The highs of turning 4 is getting the "new" bunkbeds put up. He couldn't wait to get to the top. You can just see the glee in Caleb's face...
The lows of turning 4 and getting "new" bunk beds put up, is the fact that you have 3 other siblings that think it's just as cool as you do and they want to "spoil" your fun.
**These bunk beds are the same ones that Todd and his older brother, Scott, had eons ago!!
The next day Caleb was a different boy. He was overjoyed with all his presents and couldn't wait to play with all of them.
II Timothy 2:15 " Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed..." is the theme verse for the AWANA clubs. I went to them at our church when I was a kid and my kids have been able to go to them through a nearby church. They have books that are according to your grade. You say verses and get patches and jewels on your vest. There's also game time every night and Bible story time. The kids love it. At the end of the year (Sept-May) there is an awards night and fun fair. They get ribbons and plaques depending on which book(s) they've done. They also get "money" based upon how many verses they say to spend at the fun fair.
Our church has a "Baby Day Parade" every Mother's Day for kid's 4 and under. Two years ago, I had 3 kids in it!!!! This year only 2. Next year only 1!!!!. They dress up and mom's dress up wagons and strollers to a set theme and they walk all around all the congregation and show off. It's a lot of fun.
Savannah was the flower girl in our old babysitters wedding on May 13. She did a superb job, of course. She promised Jennifer a year ago that she would do it. Then about 3 months ago, when I mentioned it coming up she informed me, "Well, Jennifer just has to find a replacement, because I can't do it." She thought she'd be too nervous. Then the week before the wedding she realized she was going to miss a soccer game because of the wedding and said, "Well, just tell her to change the time." I told her this would probably be her last flower girl gig, because she was getting older and most of our family is married. She wasn't happy about missing soccer, but she had a good attitude, and I do believe she forgot about the game during the whole afternoon. The ring bearer is only2 1/2 and ALL boy. It was going to be Savannah's job to keep him from running. About half way down the isle, while all was going well, he turned around to notice the petals "dropping" out of her basket and said "uh! oh!" They had not practiced with the petals and he didn't realize it was on purpose. It took her a little bit to get him turned around and to the front, but they made it. She later told us that she was sooo nervous when he did that.
Isaac had no clue as to what we were doing at first. He didn't even get to color the eggs (we did it during his nap time). He caught on quickly and had a good time finding the eggs.
Keegan found the special egg. His uncle rolled up a dollar bill in a colored-blown out egg.
Poor Savannah had to get her first cavity done on her 6th birthday. She did great and she realized on the way home that her face was not moving right. She thought it was funny what it looked like.
Savannah Turned 5 in 2005
Savannah is ever changing. She loves her Bantam chicken, Speedy, who actually has a sweet personality if you can believe it. She played soccer this spring and made almost every goal for her team and was somehow also playing defense blocking the other team. She was all over the field, literally. She showed a lot of natural talent in combination with her determined spirit to be the best she could. She had gotten a number of goals the first couple games, so when the game was over that she only got 2 goals she was disappointed. We were walking back to the van and she said, "We didn't do good. We only got 2 goals." I said, "Remember that soccer doesn't usually doesn't have high scores. It's usually 2-1 or 3-2 or 0-0. And you were the only one who scored on your team this time, so those 2 goals were both yours." Savannah was not convinced and said, "Well, we still didn't get very many points." We think she'll be playing again in the Fall. We shall see. She also has been learning a lot of Karate through watching Keegans class. Savannah loves athletics, but she has also turned into quite a girl this year with the acquisition of her first bras...
Savannah has finally shown an interest in baby dolls this year. She got a new boy doll and stroller set for Easter. The baby actually looked a lot like Isaac when he was born, so she named it Peter, which is Isaac's middle name. She really has taken to that as her baby with Todd and I as the grandparents and Keegan and Caleb as Uncles. She even has Caleb convinced he's an Uncle!
She also has had more opportunities to get "girl" time in with other girls, including her cousin in Ohio, Madison, which is 3 years older. They played magnificently early Jan when we were down for a family wedding. They did all the fun girl bonding stuff including makeup, rollers in their hair overnight, and ignoring their brothers (there are just too many of them between Savannah's 3 and Madisons 2). :)
Savannah was also lucky enough to spend 5 days by herself at Madison's house the last week of June. She got to go on a riverboat cruise, swim every night, and get all the attention she could handle. Although she admitted she missed us and cried a little one night, she loved it and had an awesome time. She's just growing up too fast...She came out to me today with her hair in a pony tail that she had put up all by herself and it was perfect!! I was not ready for that. I really wanted to take it out and do it myself because that is MY job, nonetheless, I praised her and told her to go show her daddy, who also praised her.:)
I don't know what I'm going to do when she starts Kindergarten.:(
In previous weeks Isaac has shown greater interest in the chicken coop. I realized a week before these pictures that he had figured how to open the door. Well, we recently got our yard completely fenced in (it was just missing a gate across the wide driveway), so when Isaac came up missing I knew he had to be somewhere in the yard. After an exhaustive search I realized I hadn't checked the coop. The first picture is what I saw. He was about 3/4 of the way in, naked with only a diaper. After weeks of laboring he had finally gotten in and realized it wasn't as fun as he thought. The chickens weren't being mean. It was the slippery, muddy, poopy guck under his bare feet that he was having such turmoil. Yes, I ran to get my camera before I let him out. :) However, I was in such a rush to save that sad little face, that I didn't open the door to get a better picture AND I had bare feet also. Therefore, I was surely not walking in there as long as the chickens were behaving. So, I cracked the door, held out my hand and coaxed him to me. With great trepidation and caution he made it. I thought that surely he learned his lesson...Well, the next day (the other 2 pics) he was back at it. This time I caught him before he got in. However, I could tell he was not trying as fiercely as he had before. He mainly just stood there and watched them. It's one of his favorite outdoor pastimes.
We had plans to take the kids to the city fireworks but the weather was too wet, so Isaac went down at his normal time and the kids did sparklers. They stayed up and watched the news coverage of the display, which is almost as good. During the day, they had a water balloon fight with balloons that were so under inflated they would NOT burst. The lower left picture shows them all the deck practicing Karate. Keegan has been in Karate since last September and is just about to make green belt. It went white, yellow, orange and then green. Savannah and Caleb learn a lot because it's an open class setting. Isaac just started to kick up his right leg to the side, balance, and shouts "Aiya" a couple weeks ago. It's pretty funny and of course he thinks he's funny. 
