On Sunday we were eating out and for no reason at all, Orin decided he wanted to hold my hand. He said "I wanna hold mommy's hand" and actually got upset if I needed to take it away to give Micaiah some food. It just melted my heart! I think he held it for about 10 minutes. He is so sweet. It's so nice to get kisses from him almost every time I ask!
Read more...Here is Orin's April Calendar
I'm a little behind with this but here are some highlights from Orin's March Calendar.
Two weekends ago we went to "Celebrate Fairfax" which is a local, yearly festival where we live. It's a lot of fun because there's great stuff for kids. For example, there are Fire Trucks/Firemen, Police Cars/Police Men, Ambulances, Police Motorcycles, Commuter Buses/Drivers and more that kids can climb on and explore. Anyway, that was Orin's favorite part. At one part during the day Orin stood up in his stroller and fell off onto his head. Of course, he was screaming and his head was bleeding. I've always seen those "First Aid" areas at festivals but I've never had to use one. Since his head was dripping blood, I figured we should get him checked out to make sure he didn't need stitches. They were really nice and were probably happy to have someone to help :-) It's funny because his hair is so long it made it hard to get a good look...of course, he was saying "no, no, no" as they examined him and was trying to get down. But he actually did pretty well overall. We asked him if he wanted French fries or ice cream to make him feel better he chose FF. It took him a while to bounce back but an hour later he was excited to see what was next. Here is a picture they 
took of him driving the commuter bus (by the way, every time we pass a bus - which happens often - he points it out and says he wants to ride it). I've been meaning to take him on a outing where we ride a bus, so I guess this will have to hold him over until we can do it.
Since we sold our house and moved (which was January) we've been trying to get out of town for the weekend. We've done other trips to see family and friends, but we haven't just gone out of town as a family to relax and spend time together. So finally, after six months we did it. A couple of weeks ago I made reservations at a cabin in Stanly, VA, about an hour and a half away. We left Friday afternoon. We had to take Damien's car since mine was still in the shop. :-) Driving up to the cabin was pretty crazy. Luckily it was still light outside because by the end the directions were to the effect of "turn right after this sign, pass a pond and turn left at the T in the road, go right at the next fork past the pond" etc... I guess these are so new that they don't have any street signs up yet. The cabin was adorable. It was small but was really new with two bedrooms, a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and a hot tub on the screened in porch with a beautiful view. After dropping off our stuff we ventured back down the mountain to a little diner. We knew we were in a tiny town when the place didn't take credit cards (we had no cash either so they reluctantly took a check) and the dinners were less than $5. We had country fried steak, mac&cheese, etc... We must have all been starving because we ate every bit of food. Micaiah enjoyed the green beans, mac&cheese and French fries from Orin's plate. It's was also sort of strange when we were asked "So, are ya'll from the city". Orin was really excited to sleep because he got his own double bed in his own room. Anyway, Saturday we relaxed in the morning and I cooked a HUGE breakfast which doesn't happen often right now because of our living situation. We decided to try to go canoeing. We called "Shenandoah Outfitters" and they said that they would allow infants so we decided to go. Ironically, after we parked and were walking to the office, we see a man running towards us and I thought, wow, that sure looks like a friend from work. And wouldn't you know that it was him! What are the odds? Anyway, Orin was so excited to go on a "boat" and was probably just as excited to ride in the truck that took us to it. We did the 3mile run since we didn't know how the kids would do but they were great. Orin went back and forth sitting next to Damien and I and of course wanted to row. Micaiah had to be held because the life jacket was so big that he couldn't sit alone. But he still seemed to be having some fun and fell asleep for the last 15 minutes. After two miles we pulled over and swam for a while which Orin loved. Speaking of swimming, Orin has surprisingly gotten a little less adventurous in his old age. Six months ago he would have just gone off until we stopped him. Now, if the water is too high he'll cling to me and will only venture on his own after getting more comfortable. At one point I lost my shoes and as I turned around to get them Orin fell over in the water and couldn't get up. He was only under for about 4 seconds before Damien yelled to me to get him, but he was definitely scared. But we took him back out right away and he calmed enough to walk on his own again. Saturday evening I cooked dinner and we ate outside on the bug-free screened porch and Orin and I swam in the hot tub and then we took a bath in the jacuzzi inside. Sunday was another lazy morning with another big breakfast. The cabin came with free tickets to Luray Caverns which is supposedly the best cabins in the east so we decided to go. We were glad to have the tickets when we saw that they cost $20 a piece! We also did this great maze that they had there. It was actually pretty confusing and took a while to figure out. On the way home we stopped in Front Royal, VA to eat at a Mexican restaurant we had been to about 3 years ago coming home from hiking. We force down some Frozen custard from a local place and headed home stuffed and exhausted and got in around 7. It was a really great time and we really needed it.
I had a new experience today. Yes, I have had car trouble before, but not this. I was sitting in HORRIBLE traffic (I needed to go about 2 miles and had already been on the road for 15 minutes) at 5pm today when I noticed a lot of smoke around me. My first thought was "Wow, someones car is really smoking badly." Well, when the cars around me moved on and the smoke was still there, I realized it was my car! I looked down at my temperature gauge and it was past the "H". "What should I do" was the first thing that came to my mind. We had just finished swimming with friends and were returning to their house (we're staying with them while the parents of the friends we are living with are visiting for a week). I was trying to keep Orin awake until we got home so he could take a nap and I was really frustrated at our lack of movement on the road. I quickly pulled off of the road into a business parking lot since I had no idea what was wrong but new it couldn't be good. I called Damien to say "Help, come and get us" and after a quick call to my dad who is always the first person we call with car questions, who said to definitely not drive anywhere, I called AAA. Which, by the way, when you're living in a city with no family, tons of traffic and friends who live as far away as 30 miles, AAA is possibly the best $80 you could spend every year. :-) I'm glad I talked to my dad since AAA usually takes 1-2 hours to get to you. So instead of waiting until Damien got there and us just sort of sit around wondering what to do before we decided on AAA, I got a head start on it. This time the tow truck came in about an hour -way faster than I expected since it was rush hour when I called - and we were off to drop the car a Midas. Thanks to cell phones, a husband who left work as soon as I called to rescue me, a dad who knows a lot about cars, goldfish, Cheerios & passys in the diaper bag to keep the kids occupied, still having Micaiah's old car seat in Damien's car so we only had to move one seat, a stroller for Orin to push Micaiah around in to pass the time, a phone book that I keep in the car (perfect for finding a close mechanic), 411 when I realized I didn't write down the address of the mechanic and the phone book was in the car up on the tow truck, after hours drop boxes, and the rain pour waiting to start until I dropped the key in the box, we arrived safely back at the house 15 minutes before people arrived for Bible Study. Just enough time to make grilled cheese! Hopefully when they call tomorrow (after 9am as I requested) the car won't take to long to fix or be too expensive. As bad car experiences go, this one wasn't so bad.
Read more...Well, I think it's officially started. We have a little bit of whining, a touch of drama, a dash of crying at the drop of a hat and a few "No Mommy!", "No Baby!", and "I wants!" My happy all the time Orin is not so happy...well at least some of the time. It definitely seems to be worse when he doesn't get his naps or if he's sick. Last week he was sick and got completely off schedule so I'm hoping it's also part of that. Actually, it was interesting. Orin had a fever in the evening and went to bed around 10pm and didn't wake up until about 1:30pm the next day! He then took a 3 hour nap from 5-8pm. Needless to say he wasn't tired at his 10pm bedtime, so he didn't end up getting to bed until 1am and then woke up at his normal 9am. The next day we were at a fair all day and he didn't get a nap. So I'm sort of hoping he's still trying to get back to normal. But there is definitely a change. Of course, it's not all bad. He's talking so much and understanding a lot more as well. He is testing his power and although he usually does so by crying when he doesn't get his way to see if I'll change my mind, it's so much fun watching him grow up. I'm also getting to practice testing and praying for my patience! Ironically, it seems to have come at a bad time - right when Micaiah is becoming more and more mobile. I think I heard "No baby" at least 20 times today. The funny part is that Micaiah could be across the room, but if he so much as heads in Orin's direction, even for a completely different toy, Orin freaks! Of course, Micaiah is obvious and has a constant smile on his face. Sometimes it becomes a game where Micaiah is "chasing" Orin as he runs behind the bed. I like those times. But otherwise, we try to either explain that Micaiah doesn't even want that toy or that Micaiah is just a baby and loves his big brother and wants to play with him (usually this doesn't change Orin's mind). Orin will still often share with him which is great, but at other times he'll just say "No baby!" over and over. Luckily, Micaiah still gets lots and lots of kisses from Orin. So now when anything happens that Orin doesn't want to he says "No baby" (even if it has nothing to do with Micaiah) which is on top of his saying "Oh, no, Mommy" whenever anything hurts or upsets him even if I'm no where around. Are all kids this cute!
Read more...It was SO nice to have my sister Emily here last week. Before she came, I was anticipating how nice it would be to see her and spend time with her. 
But I had no idea what a huge help she would be. I'm constantly running around with the kids - it's unusual to be at home for an entire day without leaving - and it was incredible to have an extra pair of hands around. It makes me want to get a nanny! j/j :-) Although it does remind me how much I miss having 
family around. It was good to just hang out with her and get to know her better. Anyway, I was worried that she might be bored here for 9 days so I tried to plan as many activities as possible. I had a lot of fun and I hope she did too. Here is a break down of our visit.
Sunday, May 28 - Her plane got in 20 minutes early so I didn't get there to meet her at baggage. But she did great and found her bags and met me outside.
Monday, May 29 - Memorial Day (see post); that night we went back to the Bailey's house to spend the week there. They have an extra room in the basement so she got to have her own room as opposed to sleeping in the den with us. We stayed there until Saturday morning.
Tuesday, May 30 - We went grocery shopping and then to Great Falls national park. It was fun to hike a little and look at the waterfalls. It was pretty hot!
Wednesday, May 31 - Strawberry picking! That night was Bible study and she was gracious enough to babysit all of the kids.
Thursday, June 1 - I introduced Emily to Indian food. We went to a buffet for lunch. I think she liked it! That afternoon I took her to a mall (a huge mall) and we shopped.
Friday, June 2 - We went to see "Mr. Knick-Knack" at the mall. He is a children's performer who performs in the 
play area every Friday. We used to go see him a lot but hadn't been in a while since I'd been working. We ate lunch and then we back to the house and Orin and Skye swam while Emily laid out. I took a nap! That night we went with the Baileys to the "Herndon Festival". By the way, 
it is so nice to have friends with our schedule. Most people we know with kids are early rises and the kids go to be early and stay on a pretty fixed schedule. The Bailey's are very laid back and spontaneous as are we. They also let their kids stay up late and sleep in. :-) We didn't get to the festival until 9pm. Orin was sooooo excited to ride on the bus from the sparking area to the fair. We sang "The Wheels on The Bus" almost the entire way. Once we got 
there we grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the area where the rides were located. We noticed a sign that said "Fair Closed" which didn't make sense since there were TONS of people and all of the rides were going. After some questions, we found out that they weren't selling any 
more tickets for the night and we couldn't get into the main area. :-( I was most disappointed since I wasn't going to be able to get cotton candy. There was a booth to get Funnel Cake so we stopped and ate for a while. Micaiah was fussing a little so Damien did something I 
never thought I'd see. He was dipping his passy into the powdered sugar and giving it to him! Needless to say, Micaiah loved it. After the funnel cake we all got some ice cream. The only ride outside of the main area was a Carousel so we bummed some tickets from people (actually, we offered to buy them but they gave them to us for free) and got enough to get the kids on. Orin really loved riding on the horse with Aunt Em-O-ly. Damien got a snow cone which Micaiah chowed down on as well. We left around 10:45pm to head back to the cars. Although we didn't get to do what we wanted, we had a blast and I think the kids had fun too.
Saturday, June 3 - We moved back to our place. We relaxed most of the day and went to church at 6pm. I didn't realize that we were already in June and didn't know I was suppose to supervise the nursery so it was good we went. After Church we went to a good friend Brandon's house to hang out. We had been trying to get together with him for a while. We came back to the house at 10 (Brandon came back with us) and watched the movie "Jesus Camp". It was a documentary about a Pentecostal camp for kids in North Dakota. I feel asleep around 1:30am but Brandon and Damien stayed up talking until almost 4am which happens every time they get together.
Sunday, June 4 - We were supposed to have a church-wide picnic at a local park but the weather was bad so they moved it to later in the day at the church. So we hang out at the house until the picnic at 4pm. After the food was an "Evening of Worship" that our church as once a month where we just sang for about an hour. It was great because the kids were with us and Orin enjoyed watching the guitars and drums.
Monday, June 5 - We went to a Chinese Buffet for lunch with friends. I wanted to take Emily to the pool at a local park but when we got there it was closed. So we went to the local Rec Center and swam at the indoor pool. It was great because they have a pretty nice swim area for kids and some water slides - all indoor.
Tuesday, June 6 - Took Emily to the airport. As we were leaving the house, Orin saw us bringing the suitcases and ran to get his Elmo suitcase. He brought it with us to the airport. So cute! We were able to get a pass to walk to the gate with her. Orin was a little disappointed because he wanted to go on the plane. We said our goodbyes!
Just wanted to give a plug for Insty Prints. They are graciously printing all of our newsletters at no cost - and they look AWESOME! One of the ways we been blessed so far by so many...
Read more...
Something you won't see in our house but what seemed to be Orin's favorite toys while staying at a home with a little girl. Maybe we should get some????
Last week I had my first Strawberry picking experience. What a blast. I can't believe how many farms there are near by where you can "pick your own". Emily, the kids and I and my friend and her two kids headed to a farm about an hour an a half out west last Wednesday. We put our car seats in Maggie's car and all rode together. The farm we went to was great. They had animals to pet, a childrens area which included this huge bouncer type thing for the kids to jump on a mase, and tractor to drive us out to the fields, and more. We decided to head to the strawberry fields first. Unfortunately, Orin was incredibly obsessed with the tractor. Coupled with the fact that he was a little tired, much of his time spent picking was also spent saying "I wanna go tractor, I wanna go tractor". It seems when Orin is tired he gets fixated on something and can't get his mind off of it (it happens most often with wanting to drink some juice when we're completely out). Despite the fact that we must have picked the hottest day of the year so far and some knats here and there, it was great to just pick strawberries and pop them right into your mouth. I loved watching Orin get so excited when he picked one (he didn't quick get the fact that we were looking for the biggest, reddest one and often pick some smaller green strawberries), eat the entire thing -including the green stem - , and have the red juices dripping out of Orin's mouth onto his shirt. After walking back to the play area, we sat in the shade and watch Oirn and Skye play and get completley muddy. We bought our strawberries (for $2.29/pound) and headed home. All four children and Emily were asleep before we left the premises. Since we were staying with Maggie we made some yummy strawberry shortcake for our Bible Study group and ate strawberries with dinner. Cherry and blueberry season are next and I think we'll be back.
Having three of our six siblings together is a pretty big feat and we did it this past Monday. Emily is visiting since my parents are in Hawaii (yeah, poor things). On Memorial day we decided to take the kids to a near-by park which has a great kids swimming pool to swim and grill out. Joel was free so we all went together. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there how nice the pool/water slides/kiddie area were considering it is a public park. Just another reminder of what a wealthy area we live in and all of the tax money they have to spend :-) Anyway, unfortunately, we couldn't find any available grills. I guess Memorial is a pretty big holiday...On a side note, I was thinking about how much we don't truly celebrate these federal holidays. How silly it is that we so lightly take a day to "memorialize" brave people who have given their lives for our country. Of course, I'm no different than anyone else, but for some reason I was a little convicted at how we cook out and party on a day we are supposed to be contemplating such a serious sacrifice. Anyway, of course it took us an hour to get out of the house with everything we needed to swim. We made the mistake of telling Orin that we were going to go swimming and for an hour all we heard was "I wanna go schwimming" over and over. We stopped at the grocery store to 
pick up some food and grilling supplies and headed to the park. Unfortunately there were no grills open so we decided to go to the pool first. Orin could barely contain himself when he saw the pool. It was nice to have the extra hands of an Aunt and Uncle. The weather was beautiful so the pool was a little cold. Orin walked around the shallow area and shivered, of course with a smile on his face every minute. He is actually beginning to 
get a little cautious with things he does. He wasn't fond of the slide after going down with uncle Joel and landing under water. It didn't help any when I convinced him to go down with me and we ended up under water as well. My big surprise was how much Micaiah loved the water. We just sat together in about 6inches of water. Micaiah splashed and just watched all of the kids. After swimming for about 3 hours, we left to try to find an open grill to no avail. So we decided to head to another park where we found plenty of grills and ate some wonder food cooked by "Uncle Jew" (Joel). What a nice day!
I can't believe how busy we've been this spring. Damien & I innocently thought that moving into a smaller place would simplify our lives, but although I may spend less time cleaning, everything else seems to be speeding 100 miles/hour. It seems that for the past 2 months we've been constantly going, going, going. The good thing is that I like (to an extent) being busy and having lots to do. But every once in a while I like to have a weekend of downtime. We've been trying to go out of town for the past couple of months just for the weekend but so far we haven't been successful. The following sums up the past couple of months:
4/20-5/1: Berean's Missions conference and visiting family. Although it was a whirlwind 10 days, it was so nice to visit with family and share our new ministry with family an friends. We went to the NO Aquarium, had a Crawfish Boil, celebrated Orin's 2nd and Pops birthday, spent time with extended family and spoke at multiple church groups.
5/2-5/13: Christina and Rob visited. It was great to have Aunt Christina in town for a couple of days all to ourselves. We ended up spending a lot of time running errands which is such a huge help for me (it's amazing how much an extra pair of hands makes trips to the store go more quickly). It also reminds me of how sad it is to live away from family. Orin so enjoys when family visits. He falls in love with them so quickly. It also makes me sad because or family is not having the privilege of enjoying our children.
5/13-5/26: We house-sat/dog-sat for some friends. It was sort of nice to have an entire house completely to ourselves. We cooked big breakfasts, had the kids sleeping in their own rooms and Damien had a much shorter commute to work. It was also nice for the boys to be able to take baths together before bed (at home I give baths during the day since the kids who live here go to bed very early). I had my last MOPS meeting of the year which was a little sad since I won't be on leadership next year (due to the fact that, Lord willing, that we won't be here for the entire MOPS year next year). We also spent these two weeks hunkering down and trying to get our Spring newsletter out and sending letters to some churches in the area. Micaiah was since for about 4 days with a pretty high fever (104) which Damien caught a few days later. We also had some missionary friends visit who we hadn't seen in a couple of years. With all of that on top of church activities/VBS meetings, we were busy, busy, busy.
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