Introducing Two New Bundles of Joy

Remember, my two prego friends I went to Mexico with?

Jessel

Susan

Meet the newest miracle to their families.
Jessel gave a Hollywood Style delivery
(all the screaming just like the movies)
to Stephen Mark Newton, her third child.


Looks like he could be my party of five.
Oh, start praying for us! :)

And this is Susan's & Scott's first child.
Meet Shelby Em Sweat.


Little Shelby already got professionals photos
done. I think her parents also took 1000 pictures
of her within her first week! :)
What a beautiful little princess.

4-H Fair

Patrick is really fond of all the 4-H fairs that come to the different counties each summer, as he and his family growing up, went to the Maryland State fair pretty often. We missed the Loudoun Fair this year, but was able to make the Fairfax fair, at Frying Pan Farm Park.

First stop at the fair, was a booth that educated us on ticks and the Lyme disease epidemic in our area. Mommy got wigged out by the live ticks they showed us, but the boys loved it. Micah got tattoos.

A mom is proud of all her kids crafts.
Even the super-sized styrofoam tick. Joy!


They saw honeybees at work.

They got to pet bunnies and baby chicks.
Again, Caelan is not afraid to touch fuzzy animals.


Or big, live, panthers either.


This was the boy's first ride
on the swings.


No vomiting. Hooray!
Caelan was not of height to ride ANY
of the rides, but no one seemed to care.

Since this will be listed under the Things to Do list, please note that if you go to the fair, admission is free, but they charge you $5 per car to park. Also, there is not a cash machine in sight. The local restaurants also pitch a tent, so it's really good food. And the rides will run you about $3-4 a ride per child which could add up. It's a great community thing to do!

Micah's Nay Horsie Adventure

Daddy has never left us for five days straight. So, before Patrick left to Minnesota, Micah put his nay horsie in daddy's suitcase, and made daddy promise him that he would sleep with him at night. Daddy was good to his promise.


He also took it up several notches. Apparently, nay horsie had a lot of fun, and got to spend time with a lot of the family. To kick off his day, nay horsie starts off with a balanced horsie breakfast.

He gets loved up on by Auntie Heather and Uncle Eric.

Nay horsie meets new friends....

And picks up a few enemies.
Micah goes, "Aaaghh, scary alligator! Run, Nay Horsie!"

Nay horsie in the cornfields with Auntie Meghan.

Nay Horsie helps Aunt Marilyn with the packing.


Nay Horsie with Grandpa and Aunt Kathy.


This one was Micah's favorite:
Nay Horsie shoots a gun!


And scares himself
and jumps on Grandma's shoulder.


Nay Horsie winding down,
rocking chairs with Daddy.

Thanks to Uncle Eric for taking these pictures with his phone and sending them to us while daddy was away. Micah laughed at each one that came in, and enjoyed them tremendously!

Volcano Island Park

One suggestion to add to our "Things to do with kids" list was the Volcano Island Water Park in Sterling. When you walk in, you already feel like you're going to the tropics!


Their main attraction is that blue bucket that fills up to overflowing and then the sirens starts to sound and everyone underneath this thing gets completely and utterly soaked. Note: If you have a 1 -year-old, who hears the imminent danger noises, it can be a little scary.

Overall, it's very kid-friendly. Slides for Caelan...

And slides for daddy, too!

They also had mini-buckets that dunk water,
which Micah sat under and waited,
as well as fountains that shoot from the ground.


The Lauers joined for us a day of fun.
They lives 3 minutes away from the park.

When Caelan got tired, he wanted "up" from daddy.
The boys lasted about 2.5 hours
So, if you go after 4 p.m. weekdays, it's only $5.00.

When Micah got tired,
he sat by the beach and just watched.

If you're hungry, they also have a little food shop you can order a whole pizza, and a notable area is a fun sand pit in the shade. Perfect for toddlers. Excellent value. Close & cheap. Ten minutes away. The price for the whole family on a Saturday, was under $25.00.

Help! My Child Swallowed a.....

A dime. Yep. I've heard many stories about children swallowing coins, but I have always been pretty thankful it never happened to us. Until yesterday that is.


Faced with that dreadful moment where you hear your 22-month old choking and spitting up, I race over and see on the carpet some blood mixed with spit up. My eyes widen in panic. My heart begins to race. I open his mouth and I'm face-to-face with that inevitable moment - the horror of seeing a shiny dime at the back of my child's throat and being powerless to do anything to stop it from being swallowed.

I was NOT going to go down without a fight. I immediately turned him face-forward, whacked his back several times. Within several seconds, fortunately---the gagging stopped, but the coin was not recoverable. I immediately called poison control who told me to take him to the ER. They were concerned that although he seemed to be breathing fine, that the blood might have caused some damage to the esophagus. Also, it was always a good idea to get an X-ray to see if it was lodged anywhere.

So, with a sweet prayer from Micah, we headed off to the Emergency Room.

And waited...



Finally, got admitted. Then they took some vitals.
And we waited....


Hmhh...and then waited.


Couldn't take the wait
any longer.


Finally, after 1 hour 20 minutes, the X-ray Tech came.



And after two full hours, during nap time of course,
the doctor came in. You'll never believe this.
He told me the unimaginable....

He said, "Ma'am, there's no dime there."
"What???", I exclaimed. "I saw it in the back of his throat with my own eyes."
"Yes, we checked everywhere and the dime isn't there."

Praise, that we didn't have to pump his stomach or anything. But, I got to tell you, I am simply dumbfounded. No---boggled beyond belief. I went home and retraced the area where he vomited and still no dime. I'm so confused. If it's not here, and not in him, than where did it go?? When I get to heaven, second thing I'm going to ask is "God, remember a long time ago when Caelan swallowed that dime - what happened to it??" I'm going to wait another 48 hours until his stool passes, and if I don't see a dime, I'm going to take him in for another X-ray. I just have to believe the x-rays are wrong, because unless it's a miracle -- which with God, all things ARE possible--I have got to know where that dime went. I have several more gray hairs, but I do have a lot to be thankful for. And laugh about.

Yes, one day this will be REALLY funny. I have yet another exciting segment in the adventures of motherhood. Not sure how much more I can take of this....adventure.

The Quintessential Grandmother

Soryda's previous post was awesome to read. I am so glad that she got to meet and get to know my grandma. She was someone who you meet only once in a lifetime, and I was glad that I could share her with my wife and my two boys.

As Soryda mentioned, my grandma is survived by all of her children (5) and their spouses (5), and all of her grandchildren (11) and their spouses (11). As would be expected, all of her children and spouses were there, but also all of us grandchildren made the trip to Minnesota to be at my grandma's wake and funeral. The pastor who gave the eulogy mentioned several times how extraordinary it was to have all of the grandchildren at the funeral, and what a testament it was to the life my grandmother lived. And how true it is.

My grandma was the quintessential grandmother - if I looked the word up in a dictionary, I would expect to see her picture. She was always so excited to see us when we visited. She would say "There's my Patrick" and give me a big hug and a kiss, and always let me know how glad she was to see me. Even though she did that to everyone, I still felt loved like I was the only one visiting.

Of course, like any good grandma, she made the best food. In Minnesota, it's all about casseroles, and my grandma made the best. The day we arrived she would have a fantastic 5-bean casserole ready for us, and it always tasted great. She would make Pink Fluff, a kind of jello mixture that tasted like dessert, but she served as a salad. We had toughies (donuts without the holes), chocolate donuts, jellies, jams, and just about every other treat you can imagine. But probably the best was the chocolate milk she bought for us. The day we arrived, she would buy chocolate milk in a bag at the Kwick Trip, and we would put it on our cereal using a cow-shaped pitcher. We never got that at home! In the evening after the funeral, we stopped by the store, bought a bag of chocolate milk, and drank a toast to my grandma.

But the best thing that she gave me was a legacy of a strong faith and trust in Jesus Christ. She was able to love and give so much because she knew that she was loved by the Father, and that he had given his only son so she could live in eternity with him. That faith and trust was never more apparent than when she would write cards and notes for special occasions (graduations, baptisms, marriages) The words she used always encouraged and strengthened me, and pointed me back to the love and grace of our Father in Heaven. I will miss these the most.

I could keep writing, but if you never met her, words would fail to fully describe her and what she meant to our family. I will miss her, but I am comforted by the knowledge that I will see her again in eternity. Several times she told me about the first time she and my grandfather visited, after I could walk and talk. They were discussing whether I would recognize or remember her. Apparently, I was standing on the stairs outside the apartment when they came up. When I saw her, I started jumping up and down and shouting "Grandma's here! Grandma's here!" She said every time how much that meant to her. I am going to miss her a lot, but I know that when I get to heaven, and I see her there, I am going to be so excited, I am going to once again jump up and down and shout "Grandma's here! Grandma's here!"

"We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. We will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."

- Paul to us through the Thessalonians

Grandma Marion

Patrick's grandma, passed away suddenly this week. She died in her sleep and she knew the Lord. So, we're grateful that she is seeing Jesus face to face. When I first met her on my wedding day, I knew I had to call her Grandma Marion. She was just the nicest, sweetest lady you could know. She lived, a long, full life. What a blessing to live long enough to meet your great grandchildren.

Four generations of Rings
(Roger, Patrick, Grandma Marion, Micah)

In all these years, she has been so faithful in sending me, Patrick, Micah and Caelan a birthday card and a check for $5 for the boys every year they've been alive. Every Christmas, too. The boys also got these silver cups, a ring tradition, engraved with their initials. All the grandchildren and great grandchildren have one cup given by her.


At her funeral in Owatonna, Minnesota, all five of her children and their spouses were present. All eleven of her grandchildren were also there. Everyone came from all over the country to celebrate the life of this wonderful lady.

Pictured with all the GREAT grandchildren (at the time)
from Roger's lineage, her first born son.

For me, well there's a lot of things I remember, but I have to thank this blog actually for getting to know her better. You see, every time there was a blog posted, she would receive it via RSS feed, and without fail, she would always write back. She seemed delighted to get them, and to get to know the boys better through it. She commented on every post for a year! I know I joke about not having many blog followers, but I really think she was the biggest fan! I will treasure those emails. She will be missed, greatly.

At her granddaughter's bridal tea
(me, mom, Heather, Meghan, Kristen & Morgan, Grandma Marion)