What a unusually quiet week at our house. We only had a couple of places to be this week and we spent most of the week at home.

Tuesday we made our regular visit to the library where Samantha so enjoys her story time. Blake and I sit and play while she's in her story time. This week a gentleman played his guitar for the group.

We decided that we would like to have Samantha's blood levels checked again so Dr. Martin sent orders to have her levels checked at Children's Mercy Hospital. She had to fast for the test so we all skipped breakfast and headed out. I had prepared Samantha for a blood draw at the end of her finger like she previously had but instead they took her blood from her elbow area and took two vials. Luckily I held her, they sprayed on some numbing stuff and I covered her eyes. She was a trooper again. She always amazes me how she can handle things. She just said a couple of times how it hurt her. I'm sure it hurt, especially towards the end because I think the lab tech may have moved it around a bit and she has bruised.

The rest of the days inside playing and doing crafts. Maybe it's a preparation for our winter when we really need to stay home.

Although Blake isn't putting a lot of words together he says a ton of words. I can easily understand what he wants most of the time.

Often when the four of us get into the car we race to see who can get buckled into their seat belt first. Now often when we put Blake into his car seat he'll say "beat, beat" and acts like he's in a hurry.

Samantha started to hit the ball with the bat while we were gone. Here's a small video of her success...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmeKJgOwmTo

It's about the Parents This Time

Last week came with great anticipation, excitement and anxiety for Travis and I were headed to the Seattle area for 6 days and 5 nights WITHOUT the kids. His work was sending us out for what they call "President's Council" which really is the yearly meeting for it's administrators and headquarter staff.

We had never left the kids overnight before which caused me great anxiety. Admittedly I stressed for weeks (okay, maybe months) about it and worked hard getting them ready for our absence. I talked about it with Samantha often. I made a list for while we were gone of the little things about our kids, I made menus and put together gifts for the kids to open each day we were gone.

The kids were in great hands, Grandma Linda came for the first three days and BeBe was here for the last three days. After the first night Grandma Linda said that things went better than she had anticipated. Each day I called I was reassured that the kids were doing great and everything was going well. At the end of the week Samantha got to "busy" to talk to me which I considered a good thing.

The time with the Grandma's was priceless and we are forever indebted to them for all they did while we were gone.

Travis' company really went all out for us as they put everyone up in a great lodge in Snoqualmie, WA which is about a 30 minute drive East of Seattle. We flew out with friends of our who are also working for Adventist Care Centers (ACC) here in Kansas City. When we got into Seattle we all went to Pike's Market for a quick tour and got something to eat. After walking around downtown a bit we headed to check into our hotel.

Wednesday Travis had meetings all day and I took the morning to relax. In the afternoon my friend Kathy and I went out window shopping. It was fun to get caught up with her and see some beautiful shops.

Thursday was our free day so Travis and I headed back into Seattle. You can see our day outlined below in pictures. It was great not to be on a timeline and do what we wanted. We took advantage of it and didn't get going to early.

Friday was meetings again. I actually sat in on their afternoon meeting presented by Ridley Barron which has touched me like I haven't been touched in some time. His family went through terrible tragedy in their lives but he has picked up the pieces and continued to move on. Instead of hating God he came to terms with it and uses his tragedy to help others. That evening he had our vespers and talked about how God picks up the pieces and gives us something even better. I think the thing that really hit home was that he lost his 17 month son which is nearly Blake's age.

Sabbath was a worship service (we had great song services both Friday night and Sabbath) followed by lunch. After lunch Travis and I headed out to meet up with a friend of his in Olympia. Dan was Travis' best man in our wedding and it had been several years since we had seen him. It was great to get caught up and meet his girlfriend, Jamie.

Sunday morning we were up incredibly early to catch our flight. We had it back to Kansas City by 4:00 p.m. to have the kids act like we'd only been gone a few hours. It was great to get back and see them, hold them and hear them laugh.

We stayed at Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie, WA...
The lodge was right besides a falls where it was beautiful...

Thursday was our "free"day so we started off at the Space Needle...

From there we took the monorail...
To Pike's Market...

where a gigantic piggy bank collects nearly $8,000 each year...

the fruits and vegetables are gorgeous...

they have yummy treats...
and the most beautiful flowers that were cheap...
and the infamous fish market where they throw fish...

Samantha went to the dentist for the first time and got her teeth cleaned and checked. We were so happy she got a good report and did awesome with both professionals!

A Quick Recap...

A month has gone by of our lives and I haven’t blogged. I’m wondering where I fell off of the wagon and am hopeful I can get back to regular blogging.

From the previous post you can tell we spent some time at my parents. The kids and I made the trip up there the middle of September. The rides were great as the kids didn’t complain once about being in the car even after sitting in traffic for a long time. Paul, Jenney and the cousins were able to also join the fun at BeBe and Papa’s house for a weekend.

The kids so enjoyed the open spaces and farm. While there Samantha got a new bike. My parents had bought two John Deere bikes years ago and Samantha is big enough now to ride it. She was thrilled to pieces and rode it everyday while we were there. Just this week she told me, “Mommy, I love John Deere!”. The bike has now made her a John Deere fan as she had to have a John Deere shirt and sweatshirt while we were there.

My parents had Bald Eagles over there farm the entire time we were there. It was exciting to see the young and mature Bald Eagles fly right over their house. With bincoluars we could them feeding. Samantha even tried to use the binoculars.

We also took the kids to a farm to see the calves. The farm had probably 20 calves and different sizes and the kids enjoyed watching them and the trying to feed them hay.

One day was a day out and off of the farm. We headed to a farmer’s market that had beautiful fruits and vegetables, had crafted items and lots of delicious food options (I sampled the chocolate crepe!). The kids had a terrible supper, it consisted of fries, mini doughnuts, cotton candy and a bite of my crepe. I was surprised that the cotton candy didn’t go over that well.

Both Samantha and Blake enjoyed different things about the farm. Blake enjoyed riding on the 4-wheeler and taking rides with me while Samantha loved the turkeys and spent a bit of time out there, even a bit of special time with Papa. She tells how she got to “pet” turkeys all by herself. Blake still says, “Papa. Tractor. Hot.” Apparently the seat was hot when we set him on it.

Other highlights included cooking around and on the fire, meeting up with a college friend, visiting a couple of local shops, taking the kids to my old park, and of course, a shopping trip for me.

The weekend after we got home we went to the Louisburg Cider Mill Festival. The Cider Mill is there all of the time but the festival only lasted for two weekends. We were so glad our new friends and former neighbors told us about it. We hit all of the highlights at the festival including a face painting for Samantha and hayrides and corn maze for all. We all had a great time enjoying being together as a family and spending time outside.

We were home only a week before Paul, Jenney, Dane, Ellie and Abby came for a visit. We took them to several of the Kansas City highlights including Deanna Rose Farm, Wonderscope ( a hands-on kids museum) and Fritz’s the great train restaurant. We also got the kids’ pictures taken which turned out great. We all enjoyed spending time with them and we were so grateful that they made the trip to see us.

Both kids have seen our new pediatrician who I really like. She has give boys herself so not only does she have the doctor knowledge but she also has mom knowledge. She is very easy to talk to and give suggestions and recommendations.

Samantha went first and got her blood pressure taken for the first time. She continues to be in the 50% percentile for both height and weight. Dr. Martin looked at her legs and noticed all of the bruises and promptly said that that was good because it shows she’s active.

Blake visited next and we found out that he is in the 70% for his height and 5-10% for his weight. No wonder his 18 month clothes are still to big for him around the waist! Dr. Martin commented on his speech is doing well and then he got three shots.

Here are some other quick highlights…
*We spent last two weekends ago at the Renfro grandparents and spent time with the extended family. Samantha enjoyed playing with Uncle Jim and Aunt Cheryl’s motorized vehicles.
*After being gone from his Sabbath School two weeks Blake enjoyed being back at his Sabbath School. He started right into the program and acted really happy.
*Samantha has said, “unbelievable” and “as a matter of fact” correctly.
*Blake has started to put 2 words together. He says them kind of as each word as a sentence but it’s cute.
*We hit Midland’s JumpStart again and both kids enjoyed story time.
*Samantha has been going to her story time at the Library all by herself and enjoying it.
*Blake continues to LOVE trains. He loves train books, actual trains and play trains. He went crazy and Fritz’s
*Blake is a bit more adventurous with his food than Samantha ever was, he tends to like spices and condiments.
*Blake is in a serious "mom" stage where he wants me a lot and is looking for me all of the times.e. He also tends to be quiet and shy, especially around strangers and big public stag

Random shots...

Fun times with the cousins...

Fun at Jim and Cheryl's...

Fun at the Louisburg Cider Mill...

Our first JumpStart at Midland...