. August was pretty non-eventful. We had a visit from our friends, Steve and Brie, who brought over their kids, Sammy and Delia. Other than that just hung around the house out of the heat... except when we went to the <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/10/state-fair-2012.html" target="_blank">fair</a> at the end of the month.<br />
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September was jammed packed full of fun. We attended Andre's birthday party. He is the son of one of my best friends. They had it at the Fire Museum of Maryland.<br />
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The boys -loved- it.<br />
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There were toys for every age and they even had clothing where the kids could dress up like real firefighters.<br />
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Here are Andre and Elijah working on the fire engine.<br />
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The kids even got to ride in the basket of an old fire engine.<br />
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Everyone had a great time.<br />
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During the week, while I was at work, Joe would take the kids out to different playgrounds around the area. This was one of their favorites.<br />
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Later in the month, on an absolutely beautiful day, we decided to take the kids to DC. It's only an hour from our house, so we go down at least once a year. This was Caleb's first time on the Metro and boy was he excited. Elijah had been on it before, but he was excited as well.<br />
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We ended up at the Air and Space Museum. Elijah is big into space, planets and stars, so we thought he would have fun. (I hope to have a full post with more pictures soon)</div>
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On one of the last days of the month we took Elijah to his first Orioles game.<br />
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As you can tell by his face he was very "into" it.<br />
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Also during the month we celebrated <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2012/10/calebs-dedication.html" target="_blank">Caleb's dedication</a>. He is such a little blessing to everyone. It was a great day.<br />
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October brought cooler weather and the anticipation of Halloween. We were goofing around with the camera one day and figured out how to make the pictures red, like in some scary movies. Caleb was very scary.<br />
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Elijah didn't get the concept. He was a happy scary guy.<br />
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During the middle of the month we went out to Frederick with Joe's side of the family. There was lots of things for the kids to do.</div>
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After they played on, and with, some of the things we went out to the pumpkin patch to pick the pumpkins for this year.</div>
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On the 29th we went to two Halloween related activities. In the morning we went to a Harvest Party for my mom's group (just like last year). This year the theme was pirates.</div>
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The kids got to dress up and they had lots and lots of activities. Mostly crafts, but some for the tiny people to do too.<br />
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This is one of the crafts Elijah made.</div>
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Later that evening we went to Trunk or Treat. Caleb the mountain climber, Elijah the Angry Bird and Joe the mountain.<br />
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We had to wait in line a while, but the kids made the most of it. It was awesome. Lots of unique trunks. I plan to do an individual post about it because the one I posted last year got about 1800 views, in October alone, so I will continue to share the love (and ideas).<br />
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In November we apparently decided not to take any pictures with our regular camera for most of the month. But we made up for it when we went to the Festival of Trees the day after Thanksgiving.<br />
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The people that decorate these trees have some of the best ideas. Here are a few of my favorites.<br />
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Spirit Tree - It had little bottles of booze hanging on it... along with a smattering of other things.<br />
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This one is an "I spy" tree. On the packages underneath they had clues like, "Find the green stocking". I thought that was cute and fun.<br />
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Charlie Brown Tree<br />
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After we looked at all the trees, we headed over to the train garden.<br />
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As you can tell, the boys loved it.<br />
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I made sure to take a couple pictures with my boys, since some people have pointed out that I'm hardly ever in any of the pictures I post.<br />
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Then December rolled along. The first Saturday of the month we attended "Breakfast with Santa" at Joe's job. He works downtown for a copy center of a law firm that is on the 19th-21st floor.<br />
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The view is quite nice, if I do say so myself.<br />
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They had a balloon twister (who made Elijah a Santa hat) and gingerbread cookie decorating along with some other crafts.<br />
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They also got a present from Santa. Elijah got a football and Caleb got a book.<br />
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Later in the month we decided, spur of the moment, that we would go down to DC to see the train garden at Union Station and the National Christmas Tree. This was one of the worst spur of the moment trips I have ever taken... and we take a lot. We are old pros on the Metro, but on this trip we actually missed one of our transfer stops, had to go two stops down and ride another train back.<br />
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When we finally (FINALLY) got to our destination... Union Station, everyone was hungry and ready for a sit down. We took a few pics in front of the Christmas tree outside and then headed in to find the train garden.<br />
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Not as good as the one at the Festival of Trees, but the boys liked watching the two trains go round and round.<br />
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Union Station was decorated very nicely. We ate at Unos for dinner, which was less than wonderful, but we got to sit down and eat, which was nice. Then we took in some sights, like the Capitol being all lit up and just the city at night is really pretty also.<br />
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After that, we headed over to the National Christmas Tree. The thing Elijah wanted to see the most.<br />
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It was quite nice, but the boys were less than enthusiastic about seeing it.<br />
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They also had a Nativity, which I was sure was outlawed, in public, years ago. It was nice to see it. They also had Santa's workshop nearby, but the line was about a mile long, so we ended up making the trek home.<br />
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During the rest of December lots of creations were built with Legos (this is one of my favorites)<br />
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And Elijah had an open house for roller skating lessons. He's been taking them since September and he's starting to get good. There is a show in April that he will perform in. I can't wait to see it.<br />
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We also took some time to goof around. It was especially cold one day, so we put undershirts on the boys. (I actually call these type of undershirts "wife beaters") They looked so cute in them I couldn't help but take a picture. A few days later Elijah came up to me and said he wanted his "White beater" on. I just laughed. Guess I better watch what I say.<br />
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Then Christmas came. We celebrated at my in-laws on the 22nd. Elijah enjoyed modeling a few hats and playing with all the toys he received.<br />
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The pink hat isn't his. He borrowed it from one of the girls.<br />
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On the 24th Azalea waited up for Santa and was very surprised he came while she was still awake.<br />
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The boys got to see what Santa brought the next morning.<br />
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A few days later it snowed and Elijah got to play in it with Daddy. They made a great looking snow man.<br />
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On New Years Eve we tried to take a nice family picture, but this is how it turned out.<br />
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Crazy, as always.<br />
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I say it was a pretty great year, full of ups and downs, but it was special none the less. I hope your year was as good as ours and even better.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-48583049655944462442013-01-07T09:00:00.000-05:002013-01-07T10:50:51.920-05:00A Five-year-old Elijah?<span style="text-align: left;">I don't know how this happened so soon, but our baby boy is turning five today. He has grown up so much this year. Starting to learn how to read and write and helping out around the house with all sorts of chores.</span><br />
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He's also a really great big brother. He plays with Caleb and watches out for him, so he doesn't get hurt. We all love him a whole bunch and hope he has another great year full of learning and fun.</div>
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-28359420542644298142012-11-29T13:13:00.005-05:002012-11-29T13:13:54.610-05:00Thankful... To be able to GiveWe have lots to be thankful for in our lives. We have two great kids, a good dog, a nice house and plenty to eat. We are thankful that I have a job and that God provided enough for us to get by when Joe was unemployed. Did you catch that? I said was. We are extra thankful this month that Joe found a job. I think a lot of people take for granted the things they have... us included. I didn't realize all the extra we were spending and the things we would buy just on a whim. It took Joe getting laid off to make us realize how much we had and that we could get by without all the extra stuff.<br />
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So for this Christmas we are doing things a little differently. We really want this Christmas to be about giving to those less fortunate than us. The people going through hard times... or they've always had hard time, but they are just taking it day by day by day... and it must be exhausting. Elijah has reached an age where he is very aware for things and remembers a lot. I want to instill this need to give to others early in life, so as he gets older he will want to do it on his own.<br />
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He helped me pick out some things for an Angel Tree child and we have some other things lined up to do. I won't say what but here is a list of some things to do if you want to spread some holiday cheer too:<br />
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Pick a random table at a restaurant and pay their bill<br />
Pay for the person behind you (it can be anywhere, a store, a fast food place, coffee bar, cafeteria, toll booth, etc.)<br />
Give food to homeless people, either through a shelter, food pantry or buying a hamburger for the homeless guy on the street<br />
Sponsor a family<br />
Get an Angel Tree child<br />
Bake cookies for neighbors<br />
Give money to organizations to help the needy (we like to put money in the Salvation Army kettles)<br />
Volunteer at an organization. It doesn't cost any money and the rewards are amazing.<br />
Buy a present for Toys for Tots (or any of the other program like it)<br />
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That is all I can think of and I'm sure there are a ton more. Leave a comment and let me know how you spread holiday cheer by giving to others.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-58255685620695018642012-10-24T08:00:00.000-04:002012-10-24T08:00:09.268-04:00Caleb's Dedication<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A dedication is an important step in our family. For non-denominational Christians it takes place of a baptism for infants. The parents get up in front of their friends and family to say they will raise this baby (or little child) to believe in Christ and God, take him or her to Sunday school and to lead them in a Godly walk. They ask the people that attend to help the parents on that journey, also.</div>
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On September 15 we dedicated Caleb. Elijah was dedicated in 2008. I never posted about it, but I made a <a href="http://jo21236.blogspot.com/2009/02/layout-and-news.html" target="_blank">layout </a> and my Mother-in-law <a href="http://spunbyme.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html" target="_blank">blogged</a> about it.</div>
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It was on a Saturday morning, so we got all dressed up and ready to head out. I don't know about you, but I love a little boy in a dress shirt and tie. Two of them makes me doubly happy, especially since they are my own.</div>
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Caleb is a ham. Pull out a camera and he loves it... He even loves to pose. This was while we were waiting for everything to start, at the church.<br />
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Then he realized he was sitting on stairs... It was over... stairs trump picture taking.</div>
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It was a nice ceremony.<br />
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This was only half of the parents that were dedicating that day. There were approximately 8 more families that went before our group.<br />
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After the dedication was over we headed to the Boulevard Diner for some lunch. All the food was so good.<br />
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What a great day filled with family and friends for a very special occasion.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-72681464087819944022012-10-22T08:00:00.000-04:002012-10-22T09:10:10.648-04:00Book - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Elijah adores Halloween and Charlie Brown, so when he found this book at the bookstore last month we had to buy it.</div>
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It is kind of like a sticker book, but not really. It comes with a few sheets of stickers and as you read along you put the stickers on the pages to complete the story.<br />
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He had fun figuring out where the stickers belonged. There are white outlines to help piece everything together.<br />
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This is Elijah's favorite page. He loves reciting the lines:<br />
"I got a chocolate bar"<br />
"I got a quarter"<br />
"I got a <i>rock</i>"<br />
Laughter ensues every time...<br />
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He couldn't figure out where some of the stickers went, so daddy came to the rescue.<br />
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This is a great Halloween present (cause apparently that is a new thing that people do) or a "just because" present for any little person you might know. Barnes and Noble was running a special when we bought it, buy two kids books you get this book for $3.99. Since we were already there to buy a birthday present and we were looking for another book as well, it worked in our favor. I found out this weekend that they are still running the sale this week. I have also seen it at Walmart for pretty cheap ($6 or $7), if you want to pick it up there instead.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9052483012585279476.post-84554689487393531022012-10-05T08:00:00.000-04:002012-10-05T08:00:10.919-04:00State Fair 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As per our annual tradition we went to the Maryland State Fair this past August. We went three half days again this year. Because Joe was at home with the boys he would take them over around 3pm and I would meet them there about 6pm, since my job is only about 20 minutes away from the fairgrounds. We went one day, by ourselves, so Joe could go to a Newsboys concert they were having. My mom treated to admission for the other two days.<br />
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This year we visited and saw some different things than we usually do. That's what great about the fair, year to year they always have some new things to see and do.<br />
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This was the first day before I got there. They were tuckered out.<br />
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Once he woke up Elijah decided to get on some rides. He loved the fact that this year he could get on more by himself.<br />
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At that point, Joe went to the concert and the boys hung out with me for a few hours.<br />
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We ate dinner while we watched a guy carving a log with a chainsaw. It was pretty awesome, minus the gas fumes... Caleb didn't know how to feel about the whole situation.<br />
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Then more rides.<br />
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And a photo-op. Sorry for the blurriness I was attempting to keep Caleb on the seat with one hand (cause he kept lunging at the camera) while taking the picture with the other.<br />
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We walked around a lot not really doing too much. We checked out the concert from afar. Not too long after that Joe joined us again and we headed home.<br />
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Thursday was the second day we went. Joe took them over again before I got off of work.<br />
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This was Elijah's favorite ride... He could have rode on it all day if we let him. It's the type of ride that goes fast in an oval and when you reach either end it pulls you back in your seat because of the force. Funny thing about this is that when I was pregnant with Elijah, Joe and I went to Hershey Park and the only ride I allowed myself to get on was the whip, which is the adult version of this ride. Too weird.<br />
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The fair would not be complete without eating. Mmmm fair food is so good. The corn especially. (By the way, in case you were wondering, that is my sister and my brother-in-law sitting with us.)<br />
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That evening we were treated to some random fireworks. They were planned, but they were random to us because we didn't know they were going to happen. When they first went off a lot of people thought it was gunshots. Fun times, fun times...<br />
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They were pretty good.</div>
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Caleb wasn't impressed. He's a very cautious child, unless it comes to climbing on something, then he has no fear.</div>
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Elijah, on the other hand, loved them.</div>
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After the fireworks the boys played the duck grabbing game. They won this giant banana (unfortunately... haha)<br />
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Then it was time to take the annual picture. We ended up asking some random guy with a tripod if he could take the picture. He did an awesome job!<br />
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We were walking towards the exit when Elijah (and Joe) spotted the bumper cars. They rode on it several times.<br />
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Then he took a ride with his Pop-pop.<br />
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This year Caleb was only able to get on the Merry-go-round, but next year, he should be able to get on some other rides.<br />
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We were kicked out of the fair that night. The first time that has ever happened.<br />
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The next day we went for the last time. Originally it was just suppose to be Joe and I, but my mom and dad had brought the boys just to walk around.<br />
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We started out in one of the pavilions looking at all the neat 4-H creations and projects. I think I might look into taking Elijah to 4-H starting next year. I think he would really like it.<br />
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This was his favorite display. He stood there for about 15 minutes examining everything on it.<br />
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This was another great one.<br />
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That evening in another pavilion they had a pumpkin carver. He does awesome work!<br />
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This girl photo-bombed this picture.... Don't know who she is. I had to laugh when I found it on the camera though.<br />
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There we go. Two sweet little boys.<br />
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They also had a fake horse you could pretend to ride. Elijah thought it was awesome.</div>
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Then there was a craft... Horseshoe decorating. Elijah decorated his all by himself.<br />
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Joe made Caleb's. I plan on hanging them up in Elijah's room or in the living room.<br />
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During "dessert" Caleb was eyeing up my ice cream, but didn't like it when he took a lick (weird child).<br />
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That was the end of our week of fair fun. There was tons more that we didn't take pictures of, like a caricature of the boys, Elijah and I playing bingo, Elijah, Joe and I going on the tilt-a-whirl together and so on and so forth. These are the best days of summer... It's always sad to see it go. But as we have Elijah say when leaving the fair, "Bye fair! See you again next year!"Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03604569827496504218noreply@blogger.com2