Training

I snapped this picture on Sunday. Eli was getting a lesson from Mr. Calvin, our organist. I love it when our children learn from people in our church and learn how to serve the church!

Perhaps one day Eli will be praising the Lord with beautiful Organ music!

Is It Possible?

I'm seriously wondering...is it even possible to get a "good" picture of 4 kids at the same time?

By good I mean, smiles - not the fake kind and eyes that don't bug out at the camera.

Maybe it's just not possible!

I guess I will settle for a picture with 4 kids - who are pretty cute even with their eyes bugging out and their fake smiles!

New Beds

This summer (yes, I know it's officially fall, but I'm still playing catch up)...anyway...this summer both Maddie and Eli got "new" beds.

With Maddie we simply took the front off her crib and made it a toddler bed. She loved it. She only fell out 2 times the first night. Since then she has done wonderfully. With all my kids, I trained them to stay in their beds. Maddie did/does great at that too. She won't get out of bed at night without yelling for me and she won't even get out at nap time! She's doing pretty good at this big girl stuff! As you can see, everyone enjoys hanging out in Maddie's room!

This summer also meant a new bed for Eli. We were given this bed when some friends found out we had been looking for one. See Eli is a little rough, and his toddler bed didn't last as long as we would have liked. So honestly, he had been on the mattress on the floor for several months. When we realized we were not moving, we decided we couldn't wait longer and we were excited to get this bed!

Eli was so proud of his new bed!

He still loves it and loves climbing in and out!

Below he and Daddy are reading a Bible Story together!

Like Father Like Son

There are times when these 2 are more like brothers, or even twins!

It's not just there names that are the same and aren't they just so cute?!

I love my Ronnie's!

A Fun Visit

On Wednesday, Grandma and Grandpa Adkins came for a visit. They came to help celebrate Nathaniel's birthday, but I have to tell you - Maddie and Eli really took advantage of the time while Ronnie and Nathaniel were at school!

There was lots of snuggling, bonding and catching up!

Then there were new things to learn.

and of course, everybody was interested!

There was time for Baseball

walks,

just chatting,

more baseball,

hugs,

more snuggles,

more hugs

(this is how 8 year old boys hug - they allow themselves to be hugged - and really if you are the recipient of such a privilege - consider it a privilege),

it's always hard to say good-bye...

to family

(3 generations of Ron's!)

so we'll just say - Until next time!

high-five's are a great man way to say good-bye

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a great time and a fun couple of days! Sorry things are/were so crazy around here.

We love you and are so glad you came to visit!

Come Back Soon!

Celebrating Seven

Yesterday we celebrated Nathaniel's 7 years! The only problem is that we had to wait until he got home from school! Then...can you believe, he had homework?! He got it done quickly and the celebrating began!

What better way to celebrate than to have Grandparents!

We were blessed to have both mine and Ron's parents able to come for a few hours together.

Even my Grand-parents were able to come!

Our kids are very blessed to have both sets of Grandparents as well as 3 Great-Grandmas and 2 Great-Grandpa's!
Nathaniel Blake with Pap (Blake)

Pap thought he needed Birthday spankings.

Lucky for Pap, Nathaniel didn't fight him on it!

Beow Gramps gets his 7 in.

Nathaniel ordered pizza for his special birthday meal.

Here he is enjoying it with his new Indians hat and Brutus.

Ronnie even read Nathaniel's new book to him and to Eli.

Nathaniel's expression at the sight of his cake, made the hours spent on it well worth it!

This sports lovin' little man couldn't decide between Indians and Buckeyes - so we went with both!

I thought this was a cute picture of his siblings chekcing out the cake!

Nathaniel was able to end his day by trying out some new games...

and watching the Indians play. We had hoped that his Birthday would be announced on STO (Sports Time Ohio), but aparently there were a lot of Indians fans born on Sept 22nd !

Nathaniel we hope you had a great Birthday and we look forward to many many more years celebrating with you!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Seven Years Old

Today our Nathaniel Blake turns 7!

My little man is becoming quite the Little Man! He's not a "little" boy anymore! He's huge. Seriously he could pass for an 8 or 9 year old by his outward appearance. Inwardly, well, he's my sensitive, caring, compassionate and loving Nate! Almost always thinking of someone else! Deeply caring for those around him!

He's a fun boy to be around and loves loves loves sports! He can't decide what is his favorite sport (which you'll see from his cake later on).

He wakes up early...snuggles into daddy's chair...

just so he can watch the Indians game replay from the night before!

what little boy does that before school every morning?

And today that same little man will turn 7 years old!

He's pretty excited that Grandpa Adkins is here. He got to watch some Indians play last night and gets to watch them tonight with his Grandpa! Can't beat that!

I'll post more of our days activities later, but for now I wanted to wish our Handsome 7 year old,

A Very Happy Birthday!

We love you Nathaniel!

(feel free to leave him a birthday wish in the comments below)

That Time of Year

It's that dreaded time of year again...

Homework time!

One of those things that must be done, but really not so fun!

A Graduation

If you haven't read the post below titled, "A Very Important Milestone", I would suggest you read it first!


Because of Maddie's big accomplishment, Ron and I have now entered a new phase of parenting. After 9 years of buying diapers and or pull-ups or something of that nature.

We have officially graduated!

I just loved Graduations! And this one has been a LONG time coming!

A Very Important Milestone

I have missed blogging on a very important part of Maddie's summer!

This summer she was
Potty Trained!

She really has done a fabulous job with this and I am impressed with how different she was than the boys. So much easier! We still had our moments, but so much better!

I would say for well over a month now Maddie has been officially potty trained.
Yes, she still has an occasional nighttime accident, but for the most part she is doing wonderfully!

And so proud of herself too!

We Made It

Well...we almost made it!

Ron is stuck in traffic south of Dayton, but he's on his way!

He had a pretty productive week. He met with advisers, students, mentors and friends and did lots of reading and studying! This is going to be a long hard process that is now underway!

I'm just excited that in just a few more hours we will have survived Wilmore Week #1!

YEAH!

Thank you for your prayers!

Granny and Gramps

Yesterday, Maddie, Eli and I went to visit Granny and Gramps. It had been way to long since we had been for a visit so we were all excited for our morning outing! We dropped the boys off at school and then headed to Payne, Ohio!

Eli was probably the most excited. He really wanted to play the "planno"!

Maddie saw how much fun Eli was having and decided she wanted a turn too!

She danced and sang to while playing - she's multi-talented!

There are always lots of fun things to do at Garnny and Gramps house.

My dad was visiting too, so it was even more fun! Pap too!

Thanks Granny and Gramps for a fun visit!

We promise we won't wait so long the next time!

See you soon!