Outer Banks

Thursday & Friday

Thursday we got up and got out to the beach mid morning. We loved that this year we had a parking lot just off the dunes that we could drive to and park. made the van very sandy on the way back, but it was so great to not have to lug all the stuff, and the kids a few blocks. They were able to play a lot more and not be quite so overtired. Josh and Lia came out to see us for a bit and we got a few quick family photos. We tried them in the cabana to include Esther. She, was sleeping in her seat and you can hardly see her, and the people in the shade you can hardly see either! :( We're all there though. Gary helped me get the kids back to the house, bathed and fed before he left for the bachelor day. He organized a round of golf, then a cookout back at the beach house the groomsmen were staying at. I hear they had a wonderful time. I got the kids down for a short/early nap and afterwards the kids, myself, my mom and Stephanie all went up north to Corolla. We love TimBuckII! My mom and I had found these Blessing Bowls at Eclectic Treasures the year before. She said that would be a great wedding gift for Josh and Lia. Once I knew I was not going to get them, she decided she would. I hope Josh and Lia love it. We had fun walking around a few stores and we ate at First Light which was delicious. The kids were less than trilled about shopping and I had to lug Esther in her seat because the Stroller had not fit in the van for the trip. I should have just carried Esther in my arms. We didn't stay too long and instead we stopped at the grocery store for ice cream and went home. My mom got the kids their treat and read to them out on the porch. It was so sweet. I love those moments when the grandparents do something special with the kids. I always want to be apart of it, but don't want to interrupt it either. The kids went to bed and we relaxed. I think that was the night we had a total downpour and water actually came into our room! It was a quick storm, but caused a lot of flooding! Maybe it was Wednesday night? I really don't recall... Later in the evening Paula suggested we play Hand and Foot. I LOVE playing cards and so even though I was exhausted and it was late, I played and it was SO much fun! Paul, Sue, Kyle and Deneal joined us. It was so fun to see the Michaels kids interact with each other and their mom. I"m not around very many adult kids and their parents, it was awesome.

Friday was rehearsal/rehearsal dinner day. We were invited to a party at the bridesmaid's house after the dinner so we knew we'd not have time for another trip to the beach for the rest of our trip. Friday morning we packed full! We hit the beach for about an hour and a half. I could hardly bear to tear myself and the kids away. They were having so much fun and it just brings you joy to watch your kids enjoy life, you know? I knew too that once the wedding stuff started, it would be a whirlwind. I wanted to just soak in those moments! WE did leave though because the kids REALLY wanted to hit the pool one last time so we headed back to the house, and the pool which was also a blast. After quick baths and lunch and some packing (I think the kids laid down for an hour but I"m not sure) we hit the road. The rehearsal went well and we got out of there in time to get to Mako Mikes for the dinner. It was delicious. It was such a blessing to get to see Josh and Lia surrounded by SO many friends. I'm always jealous of how popular the two of them seem to be. They truly do have a HUGE group of amazing friends. And they truly are close to, and loved by each and every one. This is a group who loves the Lord, and loves to have fun! It was special to be a part of that. At the party after, even MORE of their amazing friends were there! I know too, they had many friends they were unable to invite due to numbers, and who were unable to attend. I hope they know how truly blessed they are to be surrounded by so much love. To have the love of both family and friends, is an amazing blessing. It makes me miss my far away friends just writing about it!

Esther is getting the hang of eating solids!

Shes done well with larger chunks of mashed foods, but occasionally swallows things and then gags a tiny bit. With her laid back nature , of course, she laughs at this, and asks for more. Steph has asked me recently if she's eating more "real solids" yet. Oops! Should think about that huh? I have been focusing so much on getting her to sit up unassisted (she likes to rock back b/c we catch her and I think she'd really rather be down rolling and scooting around on the floor), and holding her bottle, I just don't focus on the eating. We play,read and watch her scoot around! (She's on the verge of crawling now! She's moving those hands and knees forward, but not quite in the "correct order" for official crawling. I give it a week, tops.)

When I do turn my attention to her eating, I either over analyze, or just feed her what we have and don't think about solids. She's gumming her stars well. She's also making progress getting them into her mouth herself. She's been picking them up with the pincer grasp for a long time now, but she'd rather play with them than put them in her mouth. :) Throwing them, of course, is most fun. Since she's eating them whole now, I thought it might be time to try something else. Our friend Faith has sensory sensitivity, and gets very anxious when she chokes, and regresses with her eating. Praying for her regularly and watching the process they've gone through as a family has made me much more aware of such issues, and more nervous about feeding Esther. I don't want Esther to be afraid to eat because I fed her something and she choked, but I also don't want to delay the learning to where she's much older and really does remember. On top of that, I really don't remember how the other kids transitioned from pureed foods to dry crunchy foods. I asked Gary last night, what did we give the kids after stars???

I was hesitant to go straight to cheerios so last night we tried bites of Ritz type crackers. She ate two! She likes that she can grab the whole thing and take her own bite. She coughed a couple times but immediately figured out what size bites to take, and to swallow what she had before getting more (after struggling awhile to get down a rather large chunk). She just did it! I"m so thankful!

Sometimes kids just figure things out on their own- it's natural. I'm seeing more and more in life how sometimes, knowledge can hold you back. Now that I am aware of how kids should use their tongue to push food to the sides of their mouths and things, I'm watching for those things. When you don't know what kids are "supposed" to do, you just live. I'm trying the "just live" approach in many areas with Esther. With Tyler, I was afraid I was doing it wrong on my own so I was constantly checking the books to see what we were "supposed to be doing". Checking to make sure I wasn't messing things up completely. I also had people asking me a lot of questions. Why isn't Tyler crawling yet? Shouldn't he be crawling? Shouldn't he have teeth? Why can't he eat mashed potatoes with cheese off of my plate? What about this chicken? When is he going to eat candy? Each question made me run to the books to see when I should be doing it and it made me second guess the path I'd already determined we'd take with learning different skills. With Esther, I'm not consulting the books. I have a baby food book I check to see what month it's "safe" to introduce a food, but I"m not checking the other books to see when she should be crawling, or walking, or doing front double handsprings. With the other two, I'm sure I just fed them and if they didn't eat it, I waited a week and tried again. I knew how I wanted to progress from food to food, and I just stuck to it, with lots of book checks after the questions! With Esther I'm fighting my urge to just enjoy her, the urge keep her a baby (she's growing up too fast!) and my urge to analyze every little thing. Different things "win" the battle different days, and it's frustrating! It's frustrating to feel like the road you are on is not quite the best road, and frustrating to feel like you might be holding your own kid back. This is true for all of them in all areas. When it comes down to it though, I love my kids more than I could ever describe here, and am doing the best I can for them. Yes, others are doing it better, but I'm not them.

I'm me.

God choose me and I have to believe, that He felt I'd do a good enough job- with or without the books.

So, yes, Esther can eat crackers. She probably could have eaten them a month ago, but she ate them yesterday. And we're thrilled.

PS- She's crawling beside me! :)

Usually I hate computers, but yesterday was another example of how fun they can be. This kind of thing does happen occasionally, but yesterdays experience was exceptional, and I don't want to forget it.

The day started off with a conversation with Tyler that led to what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wants to drive trains, but not any train- a Shinkansen. These Japanese "bullet" trains were introduced in the 1960's and at the time were the fastest in the world. Japan has a large fleet of them and several other countries now have them. The US has expressed interest as well. Currently the fastest train is in France. I know this all because of the magic of the computer, and the internet. Tyler pulled out a book yesterday morning, opened to the page showing these trains, and said that's the kind I want to drive. So several articles and You Tube video's later- we all know a lot about these trains!

Anita Renfroe does it again! Enjoy!

HE answers prayers!!!!

Blog coming soon over @ the Kellogg Family house!!

Esther is 8 months today!

I love you my sweet Esther Joy!!

*She's officially army crawling forwards and backwards!! It's TOO cute!

Packing, traveling, and the first day...

Gary had to work Tuesday so we planned to leave when he got home. I agreed to drive the first few hours so he could nap. I told him that he kids would probably not be asleep or quiet until about 10 pm and he'd have a hard time getting rest. It was really nice to have all day to finish packing. I got a lot packed and organized over the weekend, Monday began packing the van,and by the time Gary got home Tuesday, I was pretty much ready to go. It was nice to pack, organize and clean as I went so that the house was not left in shambles. I even got the beds stripped and the sheets all washed so we came home to clean sheets. It took us about an hour to get everything finalized and get on the road. I drove about 3.5 hours and those kids were still wide awake! They were not quiet at all for Gary which concerned me. After I drove I went right to sleep for about an hour, then rested on and off till about 2AM. From that point on I stayed awake to help keep Gary awake. Plus, with the kids finally sleeping, I have his undivided attention so we can talk! We got to the beach house just after 4:30. We made only 2 stops I believe, but now it's all a blur so I'm not sure. maybe it was 3. Anyways, we made it in 10 hours! Makes a difference staying in a house further south, you aren't crossing the bridge and heading north for a half hour. My mom had two twin beds made and we quickly got the kids into those beds and she moved to the couch (THANKS MOM!) so we should not have to dig out kids sheets. Gary set up the playpen and Esther went right down. While he did that I found our sheets and pj's and we went to bed.

Wednesday

We got up to rain so we did some things inside and the pool in the morning. It was disappointing, but it was so nice to have the time to relax and not rush right out. We did early naps (which was easy since we were all tired) and then out to the ocean. It was gorgeous!!! I just LOVE the ocean. I know if you think about it too hard, it's gross, but it's just amazing and beautiful to me. It's a place I connect with God- I can't explain it. We went back later in the afternoon and I realized very quickly that we'd have to have baths. We managed to all get bathed and dressed before dinner- Spaghetti night! It was so good! I have no idea what else we did that evening... After the kids went to bed we watched a movie, Gary worked on his speech (he had to re-write it so he could read it), and I did a puzzle with Paula, Sue, Deneal and Kyle. I love puzzles! It was fun to get one completely done in one night too.

Grandma Stephanie and Esther

Steph & Heahter

Sandra & Heather

Grace & Tyler

Esther

Esther's first time in the Ocean!

Grace was not interested in touching the water so she and Grandma Sandra sat in their chairs. They scooted closer and closer, but Grace never got wet!

They LOVED playing in the sand this year!

Our Family Feet

Watching a show before bed

Getting Ready for the beach!

Grace gets to try the curlers (which I goofed on and we didn't use), and Esther gets a new dress AND new swimsuit!

Chuck E Cheeses for Papa

The glasses they got with their tickets

Tyler's Favorite- The Semi Truck!

Papa and Tyler try out Mario Kart

Helicopter Bike! Who comes up with these things? The kids LOVE this one!

A horse picture for Lauren and Michaela!

June~ Random Photos of the kids

Josh and Lia are MARRIED!

WHOOO!!!!

We love you both!

Now to pack so we can head out early in the morning, back to Ohio. We've had a wonderful week!

Packing is about 90% done!

We still have some last minute things to assemble the day we leave. I need to pack a few DVD's and books (books are heavy!), some coloring books, maybe paint and playdoh and a few toys... I'm confident everything will fit and I am close to ready to wager Gary will be able to see out the back window too! Last year on the way home we passed a horrible accident that terrified me and gave me nightmares for a week. It's all coming back to me. :(

I'm happy to report that The Bush's and Grandma Sandra have safely arrived. I also believe our food expert and his wife (the Haywood's) have arrived. I got a message from Bride-to-be and she was driving... on her way to OBX I think! I hope to talk to my mom again tonight and get a full report.

Isn't money grand? I consider myself pretty frugal, or at least I have the ability to be. I also can spend money like no body's business, i've just never had the opportunity to do so. :) Today we decided to go out to lunch, just the 5 of us and then Gary got his hair cut. I also bought a tanning package good for a year. In those purchases, we spent more than I spent last week on our grocery bill! (You can either deduce I don't spend much a week on groceries or we overpaid for hair cuts and pizza. Probably both are true.) It was nice to be pampered and served though. Lesson learned today: Unless you make it yourself, pizza is rarely healthy. I've been trying to follow Weight Watchers for several years. I"m not sure if I'm allowed to advertise who got me started, but I get a lot of the info free through this VIP. This allows me to basically follow the principles but not pay the membership fee or attend meetings. I think I'd like the accountability but the idea of spending $ to have someone else weigh me every week seems a bit wasteful... if I can do it myself. My goal after Esther was born was to try to do it on my own, and if I couldn't, join. So far I've not joined yet but that's always an option, we discuss it about once a month. I'm close to my goal so we'll see. So I've been tracking what I eat, counting "points", and weighing myself regularly. I found a website over a year ago that allows you to record your weight. You put in your weight, your goal, and each week you "weigh in" and it tracks it for you. You can also track what you eat and work out and I think you can have friends and chat and all that stuff. It's a dieting social network basically. I just log in and record my weight. My favorite feature is that it emails me once a week reminding me to weigh in. I also use a website that helps me figure out the points values for restaurants. It was here that I found out today that one piece of a large cheese pizza is 9 points. However, if I eat one slice of a large stuffed crust cheese pizza, it's 8! How is that possible!?! Less crust and more cheese?! Cheese is better for you than crust? I wonder what it is if I don't eat the crust at all! :) The other lesson reminded: DO NOT BUY CHILDREN MILK AT A RESTAURANT!!! I almost always take them drinks or have them drink water. We forgot that today and it cost us more than a gallon of milk to get them both one not even full cup.

The other day I was on the phone with my mom and all of a sudden I could not hear her very well, and then silence. The speaker had been making weird noises and sounded odd for a few days so I assumed right away it was the speaker dying. I was right! When Esther pulled a chord that unplugged the Internet and TV and I needed to call Gary, I figured out that speaker phone was my only option. Thankfully we were at the part of our contract that as long as we signed our lives away for 2 more years, I could get a free-after-rebate phone. The sales lady also gave the kids each these model phones. They don't have power or anything but they look exactly like a real cell phone, heavy and everything. They are obsessed with them! I've had to take them away several times and since Friday that's the best punishment there is! They like to play music, call people, leave and listened to voice mails and play video games. How do they even know phones do all that stuff?! :) This has reinforced that they will not have phones for a very long time. And I hope data plans are not standard by that time!

Other updates for today. A piece fell off the mower cutting Gary's chore short, Esther can hold and throw her bottle (and toys), the kids are playing wedding a LOT, and the sun came out today!!

As you can see we did a trip to Chuck E Cheeses this week. They are adding on a huge amount of space and they've taken down some of the half walls. I was expecting with most schools out that it would be crowded but we happened to go the only sunny warm evening of the week so it wasn't near as crowded as it could have been. Papa took us. It was his idea and even though it's not our favorite place to go (NOISE! OVER STIMULATION!!) I thought it would be a nice treat for him to get to do something big with them since he's missing the big NC beach trip. The "Papa's Beach" trip is on the calendar though! Anyways, the kids had a blast and Gary got some great photos on his iPhone. I have some on the camera but it'll be awhile before I get them downloaded and they might never make it on here. Just being honest. The oddest point of my night was when the weird guy wandering around watching us complimented my shoes. The high point was watching Tyler dance with Chuck E to get free tickets. He's not afriad anymore! Grace however, "Hold me! Hold me tight as you can!" Then afterwards I got her to give him a high five and she said, "I love him, but i'm kind of scared of him too." Seems she understands the girl/boy relationship realm pretty well for a three year old!

I have a post started somewhere in the archives here to update you since my last real update in May. It's a work in (slow) progress.

Today though, Friday June 11, is packing day #2. The quote "Slow going" keeps coming to mind. Then of course I want to put in my Princess Bride DVD but that would slow things down even more! I've got the linens bag full and only a few things to find another place for to complete that stage. Food we have in the house is packed, grocery trip planned for Sunday after church sometime. Swimsuits and coverups are packed and I'm almost done with Wedding and Rehearsal dinner outfits, underclothes and shoes. Outfits and toiletries and "if it rains" activities are still to go. And squirt guns. I have to be sure I remember squirt guns!

We leave Tuesday, planning on driving through the night after Gary gets done with a LLLLOOONNNGGG day of work. If he'll actually sleep in the car I figure I can get us through PA and into Virginia by around midnight and let him take over. Unfortunately the kids are often VERY excited and don't fall asleep till around 10. Even with Dramamine.

So i'm off to go play sleepover, feed the baby, do some housework, assemble some outfits and toys, iron and get ready for Bible Study tonight. Sometime tonight or tomorrow we also have to visit the dreaded Verizon store.

My speaker on my phone died.

Fabulous.

Tyler racing a car!

Grace riding the helicopter bike @ chuck-e-cheese

Tyler riding the helicopter bike @ chuck-e-cheese

You Learn Something New Every Day:

Having a husband 13 inches taller than you are has many benefits. Ironing his clothes is not one of them!