Christmas Recap!

We had a great Christmas celebrating with my family this year. Josh's mom went to Tulsa to spend Christmas with his sister, so we headed to Ohio for the weekend. Two of my three brothers were there. We missed Ben and Sarah and the kids, but loved getting some time with Dan and Lauren and Dave. The recent excitement around our house has been that my cousin, Megan, and her little boy, Hunter, have moved in with us for a while. So we loved getting to spend Christmas with Megan and Hunter and including them in on our family traditions and chaos! Christmas with my family is always filled with amazing food, chaos, constant laughter, and pajamas. It is a Newman tradition to get jammie gifts on Christmas Eve and we pretty much don't take them off until the holiday is over. They are removed only for hot-tubbing, showers, and to be washed quickly so that they can be worn again immediately. Anybody not wearing pjs will probably be ridiculed. We rarely do traditional holiday food. The highlight of this Christmas was the steak and crab legs for dinner. yum! We also loved the hot wings and fresh, smoked salmon that my aunt brought to us from Alaska.

On Christmas Eve, we put candles in cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and talked about what Christmas is really all about. The kids had fun tracking Santa on norad before they went to bed and then everybody got up Christmas morning for gifts. Seth got some major additions to his Geotrax and Lilah got the American Girl bitty baby. She LOVES it! The big theme this year for the kids was Toy Story. Santa brought each kid a Toy Story character and they now have nearly a complete set so that they can all play with them together. Seth also got a remote controlled helicopter that he loves. The trick will be to see if he ever gets in pried out of his daddy's hands long enough to actually play with it! Josh has become kind of obsessed. The grown-up boys had so much fun playing with it that Dan and Dave finally went out and bought their own. Then they had three to compete with each other. The planes fly precariously and shoot missiles, so it felt like being in a miniature war zone the whole weekend. Each child got smacked in the face at least once by whirring helicopter wings. The other big theme for Christmas gifts was Glee. I'm not gonna lie. I love Glee. So Santa brought me 4 Glee cds and the new Glee Karaoke Revolution for Wii. I got to pretend I was Lea Michelle all weekend. (I'm sure nobody got sick of that). =)

The other special event on Christmas day was that Uncle Dan performed Isaac's baby dedication ceremony. While we have attended church ever since Isaac was born, we have not been really connected in a church and the churches we have gone to have been huge so we didn't really know anybody. Consequently, we never had Isaac dedicated to the Lord in one of the churches because it did not feel very intimate. My brother, Daniel, just finished his degree in theology from Regent University. So, we asked if he would do the honor of dedicating Isaac to God in front of our family on Christmas day. Josh's mom and sister skyped in to watch the dedication and we videotaped it for the rest of the family who could not be there. It was very special having Uncle Dan commit our son to the Lord and bestowing the mantle of responsibility on me and Josh to raise Isaac according to God's word and for His purposes. It was a special Christmas and we loved getting to celebrate the birth of our Savior with those that we love. Now on to the New Year!

Thanksgiving Thankfulness

I have been watching so many of my friends posting on their blogs all of the wonderful things they are thankful for. I am not consistent enough to blog every day to do that. So I will just do this one post to note all of the blessings that God has poured out on me. First of all, I am thankful for my heavenly Father who provided his son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for my sins so that I could have a relationship with Him for all eternity. Second, I am thankful for my three beautiful children. They are hard work, but they are blessings in their own, indivdual and priceless ways. Third, I am thankful for God's peace that passes all understanding. As I am currently struggling with my third, early pregnancy miscarriage, I praise God that He provides peace and joy to us in times of pain. And I will praise my God for He is sovereign in all of His ways and I will trust Him. Fourth, I am thankful for my amazing husband. I was not feeling well this morning and Josh got up with the kids so that I could rest. I could hear Josh all the way downstairs, making waffles and singing songs to the kids at the top of his lungs. I laid in my bed and I thanked God that He gave me the wisdom to marry that man. I am overjoyed that my children have a father who adores them, delights in them, provides for them, plays with them, nurtures them, and leads them in a way gives them an earthly taste of their heavenly Father. Fifth, I am thankful for friends. It never ceases to amaze me how God provides the most amazing women into my life at every stage and place. I have a sisterhood of women that have collected from high school, to college, to Tulsa, to Columbus, and now Michigan. Each group has been priceless and touched my soul in too many ways to count. I am incredibly thankful for family. I have the best parents who continue to support me into adulthood and help me to be the wife and mother I need to be. My parents gave me the greatest gift in life by teaching me about Jesus Christ and then allowing me to make that faith my own. They taught me by example about a relationship with Christ, marriage, parenthood, and so much more. I am blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law who makes helping me with the kids a priority. She gave me the gift of her son so that I could have the incredible husband and my kids can have the incredible father that they do. And I am so thankful for my brothers and sisters-in-law. It is because of these precious relationships that I seek to provide my kids with a similar experience in our family. I am thankful that I get to be a stay at home mom. I am able to kiss every boo boo and be there for every silly song and joke. I get to volunteer in the kids' classrooms and experience every milestone. My kids will always know that when they have a rough day at school, they only have to make it to our door and I will be there will listening ears and a hug (and maybe a plate of chocolate chip cookies, but probably not because I'm no June Cleaver afterall.) There are so many other things for which I am thankful that I could not possibly name them all. I just touched on the big ones. And I know that they are the same "big ones" that most moms have, but I still felt the need to say them out loud. =) Happy Thanksgiving!

off the radar

I have been off of the radar for a while in blogdom. Usually when I go off the radar it is because there is actually quite a lot going on and I don't really know what to say about it all. That is the case for me this time. We finished a wonderful summer and began the school year in September. Seth started kindergarten and Lilah began preschool. Both are enjoying school and I have been getting used to the new routine. We do morning classes this year, so I have been having to switch my schedule around to get up early, etc. I am liking it for the most part because I think it is making my days way more productive and I have a a couple mornings each week to run errands with just Isaac, which is easier than doing it with all three. The kids like school and we are working on "following instructions" with Lilah and Seth is working on "putting his wiggles and sillies away" when he goes to school. (Although that conversation spiraled quickly when he wanted to know where to put them because they might fall out of his pocket or get lost in his back pack, etc. etc. etc..... It was all very serious) His teacher has expressed concern about possible ADHD (although he's not a behavior problem, just has trouble focusing), and some other observations that are probably related to Seth's mild cerebral palsey issue. We're struggling with our next steps in this area because we don't want Seth labeled too early with any titles and overall he is doing very well. We have known that his CP could affect him academically, and this new stage of life in school is very much a "wait and see" time as we learn exactly how Seth's brain really works. For those who don't really know, CP is basically just brain damage caused by traumatic birth. Seth has some muscle tightness and weakness, but aside from that we really have no idea exactly how his brain might have been affected from lack of oxygen and are aware that it could show in learning challenges as he progresses academically. We are watching and waiting for now. And he is having fun in school and doing fine in the meantime.

Isaac is enjoying the time alone with mommy and he is actually (knock on wood) becoming a little bit easier to deal with in that his tantrums are lessening and he is starting to communicate and understand things better (Praise God). Josh is in his fourth year of residency and now is the time to start the decisions about next steps. This is all very stressful as we weigh the benefits/cost of fellowships or taking a job somewhere, etc. Much prayer is going into this phase of life because we don't want to do the wrong thing. I have been busy with the Side By Side Detroit chapter and even had the opportunity to attend the leadership retreat in Minnesota last week. It was great to learn more about how to improve our chapter and now I am preoccupied with implementing everything we learned. SBS Detroit is growing steadily and I think God has huge plans for this ministry to women married to medical professionals. It's very exciting because SBS is really the only support system for most of the wives in the Detroit area.

Sidenote: My mom met me to take the kids for the entire 4 day weekend while I was in MN and even watched our 11 week old puppy for us. I just have to say, if I haven't said it before, that I really do have the bonafied "best mom in the world." I seriously could not survive motherhood and residency if it were not for her and am so blessed to have a mom who legitimately understands because she has lived through exactly my life herself. Thanks mom!

So that is the scoop for us these days. We have lots to think about and be praying about in every area of our lives and are staying busy with 3 active kiddos in the mean time. We are also loving all of the Fall fun and have picked pumpkins and apples and been enjoying everything else about Fall right now. =)

Education At It's Finest

Seth started soccer practice last week. He has a great coach and will be having his first game on Saturday. We're not sure he's really "getting" soccer because he tends to spend more time twirling in the grass than kicking the ball. The only point in time during practice where he really pays attention is at the beginning and end when the coach sings the theme from SpongeBob SquarePants and rolls around on the ground like a sea cucumber (At least that's what I'm guessing he's going for) I don't really understand how SpongeBob pertains to soccer (a swim team or aquatics class maybe, but not soccer), but I figured, what the heck, it makes it fun. So then I took Lilah to her preschool orientation today and what giant yellow sea sponge was waiting at the door to greet us? You guessed it, SpongeBob. And now I'm really confused, because while I don't actually allow my kids to watch SpongeBob, I have seen a few episodes and I have to say that I have never noticed an educational theme or even slight tendency towards intelligence on SpongeBob SquarePants. And I'm wondering why exactly it is that SpongeBob seems to have become the educational/extracurricular mascot, if you will, of at least southeastern Michigan. I can totally see the value in making education fun by tying in some of our kids' favorite cartoon characters. But SpongeBob? Really? And since we're at SpongeBob, why don't we just throw in his big, dumb, pink bestie, Patrick. Then our kids would be encouraged to pursue education by an exuberantly ignorant sponge who reeks of sarcasm and an even more astonishingly ignorant blob. They may be dumb, but at least they're funny. A sadly accurate depiction of the American school system? I don't know, maybe... maybe not. Either way, that's my rant for the day.

Lilah's 4th Birthday, Fancy Nanacy

Click here to view these pictures larger

Too much fun...

We have had a very busy week! It began with last week when we drove to Sidney, OH to drop the kids off with my parents. We made a side-trip to Columbus for family pictures and to visit friends. Then Josh and I drove back up to MI to spend the weekend with college friends. We stopped in Wauseon, OH to view the pug puppies on our way and have coffee with friends. (The puppies were SO CUTE!) Then we had a great weekend with ORU friends. I met my mom halfway to pick the kids up on Monday. Tuesday morning Seth woke up with a fever and now all three kids have hand, foot, and mouth disease... AGAIN. Yes, Seth and Lilah had it last year already. And now they have it again. They picked it up over the weekend either at church or the McDonalds playground. As childhood illnesses go, it's one of the mildest. Once the fever passes, the kids generally feel fine with just some mild discomfort from any sores they get in their mouth. The worst part about hand, foot, and mouth is that it is contagious and your have to be pretty much quarantined for like 10 days. So, we now have no plans for the next week. At least it all happened before Seth starts school.

Fundays!!!!

We have several fun days coming up that I am so excited about! I have been getting ready to leave tomorrow for my parents' house where we will be leaving our 3 beautifully loud children for the weekend so that Josh and I can come back to MI and spend an entire weekend with some of our best friends from college. But before the weekend festivities begin, we will be making a quick trip to Columbus to have some family pictures done and to visit our special friends, the Ross girls. Seth and Lilah are already bouncing off the walls with glee to see their best buddies and I think I always get just about as excited to get time with Erin. =) So we will very much enjoy an afternoon in Columbus and then will head back to Sidney to spend a little bit of time with my mom and dad. Then on Friday, Josh and I will be heading back towards MI, but will be making a stop on the way to visit my kindred spirit friend, Ruth (that's a shout out for those of you who know the value of a kindred spirit friend from Anne of Green Gables). I always love seeing Ruth and have to take advantage of every opportunity I can to get some time with her because we just don't live close enough. Josh and I will be driving near her area because we will be stopping by the dog breeder to see the pug puppy we are getting and the breeder is not too far from Ruth. And then, we will get back up to Detroit, where we will spend the entire weekend with several of our best friends from college.

There is a group of girls from ORU and we all lived together in the dorms and decided that when college ended, we simply could not bear the idea of possibly losing touch with each other. So, we created a "club" called the Sapphires and wrote all kinds of rules that required us to keep in touch. We are called the Sapphires because a sapphire is a precious stone that comes in a variety of different colors. We liken that to our group that is made up of multiple "colors" of personalities and our friendships take on different tones, but all come together to create something precious and beautiful. We are all well aware of the cheesiness of our club, but do not care because it is special to us and it has served its purpose of keeping us all connected. We all have real sapphire stones that we wear when we are together (and usually when we are apart too), we have a running Sapphire blog to keep in touch regularly, and we always pull through for each other whether it's a wedding, a new baby, or a less joyful moment that requires tears and prayers. We have a yearly reunion where we all get together if possible and we maintain a scrapbook following everyone's year between reunions. There are several Sapphires who can't make it this year because of new babies, finances, etc. But 4 out of 7 of us will be together and will have a blast catching up and being girls, and missing the girls who can't make it. This year was my year to host and I am ready. I have activities planned to keep us busy if we want, the scrapbook if done and ready to be "oohed and awed" over, there are Detroit-themed gift bags waiting for each Sapphire, and my house will soon be clean and ready to house us all. (Cleaning is on my "to do list" today and tomorrow morning). The hubbies are coming along this year as well, so the guys will have fun doing boy things. =)

And now I must go clean my house and finish packing for the Ohio drop-off. Yay for fun weeks!

Fun with Family

Josh's sister, Vanessa has been in town this past week. So we've been out doing some fun stuff in the area. The kids have been having a great time with cousin Victoria. We went to the Henry Ford Museum. The kids' favorite part is the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile area. The green screen pic is all of them dancing against a green screen and then the video monitor showed them dancing in an 80s MTV music video. They love to be the hot dog in the bun. We also went to a fun splash day where the city set up giant slip and slides and had a firetruck spray water down like a huge sprinkler. Lots of fun!

When in pain, organize!

So, as I mentioned before, Wyatt (our family dog) passed away a little over a week ago. He died on Thursday and on Friday Josh's mom offered to take the kids to Sidney to see my parents and play with their cousin, Victoria. We jumped on it because I thought that sounded like the perfect distraction after losing a pet. Plus, Josh and I are never going to give up a free weekend to ourselves! =) Also, Josh are I were kind of upset ourselves and sort of needed some to deal with losing Wyatt. (I know that sounds silly, it surprised us too. But he was just such a good dog!) Anyways, with a weekend with no kids and a little bit a grief, what would there be to do besides organize? So I did and my wonderful husband helped.

I had also mentioned in a previous blog that my kids NEVER clean their playroom. So I had taken away all of their toys for about a month. Seriously, ALL of them. I know this sounds cruel. But I needed to hit them where it hurt. And I still remember being 5 and my dad taking away all of our toys, puting them in garbage bags and sitting them on the roof for, I swear, like a month! (My mom doesn't remember it the same way, but i swear it happened) Needless to say, my brothers and I did not actually die of boredom, but we did learn that when my parents said "clean up your toys, or you'll lose them" ... they were serious! So my kids lost their toys for a while. I decided the point had been made and that is was time to bring the toys back. But I wanted to do it in a way that would make it easier for them to clean up so that they wouldn't get quite so overwhelmed. I sorted through all of the toys, got a couple boxes full to take to Goodwill. (I was serious about them losing some of them for good) And I organized the rest in a way that should be pretty manageable to maintain. The main thing is that I put all the buckets with lots of pieces and smaller toys locked away in a cabinet so that the kids have to ask to get them out. This way they can't just dump stuff. I also do picture labels on the containers and shelves so that the kids know where everything goes. Tip: I attach the labels with stick on velcro so that the labels can be removed pretty easily. This was very helpful this last weekend when I was reorganizing because I could move labels to different containers easily as I moved toys around based on our new needs (since I had gotten rid of a lot) The only downside to this system is that Isaac sometimes picks the velcro backing off the containers and has eaten a few pieces. So here is our playroom. I posted several pictures because some people have asked to see pictures of our house and I never really posted any because the house is kind of ugly, very 1961. So here is our playroom, notice all the lovely wood paneling? Maybe someday I'll post pics of the rest of our outdated crib. =)

sad day

Today was a tough day. Our 7 year old dog named Wyatt has been acting kind of lethargic lately. We took him to a vet hospital on Saturday because he was breathing rapid, shallow breaths. They said he just seemed anxious and sent us home. So this afternoon he started vomiting blood. We took him back to the vet and they did a chest scan and his lungs were full of cancer. He was struggling to breathe and there was really no treatment. So, Josh had him put to sleep. I'm so thankful Josh was able to rush home and take care of Wyatt. He was able to sit with him and hold him while they put him to sleep. The kids are having a rough time. I think Josh and I are having a rougher time. Wyatt was our kid before we had kids. And he was a really good dog. I took pictures of the kids with Wyatt before Josh took him to the vet, because I just had a feeling. And I'm so glad I did. I printed the pictures for the kids and they are holding them and it seems to have calmed them down. Seth just keeps crying and looking at his picture and saying "My good dog, Wyatt, your life will be treasured forever." (Seriously, is he five or twenty-five?) Anyways, I think it's going to be a pizza and movie night. And I will allow us all to eat as much candy as we want to deaden the pain. sigh....

True Beauty... and The Beast

Beauty:

So a couple days ago I was fixing Lilah's hair and she said (in her angelically sweet and deceiving voice), "Mommy, when you are done fixing my hair, I will be beautiful, won't I?" Now let me interject here by saying that Lilah is recently VERY into hair, makeup, jewelry, clothes, and anything girly and fabulous. Who can blame her really? But I want her concept of self to be based on who she really is as a child of God, and not so much on how she fixes herself up. So I thought it would be a good teachable moment to remind her of this truth. I responded with, "Well, you know Lilah, your hair will be lovely when it's fixed. But you are beautiful even when you don't have your hair fixed. It's not really hair, or makeup, or clothes that makes a woman beautiful. Do you know what is the most important thing to be beautiful?" She placated me by acting interested and said, "what mommy?" I said, "The thing that makes a woman the most beautiful is having a happy heart and a sweet spirit." Lilah did not even think about it. She immediately cocked her head to the side, stuck her hand on her hip, and looked at me while shrieking, "what?! Are you crazy?!"

I looked at my dad (who was in the room and had heard the whole exchange). His eyes were wide and he almost couldn't breathe as he worked to stifle his laugh. Apparently, I am crazy. I think we have a ways to go on this issue. =)

The Beast:

Isaac sleeps in a crib because he's only 20 months. I should say, slept in a crib. Yesterday I put him down for a nap and he never went to sleep. I could hear him babbling, but he was EXHAUSTED so I left him in there hoping he would eventually fall asleep. At one point I heard something hit the wood floor in his room. It sounded like a small toy, but I didn't think much of it because he sometimes has little toys that he hides in his crib. I figured he had just dropped a toy out of his crib, because he was still happily babbling. So I left him in there, still hoping he would fall asleep. About an hour later, I gave up and went to his room to get him out of bed. I found Isaac sitting on top of his changing table, wearing his shoes, and playing with a model car that was on the top of the built in shelves near the changing table. The changing pads were on the floor, as was a canvas picture that had been near his crib. My little (or not so little) beast of a boy had climbed out of his crib, used the canvas picture to climb across the wall to the changing table, where he put on his shoes and then climbed the shelves to get a car, after which he sat happily on top of the changing table for about an hour until I went up to get him. Seriously, it's like he's a 30 pound, wall climbing, beast baby that cannot be contained! So, needless to say, last night the crib got disassembled and stored in the basement. His room has been completely child-proofed. He is now sleeping in a pack n play because it's a shorter drop to the floor when he climbs out. We have put a video baby monitor in his room so that I can watch him and door knob covered his bedroom door so that he can't escape and kill himself on one of the stair cases while we sleep. An extra tall, vertical, and permanent baby gate has been ordered for the staircase and we will be looking for a toddler bed. My adorable beast baby gets me on my toes. As you can tell, I am not always ready to stay a step ahead of him.

Spiritual Truths Learned from Parenting

Kids can be frustrating. Very frustrating. And every once in a while, in a moment of absolute frustration, I will find myself saying something to my children that reminds me of a spiritual truth I know from scripture, and I immediately feel convicted. I feel convicted because it often takes the simplistic terminology and extreme parental frustration for me to understand an important truth that God has been trying to drill home to me my whole life. There have been a couple that I'm going to post here.

1. On my birthday my mom got a couple of pies from The Spot. For those who don't know, The Spot in Sidney has the BEST pies and my favorite are old-fashioned cream pie and strawberry. We got the pies and took them to McDonalds for dessert after the kids ate and played at McDonalds (it was raining and there was truly nothing else to do in Sidney). So I had told the kids that they could not have any pie unless they ate their dinner. Seth chose not to eat his dinner and when pie time came around I said he had chosen not to have pie. My mom and grandpa both gave me the puppy-dog faces because I was denying Seth special birthday pie. Seth begged me for pie and I finally cracked under the pressure of my mom and grandpa and said, "ok Seth. I am choosing to let you have a piece of pie right now even though you did not eat your dinner because I love you and it's a special occasion. But I want you to know that this is what grace feels like, it's something undeserved that you are blessed with anyways." And I saw the teaching moment, and followed up with a half-hearted, "It's just like God's grace when He gave us salvation. Remember this feeling, grace feels like pie when you didn't eat your dinner." And I laughed it off because I was mostly joking. But in all reality, I hope Seth remembers a little taste of grace whenever he has a taste of pie! =)

2. My children do not clean the playroom, EVER! It has become a point of infuriation for me. I feel the rage boiling in my blood just thinking about how I will work with them for HOURS and do everything short of actually just picking everything up by myself, only to have them literally make a bigger mess in the process. Playroom clean up times inevitably end up in privilges/toys being taken away and lots of frustration. During one of the disastrous efforts to get them to clean, I finally lost it and yelled, "Why won't you just clean up the toys? It's all that I ask of you! " Seth responded with, "I know mommy, but I love you." And I immediately said the first thing that popped into my head and yelled, "If you loved me, you would obey my words!" I caught myself and at first thought to myself that it wasn't fair to put that on them. But then I recalled the scripture "If you love Me, you will obey My commands." And it dawned on me. Is this how incredibly frustrating we are to our heavenly Father? It's so simple. Just obey. The only way to demonstrate that we care is by our obedience. And if we say "I love you, Lord", but don't honor Him in our actions, it means absolutely nothing. And what He asks of us is generally so simple and easy (like picking up toys) that there is absolutely no excuse for disobedience. And as a follow-up to the lesson and what it means for myself, it deepened my resolve to teach my children how to obey completely now, so that when they are older, they will know how to obey their Heavenly Father in everything they do.

Along the same lines... a couple years ago when I was working on potty training Seth, he was completely able to use the toilet and get there in time. He just chose to poop in his pants for a while. I still don't know why. It was very frustrating and I was venting about it one night on the phone with a friend. I was saying how it didn't make any sense. It's so much easier and cleaner to just poop in the potty, I could not understand why Seth would choose to sit in excrement instead. Just stop pooping your pants!!!! My friend laughed and said, "do you think that's how God feels about us and our sin? Do you think He's ever up there just like, "Stop pooping your pants!!!!" And it became a joke in our group for a while that God would probably be so much happier if we would all just stop pooping our pants (in a spiritual sense, of course). =)

And so to sum up, my spiritual reminders from God (using my kids) lately are that His grace is like pie when we didn't eat our dinner; if I love him I will clean up my toys (or whatever else He asks of me); and that sin is like pooping your pants and it's gross and unnecessary and we should stop doing it. haha...

Note: Here's the scriptures on our obedience and love:

John 14:15
[ Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit ] "If you love me, you will obey what I command.

John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

John 14:23
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

John 14:24
He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

MIA for a While

So, I have not written anything in quite a while. We've been out of town a lot and just kind of busy. But mostly busy with a lot of stuff that isn't very interesting to write about. Seth wrapped up his pre-K school year and we are enjoying summer break. We went to Ohio for about 10 days in the middle of June to visit family. All of my brothers were in town for a few days and we wanted to make sure we caught some time with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. We also got spend some time with My BFs, Ruth and Beka and our 9 kids together (that's the pic with 9 kids with their faces painted). The kids had a blast with the Newman cousins and then the weekend we were in Sidney was CRAZY busy with a wedding that some close friends of the family were having at my parents' house. Lilah thought she had really walked into a fairy tale world with the huge white tent and flowers everywhere and the "princess" (aka Bride). The bride's wedding dress was hanging in my mom's room the day of the wedding. Lilah woke up early and went into my parents' room and saw the dress (which was GORGEOUS) hanging full length over a white sheet. She gasped... caught her breath, and then said "is that the princess dress?" My mom said yes and don't touch it! So Lilah walked over and said "Ok, I'll just sit and look at it." She sat cross-legged on the floor just staring at the dress, with that fogged over, dreamy gaze in her eyes for at least 30 minutes. Most girls start dreaming about their wedding day around the age of 5. I'm pretty sure that Lilah has gotten a head start dreaming about her "princess day." It might be time to start saving for it now! =)

After the wedding and all of that craziness was over, we just kind of relaxed and recouped for a couple of days at mom and dad's. I had my birthday (29, yikes!). And then we were scheduled to go to King's Island on Wed., June 16. So, on Tuesday morning, we got a call from my sister-in-law, Sarah, and she said was loading her van and the kids and would be here that night. They had gone home to New York for Ben to work. Sarah's sister in Ohio had her baby a few days later and Sarah wanted to come see the baby. Since she wanted to see the baby, she decided to make it in time for the King's Island day with us. SO EXCITING! We were thrilled they made it back and the kids loved the King's Island day with the cousins. And I loved some slumber party time with Sarah. Both of our hubbys were away for work and medical conferences, so we went back to high school mode and had 2 nights of sleepovers like we used to before she married my brother! =)

I headed back to Detroit with the kids after the King's Island day and we've been enjoying time with Josh and getting settled back into our routine up here. Seth has been going to Safety Town last week and this week and is loving it. Josh and I got away for the evening Saturday night to attend his department picnic for work and then we went to see Grown-Ups. (So funny!!!!) We took the kids to see Toy Story 3 yesterday and the kids loved it. Josh's call schedule has been kind of insane for the past few months, so we are looking forward to a little easier call schedule for the rest of the summer. That's about all the catching up there is to do for us.

weeks of vacations

So, we have had several fun weeks of vacations. Hence, the reason there have been no posts for quite a while. We started the traveling spree with a trip to Chicago for Josh to attend a medical conference. I went with Josh for the week and the kids had a "kid vacation" at Nina and Papa's house. It was great for all of us. The kids LOVE being at my parents' house and Josh and I enjoyed the week just the two of us in Chicago. He was busy during the days, but we did some fun things in the evenings and I was able to get some work done during the day with some alone time. =)

Willis (Sears) Tower over Chicago skyline

We came home and packed for Virginia Beach and left one day after we got back from Chicago. That was hectic! We went to Virginia Beach for one week to visit my brother, Dan, and his wife, Lauren. My parents and grandpa Bob went too as did Josh's mom. We rented a big beach house and had an awesome time. The kids spent most of their time fishing off the canal in the backyard and caught enough huge catfish to have a good fish fry at the end of the week. Seth has become quite the fisherman over the last year. He seriously catches huge fish, consistently. They also caught an eel and some bass. We obviously loved our time at the beach as well. We ate fantastic seafood all week and enjoyed the sun. We also made a trip to Jamestown, VA to see the first permanent settlement. That was pretty cool and very interesting to stand on the foundation of the first church, where the first leaders in this country developed the basis for the first government. It was particularly interesting for us because we had been working on our family's genealogy over the past couple months, and had tracked my family line to one of the first families in Jamestown. I am a direct descendent of Captain James Davis, who settled in Jamestown and whose family line is considered by some to be the oldest surviving family in America. So that was cool to walk on the land and sit in the church where my ancestors walked and sat.

                                                              Church in Jamestown

                                                                              Josh loves Pocahontas

We cam home from VA Beach a week ago and stopped overnight to stay with Josh's best friend in Pittsburgh. They graciously opened up their home to our family and saved us a ton of money in hotel expenses. And it was great getting to visit with them. We got home on Mothers Day and have just been getting back to normal life since then. I think I'm pretty much caught up now.

We had a big cookout at our house on Saturday for the Detroit Side By Side chapter. All the families hung out and grilled and we had a great time. We're enjoying getting to know some other families in the Detroit area. That's all for us. Josh's call schedule has been INSANE and will continue to be until July. So we won't be out doing much exciting stuff for the next couple months I don't think.

busy, busy

This a busy week for us. We are getting ready to go on a couple of vacations and I am having to pack for both of them over the next couple of days. Josh and I are going to Chicago for a medical conference. Josh will be in seminars and I will get several days in a row to just do whatever I want. =) I am so excited! The kids will be home with grandparents. But in the midst of packing and cleaning, etc... I had to stop to take several hours yesterday to research extra high baby gates. It became of utmost importance when we caught Isaac skillfully stacking toys on top of each other to build a tower that he could climb on to get over our current baby gate. He had his upper body completely over the gate and was well on his way to getting the rest of his body over the gate. We have 2 flights of stairs. One of them is a wooden staircase that ends into a slate floor. scary. So I found a gate that is made for large dogs and cats to keep them contained that people also use for kids. It should work well to prevent Isaac from killing himself. I had it rush shipped. The reason it is so important is that with the exception of the gate to keep Isaac in the playroom, he is completely uncontainable. But he is not old enough to roam free. The other day I had him in his high chair munching on cereal in the living room. I was in the kitchen for a couple minutes doing the dishes. I heard Isaac grunting, so I ran in to check on him. He was hanging completely out of his high chair by his fingertips from the side of the tray. And he had been strapped in with a 5 point harness belt! He's seriously a Houdini! And he's organized about it, hence the fact that he is using tools to plan his escape from the playroom. So we need a high, secure gate that will keep Isaac safe so that I can take a shower or go pee every once in a while. =) I have 3 kids, but this one is keeping me on my toes.

Easter 2010

We had a very low-key easter this year. Josh was on call, so we just hung out at home and enjoyed time together. The kids got easter baskets and found easter eggs and had some special time to do our Resurrection eggs to reinforce the meaning of Easter and talk about Jesus and what he means to our lives. We grilled out a delicious dinner and then let the kids enjoy their chocolate bunnies. There really is nothing more that needs to be said. You can see in the pictures how much they enjoyed themsleves. After they ate their bunnies, we tucked them all into bed with their chocolate candy-induced comas. =)

This is a picture of the hair bow that Liz made for Lilah this year for Easter. I just had to put a picture of it because it is so cute and Lilah LOVED it. Liz is Lilah's hair bow stocker. We buy all our bows from Liz because their adorable and durable. If anyone wants her info. for hairbows, just let me know and I'll get it to you. =)

Mad Hatters and Misc. fun

We've been having playgroups on Fridays with the Side By Side Detroit chapter for the past few weeks. It's been a lot of fun and we're looking forward to having some more warm weather so we can do more outside. But last Friday, in an attempt to spice up playgroup since we were just having it at my house again, we had a Mad Hatter's Tea Party for all the un-birthdays and the real birthdays of a couple kids in the group. It was a little wild, as to be expected, and the kids had a blast! =)

Last week Seth was on spring break, so Liz and I took advantage of the only nice day that week and hauled the kids to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a lot of fun. We had a picnic at the zoo and shortly after this picture was taken, a couple geese wandered to our picnic site and warned us with their honking and aggressive wing flapping that it was time for us to leave so they could eat our food. We grabbed the kids and ran for cover while the geese ate everything the kids dropped and then finished off Lilah's sandwich on the table. When they were finished, they walked away and let us go back to collect our stuff. Isaac was terrified and I'm afraid that he's now going to have a complex every time he sees a goose at my parents' house (there are LOTS of them there). It was crazy, but funny in hindsight. =)

This picture is me and Lilah striking a pose. We did showers and Lilah insisted on having a towel on her head like mommy. =) (Please excuse the lack of make-up and general unattractiveness, I had just gotten out of the shower)

Seth's Big Birthday Weekend

We had a great weekend this past week. Seth turned 5 years old on Wednesday, so we've kind of been celebrating his birthday all week. =) He was SOOOOOOO excited about turning 5 this year. We spent his actual birthday with Liz and Katie and the kids always love hanging out with them. Then Josh's mom took the kids to McDonalds for dinner that night. We actually had Seth's birthday celebration this weekend when my parents could come in. So we had a picnic on Saturday with the Neufeldts (which was miserably cold). We ate fast and then Liz very kindly opened up her home to us so that we could do Seth's Wall-E cake and gifts in a warm house (which was less than a mile away). The weather report said 65 degrees and sunny for Saturday, which it was NOT! After we finished with the coldest party in history, we headed to one of the hotels with an indoor waterpark up here. It was a little bit smaller one, which was perfect because the kids could really enjoy pretty much everything there. They're not quite ready for the HUGE water parks yet. We stayed in the hotel that night and swam and had a blast. Seth wants to live in a hotel now. =) We swam a little more on Sunday morning and then went to se How To Train Your Dragon on IMAX in 3D. It was so good! Great movie! I might have actually enjoyed it more than the kids. haha... But I am a Newman and we are known for have a ridiculously long-running love for cartoons, well into adult-hood and old age. I think I probably get into the kids' movies more than they do all the time, especially now that Disney has gotten more skilled at adding sarcastic, clean, adult humor  to their films. =) Anyways, we had a great weekend and have been just getting stuff done around the house and resting the past couple days. Happy Birthday Seth! We love you and all the joy and excitement you bring to our lives!

Desperation

Josh went upstairs to check on the kids, who were sleeping, on Friday night. Seth and Lilah were in a bed together because my parents were in town and were staying in Lilah's room. This is how we found Seth. In case you can't quite tell what you're looking at, that is a mesh laundry basket on his upper body. Seth is a good sleeper and Lilah is renowned for staying up late and pestering Seth when he's trying to go to sleep. We can only assume that the "cage"around his body was his last, desperate attempt to get her to leave him alone. =)

prayers from the heart

So every time we eat a meal, Seth wants to pray before we eat. And the reason he wants to pray is to show off the prayer they say at preschool every day before snack. It goes like this:
"Thank you for the world so sweet,
Thank you for the food we eat.
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you for everything.
You may eat,
Bon appetite!"

So on Friday night, Josh tucked the kids into bed and prayed with them. Seth prayed his own prayer and then Josh asked Lilah if she would like to pray. She closed her eyes and said,
"Thank you for the birds that sleep,
Thank you for everything.
You may sleep,
Bon appa sleep!"

We're not sure whether to give her points for creativity or take points away for laziness. =) But Josh was laughing so hard, he had to leave the room. haha....

friends and meat

It's been a good week, other than the fact that Josh has been all call all week. He's at children's this month, which is a busier call schedule and he has had to go in quite a bit. But aside from call, it's been a good week. Wednesday night was our second Bible study meeting for the Side By Side Detroit group and it went really well. Everyone seemed to enjoy the book and we had lots of great discussion. The book is called Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas and it's a book about how to support your husband spiritually. It's been really good so far. We had a great playgroup on Friday and then Side By Side also had a game night last night and that was a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying getting to know these wonderful women up here. =)

The weekend was particularly fantastic because one of my best friends came in on Friday night with her husband and we got to go to dinner and then spend the afternoon together on Saturday. Ruth and I have been friends since junior high and she's one of the few friends I can get together with and not miss a beat, no matter how much time passes between seeing each other. So great! So Ruth and Andy came up from Ohio on Friday night and the four of us went to dinner at El Gaucho's Brazilian Steakhouse, which was AMAZING. It's an all you can eat steakhouse where everyone is a set price and you get a salad bar that is out of the world and then an endless supply of perfectly cooked meats and mashed potatoes. The servers just walk around with like 17 different kinds of meat on skewers and slice it right off onto your plate. And all of the meat was really incredible... my favorite was the sirloin (melt in your mouth, perfect flavor) and the prime rib. I highly recommend El Gaucho's for a nice night out... it's pricey, but worth it for a special night. So Josh and Andy successfully ate a full serving of all 17 meats (as was their bet/challenge to each other) plus multiple servings of their favorite meats and Ruth and I saved room for our favorite ones, but still got stuffed. We did not have room for dessert, but that was ok because we also filled up on the fried bananas they kept refilling for us at our table and that was kind of like dessert. yum! So Friday night was a wonderful night out with great friends and then Saturday Josh got home from the hospital in time to spend the day with Ruth and Andy at our house before they had to go to a family get together in the area (which is why they came up this way in the first place). It was a great weekend! Josh is still on call today, so I'm thinking we'll just hang at home, get some stuff done around here and enjoy time together. It might be a good night to all cuddle up on our new playroom couch and have a family movie night. Maybe I'll get lucky and even get a chance to get to the grocery store. =)

Here's a flashback pic of me and Ruth on a road trip in high school.

This is my new couch that Josh picked out in our messy playroom. Not a great picture, but you can get the idea. BTW, I LOVE having a seperate playroom where the kids' toys are not on the main floor.

great weekend

(Thanks for the pictures, Laura!)

We made a trip to mom and dad's house and then Columbus for the weekend. I had purchased a sit n stand stroller from a friend in Columbus who found a GREAT deal on one for me and it gave me the perfect excuse to go visit friends. =) So we stayed at mom and dad's house on Friday night and made a day trip to Columbus to hang out with some of our best friends at Erin's house. The kids had a blast seeing their buddies and I very much enjoyed catching up with my girlfriends who I am constantly missing in Michigan. They were such a blessing to me and my kids during the time we lived in Columbus and there's nothing like reuniting with war buddies even if your war was just getting through daily life of residency with 3 kids. So, our weekend was great. We stayed at mom and dad's again on Saturday night and the kids got some fun time with them. We went to brunch with my parents and brother on our way out of town on Sunday morning and got back home in Michigan in the early afternoon to spend a good evening with Josh.

The only bad part of the weekend was late last night as Josh and I watched the health care bill pass. We are simply praying that God protects our country from the devastating potential consequences of this bill that truly steps on the toes of freedom and what this country was founded on. It is scary for patients and frustrating for doctors, and since our family falls into both categories, we find it terrifying. I still say we look for an unoccupied island and start a new country. Anyone want to join us?! =)