Where did the summer go?

Wow. It's August already and school (the longest 4-letter word) starts next week. I originally meant to post each time we did something cool, but it's now too late for that. So, I'll run down the summer via pictures.

We started in June by going to Springfield, Illinois to see Grammy and Grandad and go to the Lincoln sites. Hereis a picture of us with the Lincoln family at the Lincoln museum. The kids really enjoyed the tomb as well.

At the end of June, we got a needed break from our children. They (except for Hannah) went to Grandma's house for 10 days. It was the longest time that 2 of our children had ever been away from us at the same time. We got the house clean (almost spotless), and it took them less than a day to change that. While they were gone, we went to St. Louis to see Up and then saw the fireworks from the city park in East St. Louis. Here's Hannah "enjoying" the fireworks with Daddy.

The next week we were invited to join Aunt Lisa, Uncle Bill, Grammy and Granddad at the All-Star Fan Fest at the America's Center in St. Louis. The boys had a lot of fun playing baseball games and meeting some former baseball players like Jack Clark and Orlando Cepeda. We have a picture of the boys with Jack Clark as well as a picture of them under one of the arches that were around St. Louis. Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bill were lucky and went to the actual All-Star game!!

The next weekend we went camping with the entire Coverstone family, and that was a lot of fun for everyone. The meals were great and the weather was phenomenal. Here's a picture of Clara helping Aunt Laura with the cucumber sandwiches.

During the summer the kids went to 3 different VBS weeks and they actually were able to go to 3 completely different weeks. They went to one at Grandma's house, one at the church in town where they attend AWANA during the school year and one at a friend's church. We don't have any pictures, but they sure enjoyed their 3 weeks.

Last week we went to the zoo for the 3rd time this year. We went the first time for my niece's birthday at the end of April. We saw a lot that day, and we have decided to definitely go to the zoo during April at least once every year (as long as the zoo stays free). The second time was a couple of weeks later where we went to see the butterflies and the insetarium. When we went last week, we went to the children's zoo and to see and pet the sting rays. We had originally planned to go for free during the first hour the zoo was opened, but I didn't notice on the website that there were special summer hours. When we arrived and asked about the free activities, we were told that the zoo opened at 8:00, not 9:00 as we had thought. We ended up getting a family membership to the zoo, because we will go at least 3 or 4 times during the year, and right now, the kids are at an age where they always enjoy going. Here is a picture of the penguins and Caleb petting a turtle.

After the zoo, we went to Qdoba to eat and then we went back to the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. Arthur enjoyed the Lindbergh exhibit, but Caleb and Clara were getting wound up, so the parents didn't enjoy things as much as we would have liked. There were 3 of the All-Star arches located in the park, and we took pictures at 2 of them. If you've ever been to Forest Park and haven't seen the Art Museum, it's a beautiful view. The other arch we posed under was in front of the History Museum. The 3rd arch that we saw was in front of the steel animal sculpture at the zoo, but that's a long walk just to get a picture, so we skipped it.

Anyway, it's been an eventful summer, which is what we had planned, and we didn't spend a whole lot of money, which was also what we had planned. We are going to Six Flags on Saturday, and since school starts next week, that may be our last trip of the summer. We still haven't figured out how to handle Hannah at the park, but we'll figure it out. I hope to post soon after with pictures of our great day.

Hannah is half a year old!

What a cutie. She makes it next to impossible to get out of a portrait studio cheaply! These are a sample of the things we did. We have other pictures in the same poses. Some have better smiles, some are better positions but we still spent way too much. I am going to try to get them all onto an album in facebook for those of you who have a facebook page. Those who don't will just have to come visit and I will show you the CD!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I am sad that a full month of my summer break is gone! Yet July is always an exciting month. It starts off with Mike's birthday. Then moves to the fourth of July which is always funnest with the kids. To watch the wonder and awe of fireworks is wonderful through child eyes. Next comes the time when Hannah is half a year old.! Wow, how time flys!!! Then there are VBS's and other activities to attend. And toward the end of the month, I need to start getting back into school mode.
We have enjoyed visiting the zoo, Shakespeare in the Park, Magic House, free movie and lunch, and many other activities so far. If I can get Mike to get the pics off the camera, we will try to post a few. Hannah is growing and learning. She has the melody of talking down pat, she just needs to learn the words! She is very curious. Arthur is a big help. Caleb and Clara continue to dote on her. Everyone has a reading program at the library that they are participating in. All seems to be going well.

Obviously not a "techno-geek"

Ok. I enjoy the cool internet social sites as much as the next guy, but I'm obviously not as dependent on them as others are. I'm not saying they're bad, nor are they the sign of the apocalypse. I just prefer a phone call or face-to-face interaction with someone. That's my only excuse for not updating the site more than I do.

That being said, there has been a lot go on in the last month-or-so since I last posted.

First of all, as of May 31, I will no longer be preaching at Mill Spring. We have mixed feelings about his. The positives are no more 90-minute car rides to church every Sunday, but the negatives are no more preaching for a while.

Second, Hannah turned 4 months old, but she has been congested for over a month now, and the doctor can't figure out exactly what's wrong with her. She has no signs of infection or allergy, so he thinks it may be acid reflux, which makes sense with the amount of spit up she has, but the prescription (even with insurance co-pay) will be at least $45 a month. It may be more because the regular pharmacies don't carry it anymore, and it has to be purchased from a special pharmacy.

Third, we (and I do mean all 6 of us) went to the Michael W. Smith/Steven Curtis Chapman United Tour in St. Peter's, MO and it was awesome. I still remember my first Smitty concert when he was at ICTC back in 1986 or 1987. That was so long ago that it was pretty much just him and the piano (no keyboard that I remember). I hope the kids are able to remember their first Smitty and Steven concert as well. I will try to post some pictures in the next few days, but you know how reliable I am for that.

Finally, school is out next Wednesday, and I think all may go back to normal after that. I am currently planning to start substitute teaching in the fall, and that may not be just for the money. To some extent, I/we are considering me finding out exactly how much more schooling I will need in order to get my teaching certificate. It's just in the thinking stages right now, but it is something we are talking and praying about.

One more thing. Maybe I am just hypersensitive to these things, but if I here another news guy tell someone to have a "Happy Memorial Day Weekend" I'm going to scream. Memorial Day is not a happy occasion at all; it's a time for remembering those individuals who gave their lives for our country and not just a time for celebrating with picnics, hot dogs and other things. Yes our freedom is a great time, but IMO Memorial Day is not a happy day.

Hannah's one-fourth of a year old!

Easter break was wonderful. I truly enjoyed being a stay at home mom for the 5 days. We took Hannah's pictures, we colored eggs and baked cookies. We had fun together and played games. I put off working on curriculum and now I am truly behind the eight ball trying to get grading and curriculum done plus getting the students ready for end of course exams. Yikes! Better get going on something more productive than writing on a blog. We have pics of the kids and their eggs that will be posted later.

The Business of life

Just in case, you misread the title, I am referring to the constant sense of being busy, rather than owing a business. It seems like we are always coming or going, and not staying, which is good, because it means we are doing things, but bad, because we are never accomplishing the things which need to be done. That is why I haven't posted in a while; I just haven't had the time to set, collect my thoughts, and put them on the blog. I will try to do better, but you've heard that before.

Anyway, Hannah is getting bigger by the day, and would probably be even bigger if she didn't spit up so much. School is going great for the other 3 kids. Arthur has a solo coming up for a performance, and his choir group will be in the High School production of Beauty and the Beast next weekend, and he's going to preach for me at the end of May. Caleb finally lost his first tooth, and he has at least 2 coming after that one. Clara got her kindergarten shot, and she didn't move an inch. She is anxious for real school to start in the fall.

Carrie is pretty stressed out because of all the stuff going on with school, and the fact that her car was supposed to be fixed on Wednesday, and it would have been, except the mechanic discovered the used engine we had been sent was defective. Now we have to haggle with the company to recoup some of the labor costs we have to spend extra because the new engine has to come out, be reshipped, so we can get a working engine into the car. We will be paying 1 1/2 times the labor instead of double the labor, but it's still more than we expected. We're hoping we can get the engine company to pary for most, if not all of the extra costs. We should find out by Tuesday exactly what's going on.

I'm still working at Wal-Mart in Potosi and preaching at Mill Spring every Sunday. We decided not to move, and the church was agreeable to that, so the only problem we face is traveling an hour and a half to church each way each Sunday. It makes Sunday mornings long, but it's worth it.

Anyway, I will post a little bit more tomorrow or Monday, and I will definitely update as soon as we hear what's going on with the car. In the mean time, keep us in your prayers.

Mike, Carrie, and all the kids

Happy Pi Day!

Boy has it been a long time since we posted! School has been crazy busy and then my little car lost its engine. We are in the process of replacing the engine and making my car healthy again, but a one car 4 child family with individual schedules is wild to figure out. Yesterday was pi day and we celebrated it by going to the Science Center and then celebrated Jalen's (nephew) birthday at the NASCAR go carts in St. Louis. We have been chasing our tails and so it was fun to kick back and have fun with family and let me show my inner nerd! I am trying to learn how to do more on this blog thing but with time only on weekend and even then not much, it is difficult. I am supposed to be sewing on the girls' Easter dresses. I can't figure out the tension on the machine and was getting frustrated so I changed activivty.

Hannah is growing wonderfully. She had her 2 month check up last Tuesday and was 11 pounds 7 ounces and 23 inches long. She had a skin granulation from her umbilical cord so doc took it off and cauterized it. She is starting to routinely sleep for 6-8 hours at night. The thing I love the most though, is the talking. She will make sounds that are definitely not cries and just has such a pleasant look on her face. I swear she said "oh, mama" today. Ask my mom. I was on the phone with her at the time!

One more quarter at school. Spring is here at the end of this week and then family birthdays start up. Ten more weeks of school with a last day of May 28. I look forward to summer and the different routine that happens with the coming of that season. I look forward to Hannah growing and talking and walking -- but do not want it to happen too soon. I know that her being able to talk is not going to help me understand her. Her being able to walk is not going to help me keep track of her. Yet these milestones are exciting and momentous. God gives us such wonderful things in babies. They are so helpless, and most of them are so cute. Even when they are crying incessantly, God gave them the ability to be cute so we wouldn't kill them! I am constantly tired, but love every minute of this new routine with four.

I need to wrap this up. I have to get my curriculum written for school and several other things that I actually want to do in the next busy weeks. If the site is updated, that means Mike is trying to procrastinate something and we will just have to allow that. We all need our escapes sometimes! Let's see if I can get some photos attached!