What's New?

Just a quick update...today is Todd's Birthday - Happy Birthday!! We love you. He's getting to spend all day by himself mowing 2 stores. That's never happened before, but this time of year we're short staffed and it just so happened that the guys we usually use this time of year were not available today...soooo, Todd gets to make all the money himself today without any payroll! That's the silver lining.

I'm homeschooling Savannah 1st grade and Caleb K4 this year. They both have a positive attitude about it and are usually ready to start as soon as they get up - before I've had my coffee. Isaac likes to sit with them and scribble with crayons on paper. Keegan is attending Community Baptist Christian School for the 3rd grade and he is loving being back at school. It'll work out better for his personality to be at school than at home.

Keegan and Savannah just spent most of their money buying 2 Red Eared Slider turtles and the goodies that you have to buy with them. We told them that whenever the goldfish die they can use the aquarium for turtles. One died last week and after Todd cleaned out the tank he filled it up for the other one and left it outside because the fish could "use some sun." I don't know if it was on purpose, but Savannah was pretty upset the next day when the water "was boiling" from the warm weather we had (in her words) and the other fish was dead. It didn't take too long for her to get over it because she was pretty excited about getting turtles. Savannah named hers Michaelangelo and Keegan's is Donatello after the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

I actually get to fly to Houston, Tx on Sept 22 for a quick weekend business trip for lia sophia. I'm helping a recruit get started. Pray that it'll all be worth it.

Gotta go and do payroll for Green Grass....

Yes, I'm busy, but it's all good.

Love, Stacey

Happy 10 years to Us with a weekend away to Frankfort, Michigan

The Highs and Lows of a Bunkbed

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!!

Happy 4th Birthday Caleb!!???

Caleb turned 4 on Friday, May 19. It was a day he's been so looking forward to. He started out doing one of his favorite things...puzzles. Then Daddy and Mommy made brunch.
After Brunch Caleb and Isaac took a "vacation bath." It's a spa bath every where else. The first time Keegan took one he said, "That was a nice vacation." And it stuck. Sometimes they'll even order drinks and snacks during their "vacation." As every one was coming to his party, I was telling Caleb to come and eat. I made his favorite...mac n cheese. He complained about his belly hurting. I figured it was because he hadn't really eaten since brunch and he was hungry. His Aunt Tori tried to get him to come in the kitchen and take a few bites so he'd feel better...next thing we knew he threw up on the couch. So....the party went on with the food. I went and asked him if he wanted to blow out the candles. He said, "I'll come and blow them out and then I'll come right back." So we cut out a section of his cake with candles on it, so as to not contaminate the whole cake. We sang, he blew, sat for a second, and then crashed on the couch.




He woke up about 1 1/2 hr later as everyone was leaving and wanted to open presents. He opened 3 and then said he needed to lie back down, so he laid down...then he threw up. He mustered up the will power to finish opening his presents but with no visible enthusiasm. The pic with the play doh box was as much "smile" as we could get. He did make us laugh, because when he was all finished opening the presents he turned to Todd and said in his weak voice, "What about my bunk beds?" We promised him when he turned 4 we would set up the bunk beds for him and Isaac (although I'm not quite ready for Isaac to be out of the crib). He obviously had only one thought on his mind besides not feeling well. I was up with him the whole night. :(
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.

A.W.A.N.A Fun Fair and Award Night

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.

Mother's Day 2006

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 the Flower Girl

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.

Savannah the Soccer Star

Savannah LOVES soccer!!! The pic on the left is her making a goal. The pic on the right is her doing the kickoff. She made all four of her teams goals this day. They don't really keep track during the Spring season. It's a non-competitive learning environment. Savannah doesn't care though. She keeps track in her head. At this game in particular she was doing VERY well. I happened to overhear a mom from the other team talking to someone who had obviously just gotten to the game saying, "Watch that girl. She is awesome!" (referring to Savannah who was going by). The next game she played on May 16, she learned what it was like to play against herself. There was a girl on the other team that was just as good as her in footwork and aim, but a little faster. Savannah realized this and told me after the game that I needed to time her in her running so she could get faster! :)

Easter Sunday 2006

Egg Hunting at Grandma and Grandpa Putman's

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.

Savannah lost her First Tooth just after turning 6

Savannah's First Cavity

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 6 in March 2006

Daddy surprised Savannah with a present before he left for work...makeup. She put it on all by herself and was so proud. She had a ball opening gifts. I didn't have time to wrap, so she had to close her eyes and was so excited with each present. Her "cake" that evening was iced cinnamon rolls...her choice for our "family" birthday. She got a "friend" and extended family party later in the week. At this point she had her first loose tooth, but it still wasn't quite ready. We had to rush off after the cinnamon rolls to go to the dentist...

Many Faces

Our Big 2 Yr Old

Isaac turned 2 in Feb.

Christmas Eve 2005

Todd and Stacey enjoying Christmas Eve 2005 at Todd's parents.

My Big Girl

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.:(

The Tooth Fairy visits the Wallace Farm...

...stay tuned.

The Chicken Escapade

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.

Fourth Of July 2005

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.