Six Bountiful Years

Today is our sixth anniversary. Every day I thank God for the relationship he drew us to and for the great joy we have in our marriage. We went away for the night/day (20 hours, to be exact) and had a great time. This was our first night away from the kids. Carter Caves State Park in KY is about an hour away from home; the drive was lovely. We got there at 8:00 last night and went for a short hike in the woods. We stayed in the lodge hotel in the middle of the state park. This morning we tried to sleep-in and then went for another hike along streams and up through waterfall caverns. Every view was lovely and interesting and we saw no one else on the trails. We took a tour of one of the caves, ate lunch beside a stream, and walked through another wide stream to get closer to more falls recessed in a cavern. (Yep, wet feet. It was worth the view!) What a GREAT time away! Sara stayed with the kids and they all seemed really happy with their day with her.

She's 1!

Eliyah Grace Tuleen is ONE! Saturday we celebrated with Grandpa Bruce and Grandma K (my parents), our dear friends Grammy and Poppy Wilcox, and Eliyah's birth-parents. She was surrounded by love! Eric is in Honduras on a medical mission so we'll have a second celebration when he gets home.

We had a really great day and I'm so glad that my parents were able to be here. Eliyah's birth-mom is with us a lot (Yeah! She's one of our favorite people!) and it was great that E's birth-dad could travel a long distance to be with us for the weekend. The birthday girl loved the attention, her cake, her Snow White doll and especially her new hair bows. Justice and Aedyn think the hair bows are pretty great, too.

Eliyah is saying mama, papa, 'us'is (Justice), a'en (Aedyn), and she does some great animal sounds. Her favorite activity is singing and dancing and she would be content for an hour if I would continuously sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "5 Little Monkeys." Eric and I are so, so grateful to be her parents. Eliyah brings true joy to our hearts.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Aedyn's Potty Party. He's trained! Diaper at nap and night but he's waking up dry.

Finding the easter eggs that we had just dyed moments before.
A cool and sunny day last week.
Potty training day. It took about an hour to discover the second best place for underwear.
Justice pulled Aedyn's paint project onto the floor and both babies enjoyed themselves.

It's 78 degrees, the kids are all napping, Eric is resting on the couch, Sara is asleep in the chair and I've been wandering around the yard. Next year I will have a huge 'yard' to wander. We are in a contract for a house on 65 acres, 50 of which are wooded, the rest are cropland or pasture.

I've been really overwhelmed as we try to get the house ready for viewing and feeling concerned for the price we probably won't get, but do need. Three years isn't much time to build equity in a house. We would consider renting the house and are praying that we find someone to buy or rent soon.

The kids are all doing great.

March Days

My Sunshine Boy has been sick all week, along with his sister. Last week was Aedyn's week to feel crummy with this nasty cold. It's nice to see J so happy here.
This was taken a little more than a week ago on an afternoon that Eric was post-call. It was fantastic that he had time to play outside! He's on hospital service which means that he has no weekends or other days off for 15 days and he's 'on' every other night. Thankfully, as a 3rd year resident, he can usually stay home on those nights and do his part of the work over the phone /computer. This hospital service has gone really well, except for Eric getting sick, and it will be over on the 15th.
Eliyah is experimenting with her voice. How loud can she shout? Hmmm. See her curls? She is going to have seriously beautiful hair. I can hardly stand the wait! I was telling her birthmom that when I was a child I used to wear my hair in two long braids every day. So did she! Eliyah will be a braids girl, too.
I don't dress the kids alike often. They're lucky if the items within a single outfit match so the coincidence of the 3 kids matching each other is pretty great to me.

Happy Birthday, Aedyn!

My big boy is 3 today! We celebrated on Sunday but saved a piece of cake for today which was requested at breakfast. Aedyn asked for a chocolate-orange cake so we baked a Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake with orange marmalade filling and orange-cream cheese frosting. Balloons, friends, and WARM WEATHER made for a great party.

So far, 3 suites him. He's been very polite today. "Fanks, mama!" is music to my ears. Aedyn Shepherd brings such joy and humor to our lives, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for him.

Some pictures from his party:

Happy February!

Everyone's growing taller and toothier. (well, not EVeryone.) We're home for our WI house-hunting trip and we may or may not be buying. We'll post if/when we find a house to buy!

Enjoy these happy times. Aedyn posing. Justice getting his first haircut. Babies raiding the cupboards. Eliyah being silly.

and . . . Bacon!

Yesterday morning I asked Aedyn if he would like cereal or toast for breakfast.

A: Toast with peanut butter and sumping sweet.

M: jelly or honey or apple stroop? (apple juice cooked down into a syrup, its German)

A: Bacon!

M: ok. peanut butter and bacon.

A: And sumping sweet. Apple stroop! and Bacon!