Getting to know Shiloh

We had let Shiloh sleep inside that last 5 nights. She has done great. No accidents. However she will chew up napkins, papers, shoes and legos if they are left it the kitchen. We keep her pinned in the kitchen but have let her play in the living room if we are in there. If she gets on carpet for more than a few minutes she usually has an accident

She is very sweet and good natured. She really loves the kids. However she is a jumper which is a challenge at times and can be annoying.

Above is Ezra loving on Shiloh. Below is how I found Malachi and Shiloh this afternoon.

Newspaper boy

Every day Ezra and Malachi take turns getting the newspaper. On Saturday and Sunday there are two newspapers to get because Granny gets the weekend papers. This morning, Ezra brought in Granny's paper and set it on the table, then we heard a bang at the door. I looked at the front door and this is what I saw.


I guess somedays are a little tougher than others when you are the newspaper boy.

Shiloh

So now we have a dog. And everyone is very happy. We named her Shiloh. The boys are so thrilled and are certain that God has answered their prayers--which He has. Tuesday we took her to the vet. They gave her a pill to kill all her fleas and scanned her for a microchip which she didn't have. Since she didn't have a microchip and we can't find her previous owner, we decided to put her on trial. On Wednesday we took her back to the vet and had her checked for heart worms and health problems. She also had her Rabies shot and another vaccination. She was very healthy and the vet thinks she is between a year and a year and a half.

Here are all the boys playing with her in the yard and the one below is Malachi with her. We aren't certain if she is house broken, so for now she is staying out more than in. She is also a puppy and still chewing on things so we are concerned about her chewing up toys. Shiloh is actually resistant to coming in the house. But after a day on the flea treatment and 3 baths, we drug her in and she peed on the floor. The next time we brought her in, we pinned her in the kitchen. She hasn't had another accident. Finally this morning she came in without having to be picked up and drug in. The boys are enjoying her so much. She is enjoying them too.

Batter Up

At least once, if not twice a week, we go out into the front yard and play ball after dinner. Sometimes kickball, sometimes football and sometimes baseball. This was the scene from tonight's game. I thought it was just precious to see Ezra catching for Malachi--that was a first.

Are you supposed to stand of chairs?

Last night, Jonah fell off of a chair he was standing on and broke his arm. Actually he fractured both bones in his right forearm near his wrist. Instead of rushing through dinner to make it to church by 6:30, Jon and I went to the ER with Jonah.

He was in so much pain that I knew he was hurt. Dad came over (at Jonah's request) to look at it and wasn't sure what to say, but was in agreement that he was in a lot of pain and it wasn't just an act.

Jonah had a rough night and was hurting a lot this morning, so Jon put him on the couch with some ice.

Jon found a cartoon on the computer and let all the boys watch it in the living room -- special treat.

Elijah's Crohn's Disease

Today we saw Elijah's doctor, who was very pleased with his progress. He is doing so much better and the Crohn's Disease medicine and the Predinisone are really working. He is healing well from his inflammation and infection and the doctor is thrilled.

Elijah has never had so much energy or looked so healthy. He has gained 5 pounds in 8 weeks and his skin has color and a healthy glow.

We thank God so much for taking Elijah through this hard time and getting Elijah the help that he needed to get better. We know that he will get sick again if he comes off his medicine, but we are just so happy with his current state.

The Dog Days of Summer

When your kids have been praying for and begging for a dog for months and then one appears in your backyard, do you assume it is from God? Kids do.


Right before dinner, I sent the kids outside to burn some energy. Five minutes later Jonah busts through the front door to report, "There is a wild dog in the backyard and it looks like it would be good with kids." Second later the phone rang and it was mom, "Come see what the kids found in the yard."

My first impression was that she was a boxer puppy. But after getting closer to her I realized that she wasn't a boxer, just colored like a boxer. Her fur is more like a lab and her temperament like a 1 year old puppy.

Apparently this little, hyper dog came storming out of the woods while the boys were playing on the playground. She was covered in fleas and ticks and didn't have a collar or tag. She responded quickly to the command to "stay down" and seemed like a very sweet, good-natured dog. Dad came over and took off her ticks, while I got some dog shampoo and we washed her in the back yard with the hose and gave her a flea treatment. (I probably got 25 flea bites on my ankles during this bath.)

We put her in Mom and Dad's fence and went to eat our dinner. Jon got home around 7:30 and we walked him over to Mom and Dad's to meet the dog. He was not too sure what to think or feel about it (after a long afternoon of counseling), but we knew was a good dog and pinned her in our backyard for the night. We will see what comes of it.

No crib to be found

For the first time in almost 10 years, there is no crib to be found in my house. Malachi has officially and happily moved to a big boy bed.

This is him napping this afternoon in his new "big boy bed".

Tomatos

I haven't tired to have a garden in 8 years, but this year I thought I would try a tomato bush in a pot on my deck. By mid-June, I had my first tomato and a bush full of green tomatoes.

Today I picked a tomato that was 14 inches around. And boy, did it taste good.

Chuck E Cheese

All summer we have kept a chart about the kids eating habits and chores. They get checks when they drink water, eat healthy foods and do there chores. They don't always do a great job of marking there charts, but none-the-less they are keeping motivated. When they reached a certain number of "checks" they earned a "special" treat. So today we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for a couple of hours. We didn't eat or sit down, we just played.

Mommy, Daddy and Malachi like the basketball shot game the best.

Even Ezra gave it a try.

Jonah and Isaiah playing air hockey. Elijah playing a video game.

Daddy helping Ezra drive Mario's car.

Ezra and Malachi on a "roller coaster".

Skeet ball, of course.

Work Day

On Wednesday nights during the summer, our church has "work days" instead of Bible Studies. We go out into the community or stay at the church and work for others. Usually the kids make crafts for people in nursing homes and one night they went to the nursing home and visited people. Jon and I usually try to do yard work on campus or off in the community.


Tonight, Jon organized a team to go to the house of Jonah's tutor and clean up her yard. She is a widow and does not have the strength to do heavy yard work, but her house is set back in the woods and she needed some things cleared out and cleaned up. So Jon took the boys to help. They had a great time. This is them when they got home.

4th of July

Two years ago I took a picture of the boys on the 4th of July and since that day it has been my favorite picture of the boys. Look how cute they are!

So today I took another picture of them. Look how they have grown. Look how cute they are!

We spent the 4th at Mom and Dad's and Mom got red, white and blue cup cakes for all the cousins (that were there) to eat for dessert.

No fireworks for us, we were all in bed by 10:30.

Church Swim Day

For over twenty years, we have had a very special treat made available to us. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, a family from our church opens up their pool to anyone in the church to come and swim one day a week. When I was a kid, we went to Hassle Acres every Tuesday to swim. Now (the day has been moved) I can take my kids to Hassle Acres to swim any Thursday of the summer.

Due to the chaos of life, we don't always make it, but today we did and the boys had a big time. One nice thing about this pool is that it is T shaped and so there is a clear distinction between the deep and the shallow and the deep end is just as big as the shallow end. This picture below is Ezra swimming in the shallow end. This was his first time breaking away from me (or the steps) and swimming (with his life vest) by himself.

Jonah and Elijah also both started jumping off the diving board with confidence. This is a picture

of the deep end and Elijah about to jump off. (Of course he still has to wear his mask and hold on to it when jumps in.)Here is Jonah jumping off the diving board. Here is Isaiah. He really can't swim yet, but only because he won't get his face wet. He usually wears a life vest too, but had taken it off before I took this picture.
And then there is Malachi. Right after we got to the pool, he was sitting on the steps (with his life vest on) and fell into the water. Jonah found him (I had turned my back to help Ezra--after all Malachi never even wanted to get into the water) swim -- dog paddling -- a few feet away from the steps. Needless to say, he didn't touch the water again the whole day.