Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Jonathan turned 9 on Saturday, and in a rare occurance, we actually celebrated his birthday on Saturday!  He requested ribs for his birthday dinner, and we also had corn on the cob and some steamed vegetables.  The C's are here staying with us, so adding 6 more people definitely makes every day a fun party day, even when it is not anyone's birthday!
For his cake, Jonathan wanted an eagle, like the one he drew in his art class (which he is holding).  I had some troubles with the proportions of the head and the beak. In fact, I had to perform some "rhinoplasty" and cut out a hunk of beak after I had frosted the whole thing because it was just too big.  But it tasted good, and now it's almost gone!

Jonathan had an art birthday too--he got some watercolor pencils and a sketch pad from the C's, as well as a drawing DVD and kit from Grandma and Grandpa G.  Then he also got a headlight that is white light and red light with the money from Grandma and Grandpa B., which he has been asking and asking for--he wants to be ready for Camp Caleb next month at White Sulphur Springs!  He also got a Lego set.

So all in all, a very fun birthday, and Jonathan is looking forward to drawing many more pictures! 

Art by Jonathan

Jonathan has been asking me quite often for quite a while to find him an art class.  I am not remotely "arty", and this has been an incredibly busy year, so . . . that was certainly not tops on my priority list of things to do!  But one day my friend Lynnea said there was an art class at her house, and there was one more space open at the table. Jonathan went for the first time a few weeks ago, and he LOVES it.  They use these chalk pastel colored pencils that I had never even heard of before.  He finished his first picture on Wednesday--these pears.  Pretty good, isn't it?!  He's working on a picture of an eagle now.  So maybe this science/math/engineering family will have one artist!

More Tooth Troubles

Well, so far Fall has had a rather disturbing theme of teeth issues. Right around lunchtime Caleb and Jonathan were wrestling around in the entryway, and somehow . . . Jonathan's head wacked into the door and *voila* his front tooth chipped off. He never cried, and it didn't seem like anything else got injured at all, like his lip or anything. But it was a permanent tooth, so I called the dentist and made an appointment for later in the afternoon, after Luke's orthodonic appointment at 2:00. Of course, this meant we had to postpone Latin class again until tomorrow morning, but better to get Ol' Snaggletooth fixed up, LOL.

The dentist was able to glue the tooth part back on, so $160 later, Jonathan is almost as good as new! I am totally afraid of it chipping off again, though. Jonathan--our only boy who has broken a bone, and now our only boy to chip a tooth. What a record!

As I was checking out, the receptionist told me this is why her husband thinks they should only have one kid--2 will beat up on each other! I told her we have 8, and this was the only time we've had a problem like this, so really I would chalk it up to a fluke, rather than a cautionary tale! But I do have a new anti-horseplay saying: "Stop wrestling around! I don't want anymore chipped teeth!" After all, it's all fun and games until someone loses a tooth . . .

Another Random Conversation With Jonathan

So before we left for Ohio, I was changing Faith's diaper, and in wandered Jonathan. He told me he really wanted to go back to visit "Florida". This threw me for a loop, since the last time I could think that we were in Florida was to visit the L's when they were stationed down there, and I was actually pregnant with Jonathan. So . . . hard to imagine him having fond memories and missing it, LOL.

I suggested that perhaps he was thinking of Virginia Beach, where we spent a couple nights last spring. That was fun, although we were all squished together in one small hotel room for 3 nights. He insisted it was not there, and that we had stayed in a nice house with a dog that Faith wasn't afraid of. They played ping-pong, and the dog kept picking up the ping-pong balls . . . I was really stumped, as I was still stuck on "beach-y" places, and I couldn't think of any friends who lived near a beach and had a dog. Fortunately, Nathan came in then. He was able to think outside the beach box, and he suggested that Jonathan really wanted to visit PHILADELPHIA again, where we had stayed with my college friends Phil and Sandra in their beautiful old house, back in June 2009. They have a big dog named Sox who had indeed played ping-pong with the kids. Bingo! Well, you know--Philadelphia and Florida . . . practically the same place! So easy to get mixed up! LOL! And of course, the big memories from that little trip were not the Liberty Bell, the tour of Independence Hall and Betsy Ross's house, or meeting "Ben Franklin". Ah well . . .

So next Jonathan asked if Sox was dead. Ummmm . . . I don't think so . . . what brings that up?! Well, Jonathan was concerned for his health because the pets of ALL of our friends are either having to be put to sleep, or are moving away. Apparently, knowing our family is the kiss of death for pets, in Jonathan's mind. Actually, Amy had to put her cat Pumpkin to sleep a few months ago, and the McC's dog Stormy died a few weeks ago, but both pets had lived at least 17 years, so this was not totally unexpected, and I don't really think the deaths can be pinned on us, LOL. And the L's dog Ned finally was able to go live with Anthony, his actual owner, since Anthony is in pilot training now and has a house with a yard. So that's 3 pets we know . . . I don't think you can draw any statistically meaningful conclusions from that small sample size, so I think we are still safe to be around those of you with pets! I did send an email to Sandra, however, inquiring after Sox's well-being. I will let everyone know if he is still enjoying good health and happiness (as we all fervently hope, LOL).

Cake For Jonathan and Nathan

Jonathan turned 7 on June 2, and Nathan will be turning 13 on June 24. For the second year in a row, they have agreed on a cake, so I only have to make one for them to share! (Last year it was the aircraft carrier cake .) This year they decided upon the Penguins jersey of their star, Sidney Crosby. I convinced them to have the away jersey, which is mainly white, as opposed to the home jersey, which is mainly black. You can tell this is Crosby's jersey because of the black "C" on the front, as well as the number 8 on the left sleeve and the number 7 on the right sleeve, which you can't really tell in the picture. (His number is 87.)

Although this was a very easy cake to shape, it was quite difficult for me to decorate, and it took over 2 1/2 hours. I would much rather cut and sculpt cake, then painstakingly try to get tiny bits of frosting where I want them to go to make a design, like the Penquins logo! I did the logo free-hand, with just a round tip. Then I tried to smooth out the design with my finger.

Here are the happy birthday boys! Jonathan's candles are in the top left quadrant, and Nathan's are in the bottom section. We had quite a blaze going with 20 candles!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Jonathan turned 7 today! We celebrated by having his choice of dinner, going swimming at the rec center, then opening his presents and having ice cream when we got back. I'll make him and Nathan a joint cake again this year, since I really like only making one cake in June, LOL. We are hoping to bring that cake to Bible study June 18, so I've got a few weeks. In the meantime, we'll just keep celebrating Jonathan's birthday, especially seeing as how I ordered him a present late last week from Timberdoodle that still hasn't come yet.

You might think that being the 4th boy in a row, Jonathan would just fall in line with his brothers, but that's not how it is! Jonathan has such a funny streak, and he is definitely his own little man! He also has a real heart for the Lord and for others. He has said before that he would like to be a pastor, like our Pastor Mike, and I can see him doing this. We pray that the Lord will use Jonathan in a special way, and that we will be able to prepare him for whatever that use will be!

Seven Years Ago Today . . .

. . . I was not in labor. This was unfortunate because I was quite heavily pregnant. In fact, I was 2 weeks overdue!! That is really not a nice thing to do to someone expecting her 4th baby! My first baby was 1 week early; my second one was about 5 days early. My third was born on his due date . . . and why wasn't this baby not even considering coming out into the big wide world?! I never even had any false laborto get my hopes up! He simply was not interested in moving on out!

So Jonathan should have been born in May, since his due date was May 22. Instead, 7 years ago today, on June 1, Bob and I were dropping the 3 other boys off at my parents' house on a Sunday evening so that the next morning we could go into the hospital at WPAFB bright and early--6:00!--to be induced. I was terrified. Bob was also nervous. So nervous that he backed the minivan straight into a tree at the end of my parents' driveway, shattering the back windshield. Ack! I just had to totally block that out of my thinking, however,and I can honestly say that I did not think about it one time during the next day. I just refused to go there! And it turned out fine. As I recall, it was fixed before we even came home from the hospital!

I was so worried about this induction, my first one. It also went fine, however. There was a friendly face on the OB ward there--the husband of a couple in our OCF Bible study was a nurse there, and he got me all checked in before he went off-duty. They finally started the pitocin around 8:30, but as the morning wore on, I could tell the contractions weren't doing anything. The contractions weren't any different than the ones for me in a non-induced labor, which was a huge relief for me. I never had any trouble dealing with them.

Finally they broke my water around noon, and that convinced Jonathan that his time inside me was at an end. I had to lay on my side and have an oxygen mask because his heart rate was decelerating during contractions. As I lay there, I was fully dilated, and I had a strong urge to push. But I had a thing about only giving birth in the standard half-sitting, with rear-end hanging off the end of the bed position, so I sat up right away. I never had such a strong urge to push again, which I have remembered in all 3 of my later births! I like laboring on my side during transition, and then I stay there and push a time or 2 to get the baby under my pelvic bone. After that, no problems! I had to push with Jonathan for 20 minutes, which is a pretty long time for a 4th baby. I think it would have been faster if I had stayed on my side a little longer. But he made his grand appearance at 2:40 p.m., and he was another big one--9 pounds, 6 ounces, and 21 inches long. My biggest one, 1 ounce bigger than Caleb! My Ohio babies were big--not sure why! I was ravenously hungry after delivering. Breakfast was a long time ago!

I think my dates were probably a bit off with Jonathan, since I was finishing up nursing with Caleb when I got pregnant. But when you are expecting to see a baby in May, and it comes into a whole new month with still no baby . . . you feel very, very, very overdue!!

Random Thoughts. . . With Jonathan

When we traveled to and from PA last weekend, Jonathan elected to sit directly behind the driver's seat, right next to Faith. Caleb sat next to the other girls in the next row, and Nathan and Luke hung out in the back row. One nice thing about the big van is having some flexibility in seating arrangements!

This gave Bob and me some time to listen to Jonathan. And he certainly has a lot to say! For example, he has an unending collection of original jokes (maybe "riddles" is technically more accurate). Some are very, uh, cerebral, and all of them definitely bear the inventive mark of a 6 year old boy! Here are some examples:

Q: How does a snail ice-skate?

A: He turns over and puts a skate on his shell.

Q: How does a house drive?

A: On its chimney.

Q: How does a red light cross the road?

A: It just goes across.

(Me: But won't the other cars run over it?
Jonathan: It's a RED light. They have to stop.)

So you can see how the miles just fly by when you are cogitating on a constant stream of these!

Jonathan also just chatters away, on whatever random thoughts cross through his brain. Here is a small sample of this, where Jonathan is talking about future plans to build a car wash:

"I think I'll build it out of sticks . . . and I'll attach it together with glue . . . but the glue might melt . . . so maybe I'll attach it with sticks . . . or eggs! I could use eggs . . . Look, there's a castle! . . . Or maybe I'll build it out of rocks . . ."

Bob and I were about hanging our heads out the window, but we never could see what castle Jonathan was talking about! Maybe it was only in the land of Jonathan's mind . . . driving on its chimney . . .

Celebrating Jonathan and Nathan!

We celebrated Jonathan's 6th birthday, and Nathan's 12th birthday tonight after Bible study. I made a carrier cake--bonus points to those who know which carrier is CVN-68.

I had planned to do more details, like radar antennae and these little shelves that stick out for the guns, but I just ran out of oomph and inspiration. So that's why the "island' (everyone knows that's what that big tower is called, right?) looks bare and lonesome.

Here is a close-up of some of our squadron of aircraft. We made them with this marshmallow fondant recipe that Amy P. sent me. It was surprisingly yummy! Luke even said that he liked it better than frosting! I wouldn't go that far, but it was tasty. It was fun to work with, too. I made the fondant on Wednesday evening, and Thursday night I started making the airplanes, along with Nathan and Luke, who stayed up to watch. We had a bit of a scare, as when I added the black food gel which turns regular buttercream a lovely shade of gray instead turned the fondant a definite shade of light purple! Ack! Fortunately I had only used half of the fondant, so I started again and only added a tiny bit of gel. It was still a bit purple-y, but not as bad, and it did dry gray.

I made F/A-18s, an E/A-6, an E-2, and Nathan made one F-14. As you can see, everyone got in on the action and tried their hands at making airplanes. Like edible play-doh!

*CVN-68 is the USS Nimitz, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, so the others after it are called "Nimitz class carriers". Bob was on the Nimitz for a retirement ceremony when he was the aide to the admiral who was DCINC of USSPACECOM, back in our Colorado days. He also got to fly out to the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) with the admiral.

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Jonathan is 6 years old today! He is having a big week. As you can obviously tell, he is riding his bike without training wheels now. Bob took them off actually a week or two ago, so he is like a pro now! He also has a very, very loose tooth--his first! I am hoping that comes out sooner rather than later because he is not known as my stoic one, and the discomfort of eating with a wiggly tooth, plus random bits of blood in his mouth, are not his favorite things. It is very close to coming out, and in fact, he has had several offers of assistance from various older siblings, but he has not taken them up, LOL.

This has been, and will continue to be, a week of special things. Sunday afternoon the McCs took their canoe out for the first time this year, and they asked Bob and the boys to go with them. They all had such a blast out there on the river! They reported getting lots of questioning looks at their big group of boys (8 boys, 2 dads). I'm sure everyone assumed they were a boy scout tropp or something! The girls and I went over to their house at dinnertime to help Christine, who made dinner for all of us when the menfolk returned. Then the boys played street hockey for awhile while we visited. So fun!

Today we didn't do school, but instead went over to the church for a playgroup in the morning. It's every first Tuesday, and it's for all women, not just moms with young children, which I really like. So today a newly married woman came as well and visited. She's a nurse, so she was off today, and we all enjoyed getting to know her better. The kids ran around outside and played on the swingset, and then we had a picnic lunch, so that was fun.

Tomorrow night we're going to drive down to Richmond after Bob gets home from work, and we all get home from Bethesda where Caleb has a doctor appointment at the horrible time of 3:20. I'm hoping we get home by 6:00! After we grab a quick bite to eat, we'll leave for the house of Bob's sister Ann and her husband Wally. We are going to go to Busch Garden Williamsburg with them on Thursday (although the weather is looking like it will be cooler and possibly rainy! No!). Busch Gardens has that specail deal where active duty military members can get in free for one day, along with 3 dependents, so we are going to take them up on that! Who knows how much longer Bob will be active duty?! Ann is getting 3 kids tickets at her parks and rec department, so for all 9 of us to get in, it will cost us $105! That's a lot of money, but not anywhere as much as it could be, considering the regular admission price is $59.99 for an adult, and we have 3 adults--wait, I think Luke is one now too--Ack!--and 3 paying kids, who normally cost $49.99 a person! Ann and Wally have season's tickets, so they really know their way around. Hopefully it will be a really fun day for everyone, and not too crowded. We're going before all the schools let out.

So you can see that Jonathan is not lacking special things with which to celebrate his birthday! We're having his birthday dinner tonight (he requested tacos), but I'm not making his cake until next Friday's Bible study. I'm making another joint cake for Jonathan and Nathan (yes!), which is going to be a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, with airplanes out of fondant, if I can make it work. Amy P. sent me a recipe for fondant using marshmallows that she said tasted a lot better than store-bought fondant, so I'm going to give that a go. I can't stand fondant, so I'm thinking anything has to be better, and Amy is an excellent cook!

Celebrating Nathan and Jonathan

Tonight we took a cake to Bible study to celebrate Jonathan's birthday (June 2), and Nathan's birthday (June 24). They picked "Lego Anakin" from Star Wars Episode 2. Actually, Nathan wanted a brooding Anakin straight from his Complete Star Wars book, but I told him I absolutely did not do (real) people, so this Anakin was a compromise. I had to use the case of a Lego Star Wars computer game that Dan and Melinda got them for their birthdays as a model! If you look closely, you can notice the little braid thing denoting his "Padawan" status there to the left of his head. Attention to detail--I'm all about that. I guess I should have gotten a side shot. I was proud of that braid. We took home from Bible study the top part of his head--his eyes and hair. That's it. All that work and then *poof* the cake is inhaled in about 5 minutes total!

Here is a picture of the 2 happy birthday buddies. Nathan blew out 11 candles on Anakin's body, and Jonathan blew out 5 candles on his lightsaber. Worked out great! I loved that I could just make one cake for the 2 boys. Maybe this baby will be a boy, and be a February birthday buddy with Luke . . . that would be nice! Now I'm all done with cakes until Caleb's birthday in November. Yay!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!!

Jonathan is 5 years old today! What a way to celerate a birthday--on vacation, surrounded by extended family! Jonathan was 2 weeks overdue when I was finally induced. I told him this morning how glad we all were that he finally decided to make his grand appearance 5 years ago today! He was my biggest baby too--9 pounds, 6 ounces.

We had hoped to get Jonathan's cast off this morning. Bob spent a lot of time on the phone last week with Tricare and Bethesda, trying to get a referral to a civilian provider out here to do it. But Bethesda took forever to get their referral in, and so it hasn't been processed by Tricare . . . the usual sort of thing you expect from Tricare. Bob and Jonathan are at the doctor's right now (1:15 PM MDT), but I think it will be VERY expensive if we get it done without having the referral already in hand. We're considering taking the cast off ourselves. Don't laugh! It's stinky, and it's already been on a week longer than it should have been! We won't be home until middle of next week, so it will be awhile until we can get back to Bethesda. We might stick him in the bathtub and see what happens . . .

Whatever we decide, we are still going to try to make it to Yellowstone this evening. When we leave my aunt's house, we'll be out of computer contact for awhile. After Yellowstone, we are heading over to Mt. Rushmore, and then we'll eventually make our way back to Amy's house for 2 days, and then on home. And on the way to Amy's we will try to pick up the PSP from Golden Corral, that is, if we can find it again, and if they kept it for us, like they said they would!

**Update** After long conversations with both Tricare and Jonathan's PCM doctor at Bethesda, she authorized him to go to the emergency room to have the cast off, since it was way past time. They did x-rays there and discovered that only one of the bones in his lower arm is fully healed, so they are going to put on a new cast. The old cast was so loose, and Jonathan got his arm caught in the screen door a few days ago, which caused him a lot of pain. That might have been enough to jar something loose. The new cast should fit better for now, so hopefully that will do the trick. I told Bob to at least wash his hand before they put the new cast on! Jonathan was in a lot of pain once they cut the old cast off, so hopefully they won't make him wait too long. It's now after 3:00 local. I'm not sure when we'll get to Yellowstone, if at all today.

Update on Jonathan

Yesterday Bob took Jonathan back to Bethesda to get his permanent cast. As you can see, he was able to get the camouflage wrap he was hoping for, and everyone who sees it agrees that it is indeed a very cool cast. And you can also see that his cast is not hindering his light-saber fighting techniques (whew!). The doctor said everything is healing fine, and he doesn't need to wear his sling as much. The doctor said the cast could come off in 3 weeks, which is when we'll be in Utah. He said we could try to get it off at the base there, but he "wouldn't get involved with someone else's work". So we might have to wait until we get home. The nice thing about getting it off would be that Jonathan could swim in the hotel pools on the way back. Bob might try to get the doctor to write a letter or something telling the docs at Hill what he did and that it should be okay to remove after May 27. We'll see.

Since this is an updating post, in other news, Bob's TDY did get cancelled today. I was disappointed, but it is certainly better to find out now than, say, the Monday we started driving. So now we're trying to rework how we'll get out to Utah, probably taking 4 days instead of 3. More reservations, which still can not be printed. Grrrrrr.

Jonathan's Long Day

Jonathan and Bob were at Bethesda by 10:00 this morning for the first appointment, which was a regular appointment with pediatrics. That doctor got them a referral for an orthopedic walk-in appointment at 1:00, so they enjoyed a nice lunch at Subway while they were waiting. Jonathan was also able to see a girl get her cast cut off at 11:30. Her cast, which was decorated with a flag, got him excited about having his own cast.

The ortho doctor aligned the bones while the cast was hardening. He did that under local anesthesia. The cast was cut on both sides and then wrapped with an ace bandage. This was to allow for swelling. We will take him back next week to wrap the cast with a more permanent layer, and that cast will be on for 4 more weeks or so. Jonathan is hoping to get the camouflage wrap for his cast. The cast goes midway up the top part of his arm. At least it's short sleeve season! They finally got back home about 5:30.

The intern who was putting the cast on cut Jonathan's shirt. You know how in times of stress you can focus on one tiny detail? When they walked in the door, my eye was drawn to that cut t-shirt, and that was SO all I could really think about--"Why did they cut his shirt? I liked that shirt. I'll never be able to sew that . . ." and so on. I had to just tell myself to stop thinking about the stupid t-shirt. The doctor must not have been married though. I mean really--he could have taken the shirt off, or at least cut under the arm or something, where it wouldn't be so noticable! This was NOT an emergency, get-the-shirt-off-right-now sort of situation! But I digress . . . (deep breaths . . . )

Jonathan's been a real trouper. As Bob told the other boys at dinner, he didn't cry once the whole day! He's still a bit floaty from all the drugs, I think, but he's in good spirits. The other boys were all so glad to see him when he came back. They had been very concerned about him all day. Now hopefully, we'll have a nice, relaxing weekend . . .

A First For Us

Yes, Jonathan broke his arm this afternoon--the first broken bone for our family! It wasn't even any dramatic way or anything. He was goofing around on a plastic car you can ride in by climbing on the hood. He fell off backwards not more than 2 feet of the ground, landing on his arm some funny way, and he broke both the ulna and the radius, the two bones in the lower arm. Fortunately Bob was home, so he ran him to a civilian ER just 5 minutes down the road from here. There was no way he could have gotten to Bethesda at 5:45 P.M.! Bob will take him to Bethesda tomorrow for a peds appointment, where they will refer him to the orthopedic surgeon for a long-term cast. At least he is left-handed!

They gave him demerol at the ER, which accounts for the glazed look in this picture. Bob is off getting tylenol with codeine right now, so hopefully he will be able to sleep through the night.

Other than that bit of excitment, it was a great day! Johanna and her kids to include her brand new, not even 2 week old baby Olivia came to play this afternoon and stay for dinner. Anna was very interested in this real, live baby! The boys played around outside and generally had a great time.

I'll let you know what the doctor says tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!!

Jonathan is 4 years old today, and he has been eagerly anticipating this birthday for quite some time now. He will say, "When I am 4, I will . . . ", so he obviously has high hopes for this year! He is such a sweet little boy, with a wonderful smile (but not so much for pictures, LOL. He should have been born in the 1800's, because when we pull out the camera he either gets very serious and solemn, or he closes his eyes). He loves his big brothers and his little sisters. He especially loves whatever his older brothers love at the moment, which right now happens to be Star Wars and Bionicles. He has great manual dexterity!

We have been dragging out his birthday celebration. We started Thursday night with presents and ice cream while Grandma and Grandpa were still here. Then we brought the R2D2 cake to Bible study last night, and tonight we will have his special birthday dinner. He has selected sausage roll, along with salad (since he loves that with Italian dressing) and some other sides to be named later. Right now the birthday boy is enjoying playing lightsabers with his brothers and the other kids on the cul-de-sac. It's a great day to be 4!