Traditions and Spontaneity

We had a bad storm over the weekend and lost our power for about 15 hours as a result of it.  With three sick kids already, this made for a looooong night.  Addi was the first to wake up to a cold and completely dark room.  She was up and down the rest of the night.  Would have just put her in bed with us, but this child hates to cuddle; at least with us.  She has a blanky she can't sleep without.  She likes to cuddle up to it at night and fall asleep as she listens to her christian lullaby CD.  Rocking her is out of the question.  Won't even let us hold her bottles for her anymore.  Guess she has turned into little miss independent.

Now when the boys woke up, they woke up in a panic.  We were woken up by the boys, mostly Daniel, screaming for mommy.  He was terrified!  Crying so hard I never thought I'd calm him down.  Nathan and I dug through their toy boxes to find their Thomas and Percy flashlights.  We found them; big mistake!  These lights only stay on for about 15 seconds each time the botton is pushed.  Each and everytime the bottons are pushed, a loud train whistle blows.  It doesn't take anymore then three minutes to drive anyone insane.  So after some searching and banging around in the dark, we find and trade the boys their flashlights for their portable DVD player.  This kept them quiet the rest of the night, but now Addi is up again...

Despite all the chaos and lack of sleep, we had a fun morning without the TV or video games to keep us entertained.  At least almost no TV.  We had fun building a fort with the boys with blankets and chairs.  Once our fort was built, we all crawled in to watch Megamind.  Addi even joined us once she got up from her nap, but not before forcing Maddie out. 

On Sunday, mom drove down and went to church with us.  Afterwards, we went to the 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt in Princeton.  Turned out to be a waste of time.  They were out of parking places by the time we got there.  After finding and making our own parking place, the egg hunt for the boys age group was over.  It was hard to hear what they were saying over the loud speaker, but it sounded like there was to be another hunt for the younger kids in 30 minutes.  The flyer offered free lunch, so we decided to grab a hotdog while we waited.  After standing in line for about 30 minutes for a cold hotdog, we had missed this hunt as well.  We decided just to head home and have our own Easter egg hunt.  The boys came with Easter baskets ready to find Easter eggs and we weren't gonna disappoint them!  $40 and 40 plus Easter eggs later, we had us an Egg Hunt!!  Mom and I probably went a little overboard when buying the eggs and candy, especially since we still plan and have everything ready for our traditional egg hunt on Easter Sunday, but it was worth it. 

We also jumped the gun on coloring eggs this year.  Like every year, it's always a chaotic mess!!  Boys fighting over whose turn it is to use what color, Denton spilling the red dye all over the table and floor, daddy eating the eggs faster then we can color them, Daniel deciding he'd rather color his hands instead of the eggs, Addi crying because she can't have an egg...at least not without trying to shove the whole thing in her mouth.

It can be stressful, but Easter just isn't Easter without all our family traditions.  This is how memories are made!  Not only are traditions a great way to help build and store memories, but spontaneity is as well!  And pictures help us to remember these.  I have some great memories from my childhood and I want the kids to be able to say the same.  Kids need parents who takes time to be in the present to build memories for their future's past.

Baby Ducks

From baby chickens to ducks!

Nathan and I had talked about getting ducks once the pond was finished, but somehow ended up with six baby ducks while we still have nothing more than a hole in the ground.  He thought he was being sneaky about it, but he face tells all!

While at work one day, he drove into Princeton to pick up some chicken wire.  Afterwards, he had to take the GOV to Beckley for an estimate and said he would drop this off on he way.  I thought this was a bit weird since our house isn't exactly on his way, but rather out of his way.  But this is Nathan and I gave up a long time ago on trying to make sense out of a lot of things this man does.  :^)

In his attempt to quickly drop his stuff off and leave before I came out to see him, he was busted setting the heat lamp back up above the container he had made for the chicks.  I thought maybe he was planning on bringing the chickens back into the garage until he completely finished the chicken coop.  So I asked him what he was doing, in which he answers nothing.  He mouth said nothing, but he face said he was clearly guilty of something.  Knowing he couldn't get out of this one, he pulls a box of baby ducks from the truck.  Even if I wanted to be upset with this, it was impossible after seeing these cute little things.  And of course, he had an excuse for each one he bought...if he bought himself one it was only right for him to buy me one.  Now if mommy and daddy have a duck, then it's only fair that the kids each get their own duck.  I guess that still leaves an open excuse for the sixth one...

The chickens have really grown since we first bought them.  Definitely not as cute as they were before.  Maddie loves to messing with them.  She runs laps around the coop getting them all stirred up.  Millie would probably do the same if it wasn't such a long walk to the bottom of the hill!

Besides the fence, the chicken coop is finally finished.  Not that I doubted Nathan's skills, but I was impressed at how well it turned out.  He's a nice handyman to have around the house. :)

Just a few pictures of the kids:

We officially have a crawler on our hands!

Outdoor Play

Nothing exciting has happened lately to give me a reason to blog.  We've been trying to enjoy time outdoors when the weather is nice.  Nathan is still busy working on his chicken coop when he has the time.  This is my first experience raising baby chickens, so I had no idea how quickly they would grow.  They'll soon need a bigger home, so Nathan had better step it up!  :^)

Mom and I took the kids to Pipestem State Park to ride their bikes the other day.  Other than the back deck, they don't have much of a place to ride them here.  It didn't take me long to realize that these kids need helmets.  Hate to single out Denton, but he especially needs one!  He wasn't on his bike two minutes before he got going at a pretty fast speed and spaced out on how to use his brakes.  Luckily, I was there to prevent what was sure to be another couple stitches in the poor boys head. 

Addison will be crawling before we know it.  She hasn't figured out how to crawl forward just yet, but she can get on her knees and crawl a few steps backwards before plopping to her belly.  But she has mastered the art of sitting up on her own.  Nathan says she is doing things at a much earlier age then the boys ever did.  I say it just goes to show that women are better.  Anything men can do, we can do better! 

For some reason, she is still carrying around the salmonella bacteria.  She has seen several doctors, none of which seem to have a reason behind it.  So far, none have seen a case like Addi's.  At least not one that required the child to be hospitalized for ten days.  As sick as she was then, you couldn't tell she has anything wrong with her now.  Their biggest concern is for the infection to become septic, where it leaks into her bloodstream.  For what she's been through, she's a trooper!  Such a happy baby girl. 

My brother, Jon, and his family came out for lunch today.  The boys always have a ball playing with their cousin Andrew.  Jon's wife, Symantha, is the first aunt these kids have been around on a regular basis.  They call her Aunt Symantha, or so we thought that's what they were calling her.  It wasn't until my aunt came in for a visit that we realized it was Aunsa Mantha.  We learned this when he heard them referring to Aunt Donna as Aunsa Donna. 

A few pictures from today:





The better looking half of the Calfee kids and family  :)

Tough Man Contest







Sunny Sunday

Looks like the weatherman finally called one right.  What started off as a cloudy chilly day has turned into a beautiful sunny Sunday!  After Sunday School, we all put on our play clothes and headed outside.  Nathan has been busy working on his chicken coop.  I'm surprised it isn't done yet with all the "help" he has been getting from the boys.  =) 

Addison even enjoyed most of the afternoon outdoors watching daddy work.  When the boys weren't helping Nathan, they were busy trying to climb trees and chase the dogs around.  Maddie enjoyed this, but Millie was desperate to find shelter.  Although there is still a lot of work for us (Nathan) to do before the pond is finished, we have a large hole at the bottom of the hill.  Thanks to a few natural springs down there, it has already started to fill in.  I love my dogs, but they're anything but bright.  Both of them love to sit at the top of the hill and look around, but it wasn't until today that they actually realized there was a pond to play in.  Once they did though, you couldn't keep them out of it. 

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Denton Michael

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Addison Marie

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Daniel Rany

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Have we found a possibility to Maddie's injuries??



April Fools

Nathan sent me a text early yesterday morning claiming to have hit a deer on his way to work, which totaled his new car.  He actually had me going for minute until he writes "APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Until that moment, I had no idea it was already April.  I should have kept this to myself, but instead made the foolish decision to voice this fact to Nathan.  Quick with the insults he replies, "I guess covering the blond doesn't cover the stupid!!"  I'll admit to having my fair share of "blond" moments, but I have being a blond as my excuse.  Nathan, however, has no excuse for his moments which occur much more often than mine.  Before actually sending this text to me, he had accidentally sent it to Debbie, a woman he works for.  I'm sure having to explain the reason behind the text was embarrassing enough for Nathan, but the fact that he had to do so at 7am on her day off was the best part! HA, Nathan!    =)

Addi is on her way to crawling!  It doesn't last long, but she has figured out how to get on her knees.  I'm excited for her to reach this milestone, but I'm not ready to start chasing her around the house.  She actually got on her knees for the first time around 2am last night.  I went in to check on her when she started fussing only to find her up on her knees.  I guess lowering the mattress on her crib will be on our list of things to do today.  She's growing up so fast!!  I'll post pictures as soon as I find some batteries for my camera. 

I wish I could be happy that it has finally stopped raining here, but it's hard to when the rain has turned into snow.  Where is Spring??  I'm ready for carpi's and tank tops!  While the weather is keeping the kids and I indoors, it's not holding Nathan back.  He's determined to finish his chicken coop this weekend, regardless of what the weather brings.  They're calling for warmer weather the next two day and I'm hoping they call it right this time! 

Nathan and I still enjoy going to church on Sunday.  Our pastor and other members of the church are going out of their way trying to accommodate the kids.  Because they are such a small congregation with no small children attending, they never had a need for a nursery.  We found out last Sunday that they had lost several new families due to this and they are determined not to lose us!  Pastor Roy had called us later that week explaining the changes that him and his wife have made to the church in an attempt to set up a nursery for our children if we decide to come back.  That following Sunday, they had even set up an intercom system so that those in the nursery could still hear the service.  They are also in the process of putting together a Sunday School class for Daniel and Denton.  They have really went above and beyond in making us feel welcomed!  We were surprised at how many woman had volunteered to sit in the nursery with the kids so that Nathan and I could enjoy the service together.  As I've mentioned before, our church is small and the building only consists of two rooms.  Every now and then during service you can hear the boys in the other room running and playing.  We can't help but to be a little embarrassed by the interruption, but the preacher never fails to comment on how wonderful it is to hear children in the next room.