Father's Day!!

This was a great day to celebrate John and our Fathers. We have great Dads, Charles and Olen, who taught us well. Bryan, JT and Luci have a great example of what a good, Christian man is in their Daddy.


Audrey is in town with her two girls, Maggie (2) and Haley (7 months). We had a great afternoon with all of them. Here are the pictures of our day:



Aunt Luci trying to hold Haley, who is nearly as big as Luci!

My favorite picture from today! Niece Maggie is only 2 months older than Luci, but what a difference those two months make.

The girls had a blast playing dress up and jumping on the mattress in Luci's room.

Princess Maggie.

Pretty Haley

Pucker up!

John is getting Haley ready for the next Huntsville Stars game.

I think we have a gymnast on our hands! Luci.

John loves taking the kids to the creek, and taking Maggie was no exception. JT always has fun, too. Maggie said the rocks made big splashes.

The whole gang--JT, Luci, John, Haley, Audrey, Maggie and Bryan.

This was just too fun to leave out. Trying to get 3 kids under 3 to look in the right direction is difficult!

Audrey and Maggie.

Bathing Beauties.

Bryan watching (?) the girls while Daddy cooks on the grill.

PICTURES!!!!

Here are the photos I couldn't publish before. I included the text from the previous post to explain them. Enjoy!

Here are our local heroes, saving property on Wednesday, June 13. If you had really good eyes and I had taken a better picture, you could see the burned place goes on and on back there--snakes through the woods to pretty close to the neighbor's house. Yipes!


John took Luci and Bryan for a ride. Luci will tell you that she loves riding, and that she hates it--it depends on whether or not she remembers how NOISY riding the tractor is! The tractor wasn't needed when we lived in the apartment while the house was built. John's gone a whole year without his little tractor! This was a very good day.

Aubie Update: Aubie is not here with us anymore. Apparently we were just boarding him for a few weeks for a neighbor. We still have not figured out which neighbor...but Aubie appears every once in a while, neatly brushed and still well-fed. He answers to Aubie, so we hope that his real family are not Bama fans.

Luci is learning to wash dishes...or, as we say around here, Luci helps us mop the floor. She applies the water and Mommy mops it up. (John says, "what do you mean, 'Mommy mops it up?!' I do the dishes after supper around here!" Yes, you do, and I appreciate it very much. Mommy mops up after breakfast and lunch.)

JT was invited to Tyler's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. I took Bryan and Luci, too, and bought tokens for them. Everyone had a blast. Luci loved counting out her tokens. Luci was scared of the climbing equipment until Bryan went up with her. Now she loves it!

Vacation Bible School was this week. Ours is a three-day program. We would have a longer program, but as Jeannie, one of our VBS leaders says, "Three days is all the fun we can stand." The face painting booth on our last day (we had a county fair going on, really fun!) was outside the nursery window. Luci talked the nursery ladies into taking her outside to get her face painted. I think she'll be in politics someday! She can talk people into doing all sorts of things.

Luci is learning to do handstands all on her own, without any prodding from us! That bowl in front of Luci is holding a snack. It is not a doggy water bowl, no matter what it looks like. :)

Kalyn and her Mommy came over for play today. It was so fun! Kathy brought another outfit her mother, Millie, made--it is so cute. Luci's wearing the new outfit and bouncing as hard as she can. Kalyn is busy chatting on her cell phone.

Bryan was able to pick the first vegetable from our garden. He ate a tiny radish yesterday and proclaimed that it tasted just like a radish.



JT made bubble gum! Laura, Katie and Suzi-Q, JT's bringing some to share! We can have a bubble-blowing contest!

Fires

We are under critical drought warning. Extremely dry, the same conditions that Florida had when their big fire started on the Georgia border last month.

Yesterday there were fires in hay fields very close to us. If the trees had caught fire yesterday, well, I wouldn't be using this computer. It was waaaaay too close for comfort. Our neighbor, Tree, called and told me to look out the window. Black smoke. A combine had caught on fire. Her husband is a fire fighter in town but was called up to help the volunteer force out here. Tree (her nickname; her given name is Trinicia) said he'd call back if we were to evacuate. I panicked and called John, blubbering to him. Then I got the boys to get everything they thought was precious and put that stuff in the van. I got out boxes of things from China...Luci lost her home once, I am not going to let her lose her homeland twice. My stack of boxes was 4 feet tall and the boys had the XBox and various games in the van. Now I know what they think is precious! :) JT said that next he was going to get his t-shirts and pants. At least one of us would have clothes. (Luci would have something, also; I got several of her outfits and some socks and shoes, too.)

At this point of Susan's panic, Bryan came in from the backyard and said the smoke was all white. What a relief. We got in the van and drove to see the damage. It was an awesome, awful sight. I looked the area up on the Google maps. They have taken new photos of our area in the last couple of months. Our house is now on the satellite photo and the area that burned got as close as about 2,000 feet as the crow flies. All together, the field was a meandering 1/2 mile of dry hay (now ash).

THEN...Today I looked out the back window and saw smoke again! This was south of us. I called 9-1-1 and the lady there said that the fire department was already there. I asked her if the trees had caught yet, should I start packing? She put me on hold and when she came back in a few seconds, she told me that she didn't know, but the guys were already working on the fire. JT and I hopped into the van and headed out to see just where this conflagration was. It was just a bit further from yesterday's, and it was heading south, away from our house.

This is just too scary. One time, when I was about 7 years old, we were on a vacation to visit the relatives in Tennessee. I remember Grandmother saying she was praying for rain. I thought that was a stupid thing to pray for, didn't she realize we were on vacation? Mom probably thought, "oh, no, there are FIVE children and two adults in this station wagon, it had better not rain!" But now I understand, and I am the silly grandmother praying for rain.

Catching Up

I have a bunch of pictures to post, but I can't get that part to work right now. I'll just describe some of what has been going on and later post some pics.

Aubie Update: Aubie is not here with us anymore. Apparently we were just boarding him for a few weeks for a neighbor. We still have not figured out which neighbor...but Aubie appears every once in a while, neatly brushed and still well-fed. He answers to Aubie, so we hope that his real family are not Bama fans.

Luci is learning to wash dishes...or, as we say around here, Luci helps us mop the floor. She applies the water and Mommy mops it up.

JT was invited to Tyler's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. I took Bryan and Luci, too, and bought tokens for them. Everyone had a blast.

Vacation Bible School was this week. Ours is a three-day program. We would have a longer program, but as Jeannie, one of our VBS leaders says, "Three days is all the fun we can stand."

Luci is learning to do handstands all on her own, without any prodding from us! I can't wait to post that picture.

Kalyn and her Mommy came over for play today. It was so fun! Kathy brought another outfit her mother, Millie, made--it is so cute.

Bryan was able to pick the first vegetable from our garden. He ate a tiny radish yesterday and proclaimed that it tasted just like a radish.

JT made bubble gum!

You Know You Live in 2007 When....

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played Solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't#9 on this list AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.


(and I would add my reaction to this list as #16--You automatically think, "I'll post this on my blog!!")

The Weekend

John took the boys to Shoals Creek today to play in the water. The best place to play in the creek is about 5 miles from our house. The creek is about the size of the Boise River. That amazed JT, who doesn't remember wading in the Boise River to get some rocks on one of our trips. This was the first day in a week that John has felt well enough to do something. Usually on his days off, he is like the Energizer Bunny and it is hard to get him to rest, so this has been a very different kind of weekend for us. So far, thank Goodness, the boys have stayed well. Sorry there are no pictures of the fun at the creek.




Today we put in a pool! Of course, it was one we could afford. :)

She even let JT come in for a swim.
Luci ate her very first watermelon today. I was pretty excited because she has been picky and she doesn't usually like new things. I had to slice the watermelon so thin you could read through it (no kidding). Anything for adding new foods to her list!

John with Luci in the backyard.
Luci eating her noodle soup, May 25, 2007. (Notice she's not in a high chair anymore!)
Luci eating her noodle soup, October, 2005. She's grown up quite a bit, hasn't she?

These next shots are Luci being her funny self today.

Dinner, Anyone?

Here are some excerpts from a story in The Guardian today. I told you at one time about the weird food available in China, and how much I appreciate Cracker Barrel. The province talked about in this article--Guangdong-- is the one all Americans adopting pass through and we are treated to some extraordinary meals during our time there. The people of this province are known for "eating anything with four legs, except the kitchen table." And I'm not so sure even that's off-limits. One restaurant our guide took us to had boxes in the lobby filled with the "fresh catch" of the day--just like Red Lobster here at home--but these boxes had everything you could think of, from 4 different kinds of beetles (including our own familiar cockroaches), worms (silk worms and several other types), on to the more familiar toads and snakes. (When we went to this restaurant, JT and I stuck with Pepsi Cola and rice.)

Above: Here we are in that fancy restaurant: Luci is eating Cheerios from my chopsticks; John is eating who-knows-what, and JT is looking rather green around the gills. Next to JT is Jophy, our delightful guide who took great delight in our reactions to the foods here.

Pictured below: a pangolin. It is a relative of the armadillo. The article told how it is killed and cooked, but mercifully (mercy shown to you, not the pangolin), I left that part out.

'Noah's Ark' of 5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of China
· Cargo of abandoned vessel destined for restaurants

· Illegal trade drives species closer to extinction

Jonathan Watts in Beijing; Saturday May 26, 2007

The Guardian

Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.

The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.

According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.

According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle.

All of these south-east Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine.

One recent raid on a restaurant in Guanghzou turned up 118 pangolins, 60kg of snakes and 400kg of toads.

Pirates and Books

Bryan and a group of about 12 friends got to go to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night. They dressed up like pirates and had lots of fun. Apparently, Bryan was exhausted when he got home after midnight, since he is sleep-walking here (sorry, Bryan, I didn't know I caught you in mid-blink until I was posting this).

This was just a cute sight, had to take the picture! Luci has on my glasses and is reading my mystery book.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

John took the boys to see the Huntsville Stars last week. They had seats right above the home team dugout! Lots of fun. John gave them an early birthday present of new baseball mitts, in hopes of catching a foul ball.
JT brought a baseball from home for autographs--Here is Homer, the mascot, greeting the boys.
and fireworks ended a great evening.


Catching you up on Luci's virus--She is perfectly well now, for which we are very thankful. John and I have the virus now, and have about 2 days left of illness. It lasts 7 days all together. JT said his throat felt funny last night, so he may be next. We are trying our best to disinfect everything so the boys don't get sick. (Yes, Mom, we will be out there in June! So get ready!)

Some good news--Luci has slept through the night for 4 nights in a row! That is a new record. She has had lots of cow's milk, which can be a problem for some Asians, so I started giving her Rice Dream (vanilla flavor) instead for her sippy cups. That just might be the key to her sleeping all night. She still has limited other dairy products, like a little cheese or casein that is hidden in so many food items, but taking her off of straight milk seems to have made the difference.

Freaking Out

I've been asked by several people, "Why didn't you take Luci to the doctor?" or, "Didn't you freak out?" or something else similar, about Luci's high fever.

Of Course I freaked out. I prayed that the fever would go down immediately; that the fever would not cause brain damage, and that the fever would not cause a personality change because of the high temp in her brain. The fever did subside, and in about an hour it was only (only! ha!) 102°. Also, it was after 9 pm and we'd have to go to the emergency room, not a good place to be at night. Besides, John had the minivan with the car seat in it, so Luci and I were stuck at home. And I thought maybe, just maybe, this thermometer might not be accurate. But that baby sure was hot to the touch.

Since that night, her fever has fluctuated between 99.7° and 102°, with Luci really not feeling well--she finally ate some Cheerios today, and part of a doughnut. I'll try to get some chicken noodle soup in her later. Another good thing is that her temperature finally is below 99° this afternoon--a nice, respectable 98.6° (which is still about 1° above her usual).

Another thing that freaked me out is this:

I saw this spider (YUCK! SPIDER!) on the window Wednesday and had to take a picture. Is it clear enough for you? The spider is eating a mosquito. I could see the spider actually devouring this mosquito! Looks really cool. The only reason I could deal with this spider is because it is on the other side of the window, and it can't get me!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Dolly with a new hair-do. Luci gave us quite a scare yesterday. She had a temperature that started Sunday night and soared to 104.7° yesterday. Took her to the doctor, who could find nothing wrong with her (even did a blood test, and Luci did not cry or protest!). Told to wait and see if she got better by Thursday. Last night (late of course) her temperature soared to 107°! Waited until morning to see if it would go down, and talked myself out of running her to the emergency room. Any fever is unusual for Luci; with all the ear infections she's had (4 or 5 since coming home) she has only run a fever with one of them.

Thank goodness for Prayer and Tylenol. Luci's virus is gone, apparently, because her temp is now near normal--"just" 99.2°. Another indicator of normalcy, she is trying to give her dolly a hair-do (which also indicates she is moving out of the toddler stage). She is also annoying JT by sticking her grubby arm, up to the armpit, in his cereal box.

This is our new thermometer, an Exergen Temporal Scanner Infrared Thermometer (model #TAT-2000C). I could not find our old one, so I got this yesterday at Walmart. It was $34 and some change, about $15.oo cheaper than what I found on the internet when I was looking for this picture. It is so easy to use, I had to share it. Just rub it across the forehead and over the temporal artery (that's on your temple). So easy. Apparently Luci maxed it out yesterday because it only registers up to 107.4°.

Happy Mother's Day!

We are so thankful for the great Mothers we have. John's Mom, Elrino, loved everybody. She was kind to everyone, that is an amazing thing. My Mom, Audrey, put up with more from us than most moms. She told me today about the fire department, police, and who knows what other government agencies have called on her in the past, all about her SONS (she did not mention any trouble from her daughters! ha ha, brothers!). And John's step Mom, Jeannie is terrific, too. We all love her as much as our other Mothers. Luci, of course, claims her as her own.

You will never guess what I got for my Mother's Day present! I got a DOOR!

This is the basement door from the old house. It didn't match the doors in the new house, so John put it in the garage. He worked on it last night as a surprise to me. This door is special because it has the measurements of the three children on it from birth...the last measure before today's was the day we got home with Luci in August 2005.
Luci was found on what they think was her second day of life. She was measured and weighed that day, and those measurements are so dear to me. On our referral day, June 27, 2005, I went to this door and marked her numbers on the door. I got such a nice surprise! She was the exact same length as Bryan and JT on the days they were born! And her weight was almost exactly halfway between Bryan's and JT's.

Here they are now: Look how they've grown!!

Bryan is now 5' 6"; he's grown 6 inches in 20 months!

JT is 4' 8.5" tall; he's grown 4 inches since August 2005.

Luci is 1.5" short of 3'. She has grown 5 inches since she became a U.S. citizen.

Some other stuff:

We started "square foot gardening" this year. http://squarefootgardening.com Here are two of our squares--JT has peppers and tomatoes stared above, and below you can see that they have grown in just 8 days. In that blank square are some peas that have popped up through the soil, but you can't see them in this shot. They are probably overcrowded, but we'll deal with that later.

Aubie is standing guard--the Garden Guardian, I guess. He is keeping critters out of my cucumbers, mint and petunias. (No, we do not plan on eating the petunias--they are just pretty.) Below, you can see that the yellow squash has come up, too. We started with as many plants as we could so we could experience some success....since this is new to the kids and me, we are not sure just how plain old seeds will do. As for Bryan's square, his has all seeds--spinach, radishes, Brussel sprouts and tiny carrots. So far, his spinach and radishes have sprouted. There's not a photo here because it just looks like a box of dirt right now. Too hard to see the sprouts.

Mom, you'll be so glad to know that all those meals (I thought they might be experiments) did not scare me away from squash! Can you believe my kids actually like tomatoes and Brussel sprouts??!!

Introducing....Dr. Heath!

Heath graduated yesterday! Congratulations, Heath! Dr. and Mrs.



Heath and Shanna

holding

Sophia and Sara

Audrey holding Sara and Heath holding Haley

Audrey, Heath, J.T. and John (the proud Daddy!)

Bathing, Camping, and that Goofy Dog Again

Luci loves taking baths in the whirlpool tub in our bathroom (she calls it "the pool") but the kitchen sink runs a close second. This was last night--can you see the water squirting down on her from the hand-held squirty-thing (what is that thing called, anyway)? This picture shows that Luci is named just right. Luci means "light"--she is, indeed, our angel. What a neat halo!

The boys camped out in the back yard yesterday. I thought they'd be in before dawn, but apparently they didn't want to leave the X-Box and games, TV and DVDs they were watching all night. You think it does not look too level? It is flat as a pancake compared to the yard at the old house. I camped out with the boys one night there, and you had to sleep with your feet downhill because the other way made all the blood rush to your head (sleeping sideways made you slide downhill, and we'd all end up in a heap at the other end of the tent). Now for the goofy dog. There is no picture, you just have to imagine this. Aubie the Wonder Dog has been stealing our newspapers. Not so unusual? No? How about this: After reading the paper, he folds it back up, inserts it back into the plastic sleeve and brings it back! Over the past two weeks, Aubie has taken 6 newspapers and brought back 5, sometimes a day or two later. Pretty good, huh? I figure he's still working on the Sudoku puzzle in that sixth paper, and that's why we haven't seen it yet.