Adaptation

It started out as a dress...

July 4, 2009

Now it's a shirt!

September 30, 2009

Coleman didn't have a fever yesterday or today, and no one else is showing any flu-like symptoms! Thank you all for your prayers. We're taking it easy the rest of the week to give Coleman a chance to get better, to make sure the others aren't infected, and to stay away from all the other sickies out there! I'm off to sanitize!

Just Plain Not Exciting

Brian took Coleman to the doctor yesterday afternoon and he was diagnosed with the flu. He started taking Tamiflu last night, and I can tell he already feels a little better. The boys are staying home from school and our other activities this week, and I'm praying no one else gets sick. I've become a hand washing, sanitizer dispensing, Lysol spraying freak! Please pray for us that the flu would leave our house soon!

I have several thank yous I would like to share. Thank you to my wonderful Mom and Mother-in-law for your advice, support, and prayers. It's tough knowing how to handle sick kids, and I appreciate all you do to help. And to Brian - thank you for getting off work early to take Coleman to the doctor so I didn't have to sit in the office with Spence and Allie. That means so much to me! And thanks for being the one who held Coleman down while they swabbed his nose and throat after I told him they wouldn't have to do that again. I love you! And most importantly, thank you Lord for taking my worries. I have laid them down at Your feet. You are the Great Physician and I trust You to take care of my family. Please bring us all through this terrible flu season.

Exciting, Not Exciting!

Exciting: Brian and Spence visited a new church yesterday!
Not exciting: The rest of us stayed home because Coleman was sick.

Exciting: We went to Double Dave's Pizza this weekend and I had my favorite veggie pizza!
Not exciting: We didn't get a chocolate chip pizza.

Exciting: It's Fall!
Not exciting: It doesn't feel like Fall.

Exciting: I've made 4 of the prizes from my blog contest that I announced last March.
Not exciting: Now I have to get to the post office to mail 3 of them.

Yes, this weekend had some exciting moments and some not-so-exciting moments. Coleman woke up Sunday with a fever over 101. Last night Brian tried to take him to urgent care, but they were already closed. He was just at the doctor Friday and was fine. I'm hoping this is just a virus and will be gone soon (without affecting the rest of us) and not the flu. Please say a prayer for him!

As for the church, we want to find a church that is in our community so we can be involved and serve where we live. Brian enjoyed the service where he visited yesterday, but I think it's going to be hard because we really love Westbury (our church of the past 11 years). But we're trusting that God will lead us where He wants us, and the new church, though it won't be perfect (what church is?) it will be the perfect fit for our family. Please say a prayer for us!

And about Double Dave's... it was our first restaurant trip using our new Entertainment coupon book. I am very proud of myself for not ordering a chocolate chip pizza! Of course, I bought a bag of chocolate chips at Wal-Mart and ate several handfuls that evening. I've got to get to work on this baby fat. Please say a prayer for me!

Now on to the weather. We had a few great days, but the heat and humidity is back. Yuck! Brian went out do yard work last night and came in feeling awful. I think a cold front is supposed to come our way this week. Please say a prayer that it will! (OK, you don't have to pray for our weather.)

And finally, I am very excited to finish all but one of the prizes. I delivered Pam's last weekend when we went to her daughter Charity's wedding. Now I need to pack up Jeani, Rhonda, and Debbie's prizes and mail them. Rita's is still in the brainstorming phase, so I'll probably get it to her at Christmas. Once the ladies receive their prizes, I'll post pictures to show what I made for them. I forgot to take a picture of Pam's prize, but it is very similar to Debbie's. I had so much fun (once I decided what to make for each person) and hope each of them likes her prize!

Are You Ready for Some Futbol?

The answer to that question is "no." Coleman was not ready for soccer. He looked ready. See?


And I was all ready to be a "soccer mom." See?


And Brian helped him get ready as they practiced for a few minutes before the game. See?


But you will see no shots of him bending it like Beckham. This is as close to the action is he got. See?


As you may remember, Coleman doesn't always do well in new situations. Especially if there are a lot of people around. (I think back to last year's school Christmas play where he stood motionless as all the other kids sang their little hearts out.) This is fine. And if I may come to his defense, today was the first time he had seen any of these kids or coaches, and they only practiced for about 10 minutes. Then he was one of three kids who wasn't picked to start, so he stood on the side line while the other kids had about 15 minutes to get used to what was going on. He would not even go in, and right around halftime he even went as far as to take off his socks and shin guards and put his flip flops back on.

He wanted to leave, but we told him that we were staying to the end, whether he played or not. And that we would be going to every game until the season was over, whether he played or not. I sure hope he plays next week, because it's pretty hard to sit and watch 4 and 5 years olds that we do not know attempt to play a sport that we know little about. This could be a painful 6 weeks. But Coleman is taking his anxieties to Jesus. Brian told me that the last thing Coleman prayed for tonight was, "to help me get used to soccer." What a sweetheart! Hopefully we'll have better news next Saturday!

Big Day Tomorrow

As long as the rain holds off, tomorrow will be Coleman's first day of soccer. I am so excited! He's going to be playing with a 4-5 year olds team at the YMCA. It's more instructional instead of competitive. Brian said he'd try to keep himself from running out on the field and beating up the referee. Ha! This will be our first experience with organized sports. Spence is dying to play, but hopefully he'll just enjoy watching this year, then he can play on the 3 year old team next year. They're out in the yard practicing now, so I'm going to go join them! I'll have some pictures tomorrow.

Silly, Sillier, and Silliest

I laid Allie on the bed yesterday and came back in a minute and her bow had come down over her eyes. I thought it was funny so I ran to get the camera. My poor kids. I can't just help them out of their predicaments, I have to first find the camera and take a picture. I've been to several wedding receptions lately where they play a slide show of pictures throughout the bride and groom's lives. There's no way I'll be caught without cute pictures for my kids' weddings!

"Where did everyone go?"

"I love to stare at lights, so these really help."

"Spence, why would you put shoes on Allie to take a nap?"

And even sillier than the pictures are some of the things Spence says. The other day Nana asked where Spence came from! He's just always saying something crazy! He hates to have his teeth brushed, so he'll run from Brian or me and say, "I need to get the goods!" We have no idea what the goods are, but we just play along. He goes on and on about the goods. So we tell him where they are and then he comes back and eventually lets us brush his teeth.

These Boots Were Made for Kickin'

Most of you have seen pictures of Spence in his lime green Croc boots, right? If not, click here. And some of you know that I have to lock him in his room at nap time or he would just come out and never go to sleep. If he decides to really fight taking a nap, he usually bangs on the door. I go check on him to see if he needs to be changed (he loves to poop right after I put him down for a nap). Today he started banging and I went up. He did need to be changed, but I also noticed that he had on the boots. "Why do you have the boots on Spence?" I asked. "So my feet wouldn't hurt when I kicked the door," he replied. What a smart little mischievous booger. And then later he wanted something out of the fridge, which we keep locked so he can't get into it. He was pulling with all his might and said, "Come on fridge! I know you can do it!"

As we were leaving Bible study today, we had another good conversation.

Coleman: I see a hospital sign. (He's really into signs these days and always points out the square blue H sign for hospitals.)
Mommy: Yeah. That's where Allie was born.
Coleman: Why were me and Spence born at the hospital that's far away?
Mommy: It wasn't far away from where we lived when you were born there.
Spence: When are we going to be born again?
Coleman: You're only born once. Born means when you come out of Mommy's tummy.
Mommy: (knowing this will probably go over their heads, but feeling a teachable moment that shouldn't be passed over) There's actually a Bible story where Jesus tells the people they must be born again. And a man asks him how can he be born again.
Coleman: How can you be born again?
Mommy: That's just a way to say that you believe in Jesus, ask Him to forgive you for doing bad things, and want to live your life for Him.

The conversation continued for a minute, probably until they saw a cool truck or something. I am just in awe at the responsibility I have in raising these inquisitive kids! I really have to be ready with an answer. I know they won't understand it all now, but it's still important to try and answer their questions. I pray we'll all ask God for guidance in sharing His truths, whether to our kids or someone else.

What's In Your Brain?

*Updated at the bottom so Spence wouldn't be left out!*

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy conversations with the boys after I pick them up from school. Today we had a good one.

Coleman: Why does God love bad guys?
Mommy: Good question! Because he made everyone and He loves good guys and bad guys.
Coleman: But why did He make bad guys?
Mommy: He didn't make them bad. We all have to choose if we're going to obey God and do good or not obey Him and do bad things.
Coleman: (in response to something Spence said) God lives in our heart and in Heaven. And in our brain.
Mommy: Ha! I never thought of it like that, but I guess if we think about Him then He is in our brains!
Coleman: How does He live in our heart?
Mommy: When we believe in Him, He lives in our hearts.
Coleman: What does He eat?

After that, the conversation was a lot of me trying to explain how God doesn't have a body, but is a spirit and doesn't need food. I made sure to tell Coleman how much I enjoy these conversations and that he learns by asking questions. I pray that God will always give me answers that will make sense to him at his level. Brian says with boys it all boils down to good guys and bad guys. He's so right!

Since Allie didn't have any cute words to share today, here's a picture:


Allie and I went with my Mom and Dad to a wedding this past weekend. We've known Pam and Kenneth and their daughter Charity for many years and consider them wonderful friends. It was so neat to get to see Charity get married Saturday! Here are a few pictures.

Nathan and Charity

The bride and Allie

All Nana's friends said Allie looks like her!

Update:
Brian and the boys watched "Prince of Egypt" while I was gone this weekend. I wanted to see it, so Spence sat down and watched it with me this afternoon. If you asked him what we watched, he'd say, "Pince a Begypt."

3 Months Old

Our Beach Weekend

This past weekend our family rented a beach house in San Luis Pass near Galveston. It was the perfect family getaway!

The house was beautiful...

but the people made the weekend!

Brian first had the idea to rent the beach house for his Mom's birthday, but I think we ended up celebrating her birthday, his brother Brent's birthday (which was September 11), and everyone's anniversary. There were 11 adults and 3 kids: the 5 Piks, Rita and Gale, Brent and Andrea, my Mom and Dad, Rita's brother-in-law Lyle, and Rita's niece Rhonda and her husband Mark.

We worried that the weather would be nasty all weekend, but it wasn't. There was some rain, but it only provided us with cooler weather and a chance to chill out in the house. We had plenty of beach time!

Daddy and the boys

Coleman loves the sea; Spence loves the sand

My little beach beauty

Allie's toes' first dip in the ocean

"I think the beach is pretty cool."

"I could live here and swim in the ocean every day!"

Family Pictures from the Beach Weekend

All the Piks together!

The Piks with Nana and Poppa

Andrea, Brent, Rhonda, Mark, Amanda, Brian

Andrea, Brent, Lyle, Amanda, Brian

Falling Behind!

I feel like I've been so neglectful of my blog the last few weeks! Listen to my newest excuse. Rita and Gale arrived Saturday night, and we've been having fun fun fun! I would post a few pictures, but it's almost midnight people. We're getting ready for our fun family beach weekend. Sure, there's a 70% chance of rain all weekend, but the good news is no tropical storms are in the gulf! I'll have lots of pictures to share next week. Of course it may be Wednesday before I get around to it. You know, there will be unpacking to do, lots of laundry, and I'll have to retrain myself to manage three kids by myself. Here's something funny Coleman did today. He went to TJ Maxx with Rita and my mom and they bought some ghost Peeps. They told him they were like marshmallows. He didn't want to eat them then. He wanted to bring them home and build a fire in the fireplace and roast them!

Allie in the Bumbo

Sorry it's been a while. It's not that I don't have stories to tell. Believe me, I've got some stories. Like the one about Spence coming into the room wearing nothing but a t-shirt with a piece of poop dangling between his legs. The other piece almost made it in the toilet, but not quite. I found it on the stool by the toilet. Brian had fun with that one: a stool on the stool! That's one reason I can't sit at the computer and blog as much now. I might find stray pieces of feces all over my house! Anyway, no more gross stories. Just cute pictures of Allie and Spence.

Allie's first time in the bumbo (Thanks to my friend Leanne from our mom's group for letting me borrow this!)


I have to watch Spence when Allie's in the bumbo. Today I caught him trying to scoot her across the room! But here he's just being completely sweet.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school, and the mall welcomed me back with open arms! Yes, Allie and I did have a fun time at the mall, but I'll spare those details and just tell you about the boys' first day.

They were both excited about going back, but as soon as we walked up to Coleman's room and he saw all the kids and parents he refused to go in. I basically had to push him in and turn around and walk off. He was right behind me, but his teacher told him to come back. I knew he would be fine in a few minutes. When I picked him up, he told me all about the behavior chart and how you get a sticker if your clip stays on green. You can move down to yellow or red if you don't follow the rules, and one boy went down to yellow but then he was nice and moved back up to green. You can also move up if you do something really really good. Then you get to choose a prize like a book or toy or candy. One boy moved up today because he found a button (the words of my four year old). Coleman said he was really good and kind but he just stayed on green. He was a little disappointed that he didn't move up. Maybe Thursday I'll send a button for him to find! I told him staying on green was great and I was proud of him.

Spence also had fun. He stayed on his mat during nap time, but didn't sleep. Most kids in his room probably didn't because I was told there was a screamer. I didn't get as many details from Spence, but I think he had a good day.

Spence looking up for a second to tell me bye. He was ready for me to go so he could play! I couldn't get a picture of Coleman in his room because I had to take off and let the teachers make him stay. Poor guy!

We had fun on our first day!

And you didn't think I would post without a new picture of Allie, did you?



My sweet little angel is not petite. She's already wearing some 3 - 6 month clothes. Actually, I got out a 3 - 6 month dress for her to wear to church Sunday and it was too small! She never got to wear it! I just love the little pink outfit she has on in the picture above. It's a gift from one of those fancy baby boutiques. Every girl needs something a little pricey! Something that Mommy would never buy!