Eliana Eve Caroline

On the evening of September tenth, Eliana Eve Caroline was born.  There are so many parts to our sweet girl's arrival in our family that it seems daunting to tell the story well.

Eliana Eve Caroline is our sweet girl's name.

Eliana means "God has answered" in Hebrew.

Eve was chosen by her loving birth mother.

Caroline is in honor of my mother and will be added at finalization.

Welcome to our family, Eliana!  We are overjoyed to call you daughter and sister!

Happy Birthday Jake!

We were delighted to be invited to my nephew, Jake's, fifth birthday at their family lake house.  The boys loved celebrating five years of Jake, and it was a sweet thing to be able to have Mom and Dad there!

On a Date

We love to all be together as a family, but sometimes a one on one date is a fun change.  We planned for each of us to take a boy out on a date... a nice restaurant and some dessert.  Jamie and Caleb got BBQ (because that's a guy thing to do, says Jamie) and ice cream.  Jonathan and I had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which was a complete delight for him (and me).  The unlimited bread and Sprite were his joy.  He was very methodical in his choice of dessert... we visited one place and then the other and finally returned to the first place after he had decided.

We had such a delightful time talking one on one with our "dates".  We plan to take time to take out the other boy on a date at another time... It just might be a little while as we've been a little busy with our little patootie (that whole story is coming, just catching up on the other photos that happened before she arrived).

Big C is Getting BIG

Big C has wanted to be big for a while.  He has watched as Jonathan started school and had all of the opportunities that come with that.  He knew this was his year to have a teacher besides Mom and he was anxiously awaiting the start to his year of preschool.  Big C is getting BIG, and I love watching him grow and learn and change and find his own groove.

Isn't he a little gem?

Daddy and Caleb on his first day of school 

Caleb and the wonderful, Mrs. Leach.

A Little Surprise

We've been keeping a little secret for a while... And, she's has arrived.

Our friend, Susan, wrote a blog post about how she came to arrive in our family.

www.gracefilledmess.blogspot.com

We have more photos, tons more.  More to the story, lots more.  However, in our haste to travel and meet our little surprise I didn't bring the cord to connect the camera to the computer.  So, the rest of the story and the rest of the photos will have to wait until we arrive home next week.

Shabby Shack

Anytime we visit Grammie and Grampie and the boys hear me mention going down to the Shabby Shack, they clamor to go with us.  However, they do not care about actually going to the Shabby Shack, they simply want to come along because they know Grammie will be a sucker for a "little treat" at the soda fountain next door.  The boys took Grammie on a little date for a treat last time we were there.  This soda fountain looks exactly the same as it did when Mom took Carla and me there as little girls.  Kind of nice that way.

Two Wheels

I realized as I was getting ready to post these photos of the new bikes, that I never wrote about Caleb on a two wheel bike.  Caleb has a balance bike and he loved that thing and was a crazy man on it.  Here's the thing about the balance bike: no brakes.  No pedals, either, but the lack of brakes was a bit concerning.  One day while I was gone, Jamie took off the training wheels of his regular bike and I came home to crazy boy pedaling down the street (and stopping with the brakes!).  He loves it!  We have always had bikes from garage sales or hand me downs.  The tires have been a bit worn and there were a few quirks but overall, everything worked well.  However, after countless repairs this summer, we decided that bikes would be great early birthday gifts.  We've been having birthday fun with these gems for weeks :+) 

We're onto Another Year

We had a wonderful summer.  We played, swam, vacationed, played games, painted... you name it.  School started about a week and a half after we returned from vacation.  Jonathan is now in first grade and this means school for more than last year's three hours.  We loved our schedule last year and we met so many neighboring families from his class that I wasn't nearly as excited about the start to this year.  However, it has proven to be great for the biggest little man.  His teacher is amazing.  Caleb and I have volunteered in art and had lunch with Jonathan several times.  Although all transitions have their tricky parts, we are getting in a groove and first grade looks to be great!

 It was pouring when we headed out for the first day of first grade, so the customary photos are not in their usual outdoor location.

I posted all of the photos, because I think it funny to watch the slow progression of Caleb's expression to finally conclude with a smile.

The hardest adjustment has been for Big C.  Big C is ready to be big.  He misses Jonathan and he wants to do a little of his own thing.  Good thing, as his one year of preschool starts tomorrow and I think he's going to take that place by storm.  There will be no tears.  I think I'll be lucky to get a hug as he is so excited.