and he's off.....

Yay! Elijah can ride his bike w/o training wheels......this began about two weeks ago. Elijah had taken a couple of trips to the bike shop with our new vintage bikes (future blog---got lots to catch up on) to get tune ups and he spotted a bike he wants...a little red Giant. Kenny told him he can't have a new one since he still rides with training wheels....being the competitive, I"ll show you type, he asked to remove the training wheels....sigh! He reminds me so much of Ben--everything (except Lij is WAY more busy), Ben rode w/o trainers at 2 years+4 months and now Elijah at 2 years+11 months. I'm so proud of him yet he worries me that he may be growing up way too fast especially having a much older brother to follow and Elijah has proven over and over to have the second child syndrome----that of a shadow! It took him two days to master stopping by using his break and easily dismounting--most of the time, now if we can only get him to take off by himself........

Father's Day walk '09

Elijah likes to wear Ben's wrist bands that he got from a Harlem Globetrotters Basket Ball game (notice in another photo that Ben is wearing the match).

Ben--my strong guy Elijah--my wild child

see how Elijah is looking at Ben in order to choose his next move--Ben's little shadow!

"hode me, Papa"

Every year for the past 4, me and my dad take a *Father's Day* walk....this sprang from my fond memories of the times he would take us to the state parks in Ohio. Back then, he would take all of us kids (and sometimes Dolores's 5 children, when they lived with us) to Clifton Gorge, John Bryan or Glen Helen State Parks in Yellow Springs, Ohio--just outside of Dayton--and we would go on long walks. As the little kids would run and play through the woods, I would hang back and walk and talk with my dad....those times were very dear to me. So, as an annual Father's day gift, we pick a state park each year and that's were we steel time together. The first two were spent trekking back over to Yellow Springs, Ohio and the last two have been spent in Indiana--Clifty Falls in Madison and McCormick's Creek in Spencer. We had a great time, the boys always do so well out on the trail, running and being loud as boys do and discovering the natural wonders of God's creation. Our walk was cut just a little short with the threats of thunderstorms so the second half of our walk was a little hustled since I had my camera and feared it getting soaked. Ezra slept in the sleepy wrap half the time and towards the end Elijah wanted to be held. Ben was a bit upset that we had to cut out the other trail we planned to hike but quickly cheered up with the mention of stopping at the DQ for the rest of our annual event.

All in all, another wonderful memory to add to the rest....now if only I can become a better photographer to capture these moments better!

for the Lub of Coppee

I had to put a couple of these pics in of Lij wearing his rubber boots and Ben's old baseball helmet...he can be so random, I love it! SOOOO CUTE!

Lij steeling a swig of my coffee, I couldn't resist capturing it.....and I wonder why he doesn't take me seriously when I tell him NO!

oops...I didn't post those in the right order, oh well.

Elijah LOVES coffee....well my coffee, not Kenny's he informed me today. I drink mine with flavor and cream and Kenny considers himself a *purist* by drinking straight espresso (his drink of choice is a Venti Americano over ice, no water--that's six shots of espresso, yuck!). We budget in Starbucks for Kenny every week and on Sundays, on our way to church ,we stop in and I get some too. Lately I have been ordering iced coffee with half and half with toffee nut and carmel--yummy! I HATE the price of Starbucks so I recreate my own at home....I switch back between English Toffee Frappiccino and Iced Coffee with flavored cream over coffee ice cubes. I really should break down the price so I can see how much I'm saving. I have been obsessed with saving jars from spaghetti sauce (and such) and reusing them, these have now become my favorite drinking glasses. So, most days I will make myself some iced coffee and Elijah will express to me, "I lub your coppee, mommy.....I want coppee por eber". He pronounces his f's as p's and v's as b's and I joke that he is almost bilingual!

Everly Jayce

Doesn't she have the cutest baby bump.....9 months....so cute!

this was taken the monday before she delivered her 5th child....beautiful girls, huh! she can almost make ya sick!

I took these photos of Everly when she was 5 days old

My newest niece was born almost a month ago(June 25th)....she makes #14 (nieces and nephews) with two more on the way--my sis-in-law due in november and my sis Christine due in 12 days. Needless to say we have a crazy large family and my brother hasn't even started a family and one of Kenny's brothers hasn't had children yet so it's only getting larger each year!


Sadly enough, i have only seen Everly twice and when I saw her the second time, I took my camera and didn't fully capture her precious size or stunning beauty. Soon, I hope to trek over to Natalja's and photograph all the girls together.

rekindled love.....

I find myself addicted to listening to audio books once again....I use to do this a lot when I was single. I listened to Frank Peretti fiction books based on spiritaul warfare, books that became films like The Princess Bride, a few of the Left Behind books and now I am doing it again. I recently went to the library and decided to sign up for the book club realizing this included the audio books.....ah, I missed listening to them! So I looked up one of my favorite authors but none were in by Judy Blume so I searched for my new favorite book that I read a few months ago, The Shack by William P. Young....nope, sigh. determined to not give up, i decided to look for a book that i have read twice before, Deadline by Randy Alcorn---I love his books, I have read two-Deadline and the sequel, Dominion. Yay! I found a new one that he wrote....oh wait, jackpot, it's a third one in the series....I couldn't wait to see what was new with Jake, Carly, Clarence and Ollie..... :) What was even more exciting was that Benjamin got really involved in listening so much that we found ourselves waiting in the driveway listening till the end of a chapter a few times. Good book, good series. I'm currently listening to Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks in the van and Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult in the house. Ben is listening to the Chronicles of Narnia in his bedroom. I must force myself to stop listening now as it is 1:12 am and I will be getting up with Kenny at 6am, UGH!

My 3 Sons....

A hodgepodge of photos of the boys from May till now~

So much has gone on and more happens everyday, I'm so behind......so here is an update:

Benjamin [Michael Lee]~

age: 8 years old (5/11/01)

height: 4'5"

weight: 90 lbs.

favorite foods: pizza, watermelon, tacos, cheeseburgers and fries, pancakes, lasagna,
salad with croutons, bacon bits and ranch, sausage, cookies, Popsicles, sweet baby rays BBQ sauce, ketchup, choco milk, browies,rootbeer floats, blended creme frappuccinos from starbucks

favorite books: Magic Tree House book series and Cam Jansen series, listening to The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

favorite activities: riding bikes, skateboarding, playing with the neighbor boys, swimming,
soccer, playing corn hole, playing the Wii (at friends houses)

most recent accomplishment: Popping wheelies...he can just about ride a wheely now!

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Elijah [James Cole]~
age: 2 years old (almost 3-8/2/06)

height: 32"

weight: 31 lbs.

favorite foods: broccoli with ranch, watermelon, pancakes, salads with ranch, peanut butter, oatmeal with cinnamon and honey, eggs, chips (any kind) chocolate, choco milk, coffee with flavored cream (he calls it coppee) ice cream, brownies, cookies

favorite book: anything that i will read to him....LOVES Dora and Diego

favorite activities: anything that Ben is into (he is his shadow), playing in the dirt, collecting frogs(toads, really), making Ezra laugh, pestering Ben, making me angry--haha, riding bikes, skateboarding, playing with neighbor kids, playing with water whether it's with the hose, water table or my garden pond, helping me with any chore like making my bed or doing the dishes (he's very sweet).

most recent accomplishment: he now rides his bike without training wheels--he can even stop using his brakes without falling, most of the time....now we are trying to teach him how to start on his own.

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Ezra [Kye Yates]~

age: 10 months (8/27/08)

height:28"

weight: 16.5 lbs last time we checked at his 9 month appt.

favorite foods: bananas and sweet potatoes are at the top of the list but he eats lots of food (that is for a future blog)

favorite activities: crawling, eating anything he can get his hands on--especially paper, playing with his brothers toys, walking along furniture, cuddling and sucking on his fingers

words he says: mama (1st), baba ??? the boys think he is saying brother, bye bye (he also waves this) and now dada (finally he started saying this two days ago...I'm soooo glad)

words he signs: milk, all done, and he is trying to sign more (currently he kinda claps it as he says what sounds like more)

most recent accomplishments: standing by himself

Hilltop Christian Camp

Ben went to camp this year at Hilltop Christian Camp in Brown County. He attended their Day camps the last two years where they ease you into the camp experience for just the day. This year was his first time staying overnight (2 nights, 3 days). He had such a great time and his leader/counselor absolutely loved him. When I showed up to take him home she asked if she could keep him, of course he shook his head "yes". When asked if he was any trouble she said he was an awesome kid and that he sweet enough to give back rubs!!! What a charmer he is....in fact so much so that he ended up in a group with eight girls and they called there group "Ben and the Ladies".....the saga never ends! When asked why he was in a group with all girls he exclaimed that they picked him! Naturally, it has always been this way! In preschool (at age 4) he was in a bilingual class and all of the "white" girls (5 of them) in his class waited for him to arrive to school and then when he got there they ran off together to the playground....one the moms told me that her little girl kept writing him name in her notebook at home! Yikes! Last year, two weeks before school was out, he told me that he had a girlfriend, double yikes! This year, he is torn between two girls, Kristen and Arin. He spends his entire recess time with these girls pushing them on the swings or walking the track together! One day he came home from school and begged to be home schooled, when asked why he burst out with "Kristen Nelson keeps ignoring me!" Then a few weeks ago he told me that Arin broke his heart.....aww, that breaks my heart...then it makes me bust out in laughter....are you kidding me, I sure hope he holds onto some of this sensitivity! Back to Camp....so the theme was Jesus 24/7 and he learned a lot about the fact that he can communicate with God anytime and anywhere and also about the missions in Haiti and Honduras that Hilltop supports. He is eager to go back to camp...I'm so glad he had such a nice time.

Ben taking a pic of his dorm that he stayed in for two nights

When Elijah was told to give Ben a hug and kiss goodbye he began to cry

how sweet, he loves Ben soooo much!