William's 4th Birthday

Well, it's hard to believe that William is already 4 years old. He went from this

to this

in what just seems like overnight!

This morning we started off his day in our bed for pictures and presents. It was a big birthday morning for William as Zachary, Kyle and Catherine each had a present for him this year and Mom did quite well shopping after Christmas sales!

I should also note that the first words out of his mouth this morning were - "did you buy me a kite?" Now, keep in mind that just yesterday he informed me that he wanted a kite for his birthday. Thank goodness, by chance, I had a kite - two actually - under my bed that I had bought to take on vacation last year and forgot!

You never know what they're going to come up with next!



He also was not excited to have pictures taken, but I managed to get a couple.









As far as a cake goes, William also informed me that "I hate cake. I want blueberry muffins." So we had muffins and sang Happy Birthday at breakfast.

Aunt Amy's Chicken

Sunday, while I spent the day with Mark at the hospital, Aunt Amy (my sister) came over to spend the day with our four kids.

When I arrived home, all I heard about was Aunt Amy's Chicken. They went on an on about it, like it was the best thing since sliced bread! Well, it was so good, that not only did they eat Aunt Amy's Chicken on Sunday, but they also ate it on Tuesday and again on Thursday! With no leftovers!

So, if you're ever hungry and want some good chicken, call upon Aunt Amy and maybe she'll make you some of the secret recipe!

KFC may be calling soon, but it's now an official Family Secret Recipe!

Easy Bake Oven

Who invented the Easy Bake Oven? I'd say he/she wasn't very smart, but considering the number of ovens sold over the years, I guess that wouldn't be a true statement.

Let's just say, that William has been dying to make something in the Easy Bake Oven since he saw one on the shelf at Target. Of course, I told him we had one at home and finally after about two weeks we have located the Easy Bake in the bottom of Catherine's closet.

So, being the good Mom that I am, today was the day dedicated to baking brownies Easy Bake style - one at a time, over the course of three or more hours!

Thankfully, after the first one came out and William took a bite he looks at me and says "Mom can we just make the rest of them the old-fashioned way in the oven?"

I just wanted to kiss his little face and say "I told you so", but I didn't. Some lessons in life you just have to learn through your own experience. The Easy Bake Oven and the fact that it doesn't work like you want it to, is just one of those lessons!

The picture tells the whole story:

Update

Well they admitted Mark on Saturday night/Sunday morning! Ran tests and a CAT scan of his stomach and came up with nothing. Probably some sort of infection having to do with the small and/or large intestine, but possible a blockage in the small intestine.

We're home now, after two long days! My prediction is that we will probably be back to the ER before long! Hopefully he will get in to see a GI Gastro....Internal...Specialist or something like that.

I think Mark wanted to come home to get some sleep. St. Elizabeth South is anything but quiet!

The best part is that Sunday morning at 4 am, Mark called from the hospital to say he was being admitted, but that I shouldn't come until morning. Okay, so then, why did he feel the need to wake me up at 4 am!! He claims he thought I would be worried, which I was, but worry let me at about 1 am when I traded it in for sleep!

William then woke me at 7 am saying "it's morning time - get up."

So anyway, thanks to Amy who spent Sunday with our kids and to Lois and Alfred who spent Monday with them so that I could sit in the hospital and keep Mark company.

Hopefully he's on the mend, but only time will tell.

Thank God for the ER, I hope

So, as I write, Mark is at the ER for whatever is going on with his stomach. It has been a very long week of ups and downs in the medical area of our family! Mark went to Urgent Care tonight and they basically told him to go to the ER. I pray it's not serious and also that they can tell him what's wrong!

Speech and Drama Competition

Another Speech & Drama competition! I was very thankful, as I'm sure Zachary and Mark were also, that Regional Competition was close today - it was at Ockerman Middle School.

Zachary did very well, placing 2nd in Solo Acting with Baby in the Bathwater, 1st in Declamation with the Ryan White Speech and 1st in Duo Acting with Lexie DelaGarza with their Barbie & Ken piece!

Coming up soon is KESDA and KHSSL, two state competitions!

Congratulations and good luck!!

Sleepovers

Define sleepover?

Mom: When you or a friend are at one another's house so late that it doesn't make any sense to come home, then you sleep over!

Any of my Children: It's Monday morning and the first thing out of their mouths is Can xxxxx spend the night on Friday?

Sometimes, they make me crazy. Why can't they just enjoy the day that God has given them and not always be planning planning planning! They sometimes plan so much, that they don't enjoy what they already have.

Sleepovers, can be fun, but too many kids can also be loud!

Of course, right now at 7:40 am, five sleeping kids are a gift from God!

I love the noise, love the kids, love all the activity, but at midnight, enough is enough!

Blog Title Change

Okay, so Kelly and I finally got the family blog set up, so I've changed the name of my personal blog from Aunt Anne's Blog to Life On Graves. Hopefully I will be better at this than I have been at real journals that require pen and paper.

I have so many paper journals started that one day I'll have to put them all in some kind of order.

Last week we had what the news people were calling "the worst ice storm in the history of the tri-state." It was bad enough to actually call off school in the Erlanger/Elsmere district for four days - Tuesday - Friday. Boone County was off the entire week, but that's nothing new.

Today, everyone went back to work and/or school! Of course there's a chance of snow again tonight, so who knows what will happen in the morning!

This is what our house looked like last week:



Children are calling, so I better go and get them ready for bed!