First Day of Weekday School

Today was Ethan's first day in the four year old program. He was pretty teary eyed this morning, but when I picked him up, he was bouncing off the walls! He said that he would not cry anymore at school because he had so much fun. I sure hope that's the case because it's so hard to leave him there when he's telling me that he just wants to be with me. I know he has to go and I need to encourage him, but it's really tough. Emerson kept running back into his room as we were trying to leave. I don't think I'd have a problem leaving her! He only had one homework assignment, but told me that he wished he had more to do. He loves any type of "homework" assignment. Even if I just have him write out the alphabet on a piece of paper! Let's pray that he always likes his homework! Here are a couple of pictures from this morning. Not great ones, but he was upset!

Let's Get Bouncin'!

Original plans were to go to the water park today, but the weather did not want to cooperate. Amanda, Jennifer and I still wanted to do something fun on the kids' last day of summer. Jennifer and I had been given a free pass to Let's Get Bouncin' in Dillon, SC when we went to The Prissy Polka Dilly Tea Party in May, so we decided to try there. We were the only ones there for almost the entire two hours that they played! It's a small place, but was nice for something different. It's the same concept as Monkey Joe's on a much smaller scale. After playing hard, we went to have lunch and let the kids play on the playground. Needless to say, they are all in much need of a bath. Although it was not sunny, it was HOT. Tonight we are going to dinner with friends and tomorrow is our last birthday party of the month. We have gone to four this month! My kids are big time cake lovers, so they have loved it! Pictures in the album.

Allergies, Allergies

As most of you know, Emerson was diagnosed with dairy allergies a year ago. After a year of breastfeeding, I tried her on cow's milk and she broke out in a horrible "rash." I had suspected she had allergies because she broke out when I gave her ice cream one time. It has been very difficult feeding her as everything seems to have dairy in it. She has gotten better with butter and mayonnaise in the recent months, so I was hoping that she would test negative for it. Wrong. She tested positive for both milk and egg allergies. The good news is, her levels were better than they were last year. I am hoping that there is something in the dairy family that she cannot eat instead of the entire dairy family. The only way to find that out is to have her try each item in her doctors office (a controlled environment). She would be tested with a small amount of something, wait 15 minutes and repeat that 4 or 5 times. She will not drink Silk, but will have it with cereal. I am not sure where her calcium is going to come from as I am really, really ready to stop pumping breast milk. Two years is long enough. Please pray that I can find some sort of calcium that she will actually eat!

Wilmington Children's Museum

My friend, Amanda and I took the kids to the Wilmington Children's Museum on Thursday. Another little girl from the weekday school and her grandmother came along as well. It was a really nice museum with lots to do. With almost 17,000 square feet, there was a lot to get to in a few hours. After we played, we walked down to the river front for some lunch. My kids were both asleep before we even left Wilmington! We will probably make it a couple time a year trip, but still love our Exploration Station! There are some photos in the web album.

Get Ready for Chills

As I am sure you all remember the horrible time we went through back in February with Emerson getting so sick. For those of you who don't, the doctors were certain that she had leukemia. God absolutely proved them wrong and we are so thankful for that. I have felt very close to God since I was saved at the age of 15, but I have never felt closer since witnessing that miracle that he performed. I know a lot of you reading this are probably shocked at my relationship with the Great Physician based on my past and there are some of you who like to question/judge it, but it is there and it is strong.

Having said that, last month my sister gave me this:
Break the monotony and do something strange and extravagant. - Emerson

Upon receiving the results by the Oncology team at Duke, I could not wait to call my sister. She had given me tons of verses to cling to during that difficult time. The one that stuck out to me was, "Do not be afraid. Just trust Me." Mark 5:36 I repeated that verse over and over. When I was finally able to call her ( a few hours later due to the time difference of 14 hours) she told me of a plaque that was on her doorstep. A woman with whom my sister had gone on a trip with had custom made it for her. She had to order the words several weeks earlier, sanded the board and painted it for my sister to thank her for planning their "girls trip." How ironic? Not irony, GOD! He speaks to us in so many ways and I think this is his motto for Emerson's life! I am so thankful to have good health for not only my children, but for everyone around me. We don't ever need to forget just what we have. Thank you, God for loving me!

Happy Birthday...Village Inn Style

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Cousin Love

My brother-in-law, Jerry, brought his three boys over to Grandpa and Grandma's last night for a visit. We ended up going out to dinner with them and then to feed the fish/turtles at our lake. The kids all had tons of fun running and playing. Emerson even lapped Conner at one point. In all honesty, I think Conner let her win. I heard him come running by saying, "I wanna chase her again!" They are such sweet little boys who completely melted my heart by their love for their Aunt Christy! Don't get me wrong, they love their Uncle Chris too, but I was the one being fought over last night! I didn't like that one bit either...can't you tell?! It's a shame that we can't spend more time with them. I think they all would grow up really close.