Kindergarten Graduation

This week marks the completion of Zachary's first year of school, culminating in none other than a kindergarten graduation!  It was very sweet, and our friend Jennifer was very involved, down to the music and creating the graduating cake.  We started off the day with listening to each child read a book that they had written - complete with a dedication, a story, and then a "note about the author."  Zachary's story was "The Big Soccer Game" and it was dedicated to his Grandma.  She was in attendance, so it was a sweet surprise for all of us, and very sentimental.

About to read his story to the class and listening parents

The class, along with Mrs. Sitagata (teacher)

Showing off his book, along with the Zachary cookie that Miss Jennifer created for the kids

The fam...

Two best buds.

We started off the week with Kaleb getting over his strep throat, and Zachary then coming down with a very high fever.  We assumed it was strep as well, but he had (according to the Centra Care doctors) a double ear infection and lots of congestion.  He went onto antibiotics, but still had a fever for a full 6 days, so we're not sure if it was in fact something other than strep.  Thankfully, Addison and the Z-parents never came down with it.

In other news, Kaleb completed his second session of soccer at the JCC, receiving a very cool trophy complete with a soccer ball that turns!  He was very excited about this, and ever after there has been a lot of trophy comparisons going on in the house, with Zachary pulling out his old trophies as well.



Kieran and Kaleb showing off their trophies

Addison has started to do a full hand wave (instead of the nodding fist) this week, and her sixth tooth has shown its face.  She has become quite a good little eater now, which we're thankful for.  She started on kale this week, and didn't go into fake "seizures."  She is a whopping 9 months old now!  We continue to struggle with getting her out of the woombie though to "free" her arms - she may just go to college in a woombie!  Ha!

9 months old, with her new teeth peeking out.



Admiring the little girl in the mirror.

Phrase of the week:  Last week, there was a cute conversation with Grandma and Kaleb.  Just as a precursor to this story - we live in Apopka, and Grandma lives in Orlando - even though we live literally about 1 1/2 - 2 miles apart on the very same road.  This conversation occurred as they were discussing going to the Adventurer Investiture program for Zachary (although we didn't end up going with Zachary's fever) at the Apopka SDA church.

Kaleb: What is in Apo-ka?? Is there animals there?

Gma: I'm quite sure there are animals but you are going to the Apopka church and they don't have animals there.

Kaleb: Oh, what is the Apo-ka church?

Gma: Where Zach went for Adventurers.
Kaleb: Oh. We live in Apo-ka Grandma, do you?

Gma: No, I live in Orlando

Kaleb: Orlando? Guess you live in Orlando because you are old!!!

Gma: stifling a hearty laugh! Well, there are a lot of old people in Apopka also

Kaleb: How do you know? (standard line with him)

Gma: Because I have several friends that live in Apopka that are old!

Kaleb: Do they have animals and fun things in Orlando?? Like water slides?

Gma: Yes, they have water slides, SeaWorld and lots of fun things besides old people!!

Camp Kulaqua

Last weekend was the Forest Lake church retreat at Camp Kulaqua.  We went last year for the first time, and were looking forward to the notion of going again.  Unfortunately, the weather was not so "fair" this year, and rained cats and dogs the entire week prior to the point where we wondered if we would start to float away!

Then, on Thursday Kaleb came down with a 103 degree fever, and would not resurface until Monday when we took him to the doctor - after thinking it would surely break any day, and discovered that he had strep throat.  No complaints other than a fever, so we couldn't believe it.

With Kaleb getting sick, that nixed the idea of the whole family outing, so we sent Karis and Zachary up just for a day on Saturday.  The day drizzled all day, but he had a fantastic time while Kaleb, Mommy and Addison laid low back at home.  Kaleb was sad to miss it, but was feeling poorly enough that he didn't put up too much of a stink thankfully.

Addison's new is that two weeks ago she started to army crawl!  She is quite adept at getting around now, and is starting to get up on all fours and rock back and forth, so it won't be long before she gets the hang of that and is truly off to the races!  She is eating yams, sweet potatoes, cauliflour, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, peas (not her favorite!), butternut squash, spinach, pears, mangos, peaches, kiwi, bananas, and grapes.  We're going to start her on millet now that she's 9 months old.  So far, she's got to have her food at just the right warm temperature (nothing cold please, or fake body seizures begin!!).  She's drinking about 24.5 ounces of milk right now, but we're having to coax her to eat it all - and three meals of food a day.

Phrase of the week:  When Zachary realized that he would not be able to go that Friday night, he began to cry saying 'I've been waiting for a whole year to sleep in the cabin, and now it'll be a year and one night!"  It is hard to be 7 and exercise patience!

Kaleb's conversation came as he continues to wonder about all the things that will move with us from this house to the new house when we actually get ready to move (on that note, re-modeling construction begins this week!).  He asked "Are we taking the walls?"  Amy replied "No" to which he then matter-of-factly states "Well, of course not, they're very tall and how would we get them down, and they're all connected sticky at the top!"  It gave Amy an image of a lincoln log cabin, that you could take it all down and put it back up together again in a new place!

Zachary, Blake and Calleigh coloring during the church retreat worship time.



Trying out the "tight rope" that had been set up outside of the chalets.



Best buds - Blake, Luke and Zachary



As Miss Jennifer says "Beefcake!"

One of the assignments during Sabbath school at the church retreat was to draw the journey to heaven.  Below is what his life is going to look like - starting on the left hand side with church, then becoming a soccer player,  then getting "maryed', working, grandpa and then heaven!  We love it!



Poor Kaleb convalescing



The Big Reveal

We bought a new house!!!  After continuing to look for other homes, both in person and online, and continuing to pray about what was the right thing for our family, we decided to go back to the original house that we tried to buy in the Fall.  We were able to get the house, and we closed last Thursday!  We weren't sure that it would go through again, so we decided this time just to be quiet about it until we knew for sure. 

It is a little overwhelming to think about moving now, and having 2.2 acres to mow and weed, as well as doing some construction in the house.  But, we're trying to stay calm and take it one day at a time.  Thankfully Karis' ankle is much better, so he's able to at least be mobile around the property.

We won't be moving in until about another 4-6 weeks, as we're having the carpets replaced with wood floors, and doing some other construction etc.  Then we'll put our house on the market, so we won't have to be doing that all at the same time thankfully.

The kids were super excited when we went there with them for the first time, running around the place yelling "Look mommy, there is a fountain!  Look Daddy, how big it is!"  but as we knew, all exploration immediately came to a halt when they finally made it back into the bonus room where the air hockey table was.  From that point forward, who cared about the house?  They only wanted to play air hockey! :)    We'll post more pictures in the weeks to come.

Our new home sweet home

Addison has 5 teeth all popped through now - two center ones on the bottom, the center one on the top, the cuspid beside it, and the other cuspid.  We're waiting on the other center top tooth, and then she'll have a mouthfull!  She is grinding her teeth, which is the CREEPIEST sound ever - as back as nails on a chalkboard!  Hopefully she gets over that fast!  Her appetite has waned tremendously over the last few weeks as well with the teeth coming in, so it'll be interesting to see if it comes back.

Phrase of the week: Kaleb was putting on a pair and shouted "I am a rockstar!" with his hands up in the air! Not sure where he picked up that phrase, but it was fitting! Amy was cleaning up the other day, and found a note that Zachary had left for Karis after he broke his ankle "To Daddy: Daddy, I hope that you are feeling great." So sweet and caring for his Daddy!

Doting big brother!

Big helper!

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers.....let's hope so because April showers totally made a bust last Sunday of the Z-family's attempt to get family pictures done to commemorate Addison's 9 month achievement and the boys turning 7 and 5.  Family pictures are one of those marathon events where frozen smiles, uncooperative children, and the environment all conspire to thwart the desperate attempt to capture everyone at their finest.....but it is a necessary evil because we would dearly miss the coffee table books that we make for each year's professional pictures! :)

Last weekend with the raining thwarting our pictures, we did have the unexpected pleasure though of being able to go and celebrate Madelyn and Kohlden Isidro's birthday parties - it was a tea party complete with a bounce house!  How fun!

After having our computer restored from the virus, we finally were able to retrieve the funny video of Kaleb skiing down the bunny hill to where Kieran was waiting for him at the bottom of the slopes.  Kieran decided to run out to meet Kaleb with open arms, and you can see what happens next as Kaleb doesn't even apply the brakes...talk about watching a train wreck in slow motion!  Click here to go to the video and it is the last video in the post.

Last weekend we spent doing some odd jobs around the house, and the weather was fairly cool with all of the clouds and rain that we were having.  The boys were big helpers while Addison supervised from afar.

Addison is sprouting teeth galore, she has another 3 teeth coming in this week!  She has been such an easy baby though with teething as she hasn't even uttered a peep of complaint!  One of her new tricks though is to take her fist, and she moves it up and down, as if is a nodding head on the end of her wrist.....almost like she's waving to us, but it is a fist instead! :)  We realize that we did not post her 8 month pictures, so we are posting that now, because in 10 days she'll be 9 months and then we'll really be behind! :)

Phrase of the week:

Kaleb - Amy said something to Kaleb that he must not have really liked,  because he gives a sigh and he then looks UP and then DOWN in an exasperated manner. 
Amy replies: "Kaleb, don't roll your eyes at me, it isn't respectful. 
Kaleb:  "Mom, I didn't roll my eyes at you, I don't know HOW!"
Should we tell him now or later that he in fact does know how to roll his eyes?

Another conversation this morning happened with Zachary, the topic was something mundane but the interchange was cute:

Karis:  "That is irrelevant."
Zachary:  "What is irr-elephant?"
Too cute!

Karis of course is known for his "Stinky Pajama Gang" stories, in which the kids and all of their friends go off on wild adventures, and now even little Addison is getting in on the action!

Listening to Dad tell stories

Campout Adventures

The ultimate incentive for going to Adventurers - the CAMPOUT - finally arrived last weekend.  Zachary has been resisting going to Adventurers, even though all of his friends are there - why you ask?  Because he hates to do crafts apparently, and Adventurers has too many crafts!  It has become such a struggle that we're considering whether only Kaleb will participate in the Adventurers next year, and just leave Zachary at home (maybe he'll rethink his likes and dislikes then!)  We are telling him though that he has to finish this year, because if you make a commitment, you need to follow through!

But, to the campout itself - Amy stayed home with Addison and Karis headed out with the boys.  There was little sleep to be had that night because there was a tent full of teenagers beside their tent that talked until quite late, so it was midnight before Zachary went to sleep and 1A before Karis finally managed to drift off.  But, other than a little lack of sleep, the day was super fun with lots of activities and then free time to play soccer (Zachary) and a whole plethora of fun activities for Kaleb.  Kaleb is so social that he ended up playing with many different kids throughout the day, which is fun to see.

Playing with Obed



Ring around the ..... firepit....

Much to the boys' chagrin, they did come home Saturday night to sleep as the next day, Daddy was taking them to a soccer game! The soccer game ended up being a "washout" as it rained (aka POURED) but they were able to see about 30 minutes of play before throwing in the towel and coming on home.  But, it is Zachary's favorite sport right now, so he was thrilled to be able to go and watch.

Rob, Lisa, Luke, Adam, Kaleb, Zachary and Grandma - trying to stay dry!

In other exciting news, Kaleb has achieved the ability to go all night with no pull-up!  Yahoo!  He is diaper-free now!  He is quite proud of himself, and it is certainly nice not to have to worry about that anymore.  He's been diaper-free now for about 3-4 weeks, and has only had maybe 2 accidents in that whole time!  Good job Kaleb!

Pulling down his PJs to show off the fact that he has underwear on instead of a diaper (just a peek, wanted to keep this blog PG! :))

Addison now has a 2nd tooth!  It is the bottom central one, and it just popped through.  This now has introduced a very expected, but frightening effect - the BITING when nursing.  It is enough to make a grown woman cry.  OUCH.  Amy did the standard face flick when Addison did it, and Addison has been such a good baby, she's never had any discipline before, so she was crying and screaming as if Amy had cut off her hand!  Poor kid!  Poor mommy!  Let's hope that it stops, otherwise nursing will cease and desist and it will just be pumping from now on.......


We love Valentine's Day shirts, and didn't post the one that Addison was wearing....l'amour!

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb – "Mommy, where are your nose hairs?" Amy answers "Mine are small, you can't see them."  To which Kaleb then retorts: "Oh – Daddy has lots!"  Poor Daddy!

Zoo Bash

Last week, we had the official birthday party for Zachary, Kaleb and Luke at the local zoo.  It started off with a train ride around the zoo, and then we headed into the birthday room in which they began to play games with the party hosts.  The one party host was about to become a youth pastor at his church, and he was GREAT with the kids, we were very fortunate.  After eating, they then played some more games and then dove into the fabulous cakes, created by of course the talented Miss Jennifer!, that were designed as a snake, a lion, and a jaguar.  After eating ourselves silly, the kids then headed out to the outer courtyard where they were entertained by a python (and Moms everywhere kept our distance!).  The kids had a fun time after the party walking around the zoo and enjoying all of the animals.

The birthday boys

Kaleb's cake, thanks for Miss Jennifer!

Amazing jaguar for Zachary

Playing games with the party host

The party participants - Kieran, Esi, Jonathan, Blake, Evan, Luke, Kaleb, Zachary, Madelyn, Kohlden, Braelyn, Maddie, Adam, David, Loghann and Obed

The kids looking at the snake (on the lady's arm but she's slightly behind the tree (thankfully! :))

We celebrated Kaleb's true birthday this week, and he was delighted to tell his Mom that "Mom, you can't tell me to stop growing, I have to get bigger, that's just life!"  Mom played along and began insisting that he  NOT get any bigger, it was just not acceptable!  Ah, if we could only capture these fleeting moments and put them in a bottle to keep forever.

The weather has been beautiful here, but with the lovely weather comes allergy season, and we are suffering - at least Zachary and Mommy are, that's for sure.  It is hard to see how wonderful the weather is, and know that you'll pay for being outside later on!  Oh well, as Kaleb says "that's life!"

Addison's big news is that she has started to pop a new tooth on the top!  Strangely enough, it is not the center tooth, but the one on the other side of that, or possibly even her canine tooth - we'll have to wait and see to know for sure as it is just now peeking through.  This is about two months earlier than the boys, so this was a bit surprising!  It is too little yet to get a picture, so perhaps in the next few weeks.

Addison continues to get better and better at sitting up, and likes to do the yoga move "plank in air" (Ha! that's not a yoga move of course!) by holding herself up on her hands and feet with a perfectly straight body.  If she'd figure out how to drop her knees, she'd be crawling before long - so we aren't showing her how to drop her knees, that is for sure!  She is eating pretty well now, although green vegetables are not her favorite.  We haven't started her on any grains yet, so once we start her on millet then we'll really introduce the green vegetables much more when it can be mixed to dilute the strong flavor a little.  The boys are still in love with her, and now even Blake is delighted when he gets to feed her, and hopes that Fridays aren't field trip days because then he doesn't get to spend it with Addison at his house in the mornings! :)  Too cute.

Karis always ends up meeting the most interesting people as patients, and this week was no exception.  He came home with a monarch butterfly cocoon - so now we're waiting patiently for the butterfly to emerge.  How cool!  It is the light green pod hanging down at the top of this cup....

Phrase of the week:  Things you never expect to have to deal with when your kid is reading the Bible......."Mom, what does it mean when it says that David did not have sex with her?"  Uhh......hurts when you wish that your child wasn't reading the Bible so much!  Amy danced around an explanation of that, and then told him that when he was a little older she'd give him a full explanation.  If anyone wants to give us an expert way of discussing this with a then 6 year old, we would appreciate it!

Celebrations!

This last week continued with the round of celebrations as we started off the week going to the Easter celebration hosted by the Hilliad and Bergherm families.  It was complete with face-painting and the requisite easter egg hunt.  It was great fun and the entire family enjoyed it.

A dangerous lion and a snappy alligator!



Addison and Tangie in matching green outfits!



Kaleb found his alloted number of eggs in about 5 seconds flat!



An unusual sighting, a picture of the entire family!



Hanging out with Uncle Rob

The week continued and soon we were on Zachary's 7th birthday.  We celebrated by having a mini-family celebration that night with a present and a cake for him to blow out the candles for.  He is quite proud to be 7!

No problem to blow out the 7 candles!

We ended off the week heading over to Cochrans where we enjoyed some good food, even better fellowship, and the boys delighted in opening more presents!

The birthday boys, Luke, Zachary, Kaleb and a precious Kieran for good measure.

On the Addison front, we have been remiss in posting that she has mastered sitting!  She started a few weeks ago, but was not entirely steady - but she has improved to the point where she can sit for long periods of time before she falls over.  Now with that being 'mastered', she's starting to raise herself up on her hands and feet (like a flat plank though) when laying on her tummy, so she may just beat the boys to crawling (who were about 10'ish months if memory serves).  Stay down little girly, no rush! :)

Sitting with Devin at the park

The lounging man wonders "who's that pretty lady?"



Ha ha, doesn't it look like two little lovebirds with their eyes closed?

While all of the "luvin'" was going on at the blanket, the small boys were thrilled to have Uncle Rob chasing them around the field to see who he could catch! 

 Phrase of the week:  Mommy, I'm not a big boy yet, I'm a MEDIUM boy! I'm not a big boy until I'm 10!  Sizes according to Zachary....  love it! :)