Station One has a pole!

We attended the 4th annual Touch a Truck event in April, and we'll add pictures from that event eventually. Thomas talked at length to Fireman Keith who attended Will's birthday party last year and was on the first firetruck that responded to our neighborhood fire last month. We learned that Station One has a fire pole to help the firefighters get to their gear and truck quickly. We had few minutes to stop and check out this pole, and we were given a very special tour by some very special firefighters. We ran into Keith at the grocery the next day, and he was pretty impressed with the chiefs' demonstration.

As we pulled into the station, Will and Thomas proclaimed, "We've seen their fire trucks at touch a truck, at school, and at the party already, so we really want to see the fire pole. We don't need to see the trucks this time." It's a good thing because the trucks were all out responding to automatic fire alarms on campus.

So....Here is what we saw! The 4 year old boys and the 2 year olds, Charlotte and John, really enjoyed our visit! (CLICK ON THE PICTURE to see the videos, then tap the edge symbol on the bottom right to go full screen!)

Thank you, Chapel Hill Fire Department! We appreciate all you do!

First Sleepover

This week, Amelia decided she wanted Thomas to have a sleepover in her room. As they were discussing it at dinner, John realized he would be left out, so he kindly let them know he would be sleeping over with them. We thought for a minute he may actually enjoy having his own room, but that was not at all important to him. He tried to tell them that he was going to sleep on the down-low (trundle) bed, but Thomas had already claimed it. We realized this was T's first time sleeping on the trundle. So, here they are, pajamas matching, with Nana blankets (made by Debra's mom, Nana) and Build-A-Bears from Grandmama (Monkey Monkey, Owen the Owl, and Rover the Dachsund) and a ton of love swirling about the room...


and here is how we found them in the morning. They slept until 6:45 - a pretty normal wakeup time.

Surprise, I made a kite!

Thomas is always putting together items to create something new. Michael usually discovers his "creations" by looking and listening to him playing. He made a pepper grinder the other day with some of our "cutting food" that has halves of produce that velcro together. He used a lemon half on top and a carrot half for the long part of the grinder. He was twisting the velcro pieces back and forth to "grind" the pepper.

When I was talking to our next door neighbor and her children in the yard yesterday, Thomas discovered the twine we used to outline the new mulched beds in front of the house. He asked if he could go make something with the string, which was, of course, fine. A couple minutes later, he comes running through the yard screaming, "Look Mom, I made a kite! Isn't it a great kite?"

Sweet Sixteen, Girlfriend!

Our dear sweet niece & cousin Allison turns 16 on Jan. 26th. She is a lovely girl in so many ways. Her smile and beautiful singing voice are just tiny little glimpses into the wonderful person she is inside. If you ask our kids, they'll tell you how she loves each of them, loves her pets, her whole big family, her parents, especially her big brother Grant in Afghanistan, and her billions of stuffed animals. God has grown her into a lovely and brilliant young lady. We all just adore her and look forward to spending time with her each summer. Sometimes we get visits with her during the winter as well.

She popped into town for a Duke BBall game earlier this month, and Michael invited her to come in and take a look at the kids who were supposed to be sleeping. I think we surprised her!


Congratulations, Brian and Marian, on your awesome little girl who is all grown up now!

Amelia seeks your help!

If you would like to read to or sponsor this Kindergartner in her first ever Ephesus Elementary Read-A-Thon, please let us know! Pledge amounts are due by Jan. 20th and the funds need to be turned in by Feb. We'll try to capture some pictures of her reading adventures!

Rokenbok

The other night some good friends came over for dinner. I looked into the living room to find all men and children thoroughly engrossed in their building projects with our Rokenbok sets. This was the scene, except their heads were all down. I tried to make them look up for the picture, but they wouldn't.

This afternoon, Thomas has been playing with a handful of pieces while I've been cleaning up, replying to emails, prepping dinner, etc. He has brought me a tall car, a crane, a truck, a long car, a race car, and an ax for cutting into burning buildings, etc. He just keeps on making items with the same 10 pieces. He is loving the kits we have, and I enjoy seeing his creativity grow and grow. I got 2 of this Deluxe set for preschoolers on kids.woot.com. He is having so much fun! http://www.rokenbok.com/estore/construction/deluxe-rok-blocks

Sweet Boys

John and Thomas are having SO much fun together each day. It took a few days after Amelia started Kindergarten for them to realize that she wasn't coming home for lunch and that they could play freely in her room without worry. John enjoys going to the baby doll crib and picking up the boy doll to take him on a stroller ride around the house. He'll often put the baby back in the crib, turn on the sound machine and shut the door quietly before informing us "the baby's asleep." He loves pretending almost as much as big brother Thomas. Dressing up in costumes, acting stuff out, playing firefighter with the random hose we have, playing with Imaginext guys, trucks, whatever. John also enjoys cleaning things, mostly his big black pickup truck. He will search the house until he finds something to spray - a hair spraybottle or more recently the lemon juice spray we use for keeping cut fruit fresh. Hearing a squirt squirt following the refrigerator door makes me jump up to wipe the lemon juice off whatever item he doused. He loves playing with the soap pump and any water faucet he can gain access to. The child locks don't actually keep him out of anywhere, but they slow him down enough that we can hear them rattling and run to get there. John is also using the potty quite frequently. Not always, but there are many days where we remove and replace the same dry diaper the entire day. Here's a picture of the two boys one morning before his speech therapist came to play. We were trying on new clothes to see who got which size, and they looked like they were going to work with daddy.