It's a Boy!

In case you missed it on all other forms of social media, we learned today that another boy will joining the family in 20 short weeks. We are all very excited, but are completely stuck on a finding a name for our new little mister. Suggestions are welcome at this point...

Also, Joshua did go in for treatment yesterday. He did remarkably well during the day, but the night was really hard. Please pray for good rest for all of this week and that the joy of our new baby brother would out weigh the anguish of yet another week of chemo. Thanks again.

Joshua's Birthday Party

It's official - Joshua has graduated into the world of "cool" birthday parties. Gone are the days when it's just family gathered around for a nice quiet dinner. Here are the days of buddies, running around like wild children, and consistent reminders of "we don't use those words except in the bathroom." 

To that end, on Friday we transported 4 young gentlemen (ages 6, 5, 5, and 4) to play glow in the dark mini-golf and eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Rather than giving you the blow-by-blow of what happened, here's a list of the top 5 moments from that evening. 1. The spitting contest. There we were, travelling through traffic, trying to get to the other side of town to the Opry Mills Outlet Mall, the massive building containing both glow-golf and the Rainforest Cafe. It was a 45 minute trip, and the conversation quickly moved to Star Wars. There was some contention in the van over who who would be Yoda, but having solved that problem, everyone got out their imaginary light sabers. And everyone made the light saber sound. Of course the "schooooooonggg" sound that makes inevitably came out with a great deal of saliva. Then everyone just started spitting and laughing hysterically. 

2. The ball glower. It's amazing how quickly 4 5-year olds can get through 18 holes. In fact, we would have been out there 15 minutes earlier (which would have put us at the world record pace of 21 minutes for a round) except for the ball-glowing machines around the course. We spent significant time there making sure everybody's ball was sufficiently glowing. 
3. The gospel sharer. Joshua's friend, Jude, took us spiritual twice during the night. The first time happened at dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. If you haven't been there, they've got anamatronic animals around the place, leaves all over the ceiling, and aquariums surrounding the walls. Jude noticed that there were alot of fish that looked like Dori from Finding Nemo. His conclusion: "Those Dori's are everywhere. Just like God. Those fish are just like God." Spiritual moment 2 came in the car on the way home when we were listening to music from Vacation Bible School. Jude once again took us to a deeper level: "I love music about Jesus. I love Bible verses about Jesus too. I just love Jesus. I love him." 
4. AAAWESOME!!! This is the new phrase Joshua has picked up due to the night. Everything was "aaaaawesome!" Especially awesome was the indoor thunderstorm at the restaurant. The ironic thing was that a couple of the boys, including Joshua, wanted me to put my cell phone on the table so I could tell them when the storm was coming. So they could hold their ears. Nevertheless, it was "aaaaawesome!" 
5. "This is my best day." Joshua said that a number of times in the night. And that makes me feel good. Really good. 

Happy birthday, buddy. 

What a Big Girl!

Andi is a remarkable little lady. We've known this for sometime, but in the last month she has proven herself all over again. First, Andi has done a fabulous job of learning to use the potty. It truly only took her two weeks to be completely dry even through her nap times. She's a whiz (excuse the pun)!

Next, Andi has been really wanting to move to the big girl bed for several weeks. Our only rule was that she had to give up her bite (her name for the pacifier). She was very resistant to this idea. Our next plan of action was to make a trade. Andi says good-bye to her bite and says hello to a new baby doll. Like any little girl, Andi loves baby dolls. She went for this one. On our trip to Target, Andi dropped her bite in the trash and walked out with a new doll. We were so proud of her.That night, Andi went to bed without one tear, without one cry. The following night she got to sleep in the big girl bed. Once again, we were so proud of her. Amazing.
Potty training - check
Good-bye pacifier - check
Moving out of the crib - check
I guess it's a good thing because baby #3 is just 22 weeks away! Yahoo!

Jar Jar's Victory

The kids and I go to the library just about every week. We love story time and checking out new books to read. For the past several months Joshua has been getting better and better at his reading. And he's worked really hard to get there. He will read early readers to himself for his entire rest time. Then, when he gets up, he asks me to read with him any of the books he was not able to read by himself. All of it is very thought out.

The other day I was telling Joshua once again how proud I was of him, but I asked him why he was working so hard at his reading. Much to my surprise, he had a very clear answer. He said, "I want to read a Star Wars book." I had forgotten that several weeks ago when we were at the library, Joshua found an entire section of Star Wars books. He was so excited, but I told him he wasn't quite ready to read those books by himself. I didn't realize this had made such an impact. 

This week, the work paid off. Joshua found a book called "Jar Jar's Mistake." He brought it to me and asked if he could try it out. Of course, I said yes, thinking I would need to read it to him in the end. 32 pages later, Joshua had read the whole thing needing only limited help. I'm not sure who was more proud, him or me?! 

Here's a portion for your enjoyment. At the end of the video, we ALL got a little stuck on the word Gungan. Go figure.