March for Babies

Just a few pics from this year's walk w/ March for Dimes.  Another year with good weather.  Earlier in the week they were calling for today to be in the upper 40's, so it's a blessing that it turned out to be a 60 degree day!
Team Miracle's color is Orange.  We did what we could with that :)

 The Barnstormers were a big sponser.  Cylo came out for the day.  Didn't see him walk though:)



Each year they do a Preemie Parade before the Walk.  Ann Shannon names each graduate of the NICU, gives their birthweight and how many weeks early they were.  Then they come up front and get their prize. 

Brad wanted a stop sign for his face painting...

Walking!

CHEATING!  took the scooters along.  I think next year we'll see more kids with these :)

I can't believe how many people come to this.  There were hundreds of people walking!  I love this organization and what they do for Premature babies.  We'll continue to support them in this way.  2 days before the Walk, the boys sold lemonade at the end of the lane.  They made 18.75 and we put that towards our total raised.  Thankful for the folks who humored us on the chilly windy day and stopped to buy and donate. 

School

It's hard to believe the school year is about over.  Adam had a great year in Kindergarten.  I am so pleased with the school, his teacher, classmates, and how Adam has grown socially.  He's so comfortable around all his classmates now and seems to be a popular guy!  He even picked out who he's going to marry! (i totally approve:)  It took him several months to warm up to the newness, which i expected.  I have enjoyed getting to know lots of the moms through the mom's prayer group, and also at the pickup spot, where we wait for our kids to come outside and meet us at 11:35 each day.

I hope Ben and Brad's experience goes just as smoothly, as they start this fall!  I will probably have trouble not comparing Adam's classmates to B&B's.  I really do think Adam's class is extra awesome and an answer to prayer!

However we are not thinking of doing public school much longer.  We definetely feel this is the right choice for now, but down the road there might be a better fit for us.  We are currently thinking about the UMS program that is offered at a local christian school. It stands for University Model School.  It combines homeschool and going to school. So 2-3 days you'd go to school and 2-3 days the child would stay home for homeschool.  I think it makes such good sense.  All day/every day in school seems like too much for my guys and heavens knows all day/every day homeschool would not be a good idea for us.  But a little of both?  Sure!  This new model starts this fall.  I've heard nothing but good things about the school, so i imagine this will be an organized system.  We will take this coming school year to look into it a little better.

School decisions are a tricky thing!  It's different for everyone, so it's best not to compare with others but to do what you know is best for your family!  Easier said then done!  I have let other people's opinions about public school get me down this year, with Adam going.  Rod felt a strong lead to public though, even though we can afford private.  And this year couldn't have been more of a blessing.  God knows what He's doing! 

Let me know if you've ever heard of this UMS program and have more info on it. 

Weekend

This weekend I went to VA to help out Rod's cousin Mike's family.  Mike's wife is in the hospital after giving birth to her 3rd child, she got a very bad bacteria which spread fast and almost took her life!  she is recouping well, but they obviously need assistance with the kiddos and housework while she's laid up in the hospital. 
We had a great time together and it was just nice to see their place and get to know the kids better.  They have a beautiful farmette, the scenery around their house looks like it should be on the cover of every country magazine there is. 
the drive home was a wild ride!  Both sarah and i got the stomach bug that has been going around in the martin house.  Only 1/2 hour into the trip we had to pull over for me.  (nothing like throwing up on the highway, in the rain, broad daylight, freezing cold, etc!  then 15 minutes after that i had to do it again!  then 20 minutes after that it was Sarah's turn!
Well, the 3 hour drive turned into 6 as we stopped at least a dozen times to take care of business.  I did the driving, as poor Sarah was always on 'the verge' and mine seemed to come quick then i'd have relief for a little.  I never critiqued barfing before last night, but it gave me something to do while i longed so much for my bed.  i was also battling a migrane, my vision got blurry.  it was so hard to see, with it getting dark out, raining, and migrane.  i couldn't go over 55 MPH, that's unheard for me on a highway :)
When we finally got home, it seemed like forever, my shirt was soaked, my contacts were still in.  but i didn't care. i passed out on the couch for 6 hours and felt sooo much better when i woke up.  I was up and about at 5:00 just happy to be able to walk around without having to barf.  Rod looks at me like, 'would you just go back to sleep'.  I was feeling good, i wanted to enjoy it! 
now i'm sipping on soup and ginger ale.  the boys went to a neighbors house for the morning.  Got adam to school on time ( i think) and about to run an errand.  Oh so thankful to be feeling better.  Moms don't have time to be sick!
we did get some laughs in about this, but i think it'll keep getting funnier and funnier as time goes on.  certainly won't forget about it anytime soon!
A lot of you know the story with Rod's cousin, and her situation.  Please pray for them, as there is a long road ahead with recovery and the adjustments that need to be made.  She misses her kids so much.  I almost felt guilty holding the baby, that should be in mommy's arms. 

The baby's name is Elsa, and she's about 6 weeks old here. Noone seemed to know her exact age, but i'm sure her momma does.

young-ins

we've gotten some new life around here this spring. (nothing inside of my womb just in case anyone was wondering)...

A new batch of baby bunnies are at a really cute age, these are almost 4 weeks. ready to eat in 2 months :)

down at the smoker farm tadpoles are in abudance! the cousins caught a couple for us and i'm excited to watch this process and learn about it with the boys. If they manage to survive the following, that is..

Already learned something about tadpoles. They play dead, which is quite smart.

We got 8 chicks on tuesday. They were 2 days old when we got them and so cute. They should begin laying eggs this fall. we got 3 different kinds this year.

(thank you for not pooping on my keyboard, chick).

really trying to keep the balance of teaching the boys to respect the animals but also allowing them to touch and play with them. If they are given just little blocks of time to handle them, then it doesn't give them much time to get creative and abusive. I knew when they were pretending the chicken feet were swords and running after each other with the poor little chicks feet in the air, that they had a bit too much time to play with them. live and learn.

silly pics

These are sure to make you laugh and worry all at the same time..

Rod is so happy with the storage bin he mounted on the back of his bike. I did not know he was planning on storing Clay in there. But he does seem to enjoy it!

I needed to get my green beans planted and the boys wanted the sprinkler on. So i let them put it in the garden to make a little mud. It got to be a bit more then a little mud! I sure hope they remember this for a long time, because i have to wait till this dries up before i can plant corn!

Adam is one cool dude. He went from sucking his thumb a whole lot to completely stopping (he probably still does at night). We are so amazed at what this boy can do when he puts his mind to something. His teacher said he used to suck his thumb 75% of the time. It's been 2.5 weeks since he's stopped so we're thinking it 'for real'. Rod showed him a zip tie one day and said the next time i see you sucking your thumb i'm going to put this zip tie on your thumb as a reminder. apparently adam was not interested in having a zip tie attached to his body :) Rod was not trying to scare him, but just told him we want to help him remember. We were so surprised that he stopped after that, we thought the zip tie would go on 3 minutes after the discussion. This was a good reminder to me that the challenging seasons the boys go through, do pass. things are always changing and there is hope, even when it looks hopeless.

Crates!

We got a bunch of old crates at an auction recently, for almost nothing! now i'm having fun decorating w/ these things. funny how many different ways to display these. a few favs:

Photo albums..

soccer stuff...

works in the bedroom too...

you must think i have nothing to do...posting about crates and all :)

Soccer mom

welp, i'm a soccer mom now! the boys had their first game today. they play with Upwards program, which i love their style of not keeping score, yet playing hard. they memorize verses and get stickers for their work.

each game they get introduced over the loudspeaker before the game and run out onto the field.

Adam did good, he got a goal and always hussles. Ben and Brad, bless their hearts, think they are good, so that's all that matters, right :) since there are only 4 players on the field at a time (on each team), it gives everyone lots of chances to kick the ball.

their team is so sweet. should be a fun season. Goooo Lightning!

Weekend

The weekend was packed with family, celebrating, and (too many) sweets!
Ben and Brad wanted to do a campfire on their birthday. So friday night, despite the wind (what's up with this wind?) we had a nice 3 hour campfire together.

Saturday night we had Ben, Brad and Clay's party at my moms! Good times together. After changing their minds one hundred times, the boys agreed on a rocket cake for this year. That was much better then the Eiffel tower or Jordan river that was previously discussed :)

Clay got a little star cake. of course he blew the candles out right away!

He does that weird squinty thing when we tell him to smile :) Today is Clay's actual birthday and i almost forgot! Now i have a big 2 year old baby! i still call him the baby, how do you make that stop?

We celebrated Easter with family here yesterday. I will probably appreciate the aunts more now, when we have get togethers at their house. Hosting bigger outdoor events is easier to me then smaller (34 people) inside gatherings. Lots of details to cover. It was a good day though and warm so the kids could be outside!!! It was extra special for the extended family to be together. In the past year, two from the family have almost lost their life. But God has answered the prayers of our family and we are grateful they are still with us.

2 of the boys stayed for a sleepover last night. here's the set up. It worked out well, (after 10pm that is, they had to get their engery out first)Needless to say, I took a nap today, and the boys are out replaying the easter egg hunt over and over!

Happy Birthday

to Ben and Brad!!

5 years ago these boys were born on Good Friday! This is their first Good Friday birthday since that day.

The boys are excited for their birthday campfire tonight, and party tomorrow night! So happy to celebrate them!

The walk

Funny how you turn the calendar and see stuff that you've committed to awhile back and all the sudden it's right there! The March for Babies is in four weeks, we are excited to be a part of that again, representing Team Miracles. There are several little preemie miracles on our team. 2 of them being the cuties sporting the phillies hats here..

Last year was great, we raised our goal, i think. This year we hope to raise more. If you want to view our page, donate, or read more about March of Dimes and what they do, you can try this link..not sure but you may need to put in my email and password (mradam is password)
http://www.marchforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?pp=3564916&ct=4&w=5215676&u=gingrichtwins

Ben and Brad have a birthday on Friday, so it's a nice time to get excited about supporting this organization and what they do for the tiniest ones. As Dr. Suess says "A person's a person, no matter how small." I love that!