Samuel Isaac

What could be more fun to an almost six year old boy than...

killing carpenter bees...

on the front porch of the church.

SUCCESS!!

(Anybody notice how tall this kid is getting??)

Benjamin Robert Anthony

"A boy is noise with dirt all over." I don't know who said that but I know who they were talking about. :)

Cherry Blossom Time

Cherry blossoms are in full swing here in middle Georgia. They are absolutely beautiful and paired with the spectacular blue sky of today, it made for such a pretty picture.

My favorite place to take pictures of cherry blossoms- our beautiful church.

Look at that sky!

Pink petals lining the sidewalk.

Beautiful creation.

Random Thoughts

• Emma was diagnosed with the flu on Thursday. Poor baby was so sick and feverish all Thursday and into Friday, but she seemed to feel alot better Saturday and even better today.
• Ben came down with the flu on Friday. He has had a very mild case of it, with his main symptom being a non stop runny nose.
• I am battling a sinus/ear infection. Bleh. I hate those. They make you feel miserable, yet not sick enough to justify lying in bed all day, but that's really all you want to do.
• Paul went camping for 3 days with just a backpack. He hiked 20 miles carrying a 40 pound pack with all his supplies on it. I think I'd rather stay home with the sick kiddos!
• Our temperature here was 88 yesterday. Whoa- it's only March! Too soon for such hot temps. Today is much cooler.
• The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and amazingly beautiful. I'm hoping to get some pictures in the next day or two before they start turning green.
• My laptop is not working after "someone" spilled water on it. Sigh. I hope its fixable. I again did not back up some pictures, so if the laptops gone, so are the pictures and videos. Will I ever learn?
• Emma has been saying dada and bye bye. No matter how hard I try, she won't say mama. Her dad is eating it up that she says dada so much. She yells it, says it, whispers it and growls it! She's so cute.

Emma at 8 Months

Emma turned 8 months old on March 6. This was the first time I was able to take some pictures of her due to her being so sick. Thankfully, she is doing much better!

This is her contemplative face.

Yay!

So happy! She had a ball sitting outside while Anna made her laugh and I snapped pictures.

She is crawling everywhere and pulling to standing whenever she gets a chance.

Spring has Sprung

Nothing says Spring more like blooming cherry blossoms here in Middle Georgia. They are so pretty. Emma thought they looked good to eat too. The Cherry Blossom festival starts the end of this week. I think they timed it perfectly this year. The trees should still be in full bloom at the beginning.

Not quite a cherry blossom, but I'll keep him. He found this packet of ketchup on the ground and insisted he bring it home. He is a strange but wonderful child.

Another cutie pie up in a tree.

I'm sure you all think I never wash this boys face. Oh my. It seems we are forever washing him.

Wow...

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I last posted. Where has the time gone?

We've been extremely busy around here in these two weeks. Well, busy and sick.

Last week, we attended a local "campmeeting". I had never heard of a campmeeting (other than youth camp) until a few years ago. I would describe it as a revival on steriods. This campmeeting was held at a church located about 30 minutes away. There were services every morning and evening and the church provided lunch and supper every day. Our entire family enjoyed these services very much. Lots of great preaching and special music. We didn't make it every day, but went quite a bit through the week.

Very early Friday morning, Ben woke up throwing up. Ugh. So Friday, the little ones and I stayed home from the services. Come to find out, that this stomach bug was working it's way through the nursery in the church. Ben was only sick a day and a half. He's a hardy little guy.

Monday afternoon, Emma threw up. And hasn't stopped since. Paul came down with a virus much like the flu Monday evening. Sam began throwing up Tuesday night. Anna has had sore throat and headache on and off all week. Paul Jr. just walked in the house from work a little while ago and told me he felt like he's been hit by a bus. I've been battling a headache and sore throat on and off, but haven't felt "sick".

So it's been a fun week around here. Poor Emma has had it the worst. We thought she was recovering yesterday, but had a relapse last night. Today she is just limp. She did eat about half a container of baby food and held it down this afternoon. Maybe?? Sam seemed to get better and then threw up again Wednesday night. He seemed better Thursday and then woke up from a nap burning up and complaing of ear pain. And then he threw up again. I know when he complains of ear pain, he has a bad ear infection. So I took him and Emma into the doctor last night and she said his ear was on fire. Because he couldn't hold anything down, he had to have a shot. Poor kid. Last thing you want when you don't feel good already is more pain. But the shot seems to have cleared him up. His ear does not hurt today and his stomach seems to be better.

Paul is feeling much better today, but has a lingering cough and weakness. He was surprised at how bad he felt- it's been a long time since he has been this sick.

So that's what we've been doing. I'm hoping and praying we're all on the mend- it's not fun being sick and it's not fun taking care of so many sick people. Anna and Ellie have helped me out tremendously, especially in the area of cleaning up vomit. Most of the time I didn't even ask them to do it- they willingly did it. They are troopers.